FLFan

Bills only touchdown comes on either a kick/punt return or a pick 6. They win turnover and field position battle and short fields lead to 4 field goals. 19-17 Bills, despite only 250 yards in offense. Those who are going - loud and proud. Make Alex Smith wet himself. Go Bills!

Manuel and Lewis are not even close to the same in their performances this season. Clearly not in talent level. Many of those blitz formations and secondary reads that Lewis has routinely missed Manuel was picking up. His command of the offense and pocket presence were clearly better. he needs to be back ASAP if the Bills are going to salvage anything out of the season. Sunday may be very ugly no matter who starts of the backups. I do agree with that.

He is pretty sore at the very least. May just be an extra day of rest for his ribs. As inconsistent as he has been, I hate the thought of starting Jeff Tuel against the Chiefs.

This is exactly right. The Bills D played well enough to keep this close throughout. They were dominant to start the game. Turnovers and penalties and general ineffectiveness of the offense lost the game. The Saint are a better team, but with an offensive performance to match the defense, the Bills win. This will come.

This has always what it has been about. With any other agent involved, the fact that the Bills had the Tag available and used it, would have prompted a negotiation leading to fair contract somewhere in the middle. There were any number of ways that Byrd could save face in that situation - Higher guarantees, more years, etc. When a player and his agent are committed to a take it or leave it posture, and willing to take on the potentially negative consequences of that, then no negotiation is possible. Hence the hold out from camp, and hence the half hearted effort to get on the field and make a difference. The worst thing the Bills could have done was buckle under to this tactic. Very bad for business long term. The net result of this is Byrd is proving himself to be a selfish, uncommitted player. Good luck on the highest paid safety thing next year. I would not trade him now unless the return were foolishly high, and that is not likely to happen.

Valient effort though likely in vain.

Lame indeed. The Saints, like anyone, are beatable. The Bills secondary is getting healthy at the right time and it looks like Gilmore will be "club free". I think the Bills D can keep them in this. The Bills should be able to run on them. Thad will need to play well obviously - no turnovers - and the Bills will need to create some breaks. Tough matchup, but winnable, and no real reason to expect a blow out.

So, 4 games is enough? This is non-sensical.

You misunderstand. The future of the Bills depends on finding along term solution at quarterback. They need a full evaluation of Manuel's potential for that role. Thad Lewis is not the guy. Anyone who thinks so is dillusional. Manuel needs to play. If he is not the guy they need to back to the well.

I am sure they were reluctant to expose Lewis with planned runs given he was injured in the last game. The guy was gutting it out as it was Gilmore is playing great given the situation. Dareus had a great game, as did Mario. They needed the defense to win this game and they did. Stats do to matter. The defense dominated when it counted

It does not matter how many he wins. He is not the future of this team. I do not care if EJ loses every game. He needs to start. How else will you know? Thad Lewis has an upside of 2nd string but more likely third string. I can't believe people are seriously debating this

You can be sure that, win or lose, the board will be filled with opinions that have no basis in any objective reality. Some people just like to whine and complain. Personally, I am thrilled they were able to win starting a scrub QB and with their top running backs both playing on one leg. Character win. Huge.

Wow. That ball hit just inside the ten and there was a Bills player right there (Easley) who could have downed it any time. It was a perfect kick. On the last one, he had great hang time, and distance, and there were two Bills defenders right there who both failed to make the tackle. Oh, and two separate blocking infractions were not called.

That was a terrible call - almost beyond belief. I have never seen that before. One of many bad calls and non-calls in the game.

The real problem were the calls on second and third downs. Those were the times to be more agressive. At that point, they should have kicked the field goal, which ended up being the difference in the game. Mike Smith of the Falcons made the same boneheaded mistake against the Jets and it cost him that game. I have seen him do it repeatedly, so clearly he is incapable of learning. Hopefully, Marrone is not.

Have respecf for you Bill, and as usual, this will probably be the last intelligent thread of the week, but you are way off base on Gilmore. I think just about anyone given the situation would not put much stock in today's performance. I also think you are being a bit short sighted on Marrone although I was very upset with that sequence at the goal line in the first half. Very mike smith like. I do Not want to see that again. The bottom line is that the defense let the the bills down today. I thought Lewis was great. Obviously, they should have won this game.

You are right - have to disagree. We have no idea how Lewis will perform based on one meaningless end of season game and some preseason. Losing Manuel is a blow to the Bills however you look at it, especially in terms of continuing development. There is no comparison in skills sets, leadership, or big game experience. Hopefully Lewis can perform well enough to keep the Bills alive until the real QB gets back.

I like the Bills chances in this game and am certainly not expecting a Bengals romp as the odds makers and talking heads have it. I think the Bills D, especially with the players they get back this week, can contain the Bengals O. Lewis is a wild card, but he is mobile, can throw on the run, and has enough experience that I am not worried about a choke job like Tuel pulled last week. If the Bills can grab a couple of turnovers and not give it away with turnovers and stupid penalties, this could actually be a big win. Bills 27 - Bengals 17.

Great interview. I really want this guy to be successful.

Because Dixon just got here, has been out of football since last season ended, and will certainly take some time to get up to speed.

While true, that has nothing to do with the fact that Johnson has been struggling all year.

All this sudden love of Geno Smith because he played one good game is hilarious. He was second in the NFL in turnovers going into last night's game with 11. He looked good against a very weak Atlanta defense. Some of the worst tackling I have ever seen. To top it off, Atlanta may well have won had their idiot coach not blown the end of half sequence. Like all rookies at the position his game will be up and down. It certainly helps that his team has a great defense. Despite the talking heads on ESPN praising him like he is the second coming, its only one game. I am still confident the Bills made the right choice, but we will certainly not know the final answer after 5 games, or 16.

I don't think that was his primary point, but carry on.

Adding Matt Flynn would not add an NFL QB. Seriously people - Seattle and now Oakland payed this guy to go elsewhere. He sucks.