P Riv

SB 25 was Marv Levy's fault IMHO. He decided to stick with a no huddle attack against a team that was all about controlling the clock and we had a small, fast defense. Levy played right into their hands. The Giants held the ball for almost 40 min to our 20 and our defense was gassed. It was as stupid as it was predictable. A few plays and out for the K-gun offense and the D was back out there against NY's 300+ lb O-line pounding OJ Anderson and grinding it out. Had we run a conventional offense, we would have made more plays defensively and also softened up their defense. We did it in dramatic fashion in the red zone, lined up with a FB, clearly a running formation and jammed it down their throat. Clearly we had the ability to beat them at their own game. It should have been a Bills blow out, no late kick required. We bullied the AFC, but NFC East teams were not intimidated in the slightest. Levy coached a well behaved, efficient and talented team, but he never made them tough and physical like the NFC East teams. The talent was there all day, its the attitude and physicality that never showed up.

I posted on BBMB for years, I recall they had something like that there.

lol, thats awesome. I had no idea he was that old, looks like he's a short timer.

You got issues....lol Cheers

They're just plain average or even bad this year, so betting that they don't win much this year is pretty safe. Not much talent, lots of injuries, opt outs and incompetent QB play must all be bad coaching? lol He's the last coach to win a playoff game for Cleveland, he went 11-5 with Matt Cassel, had brilliant defensive game plans in the SB against HoF'ers Elway, Kelly and Warner... He's got 8 SB rings and 3 Conf Championship rings. I'm simply acknowledging that he's kind of accomplished... They'll be back next year, so we better build some momentum. As the Div winner, we'll play all of the other Div winners next year, they won't. As much as we want them to suck for the next 10 years, I just don't think that's reality and I'm not drinking the Kool aid.

Its ok to talk about the rest of the NFL and our Division, no?

Sounds good, but seems apples to oranges to me. Before Belichick was Pete Carrol and Bill Parcells. As long as the Kraft family owns that team they aren't going to look like the 2000's Bills. We had an owner who was looking to run a business, not win a championship. They have a ton of cap room for next year, opt outs coming back and they're developing young players for depth this year. Not sure what our cap and FA situation is, but they'll likely endure this year and be back in the mix next year. They need a QB, which means they'll trade down in the draft and get DT and O-line... lol Probably draft a QB in round 6.

I would not say we are a "very good" team. When you look at scoring defense, pts allowed, net points, etc. it says we shouldn't be .500 Realistically, we should win the division, be favored to win at home in the 1st round and after that, we'll get beat by a better team or crushed by a legitimate SB contender like KC. We're not elite or knocking on the door, lets keep it real. If we win a playoff game, get some solid new talent on Defense in the off-season, maybe with fans in the stadium we get a legit homefield advantage? Maybe we get there next year, but not this year.

Ugly wins get you to the playoffs, thats all anyone needs to know. That and this is the end of the Pats dynasty. Having said that, I remain of the opinion that they will be back next year in a big way and this year is kind of a one off, adjustment type of scenario.

Ya, they're taking this year off. lol

Bills are going to win, whether its ugly due to the weather conditions or big because they're playing a replacement squad...its a win. Pats are in for their first losing season in 20 years, next stop? Rebuild For 27 years they basically had just 2 Qbs, 2 kickers, and 3 coaches (all HoF'rs). We're finally "here" after all the waiting it out. Enjoy the game, enjoy this year, its the best we've had since Flutie was our Qb.

To the trainers room for rehab!

So next year at age 35 he's still going to be their number 1? lol Their "win now" strat of the last 2 years has caught up, now their going to pay up. Its going to take a few years to dig back out too.

Every time Newton throws an incomplete, int or short on 3rd down, just say "wow I'm so glad Brady's gone!" Or if we're running it well, "wow I'm so glad Hightower opted out!" : )

I'd say its true and its not exactly something new either. During the SB years we had a strong sense of entitlement, no doubt. If the Bills won, no problemo... If they lost, the whole fan base was in denial, blaming refs, play calling, etc. and denying the other team any credit whatsoever. Then, when NE started winning and our fortunes totally changed it turned into the jealousy thing and denying them any credit. We have better fans, truer fans, we don't support a cheater, Brady is an overrated system QB, etc. You could write a grad level paper on this, but ultimately is true, at least in my 30 yr experience of observing it. Meh... We're winning again, so who cares! lol

So they have a retread QB thats playing like crap, practice squad players at WR and TE. Looks good.

Newton.

In more recent news..... their QB's also threw 4 ints last weekend and they got blown out at home. They are a 2-4 team, can't score.

That would require beating KC in KC... Nope. They would probably have to win on the road in Tennessee, Baltimore or Pitt prior to that. None of that is realistic for this year IMHO.

NE's offense is offensive.... They don't have competent QB play, their WR's can't get open, they have no TE's to speak of and and all they have is a good O-line and good RB by committee. They will need to play perfect and get lucky just to stay in this one. If we get up early, its over. They are not a good team this year for a multitude of reasons, but their past achievements are no reason to avoid calling a spade a spade. They are not very good this year, their record isn't a mistake.

The Pats are in total disarray right now. Unless we play like total garbage, the Bills should take this one easy. I think the could go 5-3 in the second half of the season. They won't be SB contenders, but a division title and a home playoff win would be a huge leap forward.

Probably... If you look at the red zone possession where they ran a conventional offense, put J Mueller in the game and huddled up, the Giants couldn't stop them. I was like W T F ??? Stick to that and let the D rest before going up against the Giants roadgrader O-line again. We should have scored 30+ that game. Run the ball, work the clock and play action pass instead of quick drives and punts. We gave that one away with a bad game plan against an inferior team.

Yes, everyone loves M Levy but its tough to overlook the SB25 gameplan. Gee, the Giants O-line outweighs our D-line by about 40 lbs on average and they have a couple of huge blocking TEs and a FB. Ok, lets run a no-huddle and leave our under-sized D on the field for 40 min. Great plan.....

We'll finish ahead of them this year, no doubt. Its one year and a crazy one at that. I for one will not be gloating over Pats fans, beating my chest and engaging in Homerism... Its one year and things can change real quick.

The Pats are in their long awaited "down year". They will not have a winning record this year and they will be back next year like it never happened. They have had too many personnel losses to go with an inability to train/practice/develop players in their complicated system. NE is playing with 50% replacement players like its a strike year, that and they can't even practice. Its going to be a rough year for them.