Tolstoy

Guys, give the OP a break. he is simply pointing out a stat that is a bit discouraging, and asking for your help in finding a brighter side. We have a habit on this board of viciously attacking people who say anything that we don't agree with. So, as some replies have said, it is only four games, and his first four games in the league. Let's give it more time!

I thought Allen showed good potential.

If this doesn't tell you that the sports media–strike that, much of media–is just finger-in-the wind regurgitation of conventional opinion, I don't know what will. It is a discredit to the really good reporters out there who are trying to bring truth to light: http://www.realclearlife.com/sports/no-7-overall-pick-josh-allen-looking-like-first-bust-of-this-years-draft/

This seems like the right approach to the development of Allen, and I agree with it. However, I have two misgivings: (1) What if Allen really really does give you the best chance of winning, and the coach really does think the Bills have a good shot of winning those first three games with Allen? (2) Something no one has mentioned here: is this fair to Peterman? If Peterman struggles at all in the first three games, it might well be because of the difficulty of the competition and not a lack of skill on his part. Is it fair to yank him in game four without giving him a chance to prove himself? Three games is not a long time to evaluate him. And getting yanked again might be devastating to his confidence and his career.

Completely agree.

This was precisely my reaction.

I am only repeating what others here have said, but we need a franchise QB. Period. Loading up on all the other positions without locking down a franchise QB is like outfitting your car with all sorts of items but having a poor engine. It has been 20 years now that we have had occasional great defenses, occasional great running games, occasional great special teams, occasional great wideouts (though that has been fewer and far between because of the QB issue), etc., but where has that gotten us? Yes, it is a bit of a crap shoot, since something like 50% or so of QB's taken in the top 10 are busts. But it is a crap shoot we have to play. The Patriots are a case in point--they have had a great QB and everything else simply doesn't matter as much, since the QB can bail you out of so many problems. Result: almost every year they contend for the SB.

Excellent points. I agree 100%. I am certain that they have two objectives in mind: (1) rebuild the team, (2) remain minimally competitive while doing so. And the way that they have decided to accomplish these two apparently conflicting objectives is to field a competitive defense this year while sacrificing parts on offense--all in the hopes of drafting a stud QB next year. Let's face it: it has been said a million times by us, but it bears remembering: if the Bills want to become a winning team year in and year out, they need the QB to do so. The GM knows this, and the coach knows this. This is their shot to build a legacy for themselves. It will be a painful year.

I just saw the segment of that speech. Whether we support Trump as President or not, we can be big enough to appreciate the recognition of Kelly. It was a nice moment for Jimbo and his family. One thing that bothers me about politics these days is that nothing seems to bring left and right together anymore--nothing.

You have a point, but the problem is that the Anthem (and our flag), as symbols of our country, are the very things enabling him to express his POV. By showing disrespect for our anthem, Kaepernick publicly undermined the foundation for the freedoms that he enjoys. So, it is Kaepernick who seems that he would prefer North Korea. One thing that stands out to me here in this is the lack of gratitude that Kaepernick shows. For all of the injustices that our nation has been guilty of, it has also given much to Kaepernick (as other posters have pointed out). He looks like a spoiled brat. Also, the whole thing makes me a bit sad. I wonder if we have lost our sense of community in our country. I think at one time American's felt a common bond with one another over our commitment to the democratic ideal of liberty, the rule of law, equality, human rights, etc. I don't think we share this any longer. In fact, I think it is sometimes easier to find anger, hatred, or simple indifference to America and the ideals that it represents. I don't know why this has happened, but it is a bit depressing.

The Forbes list is out, and Dareus is #26 at 35.2 Million. Either he is really good, or the Bills are really foolish. Regardless, he is ahead of a lot of very talented and wealthy athletes. http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall BTW, Ronaldo and Messi are #1 and #2. Soccer is big.

I second this.

Many of the questionable calls yesterday have already been mentioned on the board--except one (so far as I can tell): the interception. This is the play where Clay was fighting the DB/Safety for the ball, and the Giants player won. Unless I was mistaken, replays showed he did not have full possession when he hit the ground. I can't recall what the rules are for receivers (e.g., must make a football move, etc.), but I would assume that the same rules would apply for interceptions. What are everyone's thoughts about that play? Should Rex have challenged that? All in all, while I don't defend the lack of discipline on the part of the Bills yesterday, I do think the refs made a LOT of questionable calls that really, really hurt us. Sometimes, the refs do decide games. This is why there are so many strict controls on refs regarding gambling--we want nothing to affect their neutral judgment, and the outcome of the sporting event. Yesterday, the outcome was affected by the refs.

This analysis by two UB professors shows that some teams have received significant and disproportionate competitive disadvantages in scheduling by the NFL. The Bills have gotten the worst of it. It probably is accidental, or due to ratings calculations, but it can't help but make a difference in teams' records. "The chart provides a summation of their most notable finding. Since the eight-division format began in 2002, some teams have played more than twice as many games against better-rested opponents -- either coming off a bye or a Thursday night game -- than others. The Bills had the most (29), and the Cincinnati Bengals were given the fewest (14). In 2013, the Bills had five such games; the division rival New England Patriots had none." http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/166141/inside-slant-innovating-the-nfl-schedule

Mario Brothers

http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/john-madden-tom-brady-may-be-to-blame-for-deflated-footballs/ Madden makes a good point: it would have to be Brady who is behind this. No one would alter the pressure of the football without the say-so of the QB, who needs to be comfortable throwing the ball. It is even possible that this was arranged between Brady and the equipment guy.

My apologies if this has been said in another post, but the article linked below was just published in the NY Times today (Sunday, Jan. 18). Like most everyone else, I think the hiring of Ryan and Roman was an excellent move by the Bills. One thing I worry about is the "ground and pound" philosophy that Ryan and Roman want to bring. Does that approach win anymore? I hope that it does and could, but suspect that it is outdated by rule changes in the NFL. This NY Times article shows the statistics, all brought about by new rules meant to protect the QB and WR: 9 QB's had 30 or more touchdowns this year. NINE!!!!. Compare that to ZERO in 2002, and ONE in 2003, 2005, and 2006. As the article suggests, isn't a passing offense with an elite QB now a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for winning a championship? If so, why bother building a team for a running game, if you simply can't win a Superbowl with this mentality? Sure, we can be competitive, and make the playoffs, but we will ultimately be outscored by a team with a good defense and an high-octane passing offense. Witness the remaining teams in the playoffs. If all this is true, then the Bills and every other team should pull out all the stops to developing a high-octane passing offense. "Ground and pound" (at least the "ground" part) won't win anymore, and I am a bit worried that the Bills are setting themselves up for failure.

Me too. Well said.

As much as I respect Polian, this does sound like a lame excuse on behalf of Marrone. Marrone himself claimed to be heavily involved in player evaluation and selection during the 2014 draft. His "specialty" is O line, so he was as much responsible for the failed O-line draft picks as anyone else. Hell, he helped pick the o-line players. He selected the coaches that would coach those players. He even directly coached the o-linemen himself. How is the deterioration of the offensive line Whaley's fault? How is Hackett Whaley's fault? Failure to go for it on 4th down is Whaley's fault? I admit that the team was not deep at QB to start the season, so perhaps that one falls on Whaley. Still, QB was only part of the problem. Play-calling and a putrid running game were as much to blame. Marrone looks bad. If I were an NFL team, I would think twice about hiring a guy who thinks he is a prima donna, blames everyone else for his failures, cuts and runs on his players and coaches even though he has been treated well, and badmouths an organization on his way out.

I would give mixed reviews to Marrone. On the positive side, he brought stability to the team, established a championship calibre defense, oversaw the development of some emerging young talent (e.g. Henderson, Hughes, etc.). Whatever he was, Marrone was not joke or embarrassment. His team came out to play every week, and conducted itself professionally (more or less) on and off the field. On the negative side, he was too conservative on offense, stuck by Hackett too long with an underperforming offense, was unable to develop a good starting QB, and oversaw the deterioration of the O-Line (his apparent specialty). He must have had a strong hand in evaluating the O-line draft picks, which (except for Henderson), were a complete bust this year. All in all, I think we didn't lose too much in seeing him go. Marrone is a decent coach who, with the right lineup, could someday coach a championship team.

So, as I write this, apparently a second case of the Ebola virus has been diagnosed in Dallas, and a patient in Boston is quarantined with a possible case of the virus. What I can't figure out is why we haven't enacted a travel ban to and from countries in Africa with an outbreak of the Ebola virus. Yes, yes, I understand that this causes a huge inconvenience for people with families in the area, or for US citizens in these countries, but isn't the threat of an outbreak of the disease in the USA sufficient reason to take this extreme measure? Why hasn't Obama done this already???

My own two cents: I was really impressed with Orton yesterday. I am not about to anoint him the Bills QB of the future (don't we need to see a lot more games to do that?), but he brought quite a bit to the QB position that EJ has not yet managed to develop: Command and authority in the huddle. Maybe it was just me, but when Orton walked up the huddle and barked out the play, there was decisiveness and authority in his bearing. This could be just my perception, but if it is true, it makes a big difference for leadership in any group. People need a leader they can trust, whom they think knows what he is doing. The confidence of the leader rubs off on everyone. He released the ball quickly, with a few exceptions. He spread the ball around to a lot of targets. This keeps defenses honest, and keeps everyone on your own team in the game, feeling like they are contributing to the team. He threw some difficult throws with accuracy (down the middle, sideline, and long ball to Goodwin). He did not get discouraged by his failures (pick six), but overcame it and helped the team to victory. He defeated a team that has the #1 defense in the NFL, with a ferocious D-line, in their own stadium. And he did it in his first start with the team. That is extremely difficult to do, and deserves high praise. As for EJ, I really hope the kid can develop and become our starting QB again--both for his sake and ours. However, he needs to develop some of these above-named qualities before he can become a successful starting QB. I, for one, am tired of losing every year. If Orton can be a complimentary player and bring this team to the playoffs, I support him. So what if he is 31 and has been kicked around a lot. Who cares? Doesn't he deserve a chance to turn his career around? EJ can play backup this year, and see if things change for him next year.

Mexico came to play, but the keeper was unbelievable. Talk about quick reflexes. Brazil is mortal. I picked Germany to win it all, and I stand by it (though the Dutch are making me second guess myself).

My comments on the game: I thought Bradley had a bad night. He gave up the ball too many times and didn't generate much by way of creative offense. Will we never get a creative attacking center midfielder? In fairness to Bradley, it was windy as hell, and he looked tired. Training has been intense from what I hear. Wondo, whom I am not a rabid fan of, played well and created chances. Our backs were not tested very much, so hard to say how they looked. I thought Zusi looked good, and jones did well in defensive midfield. Altidore did ok, but didn't impress me too much. He had a nice volley opportunity and skied it. Credit to mix and Aaron for putting the ball in the net. Overall, they got the job done, and we should be happy.