Georgia Bill

Crap. I was feeling pretty good about this game UNTIL the Pats crushed the Steelers rolling up 55 points. It simply cannot help our odds going in to their stadium to face them after they were flat out embarrassed the week prior. Cinci pasted the Jets, and then the Jets came back and beat the Saints the next week. Who would have thought that was possible? You can believe what happened the week prior doesn't matter if you want, but I think it does. The Steelers will give it everything they've got. I'm hoping it's just not quite enough.

I think we're going to see the line of scrimmage stacked against the run, with other teams daring us to beat them with the pass. Just like we've gotten used to in the past with crap QB's. Sad part is it works pretty good for our opponents for the most part. Just keep repeating "it's a rebuilding year, it's a rebuilding year" to numb the pain.

I agree. EJ has not proven he is a franchise QB yet. We all want him to be, but he may not improve as much as we hope/think he will, or worse, prove to be injury prone (hmm why would anyone think that is possible...). I don't see what's wrong with a real competition for starting QB, and Josh Freeman is a more proven QB than the others mentioned.

It seems like most of this thread is oriented around the assumption that EJ Manuel is unquestionably the long term answer to our QB concerns: -Worries about whether the guy we bring in will somehow ruin him if he's not a good example of what a QB should be (btw who's his "example" now?) -assertions that the decision is not that big a deal because we'll only need this guy for a few weeks this year -suggestions that this is a rebuilding year where wins don't matter The problem I see with that assumption: Manuel hasn't really proven anything yet, as far as long term capability as a franchise QB. Granted he gets the benefit of the doubt as he's a rookie and learning, but more importantly,he has not come close to proving that he will have the durability for that role. For those reasons it would seem prudent to consider that we need a backup QB that MIGHT be an alternative answer as a starter. I think that was the thinking all along with Kolb, but it didn't pan out. It damn sure isn't Tuel. Freeman (or maybe even Young) at least give us the plausible potential of being a starter. You can't immediately write off either, as both have "extenuating circumstances" in their histories.

One could always dream (not much different from today) Well for the last several years, that's not been much worse than a 2x annual matchup between Buffalo and Miami.

Playoffs? Did you say PLAYOFFS?

Hmmm. Maybe they executed because they were packed with Hall of Famers and Pro Bowlers. Lack of talent is probably our biggest issue. No quick fixes are in sight.

I just want to see evidence of an ability for the coaching staff to adapt to real world conditions. So the hurry up worked for Marrone at Syracuse. Great, but this ain't college. It's natural for him to want to hang on to his belief that the players will grow into it, but how long will he persist with it before he comes to his senses? As others have posted, the hurry up is tough on the QB (even seasoned ones) but also makes it extremely hard on your defense as they get much less rest than normal. Perhaps it contributes to defensive injuries too? Slow it down Marrone!

The updated mock draft on the Bleacher report has the following for QB's (which takes into account our Kolb signing): Looks like Nassib's stock is rising and they don't expect him to still be there at pick 8. If he IS still there, I bet the Bills snag him.#2 pick Geno Smith to the Jags #4 pick EJ Manuel to the Eagles #7 pick Nassib to the Cards #8 pick Matt Barkley to the Bills. I'd rather have Nassib than Barkley - at least he has proven the ability to play in the cold. I think of Barkley as a warm weather southern cal surfer dude i.e. Rob Johnson...

Obviously they can't run the commericals as the advertisers want them ran during the game. So we have this odd "commercial free" nearly 1/2 hour period where the announcers have to ad lib. I think they ran out of things to say 20 minutes ago. We're even getting replays of the outage.

Shannon just said "I want to know who's responsible for paying the power bill at the stadium". He adds so much to the broadcast.

True - UGA would have mopped up Notre Dame too.

Good question. When the number 1 BCS team is a 10 point underdog to the number 2 team, something is seriously wrong. And the error obviously was not on the part of the odds-makers.

Great! We can lock up all the best Syracuse players (and coordinators), from a Big East team, one of the weakest conferences in college ball. We might do pretty good if we were going to play in the Big East. Seriously I pray he doesn't do that as it would indicate he is blinded by prior relationships, and incapable of looking at the big picture. I'll reserve judgement on the guy til we see what he can do. I do hope we get lucky (if you spin the wheel a hundred times there is a chance you land on a Belichick). And we've been spinning the wheel a lot. But please, spare me the sales job that he turned around a Syracuse team. Big Whoop. Now that the decision is done all we can do is hope for the best.

I want Lovie, but I think we're gonna get Whisenhunt. Because Whaley knows him (and that's so important, you know, like Levy knew Jauron). This from Whaley: "We go way back. We won some Super Bowls together so I have high regard for his coaching acumen" said Whaley. "Personally I know him and we'll see what happens. I know he's got a lot of opportunities. We haven't decided. We still have to figure out what we're going to do, but I can provide some insight on how he performed when I was with him." His record does not impress me. Had two good (improving) years w the Cards, other than that, it's a lot like the Bills (sad and uninspiring). 2007 8-8 2008 9-7 2009 10-6 2010 5-11 2011 8-8 2012 5-11 If we end up w Whisenhunt, I'll be sick - would rather have stayed w Gailey and that ain't saying much.

I agree. Get Lovie before he gets snatched up. Whisenhunt would be a slap in the face for Bills fans.

Yeah, it's kind of sad when you're relegated to cheering for (and lamenting) the ex-Bills that were supposedly washed up and continue to play well. We wouldn't even be going there though if the Bills had given anything serious to cheer for the last few x few years.

We'll be lucky if we get Lovie. His record with the Bears (below), with no superstar quaterbacks, has been something we'd have loved to have had over the last 8 years. Plus he always has a great defense and I yearn to see that again with the Bills (a hallmark of the Wade Phillips years.) ..."Smith, who posted an 80-63 regular-season mark since 2004, and a 6-3 record in the postseason, had just three losing records in his tenure with the organization -- 5-11 in his first season, and two 7-9 seasons."

My input is not about the play calling specifically, just about something Chan said after the game: 'It is great to win. I do not care how you do it. I do not care how you get it. It is hard to win in this league. It was great to have it on national TV and in front of a great crowd that was really into the ball game. It was great for our organization, for our football team and for everybody involved. You cannot downplay the significance of a win like that. So it was good, but it is one. We know what is ahead of us and what has got to be done.' "It is hard to win in this league" Isn't that the Dick Jauron quote everyone loved to hate on? Chan = DJ2?

Maybe he looked so good before because the Texans were a much better defensive unit as a whole, so he didn't get so much attention. They seem to still be playing some pretty good D without him.

2-2. Let's see - San Fran and Arizona next = 2-4. We'll lose against NE later in the year too = 2-5. Worst possible record needed to get into the playoffs is 9-7, so for the other games we'd need to go 7-2. I'm probably preaching to the choir here but I just don't see it happening. UNLESS - something great happens, and we have a season opposite of last year - this time starting out sucky and ending fantastic. I'll reserve some hope for that, as the fat lady has not sung yet.

Not looking forward to it. To think just 3 weeks ago we were 5-2 with visions of grandeur in the form of a tough home win against the Jets, a likely win against the Cowboys, and a sure win against Miami. Yes, there seemed a good chance we'd be 8-2 by now and sitting pretty. Then came the freefall...5-3, 5-4, 5-5, and to your point, probably 5-6, with all playoff hopes and dreams of being one of those worst to first stories already well down the drain. It was all too good to be true (and deep inside we knew it).

Well apparantly we can't. Defense is looking sad but the O is looking even worse. Pathetic. So glad we signed Fits to the contract, man he's just been superlative these last 3 games. LOL.

Three weeks ago I was thinking this one was a lock for the Bills. Now I'm not so sure either, a lot has changed. One thing is for sure we NEED this win. I figure it will be a close game, and am keeping my fingers crossed that we can shake off this funk. 6-4 would feel ok, 5-5 (after being 5-2) would suck.

Agreed. They had just stopped the Saints on the prior possession, but now they lack all confidence that they could possibly do that again? You punt it to them, you've got plenty of field to get your needed stop. Maybe you don't and they score, that's the risk, but you likely get several chances for stops. Instead, you gamble it all on one play, because if you don't get the first - you hand them the win with a big bow-tie on top. Bone-head move.