Georgia Bill

I know this falls into the misery loves company category, but ain't it nice that the Cowboys are only 1 win better than us Megamillion dollar stadium, talk pre-season of them being in a home Super Bowl. Talk about a let down...

With back to back games going to overtime, and against a couple of pretty decent, playoff contender teams, it's hard to say the Bills are not showing improvement. It sucks to have lost them both, especially given the chances to win, but I don't think it fair to say the Bills are a really bad team because they lost these last two when they had chances to win. They're far from perfect, but what's encouraging to me is they are obviously giving it everything they've got, and they're not folding up their tents at the slightest sign of adversity. Frankly, I find it hard to imagine this team going winless. I expect they'll get 3-4 wins. That still makes it sound like they're really bad, but if they can go 3-6 or 4-5 for their last 9 games, and be competitive in them all, I'd call it progress. The last two games have been fun to watch (waaaaay better than with Trent). With the right improvements on D we'd be a force to contend with. As it stands, based upon how we've played the last couple of weeks, I bet the teams coming up aren't licking their chops to play us.

Wow, way to make lemons out of grapes. This was the best performance by a Bills QB in a long, long time. Nothing to be negative about. As long as we are getting better, in at least one critical part of the game, I (and many other fans) will have hope, not hate. Do I think we've turned the corner? No. Will we still have some bad offensive games? Yes. But there is at least a little room for optimism. Give credit where credit is due... Way to go Fitz! Great Game!!

Seems to me this is about the least likely chance for us to have an upset (aka a win) this year. Ravens stifling D against our weak, inconsistent offense. Our spineless D against Ravens ball control power offense. This could be ugly.

Bills make fans sadder Gailey's 0-fer count rolls on Hope's low in B-LO

I was about 4 when Ron McDole moved into the house a few doors down from us on Grand Island. I just remember he was really big, and my Dad told me that's because he's a football player for the Buffalo Bills. I remember asking "what's football?". My first introduction to the game ensued. After that I started watching some of the games, learning rules, etc. For a kid, it was pretty neat, like we had a celebrity in the neighborhood.

The sad part is that's likely very true

It's quite possible that's part of our problem. We probably could've got more impact with other positions. To some that's stating the obvious...

If he was starting to look like a locker room cancer, I agree, BB would decide the team is better off ridding themselves of him early. He most certainly wasn't going to be with them next year so they do the deal a little early. One thing the Pat's are very good at is getting rid of older talent while it still has a pretty good trade value. BB does not let himself get too attached to aging superstars, he puts the team first.

I think there's a different angle on your number Two. It's called venting. It's something people do when they are pissed off about something they can't control. To me, it's natural to see it in this forum when the product on field is so abysmal. Let's face it, at a time like this you can't REALLY expect to see the majority of posts expressing confidence and optimism. We're still fans. We still hope for wins, and improvement. We're not seeing it now so we talk about that. No biggie...

or.. Keep it like they did Ted's Hot Dogs, Keep it like they did Delaware Park, Keep it like they did Shea's Theatre, Keep it like they did Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Kleinhan's Music Hall. Keep it like they did Mighty Taco. It's a freaking Buffalo tradition. It can't just "End".

...and scorched us with a couple deep bomb TD throws

Reminds me of the same decision made several years back when we were playing Pittsburgh's back ups. Late in the season, and we might have made the playoffs w a win. Instead, bone head decision to kick instead of receive. They proceed to score. Now that's how you get the crowd into it. The sad part is these silly decisions don't even irk me anymore.

Call me crazy, but I think there's a good chance we upset the Jets! Go Bills!

Agreed, back in that period of despair, it seemed one simple thing would have elated us fans - a win against Miami. Another poster suggested we are approaching that level of futility with our 14 losses against NE. I have to say, (and I hope we don't see it), but IF we get to 20 straight losses against NE, with no winning seasons or playoffs between now and then, we would be approaching the point where we'd be able to start making the case that we were in the worst years. We ain't there yet though.

That's what killed it for me. I just totally lost any hope that he was going to be able to lead a succesful offense, no matter how much time or coaching he received. No guts no glory.

I hear ya. Back then the wins and the seasons leading up to the Super Bowls were awesome - unquestionably the best ever as a Bills fan. But there is no denying those SB losses stung the most. It did take a loooong time for us to get to that place. Now that so many years of additional suckdom have passed, it is almost more painful, recognizing how very hard it was to get to that place, and how very far away from it we are now. Sometimes I wonder if Kelly & Company in that first SB could somehow have seen a glimpse of the future on that last drive, of how close they'd come, and how tough all the next ones would be, that they would have somehow found a way to dig just a little deeper, and get just a little closer for Norwood. Maybe not, but who knows? At any rate those years were clearly filled with higher highs and lower lows. Now, the hope flame is burning kind of low, and unfortunately, most of us are back to the pre Kelly years, kind of getting numb to the losses, and trying to take some comfort in the little things. Problem I've got is those little things keep getting littler. They were things like winning some games, the hope of getting past .500, picking up some needed talent, things like that. I found myself feeling kind of good about how well we played NE last week in another expected loss. As I reflect on that, I can't help but feel that taking comfort in the little things that keep getting littler is kind of sad. Especially when you guys bring up the memories of the closest thing to glory days we may ever have as fans. That said, I will always be a fan, and hope to see a SB win before I leave this green earth.

What's acceptable to me, is seeing a QB actually throw the ball down field. It is simply amazing how much that helps every other facet of the offense. The opponents can't just crowd everybody up on the line to stuff the run, and they have to pay attention to the whole field, not just 5 yards from the line of scrimmage. And thus the offensive line even looks better. I don't like interceptions, especially ones that potentially cost us the game, but I'll TAKE them over the horribly inept offense we've been watching with Trent at QB.

You know, it's kind of a slow process for these coaches we bring in. First they think they can work with the guy who was the starter, and they want to give that some time. Eventually coach realizes that's not cutting it, and they're taking heat, so they start the backup. Then, let's see... the backup gets hurt so we're back to the original starter. He shows some "spark" once back in the saddle so coach has some renewed hope. Then he slowly flames out again, but not all at once mind you - there's some sorta decent games mixed in, just enough to give coach some hope. By about then it's near the end of the season and coach is still wondering about the backup, maybe they didn't give him enough time under center. What they don't ever seem to figure out is WE NEED an O-LINE! At least Gailey's taking step one faster than most. Let's hope he's a quick learner with a nose for talent and has influence on draft and trade decisions.

Exactly. It seems other teams learned last year all they need to do is stack the box against the run, and dare Trent to beat 'em with his arm. More times than not it was a great strategy for our opponents. It seems like groundhog day to me. The end of the game was just embarassing. Two offensive chances, 7 downs (not counting the intentional safety), and not a single throw to be proud of. I was getting so frustrated I was yelling at the TV "throw the damn ball!". It's like Trent was waiting for the perfect chance, and not understanding that he needed to be in do or die mode! Damn, if you're going to go down, at least go down swinging...

I'd have to have the memory of the Miami game wiped from my memory. Then I'd be entering this game with the same misguided optimism I had prior to that game. That somehow everything about our team had improved from last year and we were going to kick off the season with an "in your face naysayers" upset win.

Let's also remember, the Skins played like crap last year, and they've had no time to jell. If we look this bad against a crap team, I can't wait to see how bad we look against the good teams. Ouch!

Yeah, that's a bright spot, nice to see

He's playing the "homer" announcer role. On and on about the Skins. Well they said at a break "this is Washington Redskins football sponsored by blah blah blah, so I guess that is to be expected.

Ill second Ted and Pat. With them we had some awesome run stuffers, and pretty highly ranked defenses. Plus they went on to have many more productive years. Ah, the good old days, when our defense could actually come up with the needed stops late in the game...