sullim4

I'm sticking by my 7-9 prediction from here. We beat one of SF or MIA. We lose to one of SF or MIA, plus NYJ, DEN, and NE. I haven't been sold on this team yet.

Did anyone else notice that Schonert was in the press box today? I wonder if he was better equipped to make in-game adjustments up there. Jauron gets credit for going for it on 4th and goal at the 1 on our first (was it our first?) drive. That's a marked departure from what I would have expected him to do. If he keeps doing that I won't blame him if we don't come away with points. Trent was a completely different quarterback. I don't know if it was the play action passing, Josh Reed, or the side of the bed he got up on, but he somehow turned it back on. Everyone has bad stretches. If he can play consistently across the next 3-4 games I think we can call what we saw a slump and move on. Otherwise, Bills Nation has serious reasons to be worried.

It's a possibility but I don't think it's the likely outcome. Likely losses: @NYJ @DEN NE 50/50: MIA in Toronto @KC SF I have as little confidence as anyone of this team's ability to pull it together and win, but unless they completely bottom out I don't see a 5-11 future. I think 7-9 is a lot more likely.

On a similar topic... I never really understood stuffy/stringent dress codes for white collar workers who have little to no customer contact. I mean really, do people do their best work when they're wearing suits and ties? I just can't envision myself in a suit writing code on a daily basis. I show up to work in sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt, and no one cares (since everyone else does the same). I'm a lot more apt to stay later, be more comfortable and productive, and be happier if I'm not wearing wingtips and a tie. I've noticed a lot of this is regional. I recall during one of my internships in Connecticut that we weren't even allowed to wear jeans to the office in advance of a department picnic later that afternoon. Yet in the west, I've seen no one bat an eyelash when someone shows up to work in pajama pants.

That would apply if there ever were good times. For many younger fans, there simply haven't. I have the tail end of the Super Bowl years to hang onto, so I suppose I'm somewhat lucky.

No, the Bills would not have a home playoff game. The Pats* have a better division record than the Bills, so they'd be given the division championship. The Bills would be a wild card team.

McGee gets a pass from me because he was clearly playing hurt out there. Royal OTOH should be cut - go with Schouman and see what happens. He is not an NFL-caliber player. O-Line play was dismal at best.

NY only has reciprocal point agreements with Ontario and Quebec (http://www.nysdmv.com/license.htm) . You won't get any points on your NH license for any convicted offenses in NYS. I tend to agree - unless you want to haul yourself back to NYS, just pay the ticket. You will take a hit on your insurance premiums but that's what comes with the territory.

I'll be honest - I really like your blog. There's a lot of good, original material there, and it's a nice hybrid between news and opinion. I think another part of it is that Buffalo gets almost no national media attention, so for someone at ESPN to actually be covering the Bills on a regular basis is something to get excited about. Add to that the general negative feelings that most Buffalo fans have for ESPN's more recognized journalists/pundits (Mort and Clayton in particular), and you have yourself a winner. Keep up the good work!

Yeah I have to agree. I'm 24, having followed the Bills pretty religiously since 1993-ish. Dolphins meant more during the '90s, but the 'hate' has really faded since Shula and Marino left. The Patriots* are without question the team I hate the most... probably exacerbated by the fact that I saw the 56-10 drubbing in person last year.

We wanted a guy who could win in dogfights - he is who we thought he was!

OH boy. Here we go! Who bites?

JetBlue uses the NYC CBS feed... and since NYC is not getting this game, they will not be showing it.

We get Gumbel/Dierdorf. We all know how much dear old Dan loves the Bills. Nantz and Sims are going to Green Bay: http://www.sportsline.com/cbssports/story/11020753 I'll also say that as far as the Chargers go, their performance is exactly what I wanted to have happen. NE loses big, they're on an emotional high, and next week they go to London. Buffalo, having lost to the Cardinals big, will hopefully look like a pushover for them.

72.65.1.186 That's the IP of the wiki poster who "broke" this info. It's a Verizon IP issued to someone in Buffalo... hmm....

This team has been lacking a legitimate pass catching TE since Jay Riemersma left. This particular upgrade is LONG OVERDUE.

Personally I was expecting to come out of this game with a loss. Anyone who was actually expecting a win was kidding themselves given the Cards' recent circumstances. It seemed like every pass Warner threw, no one in the secondary was within 20 ft of the receiver. Perhaps the Cardinal WRs are that good, but it happened over and over and over again. Losing McGee seemed to have caused a lot more pain in this area than I think a lot of people had anticipated. It's like we couldn't cover slants. Tackling, as in other games, was exceptionally poor imo. You can get away with these things when playing against a team missing its core WRs, or two poor offenses, but against a decent team like Arizona, you're going to get burned and they did get burned, quite badly. Losing the game was not JP's fault, but man what a horrible quarterback. He still hasn't learned to throw the ball away, leading to sacks, fumbles, and interceptions. If you watch his head, he's still locking into receivers as he has done for the past several years. The fact that he was mismanaged so badly by this franchise has, imo, led to his poor attitude toward the coaching staff (i.e. walking away from Schonert while he's in essence chewing him out) and overall bad attitude. The true test will come in two weeks. San Diego at home after a bye is not a cakewalk, but it's definitely winnable. Heading into divisional play, it will be somewhat important to get a win and guarantee at least a tie for the division lead. Hopefully they will learn from what happened today and will seek redemption. One thing worries me though... how will Trent's sense of timing in the pocket be affected by this injury? Will he be more cautious, will he be a bit jumpy back there, or will he be just fine?

Jack needed 2 dishes because he was an SD customer that required locals from the 72.5 degree orbital location. Lyngsat works wonders: http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa72.html

Wow, New Paltz is the closest place to Poughkeepsie that has a backers club? I always had a tough time growing up there and being a Bills fan but I didn't know I was that rare... If you're near Vassar, you might want to try Juliet Billiards... I don't remember if they have the ticket or not. Hoe Bowl (up on Taft Ave) I do know has it, but yeah, not exactly a great place to watch a game...

It's channel 703 on DirecTV. They try to show you the most "interesting" game at the moment. The beauty of it is that you see ZERO commercials.

That is not true. "Free" TV stations have the right to charge for retransmission, and most do. The ones that don't are subject to FCC "must carry" rights. Almost all networks that are affiliates of the major networks ask for a fee from cable and satellite companies. However, LIN are a bunch of SOBs. DirecTV had a lot of trouble trying to acquire the rights to air their HD networks - took them almost a year to do so. Charter, Comcast, and Dish Network have at some point had trouble negotiating with them. While I dislike cable companies, I think you can safely blame LIN on this one.

Do you honestly think Donahoe would have renegotiated his contract mid-season, making him one of the highest paid WRs in the NFL? I highly doubt it, regardless of whether or not he drafted him.

Tremendous news. And I totally agree with Graham on the Peters point. He'd have gotten his payday if he just showed up to camp and backed up his mouth with a solid work ethic. Instead he's gotten nothing, and likely won't get anything in the near future unless he puts up a string of stellar performances. I thank the lord every day that Tom Donahoe isn't at OBD anymore.

Question: Will us winning to 2 (possibly 3) NFC teams hurt us in winning the division? Should we lose to the Pats to compensate?

For its brevity? Its positive outlook? Or both?