BuffOrange

Freeman is one thing but count me out on White & Dixon; they stink. If they're significant upgrades from Tuel then what's the excuse for going in to the season with a backup you're terrified of having to play...or did they change their mind after a bad quarter?

I don't read Easterbrook anymore but one of his few good points used to be how pointless it is to predict scores. If you wanted to be right more often than everyone you would just pick the home team to win every game 20-17. But if you chose not to do that, 13-9 seems perfectly reasonable for this game.

So basically you're getting Richardson for nothing. What was the question?

Right on.

And mediocre the other 16 games.

3 and 3.5 were the only possible lines.

They're a lot like the Bills in that they have enough good players to be a good team if their QB is good. And like the Bills it's too early to say if the QB will be good or not. 'Devoid of weapons other than Gordon & Cameron'....I mean, that's enough if your QB is good. Most teams don't have a triplet of receiving threats like Atlanta & Denver have. I don't know what the Colts would've done without Richardson's 20 for 60 vs the mighty Jags.

Why are you saying this like it's controversial.

Megatron lost the ball at the end. Woods had it in 1hand and dropped it on purpose to jump in the stands the same way David Nelson did on the game winner vs Oakland a couple yrs ago. Whether the slight shifting of the ball before that qualifies as losing control and being conclusive that it does is something that would probably be interpreted differently by different refs. Not an egregiously bad call but I think it's generally about a 35% shot that gets reversed against the home team. Meh.

Ya Smith doesn't throw downfield but it's not like Bowe is a Mike Wallace type of WR. It's possible his slow start is a bit of a fluke. Dropping him is ridiculous.

This is not close to veto worthy.

Is anyone asking for an elite team this year? There's elite, there's mediocre, and then there's losing by a TD to the Jets despite a +2 turnover edge and a billion penalties in our favor.

Who cares if he doesn't? It's not a big gamble since you're never playing EJ over Wilson anyway. I would make this deal. You're getting useful depth @RB which is hard to come by this yr without giving up a stud plus a sizable QB upgrade.

Now this is a totally valid complaint. Probably the first situation of the year where it's a clear tactical error to not adjust to down/distance/clock (not 6min's left & a 1pt lead vs the Pats). Not a good sign that Hackett was so stubborn (and Marrone didn't get in his ear). In a way they're fortunate that EJ & Rodgers were bad enough so it didn't cost them the game but it easily could have in a league where so many games are decided by 3pts.

They squeaked into the playoffs because they where incredibly unlucky with a ton of injuries & played a brutal schedule. Lost @Chicago in OT, shut out the Jets on the road, outplayed and lost @ATL & @NE because they failed to cover kickoff returns. This is all why they were only a tiny underdog @ a 13-3 Falcons team and favored vs the Bears & Steelers. It's also why they went 15-1 the next year. It's not because they reinvented themselves and had 1 good rushing game vs a pedestrian Philly D. Although it's great that you move the goalposts with new arbitrary criteria on rookie postseason history and "hey the RB who played the most postseason games had the most yards!" after the lie about running the ball well in Atlanta/Chicago gets shot down.

This game is a fine choice. Really all of the playoff wins vs them are up there. The '90 game for the above reasons. '92 because there was also lots of trash talk from them & it was in their house. '95 because it was a foregone conclusion they were going to the SB with Eric Greene & Keith Byers and the Bills run was supposedly to be over. Damn the stupid "just give it to 'em" NE ref or we'd be 4-0 vs them in the playoffs.

Bill Barnwell had them winning the division. I think their O/U before the season was like 8, so the odds weren't as great as you'd think and they certainly can't be good now. it's definitely the least surprising 2-14 team ever. Yes, there is a ton of value in having an average QB/HC when you previously had guys in those spots who were terrible. It's more significant than the difference between average and 'pretty good' imo.

Harbaugh is the best for almost winning it all with this guy. He makes checkdown Trent look like Dan Fouts.

And muffing 2 punts and the lame Bradshaw "non-fumble".

In this thread we point to the Vikings wildly successful 10-6 season & the Packers colossal 15-1 failure to make our point about the importance of RB's. Also James Starks who was approximately the 103rd best RB in the league. Without him they might've had to settle for the Buff. St. RB to get them 3YPC after the Philly game.

For sure. I'm even gambling on Ball getting some work in that game but I'm super desperate now that Bradshaw is useless.

Love how he decided on the 2pointer ahead of time. Waste a timeout there and we lose.

Thanks. The Browns & Colts point spreads haven't even moved. That's pretty much all you need to know as far as how much RB's matter. The FF thing would be cool except I picked all lottery ticket RB's for depth after Bradshaw. Something like a 4th rounder for Ben Tate would've been a much better deal for the Colts & me, ha.

It'll be interesting to see if Joe Haden comes down with a mysterious injury after they accidentally win a game.

Ya definitely have to play Colston & bench Gordon I think. Think I'd go with Stevie but it's super close. Not sure I'm objective 'cause I actively avoided Austin & somehow got burned by his 4yards & 2 garbage TD's last week so I kinda hate him.