BF_in_Indiana

I think we will. That's not overlooking them, I know they are good teams or they wouldn't have stuck out over 162 games.........doesn't mean I don't think we run them over though. That's just the confidence I have in MY team.

That's what it was like for me Rich last year. I was driving to Buffalo all the time for games. Seemed like the neverending drive!!!!

That's not exactly true. The Pirates are playing pretty decent ball this year and so were the Red until Griffey went out. Tampa Bay and Toronto are horrible. I'm not saying one division is better then the other but to say Tampa Bay and Toronto are better then the NL Central teams is a joke.

Two things. I wasn't overlooking the teams in the NL. I was just comparing my team to the two that we hear about here everyday. I get someone telling me that you shouldn't compare stats in the AL and NL because of DH, and then I'm told I made excuses for St. Louis even though the only thing I would say is that the AL should have better hitting numbers yet St. Louis is very close in all catagories. My honest opinion is that we run over the NL........call it overlooking, I call it confidence.

8-8??? Why would you throw that one in there, that's not exactly flattering. We could also throw in 1995 when we finished 10-6 or 1996 when we did the same thing. The truth is our line was weak in all 5 of those seasons. The 1995-1996 line was much better then the 1998-2000 line. If you remember right, Flutie got benched for RJ before the playoffs because of what??? The offense not moving the ball. This was the same line that couldn't surge ahead on the "4th and dumb" play against NY where we needed less then a yard to sew up that game. I totally agree with you, the skill players aren't making plays either. Everyone should be held accountable for their play and the line is certainly an issue. It doesn't matter to me where the guys are drafted. If they are 5th rounders and turn into good players that's what I'm looking for. The fact is though that taking one OL this year in the 7th round who was basically a project is not showing enough concern for an obviously weak area. We do the same thing with DE. Would you agree with this at all?

I'm not debating the skill players aren't making plays. It works both ways though. The line has to take responsibility when they don't do the job just as Drew does or anyone else. Would you agree however that the Bills have seriously failed to address the line since 1994?

Here are the important stats through today for these teams as we head to the postseason. I will state what I think they mean at the end. Batting Average Red Sox- .282 Cardinals- .277 Yankees- .270 In the AL you should be expected to have a higher team batting average due to the fact that the pitchers don't hit like they do in the NL. The fact that St. Louis is .07 points ahead of NY and just .05 points behind Boston points to St. Louis having a slight edge over these two teams in hitting. I would say a bigger margain over the Yankees then the Sox in this regard, but Boston is clearly better then NY hitting .12 points higher then NY. Runs Scored Red Sox- 893 Yankees- 872 Cardinals- 818 Runs can be a misleading stat. Clearly the Red Sox and Yankees have produced more runs and are very close themselves in this department but this can be a little misleading on two counts. In the NL the pitcher hits while the AL has a DH. This may also mean you have had a few nights with very high run totals to inflate those stats. It may also mean St. Louis has won a lot more close ballgames then the other two clubs have which is a little more valuable come postseason time. I would still give the run producing edge to the Red Sox and Yankees though. Home Runs Yankees- 234 Red Sox- 211 Cardinals- 209 Home runs in relation to runs scored says a lot about your team. The Yankees have the most homers yet only the second fewest runs. St. Louis has the fewest and the fewest runs while Boston has the second most and the most runs scored. This says Boston is better at producing runs without the longball then the other two clubs are. That bodes well in the postseason. The edge here goes to the Red Sox. Stolen Bases Cardinals- 107 Red Sox- 65 Yankees- 56 This also goes into the run production department. St. Louis is the clear winner here. This helps make up for the smaller run total as you aren't always looking for a long ball to make runs. The edge here goes to the Cardinals followed by Boston. ERA Cardinals- 3.69 Red Sox- 4.17 Yankees- 4.70 The Cardinals play in the NL so this is a tad misleading as well. The Yankees clearly get the worst of it here surrending a run more a game then St. Louis and a half a run a game more then Boston. I give the edge to St. Louis by a small margain over Boston but both are clearly better then the Yankees. Complete Games Boston- 4 Cardinals- 4 Yankees- 1 Complete games say quality pitching from your starters which is what you want. The Yankees have only one complete game while the Cards and Sox have 4 each. Those two even out here while the Yankees come up short. Saves Yankees- 56 Cardinals- 55 Red Sox- 33 Saves say a lot about your bullpen. The Cardinals and Yankees clearly have better bullpens then Boston which is crucial in October. I give the edge to NY here with Rivera. They can make it a 7 inning game if they get up on you. Boston is clearly last in this department. I give the edge to St. Louis in four of those categories, the Red Sox 3, and the Yankees 2. The Yankees get one extra point for thier 97 wins and probable division title giving them homefield int he playoffs. St. Louis gets an extra point also. So my final tally is St. Louis 5 points, Boston 3, and NY 3. I say it's a tossup between NY and Boston in the A.L with the winner playing St. Louis. It's about as objective as I can get here.

Sue why won't you just acknowledge the great team in St. Louis. I know it's tough to admit that anything good comes from the Midwest.......but jeez.

The LA Dodgers??? What are you smoking Sue???? I want some.

Doesn't matter my man..........history doesn't lie.

Thank you Sue, I try I'm not going to say Drew wasn't to blame for at least 3 of those sacks last Sunday, but that still leaves 4 sacks I pin on our line which isn't good. Travis Henry should be getting more then 75 yards on 23 carries.........that also points to the line. We have not seriously addressed the line problem since 1994. Sorry, but signing Joe Panox doesn't qualify as trying to build a rock solid line........ Like I said, it's a team sport, right now Drew isn't getting it done, the line isn't getting it done, Henry isn't getting it done, and Moulds sure as hell isn't getting it done........so take it for what I think it's worth, which isn't much sometimes.

Want to put 10 bucks on it JSP??? I need a shot at getting my cash back. Seeing that smirk in that picture makes me want to get my cash back.

Feeley just dropped back to pass and dropped the ball, it was so funny. The Fins could set another record this year by going 0-16.

Miami has 3 turnovers already. What a joke they are seriously.

I meant they weren't good enough to be in the Toilet Bowl!!!!

That's another thing the anti Bledsoe people don't want to acknowledge. If it wasn't for DREW BLEDSOE the Patriots wouldn't have been to the Super Bowl in 1996 and quite possibly in 2001. As I said, Drew certainly is a problem right now, but there are much bigger problems then him.

Great post Bill. The thing is, the anti Bledsoe contingent here wants to blame him for EVERYTHING that goes wrong. It's a team sport. If the line doesn't do their part up front that hinders Bledsoe from doing his part. That also hinders Travis Henry from doing his job, and the WR's to do theirs. We haven't SERIOUSLY addressed our offensive line in a long time. It's no suprise that our best years in the NFL came with an offensive line with 3 pro bowlers on it. We don't even have 3 TOILET BOWLERS on this line now.........

Impressive isn't it Frez??? The Big Bad Yankees don't scare fans in St. Louis.........that's for sure.

In New England I think the Pats don't make the playoffs with Bledsoe. In Philly I think they would have made the playoffs but probably not all three NFC title games. In Seattle I think he is as good as Hasslebeck. Seattle has a really good offensive line.

For all those World Titles the Yankees fans have spouted off about, the St. Louis Cardinals have beat the Yankees in the World Series 3 times compared to 2 for the Yankees. It's so comforting at night knowing that we have won 1/3 of our championships over the Yankees.

Great post Bill. I don't have a LOT of confidence with Bledsoe but our offensive line has sucked since 1994. I bet if we got the stats from every team in the NFL since 1994 we would be in the bottom 5 in sacks allowed over that time span. It's easy to blame Bledsoe when you see him on his back all the time........but that starts with the 2 seconds he gets to throw a lot of the time. You can get a pass off in 2 seconds if your recievers get open, ours don't usually do that though either.

I'm not "worried" about any of them. We could lose of course, but as far as how we match up with any of our potential opponents I think we are better then all of them.

Frez KC lost two from their O-Line I believe. I know they lost at least John Tait. That's 40 percent of their line. I might be wrong, it might have only been Tait they lost, but I thought they lost someone else.

I was just having fun with the Patsie troll. Actually on topic here, the officiating for the most part isn't the problem. The overall talent in the NFL has gone down and with the talent being spread out over so many teams there are going to be more bad players starting in the NFL. Just look at the Bills offensive line. They are a prime example of why there are so many penalties in the NFL.

You can leave it with whatever thought you want.......chowder head.