nodnarb

The number of times they've had a bye before meeting us has to be statistically significant. I see no other pairing so consistently handed to any team. Someone in that schedule office likes this arrangement. It's happened enough times to warrant suspicion.

16-0!

And the Sabre Slug looked like a Buffalo, too. I see preppy crew neck, not horns. Looks ridiculous.

I'd love these new uniforms if the made the full collar blue. But now they look so awkward - where the blue meets the white with the red and dark blue stripe on the collar - that's a design disaster and I'd like to tackle the Bills rep that said "Yeah, okay." Our uni is now an outlier in that it's the only one that looks like the player is wearing a crew neck shirt straight out of 1985 underneath the jersey. It's embarrassing how bad this one aspect of the design is. http://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/Bills-Focus-Nike-Jerseys-Unveiled/e5da81f7-a596-40f8-bd92-2a26a680cbe8

Overdesigned, as usual.

Sigh. Looks like a preppy crew neck. I knew they'd find a way to F it up.

Wow, already on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Meachem

Ha, turns out this is true. What a DLine we'd have with this guy in the mix.

Unreal. The level of thought around here must be at an all-time low. Gailey is a great playcaller. Comparing those two stats shouldn't lead to a surprsing result - we were playing catch up constantly and Kelly rarely had to.

This thread title is dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Dumb. When Troup's back is finally healthy, it will look even dumber.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous and ignorant posts I've seen in a while. He has played 3 positions on the line and has played them all well. He has spent most of his time at the nose and has absolutely been an impact player. Notice how many double teams he gets - even when he had an injured arm earlier in the season. Gailey has been asked about his play several times and always says he's one of the guys they don't worry about because he's always doing his job well. You're comparing three drafts picks at much sexier positions; QB, OLB, and WR. You're comparing their production to a nose tackle who lost his two best linemates before the season even started? Nose tackles don't show up much on the stat sheet but if you're holding up against double teams you're doing your job. Dareus has been as solid a rookie NT as you're likely to see, and in the coming years I'm sure he'll make your post look even dumber.

She's...not ugly.

Sour Plays, Sour Excuse-Making: In the run-up to Redskins versus Bills in Toronto, Washington coaches cried woe-is-me to the sports press about having five starters out injured, including the starting left tackle. Bills coaches made no complaints, though Buffalo entered the game with four starters out injured, including the first- and second-string left tackles. Buffalo shut Washington out 23-0. The Bills recorded nine sacks against the Skins, despite entering the contest with only four sacks on the season. After the game, Mike "The Ultimate Leader" Shanahan complained about being plagued by injuries. But then Washington, D.C., is all about excuse-making. Bills leading 13-0 in the third quarter, Buffalo faced third-and-1 on the Washington 15. Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, who's done a fair amount of excuse-making himself, had both safeties, LaRon Landry and O.J. Atogwe, close to the line anticipating run. Just before the snap veteran middle linebacker London Fletcher realized he was the deepest man on the field and pointed at Buffalo tight end Scott Chandler, whom the Bills have been sending deep and who, to that point, had five touchdown receptions on the season. At the snap Landry, the strong safety, completely ignored Chandler going deep. Soon the gentleman had six touchdown receptions on the season. ---- Fight Fiercely Harvard! Last week Ryan Fitzpatrick became one of the first Ivy League graduates ever to come out ahead on tuition costs. (The Ivies do not give athletic scholarships, though many athletes receive regular financial aid.) Last week TMQ noted the Bears' uncomfortable contract situation with Matt Forte. The Bills face an uncomfortable contract situation with undrafted TMQ favorite Fred Jackson, who's fourth in the league in rushing and second in yards from scrimmage. Jackson arrived at Bills training camp from the Rhein Fire. Two years ago, he signed a four-year, $8 million deal, which at the time was generous. Jackson has dramatically "outperformed his contract," but that agreement lasts through the 2012 season, after which he will be 32 years old and be lucky to command the veteran minimum on the free-agent market. To top it off, Jackson earns less than high first-round draft choice tailback C.J. Spiller, whom he's keeping nailed to the bench. Financially, Buffalo is poised to get what's left from Jackson's body at a low price in professional sports terms. Invisible-hand logic would say to use Jackson up and throw him away. Why pay more to a guy who's bound by a contract he cannot break? But chemistry matters in football, as does appeasement of the football gods. If the Bills want their feel-good season to continue, they need to offer Jackson some improvement to his deal. ------- Blown Coverage Watch: Nearly halfway into the regular season, the blown-coverages problem has declined as certain forecasters said it would. But the problem has not disappeared. Early in the Detroit at Denver game, Titus Young of the Lions ran a go. Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey simply watched him roar past. Not one, not two, but three defensive backs on the play side covered Detroit tight end Tony Scheffler short. No one at all covered Young as he raced to the end zone and caught an uncontested 41-yard touchdown pass. [+] Enlarge Andy Lyons/Getty Images The Tennessee cheerleaders always take the Halloween costumes prize. In the Washington-Buffalo game, the Bills went empty with tailback C.J. Spiller split wide. This confused the Skins' coverage, though Buffalo has been splitting tailbacks wide all year. Spiller was open deep and drew a desperation 34-yard pass interference penalty. Bills leading 10-3, ball on their 31 with 34 ticks showing before the intermission, again Buffalo went empty, this time with tailback Fred Jackson split wide. Again the Skins looked confused. Jackson drew only linebacker coverage, despite Washington having a dime on the field, and his 46-yard reception set up a field goal as time expired. Enforcement of rules against helmet-to-helmet hit is not causing blown coverages! http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7175444/tmq-says-defenses-solidified-slowed-early-season-nfl-offensive-explosion

Meh. Lost me at "who we be"

The refs are handing this game to the jets and it's driving me crazy. It's so obvious that there's a bias sometimes. They want the Jets in the mix. Or it's a coincidence and they're just making all sorts of bad calls in favor of the Jets and not calling anything that favors SD. What a joke.

Who the hell cares? I mean, besides the type of people who are eager to shout "maybin sucks!" while he's a bill only to scream "why did we cut him?" when he's not... the subject of aaron maybin brings out dialog straight from a romper room.

maybe tim graham should have also pointed out that maybin only got on the field in garbage time, when the fins were in obvious and futile passing situation, and he didn't have a blocker in front of him. show me video of maybin shedding a block and making a play, or beating a guard or tackle in a play that matters. there is no video, i'm guessing there won't be any. Yes, really.

Sigh. I guess hoping isn't enough. That's 3-7-8. Haiku: 5-7-5

Hopefully, this week nobody will have to point out that a haiku is 5-7-5. And hopefully, nobody will have to point out that by 5-7-5, we mean syllables. And hopefully nobody will have to define syllable. That said, Bell and Kelsay out Not feeling it this week but 3 and 2: not bad Eagles: 38 Bills: 30 (I know, I know...I just don't like the matchup and the timing of it.) O my god...I didn't see this before I posted. Unreal...! Seriously, I can't believe how strange that is that we'd have the same theme and nearly EXACT third line. Pretty cool.

...in terms of coaching and strategy...this is also what sells tickets, a point not lost on the NFL... "In other football news, the Patriots have the league's leading offense, averaging an Arena League-like 507 yards per game. Last year, New England was the NFL's highest-scoring team. In 2007, the Patriots set the NFL record for points in a season. Yet Bill Belichick cut his teeth as a defensive zealot. His big break was as defensive coordinator for the Bill Parcells Super Bowl Giants, a grind-it-out defensive team. As head coach in Cleveland, Belichick emphasized defense. Now he's an offensive wizard, while the Patriots rank last in the NFL in defense. Impostor, tell me where the real Bill Belichick is and what you've done with him! The New England coach is nothing if not analytical, and realized -- especially with the past decade of rule changes intended to favor offense -- that defense-oriented teams sometimes win but high-scoring teams almost always win. There are coaches who strategize to come out ahead in a low-scoring defensive struggle. For the past five years, Belichick has been strategizing to spin the scoreboard. The Patriots under Belichick are now 62-3 when scoring at least 30 points. A high-scoring team almost always wins, so Belichick has undergone a religious conversion, from defense to offense. For five seasons, Belichick has been using a shotgun-spread offense, mostly from the no-huddle, because recent experience shows this puts up the most points. Against a no-huddle offense, the defense can't substitute, and since playing defensive line is more tiring than playing offensive line, in the second half, the Patriots' O-line takes over. Despite 163 pass attempts, New England has allowed just four sacks -- a tired, disorganized opposition is a reason. And Belichick has been studying the playbooks of great offensive teams of the past, including Bill Walsh's. On Sunday, the Patriots rolled out a favorite Walsh play, a double fake. Tom Brady pump-faked a screen pass left, then rapidly play-faked a draw, then threw down the middle to Deion Branch for a touchdown. Steve Young was a master of the double fake. In the current NFL, only Brady and Drew Brees run this action consistently. Right now the league's five highest-scoring teams -- Green Bay, Detroit, New England, Buffalo and New Orleans -- are a combined 17-3. None of these teams are in the top 10 for defense. In the modern game, high-scoring is the surest path to victory." http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7056133/tmq-says-nfl-comebacks-losing-team-lost-lead

Nah. They had a young, egomaniac douchebag coach who was over his head and didn't understand personnel management. He also had an easy schedule to that point. The Bills might lose their momentum, but not like that. I see a 9 win minimum and a real possibility of 12-4.

Our defense is likely to be the reason we win this game, and I expect that the Bengals D will give us problems that we haven't had yet. I expect to be sacked a few times, some TFLs, and a couple picks. Nobody will have the gaudy stats of the previous 3 games. This is the best D we've faced yet. But probably the weakest offense. Bills: 24, with the ball at the end into the V formation Halloweens: 17

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7023615/tmq-says-history-being-made-detroit-lions-buffalo-bills-rise Excerpt: An ideal outcome for the 2011 NFL season would be for two underdog teams from fading old-industry cities to meet in the Super Bowl. From now on, a Buffalo-Detroit Super Bowl is what this column is rooting for. As TMQ noted last week, if Buffalo and Detroit met in the Super Bowl, "One of them would have to win -- I think." Sunday, Detroit overcame a 20-0 halftime deficit on the road. In consecutive weeks, Buffalo has overcome deficits of 21-3 and 21-0. Projecting this out, if Buffalo and Detroit met in the Super Bowl, the halftime score will be 0-0 and the final score will be 93-92 in overtime.

Right. And Chan is the guy who is not getting enough credit for this turnaround. Gailey is a real coach, not a soft pretender like Jauron or a tough-speak wannabe like Mularkey. We have a coach who understands situations, can coach on the fly, doesn't call plays that make any average idiot stand up off their coach and yell ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Gailey's play calling has been OUTSTANDING...and remember he has been successful offensively everywhere he has been. Gailey should be a top candidate for HC of the year, if we finish with only 10 wins he should get it - but we're headed for more than that, I believe.

That was the BEST 2nd half offense that I've seen from this team in over a DECADE. We have a real NFL offense. We are players. We are contenders. We have a coach who gets it. We should all be very happy about our head coach. We weren't good enough on defense but O my was that an incredible 2nd half offensive performance. We're for real, folks! Feels good, doesn't it? But I wish we'd blitz once or twice for god's sake...