Heitz

Jon Bon Jovi is Buffalo's Jay-Z. Sounds about right...

Cuban is from Pittsburgh and has love for Buffalo - It's On Like a MoFo! I say we get Kelly, Cuban, Bon Jovi and a conglomerate of a 80's bands. Crue, Kiss, Poison, G'nF'nR - heck even Whitesnake and Cinderella! Let's do this!! I'm down for whatever it takes to keep the Bills in Buffalo...

Swoop. Swoop. Swag. Happy 5th! One, two, three, four fffffffffith!

Interesting one: "@JoeBuscaglia #Bills OC Nathaniel Hackett is calling plays from field level for the first time this season." Stoked - the game is on TV up here in VT!

Promo, you're welcome to join any of my client calls or status meetings with me and my boss - Maronne is far nicer than I... Also, ya'll crazy, I didn't get contention out of that interview - it was Doug trying to have a little fun and bust balls. Seemed fine to me!

I find it hard NOT to root for Fitz, he ain't "elite" but the guy plays with a ton of heart! Go bearded one...

Rich Gannon has said the same thing repeatedly - during the Stillers game and for the past few days on Sirius NFL Radio. He can't understand why the Bills don't just put EJ under center... Maybe this weekend!

John, don't you know practice doesn't make perfect? You're either naturally perfect, or you're a bust I'm amazed that everyone is ignoring EJ being out, especially since we hear from the talking heads all of the time about how important reps, chemistry, etc. are to a QB. Not for us though, be great or Ralph is cheap.

lol - so perfect. /thread better yet, /close TBD (until the Bills win and people go out of their minds in the opposite direction)

I've been listening to Sirius the last couple days and Gannon had some thoughts on EJ: - Said that the time he missed during training camp and during the season was a BIG deal. He missed a lot of reps, throwing and building chemistry with the O. To me this is the #1 thing people are ignoring in EJs poor Pittsburgh performance... - Said (obviously) that his accuracy is off and that he has no chemistry with Stevie (keeping in mind SJ didn't practice last week) - Said that during the Steelers game, things were moving to fast, he was rushing throws and was poor with his footwork - Said that Hackett needs to get him out of the shotgun and under center. He said that would really help a young QB with this footwork, timing and would help hide looks in the running game. Not sure what it all adds up to, but I'm guessing its not just one thing with EJ...

ha - whooosh, that one went right over (past?) my head

A little more drama for the day: Roethlisberger not happy in Pittsburgh expected to ask them for a trade in the offseason o_O http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-gameday/0ap2000000278794/Roethlisberger-not-happy-in-Pittsburgh

This seems like a reasonable article - "Bills an easier foe for Steelers". Okaaaay... http://www.newpittsburghcourieronline.com/index.php/sports/19366-bills-should-be-easier-foe-for-steelers

yeesh - I thought things were bad here, most of these fans are taking the Bills BIG. It all goes to hell at the end when they turn on one another... http://www.steeleraddicts.com/forum/showthread.php/40133-Thoughts-on-the-Buffalo-game-this-Sunday

I love Kiko - great, great pick! The kid's gonna be a great face for our D. Also, note to self, buy more Kiko Alonso jerseys...

Clearly people on TBD don't watch NFLN or listen to Sirius, if they did they would hear the national praise from people that know the game (you know ex-players, coaches and front end types), I constantly hear talk about the VAST culture change in Buffalo and the obvious improvement in effort of this year's Bills teams vs the past several years. Everyone knows we're close, but the vocal minority of Bills fans. If you don't want to believe it, thats fine - I know we live in a culture that wants instant gratification and loves to whine about things they can't control - but this Bills team is a different beast than past years. Plus throw in this little fact (posted in another thread last night) and I like our chances to see a little magic down the stretch: "The teams with the five hardest schedules? They're a combined 11-30. Bummer. Last night's hard-luck losers have faced the toughest schedule in football; the 2-6 Texans have faced teams playing .598 football, roughly the equivalent of a 9.6-win team every week. Behind them are the Bills (.592), Giants (.588), Cardinals (.577), and Jaguars (.570). The good news is that Buffalo faces the league's easiest schedule the rest of the way after facing the second-toughest slate in the NFL during the first half; they get the Steelers, Falcons, Buccaneers, Jaguars, and might even have their toughest opponent — the Patriots — resting guys in a meaningless Week 17 game." http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9924624/bill-barnwell-week-9

NFLN just said to expect him back sooner rather than later and that he's going to get a chunk of the practice reps next week!

Interesting given this tweet from Tim Graham: "Bills QB EJ Manuel has been going through a lengthy workout on the field. Nothing grueling, but he's dropping back and firing the ball." Joe B saying the same thing! Said EJ looks like he's going full speed...

:facepalm:

Well at least he's still in the region! Good on Aaron though, still working to keep the dream alive...

Pretty sure the playcalling is being covered here: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/163015-to-those-of-you-who-defend-hackett/ Also, and I can't find the article now, but I had read that CJ's best runs last year were up the middle! And as xsoldier54 pointed out it's not like our rushing ranking is *bad* http://www.nfl.com/stats/team And NoSaint hits on the key point - most of our best O weapons are hobbled! Give it some time, let's see where we're at at the end of year...

Oh, right, right - revisionist history on my part!

There was a lot of talk about this on NFLN last night - "Freeman was only with the team for 12 days and wasn't ready to play!" "QBs that come into totally new systems never do well!" They failed to mention that the Bills picked up Thad at the same time and started him a week before Freeman. There was also talk of Freeman's fatal flaw - his lack of accuracy. Glad we passed and took a flyer on Thad!!

Exactly what I was going to add - how many dominating performances were there yesterday? Did the 7 - 0 Chiefs dominate their way to a win? How about the formerly 6 - 0 / unstoppable juggernaut known as the Broncos? OK, SD dominated Jax, but who couldn't? Again, TBD is really starting to remind me of Louis CK - everything is amazing, nobody is happy. In our case "amazing" is perhaps too strong of a phrase, but have a little patience and let's see where we end up this year...

Breakout your tinfoil hat - it was all a massive conspiracy against that Pats! I mean, how else could they have possible lost!? http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/nfl-changed-the-push-rule-after-they-called-it/