tjwbills

Thanks all for the replies, very helpful

Coming in from out of town for the game Sunday and I am looking for thoughts on what the locals would consider the right layering and gear to stay warm and dry through tailgate and game. Thanks and Go Bills!

Be there, flying in from Orlando, go bills!

Talked to moulds last Friday at the NCAA tourney in Tampa during halftime of one of the games. Really nice guy, took time to talk to us and couldn't say enough good things about buffalo. Said he lives there half the year and the other half in Florida.

He's 40 years old

Of course. Is that even a question?

I have 2; lowers around the 15 yardline I believe

Interesting question seeing that hindsight is always crystal clear with the the draft. It always seems to build players up to a level people perceive to be but that they really aren't. Everyone freaked out when we took Whitner off the board instead of Matt Leinart in 2006. Whitner is a good safety and Leinarts a bum qb. I think some people would be upset if we passed on Maybin but I dont see Buffalo taking any more undersized rush ends.

Ha! Me too except I got Tim Graham's ESPN AFC east blog and buffalobills.com message board open too!

I go back every year, traveling from Florida to take in the home opener. I've been at it for 10 years. I think it helps Buffalo in some small way because it adds to their struggling tourism economy - what little it is - trying to do whatever I can

you can listen here: http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=theherd#

Good post, as always. Kelsay not worth $30M for sure especially the way Denney is playing. Happy for the defense though this week. Did Jim Leonard play SS today and play well? I beleive so

I think its more about giving this line a chance to play including Preston. This offense lacks NFL caliber skill players; thats not a crutch for Losman, he's struggling too, but I consider him an NFL caliber talent unlike some of our starters on offense. Many of whom play on offensive line or at WR/TE

Yup, you got it. Let the kid throw downfield. Was that a TE blocking Freeney on that 3rd down that cost us the game? ugh.

Bruschi promo = me + violent vomiting

Great win by the Bills, the better coaching staff took this one today. Its interesting to hear all the hype and the experts put their spin on this supposed one sided battle going in and then when we all see something completely different than what was expected the questions are 'what's wrong with Culpepper' or comments like 'its time to coach this team up' Bills fans know better after watching the game against NE last week and the coaching staff on this team continues to impress in week 2. Why? The game plan coming into today was simple. Steve Fairchild and Perry Ferrel were going to put pressure on both of Miami's lines because Buffalo felt they had the speed on both offense and defense to handle Miami's skill positions on offense and lack of speed at linebacker on defense. The Dolphins to their credit have a good D line but Fairchild contributed his offensive gameplan to play to the entire team's strength. Today, field position and a battle of will's on the lines was Buffalo's game plan and strength. I thought the comment by Greg Gumbel during the broadcast was succinct about Mike Mularkey. He commented that the Bills might have known more about Mularkey going in than he would be able to provide about the Bill's going in. And it showed. Buffalo brought consistent pressure up the middle with a brilliant mix of stunts and blitzing schemes that Miami (Mularkey) couldnt adjust to. Tripplet, McCargo, Schoebel, and Denney were in Culpepper's face all day. Back to Fairchild. Although Bill's fans may have wanted to see the Bill's take the 'kid's gloves' off Losman, keep in mind that last week Losman played very well other than 1 or 2 key mistakes that were influential in the loss to NE. Buffalo was not going to put JP in any position to make a mistake today and to their credit, knew the Mularkey game plan was bound to make a few mistakes in and of its self, having seen it first hand last year all too often. Case in point, 3rd and 2's/1's and Ronnie Brown is on the sideline. Willis must have chuckled about that. BIG props to Buffalo's line today. I really, really like this group. the blocked all day long against 8 and sometime 9 blitzing run fronts. They did very well opening holes for Willis but more importantly beat up the Miami front seven ALL GAME LONG. Game ball to these guys. Good to see Josh Reed get that TD. He can run routes with the best of them. Cant wait to see TKO in there next week but Ellison held his own today. I'm watching Maroney go through the Jets like swiss cheese right now and reflecting on what I just saw with the Bill's I expect to see a similar game plan for the Jets at home. Perhaps a few more screens would be nice but I cant complain with the win. See you guys next week at the Ralph. Go Bills!

First of all it was evident early that the tandem of Coy Wire and Troy Vincent in supporting the run was not going to work. On several of the early Maroney runs that led to the Pat's first TD, Wire was out of position, sealed off on several counters when he had responsibility in the hole, and missed many tackles. When the Vincent injury and Wire expreriment was put to an end by the coaching staff, you didnt see anymore long runs by NE. Whitner and Simpson filled their gap duties in run support very well and played adequately covering the pass down the field. I put the early NE drive/score on the coaching staff for going with Wire initially and staying with him as the Pats gobbled up yards on the edges. Whitner was the 8th pick for a reason and he showed it today. Let him start and keep Wire where he excels, on special teams. All of a sudden depth is a real concern at linebacker for this team. We didnt realize how bad we needed Spikes back until today, and as well as Buffalo's D played today, there were still breakdowns up the middle of the defense in coverage. Takeo Spikes is the only Bills linebacker with the speed and coverage skills that are needed to cover effectively in space long enough to force a Qb to look away from his cover. Haggan and Crowell struggled in coverage today, Haggan giving up a gimme TD to Brady as his cover slipped behind him when he made the fatal mistake of looking back towards to QB during the play. Without Spikes, the Bills were forced to platoon their 2nd and 3rd string at the strong side spot and the Patriots took advantage of this looking for mismatches in coverage. The 4th down call was a classic in coulda shoulda woulda for Monday mornings but I would say that Jaron made the call based on how both of his lines were playing to that point. The Oline and Dline were both controlling their respective line of scrimmages and a first down and potential 27-7 point lead would have put New England in a difficult position to win. But as we all know in the NFL you cant leave points out there on the field particularly on the road. The play proved to be dramatic in shifting momentum. That fieldgoal would have won the game and in this league points are tough to come by. Next time, take the FG and the points. Another one to hang on the coaches. Finally, what appears to be the Bill's strength on offense this year is their attacking, balanced style of offense. In the first half, when Buffalo had the ball, if the Patriots were guessing run, the Bills passed with crisp routes that Phil Simms deftly pointed out took advantage of the defenders closing on the WRs first break. When the Pats played pass in their Nickel the Bills sent the ATrain or Willis cutting back in counters or pulling sweeps on misdirection that kept NE's backers on their heals. The Bills were dare I say 'in rythm' and balanced for most of the first half. The second half was much different. The Pats adjusted to bring their safety deep into the line of scrimmage challenging Buffalo's run. They brought linebackers on nearly every play unlike the first half. And as well as Losman looked throwing in the first half, the playcalls became very conservative as the 3rd quarter wore on. Fairchild choosing to protect the lead against the 8 man blitzing front rather than move down the field with confidence with his qb. Not once did Buffalo challenge NE downfield in the 2nd half when they were gambling with their pressure, and for this I blame the coaches again. Let the kid do his thing. Phil Simms continues to amaze in his moronic meanderings through game calls. Classic line today: after Tom Brady one hopped a grounder 10 yrds in front of his TE Simm's exclaims "That was a great pass. I know you may think I'm crazy for saying it but it was a great pass. It had to be low and away." Not crazy Phil, just drunk off the Brady bathwater. Usually after a loss like this I feel dejected, but not today. I saw enough from this team to know that they will be a solid team this year and the futures bright. The Simpson/Whitner duo will be special and the Oline will be a good one in time. I think this team can win some games so long as the coaching staff is prepared and does their job as well.

Dude you're on a Buffalo Bill's board.

Cheers

From Chris Brown: LOSMAN: Seeing Losman do that after throwing a pick is very encouraging. Two bullets to Lee Evans for 22 and 46 yards. He forgot the pick and threw his best two passes of the night. The bomb to Evans for the 46 yard TD was perfect. Three plays 76 yards and a TD. I guess Willis and J.P. each had to have a turnover before they showed their best! After seeing the replay on J.P.'s pick I'm wondering if Josh Reed ran the wrong route. He and J.P. were talking on the sideline after. Steve Tasker on the TV broadcast believes Josh could be at fault saying he should have run a slant inside. I'll try to find out after the game.

It is a good draft. Do some research on all 3 of these guys on sources other than this board. You'll see these are 3 first round talent players.

Talent huh? Overpaying a 30+ yr old running back is something only Arizona would do. The recent history of the Cardninals is that its consistent with their not so recent history: they lose alot of games. So Marv should go out and spend all of the cap space on over the hill vets like Grady Jackson and Sam Madison? Would that make it acceptable? If we hadnt spent all of the cap room within the first 3 days of freeagency on players you know from your fantasy league from years past you consider it a disapointment and Marv a dodering old fool. This is the NFL. If you want to look at history look at the Patriots and Eagles formula vs. the Redskins or Raiders. One team builds through the draft and siging character free agents, one overpays for "names". One consistently wins and one consistently disappoints.

Yeah well its always an interesting debate when a guy is hot coming out of college and going into the pro's. It seems every year holds a few dogs and a few gems. For me, watching Leinart play UCLA, Arizona State, and especially Notre Dame didnt show me #1 the althleticism but more improtantly #2 the arm strength to be a good pro qb. He struggled against pro set cover 2 defenses who werent overwhelming teams athletically. Especially ND. Thats one thing Cutler and Young have are big live arms. Leinart doesnt have that. Not sure about Young running a pro offense though either.

I'm amazed at how Losman has been written off by Bills fans after one (rookie) season. Leinart? The guy is Tim Couch with less of an arm. Mark my words he'll be a bust in the pros. If Hawk is there take him otherwise trade down.

We're going to play a cover two, one gap style defense. Marv and JAuron have already talked about it publicly. The inside guys hold blockers and stuff the runs while the DE's are counted on to provide pressure from their outside gaps. There is essenstially one free/strong hybrid safety for each side of the field. The corners play agressively on the edges. This style also free's up the MLB to make plays. I wouldnt be surprised if Buffalo took a d-tackle first round and one of the many quality rush style DE's in the 2nd or 3rd to bolster the personell for this scheme. Adams and Milloy simply didnt fit this style and I believe Vincent could be next although he's cheap for a veteran so they may keep him.