Fan in Chicago

I would add - (1) a lot of play action (2) practice and be ready for throwing a lot of screens cos LeBeau will try to manufacture pressure with blitzes.

Trotter died young And another one from half way around the globe: http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/celebrity-cook-tarla-dalal-is-dead-113110600865_1.html

EJ is likely back so ball security should be good. We ran well against the good front of Chiefs and the Steelers are decidedly inferior in that department. And our front 7 should dominate their OL. Agreed that our TE and overall WR corps is suspect but we should have enough ammo to pull this one off.

Very well said. While the culture and organization may eventually be found to be at fault, I cannot see how Incognito can be absolved of responsibility. Both issues should be dealt with separately, there needs to be no sympathy factor for RI.

You misunderstand my statement. What I meant is that with our D, Lewis and Tuel could both have won their respective games with a limited passing attack. All they had to do was protect the football as McCown did last night

Can this really be true ? If yes, I wonder what Rodgers thinks of this inquiry. Favre never even called Rodgers to congratulate him after the SB win.

What is your definition of an NFL QB ?

One that would not commit turnovers. We could have even beaten the Saints if it wasn't for lack of ball security.

Not too sure about that. Many expected the KC game to be a bad matchup but our D was outstanding. As discussed so many times on this board already, but with 2 less mistakes, the KC game was ours. I said this last week about Tuel but it applies to EJ perfectly - protect himself and the ball. Pittsburgh O is not strong at all and our D should do well. But on O, I can never trust any team against a LeBeau defense. Blitz they will and I hope EJ has added the screen to his arsenal. You can bet LeBeau will over-cover the middle of the field and dare EJ to throw deep or to the sidelines.

Great news. Based on Marrone not rushing Byrd and CJ back, I have confidence that if EJ plays, that implies he is fully healed and ready to play. I trust Marrone's judgment on that. I hope he has used this time off to come back much better/smarter than before. If there is one thing that his time away has done, it has put to rest some of the idiotic talk of 'start Tuel' and 'blah blah is better than EJ'.

I agree. Chandler played a terrible game yesterday. In addition to the drops you mention, I am pretty sure he whiffed on a block that yielded pressure on a critical down (can't recall straight cos I was so depressed yesterday)

If the Bills make mistakes, they are incompetent. If KC makes mistakes, the Bills are lucky

We haven't seen enough of him to make a drastic opinion one way or the other regarding his adequacy as an NFL QB. From what I saw in preseason, he seemed to display accuracy and a decent arm. Those are the strengths we have seen till now. I hesitate to beat down on the guy for his pitiful performance in the Browns game. As an aside, it is quite telling that Marrone is ready to start him over Flynn. Even though Flynn has not had enough time with the playbook, his experience should have propelled him to start over an UDFA rookie QB. But early this week, Tuel started taking more first team reps than him. Not a good sign.

I vote for your idea

HFBD, mead. have a great day

I wouldn't go that far. After all he was an undrafted QB. Given time, training, he may develop into a backup in 2-3 years time. I am just not sure we will continue to have an open roster spot for him.

And welcome to threads that have "we should have traded him when he had the chance, the FO sucks, Nix is asleep ...."

One guard who was available and comes to mind is Vasquez, who signed with the Broncos. I am pretty sure there were at least 2 other options in FA who would have been better than Brown and Legursky. But, I agree the draft would have been another option, 3rd or 4th round pick at a minimum.

No problem Not getting a quality replacement for Levitre

I have been a Nelson fan even when Donald (who?) Jones was our #2. When he was not retained in the off-season, I gave the benefit of doubt to the front office thinking that his injury was more serious than we knew about. But it is now apparent that he can still play and would have been a great #3 for us now with his penchant for converting critical downs. In my mind he was a WR/TE hybrid with good hands. Why do you say that ?

Aa long as its not Gravity. How such a plotless, drama-less, over-acted piece of nonsense garnered such terrific reviews and $$s will forever be a mystery to me. Or should I have posted this in the unpopular opinions thread?

I am a glass half empty kinda guy. Took the max number of weeks expected + 1 week bye = Dec 1 vs Falcons.

I am betting he is soaking up the knowledge and will come back in December as a much better QB. Out on a limb, I am saying he will play very well but we will miss the playoffs due to the losses we are currently accumulating.

I agree with much of what you said re: Pettine and Hackett. But the difference is that Pettine has a lot more experience on his side of the ball. Several first/high draft picks and those who have excelled. He has put them in positions to succeed. Yesterday, we missed Manny Lawson. Hughes does well in the rush and run but struggles in coverage. As you said, some of the mistakes we made were very very costly as typically happens with a sharp QB like Brees. With Hackett, OTOH, he is shackled first with a rookie QB and now another who is at best a backup. Yesterday's game showed why Lewis struggled to find a roster. He is good in spots and has a live arm but is quite inaccurate, makes mental mistakes and looked skittish yesterday with ball security. While I like his moxie and his toughness, he was a large part of the reason we lost. Finally, I have some major complaints against Marrone - player discipline, choosing when to challenge and clock management. We have to get the penalties under control. As noted elsewhere on this board, at least two penalities (Chandler and Mario) could have been 14 point swings. The terrible end to the first half is when NO turned the screws on the Bills. We are not good enough to give that team such wide openings to drive their offensive juggernauts through.