Fan in Chicago

Fun game. Exciting to see two competent teams slug it out. Tracy Porter having himself a heck of a game.

I would love to blame the D and perhaps to a certain extent I do. BUT, the D is far different from what we had for much of last season - Kyle back from injury. Mario W, Anderson on the DL. Moats as LB. Gilmore as starting CB. I would allow them some time to gel. The O did not do them much favors by the bad positions where the turnovers happened. Before the D could get any sort of momentum going, they were continually on the back foot trying the defend a short field. For this week, I give them a bit of a pass. Not totally, but would say they were last of the problems (and we all know that is not saying much)

The Cromartie one. I think it was the third one - sorry if I forget which one in this sea of offensive hilarity

It could be a combination of reasons - maybe this incompetent display is on Gailey as he should have had the O ready. If so, he should relinquish calling plays and get himself a dedicated OC. It could be the WRs we have - besides Stevie (who did not seem to by playing at full speed) we did not have anyone distinguish himself. I have no idea why TJ was inactive. But this situation is on Nix. Why did we stubbornly not try to upgrade that position ? Why was Gaffney not brought in for a look see ? Lastly, as I ranted about Fitz in Bill's thread, his performance was really pathetic. Maybe it was timing but there were throws, in particular the third INT where you had to wonder wtf was he looking at. Was his hand eye coordination so shot that he cannot make that simple throw ? I am not even talking about a deep out which needs a strong arm and accuracy (both which Fitz can only dream of having). A simple throw above the defender would have resulted in a decent gain. Sorry, Simon but I am totally pi$$ed at Fitz for propagating that loser feeling in the team.

Sorry, Bill. I have to disagree with you also. I have been a CJ doubter so far even after his decent performance in the second half of last season. I still feel that the pick could have been used for a different position. But, today, the kid played with heart. He kept trying and despite his fumble, did not sit moping around. I was, however, shocked and sickened by the incredibly incompetent and atrocious display of QB'ing by Fitz. Not that I expected him to suddenly be transformed into an upper echelon QB. But is it too much to expect a Dilfer-like average performance ? He single handedly sucked the life out of the O and the entire team. I wish we could throw out his second half numbers and show him out to be what he really did - one of the worst first half performances we have ever seen. The third INT had be shaking my head - there were two receivers in that area and there was no pressure in his face. Yet he underthrew that ball right to the defender. Finally, agree with you on McK. I have been advocating seeking out a trade partner in the past offseason for any team dumb enough to give us anything. Don't know if we tried but we should do so now or when we have Brooks back at the latest. The earlier we cut our ties with this sorry excuse for a CB, the better off we will be (eball - I hope you are listening)

Worst part is that this wasnt even under pressure or tight coverage. It was a simple catch. there were two receivers in the vicinity

Why is TJ inactive? On a WR depeleted squad, this is not good.

First of all - good find. Thanx for posting, Second, his is a very inspirational story and am glad he will attend the Bills @ Texans game. Good luck to him and hope he continues to do well. Lastly, when the Bills are fighting for a playoff spot in December (as I expect them to be), I hope the Bills fly him to the game and serve to motivate the current team to bigger and better things.

No matter the reason behind his getting first team reps, it is always a good thing when a mid-round rookie is trusted by the coaches enough to be in that position. It probably implies that the coaches feel he will learn well on the job and not be a total embarassment/ give up a game killing play. With the woeful lack of depth at the LB position, I will be ecstatic if he starts contributing early in his career.

I am uncomfortable with the WR corps right now. Compared to the second half of last year, we have a healthier Fitz, Jones back from injury, added TJ Graham and lost Roosevelt, Hagan and Aiken. I hope TJ pans out but it is too much to expect him to contribute right away. So, unless Jones becomes a legitimate threat (as opposed to being the #2 by default), we are in no better place than the end of last year. We had Spiller and Smith last year as WR options but that still did not make our passing game half way decent. The expectations from the current WRs is assuming no injuries. As thin we are at LB, we are equally so at WR. All the arguments about why we are 'okay' with this WR group is just trying to reconcile with a poor situation. This is similar to how we kind of convinced ourselves over the past 2 seasons that the OL and DL will be 'okay'. Well they were not. And unless we add one or two proven WR threats, we have to expect the offense to be limited over the course of the season. I looked at the roster and the tough thing is going to be deciding who to cut if we indeed sign a WR from yesterday's cuts. I cannot think of only Sam Young as being partly 'expendable'. Or we wait till after the Jets games, see if Tarvaris has caught up with the playbook and add a WR in place of Thigpen. Bottom line - we cannot honestly go into the season feeling good about our WR group.

I just can't see the Bills going into the season with five WRs when two of them are Smith and Jones. I know Jones impresses many here but until he consistently produces in the regular season, color me unimpressed. We already had a sad sack WR corps and now we have made them razor thin. Not saying that the cuts were wrong but I think we have an eye on a couple of cuts from other teams. Gaffney, Branch ?

I hear what you say but Fairley is not a backup for them. Not sure about others on their D

Dude, we put in all backups at the same time. Do you seriously not see the difference between that and 1-2 substitutions ?

First one hurts the most. Stay here, its therapy

I agree with your hypothesis. However, I have some color commentary (read: not supported by data) to go with this thread. The teams in your analysis above are largely successful franchises which have been providing above average seasons consistently. Much of their success is by good drafting over the years. The Bills have done neither. SO, in the pre-season, I bet these teams are more interested in discovering emerging players and backups. The Bills, on the other hand, have been fighting to find starters for key positions year in and year out (QB, tackles, DE, CB etc). Perhaps as a consequence, the Bills have followed up poor preseason performances with equally underwhelming regular seasons. This is the key difference between the Bills Superbowl teams and the ones that you quoted above. While I have hopes for this coming season, it is not related to the preseason performance but rather to the increase in the overall talent level.

Ofcourse I was joking but not in a snarky way. I have no idea it would draw such a strong reaction from you. If you frequent this board, you will see such silly responses to many threads. In any case, there was no reason to hit back at me with the 'mama' comment.

Oh, come on man. There was no need for that.

You are going to have a field day around these parts.

Try a different porn site first

Very good work. Not only did you bring stats to the table but you also tracked meaningful stats. Do keep this board honest with your data analysis. Much appreciated.

So you are saying that there is no point in upgrading the WR corps because Fitz cannot get them the ball ? Despite what you think of Fitz, your logic is quite flabbergasting. You may disagree with that statement, but it is hardly assinine. Gaffney has 60+ catches for ~ 900 yards in each of the past two seasons. He is a proven vet with maybe one injury concern. What has Hagan proven so far to show he is a better option for the Bills ?

I am disappointed that Rafa is not playing. INjuries will keep him from any aspirations to get close to Fed's tally of Grand Slam titles. Its always fun when the big-3 duke it out in a Slam.

Very interesting. IGood size at 6'2" and 200 lb. have not seen him play much but looked up his stats from the last couple of years. He has ~ 65 receptions for average of ~ 900 yards. Not a touchdown machine (2 and 5) but if he can help keep the chains moving and filling that #2 spot (till TJ is ready to challenge), this season suddenly will look a whole lot better. I am in favor of bringing him in and 'stick it to Belichick' has nothing to do with it.

Thanx. Now if only if an experienced WR or LB were to become available, we will be golden. I would say even ones in the twilight of their career but capable of giving a good go for 1-2 years will be fine.

Are the grinners and bearers now party to trading for TJ or was that also forced by the big man ? EDIT: I should read more and post less: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/149200-nix-has-had-eye-on-jackson-for-a-while/