UB2SF

As a Bay Area guy, I gotta come to the defense of Oakland. While Lynch has thug tendencies, he could just as easily be a thug from anywhere else in the country. Not a single one of the notorious thugs in NFL history is from Oakland. In fact, here are some NFL players who ARE from Oakland: - Maurice Jones-Drew - Langston Walker - Dennis Dixon - Donnie Spragan - Steve DeBerg - Amani Toomer That's practically a Boy Scout troop, not a gang of thugs. (OK, I feel better now.)

That's an understatement. He has made some ugly errors in blocking which have led to penalties and plays getting blown up. He's a serious liability in the run game. He's gonna get one of our guys killed if he doesn't improve his technique. But I have high hopes for him, too... as a receiver. He's really more of a big WR than a true TE, and he presents a real coverage mis-match if he is lined up across from a safety or LB because of his combination of size, speed and route-running. Good to see AVP and Fitzpatrick getting him more involved in the last couple games.

In addition to many of the cringe-worthy items mentioned above, I'll add trading up in Round 1 to get McCargo.

For our honeymoon two years ago, my wife and I went to an absolutely awesome place called Sayulita, Mexico. Sayulita is about an hour north of Puerta Villarta by car, so the travel is pretty easy. The town itself is a small fishing/surfing village on the Pacific Coast which is still in the early stages of its evolution toward being a tourist town. Really nice villagers running really small restaurants and shops. No McDonalds withinin 30 miles. We stayed in a private bungalow in a compound overlooking the Pacific. Absolutely gorgeous -- our bungalow had a deck which had a small infinity pool and a kitchen and living room with french doors that opened completely on to the deck. The bungalow was totally stocked so we had the option of cooking or going out for food. We would wake up in the morning, throw open the french doors, turn on the Bob Marley, brew some coffee, and then switch to beers and margaritas a couple hours later. Being that it was a proper honeymoon, we didn't venture out too much. But when we did, there was a lot of good activities to be had. The one adventure we had was to go zip-lining in the jungle. It wasn't some rinky-dink thing either... there were dozens of separate zip-lines that wound down the mountain into the rain forest. Sayulita is right on the ocean, so there's lots of swimming, surfing, kayaking, fishing, ATV rentals, hiking, etc. We went during the first week in October and the weather was spectacular. Man, sitting here typing this, I want to go back! PM me if you want more details or pictures.

The suggestion to target specific companies is right on, but I have to chime in on the suggestion to write them letters. I'm the head of HR for a mid-size company in the SF Bay Area, and with my company still hiring while the economy is in the tank, I am inundated every day with unsolicited letters, e-mails and phone calls. The volume of inbound unsolicited communications is so high, I don't respond to (or even read) any of them. Not a single one. So I would suggest that in addition to using all of the standard job sites, you should develop a target list of employers in your area. (This might take a little research, but it sounds like you have time on your hands and your job search is your top priority!) Most of your target companies will probably post open jobs on their website, so you can begin checking your target companies' websites every day to see if any new jobs are posted. If you follow their defined application process and be one of the first applicants in line for a job for which you're qualified, you're more likely to get noticed than if you just send them usolicited letters. Good luck!

I am among the majority of fans who are not only sick of the team's recent performance on the field, but also sick of the same cliche quotes from coaches and players about the situation. In the BB.com article about moving Mitchell to the "mike" position, there were some quotes from Perry Fewell that at least showed some grasp of reality. For example: I don't have complete faith that they'll actually "get it right" this weekend, but at least Perry is speaking the truth. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Palmer can do. I was very impressed in preseason with his athleticism and attitude.

Another self-cancelling non sequitur from the Wall's newest genius.

Ricky loves ganja If we lose I'll need some too Hook me up, Marshawn

Every team uses the Wildcat these days, but no one runs it as well as Ronnie Brown. With Pennington out, they'll be looking to take the heat off Henne, so I think we'll see a heavy dose of it this weekend. I'm very worried about how poorly we match up against it. Defending the Wildcat requires disciplined gap assignments up front, fortified by LBs and safeties who are stout against the run but quick enough to react to end-arounds and downfield passes. Watching Ellison, Buggs and Byrd repeatedly whiff against the Saints RBs gives me little hope that they'll hold up against Ronnie and Ricky plus Pat White occasionally split wide at WR. Our offense better take shots downfield to run up the score, because I don't think our defense can stop the run this week. Or maybe Fewell has something up his sleeve? Beuller? Beuller?

"mango" Here's a true story for you. I was recently at a birthday party for a friend of my son. During the cake-eating portion of the party, we were seated next to a table full of boys ranging in age from 5 to 7 years. They were discussing their favorite fruits. One of the boys said mangoes, to which another replied, "Mangoes? Mangoes suck my a$$." To hear that from a 6-year-old boy? Stupified.

Thanks for posting this. Anything that can help us roll our D toward downfield coverage and upfield pressure on Brees is good news.

Good post -- I think this is one of the ingredients. This concept struck me, too, hearing Freddy's post-game press conference. One of the specific things he mentioned was "D Bell getting out in front and pulling for me"... which something I haven't heard from a Bills running back in a long long time.

In his post-game press conference, Trent was asked about the Bills using the 5-receiver sets during the second half. He explained that AVP went to those empty-backfield formations after the injuries to both Schouman and Nelson. I think this deserves some serious props for AVP not only taking what the defense is giving him, but also going with the highest-probability sets given the skill-position personnel available to him at any given time. Not only did he go to the 5-wide formation, he also used different packages on almost every play, i.e., mixing up where Evans, Owens, Reed, Parrish, and Jackson were lined up on each play. The Bucs were on their heels, and the Bills kept hitting for 5 to 15 yards per play. I hate that we were so thin at tight end for the second half, but I absolutely love that we had an OC and skill players who could actually take advantage of the situation.

Maybe because it would have been nearly impossible for the Patriots to handle three legitimate deep threats at once. Send Evans, Owens, and Johnson all deep (with one of them on a double-move), and let NE pick their poison coverage-wise. Parrish and Reed don't present that kind of triple-deep matchup challenge alongside Evans and Owens. Wishful thinking, I guess.

And if Welker, Moss, and Faulk had caught the passes they dropped...

Good post, oh Fair and Balanced one! Just to add to that, Owens's two catches were both on routes that exploited the Patsies adjusting their defense to try to take away the screens, runs, and flares. While he only had two catches, both were critical to the flow of the game... and both show some savvy by AVP and Trent to take what the defense was giving them.

Last week's roster moves look kind of odd in retrospect, in light of the fact that Stupar was active for the Patriots game but didn't play at all (not even on ST), and Steve Johnson was inactive for the game. I had assumed that both Stupar and Johnson would play on ST and maybe a few plays on offense. I guess the previous comments about Nelson's solid play might explain Stupar sitting the bench the whole night... but why keep Steve Johnson inactive? Hmmm.

I think the OP used one of those free translation sites. As Monty Python would say, "My hovercraft is full of eels."

This is a big question mark to me this year. For all I know, Reggie Corner might lead the team in sacks.

I have to disagree -- it's not a golf clap. Dick claps harder than a standard golf clap! Especially when his team does something wrong! Just see the nursery rhyme in my sig file below, which I wrote when struggling to contribute to the "if you can't say something nice about Dick Jauron..." thread.

It was interesting watching the first airing of the Detroit game on NFL Network, given that it was after cut-down day and therefore was potentially a window into the coaches' roster decisions. Since the decision to keep Ashlee Palmer over Bowen was a bit of a surprise, I decided to key in on him during the game. I came away pretty impressed. Like Nic Harris, the guy is aggressive, fast, instinctive, and rangey. The play that really stood out for me was Detroit's running play on 2nd & goal. Palmer read the play at the snap, quickly shed the block from the fullback, took the perfect angle to head the RB off at the pylon, outraced the RB to the pylon, and delivered a bone-crushing hit which separated the ball from the ball-carrier. One of the best plays of the night from our D. Our LB corps has had so little depth for the past couple years -- it's encouraging to see flashes from Palmer and Harris.

Dear Mrs. Paulus, Thanks for visiting Two Bills Drive! Be careful, though -- this is a tough crowd. Gleeful enthusiasm only encourages our cynicism. Sincerely, UB2SF

See Dick clap. Dick claps hard! Clap, Dick, clap!

On the INT, Evans had single coverage deep down the right side. If Edwards was Rothlesberger (or Brady or Brees or Rivers or Manning etc), he would have stepped forward in the pocket and hit Evans about 40 yards downfield for a possible touchdown. But instead, in the words of Monty Python, "BURMA!" (Apologies to those of you who don't get the Python reference.)

Thanks, Slash. I'll give it a try!