Lothar

small hands Kitna - thank you

The combination of extreme cold, snow showers and wind make the elements a big part of this week's game. I really can see things breaking either way depending on mistakes. When Cincy has the ball Kitna has small hands, is prone to fumbling (I believe he's the NFL QB career leader on that front) and will obviously be a bit more rusty than Carson Palmer would have been. That said, his strength is his decision making and getting throws into the hands of his receivers quickly. I think Cincy moves the ball on us, but we have to keep the pressure on with various zone blitzes and see if we can force a fumble or 2 out of the QB and receivers. I really do think that Cincy will move the ball between the 20s on us unless we force a bunch of turnovers. I like the way our D is playing right now, with confidence and smarts. We have the playmakers to cause opponents' problems in the red zone and need to keep their potent O to FGs instead of touchdowns. When Buffalo has the ball I like our special teams to give us the edge in field position. That may be critical in this game since the expected weather doesn't play to Drew's strength - I know he has a cannon but that doesn't matter if the ball's wet and cold. Obviously, we need a healthy dose of Willis in this game - we also need to be patient if things aren't rolling for us early. By the 2nd quarter, I hope we've established the run enough to open up that intermediate passing game. Drew has had three horrible games out of 13 - against Baltimore, at the Patriots and last week against the Browns. This past week was because the team was trying to force the ball into Moulds time and again. Drew has to let the game come to him or it could be a long day. Summary Bills have lost 9 straight games decided by less than a touvhdown. This game has close written all over it unless the weather causes a turnover festival. Call it a hunch though - I'm going with the Bills in a tight one.

Interesting comments from Ace Freeley (with apologies to Tasker and Criqui) - he said they were surprised the Bills started the game trying to play cover 2 against em given the problems their OL had. He thought they changed up in the 2nd half to doing what every other team does against them and try to put pressure and caused them a lot more problems. I have noticed that Gray has been employing a more vanilla scheme in the 1st quarter or so before ratcheting up the blitz schemes - though I haven't seen any exotic zone blitzes the last few weeks either. To be honest, I don't think the Bills did a good job either with the pass rush or much of their coverage. And this despite the 5 picks. I was surprised how little pressure the Bills managed on the maligned Fins OL. I excuse our offense a bit because of the injuries and the fact they're playing a good D. But the defense seemed outa sorts on coverage for most of the 1st 3 quarters or so. I'm not sure if that first quarter was just blown coverages due to youthful mistakes or that Feeley had ample time to find receivers. Make no mistake - if we want to play with the big boys this year, we really do need Troy Vincent back. I think we have some developing players in the back (including McGee and Baker) but they're not ready to take on playoff caliber teams just yet. But the sign of a team that is maturing is the fact that they won without their A game. Let's hope it's a sign of good things to come.

good news - looks like TD made a smart move not re-signing Jennings bad news - he didn't wait till the end of the year to sign Schobel If he waits a couple more years, we can start from scratch. I'm sorry - seeing my team at these depths - and I think a good chunk of it is abslutely no confidence in anything they're doing - makes me long for bad Sabres hockey. At least that game moves faster - not the Sabres mind you, just the puck.

i can't bear to watch this travesty of a performance anymore - maybe later this season, they'll resemble a football team.

sucks. While I'm pissed at everything about the game result, I now also have a new candidate for "most awful" announcer - and though I loved everything about Tasker as a player, he may be the worst NFL commentator I've ever heard. I heard him as a play-by-play announcer in the preseason and he was awful, but this - this was bordering on pathetic. When you long for Theismann or Maguire or any of the non descript jaw flappers covering other games, you know the coverage has reached a new low. He regularly called the wrong player's name (obviously not looking at the monitor on replays), offered little to no insight (seemed to contradict common sense on several red flag reviews) and seemed to talk for the sake of talking - the cardinal sin of a good analyst. Since he is part of the Bills family, I hope he learns the trade before it's too late. I'd like to see him talk in more detail about special teams tactics or playing the dual role of regular and special teams or something. Sorry to rail at a Bills' icon - I guess I'm just blowing off steam after the painful result.

I hate piling on with a "great job" kudo but that was way better than just a good post. Insightful commentary, inside info - what more could we Wallers want? Thanks a lot Mark.

Have the same problems - don't see the buttons below the description.