Albany,n.y.

In 1985, when I was living downstate, I went to Philadelphia to see the Bills play the Eagles in week 7, one week after the Bills had their 1st win of the 1985 season. The Bills were up 17-0 through 3 quarters but when the 4th quarter began, the Eagles were deep in Bills territory. They scored a TD early into the 4th quarter, then added 2 more TDs. After leading 17-0, the Bills let the Eagles score 21 unanswered 4th quarter points and lost 21-17. Earlier in the 1985 season I went to the 2nd game of the season at the Meadowlands. The Bills went up 3-0 on a Norwood FG and were ahead 3-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. That was it for the Bills. The Jets scored 42 unanswered points. Final score Jets 42 Bills 3. The next week (week 3) I went to Orchard Park to see the Bills vs New England, The turning point of the game was when the Bills got a penalty when punting, re-punted and Irving Fryar returned that one for a TD. The Bills ended up losing 17-14. So I saw 3 bad losses in 1985. 1985 was a real low point for me and other Bills fans.

Since I was the 1st one to mention picking Houston, can I have an advance on the winnings? I've already put week 2 in: After watching KC get killed at home, how bad will they be on the road in a loud dome against an up & coming team? They could get their coach fired by midseason. The obvious choice is Detroit.

PFW=Pro Football Weekly

I have it in an adobe file & can't link. "17 Buffalo Bills No one circles the wagons like Ryan Fitzpatrick" also now at #32: "32 Seattle Seahawks Marshawn Lynch can't carry your offense with 32 yards rushing"

I didn't see the Easley thread when I posted this but I saw this in this thread.

I hope this isn't the case, but a common illness in an NFL locker room is a staph infection. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1853828,00.html

No, but in my suicide/survivor pool I already bet that Detroit beats them next week by at least 1.

The movement of the betting line is pretty simple to explain-the Cassel injury and his ability to play well with the rib injury is why the line moved from 6 to 3.5. I'll defend the media here because what the Bills did yesterday, we, along with the media didn't see in preseason. Chandler wasn't playing anything like he did yesterday and the O-line was in constant flux in camp with Gailey playing around with the left side in practice & games. We all knew the D was improved, but there was no indication that the O would be vastly improved. I've always said this when someone questions coaches decisions on players: The team does a lot of stuff behind closed doors that nobody, including the media, sees. The best stuff is saved for the closed practices, not the open ones. Teams truly believe in the slogan "trust no one". What we saw yesterday was the culmination of a lot of hard work by the coaches and players that nobody saw in advance. Good for them! For the 1st time since 2008, there is a real reason for optimism at OBD. Let's enjoy it and give the media a break. They're not as privy to the inside stuff that many seem to think they are. At least this week, it looks like the front office might actually know what they're doing. They may have just tweaked the roster enough & seem to have rid themselves of some key players who over the years just never learned how to win and as long as they remained in Buffalo, the team couldn't move on. There's no way to measure how guys who have accepted losing as a way of life can bring a team down.

Petrino got to my house in time for the kickoff. He won't be at the home opener next week, so it better not be because of him.

A productive TE changes the whole offense. If Chandler can play consistently week after week, the offense will exceed all expectations.

The reason I brought it up is that when they start the races at OTB, they play the National Anthem. I'm amazed that everyone stands up as if they're actually at the track. I must admit I join them out of peer pressure, but the entire time I'm thinking that nobody does that when they're watching a ballgame in their living room, and I doubt they do it when they're watching the races at home.

Then why are they on the radio & why did there used to be a Yankees store on Niagara Falls Blvd when I lived there?

Of course I'm a Yankee fan. Guess what-the Yankees are Buffalo's team too. If you ever came to Buffalo for a game instead of staying home and criticizing fans who actually go to games, you'd know that.

Many years ago when I lived in Fredonia, the blackout rule wasn't measured by if the signal could reach within 75 miles of the game and Erie was far enough away that they would show the game even when the Bills were blacked out on Buffalo TV. So if there was a blackout I would adjust the antenna, turn on the Erie station and watch the Bills game.

How many of you stand up, remove all headgear and stay still until they finish the National Anthem when you're watching a game on TV? If you don't, then don't complain if they go to a commercial instead of showing it. If you do, good for you, but you're in the minority.

Neither. Haley is a control freak who will be out of a job as soon as he loses more than he wins-last season was a fluke. Chan has proven nothing other than he could take a 6 win team and win 4 games with them the next season. Even if he "improves" to 6 wins this season, we're no better off than the day he came here. When Chan gets this team to the playoffs, then I'll drink some of the Chan Kool-Aid. Until them I can't help but think of him as anything but a stopgap until we get enough talent that a good head coach will want to come here & Chan can go home. I totally agree. McDaniel is exactly who I think of when I think of Haley.

The next great Yankee: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/836738-new-york-yankees-is-jesus-montero-the-real-deal

Only FICO knows for sure. Just when you think things couldn't get any dumber, there's always someone to prove you wrong.

I think he's motivated but just doesn't have a lot of talent. When we get a real LT, maybe the media will take us seriously instead of being dismissive and getting the dreamers all upset.

This team is actually a lot closer to 1985 than the late 90s teams. Offense QB-Fitzpatrick is better than Mathison/Ferragamo, but like 1985, the franchise QB could be arriving next year (there will be more than just Luck in next year's draft). Actually, in 1985 the Bills had a younger version of Fitzpatrick in Frank Reich. RB-One could argue that the 1985 team with Bell & Cribbs and Riddick on IR had the edge. FB-McIntyre isn't much better than Moore/Steels WR-Edge to 1985-Butler, a rookie named Andre Reed, Burkett etal to Stevie, Roscoe, Jones etal. O-Line-The 1985 line of Jones, Ritcher, Grant, Vogler, Devlin and Joe D in reserve was no worse and possibly better than this line. TE-Metzelaars was light years ahead of anyone this team has. Offense-outside of QB, 1985's offense had more talent, and Frank Reich, while he wasn't ready had a pretty good career as a backup when called upon later in his career (isn't that an understatement). Defense DL-1985-A rookie who would turn out to be the greatest defensive player in Bills history vs 2011's rookie, Smerlas who ended up on the Wall vs Williams, and a journeyman at the other DE spot for both teams. LB-2011 looks stronger, but there are still question marks. 1985 had Haslett & Marve on their last legs & a young, underutilized, Darryl Talley. DBs-2011 looks stronger Defense-While 2011 looks better, three of the greatest Bills of all time, all Wall of Famers, were on the 1985 team. Can anyone guarantee that 3 defensive players from the 2011 team will include a 1st ballot Hall of Famer and 2 other Wall of Famers? Special Teams Return game-Wilson & Hill returned punts, Wilson and Steels were the kick returners. The 2011 team has greater potential, but kickoff returns may be nullified by the new rules. K & P-Very comparable-I'd say equal-Norwood & Kidd in 1985=Lindell & Moorman in 2011.

He didn't have the surgery until after they activated him, I think they just activated him too soon.

Too late to PUP a player. They already took him off PUP because if you're on PUP opening day, you can't practice or play for 6 weeks. The Colts didn't know if Manning would be able to play before week 7 so they activated him & he's on the 53 man roster. The way PUP works is when camp opens, if a player can't practice he can be put on PUP. He can be taken off PUP at any time in preseason, but once he's activated, he can't go back to PUP. If he comes to camp, as long as he hasn't practiced yet, he's still PUP eligible. 1 practice or more disqualifies him from PUP. Up until the final rosters for opening day are made, he can stay on PUP. If he's on PUP when the season starts, he's frozen for the 1st six weeks. Then they have a window where he can be activated, but if he's not activated by a certain date, he has to go on IR.

It has to do with teams like the Bills & Redskins abusing IR to keep promising late round picks to develop & not expose to waivers in the 1990s (and other smart organizations that preceeded them in this tactic). The NFL changed the rules making IR all season instead of a few games & in order for that to work they expanded the rosters but kept the game day active number the same so that players injured a few weeks wouldn't keep the team from fielding a 45 man gameday roster.

A bigger surprise would be if he parked his car outside & not in a garage like most homeowners.

I picked Houston in my survivor pool & I'm not the least bit worried. The Colts are starting a QB whose team record was something like 2-11 in his last 13 NFL starts. The guy has been there 2 weeks. Foster is expected to play & people forget there are 2 former 1,000 yard rushers (Ward & Slayton) backing him up if he can't play well enough to stay in the game. Houston beat the Manning led Colts last year on opening day in Houston. The Colts are in big trouble, they relied on Manning to be there & he isn't. They've never addressed the backup QB spot & they had to sign Collins instead of letting Painter, a guy who doesn't belong in the league, start. My guess is as soon as week 1 is over & the contracts aren't guaranteed, David Garrard will be wearing a Colts uniform. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already in Indy, just waiting until Monday to sign.