Rubes

Two things that never seem to change. Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback, and Rudy's BS.

Whoops, I thought you were talking about the "running into the kicker" penalty on the punt, not the potential turnover on the Bills punt. I don't know about that one; it really looked too close to call on the replay. Sure, Fletch didn't really commit a penalty, but what can you say? If he stays on his feet instead of jumping, and nails the QB cleanly, there's no penalty. I hate it when guys jump up to try and block a pass like that; the rule I always go by is forget the ball, just take the guy out. A solid lick on Boller might go a long way later in the game if he starts feeling the pressure. I won't argue the Fletcher thing too much, though. It was definitely a bogus call. But it's just another instance of Fletch doing something to screw us again.

You know, I agree with you for the most part. I think a lot of people here are dogging the offensive line a bit too much. I think our line is definitely not filled with Pro Bowlers by any stretch, but I really don't think they are as bad as people think. A few times this year -- against JAX, NYJ, MIA, and now BAL -- the offensive line has shown significant improvement from the first half to the second. In each of those games, it looked like the line (and McGahee, as well) was doing a great job of wearing down the defense. I could sense in today's game during the second half that the offensive line was really starting to win their battles and wear down the defense, and it's exactly what they did last week against Miami, another very good defense. It was the same against Jacksonville, when only a bogus holding call prevented us from doing the same thing against another very good defense. It does take too long, perhaps, for this line to start taking over a game, but we're talking about some really good defenses here, and it sometimes does take three or more quarters to start seeing the tide shift against teams like that. The fact that they are doing it -- with McGahee, I would add -- really does mean something to me. I think you are correct in saying that Bledsoe does some little things to make this line look worse than it is.

Yes, but... 1. Fletcher once again screwed us with another untimely penalty. Perhaps it was a bogus call, but how many times is he going to do this to us? 2. The punt penalty actually woked out for us in the end, since they missed the FG and we ended up with much better field position. Hindsight, of course, but what can you do. It was a terrible call.

I don't think Drew ever had a touch pass. Since he arrived, Buffalo has easily been the worst in the league at running the screen pass. His short over-the-middle throws are pretty awful as well. I really think that a young, energetic QB who can move around in the pocket, make good decisions, and hit the short and medium throws is precisely what this offense needs. Not coincidentally, it's also the exact opposite of what we have right now. Drew can hit the long ball pretty well but that's not helping us a whole lot. It's time to get away from Bledsoe-Henry-Moulds and more toward Losman-McGahee-Evans. Moulds can still stick around for a while, though. He's still a gamer. He's just not one of the elite in this league like he thinks he is.

There was plenty to be upset about in this one, but really it took this game to make me believe that the future of this team is actually pretty decent. - The defense played a little suspect in the first half, but they did force a turnover, and they didn't give up much overall. Plus, they really adjusted extremely well in the second half. Granted, Baltimore's offense is about as stinky as Miami's, but on the road they did just about everything they needed to do to win this one. - Willis is really a gamer. If he can stay healthy, he is going to be very very good, particularly next year. He didn't look so great in the first half, but it really became obvious to me in the second half that he (and the offensive line as well) are capable of wearing down a defense slowly but surely. Just like last week against Miami. That part of the offensive strategy is working. - The biggest problem for us on offense is, unfortunately, Drew Bledsoe. I was hanging on to the Drew bandwagon as long as I could, but it's painfullly obvious now. The sacks aren't even the real problem, it's the ability to see the field and make the right choices. He is throwing far too much into double coverage, and his accuracy is just not great anymore. The biggest factor in our loss in this game is a quarterback who could not make the throws in the red zone. - I'm really looking forward to seeing JP in action now. He offers us a whole other dimension in the offense with his feet. I'm eager to see how accurate he can be, and how well he can make decisions in the clutch. But it certainly could not be any worse than Drew right now. I think we have a lot of the tools on both sides of the ball to give this team a lot of wins. I'm convinced now that the biggest missing piece is a quarterback that is capable of making better decisions and better throws. I'm still not terribly happy with some of the playcalling (especially the trick plays, which I have seen just about enough of), but I do think this team will be capable of much better things with only a switch to a better quarterback.

I play racquetball with a guy here in Utah who owns a coin business around the corner from my house. It's a small shop that you might never notice if you didn't look carefully enough. Yet after getting to know the guy, it turns out he used to be president of the American Numismatic Society (or something like that) and he's one of the top coin experts in the country. Who knew?

Confidence comes with success, my friend....more success than we've had so far, at least.

Like others have said before, we lose this game and we're 1-5 with 5 conference losses, 3 outside the division. That pretty much means you can kiss the playoffs bye-bye. Hopefully this team has some sense of that and plays lights out. They still have a lot to prove, especially on the road. If they fall flat on their faces against the Ravens this week, that will say a lot to me, and not just that the Ravens are a decent team.

What if we ban you? Will that help?

This is the stuff of legends...

I remember the greatest thing about that show was those giant strawberries. Man I wished I could have feasted on one of those.

Does this whole situation remind anyone of the RJ/Flutie thing a few years back, when RJ injured his rib cartilage? Flutie kept getting the start because RJ "wasn't 100% healed." Meanwhile, Flutie just kept winning, and I think most of us secretly hoped RJ would stay 99.5% healthy for a few more weeks.

Perhaps we should consider the fact that the Yankees have actually won more championships than the Bills could ever dream of.

Here's a fun game, pick which stats belong to Bledsoe and which belong to Vick. Sacks - 20 Yards lost - 109 Fumbles - 8 Fumbles lost - 5 Passing TDs - 4 INTs - 4 Completion% - 53.5 Rating - 77.3 Sacks - 20 Yards lost - 133 Fumbles - 2 Fumbles lost - 2 Passing TDs - 6 INTs - 3 Completion% - 57.7 Rating - 86.2 Keeping in mind that Vick has played 6 games to Bledsoe's 5.....

You're kidding me, right?

Although I am not here to argue about Brady being or not being one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, I am here to say that I thoroughly enjoyed that picture, as well as watching the video replay of it on ESPN. There are few things in life as enjoyable as watching Brady get splattered so hard he coughs up the football and his helmet at the same time (not to mention the padding over his earhole as well).

I think there are a lot of ways we can win this game, it's just a question of how well they play and which way the ball bounces. If we can manage to protect Drew and get receivers open, we should be okay on offense. On defense, if Boller is as susceptible to the zone blitz as Leftwich was, we should be fine.

Bravo!

Dude...how awesome is that....

True, I'm overexaggerating a wee tad. But he could've easily gained 60-70 yards or more on that one.

Not sure if this was posted already but.... ...on that screen pass that TKO intercepted and ran back, did anyone else see on the replay (the one from far above) that there were absolutely no Bills in sight behind TKO on that entire side of the field? Fiedler makes that throw over TKO and Konrad has a full escort with nobody to block all the way into the end zone. Phew!!!

Thta's about as close to smack talk as you'll get from FFS!

The kicker from BYU should get some looks, too...he can kick em from 52 yards, and he loves to lay some smack down on kickoffs. He looks like a slightly smaller version of Janikowski. And he's from BYU, so no booze or drugs, right?

What was most impressive to me is that he started out slowly...less than 3 yards per carry, and finished strong enough to surpass 4 yards per carry. Given that most of those yards were in the fourth quarter, when we needed them most, that gives me great hope for this team.