Rubes

I thought Kelsay was given the start, but I swear I saw Denney in for the first defensive play. Anyone else catch this? I also remember seeing a play later in the game when Kelsay was the LDE and Denney was the RDE. They did pretty well on that play, I think.

Happier.

Well, I just think you're oversimplifying it. Yes, Smith made a great play, I think we will all give him that. But let's face it, when I saw it Clements had time to see it coming, looked like he did see it coming, maybe got a little push from Smith that threw his timing off, but if you have that great of coverage on a guy, it shouldn't take a lot to bat it away. And that's all he had to do. Instead, he tried to make the catch, and in my mind that gave Smith a big opportunity to make the catch himself. Clements can be a very good cornerback, he just needs to learn how to use his head.

I agree with you for the most part, but let's face it: this Buffalo team has yet to find themselves offensively, and starting off against one of the stronger defenses in the league is a real challenge, especially this early in the season. There will definitely be games where the offense fails to score more than 10 points, particularly against strong defenses. Is that good enough to win? Not usually, but when you defense is this good, it can be. Should we be able to score more than 10 against anybody? I sure hope we could, but at this point (in the season and in the development of this offense) that might be asking a bit too much. I'm expecting more from this offense later in the season, so we'll have to see.

Oh dude, those are such terribly different situations that it doesn't even compare. Who here is saying that Nate should swat the ball away at every opportunity? Nobody. We all want him to make the picks. But more than that, we want him to make the smart play. Intercepting the ball earlier in the game is the smart play. Swatting the ball away on 4th down with the game on the line is the smart play. This guy just doesn't use that pea-brain of his when it counts.

Exactly, that's what I'm smoking.

Yes, but I'm sure in Nate's mind was the fact that, if he gets the pick, then he gets better stats, better recognition, better chance of being on ESPN, and screw field position...he gets the chance to run it back for a TD! Burns me up.

Yeah, I was one of the big Winfield fans. I would have preferred Winfield over Clements. But I guess it comes down to, which would you prefer: solid but unspectacular play, or occasional turnovers and mental breakdowns? But I don't want to start the whole Winfield vs. Clements thing again...

The thing that bums me out about the last drive was the complete lack of blitzing Gray called. They had some very good success with the zone blitz all game, and really looked like they were frustrating Byron with it. Then, when it really counts, we lay back. Hmm.

Although I'm sickened at this loss, isn't the JAX defense one of the best in the league? These guys have some great stats from last year, and although their secondary and defensive ends are supposedly suspect, I still think that we have to realize that this is possibly one of the toughest defenses we will face this year. And yet, we stuck with the plan to run the ball, despite our problems with it. They are obviously a difficult team to run the ball against, but we kept with it. And on that final drive, it really did look like our offensive line was really wearing them down. That first down run by McGahee would have put the game away, afer we had run the ball time after time in a situation where the Jags knew it was coming. Yes, we only scored 10 points, and I'm very disappointed in that. We made too many mistakes. But at the same time, this was a very good defense, it was our first game with a new offensive system, and it often does take time to adjust to a new offense. All things considered, perhaps we are all being a bit too rough on the offense. I'll give them another game or two to work things out, but I'm expecting better output against lesser defenses.

This is my real beef from this game. I'm not saying it's why we lost or anything, but I've been sick of Clements' show-boating for a couple of years now. He's an "everybody look at me" kind of player, and it's why he went for the pick on that long pass instead of doing the smart thing, the right thing, and just batting it away. The man always seems to be looking for personal glory and I'm sure it's what motivated him to do the stupid thing. Okay, that's my only negative post.

NFL.com said that Brown injured his ankle and sat out most of the second half.

Does anyone think there will be a full package of all three extended versions available for the holiday season? That's what I'm shooting for......

I'll leave that judgement until after I see our offense at work for four quarters....

His replacement misses a 33 yarder against Miami? Give me a break.

Happy Birthday you young-in. Thanks for everything you do.

Jim McMahon? Anyone?

Looks like I have the clock slightly off, but the stat sheet reads: 2-5-NE27 (2:08) T.Brady sacked at NE 20 for -7 yards (R.Brock). FUMBLES (R.Brock), recovered by NE-C.Dillon at NE 19. C.Dillon to NE 19 for no gain (R.Brock). 3-13-NE19 (2:00) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete to D.Patten (I.Bashir). The second play is the one that should have been an easy pick, but the two Dolts collided on the play. For the record, Brady's last six pass attempts were: incomplete interception incomplete 20 yard gain (on 3rd and 9) sack/fumble incomplete (near INT) Mind you, I'm not really trying to dog Brady too much here other than to say he struggled some in crunch time, despite an overall outstanding game. I do think he's an excellent QB, just not quite as perfect as he seems to have become...

This guy took a beating in college, and seemed to hold up well. NFL players are bigger and faster, of course, but I'll wait and be worried when he actually shows me a reason to be.

Sure it is, I won't argue that...but so is taking a sack and fumbling the ball in your own territory with under two minutes left and a three-point lead. And then throwing what should have been an easy INT.

I wasn't drawing any conclusions about his crunch-time performance in general (which is solid), just that while he did play an excellent game yesterday, he could easily have been slammed as badly as Manning is being slammed had the Dolts not blundered that one away. I'm one of those that does not feel Manning choked in that game. Manning choked as much as Brady did, although you could give Manning the slight edge based on the INT at the 1. In my mind, Edge lost that game for them.

I feel the need to chime in here. Let me preface this by saying that the mere mentioning of Tom Brady's name has always made me want to puke. I like Tom Brady about as much as I like a good enema. Last night I finally saw through this venom and began to appreciate just how good he is. As was pointed out here earlier, this wasn't a dink-and-dunk offense. He was threading passes in the 10-20 yard range with ease. Finding the second and third receivers quickly and accurately. The second and third quarters of last night's game were a clinic. Granted, he had some excellent protection, and most of his receivers didn't have a defender within 5 yards of them, but even when they did he put the ball right on the money. Their third down conversion rate, no matter how many yards they had to make, seemed like it was 100%. But as I said in another thread, before I and everybody else get on our knees for this guy, I will add that in crunch time last night, Brady did a hell of a lot to try and lose that game all by himself. The pick down the middle (maybe not his fault, whatever), the sack and fumble with time waning (lucky stevestojan had someone right there to recover), and the third down pass in his own territory that should have been an easy pick... Yes, he did make some crucial third down conversions in the fourth quarter, but by all means Indy should have taken that one, and if they did a lot of the burden would have fallen on Brady for that less-than-stellar performance in crunch time.

Well, that too.

DO NOT PROD THE F'IN BEAR

Dude, you don't watch enough football