ax4782

As much good as TG might do for this team, losing Freddie Jackson in any trade would actually put us at a loss. Freddie does a lot of things that help make this offense go, and losing him would be a huge hit to Trent and the team. Jackson should not even be considered in a trade, and in fact, his contract should be renegotiated by the end of the season to ensure that he stays here for a long time.

As an NC State grad and rabid fan of the NCSU Wolfpack, this news, while horrible for the guy, is great for other teams in the ACC. I can't stand UNC and all their fair weather fans. That being said, I hope this isn't a career ender for the kid. He looked solid and hopefully he can recover and have another great season next year.

Actually, the blocking schemes are Kugler's job, working with the offensive coaching staff as a whole. The blocking scheme that is developed during the week is only partly implemented by the OC. The OLC is the main determiner of how the blocks are made for which plays, and generally the schemes are put in place to enhance the strength of the offensive line. That hasn't happened as much in the first few weeks, but I think that has more to do with Peters not knowing the schemes because he missed so much time during the pre-season. That being said, I agree with you that the problem lies with the protection, not the playcalling. I find myself more and more frequently saying I liked the playcall rather than finding myself hating the call. I do not agree that the Bills are becoming more predictable, and have seen very few times where the old SF RUN RUN PASS has been called this season. The Bills have a very balanced attack and throw a whole lot on first down. Go back and look at the numbers on first down calls. Buffalo did not pass as much on first down this week, most likely because the Rams' run defense was so bad and they had a plan to get ML going. That did not materialize in the first half, and so we had to throw a lot more in the second half. Many of the first down calls on first down in the second half were pass plays.

Buffalo should win this game, though I think it will be closer than some people think. AZ has a solid D and a passing attack that can be very dangerous. This is a solid test for the Bills. If they can get a decisive victory this week, our chances of going forward are that much brighter. Buffalo 31 Arizona 27

I agree that cautious optimism is required at this point and that there is room for some improvement, particularly on the Offensive and Defensive lines. That being said, AZ is going to be without Boldin and thus will have only a half of their normal aerial firepower. On top of that, they have not played a team with as solid a pass D as ours during the season. The Jests were and are one of the worst secondaries in the league. Further, we have played three teams with very solid Ds. Seattle's D is solid, Jags are very good and the Raiders have many fewer problems on D than they do with the O. We played well against all three of those teams in the second half when it counted. The team we have put together this year is finding itself early and is still coming away with victories. I think this week the team will have a much faster start to the game and by the time SD rolls into town in three weeks, this team will be at top level. As for the five games after the bye week, I think Buffalo can go 4-1 or even 5-0. I think we can beat SD at home. They still don't have a very solid passing attack and they haven't run the ball nearly as effectively this season as in the past. Miami's trick plays won't be novel when we play them. That should be a W. The Jests are always a tough game, either home or away, but they haven't exactly been playing top notch teams and even last week when they scored 56, AZ put up 35 on their D. They have a weak secondary and our corps of receivers is solid. That should be another W. The NE game is the one I have questions about. At NE is always tough and they will be up for that game as it may have divisional implications come playoff time. Still, we have a better chance of winning this game than we have in a long time. The Monday Night game against Cleveland should be another win. Even with all that money they spent, their D is still terrible and their QB looks completely lost. At home on MNF, we should win that game as well. Absolute worst case scenario, I see us being 8-2 after 10 games, and that should put us in pretty good position come playoff time.

You are, of course, assuming that the slow first half starts are going to continue? I think that Buffalo should win this week against AZ. They will be without Boldin, allowing us to limit Fitzy and slow down their passing game. Not to mention, we play a much more ball control oriented game than the Jests. SD will be a bigger test, but I think we can win that game as well. We will have two weeks to prepare for them and SD hasn't looked that good this year. Not to mention I'm going to that game, so I really hope we win. Tennessee is, I think, getting way overhyped, and will lose this week to Baltimore. I think the Bills and Giants will both win their next two games, but after that, it's hard to say.

You mean like that 49 yard throw on the first play of the game?

Actually, they are the 5th ranked D as of the end of this week and we are seventh. We are also a top five defense in a number of statistical categories. They have a freakishly high number of INTs, but other than that they are not much better than we are. We have five fumble recoveries to their four. We are only allowing 15.8 points per game, which is good for fifth lowest in the league. We have held opponents to a 10 of 52 third down conversion rate, good for 19.2% which is either best or second best in the league. Our D is in the same echelon as the Titans, we just don't get the same respect and coverage that they do. A Buffalo-Tennessee AFC Championship game would be close and exciting, and hopefully it will happen. I want some revenge for the Music City Pile of Sh-t!!

Personally, I think the unis we have now aren't that great and wish the Bills would make the old ones used in the throwback games permanent. That being said, I agree with the second point you made, and would also add that I'm sick and tired of listening to ESPN talk about how the barely 2-2 Jets are looking like the best team in football. They beat two lousy teams, and only looked good in the game this weekend. Sorry, but I'm just not seeing them winning 10 or 11 football games this year.

Something that words can't describe. That being said, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Missed the question mark. Sometimes sarcasm goes awry around this place. Sorry for the disclarity. I think the edit cleared it up.

I'd say, actually, two of them were arguably "catchable," in that it was likely all Hardy's fault for not bringing the ball in. One of these was a bit over thrown by Trent and would have required a very good effort to bring in the ball. The two down the field throws that were to Hardy, one was thrown way out of bounds and he had no chance at, and on the other, he might have been able to catch the ball had #22 not been grabbing his arm and yanking on his jersey. Sorry, but to say that all of them were catchable is a bit of a stretch. As for it "being his job," that is a true statement, sure enough. But the problem is, one of the hardest transitions to make is from WR in college to WR in the NFL. The schemes and routes are different and the plays and timing are much faster. It takes every receiver at least a season to get acclimated. For proof, check out the first year stats of Andre Reed, Lee Evans, Josh Reed, and then look at them for most of the better guys who have played in this league. The majority of them have poor first and mediocre second season stats. Not all, but most. Hardy will get better as he sees more playing time and more passes thrown his way. More importantly, he will improve with more practice.

WInning is never a bad thing. And I'm not quite sure which tie-breaker you are referring too, but if it is the strength of schedule one, that's pretty far down the list, and likely the division record, common opponents, conference records, and strength of victory tiebreakers would resolve the issue. Not to mention, at only four weeks into the season, it is a bit early to be worrying about this kind of stuff. I'm more concerned with winning one game at a time, and whether or not the O-Line can get their heads out of their collective asses during first half running plays.

The Seahawk's D, Jag's D, weren't hurt and we played pretty well offensively against them. The Jags also have a superb running attack that we completely shut down. The Raiders had the number two running attack going into last week, and also have a very solid D. If you question the truth of that, go ask the Chargers. As for the Rams, they were desperate and played like it for the first half. Buffalo looked a bit surprised, but we poured it on in the second half. If we beat AZ next week, is it going to be because Anquan Boldin didn't play, so they didn't have their best talent on the field? No, it'll be because we outplayed them and scored more points. Buffalo has had one of the most difficult schedules for a number of years, at least statistically. It's about time we finally got some love from the league. You win the games you are supposed to win when you are a good team. So far, we've done that, and won at least one that most people thought we would lose. Could we just try to enjoy the 4-0 instead of finding reasons to drag it down.

Glad he will be okay, but that was a pretty dirty/cheap hit. That being said, the Cardinals should never have been throwing the ball at that point.

No doubt the run blocking is ugly at times. That said, the Bills did have a total of 110 yards in total rushing yards in the game, so how bad they were, I don't know. Keep in mind, there were two 25+ runs that were negated by what appeared to be AWFUL calls by the officials. Tripping? Really? That said, yes, the O-Line, which is the biggest in the NFL, needs to play better in the first half of games. I think the D was solid most of the game and the Rams scored one touchdown on a trick play. For the most part, the D was solid, though much more so in the second half. TE was solid, but not great. Lee Evans needs a new contract folks.

I was almost ill at the suck job they were doing on the postgame show on ESPN. The Jets had a very good game, but let's keep some focus. They're five hundred, and barely at that. This was the first game where they clearly outclased their opponents. Favre won't make it to the end of the season, and when he goes down, so will the Jets. Even if he doesn't, they finish, at best 9-7 and miss the playoffs.

The one who blew the forward pass call in the Tennessee game in '99. At least Hochuli was willing to step up and admit last week that he missed the call. The one today was bad, but in the heat of the game was probably borderline. With the NFL's new policy about protecting QBs from late/illegal hits, that borderline call in the heat of the moment is probably one that had to be made. I don't agree with it, and was wondering after looking at the replay how it could have been called, but at full speed, I can't say I wouldn't have thrown the flag. Hochuli is a solid ref and has been one of the better ones in the league for a while. Everyone misses calls once in a while. He just happens to have made two bad ones two weeks in a row.

I didn't hear it, but who cares. We all know Mort is an idiot and because the Bills dissed is butt buddy TD he always finds ways to diss us, even when we win. He's a windbag, nothing more.

I haven't heard anything about it on the postgame show. In fact, no one mentioned that he was even out of the game at all. I was wondering why Youboty was on Holt for portions of the second half, and was wondering why that might be. Hopefully McGee isn't going to be out for any significant period of time.

Jessica Simpson must have been at the game, because Romo looked horrible in the second half.

This is the biggest issue for me about this team right now. The O-Line is playing well in the Fourth Quarter when their backs are against the wall, but they are going to have to be better in the running game early on. The O-Line is really going to have to be on their game this week and Peters is going to have a lot of work next week to keep that blind side protected. Not having Boldin on offense will hurt them, but Buffalo has a tougher opponent this coming week than we have since the Jax game. Also note, the Raiders looked good today against the Chargers, even though they again relinquished the lead in the Fourth Quarter.

Enough said. As for Boldin, I hope he is going to be okay, but not in time to play this week. Without Boldin their air attack becomes very one dimensional and they have no running game. Buffalo's potential to be 5-0 at the bye is good, but we need to really show up for all four quarters next week. The Cardinals have a solid pass rush and our O-Line is going to have be really solid in both phases of the game.

Poz and Greer should probably share one. Greer was good in coverage all day and he was in perfect position on that catch. That said, Poz played the general on D perfectly in the second half and was all over the field. Lee Evans should get an honorable mention. His touchdown sealed the game and was a perfectly run route with a great catch and effort. Solid job on both sides of the ball in the second half. We still need a lot of work in the first half of games, but I like the ballsy call on the first play of the game to go 40+ to Lee.

Hardy has the makings of a solid receiver, but there are going to be a lot of growing pains. He needed to catch the first down grab that he dropped. The ball hit him in the hands. You have got to catch those. I think he is going to get better as the season wears on and I think that the playing time he will get, with Roscoe out, is going to help him immensely. Even if he is not thrown to much, he will get practice at running his routes more precisely. That will allow him to get open a bit more, and hopefully he will make some catches under those circumstances. I would note that two of the passes thrown to him at or near the endzone in the first half had blatant pass interference on the Rams #22 and that had a serious effect on Hardy's ability to make the play. That's not an excuse, but it certainly is something to consider in how he performed.