ax4782

I think the team has improved immensely over the time DJ has been at the healm and the fact is, this team looks like they are going to be pretty tough this season. I'm glad that we won't have to spend another disastrous offseason looking for a new coach, assuming that DJ gets that contract, though after the coaching job he did this week, that looks more likely.

Keep in mind, when looking at the running game, we are, right now, averaging significantly fewer carries this year than we did last year. Lynch averaged over 22 carries a game last year. Today he had 19, and last week he had 18. He and Freddy combined for over 80 rush yards today against a top run defense. I'd say that was pretty good. Also, Lynch and Fred Jackson looked good in the passing game and those screen plays often times may as well be runs. Frankly, fewer carries is a good thing. If the Bills continue at this pace, ML will have had 59 fewer carries by the end of the season than he had last year. Even at last years rate of 22 per game that's two and a half fewer games worth of carries and hits he takes over the course of this season. That rest will help in the playoffs. To date, the Bills have run decently against two top run D's and I expect the numbers to pick up over the next two weeks against the Raiders and Rams. It's still early, but there is reason to be excited, even about the run game.

Youboty is playing very well in the nickel package and gives us a strong tackling presence in the secondary that some of our other corners don't have. McKelvin is still a rookie and while he has immense talent, he didn't look great in camp at the CB position. He needs time to develop. Greer is a very solid corner and I think Buffalo will target him for a new contract in the offseason. Evans, however, is the top priority, and they have said they intend to give Peters a renegotiated long term deal. I expect TE will play another year or two at his current salary before we throw a bunch of money in his direction. Buffalo's draft picks in the secondary are starting to look better everyday. Whitner is a leader, and our CBs are top quality. If the D keeps performing at this level, all those Marv doubters may need to put in their order for a plate of crow.

Just checked and that appears to be the case. I think I remember them saying something about the exception last year before the Dallas game too, so I think that must have been the case. Either way, I still think the throwbacks should be the permanent uniforms.

I think they plan on certain games, but I think they added them for the Dallas game last year. There's no reason they couldn't add more games where they use the throwbacks. Personally, I think they should make a permanent switch and the make the throwbacks their permanent unis. Much nicer than the ones they have now.

I expect Peters to get significant playing time, but they may not start him this week. He is not fully in game shape, and with the heat down in JAX this weekend I would bet that they split time between him and Walker over at the LT position and rotate Chambers and Walker at RT for this week. Either way, any time you get a pro-bowl talent and a top-5 position player back on the team, the news is good. Our O-Line may have just gone from above average to elite if Jason can play at or above the level he showed last year.

Agreed. With three O-Line starters out on the Jags, our D should be dominant up front, and perhaps Ted wasn't aware, but our run D was excellent last weekend because of the offseasons acquisitions playing so well. Buffalo is a very different team than when we got spanked down there last year.

A fifth round pick we used to get Marcus Stroud. I'd say we won that one!

Completely agree.

Sounds like an excellent plan. And with Brady out, that might just happen. Matt Cassell = Worse than Steve Grogan

Not wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, I would say that we stand a solid chance next week, if our team plays with the consistency they showed against Seattle. However, the Bills never play well in the September heat in Florida, and we'll see just what kind of shape Jason Peters is in this week. The fact is, their O-Line being hurt is our best source of strength. Our front defensive four played well against the Seahawks, and I expect more of the same from them this week with the injuries to Jacksonville. Also, Seattle has two solid RBs who did absolutely nothing against us except for one series where Morris had two nine yard runs on off tackle stunts. Then the D came back and buckled it down. I think we should play better down there than we did last season, but I'm not ready to say we will destroy them. This is the NFL after all.

Indeed. See the NY Giants of last year. I think the Bills have the potential to really make some noise and now the the "Golden Boy" Tom Brady is out for the season, the dragon is wounded and the Bills, if they have solid play every week, have a chance to contend for the AFC East Title and at least one home playoff game, if that should happen. Here's to hoping.

I tend to drown that out. Those fans in NE that think the league is out to get them should realize that 1. THEY F-ING CHEATED THEIR WAY TO THREE SUPER BOWL WINS. 2. They've never seen a bad call go against them in their lives, thus have no basis for what real referee bias actually looks like. 3. Karma is a B word. When looking at my comment one, at some point their reign of terror had to come to an end. Buffalo had a long streak like this in the 90's and they've had theirs. Hopefully a new day is dawning and the Bills will be the ones on the top of the pile. No matter what anyone says, if Brady's injury is as serious as some are saying, he will not be the same QB when he comes back. Players rarely are after that severe of an injury. I think the Pats' days of 12 and 13 win seasons (or more) are over.

While it is still early, it is hard to believe that some people still refuse to recognize that the talent factor was the key. We did not have enough talent on the field the past two seasons to play the way they did this past weekend, and we had an OC who was extremely unimaginative on the offensive side of the ball. TS showed that he can have a solid and efficient as well as aggressive attack on the offense and I didn't see Jauron ordering the O into the turtle. When they recovered that fumble on the kickoff they went right for the jugular. This is a different team. Put some talent in DJ's hands and he is capable of putting a consistent and winning product on the field. While it is early, I think there has to be some recognition that this didn't even look like a Bills team from over the past ten years. They were aggressive, unpredictable on offense and most importantly, fun to watch.

I think your first statement is dead wrong. Nothing about the end of last season showed that DJ had faith in SF. In fact most people in the Buffalo News Media and on this board were pretty sure that if he hadn't been saved by the hiring at CSU, he likely WOULD HAVE BEEN CANNED. I don't buy any of that other bs. As for hiring from within, it didn't look as if the FO made a bad call on Sunday. Schonert has a huge wealth of NFL coaching experience and played in a dynamic and unpredictable offense under Sam Wyche. That wasn't a bad call, that was using the talent you already had to make the team better. Did the offense look like it was bad Sunday? I think not.

Completely agree. The Bills as a team and a coaching staff played even better than I thought they would against a solid team. And the fact that the Seahawks had a couple of injuries doesn't lessen what Buffalo did to them. The offense was not predictable. I think we may have thrown on more first downs in this game than we did all last season. But seriously, those people who said that Jauron was a terrible coach are finding out that if he is given the right talent he can make things happen. eball is right on with that comment. P.S. I don't see krazykat in this discussion. I wonder why? Perhaps he hasn't finished his plate of crow?

Yeah, but he didn't mention that hit was clearly below the knee and intentional AND done by one of his players. The prime definition of HYPOCRITE.

Typical media. I watched the highlights after the games were over, not one showing of the Bills-Seahawks game, even with the two spectacular ST touchdowns we had in the game. I just quit paying attention to them. We'll have to make the playoffs before they even pretend to notice us. I say, that's all for the better. Flying under the radar is the way I like it. And with Brady going down, the division is really up for grabs, and we'll be right in the thick of it.

The O-Line in general, but especially Kirk Chambers and Langston Walker. Those two guys played out of their minds and shut down to very good pass rushers all game long.

Looking at the numbers, and watching the game and a replay when I got home, the Bills O-Line was outstanding against a very good Seattle D. The one sack they gave up was more on Trent as the line gave him all day to throw and he just didn't get rid of the ball. And for those Langston Walker haters out there, I hope all that crow you're surely eating right now is sating your collective appetites. He dominated a top-10 pass rusher to essentially ineffectiveness. Marshawn had holes and Trent had all day to throw. We are only going to get better with Peters coming back next week. If the line continues to play like this along with solid performances like we saw from the O and the D, Buffalo could reach that 10-6 mark. Sure it was only one game, but the team hasn't looked this good in a long time. Here's to a great opening day to the season.

Anyone know if and where there's a Bills fan gathering place in Detroit. There used to be a place in Novi, but the crowd there thinned out significantly over the course of last season. Not to mention it was pretty sparse to begin with. Any ideas?

The pace has improved markedly, and is a significant part of why the team played better against the Steelers. They not only moved with a faster pace, but they seemed to throw the steelers off at times by changing things up. SF was afraid to change anything and his conservative game plans killed us. Schonert looks to have a faster offense and one that is much less predictable. It's only one game, but there was certainly improvement.

Buffalo Brothers is where it's at. RDU area Bills backers meet there, they take up the whole bar and you can get all the old Buffalo favorites in terms of food. We've been going there on Sundays for years. You can't beat it.

I guess the injury problems with the WRs in this draft class are starting to show up. Here's to hoping that we don't have a similar problem. Should Hardy get hurt, our offense isn't much better talent wise than where we ended last year.

It was the last line of that WGR excerpt that bothered me. The fact that they haven't even spoken to Peters' agent tells me that the team is not taking this implied threat of a hold out very seriously. I think that is a mistake. I don't think that Peters should get a raise. He just got one and has only had one season of actual performance. I don't think that makes him ready for a 6 year 60 mil deal. I want to see more production and over a longer period before paying out that kind of dough. That being said, the team is in deep s--t without him and they better do everything they can to make sure he shows up. Just to note, if nothing else, the money will force him to get to camp. Apparently, the fine is 15,600 dollars per, including weekends, so that amounts to just over 100,000 per week that you miss of training camp. The game day fines are even sharper. The money will force him to play, but I don't know that he will be very happy about it, or be a "full participant" if that is the only reason that he comes back to the team. Buffalo better get ready to shell out those dollars, because, even though I don't think they should, they need to get him signed long term now if that guarantees that he will be out there and playing for us.