The Big Cat

All he has left to injure are his head and toes... Seriously, can this guy still play? If yes...wtf!? WILEY SOB'S!!

I picked these with no regard to what helps the Bills. Only by what I think could happen: Week 14: JAX over HOU CIN over IND GB over ATL NE over CLE OAK over NYJ DET over PHI MIA over PIT BUF over TB KC over WAS BAL over MIN DEN over TEN AZ over STL NYG over SD SEA over SF NO over CAR DAL over CHI Week 15: DEN over SD ATL over WAS CHI over CLE IND over HOU NE over MIA PHI over MIN SEA over NYG SF over TB BUF over JAX KC over OAK CAR over NYJ GB over DAL AZ over TEN NO over STL CIN over PIT DET over BAL Week 16: BUF over MIA CIN over MIN KC over IND STL over TB CLE over NYJ PHI over CHI DAL over WAS CAR over NO TEN over JAX DEN over HOU DET over NYG SEA over AZ PIT over GB SD over OAK NE over BAL SF over ATL This doesn't seem to improbable...does it?

Haha...unless this season was playoffs or bust for you: who cares!?

Sunday's was one of three losses that gets pinned directly on the D. The others being NYJ-1 (injuries, I know) and Cincinatti. They're inability to slow New England down in the final drive didn't help either.

Sounds like there's Promo and the Captain might be at Hammers? Fellas?

And suddenly everything said on a Bills message board has to be backed by first-hand knowledge? 99% of what is shared here is COMPLETE conjecture. In this case, we all want to fight so hard against this because we don't want to admit a local darling has fundamental flaws that may forever hamper this team.

Refresh my memory.

17 responses and NOBODY went with: Fellas, stop lion around. We're trying to get to work!

Well, I'm still beating you 1 to 0 in explaining why Stevie is reliably unreliable. I guess you chalk it up to...? And by the way, the "victory" lap started because it was foresight that I was eviscerated for that came to fruition.

Also, since Hackett has taken to the sideline, the offense has put up more than 700 yards and scored more than 60 points...in two games...one against a historically elite run defense.

Again, it sounded to me like he's acknowledging the correlation between losses and not selling out, putting the onus squarely on the organization, identifying the need to produce a better product.

I guess I don't expect anyone to take that speculation at face value. What I don't understand is dismissing it outright. Refusing to acknowledge the possible connection seems stubborn (putting it kindly).

I understand how you've connected "coached to checkdown" to "does well with the gloves off in crunch time" but that doesn't jive with what Marrone/Hackett have said about encouraging him to "let it rip."

I'll be there. First game since we took a shalacking at home against the Jets in 2010.

Yeah, except you acknowledge that TO is far more competitive. I don't know how it's the Bills fault when we have guys on both sides of the ball with the same kind of fire. Also, TO is/was a physical specimen, even by pro-athlete standards. His god-given athleticism let him get away with WAY more than Stevie could ever. Strength, speed, size--he has Stevie beat by a WIDE margin in all three.

I don't see it this way at all. I don't see him blaming fans. I hear him saying nothing is more important than winning. If he thinks (like the rest of us) that the Toronto series puts us at a disadvantage and makes winning less likely, he'll pull the plug, knowing that wins will put fans in the seats. I was PISSED hearing Canadians cheer for Atlanta. I'm sure Russ was BEYOND pissed.

Haha, now that we've gotten to that level, the answer: not much. But I don't recall a reality in which the fans of TO's teams weren't fed up with his **** and his likewise proclivity for drops. So, I guess TO helps make the point, too. As a player, though, TO had a mean streak in him (during his early years) that we haven't seen from a receiver at least not so long as Johnson's been on the roster.

You're the one arguing immaturity is a broad term. I'm the one who's saying his is CLEARLY different than the one's you've identified to make your case.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings on it too. Kinda feels mutinous.

Yeah, they probably would have said that about Jordan's Bulls. But they fact is, six times...they didn't....each time with Jordan being the Finals MVP. So, apparently they weren't a distraction. Thus, the only similiarity between Jordan and Stevie is non-competition distractions. But, on the flip side, we're light years away from saying Stevie's childish distractions have no impact on his play, mostly because he's been the opposite of a clutch-time-MVP. So: one has distractions but still manages to have--by consensus--the greatest impact on his team in each of their six championship runs while the other has distractions that cost his team games, denying them mere entry into the postseason. Well, you've now called me names, and gone to great lengths to break down the argument that Stevie's immaturity afflicts his performances on Sundays. But specifically what you're arguing, I'm not sure. I guess everything, as far you're concerned, is gravy. Well, we're making these guys out to be wildly successful in spite of their off field distractions, an argument that actually helps my cause considering the Bills career record since Stevie has been our "star": 33-59.

PFF has to contrive these ludicrous analytics in an effort to surmise what's supposed to be happening on the field. Meanwhile, our anayltics department (as discussed in the pregame show on WGR) is analyzing things like practice reps, the number of lateral plays to each direction a player is involved with to ward off groin injury...yadda yadda.

Except Jordan's "antics" were traits often associated with people who are compulsively successful. He had/has an insatiable motor. His negative qualities are precisely what you want in a competitor. Irvin's were similar. Blow and hookers. Illegal, yes, but hardly relevant to a discussion about a guy whose major transgressions are those of a irreverent teenager. As for Key, Moss and TO: how many combined rings? Are we conveniently forgetting how all three of them had careers that each just fizzled out with a veritable dearth of fanfare? It's all a wash though since I wouldn't liken Stevie's childish behavior to any of these guys.

There's a MAJOR misunderstanding of what the analytics department does. OP does a nice job illustrating that.

It's very relevant. If--in fact--you competed at that level, then you should understand the granular connection between a guy's attitude and his performance. Period. It's not a logical leap at all. If you think Stevie's a mature, focused, level-headed leader, then fine. But you're not. Nobody is. Instead, we have two pools of behavior to draw from. His clownish on/off the field antics and his knack for finding a way to !@#$ up at the least opportune times. If--in fact--you competed at the collegiate level (I'm assuming you're not referring to club/intramural sports), then you've probably had some reliable teammates along the way, and you've had some unreliable ones, too. And you'd know that their performance in the clutch is not only predictable, but directly tied to the kind of person they are when not playing. So, you're welcomed to completely dismiss Stevie's non-football antics. But if you're going to acknowledge them, you can't possibly make the argument that they have nothing to do with his ability to focus and perform when it matters most. Speaking of logical leaps: Stevie gets a pass...because Michael !@#$ing Jordan acted like an !@#$!? This is teetering on Godwin's law.

Relevant question: what was the highest level you participated in organized sports?