Koufax

I like knowing who to root against, and I like hitting the bye with a chance. It would be so much better if we could have pulled one additional game out so far and been 5-6...but we are 4-7, and our have the bye to set ourselves straight and work on getting to 5-7 and in the meantime root for the following things this week to keep both of our paths to the playoffs open: Chiefs over Chargers Panthers over Dolphins Ravens over Jets Broncos over Patriots Steelers/Browns, Raiders/Titans I am not sure since are all 4-6 teams, but two of those four will definitely join us in the 7 loss category. So actually for our bye week we are looking pretty solid to reasonably get the outcomes we want and keep hope alive another week. I am not expecting playoffs this year, but what is really important for this team going in to next year is every possible week where they have a chance and something to fight for and another win, and there is more attention on the playoff possibilities than the draft possibilities. 5-7 or bust! Go Bills! (and Chiefs, Panthers, Ravens, and Broncos!)

Can't get to 10-6 without passing through 4-6. I will happily talk about going 5-6 on Sunday late afternoon if we are in position to. I think CJ healthy, the team settling into the system, and EJ coming back, along with our remaining schedule we are in good position for a better back end of the season than front end, but it all starts by getting our fourth win.

I am looking forward to our next game and winning it. Today sacked for the outcome and the standings and that is the most important thing, but I think our football team is ready to win their fourth game so they can set their sights on their fifth win. Anybody who is settling in and hoping or expecting 3-13 and doom is pretty silly.

To win that game you kick the 52 and do the onside's kick. Going on 4th reduces your chances of winning. Oh well, that game all comes down to Tuel's 14 point boneheaded play. A lot of good football other than that, but another L that hangs on Marrone with a few questionable calls. But starting Tuel against an 8-0 team and being one game changing easy play away from a W is better than it could have been. Need to find a way to win next week, but I honestly expect Tuel to retire from the NFL with zero wins as a QB, so unless Flynn is up to speed on the playbook, I see it as a tough climb.

14 point play by Tuel. There isn't much more to say about this game. Other than that play, and a bad call (or rule if the rule forced the ref's hand) on the challenged bomb, this is a solid all around football game that we win. Other than that one play Tuel played really well considering his ability and experience. Chandler please catch the football, which you are being paid to do.

I hope he plays soon, but no deviation from: 1) Knee healing reasonably 2) Medical clearance from doctors (not coaches or fans) to practice 3) Practice 4) Medical assessment that he is ready to play 5) Play No skipping any steps in that, and I hope #5 happens really soon, but only when the first four are done. Deviating from this even for playoff games makes little sense (see RGIII), but for a week 9 game for a 3-5 team, definitely no thanks.

The only thing that matters is if we go 3-6 or 4-5. Getting our fourth win out of the way in our ninth game is what matters for this team. I don't like Lewis vs KC D as our matchup, and am concerned about turnovers, but I like our chances of running the ball and limiting their offense. We need Lewis to be somewhat efficient and avoid turnovers...i.e. more like Alex Smith that he faces this week than trying to be Drew Brees who he faced last week. Our future schedule has some good things in it, and getting EJ back to continue his development AND increase our chances of winning games this year will be nice. But right now the difference between 3-6 and 4-5 is huge, and winning the game at hand is the key to our season (as it always is!).

The Chiefs can easily lose in Buffalo and still have a great season. I don't care if they go 15-1 as long as they drop that one at the Ralph. But right now I just want to get our fourth win of the year this week against the Saints. One common thread of all Super Bowl champions and all playoff contenders and all winning teams is that they ALL won a fourth game and didn't wait until December to do it. Once we win a fourth we can think about winning a fifth.

That will be awesome! We will have our fourth win and can focus on our fifth win! One game at a time, winning as many as we can. Making the playoffs would be crazy cool, but even being in the hunt until late and getting to 8-8 would be a huge step forward in year 1 of the regime with the QB situation and injuries. To do ANY of that we need to win a fourth game, and the later we get in the season before doing it the harder the rest becomes.

Yes it matters. The Bills are not going to win the AFC East right now, but finishing second in the division and competing for the second wild card deep into the season are reasonable goals. They want the Patriots to go 5-1 in the division to keep things focused on this year as long as we can, and stop looking ahead to the 2014 draft. Right now getting to 3-4 and hoping the teams in front of them or even with them all lose is key. This week I want the Jags to beat the Chargers, Patriots to beat the Jets, Niners to beat the Titans, Steelers to beat the Ravens, Packers to beat the Browns, Chiefs to beat the Texans, and Broncos to beat the Colts. And some team from western New York to do all right against some team from south Florida. That would leave the Dolphins at 3-3, the Bills, Jets, Ravens, Browns, Titans, and Chargers tied at 3-4. I'm not saying it is all going to happen, but that is the best way to finish the week for this team looking to turn into a contender as quickly as possible. Every win this year really matters. I know some of you will start calculating draft position in a week or two, but 9-7 is better than 8-8 is better than 7-9 is better than 6-10 is better than 5-11 for this team's future. We are not tearing things down to start from scratch, so a lot of the guys we want to win the Super Bowl with are on the roster, and having them buy in and feel like they can win matters more than anything. By far the most important thing is to win our third game ASAP so we can move on to trying to win our fourth game, but your rooting schedule should be the one that has our team contending as deep in the season as possible.

The underlying statement that we have been in every game is very true. The idea that we could easily be either 6-0 or 0-6 is not. If you have 6 things that are 50/50, let's say head or tails on a coin flip, the probability of six heads is 1 in 32. To actually be 6-0 or 0-6 requires either remarkable luck (3%) or significantly more than being in every game. Mathematical point aside, I think threads like this are really important. We really probably aren't going to win the Super Bowl, and making the playoffs probably is almost as unlikely, but playing with confidence and hope as deep in the season as possible is a key to the development of this team, the belief in the system and the coaches, and has an important impact on our chances to compete next year and beyond, and the speed of our current rebuild. So right now having hope instead of a lost season is an enormous positive for both fans and players, and I am happy it is the case. It would be a lot easier if one or two plays went our way and we were already 3-3, but right now this team can focus in on getting its third win as soon as possible so that they can work on getting their fourth. Our last ten games are meaningful and things are wide open for us. 12-4 makes the playoffs (winning out), 2-14 doesn't (losing out), and there is a lot of room in the middle for awesome, exciting, encouraging, acceptable, disappointing, and humiliating. What we do know with certainty is that beating the Dolphins puts us at 3-4 and one game out of the wild card position, and for a young team with a first year coaching staff and a rookie QB hit with the injury bug, that isn't a bad place to be. Losing the game and being 2-5 with a three game losing streak heading to New Orleans and then hosting KC is going to be a tough place to be positive about. So our trip to South Beach is pretty crucial for our season, and would be a huge win, but there won't be an easy way to sugar coat a loss without looking to 2014. Go Bills!

Boo. Nice rally, but terrible punt coverage with the game on the line. Gave it away.

We will get worse by trading him in terms of roster talent and draft pick returns. It might be a case where we get better when cost is factored in like Levitre, but like him, getting an extension done early would have been so much better. Is there any reason we weren't aggressively going after both of them to an extension over a year ago? Did they have anything to prove, or were their demands already too high? I know that train has left the station, but I would like to know if our front office is trying to be proactive with the next time this happens, and lock up core players early rather than as they are in the free agent / franchise situation where costs rise. Taking on some of the risk for the player by deciding earlier I think would benefit our team and save dollars in the long run.

Agreed on the first part of EJ and Kolb being a good pair, and us falling to #3. Who do the Patriots start if Brady had a knee injury and Mallett was IR with a concussion? Falling to #3 means terrible football or an unexpected surprise, but not solid preparedness and front office strategy. On the second part, I disagree. The Vikings are certainly the better franchise in the last 10 years, and that matters, and a definite playoff contender and that matters a lot. But what matters most is the competitive landscape of EJ or Ponder. You aren't going to beat out EJ right now on this team. You might play your way into a controversy, but you aren't going to be handed the keys and have a team bail on its guy after a couple fill in wins. In Minnesota Ponder can be replaced in a heartbeat with a solid performance. So a better team with a better chance to become the starter and it isn't a question of a few dollars.

Their fast offense is viewed as the best way for them to move the chains and what they are building in. We need a little patience with it, and even more now that Thad Lewis is our new QB. That said, novelty and hurry should give us some advantages if we can tire their defense more than ours, and because we have two very good RBs we can do it with a running attack as well. I would love to see some fast paced wild cat too with Freddie taking the snaps and CJ in there as well, but I think that is doubtful. If we sit back and play traditional slow football, we will be out performed by a stronger Bengals team. I think our best chance to win this game and our best chance to improve as a team, is to stick with the plan and try to execute it with a practice squad QB.

Too many dollars might have changed his mind, but I think he likes his chances of beating out Ponder more than beating out Manuel, and I think he would have to be right. Ponder has been a weak link in a strong team, and if Freeman can be better and they win, then Freeman is the starter for a playoff team and lands on his feet. Neither half of that equation (beating the old starter or making the playoffs) fit in Buffalo. Freeman was definitely a better choice than Lewis if available. But of the options we had, I would probably agree after seeing Tuel fall flat that Lewis might be our best option. White and Dixon don't have enough of a talent advantage over Lewis to make up for the six weeks of practice advantage. I had hoped that Vince Young would have gotten an chance as a mobile veteran QB who was able to win games once upon a time. So we are stuck with this, once again rooting for a Manuel knee to heal so we don't have to deal with horrible results. But Brady did just score six points against the Bengals while getting sacked like crazy, so I have to think that Lewis is a reverse lock to dominate this game.

I would take Kluwe just for the journalism aspect.

I don't know about tough situation. You have been preparing to play football, you get your chance. Go play football and show us what you can do. The good ones step up and make plays or at least look competent. Even Trent Edwards came in for Losman against New England and marched down the field for a TD. Sure he will perform better being prepared and with a long week of first team reps, but he showed a lot of negatives in general awareness of how to play football, not just in execution and being in sync. I HATED the play where he was tackled in bounds for a loss near the sideline inside of two minutes. He does understand that he can just throw the ball out of bounds past the line of scrimmage and things are better for his team, right? I was tremendously disappointed in his football performance. I think he is a guy who can make some of the throws, and maybe blossom, but is a long way from being able to help win or even not lose a football game in the NFL. Before the concussion I was a fan of Kolb as the backup, and skeptical on why Tuel was anything more than practice squad for now.

I think we also could be competing with the 4-0 Chiefs given that they are in Peyton Manning's division and likely a 9-7 to 10-6 team. Even without a crystal ball I am definitely rooting for Fitz on Sunday.

I recently did a study, and one thing all playoff teams had in common: they all managed to get a third win at some point after their first two! So after getting #2 against the Super Bowl champs (everyone had that penciled in as a W before the season, right?), I hope we get #3 out of the way as soon as possible because the sooner that happens we can start working on #4. I think we are a realistically a 7-9 team right now, and injuries, schedule, and the way the ball bounces can swing that several games. The fact that we weathered some tough injuries and a big holdout at 2-2 is a positive, and I think our schedule is set up for us to exceed expectations and play above our level, especially if our injury luck turns and we get key guys back faster than we lose to new injuries. What matters most to this team is winning any football games we can, and being in the playoff hunt deep into the final weeks.

One bad game by a rookie QB plus a mangled secondary leading to a one score loss, and we are blaming the scheme. I don't know if I really love the hurry up. It was fun when Kelly was running it, and would have been more fun if we forced a punt anytime in that 10 minute super bowl drive. But I think it is intriguing. It blows up on you a little more when the offense struggles, and I would expect it will also take some time for our defense to adjust to being on the field more as a result. But I don't think the evidence against it based on defensive performance through three games, or the idea we should have milked the clock against New England, etc holds much water. We need to execute better on both sides of the ball, not throw out our scheme as a failure three games in. Right now I'm hoping to get to 2-2 and start a drive towards the playoffs, but I also know that if EJ were polished enough to string together 16 solid rookie season games, he probably would have gone #1 overall, and we are going to deal with some growing pains. I'm very eager to see where the current coaching staff and current schemes lead us, and think that pulling the plug after three weeks is completely silly.

Our current LG is worse than Levitre. We can all agree to that. We would all have preferred to keep him, and if there was an opportunity to do so at less than the Titans paid, then that would be a missed opportunity. All that said, I do not want Levitre or Dockery (lol) back at unreasonable OG money. Just like I don't want Byrd for HOFer money. Bad contracts make our team worse in other areas, and I hope our front office avoids bad contracts year after year. Guard is clearly one of the most replaceable positions, and one where the difference from solid to great makes less of a difference than the difference from solid to great at another position. I don't know if we have a solid guard right now, and I would like that position to get better. But we are talking about allocating finite resources, and not paying huge dollars to a guard seems like a wise decision, even if he is obviously better than the next guy up.

While I am disappointed to not have Byrd and Gilmore on the field, the reality is we don't know his physical state. He has one strike against him for skipping some of camp, although that was his right just like the Bills had the right to franchise him. Each player handles injuries, devotion to their teammates differently, and regardless of the player, being franchised certainly adds some variables to consider that playing under a normal contract does not. If he were 100% and pretending, or if he were holding out officially, then those would both be very disappointing things. If he happens to be hurt more seriously, he is in a situation where playing at less than 100% might be of limited benefit to the team, but could clearly work against his interests. I can't wait to see him out there soon, I hope the contract ploy doesn't cause him to contribute less to our team than he could, and I still hope he signs an extension with us after the season.

Embarrassing rookie game by EJ. I don't get all the early touch lobs on deeper balls and unwatchable lasers on the short ones. Turn the page and get better. Bad game by o-line and horrible by secondary. The result is a division game lost that was gift wrapped for us with the turnovers and penalties.

I don't like the call, but I love the catch and I love the result. I think it was too soon, and your point expectation going for two is less than kicking so you only do it if you think something in the matchup makes it greater than 50% likely or if you need the two (late in the game).