Koufax

No, this game did not hurt our draft stock. Because our draft stock doesn't matter in December, winning football games does. I will not be rooting against this team in week 17 even. The difference between 7-9 and 4-12 are huge for this team, not just because the wins are few and craved, but because each and every win goes a long way to changing the hopes and beliefs and culture of this team. I know we have put a lot of our hopes in the draft, but the difference between the #8 and #15 pick are just not as much as everybody here makes out, while winning football games really matters. So I am not just glad we won today for today's singular enjoyment, I am happy we won today for what it means to this club on draft day, and all through next season. Go Bills

So right now while we are waiting, go Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Miami? I still need to figure out if I start Spiller or Freddie for a crucial fantasy matchup... Edit: Houston up 10-0, two touchdowns away from taking an insurmountable 24-0 halftime lead against the Patriots!

I believe he spilled Jason Kidd's drink on the field as well.

Byrd is replaceable, but by an inferior player. The question is does the amount of dollars and cap room we save in getting that inferior player to play for us add more value to our team elsewhere on the roster, or does it just allow Ralphy Wilson to die a richer billionaire? I think that we struggle to get better enough elsewhere while losing Byrd, and I'm very happy to overpay him a little in the way that we didn't want to with Levietre.

It is amazing how things are shaping up for us to be in at 9-7, and how there are still reasonable possibilities at 8-8 without crazy upsets. That is pretty crazy for a team that needs to jump from #13 seed to #6 with so many teams in front of us. Getting to 8-7 will certainly make the final week exciting, and clearly the biggest thing is obviously getting to 5-7 in Toronto on Sunday. This week Miami over the Jets, Colts over the Titans, and Bengals over the Chargers are all we have to root for, with none of those being *key* games, and none of our desired results being upsets. I hope this thread is still going strong in 48 hours!

This is the biggest thing for this team. We are not winning the Lombardi trophy this year, but every extra week we are alive and playing meaningful games is so crucial for the growth of the team and the changing of the mindset of the franchise. To this year head into the last week with a chance at 8-7 would be huge. Winning in New England in a game that they need for the top seed seems very doubtful and not something I would count on at all, but doing so means that we play zero meaningless games all year, and would really inspire a lot of belief on our roster and set us up very nicely for next year. And it still keeps the miracle run door ajar because you never know... Getting to 5-7 this week and not needing any miracles this week to keep hopes alive means that there is a good chance we can keep these hopes alive another week, and hopefully see an attitude change in this young team in every practice snap, every video session, and another 60 minutes of game time. Anyone who doesn't think that matters and even finishing 8-8 after a loss to NE isn't massively better than limping to 6-10 I don't think understands the necessary culture change that stands between us and being a successful franchise once again.

5-7. The rest of things have a pretty good chance of shaping up in our favor week by week. If we beat the Falcons then chances are things with the rest of the teams look even better a week from now than they do now, but it all involves us getting to 5-7. Winning out is a big deal. We have five "winnable" games, but even if each of them is a a 75% chance in our favor (not likely), the odds of five straight 75% outcomes is less than 25%. We were worried about other games a lot this week with the bye, but in the coming weeks other things playing out in our favor is much much less significant than just taking care of our own business. All that matters is beating the Falcons in our first meaningful December game in a while to live another week.

What matters is that the other games we wanted went our way today, and 9-7 has a good chance at the #6 seed without complicated scenarios and a million upsets. That doesn't mean Lombardi trophy, but it means coming out of our bye against a weak Falcons team with meaningful December football. I don't expect to beat New England in New England in week 17, but I am really excited to creep closer to that being a game that matters and not playing any meaningless football this year. That would be a big deal to the growth of this team. 5-7 and still alive here we come!

Fish lose!

Yes, I totally agree, but given that it is adjusted each week to reflect the current state of things, I thought it an effective starting point for a rough evaluation of things (given that win% produced too many ties). And given that doing it and flipping a single switch (Bills over Dolphins) got us to heading into the last day with a good shot. What is exciting is that there are still a variety of ways to make it if we win out, and we aren't sitting on any specific combination of unlikely outcomes. I happen to think it is really unlikely (especially the win in New England), but each week the chance survives (and probably in the next couple weeks strengthens) it is a positive thing for our football team.

Fun to play with the playoff machine. If you put in power rankings, then change the Bills to win out and give the Jets a loss in week 17. I don't think it is going to happen, and actually care even more that the hopes last a few more weeks. The only game we need to not go the power rankings way is Bills over Dolphins at home (which I expect we will be favored for) in week 16 for us to carry our playoff hopes into the last game of the season. No matter how you look at it, some decent outcomes this week and things keep shaping up as we head into a winnable game off of our bye. Whether we make it or not, making that the focus of attention for the fact that we are winning games and still have hope is a HUGE thing for this team growing. To be able to do it in our first year of a new staff with rookie QB plus the QB injuries really says a lot about our future. Power rankings as criteria, Bills beat Dolphins, Bills beat Patriots, Jets lose to Dolphins in week 17 = Jets and Bills at 9-7 but we win the tie-breaker. Obviously Power Rankings aren't a perfect predictor especially when considering home team, but they give a pretty reasonable picture overall.

This isn't about hoisting the Lombardi trophy, or even about making the playoffs this year. This is about heading into the bye with a chance and something to play for. Right now we want this weekend (since we can't watch the Bills): Broncos over Patriots Panthers over Dolphins Ravens over Jets Chiefs over Chargers Those four things aren't that unlikely and give us something to focus on this weekend. Additionally four of the 4-6 teams play us so two of them will join us at 4-7 no matter what. That sets us up for the following week to play meaningful games in December, which is a pretty cool stepping stone given all that has gone on. We would be trying to win a winnable game Dec 1 against the Falcons and not having any make or break matchups to root for to bridge us to hope alive on Dec 8th. We are a big longshot at this point, and realistically aren't going to make it, but having hope through the bye week and into December is more fun than sorting out draft position, and also is a really big positive for the 2014 Bills as this young team heads in to its second season under the coaching staff and QB primed for some continued success.

Certainly not a gimme, but I wouldn't put big money on the Patriots. Mr. Welker kinda does well at that stadium, and the Broncos O vs Patriots D is more of a mismatch than it has been in past years.

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.