Koufax

We are one game behind Baltimore and one behind the Bengals for the wild card, Tied with the Titans, and with everybody else with 5 losses already. None of our schedule is easy, but there are no impossible games on our schedule either. We still control our own destiny in the division, but I don't expect that is very likely and I think New England finishes strong. The Ravens have two games against the Bengals, one against the 49ers, and one in San Diego, so that is not a very favorable schedule, but they also have two gimmes against the Browns and one against the Colts. Still with how bad their offense has been, they have some more losses coming. I don't see them going 3-4 and finishing 9-7, so we would be shooting for a 10-6 tie breaker with them most likely. The Bengals have the tie breaker, so we would root for them to finish 9-7 which means a 3-4 finish. With two games against the Ravens, one in Pittsburgh, and one against the Texans, that seems like it could happen with a young team playing above expectations. The Titans are tied with us and have a relatively normal schedule. If we beat them they won't finish ahead of us. If we lose to them we won't get to 10-6, so I don't see them as a threat. Denver is behind us and not likely to go 5-1 with New England, Chicago, and San Diego on their schedule, so while they are fun to watch, I don't think they make it to 10-6 (but it could happen). The Jets have a pretty easy schedule, and like the Titans it will be a must win for us, and if they beat us we will have a hard time getting to 10-6 and they will have a shot. If we beat them they could still win out and finish 10-6, and it could be a tie breaker, but having to go 5-1 is a tall order in the NFL for a team that is 5-5 with Mark Sanchez. If the Chargers get to 10-6 it will mean the west and Oakland doesn't, so they aren't going to get a wild card. KC has New England, Pitt, and the Packers, so no way they can go 6-1 to finish at 10-6. So realistically the Bengals have a shot, the Ravens look likely, and I don't see anybody else likely to get to 10-6. If the Bills can find a way to stay on track for 10-6, I think they have a very good shot of making the playoffs. 9-7 is pretty unlikely but possible. I don't think we are a 10-6 team, and I don't think it is likely, but with two games against the Dolphins, home against the decent Broncos and Titans, and a potential rest week game for bye-bound Patriots, I think could be in good shape if we can beat the Dolphins and Jets. If we can't beat the Dolphins this week we have no shot, that is clear, but if we do, I think our season turns on the Jets game. I don't like our chances too much after our last matchup, and with them having a long week, but if we do get to 7-4 I like our playoff chances, and i think it is fairly likely we go in to NY in 10 days with a chance to make that happen. So right now we should probably just try to beat the Fish, and make our playoff chances look pretty decent with six weeks to go (with Ravens/Bengals facing off this weekend). If we play like the last two weeks that won't happen, but I Billieve we will rebound on Sunday with a good game and a W. Go Bills!

One week a time. Seven weeks is too soon for playoff scenarios. One thing is certain, we control our own destiny, and if we win out we are the AFC east champs. Now we all know we aren't going 12-4, but I guarantee nobody here thought we would control our own destiny for the division 9 games into the season. Right now, we hope that the shell shocked Jets after scoring only 16 against a pathetic banged up Pats D, now prepare for Tebow-mania on a short week and lose any usefulness of Revis Island in the process. If we beat the fish we come out at 6-4, hoping the Jets are 5-5, with Cincy or the Ravens dropping to 6-4. That's a better way to head into Thanksgiving than being 5-5, so let's just beat the Dolphins and realize we aren't as good as we thought at the top and not as bad as we think here at the bottom. Although it would be cooler if we had our best O-Lineman and our best D-Lineman on the field instead of IR. Go Bills!

Except for the Patriots, and the first place Raiders, and the first place Giants and the Bengals. Four games against first place teams and we were in all four until the last play, winning two. Add two ugly losses, and two ugly wins, and beating the Eagles in a normal football game. The Bills are playing badly right now, Like New England did dropping their last two, or the Jets did when they lost three in a row. They are not as good as we thought at 4-0, and they are not as bad as you might think now. But we are tied for second place, and control our own destiny for the division with seven games left (not that I expect us to go 12-4, but 12-4 wins us the division no matter what). If we beat Miami (not a gimme) we move to controlling our own fate six weeks from the end and get our Jets rematch. A very disappointing 2 weeks, and we are not a top team in this league, but a lot of exciting football ahead of us. Step back from the ledge, let today's ugly loss hurt for a while if you want, and then let's get ready to take on the Fish with a lot to play for.

I'm not going to counter your pessimism party overall, because it was a depressing day. We are not an elite team yet, and we got our asses handed to us today. It is not as bad as it seems right now, just like it wasn't as amazing as it seemed at 4-0. This is a team on the upswing that will still take some lumps. Not a fun two weeks at all, but we are 5-4 one game out of first, and ready to go play Miami next week and try to get to 6-4 and stay in the hunt. One item I will counter is Spiller. He is behind the current best RB in the NFL, and he is not going to get a lot of chances. A huge huge weakness (if anybody can let me know otherwise) is anytime he is in the backfield he gets the ball. He won't be there to block, etc. So pretty easy for the opposing D to key on that. I think he still will be a playmaker in this league, despite how disappointing his first two seasons have been. Amazing to think that before the season Chan wasn't sure if Freddie was the starter or not. To now say with limited opportunities behind a great player playing at the top of his career that he is a bust and worth a conditional #7, etc. is the unrealistic drama I wouldn't expect from you Bill. He is closer to McKelvin than Maybin at the moment, but that isn't cause for celebration. Party is not over yet. Let's go squish the fish, and then see what happens. I am 100% focused on making the playoffs somehow right now, but can see a lot of positives in 8-8 or 9-7 if we get there. Stepping stone from drafting #3 to winning a SB.

Not a good 8 quarters of football, but your bleak assessment is way off base. This team could go 7-9, but to put Denver, @Miami, and a Brady-less week 17 in Foxboro in the loss column right now is unrealistic and pretty pathetic. I haven't had any fun since the Washington game, but this is a team that for the first 8 weeks of the season went 5-2 with the two losses 3 point last minute on the road against teams currently 6-2 in first place. This is a better team than it feels like right now, but at 4-0 we were never on track for 12-4. Being in the playoff contention until the end and maybe sneaking in means this team is ahead of schedule on the rebuilding process. We are still a year or two away with big defensive problems, but that doesn't mean we can't overachieve and have some fun this year.

Yeah, tied for 2nd one game back after week 10 is a good start for the season. Two bad games in a row after getting to 5-2 is a little hard to stomach, but the overall result is good, an we have two Dolphins games and a Broncos game ahead of us. I'm just happy we took a kickoff out of the end zone, and don't care that we got tackled inside the 20. I'll take that -2 yards for a chance at good field position once in a while.

Nice job Chan. Can't risk Spiller being tackled at the 14 for a six yard loss of field position! Take a knee and rely on the offense to 80 yard it every time to make up the 21 points. I will sound like a broken record on this until they get it right! We are the worst return team in the NFL because we are scared of losing a couple yards, despite having great return talent.

What a terrible first quarter. Good thing (or bad thing) we get three more. Now I would like to go on record to say I would LOVE to see a ball deep in the end zone run out and have us tackled INSIDE the 20. I'm okay with that. I'm okay risking 5-10 yards on the negative and getting bad starting position to see the chance of maybe getting a start other than from the 20. Chan is WAY to conservative with that and it has to change.

+1 on Ozymandius There is one game that matters. The Cowboys. Win this game and things start looking up in a hurray (then Fish to move to 7-3, etc). Lose this game and the clouds start to darken. And besides it is the only game that we play this week. Go Bills (and Go Pats today only!)

Not sure what "Playoff contender" means. It would seem to be meaning a team that contends for a playoff spot (being in the chase until the end of the season), whether they get there or not. I think by that definition this is a playoff contender. Not so optimistic that they make it, and this team is still a year or two away from where we expect our peak to be. This is not supposed to be The Year, so being in the hunt and trying to find a way in (the definition of a playoff contender) is a great achievement. On your actual points backing up your logic: 1) beat a team 23-0 with 10 sacks on the road, picked off Brady 4 times. Not going to be confused with the Ravens, especially after losing Kyle and Merriman, but better than the Pats and some other top teams. 2) What does "needed to go all the way" have to do with being a "playoff contender". I'm not sure if maybe you mean the more specific "Super Bowl Contender", and I might agree with you there, but Fitz is good enough to take us to the playoffs several times during his new contract. 3) What does Fred's age have to do with whether we are a "playoff contender" which just involves how we play over the next 8 games? Also, he is lower mileage than most 30 year olds. 4) Neither has Maybin. Having first round busts or underachievers on your team is never fun, but it doesn't have anything to do with what this team can do for the next 8 games. And Spiller has been playing well, but is just stuck behind Jackson right now and not going to get big reps without an injury (like he did at WR after an injury). 5) Stevie caught a bomb against Revis. Donald Jones is a deep threat as well. Just because we aren't playing the JP to Lee Evans scheme with Chan, I don't think a lack of a deep threat has any impact on what this team can do for the next 8 games. 8 Games to go, two against the Fish, one against the Broncos, one against a Tennessee team that has only beaten the Colts in the last five weeks, on against a Chargers team that is struggling. I don't think one bad game against the Jets crash lands this season. Go Bills!

The issue isn't how close the losses were and that they were only the road to teams now 6-2. Not that we have had a chance to win 7 of 8 games with even the Jets game 3-0 at halftime as badly as we were outplayed. What matters is after a 4-0 first quarter of the season which included beating the Patriots, we just finished a 1-3 second quarter (which is a 4-12 pace). Now it is how we deal with this adversity that matters. We are in great position in a first place tie to make a run. We are also in great position to drop a couple games and fall of the pace pretty quickly. All that matters right now is finding a way to beat the Cowboys and move to 6-3 and not fall to 5-4. Taking advantage of the Jets/Pats head to head, we will either be tied for first, or tied for second after this week. Being 6-3 tied for first and heading into a winnable Miami game is a great place to be.

Have Maybin and McIntyre been on the field for any down and distance in common this year? I'm pretty sure Maybin is not going to be playing on running downs, so the chance of him getting contact with a non QB ball carrier are a 3rd and long 1) draw (when he will have gone too far up the field to be a factor) 2) Screen pass, trying to chase it down from the back side. What we need to make sure is that he doesn't get his speed move around one of our tackles and leave us with egg on our face after the play. I think he will be a non factor and am very amused by the amount of coverage a relatively unimportant player is getting in a crucial game between big teams. Nobody is talking about how Sanchez got picked five times by the Bills back before they were a take-away machine, or how running with Washington was unable to run the ball.

As I say often, if you think there is any reason that Clayton knows as much about our team as most of us who follow them closely you are mistaken. NFL guys don't usually spend 32 times as much time on football as we do. And the bottom teams get very little attention and analysis. 40 hour split evenly is 1:15 per team. Think the team that hasn't made the playoffs in a decade gets the full hour and a quarter? Anybody here spend an hour and a quarter a week paying attention to this team? Anybody here realize before the season that Bell and Wood were coming off a fully healthy off season after performing pretty well coming off injuries? Leveitre was really good? Wood was moving to a position that he was better suited for, and we were obviously going to be better at RT with Green gone? And that the whole crew was on the upside of their young careers, playing together behind a returning QB, and very likely to be much stronger than people would otherwise expect? I know I did and I'm sure a bunch of you guys understood that, and I know nobody in the national media got that. Just one example of many. After some playoff appearances that might change, but for now Clayton and pals are always going to be the weathermen reporting whether it rained yesterday, but not having a clue as whether it will rain tomorrow. Go Bills.

Against who? Never heard of him. Is that the guy drafted after lights out Maybin a few years back?

Yeah, they used to beat up on us and dominate the AFC when they had that Marino guy who will never be half the QB Luck already is. But jokes aside, I was rooting for them and hope they find a 2-14 to Indy's 1-15 so they have a pathetic season without a silver lining. If one of those wins is against the Jets or Pats, even better.

I would love to have had Quinn and Miller on our team, but had Dareus higher than either with our #3 pick, and neither were around when we picked Aaron Williams. Dareus is playing well now, and will continue to be a huge part of our defense for years. I am very happy with our pick.

I read somewhere we need LT and QB were what we needed, and we haven't drafted those, so we should probably finally get one of those. Rather than 90% D, I would settle for 100% BPA and keep injecting talent into this roster. When we have choice of similar talent players I'm definitely on the pass rush aspect, but the draft is a long time from now.

Trent Edwards says hi. Chan can make any QB better and is great working with what he has, but the reality is that Fitz is a talented decision maker and an accurate thrower to a degree we did not expect. That is not all on Chan, and I am excited to have Fitz be our starting QB for the near future. Over the next few years we can see when a groom for the future QB falls in our laps, and if a franchise QB shows at any point, but especially later in this contract, we can pick him without forcing the issue. A Rogers or Rothlesberger or Brees or someone similar since I don't see us picking top 10 any time soon, or a Dalton/Mallett/Claussen type with a lower pick.

We go 8-2 and the Chargers (also 4-2 right now) go 4-6? As a San Diego based Bills fan, I don't see either of those as very likely, but would love the #5 seed. But each week I am rooting against Cincinnati, Oakland, the Jets, as well as Baltimore and/or Pittsburgh (even though I think those two will both make it). One game at a time and I'm still rooting for us to take the division, but I think most realistically Cincinnati and Oakland fall off a little, and we are battling the Jets for a wild card spot. I think the most important game of our season is next weekend against the Jets in Buffalo. The rest can fall into place relatively simply, but losing at home to the Jets would put our backs against the wall, while beating them will put us in great shape.

Brady's years are numbered, even if he is close to his peak. And I seem to remember Miami having a decent QB we faced 8 times in the regular seasons of our four super bowl years. But yes, I hope he doesn't land in south Florida, and was upset with the Tebow rally increasing the likelihood of that result.

When he touches the ball he does good things, and is improving and getting more involved. He has been targeted 11 times and has 11 completions. He has a 7.1 YPC when handed the ball. Freddie is playing like an MVP, so touches will be somewhat limited, but he is getting treated like Maybin when he isn't playing like that. I have to think his blocking and understanding of the game are improving in practice and he will be able to be in the backfield without it being known he is getting the ball. I would not trade him for a late second rounder.

Sure, but you do know that Leaf was a certified head case while at Washington State right? (I lived there at the time and the local media covered it pretty well). And you did see the completion percentages in their last two years in college: Leaf: 52% and 55% Luck: 70% and 73% A lot can happen, and I really hope he doesn't land with the Dolphins, but the comparisons are much more fitting to Manning and not Leaf. He is so fundamentally different than Leaf in terms of personality (Leaf's downfall) and accuracy that if he does turn in to a bust, it will be for completely different reasons than that. Tim Couch (66% and 72%) would be the much better parallel. If he fails it would be much more likely to be in a Tim Couch way.

I think this is a big overpay by the Raiders, but at the same time, if they feel they are in shape to make the playoffs with him and not make it without him, that is a big franchise moment. It clearly is an overpay that will have some ramifications in a couple years in a pro-Bengals anti-Raiders way. But why is nobody talking about the big news here! While a competitor for one for one of the two wild card spots just got better, our Strength of Victory tie breaker likely got a little boost too! Not against the Patriots who also beat them, but could be important against the Jets who are suddenly just one game behind us

How high did we make it in 2008? I know that if the season ended today we would have home field advantage through the playoffs, but we also have won some nail biters, given up some big yardage and points, and haven't yet passed our 2010 win total. I enjoy some of the national media attention, but I we still have a ways to go to earn the real respect. Getting to the bye week at 5-1 is the next step, which starts to look pretty good with two Miami games and Denver still on the schedule.

So my question (and not finding a better thread to post it in) is who had on their "we will go 11-5!" or "no way we do better than 4-12" game by game breakdown befoer the season had us beating the Patriots and losing to the Bengals? Nobody. I'm excited to watch these next five you mention one at a time, with first up the Eagles and trying to find a way to beat them. I will take a 3-1 first quarter of the season, but playing good football and getting better each week so we can win games is what is is still all about.