Dr. K

I think they will be doing well to make 8-8. I hope they prove me wrong, but that would be some kind of miracle it seems to me.

A defensive touchdown (or two) would help.

I am very pleased to be way off on my prediction.

Instead of throwing it out of bounds, E.J. is going to put it up for grabs. He'll throw at least three interceptions. I just have a bad feeling: Bills get blown out in this one 41-14.

E.J. airs it out Some big plays, but throws four picks. Fans set hair on fire.

I think yours is a more rational estimation than mine, and if I were betting I'd take your advice over mine. I am basing my estimation a bit on intangibles. I just feel that these young players are going to respond to Marone's style of coaching. I believe, like Marone, that talent is essential, but that esprit d'corps or motivation makes a difference in the end. I expect these players to learn rapidly and play hard. I of course don't and can't guarantee anything. I just have a feeling, based on what we've seen and how they've responded. Did you see the clip on the bills website of Marone's postgame talk to the playersa? A moment at the very end struck me, when one of the players, walking away from the huddle of players after Marone is finished and Kyle Williams gives him the game ball, says, "That's what I'm talking about." The sound of that just speaks to me of a big change in attitude. We'll see whether this means anything at all.

This may be a useless post, but I've been thinking about this particular version of the Buffalo Bills and I just have the feeling that this time it is not a mirage: this team is going to get to be VERY GOOD. There may be some surprises on personnel, and they will have to draft well next year and the year after. But there's something about these guys that has me believing. And I say this having predicted last winter that they would be lucky to win three games this season, later revising to five. I was not impressed with the hire of Marone and had no faith they would have anyone who could play quarterback. But I take all that back now. I think Marone may not be the smartest coach in the NFL, but he knows something about people, not to say young football players. His emotional but straight-from-the-shoulder style will I think really work with this team, and the players are going to play way above people's expectations of them. I'm thinking, barring catastrophic injuries (and maybe not even then), this is a winning football team this season, a good bet for the playoffs and maybe more. If I were a Pats fan, I would not be feeling so smug about the next meeting of the two teams, even though it will be in Foxboro. That's about all I have to say, for whatever it may be worth, which probably isn't much. As you were, men.

+1 The first time the Bills screw up, he will turn on them like a snake. There's a huge difference between telling the truth and being a jerk. Even when Sullivan is right, he's an ass.

I know it's premature, after just two games, but could Leodis finally be living up to expectations?

This is the way I feel about the Carolina game. The Bills have been hurt badly by mobile QBs over the years. Will Newton make them look silly after being ineffective last week? I really think this could be a foundational game for them, coming after the near miss against the Pats. A test of character, talent, and coaching against a tough defense but a beatable team. Are they pointing up or down?

This team is truly cursed. There is no chance in hell they will even compete with the Pats on Sept. 8.

...Bills were playing the Jets, their first drive of the game, and EJ completing bullet passes then running for a touchdown. And I don't even expect Buffalo to be any good this season. Must be my id at work.

An illustration from an early 1800s edition of Frankenstein. The monster comes to life and Victor Frankenstein flees.

I'm glad he mentioned the issue at QB. I have high hopes for EJ Manuel, but I don't see where they are going to find 24 touchdown passes on this team this season. Certainly not from Kolb.

I can't understand why anyone would expect better QB play from Kolb than we got from Fitz. Maybe it will be different in some regards, but it will not in my opinion be better. An improved defense might lead to more wins anyway, but that would have been true last season as well.

Exactly. I say six or fewer wins and hope to be proven wrong.

+1

I agree. I was one of the people most critical of letting Nelson go, and very unhappy with the loss of Levitre. But the acquisitions in the draft at WR make me feel I overreacted. It remains to be seen who will play left guard, but I'm hoping they can get at least adequate performance from somebody there. I hope the o-line does not take too much of a step back. If the coaches can bring these players along, maybe the season won't be quite the significant step backward i expected. I'm still not convinced the offense is going to score more than it did last season. We'll see.

Where did I say Fitz was a good QB? I said Kolb is no improvement. I gently suggest that you may have a Fitz fixation that is making it hard for you to see Kolb (or the rest of the offense) accurately. What I was saying is that I do not at this point expect the offense to play better than it did last season. I expect a step back before there is a step forward. Not that last year's offense was sterling, or that Fitz was a superior QB. And I stand by (and elaborate on) my statement that if the defense were even adequate, instead of the worst in Bills history, the team would have won at least three more games in 2012.

I am absolutely aware of Fitzpatrick's limitations. But I do not see (unless Manuel takes off from Day One the way Wilson and Luck and RG and Cam did in the last couple of years, which I am not expecting) that Kolb is going to give better overall QB play than Fitz, or that the new offensive system is not going to have equivalent difficulties to the ones Gailey's had (if not necessarily the same ones), or that the rookie receivers are suddenly going to be a quantum leap above the ones we got rid of. At the very least I think there is going to be a learning curve. And we obviously have different opinions the comparable abilities of Fitz vs. Kolb (do you really see that Kolb is that superior? Based on what, ,exactly?). And I don't think if you give Spiller the ball ten more times a game he is going to maintain his 6.0 yard average per carry. Etc. I think we can agree that the defense has to be better--or at least I would be surprised if it isn't. I guess we'll just have to disagree for now. The camp and pre-season may change my mind about the offense. We'll just see what happens. As I say, I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this. This

I am amused by all the people who think the offense is going to be better. Kolb is not a better QB than Fitzpatrick. Fitz threw over 70 TD passes in the last three seasons. The Bills scored lots of points under Gailey's leadership. They didn't lose because they could not score. They lost because they couldn't stop anybody from scoring. All those who say the Bills "never ran the ball" or "ran shotgun on every play" or that the coaches "didn't want to be here" or a hundred other distortions and outright misrepresentations of facts, are suffering from amnesia. The Bills were sixth in the league in rushing yards per game last season. Spiller alone had over 1200 yards. Fitzpatrick passed for 3400 yards. They scored 28 or more points seven times last season. They averaged 22 points per game, not in the top half of the league but a respectable number, far more than they did under Jauron. They are likely to be fielding at least two rookie receivers. They lost their most reliable offense lineman. The o-line looked as good as it did in pass protection the last few years because Fitz, whatever his flaws as a QB, made quick and accurate reads and got he ball out in about two seconds on every play. Fred Jackson is getting old and coming off a knee injury. Do you expect them, with a new offense, a retread or rookie QB, and rookie receiving corps, to average over three touchdowns per game? The area where the Bills utterly stank last season was defense, and everything people have to say about how bad they and Wanstadt were in that area is true. So yes, I expect Pettine's defense to be better than Wanstadt's. It could hardly be worse. But I expect the offense to take a large step backward, no matter who is playing QB. Considering the likely improved defense and the likely worse offense, I expect about the same results next season. I have high hopes for EJ Manuel in the future, but I am not banking on better QB performance this season by the team as a whole. If they Bills win six as they did last season, they will be about where I expect them. I could be completely wrong about this, and if I so will be overjoyed. But the misrepresentation on the board of what went wrong last season is astonishing.

I can't say whether this is a good draft or not--Manuel looks intriguing and I think in general the picks make some sense on paper. But I do not see Marone getting 24 TDs out of the quarterback this season no matter who is playing back there. If the defense shapes up (its total failure last season was the reason the team failed and Gailey got fired, in my opinion) then maybe Marone won't need to get 24 TDs out of anyone. And whoever is back there won't have to play catch up late in games and risk so many picks. Still, there are holes on this team, and rookies aren't going to fill them in their first season. We'll see how the Bills look coming out of training camp, but right now I'm expecting 5 or 6 wins tops, and maybe less.

This is the absolute truth. If the Bills had ever managed a middle-of-the pack defense, they would have been in the playoff hunt at least two of Gailey's three seasons.

I still can't get over the Bills letting Levitre walk, then letting Rhinehart (a much lesser talent) go. With the Kolb-for-Fitz switch, the dumping of the young wide receivers (leaving them next to nothing on the roster to work with), I just see this franchise spinning its wheels. The draft is just going to be about plugging holes they created after the end of last season, with players no better and likely worse. You draft and develop a guy like Levitre, then just let him go. Same story as Antoine Winfield, Nate Clements, Ted Washington, Marshawn Lynch, Jason Peters, yada yada yada. I have generally been a positive outlook guy on this board, for many many years. I basically avoid hating on specific players and I don't like that form of fan behavior. But I have never been so bleak about an upcoming draft and season. I really hope they prove me wrong, but I have no confidence in this new management. I just have the fatal feeling that this loser franchise will never be good.

So if the Bills win three games instead of two then I've been proven wrong in my judgment of them as a team. Got it. This team is going to stink. So they win five, hell, even six games. They will still stink. The only thing at issue, in my mind, is the degree to which they will smell up the place. I will be glad to be proven wrong and will publicly eat crow here if they come anywhere near .500 next season.