Dr. K

I agree. People get too far ahead of themselves. Most QB discussions on the board are overdone one way or the other, pro or con. I think it's a good bet Gailey keeps all three, and puts Brown on the practice squad. But we'll see soon enough.

It's the play calling and offensive design that impress me the most. You can see him using early plays to set up later ones, reacting to the defense intelligently, looking for weak spots. The screen plays, for instance, in reaction to the big rush the Bengals were sending, using Parrish on crossing routes, the three-step drops, etc. I don't know why it couldn't have been done this way last season, and I want to see how it goes when the real bullets are flying, but you have to be encouraged by the rhythm the Bills offense is establishing no matter which of the three QBs is in there.

My only point is that the Pats are not the team that went 17-1 any more than the 1995 Bills were the 1990 Bills even though they key names were the same. I would think anyone watching the Pats over the last season or so would see that. The are a much more vulnerable team, older in the key positions, and in general have not replaced the departed players with younger players of equal ability (though they still have plenty of talent). And I'm not saying the Bills are better. I don't know if this is the year the Bills finally win one from them; we'll see.

I don't know, guys. I'm of the camp that if you can't measure it, then it probably ain't real. Let's put it this way--you can go for a while saying, as Kelly does, that Sanchez (or anyone else) has great talent even though it doesn't show up in his stats. But after a while, if the stats don't show it, I don't think it's there. If he doesn't play any better than he has already, in a pretty good situation, then I think he's not very good. If he has another season of 12 TDs and 20 ints, then I can't see any excuse for calling him a good QB.

I completely understand the despair, but it has to happen eventually. Last season the Pats beat the Bills twice, but neither game was by any means a blowout. I'm not saying it will happen this year, but the Pats have come somewhat to earth since their 18-1 season. That are not superhuman. The Ravens humiliated them in Foxboro last year. That game reminded me of the last playoff game played in Buffalo, when the four-time AFC champion Bills, the team still sporting Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennet, and Daryl Talley met the second year Jacksonville Jaguars on the Bills' home field, where they had not lost a playoff game since 1989--and got beat. The Bills still played some good games after that, and had some playoff seasons, but their dynasty was over. Today's Bills are absolutely not the Ravens, but the nonetheless they had the Pats on the ropes in the opener last year, in Foxboro, even with Edwards at QB. The gap between the teams is not what it was three years ago. We'll see what happens. All of them three years older. If names won football games, then we should just get Kelly, Smith, Thomas, Reed, Bennett, Tasker, Hull, Wolford and Talley back to play this season. I'm not optimistic, but I have a guarded expectation the Bills will do better. And I hate all this worship of the Pats. They deserve immense respect for what they have done. But they are not the team they were in 2007.

This is sadly true. It always kills me how easily Brady is able to send the TE down the middle for 20-30 yards against the Bills. And apparently this new rookie TE they have is even more of a weapon. I expect to be gnashing my teeth over this every time the bills play them. That and the short passes to Welker with large RAC.

I know how they use Welker. It works fine--up to a point. Are the Pats going to win the division on 28 yards rushing and 16 minutes of possession per game? I'm not saying the Bills are going to beat them. But I think they are incredibly vulnerable. I bet Belichick isn't dismissing the performance against the Rams last night, and if that was the "full dress rehearsal" of their offense, any good team they play, including even the dog-ass Jets, is going to beat them like a red-headed stepchild. They could quite realistically fold like a house of cards in the regular season. Of course, I could be wrong.

Yes.

Time of possession in this Pats-Rams game Pats: 16:14 Rams: 43:46 The only reason the score was close was that that Pats returned the opening kickoff for a TD, and the Pats intercepted a pass and ran it back inside the 10. This is all pre-season, but the Pats were playing against last year's worst team in the league. With the Pats starting offense playing into the fourth quarter. The Pats and the Colts have proved in recent years that you don't need a good running game to win a lot of games. However, 28 yards a game is beyond abysmal, and I guarantee if they run like that all season and pile up 16 minutes in time of possession, I don't care how good Brady and Moss and Welker are, they will be lucky to win half their games.

Could be. But if this is their offense's full dress rehearsal, they will be the worst running team in the league. I know the trend now is for teams to succeed without having to run very well, but this strikes me as a vulnerability.

28 yards rushing against the Rams last night. I know it's pre-season, but 28 yards against the Rams? But Brady threw three TDs. It's also interesting that the Pats played Brady into the fourth quarter. Why did they do that? Does he need the work? I doubt it. Were they that eager to beat the Rams? Why?

I've felt this way for a long time, too. I remember when they fired Polian, I thought they fired the wrong man. With the talent on that team the Bills should have won at least two of those games.

So, off-topic, but do you know the song "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton. He's a fave of mine. PS: Chan was right to do this, and I think his main goal is to foster some team attitude among the players.

Very interesting. I have thought for come time that the hating on Maybin has been excessive. A lot of frustrated fans of this team are ready to see somebody's head roll. I'm not saying Maybin is going to pan out, or that the Bills have gotten anything so far on they investment in him, but I don't see any compelling reason to throw him overboard when he's so young and raw.

Yup. It's up to the Bills to prove it. No sense whining about a lack of respect.

I'm in the "cut Maybin some slack" camp. Yes, he's been a disappointment so far, yes, it's not likely he'll ever be what we want from that high a draft pick. But he's very young, and let's see what can be made of him. He's still very much a work in progress, and there's no downside I can see of letting him play and perhaps improve. The characters issues I don't see, though I'm not privy to locker room stuff. Bruce Smith used to act like an ass all too often (though of course he had the game to cause us to ignore that). To compare Maybin to Rodney Harrison, as someone did here, seems way over the top to me. I don't understand why some people are obsession about him.

Nice upgrade, SDS. I just want to thank you for all that you do for us Bills fans. I don't think you get enough credit. I for one am grateful, despite my fellow fans' effects on my blood pressure.

The voice of sanity.

I hear he drinks the blood of unbaptized infants.

Thank god none of the fans here are piling on or taking cheap shots or obsessing . . . . . . never mind.

Well said, and I take your point. But anybody who's been paying attention knows this. And Bill never stops harping on it. Even in this OP, where he seems to be praising Spiller, he's still complaining. It is the definition of tiresome.

Yeah, I guess that's the problem. I should write better.

What are you talking about? I was very happy the Bills drafted Spiller. Bill in NYC the one who complained it was a lousy choice, that Ralph Wilson made Nix draft Spiller solely in order to sell tickets even though we needed to draft an OT. Bill's repeated harping on this wacky theory (as if no sane GM would draft Spiller in the Bills' situation) is what I was complaining about, not the drafting of Spiller. You should be making this comment to Bill, not me.

I can't believe you don't realize this yet, but maybe you can't see it: You are so amazingly tiresome with your one-note whining and crackpot theories on why Spiller was drafted. Anyone reading one of your posts can know exactly what it will say before reading it. Should have drafted an OT. Ralph made them draft Spiller to sell tickets. Defensive backs should never be drafted high. and then you try to compensate for your incessant kvetching at the end with your "GO BILLS!" ...Sorry to go off on you, but it really gets on my nerves after a while.

I don't think that TD to Evans was a busted play at all. It was designed that way, the three backs were in there to confuse the Colts' defense and make the wary of the run, and it worked perfectly when they bit hard on the run and Evans was able to run through them to get wide open. That play actually made me see the kind of thing that Gailey brings to the game as an offensive play designer that people have said of him--that he can design an offense to get the most out of the players he has, show them in a way that makes them look better than they have before. It's only one play, in the pre-season, so I won't draw any big conclusions yet. But I know I came out of my seat when I saw it.