BillsVet

Don't know what happened to the guy, but maybe the lifestyle went to his head. Who knows, but I don't remember this stuff happening last year with Gailey at the helm. Perhaps it was happening but nothing leaked out. I can see Dareus traded in the offseason for a mid round pick. The gifts of Nix that keep on giving.

Didn't they run for the bus in last seasons finale at New England? My how things have changed.

Brandon saying the series will be re-evaluated is simply pandering to the fans who see the Toronto series for what it is: a cash grab so Buffalo can remain in the field with the big time owners. There's a competition among owners to earn the most, and while Buffalo won't compete with Dallas or NYC, playing in Toronto moves them closer in that race. Unfortunately, the end result is a team playing at no better than a neutral field which ultimately hurts them. The Toronto series is the epicenter of all that's wrong with how Buffalo is run. While every team needs to profit (it's a free market) the downside here is that it impacts success on the field. I suspect they can't get out of the deal, nor would they leave money on the table. If they could, it would give Brandon a lot of credibility and remove the idea he's running it more to profit than most teams are managed.

He negotiated the deal, right?

Good question. As a much reviled BN columnist noted tonight, a very good defense and a solid running game isn't enough in the modern NFL. The issue remains that they didn't answer the QB question going into 2014.

The idea people are talking about an undrafted free agent on his fourth team in his four seasons versus the teams' first round rookie QB says all that needs to be said. The answer to the QB question remains unanswered going into 2014.

This is the second rebuild in 4 seasons, the third is 8 seasons, and the fourth in 13. I think the Bills lead the league in attempted rebuilds, and they can't even blame Al Davis. Rebuilding, with the right management and personnel decisions, can happen quickly. It's not a 3-4 year process anymore.

I recall getting a text in 2009 saying RW had fired DJ. Brandon was the GM at the time and obviously didn't have the latitude to make that decision, which defines the dysfunction at OBD. Owners hire GM's. GM's hire coaches. GM's and coaches pick players. Owners collect the profits. We can see that when owners interfere too much and won't let football people make the decisions necessary, things don't work. Washington, Dallas, and Buffalo are prime examples. Heck, even Mike Brown figured that one out and Cincinnati is going to the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 seasons. Brandon is an extension of RW and isn't about to deviate from how the team's been run post TD. The fact this thread is started tells me that Brandon's tough talk doesn't work like it used to.

I'm more interested in what the team does under Brandon's watch than what he says, specifically when it involves money on players. They didn't offer Levitre a contract, failed to come to terms with Byrd, and re-signed Eric Wood. While the past 14 years aren't all his fault, the Bills have been managed from the highest level in a way inconsistent with winning in the modern NFL. I sense patience with Brandon is already waning, given his penchant for marketing talk and failing to then live up to the hype.

Well, forgiveness is the best medicine.

They'll most likely lose 10 or more games for the 5th straight season. Would you prefer I wait longer?

May God bless you and yours during this Christmas season.

Can you go one post without citing stats to defend your opinion? It's more nuanced than numbers.

As has been said many times here, stats don't tell the whole story. Someone posted the ratio of how many runs he's had that resulted in first downs. And so, I ask the question: Is it better to get 5 yards on 1st and 10 or 3 yards on 3rd and 3? That's the operative question which cannot be answered with stats, like you so often cite. CJ isn't the value some made him out to be, but rather is the flash-point for fans to defend all things Bills. It's actually OK to criticize the team and players from time to time. After all, the latest rebuild appears to be heading to year 4 of 10+ losses. Shouldn't it be acceptable by now for even the hardiest of homers to do this?

Two separate coaching staffs have been blamed for not knowing how to use Spiller. It would seem that it's not the coaches, but rather the player after nearly 4 complete seasons in the NFL. I truly don't believe Spiller understands the pro game as much as he should in his fourth season. When you spend the 9th overall pick on a RB, it had been be a dynamic player. Spiller is not dynamic, but of course there's always another reason why he's not succeeding.

It counts, but not as much as some would like it to be in their continued attempt to defend all things Bills. I just subscribe to the notion it's acceptable to criticize a franchise that is either rebuilding for the second time in 4 seasons or still on rebuild 1 extension 2. Either way, I'll be objective until they string more than 1 win in a row together, which they haven't done at all this season. What does Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Tom Brady, and Jeff Tuel have to do with any of this? QB's aren't judged on stats, but some of them can serve as metrics to indicate where they're trending. Yet, W's and L's are assigned more to the QB than any other individual or unit on the field. Besides, Wilson's improvement within the season was tremendous, while Manuel's is no more than pedestrian if at all. A conflation of the argument. Road teams typically are at a disadvantage, which is an even greater conflation than your example. LOL.

1) Yes, 2 passing and 1 rushing TD's. Against the league's 27th best defense. 2) A loss is a loss is a loss. Russell Wilson beat NE in his first try for the record, which doesn't factor into this conversation, but it's a technique you've used frequently. 3) Doesn't matter. That was 3 months ago and it's his highest passing yardage game of the year. Makes the argument that the progress isn't there, especially when 5 of his 9 (completed) games featured 200 yards or less passing. If this were 1955, I'd be OK with that, but we're in a pass-happy era, as you undoubtedly know.

I remember reading on this very board about the concept of "progress" back in 2007. It was the feel-good mindset of the moment, which excused DJ's exasperating offenses and bend but don't break defenses. Yet, it didn't add up to anything because they didn't have a real QB, the coaching wasn't good, and the team didn't have a real GM. 6 years and zero playoff appearances later, the QB position remains in flux, the coaching isn't as solid as we'd hoped, and the GM just emerged from the shadow of Buddy Nix. This is sophistry. Referencing Drew Brees' road record after the bills won against one of the league's worst teams. Really?

It's amazing that a 17-24 193 yard 2 TD 2 turnover performance against the league's 27th overall and 26th ranked pass defense qualifies as progress. No way does that get the job done against the New England's, Denver's, or Seattle's. Because if you're measuring yourself against the dregs of the league, it's a pretty hollow comparison. Raise the standard beyond mediocrity.

Perhaps the coaches know their personnel can't do everything they'd like to and had to scale it back. Hence, the bubble screens and short passes for EJM.

So true. Nothing else matters but wins and any other mindset is a losers frame of mind. Anyone having a dubious opinion of the Bills, fan or not, is fully justified given the track record. No need to apologize, the homers won't care anyway.

This is, as per usual this time of year, what Bills fans are reduced to.

I can hear Marrone after the game today: "Obviously, at the end of the day, we just didn't play well. And I'm going to kick my dog when I get home. This one hurts."

EJ, like Fitz before him, tends to come up small at crunch time far too often.

The players in NE respect the HC, despite him appearing cold-hearted and unemotional. That's the difference, which should be patently obvious by now. I can't stand BB, but he's proven whereas Marrone isn't, Whaley, isn't, and EJM certainly isn't. Winning is the only way to do that, and the talk this organization has put out there is being tuned out. Point is, there is no substitute for victory.