MDH

Jackson has looked okay, Spiller keeps trying to get to the edge on the short side of the field. Guy needs to figure out how to cut up the field, otherwise he's going to keep running 20 yards every play...for 1 yard.

Yeah I love smacking teams in the mouth early and seeing the crowd booing their owns team. The problem is that the Bills are good at allowing teams back into to games - see the Browns game.

I just don't get why they don't move the QB on roll outs in some of these situations. I see other teams do it all the time. He has the choice of running it or throwing it. Or some sort of misdirection play - make the D paying for selling out on the inside run.

I hate that call on 3rd down. If you're going to throw a fade do it on 2nd down. I also hate that call without a big WR who can go up and get the ball. Stevie is much better at finding a soft spot in the D than fighting for a jump ball.

Steelers struggle running and stopping the run. They're not the physical team you think they are. If this game turns into a slugfest the Steelers are in trouble. If it turns into a pass happy shoot out, it's the Bills who are in trouble.

There's a really well written editorial by former NFL player Ryan Riddle on Bleacher Report that's well worth reading. Unfortunately I keep getting an error message when I attempt to link it.

Why is 13 feet the magic number?

I'm not sure he's going to have two good ankles the rest of the year. After every run where he makes a big cut he comes up limping. He is definitely better than he was before he took a week off though.

Yeah, I'm going to say I question how much those radar gun readings mean when Dalton threw a 56mph ball and Falcco 55. Anybody who has watched the QBs can see who easily has the stronger arm. Hell, Flacco might have the strongest arm in the NFL.

I post daily on the Wall, just not that often here. I stopped playing online poker quite awhile when the feds were threatening to lock people's money up. I took my money out and stuck to playing the occasional real world game. Playing online for no money is a joke as people just do idiotic things. Though now that I live in London (and will for the next year or so) I guess I could look back into it. Hmm.

Yeah, the Jets destroyed EJ for 8 or his 13 total sacks. In his other 3 1/2 games he's been sacked 5 times. Thad, on the other hand made the OL look horrible getting sacked at least 4 times in each game, 5 vs. Cincy.

They want to draft another one so that they can give up on him after 4 1/2 games too. If a QB doesn't knock their socks off after 4 1/2 games keep drafting them until you find one that does.

Of course they coach from that perspective that's why they scale things back for your QBs and make the game easier for them. They call conservative plays in important situations when they wouldn't necessarily do that with better/more seasoned QBs. This is the way it's been in the NFL for decades.

Obviously it wasn't. You have 11 guys defending 11 yards of field there. Everything is so compact it takes a quick, accurate read and throw from the QB. I don't trust Tuel in that situation and I don't know why the coaches did. Look, it is a good looking short yardage, red zone play. I just question using it with Tuel back there in his first start. I've supported Hackett's conservative play calling all year in bringing along the young QBs and his run, run, run philosophy inside the the 5 yard line (even when it didn't work) so this isn't me with 20/20 vision. I wouldn't have liked the call before I knew the result. Tuel made a mistake but it's a mistake the coaches should have known he was very capable of making.

I don't even have to watch the rest of the season to know what's going to happen (though I will.) I've seen this before. The Bills love to rip my heart out and stomp on it. They can't do that by simply sucking the rest of the year. In order to do it they have to give me hope, they have to make me start to believe, get me excited about what I'm seeing on the field. They'll string together 3 wins and climb back to .500. Maybe they'll win 4 of the next 5 and be sitting at 7-7 and still in the thick of it with two weeks left. That will set up a huge showdown at home vs. the Dolphins and the Bills will sh*t the bed, lose that one then lose to NE in week 16 and finish 7-9.

People like to say this but it's just not true. The Bills offense averages 71 plays a game. The defense averages 75 snaps a game. Special teams snaps a game - 32. It's more like special teams are 1/5.5 of the game.

If they can develop Manual this year I'll be happy with the moral victories unlike in years past. If they can't, it's same old same old.

I'm still not a fan of that play call with that QB and that time though. You have to minimize the importance of a guy making his first career start and you do that by going ultra conservative. I've been defending Hackett's handling of the offense against all the conservative offense haters because I think that's the right way to bring along young QBs. Hackett forgot his own philosophy on that play.

No kidding. He has to be the best CB ever apparently.

Nah, he knocked him down right at the ball was being intercepted. It's debatable whether the ball was still in the air or in Smith's hands but you're not going to get the refs to call that and he shouldn't.

Get him the ball on bubble screens or a crossing pattern and it could be off to the races as well.

Looking at that play in closely, it makes you really feel how snake-bit the Bills are. The only reason Smith was there for the INT was because he got shake a baked out of his shoes and almost fell over. The ball landed in his lap. Tuel expected him to follow SJ which he should have done. Had Stevie not abused Smith it likely would have been pass interference on the DB jumped over Graham's back and knocked him down. Looking at the play it's really a nicely designed short yardage play. The mistake Tuel made was deciding pre-snap he was going to go to Graham no matter what. Had he hesitated just a moment he could have made the proper decision.

If a "bad" game by Gilmore is 7 catches for 67 yards (and that's if you tag Gilmore for every single reception) I'll take it. Nothing Bowe did hurt the Bills and Gilmore kept him in front of him and wrapped him up quickly after each catch. Those types of plays aren't going to lose games and if that's "bad" then I'm happy.

He has come around, which is the point people make to you. The fact that you haven't noticed it makes people think you're loathe to admit a mistake. Much like you I believe in building teams from the lines out and I'm generally not happy when the Bills do it otherwise. After a rough start last year the guy has been fantastic for a young corner. He's made me a believer when I wasn't at first. He's aggressive, which leads to more penalties than you'd like but for the most part he shuts guys down. I don't get why you don't see it.