MDH

When I see excuses like that I think, "that makes him a 3rd down, change of pace type back." If you have to get a guy in space every time he gets the ball he's not an every down back.

FJ's always been the man. At least in my book. There's a reason he's a team captain. If this team had 22 players with FJ's heart and drive they'd be in the playoffs.

Take a look at snaps and targets. R. Woods actually leads the Bills WR's in offensive snaps. He's been on the field for 97% of the them. SJ is next at 96%. TJ has been on the field for only 78% of the snaps. As for targets SJ has been targeted 29 times, Woods 18, and TJ 9. Yeah, that's 3 targets per game. TJ is not the #2 WR and he's not that involved in the offense. Chandler, F. Jackson and Spiller are all more involved in the passing game as well. My point is that people love to overstate these things. The Bills realize that he's not that great which is why they don't involve him that much.

To be fair they're measuring the time between plays. The Denver offense has to move down field after a 15-20 yard completion which takes extra time. The Bills offense, on the other hand, has to move a yard from the original LoS.

Of course much of it is about execution. However, I don't think the hurry up helps the execution. I believe Manuel would be better served having a few moments to collect himself between plays and think about what he needs to be looking for pre-snap, on the next play. He'd benefit from the extra time at the LoS. The O-line could benefit from the extra time as well. A little more time to make the line calls couldn't hurt. Once everybody has the O down and the game has become slower for Manuel, by all means go balls out fast. But until then the execution is going to suffer and nobody is going to be at their best. Not fact, just my opinion. At the very least they need to stop the idiocy of going as fast as they can no matter what the game situation calls for. It's hurt them in two games now.

For his limited number of snaps he sure gets called for offsides enough. Has to be at least once a game.

Well, I'd say it's fairly obvious that it's a contributing factor. It's not the only factor, but an extra 6 minutes on the field is going to tire big guys out. Obviously they can help themselves out by getting off the field on third downs but that doesn't negate the position the offense puts them in. Why do people need a single "right" answer? It's a combination off all of it.

I don't see how this could turn out badly. Full stadium, drunk fans, horrible team. Wait, that sounds familiar...

I read something today that said as recently as last week he still had pins sticking out of his wrist. Doesn't sound like he'll be on the field anytime in the next few weeks given that info.

Pretty sure that was done with his tongue planted firmly in cheek. Granted, it's tough to tell when you compare it to other threads/posts.

I always assume, perhaps naively, that people are just blowing off steam and are not to be taken literally. Hell, I yell all kinds of crap at my TV during a game, I just try to be more level headed once I head out into public (or online.) That being said, the "let's give them time" line every 3 years gets a bit old after awhile. Particularly when you see other teams go from worst to first in a single season. Rationally thinking, yeah, you're right, in general it's going to take a little time and it's not this staff's fault. But people are just fed up with giving this team time. I understand it, it's frustrating as hell.

Yeah, he caused at least 3 of those sacks by moving into the pressure. One of them was even a JPesque run out of bounds a yard behind the LoS sack. I expect he'll get much better once the game starts slowing down for him.

So what you're saying is that the board is basically unreadable once football season starts?

Yeah, it was. The 17 yard pass to Chandler this week was also a really nice throw. He's had a number of really nice throws.

It also helps when a team spends the money they have under the cap. Seattle is about $2.5M under as opposed to Buffalo's $20M.

Blasphemy. I've read on this board that the bills run D is just fine and not a problem.

I like EJ quite a bit but the major flaw in his game, what causes him to be so innacurate, is his footwork. At times it's just horrible.

With all the injuries that have piled up I completely forgot he was one of them. My bad.

Yeah, I'm scratching my head as to why he's not in line to return kicks. Also, for all the flak he got in the pre-season right now the Bills miss Brad Smith.

I find it interesting that I keep seeing the sentiment, "if we had last years offense with this year's D we'd win 10 games." Last years Bills team averaged 21.5ppg This years Bills team averages 21.7ppg Last years Bills offense averaged 342 yards per game This years Bills offense averages 350 yards per game Last years Bills team averaged 2.125 turnovers per game This years Bills team averages 1.33 turnovers per game Yeah, stats don't tell the entire story and I agree that this offense is maddening right now but I think people are romanticizing the past and just how effective last years offense was.

What I wouldn't give for the Bills to coax Winfield out of retirement. Guy is still better than anyone on the Bills not named Gilmore.

Yeah they do. There was a stat line on this linked last week where the Bills ranked 1st in the least time between plays the the Pats, Eagles and Broncos followed them up. The Eagles, for all the press, were ranked 3rd I believe.

The main issue with Spiller's usage isn't the play calling, it's the formation. Chan would frequently have 4 and 5 WR sets and spread the defense out. This formation would get the D in a nickle or dime package and give Spiller the room to run between the tackles he needed. Hacket isn't doing that in large part because he has a rookie QB back there who he's trying to protect and make it easy for. Giving him 5-6 targets with less protection and telling him to make quick decisions isn't his forte yet. So Spiller is either going to have to learn to be a complete RB and find room when the D isn't in a nickel or dime or he's going to have to spend more time on the bench while Freddie gets more carries until EJ figures it out.

No one is arguing that the Bills D isn't decimated by injuries and that contributes to some of their problems. You're arguing that the run D isn't bad. Do you honestly think the run D has nothing to do with the passing D? They're not connected in any way? Teams don't run to set up the pass and vise versa? Also, you didn't answer my question at all. You are saying that those 180 yards are meaningless because, according to you, they had nothing to do with scoring drives. So, are you saying that: 1) The run D is bad but in this game it didn't seem to cost the Bills much. 2) The Bills sometimes don't try all the time to stop the run and just give the opposing team some big gains when they dont' think it will hurt them? 3) The BIlls D doesn't give full effort all the time? It has to be one of these things for your argument to make any logical sense. Which is it? My guess is you think it's number 1 and we just disagree on how much it effected this game but I'm not totally positive. They're giving up a lot of yards and a lot of yards per carry and I'm assuming they're trying their best to stop the team each and every play. If that's the case their run D is bad. That it didn't hurt them much this game doesn't negate the fact that it's bad they're just fortunate it didn't hurt them (and I do not believe that it didn't hurt them this game, I'm just trying to look at it from your perspective.)