MDH

Shanahan record with the Skins is one game better than Gaily's with the Bills (if I'm not mistaken - which I might be.) And let's hold off on anointing RG3 the next QB of the skins for a decade. After one year everybody thought Vince Young was going to be amazing (he won rookie of the year.) Same thing with Cam Newton and things are starting to go south for him. RG3 looks fantastic thus far but let's see what happens.

I'm guessing this thread gets ignored or you get blasted - I'm not sure which. I'll play along though. As you mentioned, FJ and Spiller are both guys worthy of having an offense built around them. Stevie Johnson has had his best year so far. Not statistically but the guy gets open consistently against good DBs. I have yet to see a DB who can consistently cover him. With an a QB who could regularly get him the ball he would post big numbers (I used to say the same thing about Moulds - man if that guy had a decent QB he'd heading to Canton.) Also as you mentioned, the OL has done an incredible job considering the injuries there. On D there isn't much nice to say. Byrd makes big plays with strips and INTs but he also makes quite a few bad plays. I won't get on him too much about the bad plays since he appears to be our only playmaker on D. Kyle Williams is a stud and appears to be the only DL who shows up on a regular basis. Gilmore is doing a fine job though I'm not sure if that's because teams target Aaron Williams mercilessly or because Gilmore is actually doing a fine job. In looking over my positives for the D I noticed I had quite a few negatives about people in there too. Sorry, but that's the best I can do when talking about this D.

The most alarming thing from that article was this: 30% of the city is below the poverty line?!?!?

I read your post and was primarily responding to this portion of it: I guess I should have quoted that portion. As my post states he did exactly what you're wanting here. He built the game plan around them, got them 35 touches and put up 34 points because of it.

It's fine to criticize his opinion, just have a logical rebuttal and not the idiotic stance that poster had. If that poster had Crayonz track record I would have found it funny it was so ridiculous.

You may have a point but I'm not sure it was the wrong call, just the wrong read and horrible throw (though I'm still not sure it was a horrible throw, it looks like he was trying to throw a back shoulder pass to Jones and there was a miscommunication ) If the Bills run the ball on 3rd and 7 with 3 minutes left and don't get the first down people are screaming that Chan isn't trying to "put the nail in the coffin" and is giving the Titans 3 minutes to score against a D that has been horrible all day long. I'm not confident the D would have stopped them from scoring had the Bills punted there. Hell, they scored with a minute left on the clock, an extra 35 yards in field position may not have stopped them. And if that happened people would be exploding asking why Gaily ran the ball instead of trying to get the first down.

Fair enough and you've got a point. Though I will add that if the D picked up Fitz by not allowing the TD at the end the Bills still win.

The funny thing is that it saves DeHaven's butt too. If the punter shanks it out of bounds the punter will be blamed for a shank. But if a punt is returned for a big gain it's DeHaven who would get the blame. He's created a system where he can't be blamed. It's brilliant!

I think the O picked up the slack by not punting the ball once until midway through the 4th quarter. Unless your definition of "picking up the slack" is being perfect I don't think you have a point on this one in regards to yesterday's game. Bottom line is this. The Bills offense ranks 14th in the league in points scored (averaging 24.4) and 10th in yardage (avg. 349.) The Bills D ranks 31st in points allowed (avg. 32.4) and 31st in yards allowed (avg. 424.) The NFL record for points allowed in a 16 game season is 533. The Bills D is on pace to allow 518. Fitz is nowhere near perfect and has limitations but why on earth is anybody talking about the QB position when the D is historically bad?

It's the same guy who wrote both articles. Who is Robert Lambert and why is he fascinated with the idea of a team trading for Byrd?

I actually think DeHaven should get more criticism for that punt that Potter. DeHaven needs to get over his desire to punt the ball out of bounds - it's not working and hasn't worked all season. Punt the ball to the middle and cover it. It's what every other team in the league does and they do it successfully just about all of the time.

Are people crazy? Sure Fitz had a horrible INT but give me a break, the team put up 34 points and was unstoppable for 3 1/2 quarters. Can you guys at least wait until Fitz has a horrible game (and he will) before calling for his head? Even those guys couldn't win more than half their games with their D giving up 30+ points a game.

I didn't either until I rewound my DVR and played it in slow-mo one frame at a time. It clearly hits the line and bounces up before Gilmore slaps it.

I'm not sure what games you're watching. Chan didn't call plays like Fitz is a superstar yesterday. He calls screen after screen and short passes caught 5 yards from the LoS. He called the game for Fitz like he's a rookie QB who he doesn't trust. People can B word about how many times Fitz dropped back to throw yesterday but the fact is that 14 of the team's 27 receptions were by RBs. Screen passes are basically extensions of the running game. FJ and Spiller had a combined 35 touches yesterday - I doubt I've seen more touches from RBs in a game that wasn't a total blowout. Chan called a good game that utilized the strengths of the team and minimized Fitz's accuracy issues. This was apparent in the score - the Bills scored 34 points. Hell, the offense didn't punt until the 4th quarter! The problem is the defense. Peyton Manning couldn't win more than half his games if he was constantly asked to score over 30 points in order to get a win. That Fitz Int was horrible but the bottom line is if the D was halfway decent that INT doesn't matter because the Bills are winning by 2 TDs.

And because the D sucks so badly the Bills will hire a D guy which just continues their endless cycle: Williams - defensive minded coach, Mularkey - offensive, Jauron - defensive, Gaily - offensive. Perhaps the next coach they should hire not to fix a unit but to, I don't know, lead a team.

Your opinion on this doesn't matter because you live in St. Louis.

After the game today my 8 year old son comes up and say, "Daddy, why do you root for the Bills?" I ask him, "What do you mean?" He replies, "they only make you mad and frustrated, so why do you watch them?" It's a good point. As long as he's been alive they've only been a source of Sunday frustration and at this point it's pretty much only that something in me that refuses to quit, give up or take the easy route that has me still rooting for them. I think most Bills fans feel your pain Mike and understand where you're coming from and I'm sure we'll see you back here a few weeks from now when the Bills will figure out a whole new way how to lose.

Marv Albert at one point said, "Chris Johnson hasn't had a game like this since last year here in Buffalo." That quote says it all.

I watched it twice in slow-mo and each time it was obvious that the ball hit the sideline, then bounced up and was then batted back into play by Gillmore. He could have challenged it but he would have lost because there was no clear evidence and it simply would have wasted a time out.

He didn't really say "the defense is fine," did he? That cannot be an accurate quote...

If he runs it and they don't get the first down people are bitching that they're not agressive enough with 3 minutes left on clock

I thought so too but slow-moed it and the ball hit the line (barely) before he saved it.

That has to be on Jones, no way the throw was that far off target. Have to believe it was supposed to be a back shoulder throw otherwise, wow, that's horrible.

They haven't punted the ball today - can one really complain about the offense? Not to mention many of those passes are screens which are basically runs.

Glad they didn't. I don't think you should until the 4th quarter when its obvious it'll be needed.