MDH

Again, it's easy to be unified before a single game has been played. Let's see what happens when this team meets some adversity. The test of one's character is when things aren't going well. I'm not predicting the team will fall apart like last year, I just think it's a little early to be handing out kudos to anybody.

Or it could simply be that the NFL wanted to have some premere matchups late in the season with two potential playoffs teams going at it...

They also have very good O and D lines, which is where games tend to be won. The rest of the team is suspect, but I'd rather be good on the lines and suspect everywhere else than vise versa (which is sort of where the Bills are). As for the original post I don't think the Bills are going to sit there and rush four all game long if they're not getting preasure doing so. They they can't get preasure with four they'll start to bring more. The only way to stop any good QB is to preasure them consistantly and I'm sure the Bills will do whatever it takes to do this (let's hope it doesn't take Gray's, "let's blitz every down" gameplan to accomplish this).

I'll still be pleased if the Fish struggle this year and don't score much. But if they do play well on offense I still benifit from it. It's a win/win situation.

Mularkey isn't (and wasn't) an idiot. The difference between his first year as HC and his second was preasure, or rather his inability to make correct decisions while under lots of preasure. There was very little preasure during his first season and loads of it last year. Mularkey sold his soul in an attempt to meet the expectations that the team, media and fans set for the Bills in the pre-season. In doing so he buckled to the vets, argued with coaches and pretty much set the team back an entire year. Some people thrive in preasure filled environements and some people fold. Mularkey is one of the folders.

This is a bit off topic but your post reminded me of one of my all time favorite sports quotes, "Everybody has a game plan until they get punched in the face." One could almost say that Mike Tyson sounds intelligent in that quote.

They better run it, I have Ronnie Brown on both my fantasy teams!

There's little doubt in my mind that Mularkey lost control of the team last year. However, just assuming it's going to be different this time around is a mistake. How many coaches lose control of the locker room during their first pre-season. If I recall correctly there were plenty of these types of posts during the pre-season of Mularkey's first year as well. Everybody was happy to see GW leave and were posting things like, "no bullhorns at 6am this year!" I'll wait and see how this team responds to the coaches on (and off) the field before I start getting too excited about the direction of the team.

Perhaps I over-stated that. However, the guy was coming off a horrendous season where he lost control of his team. He wasn't in position to bargain for anything. The fact that they wanted to keep him and had multiple meetings with him to try and convince him to stay after they found out he wanted to leave is doing "everything to keep him" in my book. They certainly didn’t chase him off (like they should have).

I don't know if it was a mirage but the loss to Pittsuburgh's backups certainly wiped away any positive feelings I had about that season.

It's a hilarious comment in multiple ways. The Bills did everything they could to keep Mularkey (God knows why). How exactly did they "chase him off?"

This would be the upset of the year not just the week.

I'm sure given the reps he prob could play both the one and three (I seriously doubt he could be effective playing the two though). The guy is a rookie and the last thing I want them to do with him is move him around too much. Let's let him get comfortable with the NFL before giving him more to think about.

After all the losing the Bills have done in recent years and the fact that this game is on the road I'd say that a win this week would definitely be more satisfying than that win. Going into the 2003 opener most thought the Bills had a decent shot at winning that game particularly with the Pats coming off a disappointing season.

The post you're getting bent out of shape about is dripping with sarcasm.

Williams and McCargo don't play the same position. One is a one-technique DT and the other is a three-thechnique DT. There was no way McCargo was going to take over the starting job from Tripplett. Who knows if McCargo (or Williams for that matter) will end up panning out but thinking he's not motivated or not good enough before a single game is played simply because he couldn't beat out the Bills premiere FA acquisition is silly. This is all a moot point anyway as Tripplett, McCargo, Anderson and Williams will all see lots of playing time as the Bills are going to rotate their DTs constantly.

The #1 TBD whipping boy is the media. Nobody takes more abuse than writers who dare to write something critical of the Bills.

Sept. 10 @ New England L Sept. 17 @ Miami L Sept. 24 NY Jets W Oct. 1 Minnesota W Oct. 8 @ Chicago L Oct. 15 @ Detroit L Oct. 22 New England L Nov. 5 Green Bay W Nov. 12 @ Indianapolis L Nov. 19 @ Houston W Nov. 26 Jacksonville L Dec. 3 San Diego Dec. 10 @ NY Jets L Dec. 17 Miami W Dec. 24 Tennessee L Dec. 31 @ Baltimore L Final Record: 5-11 This team will be respectable at home (going 4-4) but it going to struggle mightily on the road. If the OL can open holes for the running game and take pressure off JP and the D can actually get off the field on 3rd downs they could squeek out a few more wins.

Yep. Simply improving in one area isn't going to get the Bills to respectability.

Correction: The Bills have been terrible for 6 years now AND have 8 million dollars in cap room just sitting there not being used. The Bills are the new Bengals.

I never said it wasn't possible for the Bills to win. I said there is no way the Bills catch the Pats off guard. New England will be roaring to go. If Buffalo wins this game it won't be because they caught the Pats off guard or looking past the Bills. That being said I don't believe the Bills will win. They'll lose by roughly a TD.

I don't think it's possible to catch a team off guard on opening day. Every player has been looking forward to this day for months. There's no way the Pats aren't ready to play.

I hope not. How many times are the Bills going to lose their first round picks after their first contract? It seems to happen all the time. Unless I'm forgetting somebody the last 1st round pick that was successful AND the Bills kept past the first contract was Eric Moulds. That's just pathetic. This team needs to start holding onto it's first round picks that are successful.

He's not even the best writer at SI and it's not even close. There is virtually no depth to any of his writing as he creates it for people who have the attention span of a 5-year old. Let's have a top 10 list! Let’s attempt to be clever instead of informative! His train of thought when writing an article seems to be, "I know people can finish this article if I load it with a lot of fluff. Hmm, how about I rate training camp food!? People seem to like coffee, what if I talk about that too!? Weee, I love being a sports writer!” He gives the people what he thinks he thinks they want (wow, I guess I'm clever now too) and doesn't attempt to move beyond that. I guess you're his target audience and I'm glad you enjoy his work.

You act as though these guys have to be right all the time and if they're not then they don't know anything. Paul Z. knows a hell of a lot more about football than anybody posting on this board. The guy watches more games and studies more tape than anybody not employed by the NFL (with perhaps the exception of Jaws).