MDH

Personally I think it's a big mistake taking away YAC when figuring out the ratings. By taking away YAC you're forgetting the importance of accuracy. You're saying it's the same thing to throw a pass 2 yards behind a WR on a slant where he has to stop and catch the ball as it is to throw it perfectly while the WR is in stride thereby allowing him to continue on and gain extra yards.

Bly is right in one respect, the Lions did fire the wrong guy. I have no clue how Matt Millan still has a job GMing in this league. I'm curious as to which WR they're going to take with their top 10 pick this year!

It's not that I disagree with the premise of what Sullivan is saying. The thing that gets me is that every single article is about Tom Donahoe and how he sucks and how he needs to leave. Sullivan never writes about anything else. It gets tiresome after awhile. How about talking about Losman and how he looks? Or about Crowell and how he’s filling in for Spikes? Or how about the job MM is doing…or Gray…or Clements? How about writing a few articles that don’t have the basic theme, “TD needs to go!”?

Check out that Indy SOS.

They declined the Moulds penalty and accepted the Willis chop block penalty. If Moulds doesn't step out of bounds it doesn't make any difference at all.

Without Sam the D played one of its better games against the run. Sam is a one gap guy that gets out of position all the time...not having him in there didn't hurt the D much, if any.

I doubt the Chargers will get a high #1 for Rivers, much less a quality player and a high #1. The Jets are one of the favorites for the Reggie Bush lotto, there's no way they give up a top 3 pick for Rivers.

That D was nowhere near as good as this one. This D is one of the best the league has seen in years, head and shoulders above anyone else in the league this year.

Not that I disagree with you in principle, but this has been the same line of thought that has defended this defense for years. At some point the D needs to come up big at the end of games even if they've shut the team out until that point. Unfortunately they come up small most of the time.

I'd like to see the Bear D go against the Colt O.

They have the best single unit in the NFL with their D and they can run the ball on just about anybody even if they stack the line. That's a combination for wins in the playoffs. If Orton doesn't make the big mistakes I'd say they're likely to beat anybody in the NFC come playoff time.

That's my line of thought as well. One can't place all the blame on Wire when Posey was just as much at fault. If Wire's responsibility was the sideline (which it might have been given the fact that he drifted that way at the snap) I'd say it was primarily Posey's mistake, though Wire didn't help the team out by picking up the slack. It’s pretty sad but I’m sure everybody just knew that somebody on that D was going to make a mistake or two that cost them the game late. They’ve been doing it for years. They love to cap off a good game with a bad drive that costs the team a game.

Yeah, I have noticed how Losman throws chop blocks and blocks like sh-- for the running game to end drives in FGs. I wish he'd cut it out, he's killing us out there.

After the KC game both Holcomb and JP had played 4 full games and half of another (actually JP had played slightly more than Holcomb). At that time both had been sacked 11 times. It's not me that needs to take a math course. While you're at it, try a reading comprehension course as well.

His insults of Donahoe are tame compared to what others say about the man. The fact that his favorite team isn't the Bills doesn't mean much to me. Honestly, I don't consider him a "guest" here anymore than anyone else is. He's a regular poster here that contributes to the football talk. If SDS (whose house it is) had a problem with him he'd handle it by making him change his user name. Also, the guy isn't "fooling" me. I understand his position perfectly and I also understand the manner in which he makes his opinion known. I just don't have a problem with it. I don't think its akin to coming into my home and ripping on my wife's cooking (it’s actually more passive aggressive than that). I simply look at it as an opposing fan giving me a different point of view...or in the case of TD, the same point of view that the majority of the Bills fans here express on a daily basis. This isn't a war where all Bills fans have to buckle down and not let the enemy drive a wedge between us because the war effort depends on it. This is a football discussion board, that's it. Anyhow, Bills fans are perfectly capable of creating their own wedges and don't need any help. Btw, if you really consider him a troll you'd best be served by ignoring him. The fact that you get all riled up just plays right into the hands of a troll...

I have yet to see a rule that says a poster must be a fan of the Bills to post on this board. I’m sure if that was SDS’s intention he would have made such a rule by now. Personally I think he (and anyone else who comes here) is deserving of civility until they demonstrate that they aren't civil to others. HD doesn't insult posters here and generally discusses things in a civil manner. What exactly is the problem other than you don’t like his team? Every time the guy says anything you rip into him as if he just insulted your mother. I don't know why you reduce yourself to these types of posts as your football related posts (with the exception of anything to do with the Patriots) are very good.

You need to chill.

Are you sure you're not Holcomb's wife? Brother? Cousin? I can't imagine anybody this connected to a journeyman QB unless they're actually related to the guy.

Don't let the fact that, before Sunday, Holcomb and Losman had been sacked the same number of times while playing pretty much the same amount of time get in the way of your "reality".

I keep seeing people say this and I have to roll my eyes every time. Of course the guy cares about winning, his job depends on it. Why? Because the only way to ensure that a team consistently makes money is to win. A team that is a perennial loser isn't going to keep packing the stadium, sell box seats, or sell merchandise. If the Bills continue their losing ways for much longer it will hit them in the pockets and TD knows this. People make it sound like he's purposely signing guys like Milloy and Vincent so they can sell tickets instead of going out there and getting guys he thinks will help him win. While it's true that signing these "name" guys will help sell some seats (in the short term) the Bills would be financially better off by winning and TD knows this. He's making these moves because he thinks they will help the team win, period. Granted, it hasn't worked out that way but to think he's not trying to win is just lunacy. I’m not too happy with TD at this point either but some of the stuff floating around here is just ridiculous.

The one thing he does grasp though is that you don't pay big money to old players unless he's a guy that is going to push you over the hump. TD has made quite a few mistakes but the one thing he's done right (for the most part) is deciding when to let Bills FAs walk.

I always love the generic "sign one FA stud" posts. Name one "stud" OL that is a FA this year that isn't going to be signed or franchised that is worth big money and that is young enough to sign to a long-term deal? Then, if such a player does exist the Bills have to compete with about 10 other teams that are vying for this guy's services I’m not making excuses for TD but these types of posts just drive me crazy. Pretty much the only way to get a young “stud” on the Oline is to draft him, because teams don’t generally let these types of guys hit FA. .

With the exception of a few perennial bottom dwellers every team has a few big time players that will make plays for their team. The GMs that draft or sign these guys to big time contracts aren't the guys that necessarily win consistently. Yes, the team absolutely has to have a few of these guys, that's a given. But the teams that win on a consistent basis are the ones that have role players that do their jobs well. The thing that separates the good GMs from the mediocre ones isn't the ability to look at the Peyton Mannings of the world and say, "that guy is good!" It's the ability to look at the under the radar guys and know he's going to be able to do what is asked of him for the team. Just look at the offensive lines around the league. The best ones aren’t necessarily the ones with the high round draft picks that sign huge contracts. Take a look at the Chicago Bears defense. They have Ulracher and Harris who share the spotlight (and to a lesser extent Ogunleye) but without a bunch of 3rd-5th round players that do their jobs (and a coaching staff that uses them properly) that D isn’t much better than the Bills.

I disagree. The difference between winning and losing consistently has very little to do with the "star" players. It has to do with the role-players, depth and coaching. A GM and scouting department that have a knack for finding middle of the road players that can play in their schemes are the guys that field solid teams consistently. With FA a team can only field so many big time players. This magnifies the role of the coaches and their ability to get the most out of these middle of the road players. Sure, there are a few players out there who can put their team on their backs but you can’t count on that happening. Look at the Colts, that would still be a playoff team with a average/above average QB at the helm. They wouldn’t be nearly as dominant but they’d be in the playoffs nonetheless. Obviously injuries can wreck a season, particularly if its one of your stars that goes down. But for the most part it’s the no-name guys on the team (which is the majority of any team) that do their jobs well that equate to winning consistently. Finding these guys is not “luck”, it’s the mark of a good scouting department and quality coaches that know how to use them. Simply sticking Peyton Manning on a bad team isn’t going to cover all the team’s deficiencies. The Bills wouldn’t be a playoff team even with Manning.

While Mularky and co. aren't doing a bang up job, no coach could coax a winning season out a team with this little talent in the trenches, on both sides of the ball. We get dominated at the point of attack each and every week.