Jerry Jabber

With yesterday's loss to the Raiders, it officially put the final nail in the coffin of the 2014 season for the Bills. In years past, the Bills were eliminated from playoff contention in November, so they made it to Week 15 this year without being eliminated. Sadly, this is the 15th year in a row that the Bills are not playing in the playoffs. It seems like such an eternity ago when the Bills were in the postseason. Most likely, the Bills will finish the season 8-8 as they have not beaten Tom Brady and Bill Belichek at Gillette Stadium ever. Even though the Bills have finished with their best record in 10 years, it still stings that they will not be in the postseason again, especially when the Bills have a very good defense. Unfortunately for the Bills, the offense has regressed significantly since Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett took over. This year, the Bills offensive line was offensive as they could not open holes in the run game and could not keep a clean pocket for EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton. The play calling was very susceptible and conservative, followed by two erratic QB's, Manuel and Orton. So, now the questions are, will Terry and Kim Pegula want to bring in a new coach that they feel comfortable with, compared to Doug Marrone by whom they inherited? If Marrone stays, is Nate Hackett's job safe or will Marrone back Hackett like he did with Danny Crossman last season? Will Bills GM, Doug Whaley, try and trade for Jay Cutler or any other QB? Who will the Bills sign/draft to upgrade their offensive line? Will the Bills resign CJ Spiller? Will the Bills resign Jerry Hughes? Looks like we'll have to wait until January once the regular season is over with to start getting some of these questions answered. But one thing is for sure, it will be another long offseason for Bills fans. After 15 years, I guess we should be used to this by now.

They were terrible today.

You're forgetting a HC and OC.

Normally they're eliminated in November, so it was nice to see a few meaningful games in December. It would be great to finally see meaningful games in January again. +1 Hackett is a moron, and Orton sucks.

+1

When will it end?! Last week, the Bills beat a team they weren't expected to beat. This week, they lose to a team they were expected to beat. It sucks to see such a good defense go to waste this season.

Bills 31 Raiders 9

This has the same similarities as that except Belichek will be playing his starters vice the Bills playing against second and third stringers.

I didn't see the replay, but I'm glad to hear it was a clean hit. I hate to see anyone get injured, but it definitely was a game changer as Mario sealed the game with the strip sack against Bulaga's backup.

"I thought that was the "hidden" impact play of the game. Bulaga and Mario were having an awesome battle throughout the day, with Bulaga doing great work stalemating the big man. After Hughes sent him to the locker room, Mario took advantage of the back-up and beat him on the edge to make the play that ended the game. I doubt he makes that play if Bulaga is still on the field. And regarding the big hits on returns by both Wood and Hughes, I bet those never happen if that idiot Barrington hadn't lit up Fred with a cheap shot a full 2-3 seconds after the whistle on the non-return after Orton's pick." I agree, so do the folks in GB: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/loss-of-bulaga-led-to-rodgers-fumble-safety-b99408776z1-285786081.html

Here's an extended view of the play: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2014/12/14/7391699/eric-wood-lays-out-clay-matthews

Who needs Byrd when the Bills have Rambo!

Especially when two of those games were against Top 5 QB's in the league.

“Can we finally give Gilmore his props?” Yes, I will. I was hard on him earlier this year as others were (including the guys on WGR). But Gilmore has stepped up his play and has been very impressive as of late. I hope he can keep it up.

http://blogs.buffalobills.com/2014/12/15/defense-hasnt-allowed-passing-td-in-a-month/ "The Bills held Manning without a touchdown for the first time in 51 games, then held Rodgers, the league leader in touchdown passes to no scoring throws Sunday, but that’s been the case for Buffalo’s the defense the past four weeks now. Buffalo did not allow Michael Vick or Geno Smith to throw a touchdown pass back in Week 12 and Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel could not reach the end zone through the air either, though Manziel had a rushing score. Ryan Tannehill is the last quarterback to throw a TD pass against the Bills back in Week 11. In fact Tannehill’s two passing TDs in that Week 11 game are the only two passing touchdowns allowed by Buffalo since midseason. Opposing quarterback have not thrown a touchdown pass on the Bills in six of the last seven games." This is very impressive. I felt going into the season that the defense could be better under Schwartz than it was under Pettine. IMO, I feel the defense is getting better as the season goes on. I’m glad to see the secondary stepping up, especially Gilmore. Gilmore struggled at times during the season, but has been playing great as of late.

"Dirty, no. Nasty, yes." :thumbsup:

From what I heard on WGR, Hughes hit Bulaga very hard which caused him to exit the game. I don't like seeing players get hurt, but it's a Violent game, not everyone can play it, especially at the pro level.

Whether it's dirty or not, it's nice seeing a team that plays physical and that is hungry to win. We can't have a team of choir boys playing a violent game.

I think it was the second last time the Bills faced the Packers, Clay Matthews grabbed then Center, Geoff Hangartner and tossed him like a rag doll. I remember seeing that and thinking what an embarrassment that was. Yesterday, Eric Wood leveled Clay Matthews which was awesome to see (they showed it on replay a few times during the game).

How about new HC? Jim Harbaugh?

"Marrone has the in-game management of Dick Jauron and the off field personality of Greggo." Ding...Ding...Ding...we have a winner!!!

Him too

First, Marrone benches Mike Williams after Williams requested a trade, then he benched Hughes who is one of the best players on defense in a game where the playoffs are on the line. This kind of stuff is the same crap Josh McDaniels did in Denver when he benched Brandon Marshall, and others while the team was still in the playoff hunt. I think everyone is baffled by the Mike Williams benching. The Bills have a very young WR group as Watkins is a rookie, Woods and Goodwin are 2nd year players, and Hogan I believe is in his 3rd year? Wouldn’t it make sense to play the most experienced WR to not only help the other WR’s, but to give Orton some consistency? The Bills have been terrible in the redzone and Williams is a redzone threat, so it makes absolutely no sense not to use Williams. Hughes is a very disruptive player as he’s great at getting pressure on the QB’s and disrupting plays (as evident in his forced fumble and TD in the Cleveland game), benching him made absolutely no sense. Marrone’s ego is a big reason why the Bills will miss the playoffs this year. Benching two very good players is inexcusable.

There should have been an unsportsmanlike penalty on the guy who head butted Lee Smith, which would have kept an offensive drive alive but the refs clearly missed that one,

Yes, but I love the enthusiasm. The Bills D in 98-99 was very dominant. I can't say how well the D was during the AFL Chsmpionship days as I wasn't around for that.