Post 3 regarding yesterday's game

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Now that I've gotten post 1 off my chest and out of the way (for those who didn't see it it went something like aaaggghhhh) and now that I have also put up my second post (which also went something lik aaAAgggGGGhhHH) I am now able to turn my thoughts to real football.

 

In the immediate term the O has unfortunately met my expectations and we are struggling mightily (and not my hopes that it would even show many propsects beyond WM running the ball well- those who think MM targeted WM by calling him out last week are wrong that he did in my opinion- it was JP he actually challenged by benching him and his comments on WM were mild and also applied to him finding fault with the OL and himself).

 

The ST offers pretty good stuff as it has a few good plays and the failure to get the outstanding returns of last year are balanced by the consistent performance of Lindell)

 

However, WTF is up with the D and there is little more summary to be made of its performance against Caddillac and the best rushing team last year that even with the excuse they are good this D did not show up against them like the '85 Bears and Ravens teams they purported to be compated to.

 

The only answer I can see now is simply to suck it up.

 

The loss os Spikes for the season is horrendous, but this is football and those things happen. There is no comparison in the real world to the loss of production from losing Spikes to NEs loss of production in losing Colvin a couple of years ago. However, there is a comparison in the loss of hope and dreams of these two teams and a drop-off from what was planned.

 

NE sucked it up and survived. There was an obvious drop-off in the level of output of the individuals on the field, but the team sucked it up and the Bills have to as well,

 

Horribly we are already in the one game at a time mold for this season (us fans love living in SB dreams though the team should always be in one game at a time mode).

 

The Saints game is winnable in this psuedo road game.

 

Yhe Fins better be winnable at home or really fuuggaboutit.

 

The Jets the next week is winnable at home (see I'm still looking to far in advance).

 

Beat the Saints and then we will go from there.

[nfreeman]

Now that I've gotten post 1 off my chest and out of the way (for those who didn't see it it went something like aaaggghhhh) and now that I have also put up my second post (which also went something lik aaAAgggGGGhhHH) I am now able to turn my thoughts to real football.

 

In the immediate term the O has unfortunately met my expectations and we are struggling mightily (and not my hopes that it would even show many propsects beyond WM running the ball well- those who think MM targeted WM by calling him out last week are wrong that he did in my opinion- it was JP he actually challenged by benching him and his comments on WM were mild and also applied to him finding fault with the OL and himself).

 

The ST offers pretty good stuff as it has a few good plays and the failure to get the outstanding returns of last year are balanced by the consistent performance of Lindell)

 

However, WTF is up with the D and there is little more summary to be made of its performance against Caddillac and the best rushing team last year that even with the excuse they are good this D did not show up against them like the '85 Bears and Ravens teams they purported to be compated to.

 

The only answer I can see now is simply to suck it up.

 

The loss os Spikes for the season is horrendous, but this is football and those things happen. There is no comparison in the real world to the loss of production from losing Spikes to NEs loss of production in losing Colvin a couple of years ago. However, there is a comparison in the loss of hope and dreams of these two teams and a drop-off from what was planned.

 

NE sucked it up and survived. There was an obvious drop-off in the level of output of the individuals on the field, but the team sucked it up and the Bills have to as well,

 

Horribly we are already in the one game at a time mold for this season (us fans love living in SB dreams though the team should always be in one game at a time mode).

 

The Saints game is winnable in this psuedo road game.

 

Yhe Fins better be winnable at home or really fuuggaboutit.

 

The Jets the next week is winnable at home (see I'm still looking to far in advance).

 

Beat the Saints and then we will go from there.

454876[/snapback]

 

 

I agree completely. Although the D's performance was embarrassing, we did lose to 2 very good and almost certain playoff teams. And at least now we don't have to cringe when we hear them comparing themselves to the '85 bears.

 

Next few games are very winnable. The more experience JP gets the better it will be for him. If WM keeps running hard and JP improves gradually we can have a respectable season.

 

BTW: speaking of WM, did anyone else see what I'm pretty sure was WM snubbing Mularkey after WM scored the TD? I think MM held his hand out to congratulate WM as WM was jogging to the sideline and WM just cruised past him. I'm not 100% sure as it happened pretty fast and even with Tivo I couldn't tell for sure.

 

Playoffs are probably out when you look at our schedule (ie 2 games left with the Pats, on the road vs. Jets, on the road vs. Miami, KC, etc.), but you never know. It all comes down to getting better play at QB. We are not going to beat anyone if we only score 1 TD per game.

 

Either way, I'm not missing Bledsoe.

 

Go Bills.

[Ozymandius]

You make a good point about how New England is able to suck it up and cope with injuries better than the Bills. Look, the Patriots are going to be playing the rest of this season without freaking Tedi Bruschi, who I think is the best LB in football, and Rodney Harrison, who has been so tremendous for them in recent years. You know what? They're going to still kick ass, despite the loss of these two players, which easily outweighs the singular loss of TKO from our defense. Why are they able to do this while the Bills D stands a serious chance of collapsing?

 

(1) More heart, better coaching. The Patriots have it.

(2) Better depth. Again, the Patriots just draft better.

(3) Building from the inside out. The strength of the Patriots D is their defensive line, which is probably the best in football while the strength of the Bills D is (was?) their back 7. It's much much easier for the DL to cover up weaknesses in the secondary and LB corps than the other way around.

 

How many years of football do we have to watch before we understand that games are won in the trenches? The biggest failure of the Donahoe era is that he hasn't been able to build strength and depth along the lines. We have good skill position players on offense, but the OL remains untalented. On defense, the DL is the weak link, mainly because of poor drafting, i.e. Denney, Edwards, Bannan, and Anderson are busts to various degrees. You just can't build a football team outside in. It doesn't work that way.