OpIv37's postgame comments: Nothing has changed

[OpIv37]

I'm not going to bother breaking this down as much as I usually do, because it can be summed up so simply: nothing has changed.

-The Bills still have no QB.
-The Bills and Patriots went in tied for tops in the NFL at +6 in turnovers. The Bills committed 3. The Patriots committed zero. Translation: the Bills still don't show up for the big games and the Patriots still do.
-The game was close at the half. The Bills still don't make halftime adjustments.
-The Bills suffered from Aaron Williams being hurt. The Patriots had a bunch of players get hurt and a few more playing injured, but it didn't hold them back at all.
-The Bills still can't cover a TE (and I still call it The Ghost of Donte Whitner)
-The refs still favor the Pats. Don't get me wrong- I'm not blaming the refs in a game where the Bills had 3 turnovers and over 100 yard in penalties. But on the Pats' final TD drive, they pushed off on the DB's at least twice, far worse than the push-off that was called offensive PI on the Bills. I don't know how the NFL can still pretend the officiating is objective with a straight face. And the first personal foul on Hughes was beyond ridiculous.
-The Pats were the only AFCE team to win today. They will win the division easily. The only thing that is slightly different in this regard is that they won't win it by the virtue of being an elite team. They're a slightly above average team that will win it by default because the Jets are trash and the Bills and Dolphins define mediocrity.

The Pegula era is starting the same way the Wilson era ended. I understand- he's officially owned the team for 3 whole days and has had literally zero opportunity to make an actual impact yet. Long-term, nothing can be implied from this game, good or bad. But for this season, the Pats will easily win the division and the Bills will be looking at 6-7 wins. Nothing has changed.

[sudzy]

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[imbondz]

100% agree

[Night Train]

Predicting 7 wins pretty much acknowledged that for me.

I saw the issues at QB , OG and CB this pre-season. I don't blame Marrone, since he doesn't run the draft or FA part. You play what you have.

Should win next week if they are anything and a good shot at the Jets. Still a 2nd tier team and will watch what moves they make during the bye week. It is what it is. No real surprise.

[imbondz]

It's not a surprise no. It is baffling to me that I allow myself to continually get my hopes up

[Novacane]

It's not a surprise no. It is baffling to me that I allow myself to continually get my hopes up



You're not the only one. I wish I could just walk away. I never will though.

[sudzy]

The last couple years I've refused to watch the Pats games live. I'll DVR them and watch them alter after I know the results. This year I allowed myself into believing things were different. I wanted to be apart of Pegula's 1st game as Bills owner and believe the Bill could win. I feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football out from in front of me.

[imbondz]

The last couple years I've refused to watch the Pats games live. I'll DVR them and watch them alter after I know the results. This year I allowed myself into believing things were different. I wanted to be apart of Pegula's 1st game as Bills owner and believe the Bill could win. I feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football out from in front of me.

Lol!

[OpIv37]

The last couple years I've refused to watch the Pats games live. I'll DVR them and watch them alter after I know the results. This year I allowed myself into believing things were different. I wanted to be apart of Pegula's 1st game as Bills owner and believe the Bill could win. I feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanked the football out from in front of me.

yeah that's pretty much a permanent feeling for Bills fans.

[THRILLHO]

-The game was close at the half. The Bills still don't make halftime adjustments.
-The Bills still can't cover a TE (and I still call it The Ghost of Donte Whitner)
-The refs still favor the Pats.
.
These were all three things I mentioned to my friends before the game started. Because it happens EVERY time we play the Patriots. Obviously there isn't much we can do about the refs, and Im sure some of it was on us. But we still cannot cover Gronk. And if we do, we can't tackle him. And the second half thing played out to perfection. Make it look like we can do this thing, nope. NE has found something to exploit and takes advantage of it. The worst part is, it doesnt matter who is coaching, it has been going on since before Marrone. Im just at a loss for explanation.

[X-Era]

I'd go with the following needs:

1. QB
2. G- True Levitre replacement
3. CB- McKelvin upgrade
4. SS- Searcy/D Williams upgrade

[GreedoII]

The SS issues is glaring
The Chris Williams signing was just terrible and mindless for what they gave him.
Pears at RG is stupid and desperate. just put Urbik in there and suck it up Marrone. What did this guy do to you? Sleep with your wife or something?

[mysticsoto]

The SS issues is glaring
The Chris Williams signing was just terrible and mindless for what they gave him.
Pears at RG is stupid and desperate. just put Urbik in there and suck it up Marrone. What did this guy do to you? Sleep with your wife or something?

Urbik sucks just as bad if not more!

[bf1]

Good assessment. I can't think of anything else.

[Buckets]

You're not the only one. I wish I could just walk away. I never will though.

At almost 70 years old I still won't walk away but my expectations are about as low as ever. I used to be the guy screaming at the TV and trying to break the coffee table but finally realized it is what it is, pathetic. I know we're not the "professionals", we don't get paid the big bucks, yada-yada but the things opIv37 pointed out are obvious to everyone except to those who have some control of the situation, they just don't get it.

[trapezeus]

i kind of don't care that our secondary is weak and hurt with injuries. because the d is still very servicable. it proves that you need LBs and DL and DE more than 1st round secondary talent.

if the bills offense was just some what balanced and average, the d is fine. you are going to give up plays. even lock down defenses let big plays happen from time to time.

It really is impossibel to beat a pats team that is getting every major call at every key moment and then have an offense that is as predictable as the bills. the d wasn't great, but it was left out on an island for the 6th straight week.

[JoeMama]

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I ****ing love Talking Heads.

If the Bills are going to suck like they always do, at least they'll provide a good excuse to post this video.

However, posting the shortened version was a tease. I had to go pull up the full version on youtube to tide myself over.

[kingJofNYC]

Same **** different year. We'll lose a couple of more players to FA this year and next, fail to replace them, rinse and repeat.

Buffalo, football's abyss.

Edit: Funny how we used the combo of Lawson and Kiko to cover TEs last year, now we don't have Kiko but we have Lawson sitting on the ****ing bench. What a waste of talent. Also, Mike Williams now wants out, hilarious. Who doesn't want off this ship. Coaches have zero clue how to effectively use this roster.

[OpIv37]

i kind of don't care that our secondary is weak and hurt with injuries. because the d is still very servicable. it proves that you need LBs and DL and DE more than 1st round secondary talent.

if the bills offense was just some what balanced and average, the d is fine. you are going to give up plays. even lock down defenses let big plays happen from time to time.

It really is impossibel to beat a pats team that is getting every major call at every key moment and then have an offense that is as predictable as the bills. the d wasn't great, but it was left out on an island for the 6th straight week.

We don't have first round secondary talent. We've got a couple guys who were drafted in the first round, but none of them actually perform at a first round level on the field.

[better days]

Change is coming. Hopefully as soon as this season ends.

[Fletch]

The Pegula era is starting the same way the Wilson era ended. I understand- he's officially owned the team for 3 whole days and has had literally zero opportunity to make an actual impact yet. Long-term, nothing can be implied from this game, good or bad. But for this season, the Pats will easily win the division and the Bills will be looking at 6-7 wins. Nothing has changed.

Yeah, the Pegulas have zero to do with this slop.

What they will have something to do with is what they do to correct it. Right now I'm not hearing the right things from them as being reported by others.

As I have suggested, a serious owner will wait until our 8th, maybe 9th loss, if it happens, and fire Whaley following that game. That will both make a statement as well as begin the retooling process. If we manage to win 9 games then that becomes moot, but I see no circumstances under which we go 6-4 over the remaining 10 games. We've been very fortunate regarding injuries relative to other teams and particularly our opponents. That luck can only get worse.

The shine on Orton already seems to have worn off.

The D has been exposed and we can expect more such exposure moving ahead.

A new GM will want his own head coach so that solves that problem by default. The key is in getting a good GM. If things don't start there with the Pegulas then it won't be a good sign. Whaley's made his bed with little if any room for any ability to perform a redeeming encore. He even implies in the video in my signature that if Manuel doesn't work out then he'll be expecting to look for new work. If anything he's simply made more of a mess for what should be a new GM and personnel staff.

The Pegulas have class so they'll likely wait until the end of the season, but if they want to demonstrate that they mean business, ditching Whaley immediately following our 9th loss is a great start.

We'll see if they know what they're doing regarding football soon or whether we merely slip into another Wilson-like era.

[Fletch]

Same **** different year. We'll lose a couple of more players to FA this year and next, fail to replace them, rinse and repeat.

Buffalo, football's abyss.

Edit: Funny how we used the combo of Lawson and Kiko to cover TEs last year, now we don't have Kiko but we have Lawson sitting on the ****ing bench. What a waste of talent. Also, Mike Williams now wants out, hilarious. Who doesn't want off this ship. Coaches have zero clue how to effectively use this roster.

It's easy to blame the coaching for everything, but the fact is that while Hackett sucks and Marrone's not much better with Schwartz still TBD, people here and elsewhere overrate the talent that we do have.

For four of five seasons we've waited for Spiller to do what he did in one season thanks to a fast start in two games at the beginning of that season. It's not going to happen with any sort of regularity, so why keep waiting.

Watkins was supposed to come in and wow and awe everyone but he's done little but what the other 1st rounders have done.

Everyone raved about Spikes who entirely predictably isn't even on the field for over half the snaps. He was on the field more in NE which is ironic.

Everyone raved about Bryce Brown for reasons unbeknownst.

Same for Rivers and Corey Graham, both of whom are OK starters but hardly anything that's going to make much of an improvement over last year.

Much of this is in the biased perceptions of fans too.

No one can properly analyze and evaulate things without setting their biases aside, but those of us that do that are called trolls and other names and slandered and condescended to here, so even that approach isn't welcome.

[Fletch]

It's not a surprise no. It is baffling to me that I allow myself to continually get my hopes up

That's the difference in the perceptions here exactly as I just stated.

Where I get perplexed is the derision that goes on against people that can separate their fan status from their assessments of this team.

[Forward_Lateral]

I thought Orton played very well, again, and made one bad INT. He bounced back nicely, and made several good throws down the field. I do not think QB is a major issue anymore, for the time being.

The problem with the Bills is their inability to realize they don't have the secondary to play man coverage, especially on a guy like Gronk. You can't leave anyone 1 on 1 on the outside against him. It's too easy for Brady. Until they figure out a way to stop Tom Brady, the team isn't going to be ready to take the next step.

[better days]

It's easy to blame the coaching for everything, but the fact is that while Hackett sucks and Marrone's not much better with Schwartz still TBD, people here and elsewhere overrate the talent that we do have.

For four of five seasons we've waited for Spiller to do what he did in one season thanks to a fast start in two games at the beginning of that season. It's not going to happen with any sort of regularity, so why keep waiting.

Watkins was supposed to come in and wow and awe everyone but he's done little but what the other 1st rounders have done.

Everyone raved about Spikes who entirely predictably isn't even on the field for over half the snaps. He was on the field more in NE which is ironic.

Everyone raved about Bryce Brown for reasons unbeknownst.

Same for Rivers and Corey Graham, both of whom are OK starters but hardly anything that's going to make much of an improvement over last year.

Much of this is in the biased perceptions of fans too.

No one can properly analyze and evaulate things without setting their biases aside, but those of us that do that are called trolls and other names and slandered and condescended to here, so even that approach isn't welcome.

Many people were happy to see Stevie Johnson leave Buffalo.

He looks to be doing pretty good with a loaded 49ers team.

I think the talent is there on the Bills, I blame Coaching for 90% of the Bills problems.

[Fletch]

I thought Orton played very well, again, and made one bad INT. He bounced back nicely, and made several good throws down the field. I do not think QB is a major issue anymore, for the time being.

The problem with the Bills is their inability to realize they don't have the secondary to play man coverage, especially on a guy like Gronk. You can't leave anyone 1 on 1 on the outside against him. It's too easy for Brady. Until they figure out a way to stop Tom Brady, the team isn't going to be ready to take the next step.

Look, if the best we can do is score 22 points, which is about average in the NFL, at home, against an average defense, then the problem isn't purely defensive and the offense isn't playing well. I said prior to this game that I didn't see us winning unless we could score 30 or close to it. That shouldn't have been a monumental hurdle in this game.

Here's the thing, our offense is averaging no more points under Orton than we did under EJ. So clearly if the offense was an issue before it's an issue now.

Sure, we have more passing yards, but our rushing game is now on pace to be dead last in the NFL if this keeps up. 49 and 68 rushing yards the last two games. Pathetic.

I don't know for sure yet, but I think what's going on is that the coaches in their wisdom, stuck somewhere between fighting for their jobs and making sure that the team wins and their collective ignorance in coaching in the NFL, probably are trying to justify the switch to Orton realizing that its their asses on the line now if the offense doesn't perform better with him under center, which it is from a passing yards standpoint but not from a scoring standpoint and definitely not from a rushing standpoint.

So in essence, maybe they're trying to make Orton look good figuring that if they can do that it will translate to wins because the passing game is doing better. The problem with that, if that's the case, is that it would be their ignorance harming them in that what they need is balance on offense, not just good passing production.

Defensively is another matter. Everyone was raving about our "elite D" which was ridiculous and for which no one heeded the warnings that we've played only a bunch of beat up offenses and teams just like we did at the end of '04 to make our own team look better than it was defensively in particular. That was just poor analysis and cognizance by those preaching that. How anyone can overlook such things and expect to be taken seriously is beyond me.

The bottom line is just what has been preached here often.

The DL is good but not great and definitely seems to fail to show up in the big games and primetime moments. Who cares if we bang around a QB with one decent receiving option (Stafford) while that option puts up the best day of his career otherwise. Who cares if we stop the rushing games against teams having to resort to starting RBs like George Winn, Donald Brown, Damien Williams, and Lamar Miller. Who cares if we play well in a loss to a west coast team that doesn't have its starting RB and has its top two receiving options seriously hampered by injuries not even allowing them to finish the game.

But a lot of people ignore that and claim greatness.

Our LBs are an average group at best and incredibly weak in the passing department.

Our secondary, as we're finding out, can't even stop backup WRs from posting starting numbers.

Our OL is also good but needs a tweak or two, but Ortons not being sacked and has over 300 yards passing per game, so it can only be so bad. He's on pace for 32 sacks after having played one very good D. At that rate we would be among the least sacked teams in the league by season's end.

Our RBs aren't anywhere close to as good as everyone has been claiming. Brown and Dixon are nothing. Brown hasn't even contributed despite everyone knowing that he'll effectively replace Jackson at some point. How they seem to know this is a mystery. Spiller's been a role player and will continue to be a role player that many seem to think can somehow after five seasons be transformed into something else, something more. We all know the definition of insanity. Jackson's on the outs as great as he's been. Right alongside Thurman he's my favorite RB ever, but he's done as a starter.

No one seems to want the truth, they all want fantasy. When you expect fantasy you're usually going to be disappointed.

[Fletch]

Many people were happy to see Stevie Johnson leave Buffalo.

He looks to be doing pretty good with a loaded 49ers team.

I think the talent is there on the Bills, I blame Coaching for 90% of the Bills problems.

I agree. I'd have kept Johnson and not traded for Williams. But hey, I've said that all along and what do I know.

I blame the front office for 90% of the Bills problems, maybe more, among which are the coaches.

[better days]

I agree. I'd have kept Johnson and not traded for Williams. But hey, I've said that all along and what do I know.

I blame the front office for 90% of the Bills problems, maybe more, among which are the coaches.

If the Bills don't reach the playoffs & Pegula wants to clean house, I will be fine with that.

[Fletch]

If the Bills don't reach the playoffs & Pegula wants to clean house, I will be fine with that.

What if we don't and he doesn't?

What's going to be your take then?

[Forward_Lateral]

Look, if the best we can do is score 22 points, which is about average in the NFL, at home, against an average defense, then the problem isn't purely defensive and the offense isn't playing well. I said prior to this game that I didn't see us winning unless we could score 30 or close to it. That shouldn't have been a monumental hurdle in this game.

Here's the thing, our offense is averaging no more points under Orton than we did under EJ. So clearly if the offense was an issue before it's an issue now.

Sure, we have more passing yards, but our rushing game is now on pace to be dead last in the NFL if this keeps up. 49 and 68 rushing yards the last two games. Pathetic.

I don't know for sure yet, but I think what's going on is that the coaches in their wisdom, stuck somewhere between fighting for their jobs and making sure that the team wins and their collective ignorance in coaching in the NFL, probably are trying to justify the switch to Orton realizing that its their asses on the line now if the offense doesn't perform better with him under center, which it is from a passing yards standpoint but not from a scoring standpoint and definitely not from a rushing standpoint.

So in essence, maybe they're trying to make Orton look good figuring that if they can do that it will translate to wins because the passing game is doing better. The problem with that, if that's the case, is that it would be their ignorance harming them in that what they need is balance on offense, not just good passing production.

Defensively is another matter. Everyone was raving about our "elite D" which was ridiculous and for which no one heeded the warnings that we've played only a bunch of beat up offenses and teams just like we did at the end of '04 to make our own team look better than it was defensively in particular. That was just poor analysis and cognizance by those preaching that. How anyone can overlook such things and expect to be taken seriously is beyond me.

The bottom line is just what has been preached here often.

The DL is good but not great and definitely seems to fail to show up in the big games and primetime moments. Who cares if we bang around a QB with one decent receiving option (Stafford) while that option puts up the best day of his career otherwise. Who cares if we stop the rushing games against teams having to resort to starting RBs like George Winn, Donald Brown, Damien Williams, and Lamar Miller. Who cares if we play well in a loss to a west coast team that doesn't have its starting RB and has its top two receiving options seriously hampered by injuries not even allowing them to finish the game.

But a lot of people ignore that and claim greatness.

Our LBs are an average group at best and incredibly weak in the passing department.

Our secondary, as we're finding out, can't even stop backup WRs from posting starting numbers.

Our OL is also good but needs a tweak or two, but Ortons not being sacked and has over 300 yards passing per game, so it can only be so bad. He's on pace for 32 sacks after having played one very good D. At that rate we would be among the least sacked teams in the league by season's end.

Our RBs aren't anywhere close to as good as everyone has been claiming. Brown and Dixon are nothing. Brown hasn't even contributed despite everyone knowing that he'll effectively replace Jackson at some point. How they seem to know this is a mystery. Spiller's been a role player and will continue to be a role player that many seem to think can somehow after five seasons be transformed into something else, something more. We all know the definition of insanity. Jackson's on the outs as great as he's been. Right alongside Thurman he's my favorite RB ever, but he's done as a starter.

No one seems to want the truth, they all want fantasy. When you expect fantasy you're usually going to be disappointed.

You can't run the ball when you are down multiple scores. The turnovers killed the team in the first half, along with penalties in both halves. They were able to move the ball fairly well, and finished with TDs. The problem is, you can't expect to win when you allow Brady to pass for 300 yards in one half. The secondary is still a major problem, probably the biggest issue with this team, IMO. O-line is a close 2nd. I'm not expecting everyone to be happy with Orton, because around here, not everybody is happy with whoever is at QB. My point is the QB situation is fine right now. Orton plays well enough to give the Bills a chance to win. Receivers are suddenly making plays (Woods, Hogan, Chandler) with a QB who can hit them, and isn't afraid to throw it to them if they aren't completely wide open.

[justasportsfan]

Bills were totally outcoached. Plain and simple. I like our D so far, but the pats announce on the big screen to Schwartz before every snap that they we're throwing on every play. Try and stop us. The Schwartz couldn't.

Could be the reason why the Pats let go of Spikes.

[better days]

What if we don't and he doesn't?

What's going to be your take then?

If Pegula wants to give Whaley another year, I will be fine with that.

But if the Bills fail to win at least 9 games I want Hackett fired & if Marrone does not like that, he can go as well.

[better days]

You can't run the ball when you are down multiple scores. The turnovers killed the team in the first half, along with penalties in both halves. They were able to move the ball fairly well, and finished with TDs. The problem is, you can't expect to win when you allow Brady to pass for 300 yards in one half. The secondary is still a major problem, probably the biggest issue with this team, IMO. O-line is a close 2nd. I'm not expecting everyone to be happy with Orton, because around here, not everybody is happy with whoever is at QB. My point is the QB situation is fine right now. Orton plays well enough to give the Bills a chance to win. Receivers are suddenly making plays (Woods, Hogan, Chandler) with a QB who can hit them, and isn't afraid to throw it to them if they aren't completely wide open.

Aaron Williams not playing really hurt the Bills defense against the Pats*

And I have never seen such a STUPID PI penalty as I saw on Sunday.

[Fletch]

You can't run the ball when you are down multiple scores. The turnovers killed the team in the first half, along with penalties in both halves. They were able to move the ball fairly well, and finished with TDs. The problem is, you can't expect to win when you allow Brady to pass for 300 yards in one half. The secondary is still a major problem, probably the biggest issue with this team, IMO. O-line is a close 2nd. I'm not expecting everyone to be happy with Orton, because around here, not everybody is happy with whoever is at QB. My point is the QB situation is fine right now. Orton plays well enough to give the Bills a chance to win. Receivers are suddenly making plays (Woods, Hogan, Chandler) with a QB who can hit them, and isn't afraid to throw it to them if they aren't completely wide open.

It wasn't just the secondary, most of Brady's throws were right over the middle where the LBs need to be. We're weak in pass D overall. Our DL just doesn't get the job done in games of this magnitude and we don't have the talent in the backfield to overcome that.

Expect more such issues in future games now that they've exposed that.

The other thing, and a primary reason why coaching sucks here, is that as usual whatever halftime adjustments we make just don't work. Are we making any? Who knows. But that's been a repetitive issue for years here. Comes with the hiring of coaches that are in over their heads or coaches that are proven failures to begin with.

[Fletch]

If Pegula wants to give Whaley another year, I will be fine with that.

Yeah, I'm sure you would be.

Even Whaley admits that if he whiffed on Manuel then he should be looking for new work.

[better days]

Yeah, I'm sure you would be.

Even Whaley admits that if he whiffed on Manuel then he should be looking for new work.

Whaley may not be the best GM in the NFL, but there are MANY worse than him.

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