ESPN says that the pats beat the Bills on paper

[ublinkwescore]

I think Michael Irvin might have got some of ESPN's so called football experts hooked on some illegal substances or something.

[WG]

I think we're all under-rating the Pats b/c they're on a 4 game skid. They lost to four outstanding teams.

While our record is better, who have we proven that we can beat? A bunch of 2-5 teams. Big deal. Miami wasn't nearly as good as they had been up until the Fiedler, Chambers, Gadsen injuries and Lucas literally gave us the ball over and over again. Those were not forced TOs. They were gifts. Clements made a nice grab for one, but that was it. Miami held us to 16 offensive points. That won't be enough to win any games at all for the rest of the season except for perhaps against Cincy.

But struggling to beat Minnesota, Detroit, Houston, and Chicago shouldn't impress too many people, yet it does.

If we're any good at all, then we should be able to handle the Pats. But if we can't beat the teams that will make the playoffs, how on earth can we expect to make the playoffs, and if by chance we do, then how can we expect to win. All we do is throw. The rushing game shows up less than half the time thanks to the creative Kevin Gilbride and our D is non-existent except vs. teams like Detroit and Miami w/ no talent on the field.

This game is a must win if the Bills are to remain a contender this year. MO.

[Halbert]

Unfortunately it's even more of a must win for NE. The last thing they want to do is fall even farther in the division, especially to the team that now has their former franchise QB. The Bills are getting accolades in the media while the Pats are getting disrespect. So now it's also about simple pride and we know what they can do when they play as a team with passion. They will be tripley (is that a word?) motivated and the Bills appear ripe for a stinker. I see them playing their best game in over a month and stealing a win at the Ralph.

[Cntrygal]

Originally posted by Halbert
I see them playing their best game in over a month and stealing a win at the Ralph.

I really hope you're wrong. I think it's going to be a stressful game....... my poor heart.....

[casdhf]

Originally posted by Halbert
I see them playing their best game in over a month and stealing a win at the Ralph.

:punchu:

If you're right..... I'm calling up that dolfellon fan

[Buffarama]

This is the type of game for NE when the old Bills used to rise up and "circle the wagons" so to speak. If NE can't get it up for this one, they are impotent.
The Bills can win this game, but they will have to be as focused and desparate as NE.
It's going to be almost a playoff atmosphere.

[Novacane]

Originally posted by Wys Guy


While our record is better, who have we proven that we can beat? A bunch of 2-5 teams. Big deal. Miami wasn't nearly as good as they had been up until the Fiedler, Chambers, Gadsen injuries and Lucas literally gave us the ball over and over again. Those were not forced TOs. They were gifts.

Sounds like WCoastFin.

[clumping platelets]

Wys closet fins fan??

[Captain gameboy]

I think this is the big test we have been looing for. I, too, have been pretty unimpressed with the performances of seemingly tough teams against us. I believe familiarity with our defense and a near desperate situation will make the Pats play as well as they are capable. We are still a very young team with a key CB out.
I don't buy into the emotional motivation stuff. These are professionals and are motivated every week. NE isn't as good as their first three games had us believe, and we are not world beaters by any stretch. Should be a very interesting game.

[Novacane]

As long as they keep winning I am happy. I think it's ridiculas to say it does not mean anything because they did not blow teams out. What will you say if the Bills beat NE 21-20 wys. Big deal? They just barely beat them?

[Novacane]

Originally posted by gameboy
I, too, have been pretty unimpressed with the performances of seemingly tough teams against us. .

Don't you give the Bills credit for causing those performances?

[Phins054]

ESPN says that the pats beat the Bills on paper...

As Chris Berman would say..."THATS why they play the games..."

[Ingtar33]

Quick Question... Who has NE beat?
4-3 Pittsburgh
2-5 Jets
4-4 Chiefs

No world beaters here

BTW: did you know that the undefeated '72 Dolphins beat only 2 teams with a winning record that year? The reason why you never here about that is because no one cares about the quality of your wins in the NFL. Those old b@stards in Miami still pop open a bottle of champagne every year, even though they may have played the easiest schedule in the history of the NFL. In the grand scheme of things any team can beat anyone in the NFL... this isn't collage football where you can argue that wins of Rutgers or UB mean nothing. On any given Sunday any team can win (except maybe cinci). There is no reason for the Bills to apologize for any win they’ve got, those SOBs in Miami sure don’t. In the grand scheme of things all that matters in the end is if you win the last game of the season, and wins against poor teams just helps us all to that goal.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Every time I see those 72 Dolphins in a boat popping their champagne, I want to hit it with a mortar.

EE :rocket: 72 fins

[WG]

B2R46,

"Sounds like WCoastFin."

Maybe, but it's the truth! You, etal., keep trying to make this a personal thing between you and me. I'm just calling it the way it is. It's interesting that you don't dispute those things, you merely dis them.

"As long as they keep winning I am happy. I think it's ridiculas to say it does not mean anything because they did not blow teams out. What will you say if the Bills beat NE 21-20 wys. Big deal? They just barely beat them?"

Again, that's the difference between you and me. You're happy w/ squeaker wins, ALL of which could easily have been losses, to teams like Detroit (2-14 last year, 2-5 this), Houston (2-5 this year, DNE last), Minnesota (5-11 last year, 2-5 this), Miami w/ a totally depleted D that if they had had likely would have beat us and our mighty, mighty 16 offensive points. I'm not happy w/ those wins when we lose to mediocre teams like the Raiders and crap teams like the Jets.

I'd like to see us play the kind of football that takes teams to the playoffs and wins games there. You cannot deny that we are simply not doing that. Say what you will about me and call me names and make insinuations, but the truth of the matter is that we are a 5-3 team that could very easily have been 2-6. Easily. I mean think about it. We should have absolutely dusted Detroit last week at home and their pitiful D but we could only amass 24 points. If we play the same way this Sunday as we did last week, do you really think we'll score 24? I don't. I think we'd be lucky to get 17. Do you think the Pats will score at least 20 against us? Oh, I do. Everyone else has except for Miami w/ no offense other than Williams and Detroit last week w/ a rookie QB. Surely, it's highly unlikely, 1 in 8 odds based on game occurrences, that we'll benefit from turnovers.

The Pats are better than their 3-4 record no doubt. They just lost to four teams, any of which could make the Superbowl this year. We just barely beat Detroit. Two of our other wins have come against teams that are no better than Detroit, and again, we barely won both of those never having beaten a 2-5 team by more than 7 points and usually in O/T or w/ the game going right down to the wire.

If that impresses you, then you are correct. I'm not happy b/c they "keep winning." I would rather see us fixing things that are going to help us win next season. Instead, Gilbride is on a mad trend of throwing the ball more than 2/3 of the time. Here's a question for ya, name the last time that a team, any team, went to the Super Bowl w/ an offense that threw the ball 2/3 or more of the time? That should provide you w/ a good activity for a while.

What are you going to say if we lose to the Chiefs by 4, the Jets again, the Packers by 10, and struggle v. S.D., Miami, and maybe even Cincy. Are you still going to say we're awesome or what will have changed?

Meanwhile, if we beat the Pats by 1, great. I'm happy insofar as that goes. Would I run to a bookie and lay ten grand that we even have a shot at winning the SB w/ odds? I'm tellin' ya, even if we do make the playoffs, we don't stand a chance this year in them. With a favorable matchup at home, perhaps we'd win a game. But that would be it. We simply do not have the team to compete v. playoff caliber teams the way we're playing now.

Changes that are critical is for Gilbride to start running Henry. If he can't hang onto the ball, then that's simply too bad and an issue that we have to deal with at that time and at face value. But simply keeping Henry in the game and not giving him the ball b/c we're afraid of his fumbling isn't helping the team. Maybe for winning this year, but who cares. Then next year we're in the same rut possibly. What's gonna cause Henry to stop fumbling? It's Henry! Not Gilbride. Otherwise, Henry runs fine and Gilbride may not look like a genious or be the O.C. when Drew breaks some huge records, but at least our O will/should be performing much better.

As far as the D goes, if you really think it's improved, I would suggest that this weekend will be a good test. It's funny how fans say they've improved against two teams that simply don't have good offenses. Miami did, but that was before we played them. Theirs was horrible and would likely finish near the bottom of the league if they played that way each week. We didn't force many TOs in that Miami game. Lucas often had TONS of time in his pocket. Perhaps his WRs, Baker, Ward, and McKnight, were so bad that even against sketchy CBs such as Watson, they struggled. I'd say that was more it than the notion that all of a sudden Watson has turned into a probowl player overnight w/o any other provocation whatsoever. Wouldn't you? I suppose not.

Allow me to simplify the analogy if you will. Suppose a bad NFL player, CB for example, gets cut b/c he sucks. Then he joins a semi-pro league or a flag league and is absolutely fantastic. Does that mean that all of a sudden he's capable of playing well at the NFL level? Of course it doesn't. So why does Watson get credit all of a sudden while covering guys like Baker in Miami who hadn't even caught an NFL pass? Or very mediocre WRs such as Schroeder or Crowell w/ a rookie QB who didn't play very well and certainly wasn't very accurate?

I agree, he played much better seemingly, but let's see if he can do that vs. some decent WRs w/ a good QB who's got some experience. Otherwise, this delusion that our D has improved is largely that. A delusion. We've simply benefitted from having played an injury depleted offense and a poor offense back-to-back. Unfortunately we're gonna find that out this Sunday.

I can tell you this, if Gilbride plays into the Pats' hands and passes most of the time as we have, I seriously question whether we can even hang close in this game. I see the Pat D doing exactly what the Miami D did. Holding us to under 20.

That is of course unless we can get Henry moving, and by that I don't mean for 3 runs for 47 yards and then another 14 carries for 18 yards. I mean if he gets the ball 25 or more times and has near or greater than 100 yards. I'll make a prediction: If Henry gets more than 25 carries and has at least 90 yards, the Bills win. Barring fumbles returned for TDs by Henry. If not, if he only gets 15 carries and has 60 yards, I'll step out and say we're not only gonna lose, but that this will be Drew's first horrible game all season and we'll lose by at least 7.