I think the Bills will be eating griese burgers!

[Mitchy moo]

I am getting a little sick of hearing smack that Tampa is so talented. They are talented for the NFC not the league (AFC). Last year the Bills OWNED the NFC, we won all of our games & one of the was a playoff team for the NFC. The Bills outmatch them by quite abit and we are going to have some SPECIAL teams scoring as well. Tampa's special teams are not that special.

Prepare to be eating a nice griese burger this sunday, I'll be there again just like last week.

[OpIv37]

We played a much weaker NFC division last year- it won't be so easy this year. Tampa's offense is nothing special and should be stat fodder for our D, but their D is probably salivating over our young QB and patchwork O-line. I think we can win, but it certainly won't be easy and it will require disciplined football on both sides of the ball.

And Greise sucks.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I agree with everything except the comment about Griese--who is a good fit in that particular offense (otherwise, yes, he sucks!).

Don't forget that Tampa Bay, like Carolina, had a lot of injuries last season and they didn't settle on a starting QB until a third of the season was over. One of their starting WRs and their starting RB missed significant playing time at the beginning of the season as did their starting TE. And, they played musical chairs on their offensive line all season because of injuries as well. Just the mere fact that they have begun the season with all of their starters ready to go should translate into them having a better offense this season. Their weakness, at this stage, is that they have two new starters, A.Davis and D.Buenning, on their offensive line. That's something that the Bills D will have to exploit.

The TB defense is good--they were also banged up last season. They have stars or former All-Pros at every level of their D. A.McFarland is back to anchor the middle of their D line and they added C.Hovan to play next to him. S.Rice is aging, but still an athletic player who can be a force. The same can be said of D.Brooks and Ronde Barber. B.Kelly and former SB MVP Dexter Jackson are players who can't be ignored and, while S.Quarles didn't have the kind of season everyone expected from him, Quarles is a up-and-coming guy at MLB and so is G.Spires, who just seems to quietly get the job done, at DE. They are very solid across the board and can put a lot of pressure on an offense. I would not underestimate them. With Kris Jenkins out for the season, the TB defense could be as good or better than the vaunted Carolina D (nobody is as good as J.Peppers, but across the board TB may be more solid).

[Mitchy moo]

We played a much weaker NFC division last year- it won't be so easy this year. Tampa's offense is nothing special and should be stat fodder for our D, but their D is probably salivating over our young QB and patchwork O-line. I think we can win, but it certainly won't be easy and it will require disciplined football on both sides of the ball.

And Greise sucks.

I agree with you, entirely.

[Akhippo]

That was one of the problems last year. You want to beat your division, then the AFC. Its nice to beat the other team, but didnt really help. TB looks good, and should be a good test. At least stopping their running game and neutralizing their D. Penalties will be the swing vote. 3rd and long leads to a loss.