Week 13 NFL Picks

Full of turkey and full of casheee, get it:

Steve 27-32-1 Best Bet 7-5

Broncos @ Chiefs over 49
Colts -4 v Titans
Seahawks -5 v Saints
Gaints @ Redskins over 46

Jaguars +7 @ Browns


Coast 31-27-2 Best Bet 5-7

Bills -3.5 v Falcons
Rams +8.5 v 49ers
Buccaneers +7.5 @ Panthers
Chiefs +6 v Broncos
Titans +4 @ Colts


Wreck 35-25 Best Bet 7-5

Rams +8.5 v 49ers
Jets -2 v Dolphins
Bears +1 @ Vikings
Saints +5 @ Seahawks
Bills v Falcons @ Toronto over 48

Week 13 Buffalo Bills Power Ranking Compilation

ESPN 24:
The Bills leap frog the Browns and move up a spot yet still are behind the Jets, hmm.
"Buffalo had a plus-4 turnover margin in the Week 11 win over the Jets. The Bills hadn't posted a plus-4 since Week 16 of 2011 against Denver."


CBS 25:
No movement after the bye but still a few spots behind the Jets AND the Browns, ouch.
"It's all about EJ Manuel's improvement in the last five games. They need to build on that."


Fox Sports 24:
Buffalo took a major step backward during the bye falling two spots, they are also behind the Jets and Dolphins.  Literally all Billick did this week was put the teams in order of their schedule.  Does he get paid?
"The Bills have a favorable three-game stretch with the Falcons, Bucs and Jags on the horizon."


Walterfootball doesn't give us much this week except dropping the Bills two spots:
"22. Buffalo Bills (4-7). Previously: #20 "


PFT 24:
No movement after the bye and evidently the D&B story still has legs:
"I wonder if any of the Bills players made a bye-week trip to Dave & Buster’s?"


Yahoo! Sports 24:
Three spot plummet while being idle yet optimism:
"With their schedule, I'm still not ruling out the Bills being 8-7 going into the finale and hoping the Patriots have their playoff seeding locked up."


Average spot 23.8 with 3 sites moving the Bills down lower in their rankings after the bye, one up and two in the same position. Huh?  And how are the Jets ahead in all but one?

Week 12 NFL Picks

Wedding weekend gotta put the picks up on a Friday, get it:

Steve Best 24-30-1 Bet 6-5

Steelers +1 @ Browns
Jaguars +10 @ Texans
Chiefs -5.5 v Chargers
Broncos @ Patriots over 54
Bears +1 @ Rams

Coast 27-26-2 Best Bet 5-6

Jets +3.5 @ Ravens
Jaguars +10 v Texans
Chargers +5.5 @Chiefs
Steelers +1 @ Browns
Patriots +2.5 v Broncos

Wreck 32-23 Best Bet 6-5

Dolphins +4.5 v Panthers
Browns -1 v Steelers
Patriots +2.5 v Broncos
Titans -1 @ raiders
Ravens v Jets over 39

Week 12 Buffalo Bills Power Rankings Compilation

Skipped last week but that's aighttt, here is the 4-7 Bills power rankings:


ESPN 25 :
A full 9 spots behind the Jets, moved up one spot from last week.

"EJ Manuel's first pass against the blitz was swatted away by Muhammad Wilkerson. Then he went 8-for-8 for 111 yards and two touchdowns to finish the game."

CBS 25:
Exact same thing as ESPN except moved up a few more spots. (Miami is 16 lol)

" Beating the Jets the way they did was impressive. EJ Manuel did some good things. The defense did even more."


Fox Sports 22:
 A full 9 spots behind the Jets who are 13th some how.  Some dap for EJ.

"EJ Manuel finished 20 for 28 for 245 yards and two touchdowns with his two best receivers inactive in the game. This kid has a bright future."


Walterfootball 20. Buffalo Bills (4-7). Previously: #26Ahead of the Jets!


PFT 22:
A five spot jump but still six spots behind the beloved Jets. Did anyone watch the game last week?

"With the next three opponents at 2-8, 2-8, and 1-9, the Bills could make things interesting down the stretch."


Yahoo! Sports 21:

Eight spots behind the Jets who are 13th!!!

"The Bills will play the Falcons, Buccaneers, Jaguars and Dolphins before finishing at New England, which could have its seed clinched by Week 17. Hmmmm ...."


Bazaar love for the jets still.  Dunno. Average spot 22.5 Highest 21 lowest 25.

Bills 37 Jets 14

By Steve

Wait, there was a fun day at the Ralph against Rex Ryan and the Jets? There was a meaningless fourth quarter because the Bills so clearly had the win locked down? Rare

EJ so clearly out played Geno smith it almost, almost, made me completely forget about their first matchup. But in fact these two Jets Bills games were almost identical with the home team beating down their opponent.

I'm not going to say the Bills played a perfect game because they didn't (like Marrone messing up the clock, the running game and specifically Spiller doing diddly poo and a guy falling from the sky) but this was indeed a great game and a great win. The Jets looked lost in all aspects of the game except their run decense and Geno looked like, well, a Bills quarterback.

Manuel finally hit some deep balls, even if one was a duck the beleagured TJ Graham had to make a nice play on just to catch, but Erik actually looked a bit like a balla.

Some quick hits:

Have the Bills contacted Byrd's agent yet (even tho they technically cant)?

Does Scott Chandler need new gloves? Geez

How bad do those losses to the Bengals and Chiefs feel now?  Ugh.

2-2 in the division this late in the season? Rare.

Go 8-8 and I wont hate my life

Week 11 NFL Picks

Steve 21-28-1 Best Bet 6-4

Chargers -2 @ Dolphins
Browns @ Bengals under 41
Eagles -4.5 v Redskins
Buccaneers pick v Falcons
Lions @ Steelers over 45.5


Wreck 29-21 Best Bet 6-4

Patriots +2.5 @ Panthers
Bills +1.5 v Jets
Buccaneers pick v Falcons
Raiders +9.5 @ Texans
Jaguars +9.5 v Cardinals


Coast 25-23-2 Best Bet 5-5

Jaguars +9.5 v Cardinals
Raiders +9.5 @ Texans
Browns +6 @ Bengals
Patriots +2.5 @ Panthers
Giants -4.5 v Packers

Doug Marrone hilarious presser 11/11/13

Buffalo Bills at New York Jets podcast Preview

Steve and Coast review the season and look forward to the jets with some Doug Marrone humor

Farewell Darcy Regier

By Steve

Honestly I never thought I would ever be able to write this blog. The hatred and vitriol I have for this man has almost faded in time. The guy even out lasted my ire. I gave up. Death, taxes, Darc as Sabres gm. I don't remember anything else.

But today he was finally canned. Fanboy Terrance finally woke up and realized he had to fire his beloved failure of a GM. What changed, why now, what took so long? We'll probably never know but finally that boil was burned off even if it was 2 years 6 months and 21 days (or whatever Ted blacks's count was) too late.

Lets face it, Pegula should have done this on day one. Knox should have done this in 2000 after the Peca debacle. He even survived when the NHL owed the team. Golisano should have done this after 7/1/2007. This guy would have survived the holocast, the plague and the Noah's ark flood on the same day!

How was he employed for 16+ years?!??!?
Yeah he made a few good trades (Drury, Briere, Moulson) and rebuilt teams in to contenders. But he botched so many things, tanked so many seasons and moved too slowly too many times. He needed to be removed many times over if only for the simple idea of a new set of eyes on the franchise.

Finally it happened. I wouldn't be surprised if students study his tenure here in the future and write thousand page dissertations on how and why he survived so long. All I know is I may never forget 11/13/2013.WO0T

Season's Over

by Coast

My annual "Season's Over" post has become a pre-Thanksgiving November tradition over the past, I don't know, 9 years?

The Steelers absolutely embarrassed the Bills today. This game was an absolute debacle. I have defended this team all season. I have defended Marrone. I have defended Manuel. I think I even defended Hackett last week. This game was no better than any bills road performance under the past 4 head coaches. It was just disgusting to watch.

I will start with Manuel. He was obviously atrocious today. His accuracy was horrible. His threw a horrendous interception. He really made no good plays the entire game. That being said, I am not giving up on Manuel yet. Rookie quarterbacks have awful games all the time. He showed me enough through the first 4 games that he has potential and now that the season is over the rest of the season will be an opportunity to evaluate Manuel.

Now on to Marrone. I have really liked Marrone through the first 9 games despite the record. I cannot defend Doug Marrone after today's game. Punting on 4th down and 5 inside the Steelers 40 down 14 in the 4th quarter is an embarrassingly gutless decision. It made me sick watching. All I have done in defending Marrone all season has gone out the window. I no longer will defend him. He is on watch the rest of the season as much as anyone else in the organization. Punting in that situation is conceding a loss and doing it once is all it takes for me to completely lose respect for you. I am completely sick about it.

Nate Hackett had another terrible game. The game plan was so vanilla. The Bills scored 3 real points against a defense that has been terrible all year. Where was CJ Spiller? Was he not involved in the game plan? He should be the focal point of the game plan. The play calling inside the 10 was suspect again. Spiller coming out of the game inside the red zone every time the team gets there is questionable. I really felt like I was watching the 2012 Bills wondering where CJ was half the game. It wasn't like Jackson was out there ripping off big runs.

Some other quick thoughts from the game:

• The Bills should not keep Steve Johnson on the team. How many times has he left games early because of injury? Take a real potential #1 WR in the first round. Good riddance.
• I thought the defense played pretty well. The Steelers only had 300 yards of offense. The defense did not quit on the Steelers' last 2 drives when the Bills offense turned it over deep.
• The punting and punt coverage was atrocious. Brown killed them. This is obviously a trend and a problem that needs addressing. 
• When it was 17-3 Steelers, Ben threw a swing pass to Brown...it was a lateral but no one seemed to even pay attention (except Pettine).

I don't know...there will be more later this week, but that is all I got for now. Maybe next year.

Week 10 NFL Picks

Finally week ten and here are the expert picks

Steve 19-25-1 Best Bet 5-4

Cowboys @ Saints over 54
Buccaneers +3 v Dolphins
Falcons +5 v Seahawks
Bears pick v Lions
49ers -6.5 v Panthers


Wreck 25-20 Best Bet 6-3


Falcons +5 v Seahawks
Jaguars +13 @ Titans
Ravens +1.5 v Bengals
Steelers -3 v Bills
Texans +2.5 @ Cardinals


Coast 23-20-2 Best Bet 5-4

Bills +3 @ Steelers
Packers +1.5 v Eagles
Jaguars +13 @ Titans
Giants -7.5 v Raiders
Lions pick @ Bears

Buffalo Bills at Pittsburgh Steelers Podcast

Steve and Coast breakdown the Steelers v Bills match up

Rob Gronkowski rap song ?

Week 10 Bills Power Rankings Compilation

The Bills are 3-6 and they are who we thought they were, here is the round up:

ESPN 23:

A respectable three spot drop and then Spiller stats for some reason.
"Despite playing with Jeff Tuel at QB, C.J. Spiller finished with a season-high 155 yards from scrimmage Sunday, including season highs in rushing yards (116) and rush yards after contact (64)."


CBS 25:

Two spot fall and Prickly Pete isn't sure where Tuel was on the depth chart.
"It's hard to win with a third-team passer, or was it a fourth-team guy? The turnovers killed them against the Chiefs."


Fox Sports 23:
Billick still loving him some Bills but plummeted them seven notches.
"I've been saying it all along: the Bills, particularly with a healthy EJ Manuel, are going to spoil someone's season over the course of the next eight weeks. They almost did it on Sunday."


Walter Football 23:

Someone that actually watched the game?? And the Bills moved up a spot and positivity?
"I will forever hate Thaddeus Lewis for ruining my October NFL Pick of the Month. Why did he have to suffer rib injuries and contract an illness? How selfish. If he cared about me, he would've played through everything.

By the way, I was asked why I postponed my October NFL Pick of the Month because of Lewis' absence. Jeff Tuel's 100-yard pick-six was exactly why. The Bills would've beaten Kansas City with a healthy Lewis under center."


Yahoo! Sports 20:

Highest ranking of the week and um does Coast work for Yahoo! now?
"Completely outplayed the undefeated Chiefs despite being on their fourth option at quarterback. A couple of bad turnovers ruined it. Still, watch out for this team in the second half and definitely in 2014."

PFT 25:
Down two but at this point I feel bad for Matt Flynn.  What did he ever do to anyone?
"At least Matt Flynn didn’t blow the starting job before he was cut."

Average location 23.16666 highest is twenty and kindest remarks shockingly by Walterfootball.

Coast's Bills Chefs Reaction

Since this playoff drought began, each season has produced at least one loss that has felt more painful than the result of a sporting even should ever feel.

2004: Week 17 loss to the Steelers

2005: Halloween loss in Foxboro where Holcombe threw the 3 yard out to Moulds on 4th and 7

2006: Christmas Eve loss to the Titans when Dick Jauron infamously didn't know if his team was in field goal range or not

2007: The Dallas game on Monday Night Football

2008: The Browns game on Monday Night Football

2009: The Patriots opener...you guessed it...on Monday Night Football

2010: The team sucked...but we still had the Ravens and Steelers overtime heartbreakers

2011: The loss in New Jersey where Stevie dropped the potential game winning pass

2012: The loss in Foxboro when Fitz threw the INT in the end zone

These name only a few of the many brutal losses this team has faced over the years. This year has had its share...weeks 1 and 7 produced last second or overtime heartbreaking losses.

Then there came the week 9 match up with the 8-0 Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs were 2-14 last year, picked up Alex Smith and Andy Reid and all of a sudden were 8-0. I have been claiming all year that they were a fraudulent team. They have squeaked out wins vs. bad teams and then other bad teams without their starting quarterbacks. Coming in to the Bills game today, the Chiefs have faced the likes of Gabbert, Fitzpatrick, Keenum, Pryor,  and Campbell. Their other three games came against the wildly inconsistent and under performing NFC East. In other words, I truly felt that the Chiefs were the WORST team the Bills have faced so far. Maybe I am being sour because the Bills can never luck out or have the good fortune to start 9-0 when we have beeen mediocre the past 13 years. Well...the Chiefs won 23-13 and according to CBS, which flashed the headline "Chiefs roll past Bills to go to 9-0" during the Patriots Steelers game, I must have been way wrong. about them.

Well, I WASN'T. The CHIEFS WERE AWFUL. The Bills DOMINATED the Kansas City Chiefs on BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL. It really was one of the most one sided football games I have ever watched the Bills play. Let's just look at some of the stats (Bills stat shown first).

First Downs: 25-15

Plays: 77-54

Yards: 470-210

Yards Per Play: 6.1-3.9

Passing Yards: 229-115

Rushing: 241-95!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YPC: 6.3-4.1

That is incredibly lop sided. I want someone to figure out if there has even been a more one sided affair that resulted in the team that got thoroughly dominated win by 10...it is truly amazing.

So why did the Bills lose? I attribute 95% of the blame to Jeff Tuel and 4% of the blame to TJ Graham. The other 1% of the blame can go to a variety of different things.

Jeff Tuel sucks. I had no expectations coming into the game, but he even disappointed me. Yeah, he started out decent and threw a nice deep ball to Goodwin (but, like I have said many times, the deep ball is the easiest throw for a QB to attempt...high reward/low risk). The Bills led 10-3 at halftime and got the ball 1st to start the 2nd half. The only reason why the Chiefs had any points in the first half is Tuel threw a horrendous interception in the Bills territory that didn't seem to be intended for anyone. The first drive of the 2nd half featured a 61 yard exciting run by Spiller. Eventually, the Bills had 1st and goal from the 1 yard line. Jackson stuffed on back to back plays and here were go with another 3rd and 1. The Bills run a pass play. Stevie Johnson breaks WIDE OPEN into the back of the end zone...I mean WIDE OPEN. Tuel never even looks...at anything. In fact, I am pretty sure he threw with his eyes closed. He got the snap, closed his eyes, and just chucked it. Sean Smith completely blew his coverage on Johnson, who broke WIDE OPEN if I hadn't mentioned that yet. How was Sean Smith rewarded? It wasn't by Tuel finding Johnson for the touchdown...rather Tuel threw the ball right into Sean Smith's arms standing at the goal line. Smith returned it 100 yards for a touchdown, a 14 points swing and a 10-10 game.

I have made many outlandish comments in my career as a Bills fan, but I feel pretty confident about this one. That Tuel pick 6 was the worst play I have ever seen a Buffalo Bills football player make in my entire life. He showed complete ineptitude and proved that he never should have been allowed on an NFL roster or let alone start an NFL game. Tuel was inaccurate all day...yeah he hit Goodwin on one deep ball, but he was off on the other 10 he tried. People are saying balls were dropped...I guess you can consider TJ Graham or Robert Woods not making acrobatic over the shoulder catches drops. Tuel was AWFUL, just awful.

TJ Graham has been a huge disappointment his whole career in my opinion. He has not developed into any sort of reliable wide receiver. Today he finally killed the Bills in a big way. On a 3rd down and long, Graham ran an underneath route, caught the ball, got stripped, and the Chiefs returned the fumble for a touchdown.

As I mentioned, the Bills dominated the game. I truly believe if Tuel doesn't throw that pick 6 the Bills win. If Graham doesn't fumble, who knows, we could win. In a game where your team is 100% completely dominated the opposition, you need to do whatever it takes to not turn the ball over. Jeff Tuel was 4-22 in college. He embarrassed himself in Cleveland. His lone bright spot was literally the 2nd half of week 1 of the preseason since he was playing high school football. He never should have started this game. Matt Flynn should have started. He may not know the offense, but the Bills could have run a dummied down offense that required Flynn to simply not throw an interception. There is no way possible Flynn throws that pick 6...no other human with a brain or eyes would have.

The other 1% of the blame can go to a variety of areas, so here are my thoughts.

• Scott Chandler sucks and had about 10 drops
• The refs sucked again and in my (un)biased opinion, the Bills got screwed. Let's look at the Goodwin "incomplete" pass. Goodwin comes down with the ball. The ref closest to the play calls it a catch. Then, a 2nd ref comes in and waives it off. Then, according to replay, it looks like Goodwin makes the catch, bounces twice, rolls over and then Flowers knocks it out of his hands. IT WAS A CATCH and if called a catch on the field, as it was initially, it would not have been overturned. Further, Graham was being absolutely mugged on the Smith pick 6...he was basically carrying a guy...should have been pass interference. The Bills had a punt return touchdown called back on a block in he back and I have seen not called before, even if it was probably a penalty. Byrd got called with a pretty atrocious personal foul (although so did KC on one roughing the passer). Whatever, the refs sucked.
• Special teams TD called back on a block in the back was killer
• McKelvin tries picking up a fumble and returning it 2 yards rather than just jumping on it...KC ends up recovering. This reminds me how lucky KC is...they have recovered more fumbles than they have FORCED (you do the math)
• Hackett play calling inside the 5? I DISAGREE...they drew up a play on 3rd and goal from the 1 that resulted in their best WR being WIDE OPENNNNNNNNN and Tuel threw it to the wrong team

I could go on forever complaining about this game. The Bills dominated a 8-0 team. They should be 4-5 and in the hunt. Instead they are 3-6 and in the same situation they have been in for like 13 years in a row...basically out of it before Thanksgiving. Now I find myself saying oh well if we beat the Steelers then the Jets, then the Falcons...nah...forget it, I don't care how easy the schedule is...we are the Bills and are destined for heartbreak. 

If the punt return isn't called back, Tuel doesn't throw the TAINT (and Bills get a FG...let's be conservative) and Graham doesn't fumble and the Bills punt, the Bills win the game 23-6. That score would have been indicative of how lopsided the game was. Whatever, I am keeping the faith. Hopefully EJ comes back and the team continues to improve. Win the next two games going into the bye and the Bills will be one game back of the wild card. That is all we can hope for now...extend the season as long as possible.

Week 9 NFL Picks

Steve  18-21-1 Best Bet 4-4

Colts @ Texans over 44
Packers -10.5 v Bears
Ravens -3 @ Browns
Falcons +7.5 @ Panthers
Saints -7 @ Jets


Wreck  22-18 Best Bet 5-3

Bears +10.5 @ Packers
Buccaneers +16 @ Seahawks
Raiders -2.5 v Eagles
Bills +4 v Chiefs
Jets +7 v Saints


Coast  21-18-1 Best Bet 5-3

Bills +4 v Chiefs
Panthers -7.5 v Falcons
Packers -10.5 v Bears
Cowboys v Vikings over 49
Saints @ Jets over 46


Katman 5-5 Best Bet 1-1

Saints -7 @ Jets
Cowboys -10 v Vikings
Chargers @ Redskins over 51
Colts -3 @ Texans
Browns  +3 v Ravens

Bills First Half Season Review

By Coast

The 2013 Buffalo Bills season has hit the halfway point and the Bills are a less than impressive 3-5. Unlike many of my colleagues on this blog however, I am not ready to "fire everyone". I think the first half of this Bills season has been promising and actually gives me a lot of hope for the future.

Going into this season, the most important thing to figure out was whether or not EJ Manuel was the future of the franchise. Through 4 games, the Bills were 2-2 and midway through the 5th game, the Bills held the lead...until EJ hurt his knee, the team collapsed and the season instantly seemed ruined. As mentioned in an earlier blog, EJ Manuel performed very well when compared to his 2012 rookie counterparts. His numbers were on par with the big three of Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin. EJ also added a 90 second no timeout touchdown drive to beat Carolina, who also sports the 2nd best defense in the NFL in points allowed through 8 weeks. EJ has done enough through 4.5 games to keep the hope alive that he can and will be a franchise quarterback.

The 2nd major unknown going into the season was the coaching staff. The coaching staff has aclimated themselves pretty well through the first 8 games. This team has shown up each and every week and has been competitive, that shows that Doug Marrone is a good coach, especially considering the injuries that have plagued this team at quarterback. Think about what this team has gone through this year: Kolb and Manuel each get hurt in preseason. Bills sign Thad Lewis and Matt Leinart. Neither make the team. Bills go into season with Manuel and Jeff Tuel, an undrafted rookie. The Bills sign Lewis to the practice squad. Manuel gets hurt in week 5, Tuel goes in and plays awful. Lewis promoted from the practice squad to starter and then the Bills sign Matt Flynn. Now Lewis is hurt and Tuel will probably start against an 8-0 team...can it get any worse?

Nate Hackett, the 33 year old offensive coordinator, has looked in over his head at some points this season. That being said, given the circumstances surrounding his quarterback (and MIA CJ Spiller), he has gotten the most out of this offense. Thad Lewis has been respectable. The Bills scored at least 20 points in the first 7 games, one of two teams to do that. The Bills are averaging 22 points per game, which is 18th in the NFL. The Bills have averaged 22 or more points per game only once since 2004. 

Mike Pettine has brought a completely new attitude to the Bills defensively. The Bills attack infinitely more than they have in the past few years. The Bills are tied for 4th in the NFL with 28 sacks. The Bills had 30 sacks in all of 2012. Unfortunately, the Bills have been allowing a lot of points. The Bills have allowed 26.6 points per game this season, which ranks 25th in the NFL and is not an improvement over the "historically bad" defenses under Chan Gailey. I do attribute much of this to the Bills offense being in hurry mode all the time and thus the Bills defense is on the field much much more. The Bills rank 29th in the NFL with 27:13 time of possession per game.

First Half Awards:

Most Valuable Player of the first half: This has to go to Mario Williams. Mario has been a stud this year. He has 11 sacks through 8 games and was instrumental in two of the Bills 3 wins (Carolina and Miami). If Mario can keep this up for the rest of the season, it will warrant him getting at least some of his $100M contract.

Least Valuable Player of the first half: CJ Spiller, enough said. Spiller has been a colossal disappointment. Spiller has 398 TOTAL yards and 1 touchdown thus far. CJ has not played well when he has been out there and to make matters worse he has been nursing an ankle sprain for 4 weeks. Terrible. (Honorable mention to Justin Rogers...but when you compare performance to expectations, it has to be Spiller).

Rookie of the first half: Kiko Alonso...obviously. His 4 interceptions is tied for the lead in the NFL and his 81 tackles is tied for 2nd in the NFL. Best Coach of the first half: Mike Pettine. The defense has made a complete 180 since last year and despite the high PPG allowed, I love the attacking mentality. Don't forget, this defense has been decimated by injuries this year, especially in the secondary. It was so bad that Justin Rogers was the number 1 corner against the Jets.

Worst game of the first half: Justin Rogers against the Jets. He single handedly lost us the game. 6-9 for 250 yards for balls thrown at Rogers and 10-21 for 70 yards for balls thrown away from Rogers (estimated). Either way, pathetic.

Worst coaching moment of the first half: Making Jeff Tuel the backup when Thad Lewis was clearly better. Made no sense. Best moment of the first half: Obviously the comeback against Carolina.

First Half Grades:

Coaching: B...Love Pettine and Marrone...Hackett has gotten a lot out of bad players

Receivers: C...Stevie is a number 2, Goodwin missed half the year, Woods was developing some good chemistry with Manuel, but has been invisible since EJ's injury, Graham sucks, Hogan doesn't play and Easley is a decent special teamer...we need a WR in the first round next year big time

RBs: C...Fred Jackson has been good, but Spiller brings this unit down big time. The Bills rank 7th in rush YPG but are 15th in yards per attempt...just average and that is how I would rate them.

QBs: C-...QB play this year has been mediocre...EJ had a promising start and now we are stuck with Thad Lewis, Jeff Tuel and Matt Flynn...puke

D Line: A-...A lot of sacks...Mario has been a monster...Rush YPA allowed is 3.9, 14th in the league...this is a significant improvement (5.0 in 2012)

LB: B+...Kiko is the real deal but other than him, who has really done much?

Secondary: C...unit hasn't been helped by injuries, but that Jet game alone lowers this grade to a C at best...They do have 12 interceptions as a defense which ranks 2nd in the AFC.

Special Teams: D...we cut our punter and signed the guy who we cut last year for the guy who we cut this year...what? Punt returns cost us big time in Browns and Bengals losses...kick returns have been few and far between and ineffective when we do get a chance...lone bright spot has been Carpenter. 

2nd half prediction: The Bills have one of the easiest schedules in the NFL the rest of the way. If they can beat KC this weekend, they could get hot. I like the Bills to go 6-2 in the 2nd half and significantly factor in to that final wild card battle.

Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills Podcast Preview