Week 8 Bills Power Rankings Compilation

After a lucky win against the Vikings lets see what the natty media thinks:

ESPN 16:
"Kyle Orton has two game-winning drives in his three starts this season but running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller will miss time with injuries."

Boring words but a five spot move up


CBS 20:
"At 4-3, they are in the playoff race. But the backfield injuries will hurt."

A lot of running back chatter already this week and little respect paid with a 2 spot leap.


NFL 16:
 "Now that is how you get your first-round draft pick involved, folks. Sure, Sunday's game was bugly (Buffalo ugly). But hey, man -- a win is a win is a win. I got on this team for the manner in which it was able to prevail in Detroit in Week 5 (via some nice, old-fashioned luck), but in the triumph over the Vikings, Kyle Orton -- sans 'stache -- was able to put a couple of throws right where they needed to be. Let's just hope Bryce Brown, Anthony Dixon and whichever Turd Ferguson the Bills sign off the street can provide balance on the ground in the absence of Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller."

A new word! Bugly. It fits.

PFT 14:
"The Bills will face Percy Harvin at the worst possible time — when he’s on his best behavior and without any idea how he’ll be used.:

I'm evidently not the only one a bit scared of Harvin this week. Two spot hop.


Yahoo 15:
"The Bills gave up a fourth-round pick for Bryce Brown, just to have him be inactive for seven weeks. With Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller hurt, we'll get to see if the Bills' investment was actually worth anything."

Lotta running back chatter. Bryce Brown time with a 3 spot leap.


Walterfootball : 22. Buffalo Bills (4-3). Previously: #24

Ouch Walt couldn't even give us a sentence or two this week.



More respect for a 4-3 record this week.  Highest 14 lowest 22.

Week 7 NFL Expert Picks

Steve 15-14-1 Best Bet 4-2
Lions -2 v Saints
Colts -3.5 v Bengals
Bears -3  Dolphins
Titans +5 @ Redskins
Cardinals -4 @ Raiders

Katman 12-16-2 Best Bet 2-4
Ten +6- best bet
Arz -4
Pit -3
Sd -4
Bal -6.5

Wreck  19-11 Best Bet 3-3
oak
stl
jac
nyg
sf

Coast 16-13-1 Best Bet 3-3

Colts
Rams
Browns
packers
steelers

Vikings at Buffalo Bills Preview Podcast

Steve and Coast review an awful Patriots game yet again and look ahead to Minny

Week 7 Buffalo Bills Power Rankings Compilation

Lets see what the media thinks about the 3-3 Buffalo Bills:

ESPN 21:
"Revis Island was a lonely place. Sammy Watkins had career lows in catches (two) and targets (three) Sunday, but the Vikings' defense should be good for a bounce-back performance."

Someone watched the game or at least the stats and the schedule. A small three spot drop.


CBS 22:
"The new owner got off to a tough start with a bad home loss. They just aren't good enough to beat the Patriots."

Pegula crack back and a true statement with a three spot drop seems appropriate.


PFT 16:
"So much for the Bills being competitive."
Huh?


NFL.com 21:
"Fielded many complaints about Buffalo being too low in last week's Power Rankings, but the thought here was that the club reached (and knee-jerked) with Kyle Orton -- and, generally, was not playing all that well. Well, the offense does look better with Orton under center. But while I understand gripes about the Bills being lower than the Lions and Bears (both of whom Buffalo beat), both of those teams won in convincing fashion Sunday and are still better at pro football's most important position -- quarterback. What we need to see from Doug Marrone's team is consistency, even if it is just for two games in a row."
 
You know someone messed up a week ago if you move up a spot after a bad home L.

Yahoo 18:
"Like the Cordarrelle Patterson situation, the Bills are well aware how many touches they give to C.J. Spiller. And at some point, you have to wonder what's wrong with Spiller that the Bills don't want to involve him more."

Good question, I'd add Watkins.


Walterfootball 24:
"What I wrote last week: "I have a feeling that Buffalo fans will be the next group of people to flood my comment board now that the Cincinnati backers have been silenced."

Sure enough, Buffalo backers pounced on the comment board below even though I picked the Bills both in Weeks 5 and 6. Buffalo ended up costing me four units, but the silver lining is that the team's annoying homers can shut up until the team's next bogus victory."

U Mad Bro? Why would you bet on the Bills when you are such a hater?


Highest 16, lowest 24, pretty boring week

New Owner, Same Result - Pats outsmart Bills

-Coast

For the first time since the Brady Belichick era began, I went into a Bills Patriots game honestly thinking that the Bills had the better roster and were the more talented team. What a fool I feel like now. The Patriots have the greatest quarterback of all time and the greatest coach of all time. The Bills have Kyle Orton who they picked up 6 weeks ago and Doug Marrone, who is starting to show that maybe he really just is not good enough to coach in this league.

When I think back at yesterday’s game, the main reason for the loss is the coaching. The Patriots were better prepared, seemingly knew what we were going to do on defense at all times and just took it to the Bills. They made half time adjustments and scored on all 4 of their 2^nd half possessions. The Bills on the other hand weren’t up to the challenge yet again.

Here are the major coaching errors that were the reason why the Bills lost in my opinion.

1.       The Bills made Mike Williams a healthy scratch. I don’t necessarily hate him not playing, but to look onto the field and see the recently promoted from the practice squad player Kenny Ladley out there on special teams, I just scratch my head. Who cares about special teams? The good teams don’t care about special teams. The good teams aren’t going to sit a player they traded for in order to allow more special teamers to suit up. Mike Williams has been starting for this team and now he is benched so we can have more special teamers available? I just do not agree with that.

2.       Sammy Watkins had 0 targets in the first half. Zero. Zilch. Nada. 2 first round picks to get a guy as good as Watkins presumably first and foremost for games like this one. Biggest game of the year vs. the New England Patriots. Everything the Bills do should be aimed at beating them. Sammy Watkins was a complete nonfactor. He was an afterthought. The Bills were resigned to ignoring him just because Revis was covering him. You know who knew how to get open vs. Revis? Steve Johnson. You know who threw the ball to Johnson when Revis was covering him? Ryan Fitzpatrick. You know who knew how to gameplan offensively to get Johnson the ball against Revis? Chan Gailey. And all this was before Revis ever get hurt and was in his prime.

3.       The end of the first half was laughable and honestly could have warranted being fired in itself. The Bills got the ball with inside 20 seconds left somewhere around their 30 yard line with 2 time outs. 2 15 yard pass plays and they are in field goal range. The first problem is they ran the ball which shows they weren’t even trying. What is the best case scenario if you run the football there? You get a 10 yard gain or so? Teams never break a run there. They were clearly trying to just run it out. Spiller of course fumbles and the Patriots get the ball at the 42 yard line with 0 timeouts and 6 seconds left. Ok, fine, just cover the sidelines, don’t do anything stupid and it’s 10-7 at halftime. Instead, the Bills defense allows 15 yard cushions on the outside, Edelman catches an easy out route to get into field goal range and Gostkowski nails it. 13-7 at halftime. 100% inexcusable.

4.       CJ Spiller’s use or lack thereof continues to mystify me. CJ Spiller cannot run the ball up the middle, I think we all have learned that by now. The Bills in general can’t but continue to beat a dead horse, which is a whole other issue. Why can’t we split this guy out and get him involved more in the passing game? Seeing what the Patriots do with far less talented players, it really makes you wonder what they could do with a guy like Spiller. You know who could get CJ Spiller involved and turn him into one of the premier young players in the entire league? Chan Gailey.

5.       The defense in the 2^nd half was pathetic. Many of us have been hanging out hats on this defense being good week in and week out. Well, in 4 2^nd half possessions the Patriots hung 24 points on them. Can’t do much worse than that. Brady was picking them apart, but even worse than that, was the last Patriots possession and the personnel that was on the field. Down 8 with New England starting at their own 7 yard line, the Bills had their 2 best pass rushers and 2 of their best players overall on the sidelines in Jerry Hughes and Mario Williams. Marrone admittedly thought they were going to run the football, which shows complete cluelessness about their opponent. The patriots couldn’t run the ball all day and are certainly not the type of team to just run the ball 3 times and punt when the game is in the hands of their hall of fame quarterback. Secondly, Hughes and Williams were on the sideline because of the rotation? Rotation? Are you serious? Is this Chan Gailey circa 2012 with the Jackson Spiller rotation? I don’t care about rotations. Game is on the line and you have two double digit sackers on the sideline including a guy who your franchise inked to a $100 million contract. Amateur stuff.

There are a few other things I want to mention about this game.

The officiating was terrible and seemingly consistently went in New England’s favor. Surprise Surprise. The Watkins pick offensive pass INT was one of the worst calls I have ever seen (though it did not hurt them). Worse was the Robert Woods push off. From all accounts, this was a very ticky tack call and is hardly ever called. Woods’ arms touched the DB but hardly pushed off. That was a 1^st down and 10 from the NE 30 down by 9. With the penalty the Bills were backed up to their 40 and never could get their way into FG range, being forced to punt, and NE subsequently drove down to take a 30-14 lead. Without that penalty, the game is 23-17 at worst. That call completely changed the flow of the game.

Kyle Orton was good and in my opinion was borderline great in the 2^nd half. He did have two turnovers in the first half, but come on, they did not decide the game. Quarterbacks turn it over so the people quick to point that out have it in for Orton from the get go. The game was 10-7 at the end of the second quarter and the Bills had the football despite the turnovers. Orton made many great throws in the game and the Bills passing game looked good in the 2^nd half. I just wish they would use it more and run it less.

The Bills are still in this. They play the Vikings this week at home in a game they have to win, obviously. Then, the season rides on that Jets game. If they beat the Jets in NY to go to 5-3, I think they still have a shot given the Patriot’s much tougher schedule. If they lose to the Jets to go to 4-4, forget about it, throw in the towel, start planning how to use your 2^nd round pick in May’s draft and let the coach/GM search begin.

Week 6 NFL Expert Picks

Here are your 2014 Week 6 NFL Picks:

Steve 15-10 Best Bet 4-1

Chargers -7.5 @ Raiders
Bengals -6.5 v Panthers
Steelers +1 @ Browns
Buccaneers  v Ravens under 43.5
Packers -3 @ Dolphins

Coast 13-11-1 Best Bet 2-3

Browns -1 v Steelers
Chargers -7.5 @ Raiders
Cowboys +8.5 @ Seahawks
Buccaneers +3.5 v Ravens
Broncos -10 @ Jets

Wreck 15-10 Best Bet 3-2

Jets +10 v Broncos
Raiders +7.5 @ Chargers
Cowboys +8.5 @ Seahawks
Panthers +6.5 @ Bengals
Eagles v Giants under 50.5

Katman 11-13-1 Best Bet 2-3

Steelers +1 @ Browns
Chargers -7.5 @ Raiders
Chargers @ Raiders over 43.5
Patriots @ Bills under 45.5
Broncos @ Jets over 48

Patriots at Bills Preview

By Steve

We all know what time it is. The Bills are ready for their bi-annual ass whooping by Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Cheatriots. Here we go again, right?

The Bills and New England have the same record 3-2, a top a weak AFC East. The Pats just throttled the Bengals in prime time and the Bills just won as 7 point dawgs at the Lions. Buf is 1-0 in division beating the Dolphins and N.E. is 0-1 with a loss to the same phins. Seemingly this game, if the names were different, would be a game the Bills would be favored.

But the Patriots are -3 because they are 24-2, twenty-four AND TWO in the last 13 seasons against the Bills. How is that possible? Well, for one, their qb has 3 rings and plays in championship games like I take shits (regularly) and our QB recently retired, smokes cigars and has a mustache.

Sure I wanted to pile on and say the cheatriots were done after losing badly to the Chiefs two weeks ago like everyone else. But I know better. I've been to more than half of those previous 26 games. I've been to Foxboro with my Fuck da Patriots shirt. I used to remember every defeat.

But after twenty or so defeats, the games have started to blend together. The Bills are close and choke, they blow big leads, they give just enough to dash our hopes. Sure the game at home in 2012 was euphoric but it was an outlier. It barely matters at this point.

Basically, I'm not burying the New Englanders until they are on fire with knives in their eyes their heart in my hand and heads on sticks Jason style. To be the man you have to beat the man.

Despite a nice win last week, a seemingly solid defense and a few playmakers on offense I dont have faith. QB v QB, coach v coach both huge advantages for NE.

When the Bills can run Belichick stacks the box, when the Bills can pass they blitz. When the Bills secondary owns, running backs I barely know have 100 yard games, when we have a solid front seven, receivers run buck wild in the secondary. Basically, they figure it out, adjust and beat us.

Sorry, I can't predict a win. With a win the scene will be better than in '12 but even if they lose the season isn't over.

The Bills have the easiest schedule in the league left based on winning %. The Patriots after the Jets (on Thursday) face Cutlet, Manning, Luck, Rodgers and Rivers in a row! So its not a must win but it is the biggest game of the season and could turn the tide on a 14 year playoff drought.

29-24 Cheatriots.