It's that time of the week where we can look at the remainder of the schedule and try to see how the Bills will finish up.  After catching a depleted Redskins team, our Bills are 5-2 and looking like they're hitting on all cylinders.  Coming up:

Week 9: Jets

Week 10: @ Cowboys

Week 11: @ Miami

Week 12: @ Jets

Week 13: Tennessee

Week 14: @ San Diego

Week 15: Miami

Week 16: Denver

Week 17: @ New England

Taking both from Miami (absolutely no reason to lose one to them), spliting with the Jets, and taking 2 of 3 from Tennesee, San Diego, and Denver nets 10 wins.  Will week 17 at NE determine whether the Bills play in January? I'm afraid to think it will.

Your thoughts...

Feeling good after last nights game against Cincy? Looking for something to do?  Head over to the Jets and Dolphins blogs.  While we can have very, very cautious optimism that our team is coming together and might just be tolerable this season, there is definitely the fear on those pages.  Fear that Sanchez can't figure get the ball to receivers, fear that the dolphin's receivers can't hang on to a ball, fear that there's something wrong with the 'fins run game, fear that without Revis, the Jets secondary might not be all that great.... The list goes on and on.  

I know it's only preseason, but last year, this team stank it up in the preseason, then followed it up with the biggest punch in the gut since wide right the first game of the season, only to continue with subpar play all season.  We should enjoy this while it lasts.

I was going to just post a comment on foreignarrow's post, but I'm going to piggy back with a post of my own. 

It seems like everyone is so set on finding our franchise QB this year, as if a "franchise" guy will be the fix to all of the Bills problems.  And, unfortunately, recent history has perpetuated that belief.  Matt Ryan in Atlanta.  Joe Flacco in Baltimore.  Big Ben in Pittsburgh.  Mark "dirty" Sanchez in NY.  These guys stepped in and won big in their rookie seasons.  So a "franchise" guy must be the answer.

However, I only need to point to Detriot and Oakland to prove that this line of thinking is completely and utterly false.  Al Davis has spent countless years drafting specialty guys while going bargain basement for the trenches.  Detroit, until a recent change in management, has done the exact same thing.  I'm not saying JaMarcus could prosper on a good team, but Matt Stafford has every capability to thrive, and star, on a good team.  However, his team went 1-15 because there was a bunch of has-beens and never-was' protecting him.

I'm not saying we shouldn't draft a QB this year.  However, I am contending that it should be way down on the list of priorities, behind OT, NT, DE, OLB, ILB.   If we go with the best player available way of picking, I find it hard to believe that it'll be a QB over OT-ILB in the first 3 rounds.  Bradford would be great a 9, but he's one bad hit from another shoulder surgery.  I know Brees was written off after his shoulder work and look what he's done.  But he's got guys protecting him. 

It may cost the Bills 2 or 3 wins this year, but I believe they should focus the early rounds on the trenches, develop those guys with our hit picks last year (Levitre and Wood), and bring in our franchise guy in next years draft.  That way, who ever he is has a legit chance to succeed.  If we don't and take Clausen or Bradford at 9, we're only setting them up to fail.  I think the new regime in line with this sort of thinking, or at least I'm hoping.

That's my 2C, thanks for reading.

For all of you still a little miff'd at the fact that the Bills couldn't land a coach like Bill Cowher, one that had been to the big game and won it all, here's something to think about.  No coach in NFL history has won a superbowl with 2 different teams.  Not a single one. 

A guy I work with is a ridiculous "did you know that" stat machine, and if anyone here can help me prove him wrong, I'd love to see it.  Otherwise, embrace the fact that we hired a coach that hasn't won a superbowl as a coach.

Chris Brown of Buffalobills.com has reported that Vick has been assured that he'll be traded this off season for the chance at a starting gig.  Since we've had so many "to Vick or not to Vick" threads, and we now know he will be traded for sure, I deem this the official Buffalo Rumblings "Would you accept Vick as your 2010 Starting QB" poll.  Feel free to re-state your pro/con arguments below.

Freddie is up for the FedEx Ground POW.  His 212 yards and 1 TD in the snow put him up for the award.  He's up against Jamaal Charles (259, 2TDs) and Willis McGahee (167, 3TDs).  Stiff competition, considering Charles was playing against a Denver D shooting for a playoff bid and McGahee's day earned his team a playoff berth.  Even so, Freddie deserves some love, so vote for him!

http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=players-air-and-ground

Jairus is finally on the Pro Bowl Ballot.  Get there and vote as many times as you can for him.  Right now, he's leading the league in INTs at 9, and should grab a couple more in the last 3 games.  It won't make sense if the league leader in INTs doesn't make it to Hawaii.  Some one (other than Brain) needs to make the trip this year.

Here's the link: http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot

Here is a great interview by Jason Cole with Bill Belichick.  I know he's the enemy, but he also does a great job coaching the enemy.   Here's the link:  http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-belichickqa110609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns.

Here's a couple of quotes I thought were great:

"I think to have a really good team in this league, you have to make a lot, a lot of good decisions. You have to have a lot of good people, players, coaches, whatever. You need a lot of those. Conversely, to not be competitive, you would have to have a lot of bad decisions. One bad decision is not going to do it, one bad player is not going to do it, one bad coach is not going to do it."

"Jimmy (Johnson) probably said the same thing to you that he once said to me: “You’re really only competing with about 10 teams a year. If you just say out of the way, the other 20 teams will screw it up themselves. Whether it’s ownership or personnel or coaching or some combination of factors.”

It almost feels like he could be talking directly about Buffalo in the interview (or Oakland, Kansas City, St. Louis, etc).

This is Buffalo Bills free safety Jairus Byrd's third week as a nominee for NFL Rookie of the Week.  Go to this link to vote for him and give us something positive in this otherwise lame, post-loss bye week.  Here's his write up:

Byrd recorded five tackles and two interceptions in the Bills' 31-10 loss to the Houston Texans. Byrd is the first rookie and second player since 1960 to have three consecutive multi-pick games and now leads the NFL with seven interceptions.

He's up against Brian Cushing, Percy Harvin, Lardarius Webb, and Sherrod Martin.  Vote now, Bills fans!

TexansForever was kind enough to post a similar page on BuffaloRumblings so I thought I'd do the same.  I know the main guys will put their stuff up soon, but I thought I'd start this to start the fun early.

This weeks game should be a good one.  Right now the forcast is 30% chance of rain and low fifty's.  Shouldn't slow things down too much.  It looks like the Texans' offense has been moving right along.  Shaub is my fantasy QB, and he's been lighting it up for me.  Buffalo, even though they've been steamrolled on the ground, has managed to keep offenses in check and points off the board.  With the emergance of Jarus Byrd as a ball hawk at FS, teams will have to account for him in the passing game.  I like this weeks match up, and like I said, it should be good.

Any questions allowed, any Bills fan trolling this weeks competition's site can feel free to answer.

Last year at this time Buffalo was 4-1.  Trent suffered his first concussion in a miserable loss to Arizona.  Aside from that game, things were looking bright.  Dick had an 87% fan approval rating on ESPN.com.  The offense was clicking.  Trent was beginning to look like the QB we've been missing for the last 10 years.  Visions of late January football games at the Ralph danced in our heads.

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