Official Jet-Phin gameday thread

[boiga]

Yeah, the two games on my local stations this morning were the Jets @ Miami and the Seahawks @ Buffalo.

The Bills definitely seemed the stronger of the two. They wiped the floor with the Seahawks, running all over them, scoring on special teams, sacking Matt over and over again. Sure it didn't help that the hawks' top three receivers were out of the game in the second half, but the Bills dominated.

The Jets struggled to beat the Phins, who seemed as fully qualified to beat themselves as they did last year. The Bills should be considered the favorite to win the division judging by this week's performances.

[Partial]

Who are you and what have you done with rational football fans?!? The Bills? The Buffalo Bills?!? Seriously?!? They have a good receiver and a good returner. Perhaps I'm whack, but I can't name a single player on their D besides the OSU safety drafted 8 who by in large has been average.

[Pugger]

I didn't see the Bills game but I was surprised to see the final score. If you think about it, the Bills just beat down a team that won the NFC West last year. Yes, its only one game but I don't know if I'd write off the Bills just yet...

I watched some of the Jets game. Brett showed some of his flare that we're accustomed to but I wasn't all that impressed with his new team and the Phins are truly awful. Heck, Pennington almost pulled that game out of his azz in the end. The Jets will have to play a lot better as a team if they want to take that division.

[Lurker64]

Who are you and what have you done with rational football fans?!? The Bills? The Buffalo Bills?!? Seriously?!? They have a good receiver and a good returner. Perhaps I'm whack, but I can't name a single player on their D besides the OSU safety drafted 8 who by in large has been average.

If you lived in Buffalo, how many defensive players for the Packers could you name? How many nationally televised games have the Bills been in for the past couple years? Just because you don't know about somebody, doesn't mean they're not good.

Small market teams don't get national coverage. That doesn't mean they're not good and that they don't have great players. Players in Buffalo just tend to be obscure because of the way the media covers sports. We know who the fifth CB on the Cowboys is, but we don't know who the first string CB on the Bills is. The average fan knows who the established good teams are and who the big market teams are, but they don't know who the up and coming teams are, particularly when those teams play in small markets. Buffalo is one of the textbook cases of "young, talented, up-and-coming, yet mysteriously obscure because they play in a small market and weren't in the playoffs last year." In fact, they may be the textbook case of that.

Seriously, dig a little and look into Buffalo. They were pretty good last year, if a couple more of those close games had gone their way, they would have been the last AFC Wildcard. This year they're better than last year. In 2007 they lost to the Broncos by 1 point on a literally last second field goal (the one where Elam ran onto the field since Denver had no time outs), they lost to the Cowboys by a single point (in week 5 when the Cowboys were playing great), they the freaky game in the snow to Cleveland, and still ended up 7-9 despite playing a really tough schedule. This year, they're better and they have an easier schedule. Remember, in 2006 at week 14 they were 7-6 and had an inside shot at the Playoffs.

[boiga]

Who are you and what have you done with rational football fans?!? The Bills? The Buffalo Bills?!? Seriously?!? They have a good receiver and a good returner. Perhaps I'm whack, but I can't name a single player on their D besides the OSU safety drafted 8 who by in large has been average.

Neither could I, which is why I was surprised how much ass they kicked. Here's what Don Banks over at SI says about them :

• That's exactly the formula that I expect Buffalo to ride to victory this season: solid defense, a good running game, its usual standout special teams play and quality quarterback play from second-year veteran Trent Edwards. I'm surprised by the Bills' 34-10 margin of victory over visiting Seattle, but not by the outcome. Dick Jauron's team, especially with Jason Peters back in the fold, isn't going to go away this season. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...gements/1.html

Sure, it's only week one, but the Bills wiped the floor with a team considerably better than the dolphins. Favre's got a lot of work to do if he want's to compete with them for the division title.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Buffalo will have to get good play out of their young QB, but their defense is tough.

DE Schobel - very good pass rusher (had 14 sacks in 2006 and 12 in 2005)
DE Kelsay - solid against the run
DT Stroud - was a stud most of the time in Jacksonville
DT Williams - undersized scraper (also have McCargo)
LB Ellison - could be a good player
LB Posluszny - started off great as a rookie last year before his injury
LB Mitchell - good LB for Giants last year (especially in coverage)
CB McGee - good, young corner
CB Greer - don't know much about him (also drafted McKelvin in 1st round)
S Whitner - solid player
S Simpson - another athletic youngster

[Partial]

I still see the Dick Juaron led squad finishing last in a division of quality coaching and well run teams. Let's not forget we've got three Parcell's disciples running the teams. That says a lot to me.

Lee Evans is one of my favorite badgers ever so I hope his team does alright, but I simply cannot see them hanging with the big boys just yet.

I think the Jets are a pretty good team both offensively and defensively. I think Parcells has improved the Phins very quickly. They looked pretty competitive and scrappy today.

[Tarlam!]

Na. Even though there are those of us that wish Favre was our QB instead, we'll still support Aaron.

This is the type of of post that I adore you for. I wish I was able to make the Gathering this year, but my money ran out.

Big cyber hug for this post, Michele.

[Lurker64]

Lee Evans is one of my favorite badgers ever so I hope his team does alright, but I simply cannot see them hanging with the big boys just yet.

I'm not saying that the Bills can hang with the "big boys", I'm mostly saying that they should be more of a favorite to win the AFC East than the Jets (who are not yet "big boys") are. Head to head, I think the Bills have no trouble with the Jets. We'll have more to go on as the season goes on, but based on week 1 the Jets are playing for a wild card. Still, it's a long season and anything can happen.

But to be honest, with Brady going down, the Chargers getting beat by an average NFC team, the Colts getting beat by a bad NFC team, and the Jags losing to Tennessee (who lost their QB in the process)... I'm not sure who the "big boys" are in the AFC anymore. All of the superbowl favorites suffered a major setback in week 1, even the Cowboys had Barber get hurt.

[mission]

Say what you want about the Fin's "tenacity" today but we're still talking about a team one year removed from one of the worst (if not THE) seasons in NFL history and without -- really -- the only star that team had in Taylor.

I was kinda glad to see Brett do well (without having amazing stats), but the Jets are gonna have to show me a lot more before I start crowning them division champs and all that shit. Some of you guys (no names mentioned, Partial) really get carried away ... it's been awhile since I drank like I lived in Wisconsin tho. Heh.

@ Tarlem! -- really? could you be any cheesier

*sigh* euros :P :P

[Tarlam!]

@ Tarlem! -- really? could you be any cheesier

*sigh* euros :P :P

That's TarlAm! Daughter = Tarah, son = Lambert, halved = Tarlam! The old folk know this, but you being a newb, well, I'll explain it again.

Cheesey? If you ever meet M, you'd know why my heart pounds for her. I won't go into details out of respect, but, Michele is a babe. Professional and a babe. Head screwed on and a babe.

Nuff said.

[mission]

@ Tarlem! -- really? could you be any cheesier

*sigh* euros :P :P

That's TarlAm! Daughter = Tarah, son = Lambert, halved = Tarlam! The old folk know this, but you being a newb, well, I'll explain it again.

Cheesey? If you ever meet M, you'd know why my heart pounds for her. I won't go into details out of respect, but, Michele is a babe. Professional and a babe. Head screwed on and a babe.

Nuff said.

I'm gonna give you a free pass on this one. You say babe as my dad would say babe. So you must be kind of old.

[Zool]

I still see the Dick Juaron led squad finishing last in a division of quality coaching and well run teams. Let's not forget we've got three Parcell's disciples running the teams. That says a lot to me.

Lee Evans is one of my favorite badgers ever so I hope his team does alright, but I simply cannot see them hanging with the big boys just yet.

I think the Jets are a pretty good team both offensively and defensively. I think Parcells has improved the Phins very quickly. They looked pretty competitive and scrappy today.

Well you obviously only watched the 4th quarter then. Pennington had 88 yards through 3 quarters and they werent running the ball at all. The Jets got a lead and let up. Buffalo stomped Seattle. Granted Seattle made the dreaded cross country trip, but it didnt even look like they showed for the game.

[prsnfoto]

Man Favre is awesome, he really make the Jets a very good shot for play-offs and possible super bowl this year.

Are you aware of who else plays in the AFC? He's not even the best QB in his division anymore. No, the Jets really have little shot at a SB this year. They have slightly better chances this year than last, but the other teams in the AFC haven't changed much and there's quite a few still better than the Jets.

HE IS NOW!

[Harlan Huckleby]

CHRIST HAS RISEN!