do you all remember how painful it was to watch us kick field goals every time we were in the red zone or to have huge drives stall for three? This year we’ve gotten into the endzone on those long drives and converted redzone opportunities into TDs. No matter wasting 8 minutes in the third quarter to kick a field goal. Now we waste 8 minutes for seven and when we need to we can score 17 points in half a quarter! Of course, the defense played a significant role in our getting the ball back and they are, no doubt, playing incredibly. But the fact is that getting into the endzone instead of kicking field goals seems to translate into more wins.

i dont know about that one poz. although it is well made point, i have to go with the D on this one. defense wins championchips but first its gotta get ya to the playoffs. it was equally frustrating last year watching games get lost by a defense that could not make a stop(ie. dallas, denver) a point can be made for both, fortunately we are vast improved on both sides of the ball. we’ll have to come back to this question in january.

I don’t want to be in a shoot out with anyone, with San Diego or Denver. Key stops and a strong defense will be all important if we are going to win in the AFC.

on both defense and offense: killing opponent’s drives and keeping your own alive. Last season the Bills ranked near the bottom (if not the bottom) of the NFL on both sides of the ball on 3rd downs. That to me has been the most significant turn around this year and if they keep it up they are playoff bound.

Points per game is a great stat. I feel that is a better barometer to a defense then yards per game. The whole point of defense is to keep the opponent from scoring. 3rd down conversions is great too.
Nice research Arrow.

once cited a statistic that the team that wins the turnover battle wins about 90% of the time. I’ll take that kind of win percentage any time!

So far the Bills have faced week passing offenses. Seattle (#18), the Jaguars (#25) and the Raiders (#32) have all had problems throwing the ball. The Rams (#27) aren’t much better. We won’t know if Buffalo has a decent pass defense until we see them play the Cardinals (#9) and Chargers (#5).

Now, the Bills have done a nice job against some good rushing offenses. The Seahawks (#4), Jags (#13) and Raiders (#3) were each held to less than 100 yards…though it was a close call against the Raiders and fortunate that they lost 2 rushing yards on their last possession. The Bills now face the worst rushing offense in the league (Rams-#32) before facing two teams with mediocre rushing attacks in Arizona (#21) and the Chargers (#24). The Bills should be able to stymie the Rams’ runners with little effort and at least keep the Cardinals under control. A healthy LT might lead to some real headaches against San Diego.

Buffalo’s #23 ranked rushing offense has faced the #9 (Seattle), #17 (Jags) and #13 (Raiders) rush defenses. The #29 (Rams), #14 (Cardinals) and #18 (Chargers) are up next. In theory, the Bills should be able to run all over the Rams as the slightly below average rushing attack will face a dreadful rush defense. Things could get interesting against the Cardinals and Chargers. Those smell like more 100 yard outing (combined) for the Bills’ runners.

In better news, the Bills #11 passing attack has faced #24 (Seattle), #17 (Jags) and #24 (Raiders) and done well enough to secure victories, though not as well as we would have liked in the first two games. Edwards edged near the 300 yards I had predicted for him for the game against the Raiders. (The Bills landed right on my prediction for their score though I predicted 20 for the Raiders.) Edwards should be able to hit that 300 yard mark against the Rams (#30) and Chargers (#31) but will likely have a tougher time against the stingy Cardinals (#11) pass defense.

I, for one, will be disappointed if Buffalo doesn’t dominate the Rams in all three phases of the game. Buffalo is a much better team than St Louis. Last week the team played down to Oakland for much of the game. Good teams put bad teams away early.

Bertrand Berry, their Pro Bowl DE may be out for the Bills game with a tear in his groin (Fox Sports). That should help with pass protection.

chose the offense because the Bills defense does not necessarily have to be ranked in the Top 5 to get us to the playoffs. I really believe if we have a Top 10 offense and a Top 15 D with Jauron’s style of play, the Bills won’t lose many games. If he can get a team to 7-9 ranked 31st and 31st, it’s a no-brainer that the Bills will make the post-season with any kind of significant improvement in those rankings.

But offense gets us to the playoffs. Tough choice, but I gotta side with the O because simply put, the longer Trent and boys stay on the field, the better the defense will be. They will be fresh,and then teams will have to gamble more on the big play to stay in the game. Those are key ingredients when baking a turnover pie.

But, I will reiterate, Defense does indeed win championships

I’ve got to go with defense as being the most important. Not only does defense win championships but top 5 defenses usually generate turnovers at a greater rate than their opponents which leads to short drive starts for the offense and more points for the team.

who picked hoculi and co? do we have a broncos fan amongst the rumblers?