PENALTIES

First, congrats on the MIA win. Even though the Bills offense failed to get into the end zone from scrimmage -- for the second time in three weeks -- and didn't score a point after halftime, it was nice to finally defeat a divisional opponent in prime time on our own turf.

This memorandum concerns penalties: for the second game in a row, the Bills committed a double-digit number of penalties for a triple-digit number of yards. In a word (sort of), this is UN-EFFING-ACCEPTABLE. At one point in the NE game, the Bills offense committed 3 consecutive penalties, including two false starts . . . and of the 148 penalty yards surrendered, 58 were courtesy of one player [Stephon Gilmore] . . .

It wasn't much better against Miami: Bills O and D line players were flagged for presnap penalties {false start/enroachment} 6 times -- HOW IN HELL DO YOU MANAGE THAT AT HOME??

These were the ninth and tenth games of the regular season, so this can't be attributed to preseason kinks or opening game jitters . . . and, with the exception of Gilmore and Brooks, the players getting flagged these two games are vets -- so the excuse of inexperience can't be used, either.

I attribute this to lack of discipline -- and hold you, as head coach, responsible. Perhaps it's time for other measures besides player monetary contributions to the Penalty Jar as punishment (um, you ARE doing that, right?) . . . it may be time to go back to high school/Pop Warner days, and start instituting TEAM running of laps or 8-count body-builders for each penalty -- or, better yet, for each yard in penalties. THAT should get these professional multi-millionaires' heads back in the game -- and will have the added benefit of better conditioning as the season goes on . . .

Additionally, I expect to see only a MAXIMUM of five penalties by the Bills in the next game vs. the Colts . . . you have a full ten days to prepare, so a short week is not an excuse . . . I'll allow for one false start by the O-line and one enroachment by the D-line, seeing as it's a road game in a dome . . . plus, you can always count on the refs to make about 3 BS calls per game -- but that's IT.

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