BRH

And it was more than two.

Not sure, but that was definitely the game where Lonnie Johnson got blown up after catching a fourth-down fake punt pass and forgetting that the return man was still in front of him. Still the single funniest play you'll ever see in football, and the perfect encapsulation of Lonnie's career. He looked like Charlie Brown after a liner through the box. I was there and remember the score being 44-10. I also remember Andre catching 15 balls for his career high...and then going home and watching Jerry Rice, as if responding to a challenge, catch 16 that night.

But what about the Buffalo school system?

No, the rule is simply that you can't own a franchise in ANOTHER city that has an NFL team. You can own as many franchises in your OWN city as you want. Easy example: Ralph could never have bought the Red Wings, Tigers or Pistons because Detroit has the Lions. But he could have bought the Sabres any time he wanted. You think of that all by yourself?

He's got two kids. Great, Mike. How about the guy Harrison eventually ends up paralyzing or crippling for life? How many kids does that guy have?

Which he could then use to buy the Bills.

This was probably news to Wayne Huizenga when he owned the Dolphins, Panthers and Marlins. The NFL rule is you can't own an NHL (or NBA or MLB) team in another city that also has an NFL team. Hence, Paul Allen can own the Seahawks in Seattle and the Blazers in Portland (which has no NFL team). But Jeremy Jacobs could not own the Bills and the Bruins, since Boston (sort of) has an NFL team. The NFL doesn't want its owners competing for revenue with each other. I think the bigger issue for Golisano is that he probably can't afford to own both teams, or more precisely, he doesn't want to.

This. It was the first thought I had when I heard about the possible Sabres' sale yesterday. Why no one on WGR has made the same connection is a mystery to me. Wait, no it isn't.

I love having 16 1 pm starts. Means I don't have to go anywhere or do anything for 16 out of 17 Sunday afternoons. Throw a few night games and 4 pm starts in there and I lose my built-in excuse.

I would take Wade back as a DC in a heartbeat. I remember one time when he was here he installed a 4-3 for one game, I forget who it was against, and it worked brilliantly. It might have been out of necessity (injuries) but it spoke to his ability to adjust and teach. He's not my kind of head coach, but he's a brilliant defensive mind.

If a player holds on every play, but is only called for it four times, is it okay because that's more than any other player got called all season? Williams was unblockable yesterday and the Steelers should have had to change their scheme or personnel instead of hoping Kemoeatu would continue to get away with holding on most plays. As for the Polamalu "pick," I thought it was interesting that CBS only gave us that one quick look from the overhead camera. If it had been Byrd or Whitner picking off Roethlisberger, CBS probably would have showed us four angles before cutting to an extended commercial so Tomlin could challenge.

This. Want to reduce head injuries in the NFL? Make them play without helmets, or with those old-time leather jobs. The reason players were taught in the old days to lead their shoulder is because it hurt THEM to lead with their heads as much as it hurt their opponents.

You would think that, except the organization is the sainted Pittsburgh Steelers, who rival Brett Favre in getting passes from the league office.

Almost every team in every sport that made a "miraculous" turnaround from one year to another had the seeds in place the previous year. Look at the '86 to '88 Bills (I don't count '87 because the strike messed everything up)...they were coming off two consecutive 2-14 seasons and went 4-12 in '86, but they hired a new coach that year, had Kelly, Reed, Talley, Tasker, Hull, Smith etc. So you could see it was coming. As a Mets fan I can cite the '83-'84 squad as an example as well. That '83 squad won only 68 games but you could see the talent bubbling up -- Straw, Darling, Backman, etc, with Gooden racing through the farm system... and in '84 they won over 90 games and were good for the next six years. A few weeks ago I would have said there's nothing in the cupboards here to suggest that this team will make a turnaround within a year or two. I'm still not sure there is. But at the very least I can say this team is moving in the right direction. They've cut loose players who were tied to the last few years of futility -- Edwards, Lynch, etc -- and not only benched but deactivated first-rounders like Maybin and McCargo who clearly weren't getting it done at all. I really think that the improved play of the team over the last two weeks is a direct result of that message. I know wins are the bottom line. But wins are a crutch too ("he just wins," etc), and they paper over deficiencies that otherwise would be corrected. I think we are better off right now at 0-7 than we were in any 7-9 year under Jauron.

Back in '95 we happened to be in Kansas City when the Bills were playing a preseason game at Arrowhead. My wife and I went to the game wearing our Bills gear and there were no problems, even though the place was packed (for a preseason game!). The only incident of note occured when a heavyset woman noticed our Bills shirts as we passed by their pregame tailgate, and silently extended her middle finger at us. I did the Norwood mock-tomahawk chop in response. Oh hell, we were at the same game then!

This.

The big takeaway was Spiller's fumble.

Just like you couldn't find that double-secret exception to the crease rule anywhere after No Goal until the NHL magically produced a memo that no one had ever seen.

The only reason Fitz was let go by other organizations is that he's from Harvard. It's the same reason Jay Fiedler bounced all over the league before becoming pretty much the Dolphins' only halfway decent QB since Marino. NFL people generally don't think Ivy Leaguers can play. In most circumstances they're right, but a few of them can. Fitz is one.

Tom Cousineau. Aundray Bruce. Not too many others, I'm sure. Probably for a reason. In fact, Tommy Nobis in 1966 was the only other one.

They won't even review forward progress, huh.

Now I've seen everything.

SACK

Oooooooooooooovertime!