BRH

The Dog-Ass Jets fans must be having conniptions right about now!

The worm turned in the first Miami game sometime early in the fourth quarter. I was sitting in the tunnel end zone watching the Bills drive to the other end. Somewhere around midfield, Drew dropped back and Zach Thomas (I think) came on a delayed blitz. Drew sidestepped him, Thomas went careening down the field, and Drew stepped back into the pocket and rifled a pass for the first down. It happened so fast that my buddy and I looked at each other and said "Did you see that? Did that really happen?" It was the first time in ages I'd seen Drew display any kind of pocket presence. Since then he's just gotten better and better. Yes, the line play has improved. Yes, Willis is a better blocker than Travis. Yes, Evans gives Drew another target so he doesn't have to lock on to Moulds. But Drew has DEFINITELY improved by his ownself, and I trace it all right back to that play. Does anyone else remember the play I'm talking about?

Ralonzo = the little kid in "The Emperor Had No Clothes." Seriously, I thought it was funny in a ha-ha kind of way when I saw it, but I never really understood why it was so legendary either. I just didn't want to be the first one to say it. That said... I still think we need MORE COWBELL!

Um... they're both horses.

As far as I can remember, the only two Bills' home playoff games that were ever blacked out were the Comeback Game against the Oilers and the one against Jacksonville. The Oiler game was somewhat understandable. We'd just gotten punked the week before by that same Oiler team and were heading into the game without Kelly and Biscuit. Add to that the fact we knew that a win would send us to Pittsburgh where we always got our ass handed to us. Plus we were coming off four seasons in which we'd gone to the AFC championship game three times without ever having to play a wildcard game, which the Oiler game was. The Jacksonville game was also a wildcard game. We'd barely snuck into the playoffs after beating Kansas City in a winner-take-all match in the season's final game, after losing our previous three. I can tell you with pretty decent certainty that even though both games were blacked out, there were at least 70,000 people in the stands. That's enough to sell out many stadiums, including Jacksonville's. Hell, these days now that the Ralph has a smaller capacity by about 8,000, both of those games probably would have sold out after a corporate sponsor (or Ralph himself) bought the last couple thousand tickets. We had eight other home playoff games between 1989 and 1996. All sold out, including the divisional game against the Raiders following the 1993 season when it was 30 below. Bob's right. Jacksonville doesn't have anything to be complacent about. They didn't even come close to filling that place in their biggest game of the season, coming off a huge win at Green Bay, and it's disgraceful.

Hart Lee Dykes.

Eugene Robinson. (And I better get a creative response!)

You know, cowbell might not have any bearing on a team's fortunes (he said, sotto voce), but the 12th man sure as hell does. I'm sure the Jags looked up in the stands and said WTF. It HAD to be messing with their minds. Not that I'm complaining!

Merely another opportunity for payback, my good man.

I heard today on the radio that although the Alltell Stadium crowd was announced at 60,000 or whatever, there were maybe 35-40K in the stands. If that's true and the Jagwad fans only filled 2/3 of their house for a game with MAJOR playoff implications, they should be friggin ashamed of themselves.

The Jacksonville game would be at the Ralph. Man are we going to !@#$ them up good.

I am, at least right now. As the third-place AFC East team, we will play the third-place AFC South team (Houston) at home and the third-place AFC North team (Cincy) on the road. NFL Scheduling Rotation. Of course, when we win next week and the Dog-Ass Jets lose, the Dog-Ass Jets will assume those scheduling obligations and we will get Jacksonville at home and Baltimore on the road. Hm that's a price to pay, but a small one considering the immediate rewards. And payback's gonna be a B word.

Am I correct in concluding that we will get Houston at home and Cincinnati on the road as well? Damn two more west coast swings too. On the plus side it looks like we're getting the tougher overall slate at our house (Denver, KC, Atlanta, Carolina) instead of on the road (Oakland, SD, New Orleans, TB).

I believe the new tradition is to have the Super Bowl champion host the Thursday night opener. Therefore the game will be at RWS.

Given our prime time record of late, I would think you would prefer driving to a sports bar to watch the Bills win over sitting at home and watching them crap the bed. I don't want any more road night games. Bad things.

That was the first thing I thought of when I heard RW died of sleep apnea. Of course, whether or not Bruce has it, if you believe that's why he was passed out in the middle of an intersection, then there's probably not much you wouldn't believe.

Without the stickum? Okay, okay. Freddie was awesome and I'd be the last guy to denigrate him. But you've got to admit the stickum helped.

Just to answer on the merits (for a change), the reason we got all over TH for his fumbling was that he put the ball on the ground something like nine times in 2002 and we lost six of them, if I recall. He did better last year but damn he was a fumble machine in 2002. WM isn't even close to that.

Good idea! I move we sacrifice TBD posters who don't have cowbell. Just to appease the Gridiron Gods, you understand. You volunteering?

The good thing is now that they've clinched home field, they'll be more likely to sell their tickets. Hence a better chance that I will be in attendance on Sunday, and for not as much money as previously feared. By the way, if anyone is selling, PM me. I'll check the trading post as well.

It's a nice round number. Zero.

The possible scenarios, btw... With the Bills and Dog-Ass Jets as 5 and 6 seeds: 1. Bills beat SD at the Murph and Dog-Ass Jets beat Indy = Bills play at NE and Dog-Ass Jets go to Pittsburgh 2. Bills beat SD at the Murph and Dog-Ass Jets lose to Indy = Bills play at Pittsburgh and Indy plays at NE With the Broncos and Bills as 5 and 6 seeds: Bills play Indy at the Dome. Whether or not Denver beats SD at the Murph, the Bills (as the lowest seed) play at Pittsburgh the following week. All of the above, of course, assumes that Buffalo wins its first-round game whether at SD or Indy. If they don't, I don't give a stevestojan what happens after that.

No wildcard game in Buffalo. The only way we get a home game is if the Jets beat Indy and Pittsburgh in their houses, and we beat SD and New England at the Murph and the Razor. Then we host the Jets in the AFC championship game.

Oh. Right. Now back for that second cup of coffee...

I'm going on that and cowbell.