All_Pro_Bills

My reason's are a bit more selfish. I'd just like to see the 2 games a year the Bills/Jets play to be highly competitive and meaningful to watch. And the outcome of their late season games more than an exercise in calculating the odds for a better draft spot. If it makes the Patriots season a little harder and eventually eliminates their automatic playoff berth and division title all the better.

And traded a 5th for Bennett to the Eagles. The Patriots are experts at playing the compensatory pick system and roster management in general. Other teams sign their free agents for big money and they replace them with late round pick trades or tender offers to other team's low round picks or former college free agents. The formula gives them extra picks every year. Everybody is an interchangeable part except for Brady and a few core players. It's a cold and soulless management system but it works.

I tend to believe the Patriots will push the boundaries of ethical behavior and NFL rules to get any edge possible but in the end it doesn't seem to matter how you won but rather if you won that counts. McVay lost because his QB was ineffective and tentative while for some incomprehensible reason (and an explanation which didn't make any sense to me) he decided on a strategy to leave his best offensive weapon on the sidelines most of the game. Gurley had a total of 11 touches, 10 rushes and 1 catch. Maybe Belichick played Jedi mind tricks on McVay suggesting "do not play Todd Gurley"?

Time and place for that is the idea. After the game, yes. Before the game, no. Shake hands, say good luck, walk away.

I'd take it a step further but rather than adjust I expect someone labeled a 'genius' would have anticipated what the Patriots would game plan on defense and have been prepared to show some different looks at the beginning of the game to get Belichik guessing. But they played right into his hands and showed him exactly what he planned for during the 2-week break From my perspective, watching the Bills play NE twice a year, nothing the Pats showed was a surprise so I am baffled why McVay had no answers for any of it.

I didn't find the game to be that entertaining but it provided a reminder that defense is still an important phase to the game. The game did answer the question I was interested in and that was whether or not McVay is the offensive genius he's been hyped to be. Right now that looks like a work in progress after his team mustered a total 3 points in the biggest stage in sports. The old defensive genius took him to the woodshed in this one.

Exploiting the compensatory pick rules is worth mentioning along with drafting well and successfully navigating free agency plus getting good players in trades for what has been peanuts. Year after year the Patriots seem to get multiple compensatory picks for losing players to free agency. Teams like the Bills seem to get none. I thought of this when the Bills waived Benjamin prior to season's end. Waiving him sent a message but simply deactivating him on game day and swallowing a couple game checks would have resulted in his contract expiring and the loss of a 1st round type player against the compensation system. Now the Bills get no credit under the system.

The Super Bowl has become one big media event. An opportunity for heavyweight corporate sponsors to entertain some high-worth clients, the networks to jack up advertising rates with companies demonstrating just how clever they and their ad agencies are with commercial spots (probably full of virtue signaling this year), and the league showcasing the latest taxpayer sponsored palace This year MB stadium in Atlanta. The importance of the actual game is diminished. I've missed the big game a few times in recent years but I'm going to watch on Sunday. The main thing I'm interested in is to see if McVay is really the genius that everybody is making him out to be. Can he do something few have done? Which is outsmart and out-plan Belichik.

My point is simple. You get bad calls every week that might cost a team the game. Sometimes they lose, sometimes they find a way to win. The Saints didn't find a way to win. There were three series after the Saints FG in regulation. 2 by the Rams and 1 by the Saints. The Rams came out on top in all 3. In spite of the obvious PI that wasn't called the Saints had the opportunity to win the game but failed on all 3 series on both offense (once) and defense (twice). At the end they just got outplayed.

If they wanted to run clock they could have called running plays and forced the Rams to use their two remaining time outs and run the clock under 1 minute. Their defense could have stopped the Rams in regulation. They didn't. Their HOF QB should not have made a terrible decision to throw up that interception in OT. But he did. Cost them the game? OK, people can think it if they want. I think its an excuse we hear from losers every Monday.

They need to quit whining and get over it. That call did not cost them the game. It was absolutely PI and the ref's blew it but it didn't cost them the game. It wasn't the last play of the game. It was a factor but it did not directly cost them the game. It resulted in a FG and a 3 point lead with 1:40 left. They couldn't stop the Rams from tying the game, it went to OT, they won the coin toss, and Brees showed poor judgment and tossed a pick in OT. The Rams executed a short drive and a long FG won it in OT. Game over..

I understand the uproar and the head coach crying the blues after the game. The play was an obvious PI, even Robey said it was PI. But it didn't directly cost the Saints the game. It wasn't a 4th down throw trailing with little time left. The game was tied and the result was a 4th down FG to take a 3 point lead with 1:40 left. Their defense didn't stop the Rams from tying the game, the Saints won the coin toss, and Brees threw a pick on an ill-advised throw which led to a short Rams drive for the winning OT FG. Officials miss calls and make some bad ones. It happens every week and it happens in every sport at every level. The Saints aren't the first team to lose a game because of a bad call or non-call during the game. I haven't seen a lot of Saints football but I'll wager they've benefited during the season in one way or another from something not being called. It's the importance of the event that magnifies it here. And if we're talking worst official call on a pass play I would cite the Bills/Patriots during the Wade Phillips era when the Bills were called for the only Hail Mary PI in the history of professional football. Next play Patriots score with zero on the clock and win the game. Rule changes followed.

My wife thinks Brady is retiring after this season. She noted that his wife just started doing some fashion gigs again after taking several years off. Could be because the kids are older. Or to replace her husbands football income when he calls it quits before the 2019 season and he becomes a 'stay at home dad'. Perhaps, and we'll soon find out if that theory is on target.

These stats confirm the 'eye test'. When I watch games with teams that have a good offensive line I see linemen down field and on their feet after the play. With the Bills I saw linemen on the ground in the backfield. It would be interesting the see stats, if they are available, how many of those rushing attempts had first contact behind the LOS.

I have to say I've never been to an Oscar's party nor do I have knowledge that anyone i know has held one or attended one. Given my zero interest in Hollywood stars might be the reason.