Utah John

1. Allen wasn't right all game. His footwork this season has been fine, but not against the Titans. He wasn't balanced, he was throwing flat footed a lot, he was throwing off his back foot, he sailed a couple of passes to open receivers. He even threw an honest to God interception, his first of the year, when he failed to see the defender. I don't have any idea what caused his problems this week, but I hope his coaching entourage can figure it out and straighten it out. 2. I hope this game was this year's Philadelphia game. The Bills put up a stinker against Philly last year, for no apparent reason. Then they got it figured out. 3. The Bills have been a tightly knit bunch all season, in love with each other. In this game they played like they'd been jilted. I know we won't ever hear the true story, but I suspect that White and maybe Brown just didn't want to play against the covid team, and so they bailed on their teammates. We won't know whether that's true or not, but the other players do, and they looked a lot like guys who suddenly are questioning the family values that they've built up. 4. Where again are the team leaders? Who is it who steps in and gets his teammates fired up, or reads the the riot act when they're not producing? Especially on D, there doesn't seem to be anyone. Edmunds might be playing hurt, and credit to him if he's doing that, but he's also playing badly. It seems like Hyde and Poyer are tight with each other but not the rest of the D. 5. Paging Ed Oliver. Phone call for Mr. Oliver. Has anyone seen Ed Oliver? 6. Not that it mattered, but Tannehill was WAY past the the line of scrimmage when he threw that late TD pass. Being a glutton for punishment, I rewound to the actual play, and it is as clear as day that Tannehill was well past. I don't know why all the replays omitted the line on the field showing where the line of scrimmage was.

I'm pretty sure it was on NBC. Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann were the color announcers, and Mike Patrick did the play by play.

I'm sorry, I realize I might have to turn in my 57 year old Bills fan card for saying this, but that was a legal play. The ball did not go forward. I caught the replay of that playoff game (the one where Wilson had Phillips play Rob Johnson instead of Doug Flutie) a few nights ago. Not only was it a legal play, but the Bills were to blame. The three Bills on the far right of the kickoff defense team all left their lanes and collapsed to the middle of the field when the ball went there. None of them stayed home where they could have easily disrupted the pass across the field and saved the day. I told a friend before that game that whichever team won would be going to the SB. I was right. Unfortunately it wasn't us. That game was a tremendous defensive battle. The Bills had a great defense. AND they had Moulds and Price, keeping Andre Reed on the bench. AND they had Antowain Smith keeping Thurman Thomas on the bench, until Thomas did play and then got hurt. They had a huge offensive line. And that defense...maybe the best the Bills ever had. The talent was all there. If the Bills had done their job on that play, and if Wilson had stayed out of the QB decision, the Bills would have won, and would have gone to the SB, and I think they would have won that game with that defense.

On the Jets, he has to choose between the lesser of two evils, not make a decision about what's actually better.

The Dolphins are going to be very, very good. The AFCE in a year or two will be a two-team race, Buffalo and Miami.

I actually think Darnold could be a good NFL QB, but obviously he needs a new situation.. Option A for the Jets is to trade Darnold, draft Lawrence, rinse and repeat. With no talent around Lawrence, just like around Darnold -- what was that definition of insanity again?? Option B is to trade the first overall pick to a team that needs a new QB and has a boatload of draft picks or good players to give in exchange, then rebuild the core of the team.

This really comes down to particulars. The Bills have quite a few players listed as questionable. Maybe the extra rest before the Titans game will let some of them return to play. It's unknowable who might get hurt vs Tennessee so from this standpoint this looks good. Not to mention that the Titans have a lot more players unavailable because they're still quarantined. You've still gotta play the game. Go Bills!

My wife broke her ankle in March. A much simpler break than Dak had. She is back to walking but apparently it takes a year before you get fully back to normal. I hope he has a full and successful recovery, but this will be very hard to come back completely from.

I think the danger is more related to injuries to a few key players, than to the team losing its focus. Unraveling is unlikely. Getting crippled by injury or covid is always a possibility.

The argument in favor of the Bills rests on the faulty assumption that their defense is as good as it was the past couple of years. For some reason (no Star?) it just isn't as good this year. I think the improvement in the Bills offense is much greater than the problems in their defense, so overall they're a much better team, but in order to take down the Chiefs, the Bills will need to slow down Mahomes, and only Belichick seems to be able to do that.

In the writeup about Conklin, there's a mention of Wyatt Teller, whom the Bills drafted and then traded to Cleveland. At that time it looked like Teller was promising but not able to move up the depth chart in Buffalo. He's transformed himself and is now playing at a very high level. Too bad he didn't get that motivated while with the Bills. I'm happy for him. He seemed like a good guy and he has worked hard. I just wish it was in Buffalo.

It seems certain there will be more covid issues in the weeks ahead, and the league will be adjusting schedules for more teams. The Bills have a big adjustment to make, but so do some other teams. I just don't believe right now that the Titans have this under control. This is a highly contagious disease, and a football team practicing together is bound to spread this from one man to another. Once it's in, it's in. And it seems to me the Bills are at risk of the same thing happening to them. Tre White was very close to not playing this season at all, to protect his family. Suddenly he has a back injury and can't practice. Is he just trying to stay healthy to protect his family? Personally, I wouldn't blame him. I think ALL the Titans games should be cancelled until they have a completely clean testing list for at least a full week. They could infect one team after another, wiping out half the league.

The NFL needs to protect the Bills players, and all the other players in the league. Cancel the game. Give the Titans an L. The Bills will just have 15 games on their schedule. Done.

I agree about the offending team not getting paid. The question was whether the Bills players would be paid.

Let's look further up the money stream. Do the TV contracts call for a reduction in money to the NFL from the networks? I can see why they would do so -- lost ad revenue for the network -- but if the league (and the teams) isn't going to lose any TV money, they should pay the players.

Who knows how many Titans are infectious (can spread the virus to others)? Why threaten the health of the Bills players, the staff, their families, and the WNY community? They should NOT play the game. How the league handles the W/L aspect is an open question. I think the Titans getting the L and the Bills having a bye is the best bet. It's very likely the same situation will be coming up all through the season with other teams. This seems like a proper precedent -- if your team gets sick and you broke the rules, you get an L -- if you did everything right and your team still gets sick, you just get a bye -- and the game is cancelled.

Considering they're the Jets, they would probably send us a couple of players too.

Gase is terrible -- we all saw it when he was the HC in Miami. The fact that the Jets hired him is one illustration out of many of how bad the Jets front office is. Replacing Gase and the other coaches won't solve the problems the Jets have. They need a much stronger and more capable front office. They have a lot of high draft picks coming up and could work that advantage to build the roster, but their team is so full of holes they're likely just to play whack-a-mole, solving one problem while another pops up, and watching their few good players continue to demand trades or just leave in free agency. How do I know that? I've been a Bills fan for almost 60 years, and I know once a team gets into that hole it's really hard to get out. The Chiefs-Pats game showed ex-Bill Gilmore (one first rounder) covering ex-Bill Sammy Watkins (two first rounders and change). That should tell you what you need to know about what could happen with the Jets in the next few years.

The interception that counted was a bad call, completely, but Allen has had a few shouldabeenpicks throws that the defender just didn't squeeze. Also Diggs has made some contested catches where the DB actually had position on him and should have had a shot at an INT. It's not like Allen has been mistake free, it's partly that he's been lucky. Allen has been riding high all season, and I hope that continues, but odds are he'll have a bad game sooner or later. Everyone does. The question will be, what happens after that?

This is a big game for postseason seeding. The Titans have been squeaking by, but the Bills haven't completely dominated any opponent either. The best indicator is that the Bills beat the Rams and Raiders, two teams that are much better than any the Titans have beaten. So if the Bills win, the Titans fans will grouse that the players out with covid could have made the difference. Well, grouse away, guys. One team gets its first loss of the year, and I don't think this year's Bills will fall into the trap of taking a team lightly.

The stated reason for trading Hopkins was that he knew they couldn't afford both Hopkins and Watson and Watt. It's a lot harder to find a really good QB, so if you have to choose one or the other, he chose the right option. BUT it isn't that simple. The best WR in the league >> an aging, often injured edge rusher. They should have kept Hopkins and traded Watt (maybe to Buffalo).

Oh, come on. A year or two years ago, when the D was playing lights out, the concern was that Frazier was the coordinator we'd lose. Suddenly that talk has gone away. This year the offense is playing lights out. Daboll is the same guy, creative and smart, but now he has the weapons to succeed. A year or two years ago, most of the people here were trashing him and asking for him to be replaced. Personally, I hope we keep both coordinators around for a few more years at least. Frazier should be able to figure out how to fix the D -- he'll get a lot smarter when he gets Star back to clog the middle, and when the NFL goes back to enforcing holding penalties on the O line. Daboll is a good guy and I hope he gets his chance to move up, in a few years. Put him in as HC with a crummy team and he'll be lost in the churn, struggling to overcome the poor personnel at the new place, having a miserable time, getting fired after three years, and never getting another job as good as he has now. There are too many examples of this to count. It would be much better for him to replace a retiring, successful coach with a team with good offensive talent and a strong D coordinator already in place, even if that takes a couple of years to pan out. Of course, I have my own perspective. I built my own career (now retired) by NEVER jumping at a promotion just because it was available. I always asked myself, do I really want to do the duties of that other job? Is the work interesting, rewarding, and important? If not, screw the extra money. The right job always came along. I hope Daboll does it this way.

The trade is looking great, for both teams actually, since the Vikes drafted their replacement for Diggs too. But things are different now than 30 years ago. Players don't settle for mere millions of dollars when they can get tens of millions of dollars somewhere else. We kept Bennett around for several years, until his age started affecting his play. That's what used to happen all the time. Now players have the right to leave more easily, and they do that when they have a chance to cash in. It will be tough to keep the skill positions on this offense together, once Allen goes onto his second contract. Diggs is the best of that crew and will probably get an offer we can't match, once his current contract is up.

I don't know how KC will keep that team together when they start making payments on Mahomes' HALF A BILLION dollar contract. Allen will get a big raise when his rookie deal runs out, or maybe before, but the Bills seem determined not to let a few crazy contracts disrupt the entire team.

I don't feel sorry for the Jets. That organization deserves to suffer for its incredible ineptitude. Their approach seems to be to take the lazy way out, bringing in high-cost older players as if a few of those guys can make the whole team better, while a cast of JAGs is there to fill out the ranks. The Bills do the opposite -- our FO researches players carefully, understands their character, and brings in good to very good players (but not the best in the league at any position, which would distort the salary cap) to build a strong roster top to bottom. Putting injured players into a game, as the Jets did with Becton and Darnold, is outrageous, and Gase will lose the locker room if he hasn't already. It's clear why Jamal Adams wanted OUT of there ASAP. The guy I feel sorry for is Rosen. Apparently, a good NFL prospect. Goes to the Cardinals with a truly lousy offensive line, and the team is terrible his rookie year. Then before his second year, a new coach comes in who wants Kyler, and Rosen is dumped to the Dolphins, who also had a poor team. He doesn't fit there, and the Dolphins then draft Tua. Rosen's confidence has to be shot. If he's up to it, he could try for a Fitzpatrick career, signing up as a backup somewhere, then hexing the starter so he can come in and look like the solution. Whether Rosen's game is as adaptable as Fitz's is, I have no idea.