Utah John

Oh, so THAT'S what our D line is supposed to look like.

Lucky on the TD. Josh had the ball on his chest and it could have been knocked away before he crossed. But, YES a great drive.

Good timeout. Want a TD on the first drive.

DPI!!

My favorite Bill name is Preston Ridlehuber, who was on the team in 1969 and made some plays that helped the sad-sack Bills get a win. The previous year he was on the Raiders and made key plays for the Raiders win in the Heidi game. If you remember this guy, you're pretty old too.

Storm Duck is a new recipe in the latest version of Joy of Cooking.

Everything is relative. For me the Bills are #1 and the Lions are something like #52. The fact that there's no #2 through #51 means that yeah, they're next on my list, but the enormous difference in my passion level is reflected by the huge difference in ranking. I don't really have a list at the bottom so much as a cesspool, with the Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, Cowboys, and Raiders all tossed in, with some of them bobbing up a little more from year to year. The Chiefs aren't in that pool since I admire Andy Reid so much.

Except for the Vikings game, where the fumble between Morse and Allen made the loss possible (but not inevitable), all those losses came about because the defense let us down. (And in the Vikings game the fourth and a mile completion to Jefferson happened only because our DB tried for an interception instead of just knocking the pass down.) Josh is the issue only in the sense that if he wasn't so excellent we wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place -- we would have lost by a mile instead of making it close. I can find it in my heart to forgive him, how about you? The other point to make is that we have one regular season abomination per year, and we hope we've already seen this year's.

The only reason I can't agree with you is that there have been so many games that seemed to have the worst officiating ever. There is absolutely a problem with surprising bad calls, and with the rising amount of gambling there will be more and more people wondering if the fix is in. I'm not going to read through all the pages of comments, so I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I saw one play where the Rams O lineman had his arm around Von Miller's neck as Miller tried to get to Stafford. The ref was looking right at him, but Stafford completed a pass for a big play, so the flag stayed in his pocket. Yeah, Brady and Steratore both agreed. bull####. The tug slowed down Cooper when he was on a direct path to where the ball came down.

The Bills have a reserve safety named Lewis Cine. He was activated for the Rams game but I don't know if he got onto the field. Cine was drafted in the first round by the Vikings in 2022. He had a really bad injury. The Vikings released him this past summer and the Bills picked him up. The point being, all teams miss from time to time. College skills don't always translate to NFL skills. At least the team that drafted Elam sees enough in him to keep him around. Elam knows the system and has been a good backup when called upon.

The Bills are structured and operated as a long-term enterprise. They develop young players and when their rookie contracts expire, they let many of them walk away to get more dollars elsewhere than they're worth. Their personnel budgets are balanced, with only Allen and Miller getting the really big dollars. The other AFCE teams don't seem to have a clue about building and maintaining a strong balanced team. From this perspective there's no reason the Bills can't keep it going for at least two or three years, possibly longer. But things do change. Many of the Bills core players will reach the end of their rookie deals and will go elsewhere for more money than the Bills can pay. Draft picks might not pan out, leaving gaps in the structure. Other teams could get lucky. Maybe Maye turns out to be really good. Maybe the Jets draft a good QB and help that guy develop properly. Maybe Miami gets out from under two expensive contracts for WR, and uses more money at other positions. Enjoy this season. You really never know what the future holds.

OK, fair point, some safeties need time to learn. But you can't learn speed. Hamlin can't cover ground as fast as is needed sometimes.

Kudos to Beane and McDermott for adding the right players and getting them working together. Rapp, Douglas, and Benford -- all much better than we had any right to expect. But then again, you could say the same thing about Poyer and Hyde, neither of whom shone very brightly on previous teams but who became absolute stars here. Not all wins, of course. There sits Elam, a first rounder who can't get on the field. There stands Hamlin, who is just as prone to being a step too slow and a yard too far out of position, as he always was. I was a big proponent of drafting Bishop, going back to last January or February, and I'm disappointed he hasn't dislodged Hamlin yet. Not sure what the problem is. He missed a lot of playing time in training camp with an injury, but come on.

There was a discussion about Josh Allen's maybe-fake slide against the Steelers, on GMFB. One of the talking heads pointed out that an actual fake slide gets you a five yard penalty from the point of the foul. I don't see this as a big problem. What does happen is that the refs seem to mark the ball quite far back, even farther back than where the slide actually starts. A few weeks ago a QB was running laterally along a yard marker, and slid. The only question should have been, how far from the sideline should the ball be placed. But the refs took their 2 yard sliding tax and moved the ball back from the yard marker.

Breece Hall's rookie contract runs out at the end of next season. And he's seriously pissed at being stuck on a dysfunctional team. (He's also two years younger than Cook or Davis, FWIW.) Some team, probably not the Bills, will grab him as a FA if the Jets don't seriously overpay him to stick around. If he leaves, is Braelon Allen the man to replace Hall? It doesn't look like it so far.

Davis and Cook are almost exactly the same age. Cook is about six weeks older. No telling which one wears out faster. (And Ty Johnson is two years older.) All three have good years, potentially, before age catches up.

The new stadium won't open until 2026. So I think we'll have to settle for the Lombardi party at Rich/Ralph/New Something Or Other.

You know they almost beat the Chiefs a couple of weeks ago...

No no no. Poyer is done. It's a shame but age gets everyone eventually.

23 I assume

This is grim. Maybe bring one of the safeties in closer. I don't see any threat from Purdy throwing deep. I hope there's nothing that will keep McCaffery from playing ... next week.

I always wonder about the broadcast delay. I'm watching NBC from Memphis. Are you watching from Buffalo?

Were you just guessing about the TD or did you see it happen? On the NBC broadcast the score came after your post.

Josh is holding his left hand like it's injured again.

Uncalled DPI on the second down pass attempt to Shakir. Ty Johnson might be the most effective rusher for the Bills tonight. Cook doesn't seem able to get traction.