Utah John

The most important injury is Nsekhe. The Bills backup O line players are quite a bit inferior to the six guys who usually play. If Nsekhe and one other guy can't go, that's trouble. The Bills CBs other than White are all pretty good but not great. They got into a bind against the Jets because they had so many DBs not ready to play. I think they'll be fine against the Texans, with the main difference our safeties and our D coordinator, not the CBs.

Since the first Pats game, where he sucked, Josh Allen has been very consistent. Not brilliant or dominant, but effective, in all the games except the final Jets game which doesn't count. Watson has been wildly inconsistent. I have a theory why, but there's no question that when he's on his game, he's better than this year's Josh Allen. When he's not playing well, he isn't effective. My theory is that the Texans' coaches aren't as good at figuring the opposing defense's strengths and weaknesses, so they don't find the best way to put Watson into the best position to win. Anyway, the Bills did better than anyone else in containing Lamar Jackson, so they should be OK dealing with a really good player who's not quite as good as Jackson. So for this game, against this Bills defense, I think Watson will not be the dominant guy he has been on occasion. For this game, I would taken Allen.

I try not to worry about the things in my life that I can't control. For the Bills, what they can control is reviewing the tendencies of each of these officials to see if they're more or less likely to call certain types of judgement call penalties, and keeping that in mind while they play. Should DBs be more or less physical, challenging WRs down the field? How egregious does holding by the O line have to be to get called (there are many instances of holding calls being missed or ignored, against all teams). How protective of QBs are they, wrt roughing the passer?

So Daboll hasn't been a great O coordinator but he's the guy Josh Allen knows, and seems to respond to. A lot of young QBs struggle after a change in HC or OC. I would hate to see Allen's development interrupted by a change to someone else, even if that someone else is a better play caller. The guy I'd really hate to see leave is Frazier. As DC he's exactly on the same page as McD, and the results are brilliant.

IMHO, he was the real GOAT. People compared him in his last year or two to the Brady of those years, and of course Brady was better. But when Manning was cruising he was incredible. The best passer I've ever seen, very smart, very tough.

No single person can fix problems alone. With the wrong coach in Buffalo, Beane's moves wouldn't look so good. If a couple of the FAs Beane brought in had simply been injured, which can happen to anyone, he wouldn't look so good. We're fortunate for the success the team has had and the foundation for the future that's been laid. That's all you can ask for, and Beane has delivered. I get the argument from SF, which was a truly bad team only a couple of seasons ago. They were fortunate and smart enough to get Jimmy G from the Patriots, which is probably something Belichick would never have done with Buffalo. They got Brady-level lucky with their drafting of Kittle, who is amazing. The thing is, let's see how Buffalo and SF fare going into the future. The Bills will lose some veteran leadership in the offseason and will rely on other players to step forward. I think the people to do that are in place so I'm very optimistic.

If the Bills had drafted Mahomes, he would have struggled. It wasn't the curse, it was the lack of skill players and a crappy O line and a culture of losing. He has excelled in KC partly because of his enormous talent but also because he had the right coach, a great collection of offensive talent, and a rookie year where he could just watch and learn. A perfect situation for him to blossom. He wouldn't have had that in Buffalo.

The Bills have been stressing continuity since McD took over. The last thing he wants is to take a machine that's working pretty well and start swapping parts in and out. What he wants to do is get his starters tuned up so they play better and better, week upon week. This isn't like the final preseason game where all teams keep their starters out. That's done in the preseason partly to avoid injury and partly to give marginal players a chance to show their team or other teams they have something the teams want. In this case the team just needs to keep following its routine and carry that approach forward to the playoffs.

The amazing thing is that the Bills stayed as good as they did for so long. They had a very good team in 1988, going 12-4, winning the AFC East and losing in the AFC championship game. They won the AFC East again in 1989. They went to the SB in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993. Six years in a row making the playoffs and really dominating the AFC, and also the NFC East during the regular season. Really the only team that's been able to surpass that level of sustained dominance is the Patriots. They probably could have kept it going longer. They didn't draft all that well in the early 90s, they had the Polian spat with Wilson's daughter, there was Plan B free agency, then Ralph fired John Butler, and the salary cap and inability to keep all the stars. Kelly finally retired, and we had the Flutie/Johnson drama. Somehow they kept it together pretty well through the end of the decade, but they were definitely trending downward.

Part of me wants to believe the Bills didn't go all out from a formation or play calling perspective. Winning the AFCE was going to take Miami beating the Pats next week, which was never likely. So if the Bils did have some offensive or defensive wrinkles ready, they kept them under wraps until playoffs start. But no scheme or formation calls for defenders to miss tackles, or for Allen to overthrow Knox over and over. That's all on the players.

It sure looked to me that Watt missed the ball, either completely or nearly so, but Allen went down exactly like you'd expect a man to do when punched in the balls.

If you step through the video with as much resolution as you can get, you'll see there is no point at which Phillips is in the neutral zone before the ball is snapped. You know the other teams when they see this film won't care about the officiating BS. They're football people who will see what Phillips did on this play, and they'll be impressed.

So the Steelers have 5 and there's all this talk about Tomlin earning coach of the year. Hmmm. Look at what McDermott has done, with hardly anyone the league considers a star. The Bills are tight, cohesive, disciplined (except for all those penalties...). They reflect their coach. The only competition for McDermott I can see are the coaches of SF and GB.

A few years ago we had a CB who couldn't tackle. Good cover guy, but never wrapped up. We let him walk in FA. Stephon Gilmore is doing OK now. Geez Louise, imagine having Gilmore still here and adding White on the other side. Whoo.

I moved away from WNY in 1976 but still consider it home, although I've lived overseas and in seven other states since then (military, government jobs). In all my travels I have met exactly ONE person who had been a Bills fan who switched loyalties to another team. He told me he became a Giants fan after the SB losses. I was shocked. There is something about being from WNY and/or being a Bills fan (almost redundant, there) that sticks. To suggest a Bills Mafia member would switch to the other side would be like a real Mafia member turning state's evidence. If I did that I think I'd have to go into witness protection. Fan since 1963, when my uncle, aunt, and cousins moved from Buffalo to Boston and the rivalry began. Well if my dog pees on the bush long enough, it will die. I know from experience.

After ROR's final season in Buffalo, he was interviewed at a point where he was sad and frustrated with the lack of progress on the team. He spoke from the heart, and it was interpreted by some as saying he was sick of Buffalo instead of what he meant, which was he was sick of losing. But after that he had to go, unfortunately. The Sabres with ROR today would be vastly better than the Sabres with whatever we got in return. He was a special player. As far as Eichel and ROR getting along, I never heard anything but it's possible, with two strong players both thinking they should be leading the team. The Sabres made co-captains work with Drury and Briere back when they were really good, and I don't see why it couldn't work again with the right players.

Although the Dolphins lost today, they're still playing hard, and they have a good defense. It is absolutely not impossible that Miami beats NE in week 17. The Bills have a slim but real chance to win the division. Plus, telling these guys to lose would probably get you beat up. They are close and tight and don't think anyone is really better than they are.

Manning held on for one last SB and he got it, but he was a shell of his former self. Younger fans compared the end of the road Manning to the Brady of that same year, and of course Brady was better -- THAT YEAR. Manning was an amazing QB, as a passer, a leader, a tough player. To me, there's never been a better QB. Brees second? Maaaaayyyybe. I think Montana was better than Brees. Hard to compare, different eras.

I can't imagine the Pats losing to the Bengals, but I can easily imagine Miami giving them a tough game and even winning. I give the Dolphins a lot of credit for this year, getting better and better after shedding their best players. That light in the rear view mirror is from Miami, certainly not from New Jersey. The Bills are going to have to continue improving in order to keep beating Miami. So I don't know -- if NE beats Cinci and loses to the Bills and Dolphins, and the Bills win out, the Pats and Bills will both be 11-5. Who wins the division, and who goes to #5? I don't have an answer to that.

Well, if we can't beat the Jets at home ...

The O line was overwhelmed. I think Cody Ford is really struggling at RT and the rest of the players are trying to compensate. There have to be some hot reads available for the times when other teams bring pressure. The hot read can't be Josh Allen evading three guys and throwing it away while running for his life.

You are all forgetting the rule. One game at a time. Everyone is assuming we'll beat the Steelers but come on. How many times has Pittsburgh been the undoing of the Bills? The worst time of course was 2004 when the Bledsoe Bills just had to beat the Steelers backups in a home game for the Bills to break the drought and get into the playoffs. And the Bills lost, 29-24. If something like that happens next weekend, (1) I'll be very surprised that this year's team let down like that, and (2) it will be a very bitter pill. Pittsburgh will have the edge on us for the playoffs, and we might have to beat both the Pats and Jets to get in.

It seems that every week Daboll introduces something new, which is also helping. It's going to take the best offensive game all year to stay close to the Ravens.

It will be a shame if it's not Romo doing color for the Bills game. He's my favorite announcer when the Cowboys aren't playing. I thought he was going to expire from despair on Thanksgiving.

Ravens 34-21. The Bills haven't been consistent for more than a couple of games at a time. The Ravens have figured everything out. The two wild cards are the weather, and Frazier. We definitely have a chance.