Utah John

The best thing about the screen game isn't the plays that worked, it's that all the opponents now need to prepare to stop it. The Seahawks tried to adapt, pulling attention away from the middle of the field. And so Allen had a lot of time to pass, and Cook and Davis had holes at the first and second levels. Quietly, this was a great game by the O line. You rarely hear those guys mentioned unless they screw up, but this game they were being singled out for praise. By the maybe-GOAT.

Yeah, Samuel might go down as one of the worst FA signings Beane has ever made. The Bills seem to work better whenever he's not around.

McD is a great DC and a pretty good HC.

Hope you're right. The Bills seem to have the Dolphins' number, that's for sure. About the Seahawks. They just folded. No professional team should have turned tail like that. They went into garbage mode at the start of the fourth quarter, not even trying for big plays to get a chance to catch up. Instead they padded stats and burned the clock while on offense, moving down the field 8 yards or so at a time, which the Bills were happy to allow. And their D just lost heart. I haven't seen a Bills opponent give up like that since the Bills beat the Pats in a playoff game a few years ago, with Arctic temperatures. Micah Hyde made a brilliant interception to put the knife in, and the Bills scored TDs on every drive to twist the knife. No NFL defense should tolerate failure to that extent. The Seahawks weren't as bad as that today, but it was clear they lost heart when they got three points total after two first and goals inside the three.

Agreed. He had no holes to run through. He showed good skills as a receiver running after the catch, but then again, as you said, the Bills didn't let him get going.

I thought Shakir was getting more separation today than he has before. It seemed the Seahawks had their best corner trying to guard Coleman, and Cooper was getting attention, and Shakir and the two TEs were as wide open as anyone ever gets in the NFL. Today, the machine was working almost as well as it's capable of. A beautiful thing to see.

It will probably be a little tougher next week. Yeah I know the Dolphins just lost to the Cardinals, in Miami. Next week is a frustration game for the Dolphins who would love to derail the Bills' season. As for the defense, great game. Walker is a very good RB but I don't think he's as fast as Mostert and Achane. I haven't been tracking the Dolphins closely so I don't know what shape their O line is in. We will be in great shape next week if St Bernard is on the field. That was my first time watching Walker play. He looks really good, not just for rushing and catching passes but also blocking and a great no-surrender attitude. Not that the Bills need him, but if things had worked out differently so he was on the Bills, we would absolutely love having him on the team.

Josh didn't quite make it to 300 yards today, and we had only one WR get to 100. Not that I'm complaining at all about a game like that. It's just we don't need to exaggerate.

I remember some personal toys being tossed out on the field, too.

The only trade that might make sense for Kupp would involve sending Amari Cooper to the Rams. They would need a top-level receiver to go with Nacua. Cooper could be that guy. I think Kupp is somewhat better than Cooper so some additional asset (5th?) would be needed to go west too. But I still think the salary cap issues make any deal for Kupp impractical. And really unnecessary. Granted Cooper had a quiet day today but wait till next week when the Bills put Shakir, Cooper, and the two TEs up against Miami's weak pass defense. After that I think the chatter about adding another WR will die down.

The reason Kupp will be too pricey (and I agree) is the existing contract he has with the Rams. But Cooper won't be a lot cheaper, not if it's clear to the Bills and to his agents that he became the difference between a good season for the Bills, and a great one.

The info I found online says White signed a 1 year, $10M contract with the Rams after he was released by the Bills. If the Bills or any other team trades for him, they're responsible for the balance of that contract which seems insane. The Rams must be kicking themselves about giving that much to an older player. If the Rams outright release White, he can sign elsewhere for whatever he can negotiate. Maybe the Bills, if he's willing to take the vet minimum.

Wasn't Isabella on the Bills' PS? If so, then how could Pittsburgh sign him to their PS? My understanding is that a team can poach players off another team's PS but must add the player to their 53 man roster. If Isabella was a FA then this move would be OK. Can someone please explain? Anyway, I'm happy for Isabella. Seems like a good guy, very fast, not quite good enough to be a regular NFL WR. About Columbus et all -- This is really important because when he got to North America there were no people living there at all. Completely empty. Just a land without people for people who wanted more land. Similar to current events, no? But just as with 20th century developments, of course what I wrote is not true. There were hundreds of thousands (or millions?) of people of Asiatic descent living in North America when Columbus (or Erickson) arrived, just like there were millions of people of Asiatic descent living in every other corner of Asia, including along the eastern Mediterranean.

I think it was Beane's plan to draft a WR next year, and to hope for the best riding with what we had for this year, thinking this wasn't the best team we were going to have. That wasn't working and the team turned out to be better than he expected, so he made a move to challenge for the SB this year. Drafting another WR next year is a great idea, so the new guy can learn the ropes. Plus I think Cooper will turn out to be a rental we can't afford going forward.

The Bills and Chiefs each added an excellent veteran receiver. The Bills gave up a little more in draft picks to get Amari Cooper, but the Chiefs are stuck with more salary requirement with DeAndre Hopkins. (Tennessee will pay half of Hopkins's salary but the remaining amount is much more than what the Bills are paying Cooper for the rest of the year.) Cooper is very likely a rental unless the Bills and he completely fall in love with how things work out and both sides give a little slack in salary negotiations going forward. If Cooper just wants to chase dollars, I think the Bills will not be able to match. I don't know what KC's plans for Hopkins are. They have Rice and Brown both injured, both good, and both returning next year, so maybe Hopkins is a rental too. So, what's your bottom line on which deal was better? It could be, both teams come out ahead and are happy with the results. But, given the choice, would you have preferred to get Hopkins than Cooper? My thought is the Bills couldn't afford even half of Hopkins salary, so they did the best they could getting Cooper, who's just about as good as Hopkins.

I've been posting for a couple of weeks that I thought Garrett might be available and would be a great fit for the Bills needs. Getting Cooper when the Browns are cleaning house was one thing, and I was thinking an even greater need would be addressed by Garrett. But I was chastised, correctly, that the cost in draft picks would be exorbitant, and not something Beane would countenance. We'd have to throw in Rousseau -- the only DE on the team who regularly does anything -- and probably two firsts, to get Garrett. That's just not gonna happen.

Part of the explanation is the other part of the team: the offense. The Bills offense generally gets better performance in the second half (the Jags game excepted, which was over by halftime and the Bills coasted). So the offense is on the field more in the second half, which by my math means the defense is out there less. Also when the offense gets in gear and takes the lead, the other teams generally stop running so much. Why are they both better in the second half (again, the Jags excepted)? Maybe the Bills are so good they can play vanilla the first half, then the OC and his guys, and the DC and his guys, get together, and start calling more aggressively in the second half. Knowing that only a few teams can match them when they get going. There ARE some teams that can match them, and that should win more than five times out of 10 games with the Bills. That's the nature of a re-set year. As we've been expecting all year, the Bills should stroll to the AFCE again, this time probably getting the 4 seed and a home playoff game, maybe win that, then lose in the next round. A pretty good year all things considered. Next year is when all the pieces should be back in place.

I'm thinking you're right, that it was Douglas and not Rapp.

A few years ago the league made it illegal for little defenders to cut the legs out from under massive O linemen coming downfield. The defender is supposed to take on the lineman, giving up 100 pounds or so. This was done to protect the linemen from injury. Rapp made a brilliant play in a similar situation. He slipped past the Jets lineman and made a tackle. The play was so good because it's so hard for DBs not to get blocked out of the play. I don't think Johnson deserves the fine, but the league is definitely trying to send a message -- DBs, don't even think about it. We NEVER hear about punishment levied against officials. The league handles those matters behind closed doors. There was widespread disgust from sports writers at the way the officials lost control of that game.

Bass missed two kicks. The atrocious miss was actually blocked. Not that that's not at least partially on Bass, who needs to get enough elevation to prevent a block, but it's also on the O line.

Bass has indeed missed some kicks on his own, but some of his misses are actually blocks. That terrible kick against the Jets? It was caused by a Jets player getting a hand on the kick. In some cases, when a kick is blocked, it's the kicker's fault for not getting enough elevation. In other cases the kick would be just fine by the defender makes a good play or the kicker's protection breaks down. It's hard for us fans to know which is which. My criticism of Bass isn't based only on the misses. He also doesn't have the same range as other kickers. Other teams routinely get FGs from 55 yards, which used to be considered heroic, and which seems to be beyond Bass's range. Or maybe McDermott won't take the risk on long FGs because if they're missed the opponent gets great field position. Combine the lack of range with the number of misses that aren't blocks, and yeah I'm thinking the Bills need a new guy.

When was the last time the Bills played with the standing buffalo on the helmets? I think it's been at least a couple of years but I'm not sure.

I'm happy with the Cooper acquisition, but the Browns player I really want is Myles Garrett. The Bills continue to struggle in rushing the QB except against weak O lines when the other team has to pass, and none of the Bills on the roster seem to be able to threaten consistently. Cleveland is going nowhere as long as Watson is their QB, so they might as well not waste more years of Garrett's career and get draft capital for him. The Jets have demonstrated the ability to lose to anyone. The Bills lost road games to two powerful teams, and actually had a decent chance to win the second game. Unless injuries really set in, the Bills should win the AFCE by two or three games.

If we're going after Bubba, why not get Forrest too? He was a great kickoff returner in college -- made All-American if I remember correctly. And stamina for long-distance running...no problem.

Do you remember last year's playoffs when we had NO depth LBs and had to bring back Klein to face Mahoes and Kelce?