Utah John

What I remember from the snow game is relief. The Bills should have won easily but nearly handed the Colts the game. A loss there and the season would have been really over, and we'd be talking about a 20 year drought this year.

It's the same for all players and in all positions. Teams hold on to a few of the draft picks from four years ago, the ones they really want to keep. This year it looks like the keepers (past the end of the rookie contracts) will be Allen, Edmunds, and maybe Harrison. How many from the past few drafts will they want to keep? White, Milano, Dawkins...? This dismal drafting performance will be good news in a couple of years when the Bills are able to let most of their subpar players walk, if they can get good offers elsewhere, or stay for low-end veteran contracts. Teams that drafted better than Buffalo will have a much harder time keeping all their players moving off their rookie contracts. The real crunch will start when the accumulated keeper players from several drafts in a row, all get to the new contract point at the same time.

"It doesn't matter who the QB is, if they don't fix the O line." I posted that sometime during the preseason, and it's still true. Tuel wasn't that bad, it's true. He was a lot better than Peterman, but that's a very low bar. Colin Kaepernick, who is probably washed up by now, would be an upgrade over Peterman. Dan Darragh was bad but by the time he took the helm the entire team was terrible. The Bills collapsed in 1968, only two years after losing the championship to KC to play in the first SB. They drafted OJ after the 1968 season, and the Bills were so bad that OJ looked like a bust the first two years. It wasn't until Saban came back and rebuilt the O line and Joe Ferguson came in and they got Rashad that the team turned around. Darragh was part of the problem in those years but he wasn't the whole problem.

If you want a nightmare scenario, for me it's that the Pats do a Colts move, collapse in the right year, and get to draft Andrew Luck right after having Peyton Manning (in my mind, the GOAT). Luck hasn't really panned out, but he's a good franchise QB. If the Pats can draft the replacement for an aging Brady, the juggernaut could come back to life in a couple of years, and last for another decade. Let the Pats win on Sunday and five more times. Let them taste sitting home in January and not getting a top pick as compensation.

What I saw in the Minn-LA game was two outstanding QBs throwing perfect pass after perfect pass, and often beating good coverage by putting the ball exactly where it needed to be. I'll grant you there were also a lot of wide open receivers but even then the QBs hit them in stride most of the time. I would like to see the rules changed to allow defenders to make contact down field, and to do more to disrupt pass receiver routes. And for heaven's sake let defenders sack QBs without penalties. Either that or have the QBs wear flags and call them sacked if the defender can pull the flag off.

I think the Bills struck gold last year with Hyde and Poyer, and there isn't enough money on any team for a third starter-caliber/starter-pay safety. Otherwise I hope the Bills would have pursued Reid. I had forgotten about Da'Norris Searcy, who played four years for the Bills. He was a free agent this spring and settled for backup money at Carolina. Possibly he's lost a step, but the younger Searcy would have been a great pickup as a backup safety for the Bills. I am not sure that's true. I think his age and his skill set limitations are what are really working against him now. OTOH his kneeling has kept him in the public eye after he probably was washed up as a QB. The kneeling will probably provide a longer-term payoff and a social-justice cred he couldn't get if he'd waited to retire before speaking out.

I shudder to think what this guy is going to do if the Bills win the Super Bowl.

I was 12 during the 1968 season and learned some harsh realities of life. As a younger boy, I idolized Cookie and Kemp and Sestak and Shaw and Maguire and Golden Wheels and Byrd and Day and McDole and Jacobs and Stratton and Gogolak and Saban, and their success had me thinking that as a boy from Buffalo, I couldn't be stopped. We beat Boston for the East, and then we beat San Diego for the championship, and life was going to be good. Over the next few years, the team and the city collapsed. Bethlehem Steel left Lackawanna, Trico moved to Mexico, and in 1968 the team became the epitome of suckitude. They couldn't even win the OJ lottery, due to that exciting win over the Jets. But fortunately at the end of the season, Philadelphia totally screwed up and lost out on the top pick (as I recall, getting a tie in their last game, but I can't be sure) and the Bills got OJ while Philly got -- Leroy Keyes, I think. Some guy who was orders of magnitude less a player than Simpson. But in 1968 I realized that relying on a football team for my sense of self and my happiness was stupid. I had to find my own way and my own success. That was a hard lesson for a junior high kid from West Seneca, but it's a lesson everyone has to learn. How sad it must be to be a kid growing up a Patriots fan, who never has to learn that lesson until too late in life.

All those CBs were outstanding, but I think our best CB ever was Butch Byrd.

Brady has looked like he was done every September the past 3 years. Then they win the SB and he's MVP. I don't think Brady's the problem for the Pats right now.

I NEVER root for injuries. Those players are people, with families. I remember the Bills losing to the Fins 20 times in a row. 0 for the 70s. It's hard for me to root for the Fins. Before then it was the Boston Patriots and the Bills who fought it out every year for the chance to play San Diego for the championship. Then later the NE Patriots and their dominance over the Bills, who found creative ways to lose. So I hate them both but if I'm thinking the Bills have a chance for the playoffs, I'll pull for Miami now. If the Bills aren't actually contenders, my biggest fear is that NE does like Indy did after Manning, crashing at the right time and drafting Luck. It would be horrible if the Pats get Brady v2. So this means hoping the Pats win this game and 5 more, and get a mediocre draft spot.

There's no reason to think Allen won't work out as a QB, but he could be a killer TE.

I think all the comments in that article were valid. The Pats D seems big but slow. The Lions RBs were too quick for them, and too fast for them to the outside. And, that rookie LG of the Lions was a beast. Was the LG that good or were the Pats' DTs that bad? Time will tell. Unless Edelman fell apart completely since last season (maybe no PEDs will do that) he'll still be on the same page as Brady, and will still find holes in zones all game long. One more good WR, whoever it is, and the Pats will be back in business. It still all comes down to Brady. Honestly I can't see any drop off in his play. That TD pass last night was perfect, and he still sees the whole field and knows what to do. (Granted he missed one pass high.) Give him some targets and it will be like old times, unfortunately.

Largely because they play in the AFCE, where they routinely get 5 or 6 wins a year.

If the Bills win, enjoy the win and figure your money and karma helped. Your wife won't care but The Force will be with you. And no you can't sleep on my sofa. If the Bills get crushed, you get $5K which buys a lot of solace. But if the Bills lose by less than 17, there is no bright lining to that cloud.

Vikings -- 49 Bills -- 17 35-0 at halftime. All the Bills points come in the second half against their second teamers. One of the Vikings second half TDs is a pick-6.

What I find most upsetting here is that the Bills thought they were upgrading from E.J. Gaines, who's now with the Browns. Gaines was part of a very good defensive backfield, which is now struggling without him. So for Sammy Watkins and a sixth we got one year from E.J. and a second. Considering we wouldn't have Sammy now anyway, that's not a disaster, but I'd be happier with E.J. for several years to make that really work.

It's no surprise Allen is at the point he's at. This is what most people expected, a raw rookie, and he's doing relatively OK. Obviously he needs better O line and WR help. It's the other first rounder, Tremaine Edmunds, who has me a little concerned. Great natural talent but not really catching on. The Bills gave up a lot to move up to draft him, and so far it's not looking so good.

The biggest mystery to me is why the Bills traded McCarron. He was mediocre but competent, and he would have let Allen sit and watch. Peterman is not ever going to work out.

The past few years, the NFL couldn't figure out what a completed pass looked like. Now it's how a QB gets sacked. They're just making things so complicated. The completed pass problem came about because the refs blew a call, I think it was with a Cowboys receiver, and then kept telling the same (wrong) story, digging themselves a deeper and deeper hole. The same thing will happen here. Things will likely improve once the aged and brittle Brady retires.

As the O line goes, so goes McCoy. That's more to the point. He was never a guy who could create his own hole. He doesn't need much but he needs SOMETHING to run through. He's a Porsche, not a Mack truck.

We can't get killed on ESPN. To paraphrase someone in the Game of Thrones, that which is dead cannot die. I love the Bills, and have been fan since I can remember, probably 1963. But this year's team is a disaster. No O line, no #1 or #3 WR, inexperienced D line and no pass rush, and a rookie QB. Next year we get out of salary cap prison, we'll have the draft picks to fill gaps, and both of this year's first rounders will be established and experienced players. I just hope Shady can be Shady for this year and next.

It will be tough for any player identified primarily as a Bill to get in. Two reasons. First, the Bills who have gotten in did so largely because Larry Felser advocated for them and Felser had the respect of the other football writers. Well, that and the fact that they were all great players who deserved selection. But without a repected advocate the chances of getting in drop. The second reason is that the Bills have been so bad for so long, that a lot of younger people don't remember how good they used to be. If Felser were still around, Kent Hull would have a chance. Probably not now, even though he deserves it. Felser got Billy Shaw selected, a well deserved honor but also a minor miracle. And Tasker should have been in the HOF 10 years ago. It's a disgrace he isn't already.

All this just makes the Bills getting to a fourth Super Bowl after losing three, and having a very good chance to win that one at least until halftime, even more remarkable. The Bickering Bills became a tight, cohesive unit that held together. Kelly lasted a couple more years, and it wasn't until a few years later that they let Thurman, Andre, and Bruce all go on the same day.

This. I think the worst aspect of the Wrecks fiasco was saying goodbye to Schwartz. The Bills had a killer defense, remember? Under Wrecks it turned into toilet paper. As for Darby, I think he's a good player and whether we got the good or bad end of the trade won't pan out until we see what Harrison turns into. I am concerned that last year gave the front office the idea they could scoop up street free agents, plug them into our D backfield, and coach them up. We struck gold last year but so far it looks like that mine is played out.