Utah John

He can just toss a long ball and hope for DH or DPI.

Today, sure, but for most of the season all five starters have been on the field.

A very well paid bull with breasts.

Nance actually said "somehow eluded Tredavious White". As if that's a surprising event.

A big difference this year is that the O line which was so good last year is just average now. The O line coach is Aaron Kromer who is usually very good. I think the players just aren't trying as hard.

He should try getting taller so he won't be so invisible.

Kiss of death. Thompson injury in 3...2...1...

Anyone else thinking CBS is regretting putting their top announcing team on this game?

I'm really thinking the players are trying to get McDermott fired.

I think the reason Allen doesn't run like he used to is that the defenses can afford to waste a man on a spy. They don't need all their DBs to stop our ridiculous receivers. So the gaps Allen used to get aren't there to take advantage of. I've said this before and I mean it -- it was Vrabel who showed the league how to stop the Bills offense. It's up to Brady to figure out a counter-counter measure and he's not up to it.

OK, did our D line switch and start playing for the Steelers on this drive?

Looks like the GCG on the interior realized their crappy play had to stop. Holes for Cook and Davis are excellent.

So we have Cook, Cooks, and Cookie. I'm Ok with that.

I am not sure that's right. It was a catchable ball by Allen that Davis short-armed.

That INT was on Davis. Allen through the ball right where it needed to be, and Davis alligator armed it.

He's sneaky smart, he thinks. He figures other teams figure the Bills would never try such a lousy play again.

It feels like the Bills use a Magic 8 Ball three times to pick the pants, jerseys, and helmet they're going to wear. I'm actually fine with all-white, white over blue, or blue over white. I hate all-blue and I detest and loath all-red. As for the helmets, the standing buffalo will always be my favorite.

Well, this indicates it's possible the Saints were rigging things. But why would they do that, if they were just going to get Cooks off their roster? If it subsequently turns out that the Bills and Saints do something fishy, like having a trade next season where the Bills don't get close to full value of what they sent the Saints, that could indicate a quid pro quo. Or it could be the Saints were trying to do a solid for a player they liked but didn't want anymore. Cooks likely didn't want to be picked up by a bad organization (cough cough Dolphins cough cough) or a division rival, so it could be the Saints helped avoid that. The language in the rules would seem to mean the Saints couldn't have eventually waived Cooks, and yet the NFL let them do it and then approved the Bills signing Cooks. There's a contradiction here and I don't see how this got done.

Sure, but that means the Saints didn't collude, they just gave up on a player who didn't want to be there.

The collusion, if any, would have been between the Bills and Cooks, with the Bills trying to talk a member of the Saints roster out of playing for them and jumping to another team. If the Saints didn't want him, they could have just cut him.

Just yesterday I read an article about how Cooks wanted out of NO. The team waived him which meant anyone picking up the waiver claim would be on the hook for his existing contract, and Cooks knew that because he obviously intended to sign for a particular unnamed team. So then he was released, no longer waived, and was a FA. Lo and behold the team Cooks wanted to play for was just hanging around, waiting for the phone to ring from his agent. It sure sounds like Cooks and the Bills colluded, but it could simply be that Cooks looked around for a team with a good QB and a need for WRs, and decided the Bills would be the best landing spot. Let's see what he can do.

He has NO WHERE to throw when Kincaid isn't on the field.

I'm beginning to think that the kind thing to do with Josh is trade him to another team, one with a strong roster other than at QB, so he can finally get the ring. If it doesn't happen this year or next, it won't happen here. We'll always have the memories. And the pain. But there's no point in keeping this unicorn of a player on a collapsing team, where the only outcome is going to be an injury because none of our receivers can get open and our O line can't handle D line stunts. The Bills FO has just had too many whiffs to keep the team strong, and the coaches can't devise anything new that keeps the defenses honest. Kaiir Elam was a massive bust. That first round pick could have been a great WR1. Curtis Samuel is a massive bust. Way too expensive and way too lousy. Keon Coleman -- Good Lord, the Bills passed on Xavier Worthy to draft that lazy head case. That money could have gone for a young, healthy pass rusher. Paying some of the guys who play like JAGs has been a disaster, although if they were actually trying hard they could be better. McD sees the lack of effort and the oh-well attitudes of his players, and he's torn between kicking butt and cheerleading them to rebuild a positive attitude. The Bills ended the drought years when some good players (Lorax, Kyle Williams) had the leadership to get the rest of the roster playing hard. They've been playing hard ever since. Now they're slipping quietly into well-paid mediocrity, and except for Josh the guys who should be the leaders are now barnacles on the hull, holding the ship back.

Tim Settle and Poona Ford are Exhibits A and B for the prosecution. Both were very good with their previous teams before coming to the Bills. Neither was used effectively while with the Bills. After they left they returned to being very good D linemen. I call this the Bills Disease. Take very good (or better than that) D linemen, and turn them into JAGs. Who knows, even Rousseau and Epenesa might turn out to be good if they go somewhere else. Remember "it's the economy, stupid" well for the Bills "it's the coaching, stupid". The announcers are excusing the Bills trash run defense by repeating the fact that Ed Oliver is out. Well, Oliver is good but not nearly as good as you'd expect from his draft position or from the comments I hear. He gets run over just like the other DTs, and his splash plays are very infrequent. McDermott uses all 11 as a unit, and that worked great when Poyer and Hyde were back there (while Poyer was still fast). He wants his D line to control blocks and let his LBs and DBs make plays. Back when Milano and White and Johnson were good players, and Poyer and Hyde were on the field, that plan worked. Now our D line can't control those blocks, the LBs aren't as good and they're helpless against O linemen charging past our D line, and our DBs can't make plays. The Bills are collapsing into the drought-era Bills, when they had a handful of pretty good (or better) players but way too many weak links to win. Josh's abilities are masking the collapse of the roster, but except for Josh, Cook, Kincaid, Bishop, Brown (when healthy) and maybe Walker (who looks like a steal) the Bills are a shell of the 13 second game team. The good times had to end sometime. Too bad it's the same year when KC and Baltimore also collapsed. One more good year and they'd have had their shot at a SB. It's over.

While we're talking about the O line, I want to throw a kudo at Connor McGovern. There was a play in the third quarter where he and someone else got hurt. McGovern was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, and the announcers either didn't notice or didn't care about a mere O lineman. Whatever the problem, McGovern gutted it out and finished the game. He probably wasn't as good as he usually is, not surprisingly, but he gave the effort. Between his injury, the injury to Brown, and Dawkins inconsistent attitude, it's no wonder the O line isn't as dominant this year.