Utah John

Big picture, I think the Bills expected to defeat the Cardinals, and did not want to show Miami anything prior to the game Thursday night. All the short to medium throws will not get the job done over the course of the season, so I suspect the Bills have a lot of plays in their arsenal we haven't seen. And throwing to 10 receivers, 9 of whom caught passes, should make it hard for Miami to game plan against just a couple. Looking for Kincaid to have a breakout game on national TV on Thursday.

You can argue for or against the choice to kick the FG. It worked out, so it supports McDermott's understanding of how well his kicker AND his defense were playing. The kicker was solid all game, even into the wind, and the defense had had lapses all game, so a three point lead was not sufficient.

If Taron Johnson can't play, that means 6 defensive starters from last year's Bills team will be out or gone. And except for Rousseau, they were the six best players on the defense. So, woe is us, right? Well the Dolphins got stripped of a lot of good players too, particularly on defense. Except for Robert Hunt, a good guard, they protected their offense. Just like the Bills, who lost only Mitch Morse from the offense. Well, OK, all the WRs too, but I'm thinking the WR/TE committee will do just fine. And the only edge the Dolphins have is their two excellent WRs. At all other positions, the Bills have the clear edge. I still think winning or losing this game for the Bills will come down to whether Johnson can play. That playoff loss was the end of the Kelly era. He retired after that season.

The Cardinals converted 53% of their third down attempts. That's terrible by the Bills defense. I'll give the Bills some slack on that since Arizona does have a very good offense, but come on. Poor play by our LBs and DBs will kill this season. Is there any update on Cole Bishop's injury? If he's ready to play and knows the defense well enough, he has to be an upgrade over Hamlin.

Speaking of hot, I think part of the reason the Jags lost today was that ridiculously unfair stadium alignment that puts the visitors in direct sunshine on hot days. That was what beat the Bills a couple years ago. But fortunately the Thursday game is at night. Some mercy for the Bills from the schedule makers.

If Taron Johnson plays, I feel pretty confident. If he's out, I don't see any way the Bills can stop the Dolphins.

Herbert is a far better passer than Jackson. But, as you say, there's a lot more to being an effective QB than passing.

Unless that QB was being knocked sideways by Chris Jones. Which Jackson wasn't.

1. Great DT, Chris Jones, in his face all night. 2. Terrible O line protecting him. 3. Excellent DBs for the Chiefs. 4. The sun was in his eyes, his shoes were too tight, he had a cold, he had a scratch on his throwing hand pinkie -- any more excuses? The point about Jackson is that he doesn't do what the elite QBs do which is make plays when the game is on the line. Way before the final flurry of lousy Jackson passes, the Ravens wasted a lot of time moving downfield. And even getting as far down as they did was largely due to great catches by their new TE. With their poor-passing QB, and a terrible O line that leaves Derrick Henry helpless, the Ravens show themselves not a top AFC team. MVP?? What joke! MVP twice????? You've got to be kidding.

Would it be too much to ask for the equipment managers to misplace the all-reds? You know, someplace in deepest Arkansas? I don't think anyone likes the pj look.

Maybe that was meant to be sarcastic, but I've been saying that about 2025 since March this year. Call this a reset year or just hitting the pause button, either way, the main thing is for the Bills not to lose their winner's mentality, even if they don't win the division again or even have a losing record. The culture shift a few years ago, from perennial losers to kick-ass winners, was a small miracle, and I don't want to see the Bills slip out of that mode just because this is a somewhat down year. This year doesn't have to be a collapse, but it the injuries hit again we no longer have real NFL quality players as depth at all positions. If no significant injuries, I think 10-7 is achievable. A couple of injuries at DB or LB, and we'll be lucky to win 8.

I can't name a single song by her, nor could I pick one out if I heard it. As far as I know I've never had the experience of hearing one. And somehow I sleep just fine at night.

Stepping away from being a Bills fan, this is really sad for the Jets and their fans. Their FO has finally put together a very strong roster assuming they'd plugged the hole at QB with Rodgers. For him to fail to be a leader is really inexcusable. OK, putting my Bills fan hat back on. Carry on.

Could be right about releasing him after Hardy returns, but who knows, maybe he'll surprise everyone and be a good pickup. Very little cost to the move.

Says the Josh Allen fan. (shakes head)

Thanks for that link! It was an enjoyable fantasy discussion. I can remember as a child of 8 or 9 talking to friends about whether there could be a championship game played by the Bills against the NFL champs, but it wasn't to be until the 1966 season, when the Bills were aging and the Chiefs had gotten really good.

I think the reasons a team would release players early, are to give the players a leg up on finding a new team to try to stick with, and to open up roster spaces so the Bills can bring in players other teams cut to see if they might be useful, probably just for the practice squad. For the Bills, except for a possible QB3, I can't see how a new player could absorb the system quickly enough to be useful.

The Browns were the NFL champs that year. Jim Brown was playing great. But so was Cookie Gilchrist. The Bills' run defense might have been the best in football, so it would have been a very tough game, but the Bills certainly would have had a good chance to win.

Deion Jones being cut is a good sign for Joe Andreesen sticking.

OK, in 2022 they had three losses, all close games. But the nature of the NFL is that you also win close games. The week after the loss to Miami in the heat, but Bills fell pretty far back behind the Ravens, in Baltimore, and ended up pulling that game out by 3. Later on they beat the Chiefs (in KC) by four, and they beat the Lions and Dolphins by 3 each. All four of those wins could have been losses, just as easily as the three losses could have been wins.

The Bills have quietly gone large with their WRs and TEs. Except for Shakir at 6'0'', all the WRs and TEs are all around 6'3" or taller. With many teams following the Bills D by going to fast, smaller LBs, I think the Bills plan is to create height matchup problems in the pass game, and body mass problems in the running game downfield, for defenses. This is a completely different approach than the typical WR1 diva mentality. I have no idea if it will work, but with the Bills cap situation this year probably they Bills didn't have any choice except to be creative with their offense. They're going against the grain, which works sometimes and doesn't work others.

To evaluate safety play you'd have to know what the player was supposed to be doing on any given play, and then see whether he did the right thing. That's tough to do in a complicated three-level defense. The Bills defensive structure relies on smart, athletic, and brave men (considering some of the big guys they have to take on) working as a unit. Fortunately players like that are usually available.

Karl Malone.

Well he WAS a favorite of McDermott. How do you know he got worse in Pittsburgh? He never played in Buffalo as far as I can remember so we don't really know how good he was while he was here the first time. Trubisky can't be the backup until he's cleared to play. Until then it looks like Larry Daryl and Daryl will be the guys. Hope to God that Josh Allen doesn't get hurt. This year they went with expensive mediocrity.

Moving McGovern to center is just the best band-aid available for McBeane. Morse was a lot better than many of us realized, and his loss is huge. But McBeane couldn't patch all the holes at once. So they are taking a chance with this move, which on paper seriously degrades two positions (center of course, but also left guard, where McGovern played well at his best position). My hope is the rookie with all the names learns enough to take the job, and McGovern can go back to guard where he belongs.