Utah John

The airlines have us convinced that we're supposed to fly at night to get to England or the Continent. It's stupid. The time difference is significant, but not that great. It's five hours difference between Buffalo and London, or four hours difference when the US goes to standard time in the fall instead of daylight savings time. In contrast, people accept a three hour difference from the west coast to the east coast all the time. Yes, it's an impact, but not too great. The problem is that everyone choose to fly red-eye to the UK, instead of doing it during the day. Have you ever flown red-eye from the west coast to the east coast? I did it several times back when I was working. You try to sleep on the plane but it's never enough, and you're in a daze the next day, trying to make it through to bedtime. I took those red-eyes only when I had no other option. Otherwise I'd just leave the west coast in the morning, fly through the day, and get to the east coast that afternoon. I would feel fine, with just a little problem getting to sleep that night on the east coast schedule. The next day, I was up and ready to go. Was it sports scientists (who exactly are THEY?) or the accountants who decided the Bills would fly at night? IMO they should have flown out on Thursday morning, arrived Thursday afternoon, and been completely fine by Sunday. If necessary they could have flown on Friday morning. Not everyone, just the guys Elam is covering. Scratch that. The guys Elam is watching.

There are WLBs and then there are WLBs. Milano flew all over the place, making plays with his speed, athleticism, and football IQ. The D line has been excellent, and it's true that Rousseau and Jones have been the best players there, although Oliver took advantage of being next to Jones to have his best season so far. If they're both out, and if Miller doesn't get back to being himself, we'll be watching QBs carve up our deleted LBs and secondary. And HE got hurt too today although he was able to come back. And it's not just one at each position. We were without our two best corners, our best LB, our best D tackle, and our best D end. And at one point Taron Johnson was out too, so make that our three best corners.

This whole thing is just ridiculous. First, playing on a field with that artificial turf. How many of the Bills injuries came about because of that turf? And, much less importantly, how many Bills slipped and couldn't make plays, leading to the loss? Considering age and severity of injury, it's possible that the Bills will never see Tre White or Matt Milano on the field again. Second it's ridiculous that one team could remain in London and be rested, and then face a team that just arrived. One of the premier teams in the league just got devastated, all so the NFL can make more money and try to spread its brand. It's tragic.

The Bills offense woke up late in the second quarter and played OK after that, but the defense couldn't get the Jags off the field. They were gassed by the 4th quarter. Not that losing Tre White Christian Benford Matt Milano DaQuon Jones Greg Rousseau had anything to do with that. I thought Williams did OK as backup LB for Milano (many of us were hoping Williams would see the field this year -- shame on us), but Elam might as well have not been on the field. It's clear why Benford played and Elam sat. Jones has been a major disruptor in the middle of the D line. Jordan Phillips is just not as good. Tre White >> Dane Jackson Christian Benford >>>>> Kaiir Elam Matt Milano >> Dorian Williams DaQuon Jones > Jordan Phillips Greg Rousseau > AJ Epenesa (only one > because Epenesa had the game of his career, but Rousseau is still better) Jordan Poyer 2021 >> Jordan Poyer 2023 Micah Hyde 2021 > Micah Hyde 2023 If the window is closing it's not Josh Allen's fault. It's all the injuries on this year's D. ALL the best players are out. Sad day.

I keep saying that at least once every weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I had a guy stop me in the parking lot of a grocery store here in Memphis. I was wearing a Bills cap as usual, and he said he'd been a Bills/Josh Allen fan for years though he'd never been to Buffalo. Then he asked me whether it was OK to use ranch dressing. I just smiled and shook my head, making him laugh. (What I SHOULD have said is that that's like putting ketchup on ribs -- something a Memphian would understand.) But he also made a comment that maybe the blue cheese dressing in Buffalo is different than elsewhere, and I'm not sure about that. I just said that it makes the wings taste better and we left it at that. But maybe there actually is a difference in blue cheese dressing in different parts of the country. Any ideas whether that's true?

Back when I lived in WNY the best beef on weck was at Schwabl's in West Seneca. Is that still a good place?

I hadn't caught that it was Norwood selling the Norwood jersey. What a great add for this commercial.

Yes, Memphis TN. And the summers are HOT as you said. But then, we moved here from Fairbanks Alaska so anything was going to feel hotter to us.

I've been seeing another commercial showing a young boy getting a Bills jersey, then getting more jerseys over the years as he meets a girl, has a family, and eventually buys a jersey for his grandchild. I have no idea at all what the product is that that commercial is selling, but I really love seeing the progression.

Here in Memphis too.

That's why they ... well, you know.

If he's not actually going to do anything on his own when plays come into his area, other teams will catch on, and all that height and length won't matter anymore.

This game turned out differently than expected. One thing that stood out was the lousy play of Tremaine Edmunds. Shades of Jairus Byrd, a Bills safety who had a big year with the Bills in 2014, then signed a huge FA contract with the Saints, where he completely underperformed. Edmunds did what he was supposed to do with the Bills, occupying space in the middle of the defense, and then he signed a huge FA contract with the Bears. I watched him last night, avoiding collisions until he could clean up a tackle a teammate made. He had an egregious missed tackle on a Commanders' receiver, and just whiffed and did nothing to try to catch up with the guy he missed. After watching the Bills defense hustling at all times this year, it was a shocking difference. Whether or not he was a contributor to the Bills defensive success remains a question we can debate, but Edmunds and his massive contract are now contributing to the Bears defensive struggles. Looks like he got paid and now he's happy to be a passenger instead of a driver on the new team's defense.

Often the seats in the back row don't recline, so if you're not lucky enough to have empty seats in your row, you're really screwed. Who knows what the league would do since this will be the very first time an NFL team, or any sports team for that matter, gets on a plane and flies somewhere.

My brother keeps reminding me that what we do or say or think has no bearing on how the Bills play. Hmm. I don't believe him, of course. So I promise to be as pessimistic as possible until Sunday, to help counter nuiwek's good/bad vibes.

Oh, come on. Make them try the hot ones. As for Miami, it's true, it was a conspiracy. All the ranch dressing in Buffalo was poisoned because only ignorant people from Miami would eat that with wings. I wasn't on the team. And it wasn't actual hockey, just hockey on the roads where the buses picked up students to go to the Main Street campus, which is where most classes were held back then.

Not bothering Hah! I lived in Wilkeson for one year (75-76) before I transferred away from UB. A bunch of guys put together a street hockey team and called themselves the Wilkeson Swords. You're dating yourself if you get the reference.

https:////www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/dirt-bike-riding-goon-who-stomped-on-mother-s-car-arrested/ss-AA1hJiYv?ocid=msedgntp&pc=W099&cvid=384239701b584d559cb04ed827fc4957&ei=15

Zach Wilson is inconsistent, but when he's on he's pretty good. Good arm, makes the tough throws. But then he gets stupid and careless for a few series and that's the ball game. Who knows whether he'll get his issues fixed. Josh Allen did. I'm not saying that Wilson will ever be in Allen's tier, but the point is a young QB with a good arm can become better. If Wilson gets Jordan Palmer's phone number, who knows how good he can get. Forget about Denver. Their offense is about average, but their defense is incredibly bad. They give up 10 touchdowns to the Dolphins and looked even worse doing it than you'd think. Then they make Fields look like a great young QB, when he's generally pretty mediocre. If the Bills played the Broncos this year, the league would make Josh Allen wear a blindfold to keep the score in double digits.

About the jet lag issue: It's a five hour difference between Buffalo and London. It's a three hour difference between San Francisco and Buffalo. For West Coast teams playing on the East Coast, the time difference is real but manageable. So what's the big deal There's no reason why a team in the eastern US should feel totally discombobulated when playing in London. The reason most Americans feel lousy at first when traveling to the UK or elsewhere in Europe is the airlines' preference for traveling overnight. You end up not getting much sleep on the flight, arriving in the UK in the morning (their time), stumbling through the first day trying not to sleep, and eventually catching up over a few days. This is not that much different from taking a red-eye flight from California to the East Coast, which I've done many times to my regret. It's a bad choice. If you're flying eastward over several time zones, it's better to leave in the morning (departure location) and arrive in the evening (arrival location). Then you have some trouble getting to sleep that first night, but after a partial night's sleep you're pretty much OK the next day and are fine the day after that, assuming you're able to get a full night's sleep the second night you're there. I don't know when the Bills are planning to travel, but they should do it soon, and they should try to travel during a day and not overnight. By the end of the game, Jones looked like Sam Howell did near the end of the Bills' whooping of the Commanders. Both of them looked completely shellshocked, and were trying to protect themselves when they went back to pass instead of looking hard for the play downfield. Jones and Howell were both fortunate not to have had a serious injury, although both were probably sore for days afterward. What's the verdict on Daboll as Giants' HC? It's becoming clear that the Patriots' success was down to Brady and not Belichick. Could be that Daboll's success in Buffalo was due to Josh Allen and not Daboll's own abilities. Even with the Bills mediocre O line the years Daboll was with the Bills, he managed to craft an effective offense. This year, boy it's bad.

Having two good guards for the first time while Josh has been in Buffalo means a whole lot of things have gotten better quickly. Cook is the same guy who struggled most of last year, and now he's ripping off 8 or 10 yards at a go. That added balance makes everything else harder to defend.

Putting the Bills over the Chiefs does make sense. The Chiefs tried hard to let the Jets beat them, but the refs insisted on the Chiefs getting the win. Under fair conditions, the Chiefs would be 2-2 and have lost to the same team the Bills lost to, and another loss besides, while the Bills have put up three crushing wins, including one over the Dolphins. Aside from all that, the Chiefs offense is not as good this year. Their WRs disappear, and only Kelce remains as a reliable target. While the Bills offense is much better this year.

The refs screwed both teams on SNF. On the safety, the Chiefs player clearly grabbed the facemask of the Jet on the 1 yard line, and the penalty should have been called at that point. The song and dance about him pulling the facemask harder after they got into the end zone is just embarrassing CYA for the league. Two free points for the Jets, and the ball back. But far worse was the critical play where Gardner was called for defensive holding. There were three really outrageous mistakes. First, there wasn't any holding. Second, the official didn't throw the flag for that penalty until AFTER he saw the interception made. And third, one of the Chiefs O linemen was holding a Jet for at least five seconds, right in front of the official. On every bet, someone wins and someone loses. Mahomes made a very smart play. He was thinking about getting the W, not covering the spread. Good job. Wilson threw accurate passes against the Bills after Rodgers' injury, and in the second half last night he was playing at a solid B+ level, at least up to the critical fumble. I think the Jets D certainly can do to the Dolphins what the Bills did to the Dolphins. Strong Jets D line against the Dolphins weak and injured O line will be the big difference.

Yeah, could be at least 7 openings, but there's no shortage of retreads, college coaches, and flash in the pan coordinators available to move up for the big bucks.