Utah John

We're so used to the Chiefs winning that they seem unbeatable, while we've watched the Bills notch a series of close wins. Well, guess what, the Chiefs are winning close games too. Which of them is better on any given day really depends on which players are injured. I think it's going to come down to, the Bills need to beat the Bengals in Cincinnati, once. Either on 2 January or in the playoffs. My strong preference is the 2 January game of course, letting (probably) the Bils AND Chiefs have the incredible records of 14-3. The Bills get the 1 seed. If the Bills lose to the Bengals on 2 January, and all three top teams win out, the Bills get the 3 seed since they and the Bengals both are 13-4. So then 2 beats 7 and 3 beats 6, and either 4 or 5 wins. Then KC plays 4/5, and the Bills are back playing the Bengals, in Cincinnati. If they can win there, they're back to KC. The Bills need to beat both of their peers, on the road, in consecutive games. I don't think the Bengals are good enough to beat the Bills twice, but let's not find out, OK? So if the Bills win on 2 Jan: Then KC is 2 seed and Cinci is 3 seed. The playoffs start, and 2 beats 7 while 3 beats 6, and 4 plays 5. Next week 4/5 comes to Buffalo before heading home for the season, while Cinci goes to KC, and one of the Bills' peers is eliminated with the other one coming to Buffalo for the AFCCG. A lot is riding on that 2 Jan game. If Burrow can beat the Bills/Josh, then the duopoly The Athletic is proposing looks pretty shaky.

Not enough sexy stats (ints, sacks). Just brilliant play. Lazy Pro Bowl voters take the easy way out. (to the tune of Fiddler on the Roof): TRADITION!

I was predicting a Milano snub early in the season. He doesn't get a lot of INTs or sacks which is what voters look at for LB recognition. It's a real shame since he's played so well.

The thing is, after Allen was injured (maybe because of the injury, maybe not) he had a string of non-MVP-type games. Defenses figured out route trees the Bills' WRs were running, and Allen tried to play hero ball too much. The fumble at the end of the Vikings game, which denied the Bills a stone-cold win, was a bad look too. I just don't think he wins it this year. And besides the only MVP award I really care about is Super Bowl MVP.

You could make a good argument the MVP is Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill. Both of them would make a huge difference for any team they played for. I pick Mahomes, due to the gopher holes. I'd hate to see Allen injured.

We're Number One! We're Number One!

Quite right, too.

I recall that one of the concerns about Rosen was that he was independently wealthy. I don't remember the source of the money but the point was he didn't need to make a bundle playing football, and that he was just as likely to walk away if things didn't go well, and so he might not put his full attention into the game. Maybe there's been a change on the bank account situation. Why would a guy basically put his life on hold, to move around so much, not getting going with the rest of his life, if he didn't need the money? Clearly he's not going to be a star in the league. On his side of the ledger, he did get totally mishandled by his coaches and front offices. Drafted by the Cardinals, and then immediately shoved to one side because Kingsbury wanted Kyler Murray. Then traded away into a situation where he had no shot at starting. On an on it went, with him never getting a real shot. Contrast to Mahomes, who had the complete luxury of sitting his entire rookie year, watching a professional QB (Alex Smith) and learning how to do things in the NFL, and then sliding into the starter job in his second year, with the same coaches and strong roster around him.

I think a lot of the posters here are missing the point. The analysis is about the context of the play design, the defensive alignment, and what actions the QB needs to take and when to take them. These are all valid topics not related to Josh. A QB without Josh's talents has to make different choices, OK fine. In Warner's eyes, those other choices are what he was trained to make. OK fine, he has a yellow jacket and a Lombardi, so he's worth listening to. But there are two points to make. First, those other QBs without the special talent will have defenses sitting on their routes because they can't make the special throws. Josh's ability to make the special throws limits what the other team's D will try to do, and it makes them just a little less free to play an attacking style. Second, the game has changed since Warner was playing. Defenses are always adapting and improving. Josh is playing against today's D. Josh (and even Peterman for that matter) would destroy the Warner-era Ds. If I was watching this as an average-talent QB at the HS or college level, or even in the pros, the lessons I would take away are how I would be trying to beat defenses by excellent play design, route running, timing, and decision making. The Bills don't always have the best of any of those characteristics and yet they still are winning. But they could be more effective. One more TD drive per game and the Bills become much more dangerous, and that added drive could come about because Josh takes a layup now and then to move the chains.

Good point.

Actually, Tulane University in New Orleans bills itself as the Harvard of the South. Maybe that's just aspirational...

If Tre doesn't get hurt Thanksgiving 2021, the Bills don't lose to the Chiefs in the 13 second game. That said, he's making very good progress. He played a lot of receivers very well on Saturday.

Actually Josh Allen fights Chandler Jones for the ball, then runs around the left side for the score.

That's the worst part of it. Maybe Myers thought the Pats were losing and needed a last-minute miracle. But no, all they had to do was hold on and go to overtime. The Pats had the momentum since they'd come back from a big Raiders lead. OK, that's better than my submission.

The LEGAL home run throwback.

As for Saffold, he recently tweeted something about being willing to do whatever it takes to stay on the Bills next year. He was bragging about not giving up a sack or holding penalty, as I recall. So who was that guy in Saffold's uniform against the Dolphins?

We're all thinking about how good the Bills were to start the season, before all the injuries. Since then it's been a weekly adventure to see how well the subs would hold up, and the games have gotten a lot closer. Our starting 22 (24?) is definitely outstanding, all working together, but when we lose most of our starters in the defensive backfield, or on the O line, things just don't work as well. But there are enough good parts of the team that they can still keep winning. Other teams also have injuries, and degraded capabilities in sections of their teams. Last night the Bills O line was devastated and Josh didn't have time to take very much advantage of the Dolphins D-back injuries, but he could do enough to win. That's just the nature of the game. The Bills beat the Jets with an excellent defense, they beat the Dolphins with a dangerous offense and a good D line, they beat the Lions which as everyone can see is a tough game (the Lions only loss the past 8 games was to the Bills), they handled three games in 12 days with two trips to Detroit, and they beat the Chiefs in KC. It's our nature to worry about the flaws instead of relaxing and enjoying the success.

See my later post (sorry I didn't read through all the previous pages before posting). I was at that game and the snowballs were coming from the area where I was sitting. Foreman got hit in the eye.

Way back in the mid-70s I was a beer vendor at Rich Stadium. I'm not sure they still have that job. I carried a tray of beer around the stands. Lousy beer, and overpriced at a dollar or so. Anyway, near the end of one season, the Bills sucked, and OJ was still on the team and had a shot at some record. It was a cold gray day with a lot of snow and not many people in the stands. The beer market was pretty slow so I was just watching the game. I was working in the northern side of the stadium, behind the Vikings bench. Chuck Foreman had a great game and I think he might have edged OJ for the record in question. And so the snowballs started, from the area where I was sitting. One of them hit Foreman in the eye. I don't think it caused permanent damage, but it was certainly a dangerous and foolish and embarrassing thing to see. I can only imagine the fury Bills fans would feel if something like that happened to Josh Allen or Diggs or actually any member of the Bills. Cut. It. Out. Let's see you get hit in the eye with an ice ball and say it's just harmless.

For the dumbest play in Bills history, check out McKelvin, Leodis on a kickoff return.

Yeah, I spent my entire career in meteorology and related fields, and never worked for the NWS. The pay grade issue, the lack of compensation commensurate with the educational requirements, the shift work, and the factory-line mentality to get forecasts out one after another whether you've got the weather figured out or not, all pushed me in other directions. Visit Silver Spring MD sometime and get a tour of the huge NWS HQ complex to see where the money goes, and where the high-grade jobs are. I got away from daily forecasting and moved into related fields, working at a national lab and then DoD, ended up a GS-15 for 10 years. Didn't get filthy rich but did OK. (Maybe once you're 60 with a pension you'll want to work for the NWS. I'm 66, with pensions, and would never consider it.) OK then. Glad to see that.

As a retired professional meteorologist, I have to agree with every word in this post, except the last part about the NWS office. The NWS has to put out a forecast and give it their best shot. What are they supposed to do, just shrug and say, we don't have any idea? Probably the best thing would be to say that there will be localized heavy snow, with a decent chance that Rich Stadium (honestly I can't remember its current name) will be hit.

The Chargers got very physical against Miami's WRs and took them out of the game. I think this is the time for Elam to step forward. He's more physical and FASTER than the other Bills CBs. Although if Tyreek gets a head start no one catches him.

The general rule is that an official must see the penalty to call the penalty. But with roughing the passer, it seems as if the ref calls a penalty if he even suspects a foul has been committed, if his view of the play was obstructed in some way. They make an exception to the general rule in this case, to go out of their way to protect QBs.

After the Hyde pick, the Pats players seemed to become much more aware of the cold, and that they were up against a better team that was simply having a special game. They all seemed to be looking fondly at the sidelines with the parkas and the heaters, instead of thinking how to stop the next Bills play. The Dolphins are going to try to overcome the cold, so it's important that the Bills smack them in the mouth early, putting some doubt in the minds of the Dolphins players that they'll be able to overcome the cold as well as the Bills.