Utah John

I would really like to agree with you because I really want to see Oliver be a consistent, disruptive force. But he just vanishes for long stretches.

With the injury so late in the season, it's likely that Murray won't return until just before the 2023 playoffs. Which the Cardinals without him won't get to anyway. It'll be 2024 before he can play a full season. What a shame for him, the team, and the city.

Beane is an excellent drafter, except when it comes to linemen. On the O line, Spencer Brown might turn out to be good but he's still more of a liability. Cody Ford was a complete miss. Beane did get Wyatt Teller, but then let him go to hold on to Quinton Spain. As for the D line, he got Groot but considering how much draft capital he spent on D linemen this is like a blind squirrel finding a nut. Oliver is improving to the point where he's a good solid B or B+ player. Epenesa and Basham are C level players. It's understandable that Beane has shied away from drafting O linemen, considering his track record, but the Bills really need to invest in this area.

Yesterday's game was what a professional team does. Grind it out, get the win. It would have helped a lot if McKenzie could play like a professional. I saw at least three passes that he dropped, that a pro receiver should always make. The Jets receivers were catching EVERYTHING near them. Maybe they have better gloves. Also Singletary dropped a short, swing pass late in the game. He wasn't going to get much yardage but his drop stopped the clock when the Bills were working on draining it. Allen really missed only one throw all game, and that was the first pass he threw. After that, things were just about on target. Maybe not as precise as usual but that's on the wet ball and the wind. The Bills caught some breaks. Quinnen Williams hurting himself was key. Whoever replaced him was nowhere near as good, and it opened up the middle of the line for runs that were not there while Williams was playing. Josh's touchdown might have had to come from a different play design, for instance. Also one of their WRs went out early due to being kicked in the head, which let the Bills focus on Wilson. And it was huge that QB Mike White AND LT Fant went out at the same time, which led to Flacco's fumble. The point isn't that those things happened, it's that the Bills capitalized. What professionals do. As for the game being boring, maybe it was to a national TV audience, but not to us Bills fans. It was a tight game especially near the end, where a single stupid penalty or missed tackle could have led to OT. And none of that happened. This is how professional teams stack wins. Go Bills. Yep, that's the only MVP that really matters. The crazy thing is, Josh probably doesn't make the AFC Pro Bowl team. Again.

I'm not debasing myself or anyone else. Those are just the facts, and you don't seem comfortable dealing in reality.

He gave up several (5 or 6 at least) receptions, but considering the situation he's in, how his recovery is progressing, and the field conditions, he did OK. I think we all need to relax and see if he improves in next few games.

Good catches on these tells, BBF. As anyone could predict, you're gonna get flamed for this, which is what most of the people on this board spend their time doing. People just can't acknowledge someone makes a good point. Whether it's these tells or just the league catching up to our OC's tendencies, I don't see our receivers getting open like they did under Daboll, or early this year. But anything the players do that helps the other side is something that needs to be corrected.

Back in the day, probably the 60s and maybe the 70s, offensive holding was a 15 yard penalty. That killed too many drives, and the league wants offense, so the owners changed it to a 10 yard penalty.

As a boomer myself, I think some of the boomer criticism and resentment comes from the fact that we've set things up so we have most of the wealth and the disposable income and the power, and younger generations are struggling to break into the system. Also because we along with previous generations have wrecked the environment and created an international political system that looks threatening to younger people. Grodin in Midnight Run with Robert DeNiro was amazing. Also he was brilliant in Dave with Kevin Kline. I think he was always best when he could pair up with another strong lead, so his reaction to what was happening could say so much.

The baby boomers are those born from 1946 to 1964. The Rams would have had preference over almost any other team because of their poor record.

If it turns up missing, send the search parties to Austin and Toronto.

The Bills D has been loaded with excellent players. The downside is that almost any injury to a defensive player takes out an excellent player, and that necessarily degrades their overall capability. The upside is that there are still nearly as many excellent players after the injury as there were before. The combos of Poyer and Hyde, and Edmunds and Milano, are both poetry. Violent poetry, but still beautiful. Take out Hyde, and there are still excellent players around. But take out either Edmunds or Milano or Poyer, in addition to Hyde, and the amount of degradation increases exponentially. The Bills can win without Hyde and Miller. If they lose one or two more of their excellent core, they won't be nearly as good. Fingers crossed the injuries to key players are over.

I had forgotten about that great old movie. But Mayfield was wearing number 17, not 16.

Near the end of the game, Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were joking with each other about the quality of the game. And all through the game they were really working hard to spice things up.

Trying to be generous to "can't" Hackett and Wilson, it could be that Hackett worked out a good system that fit Rodgers' abilities, but can't (or hasn't) done so for Wilson. Wilson is a different kind of QB, not as good a passer as Rodgers but more athletic. It's deadly for a coach to take players that don't fit his system and insist they adapt to his way of doing things, when if he took their strengths and weaknesses into account the results for everyone would be much better. Due to how much the Broncos gave up for Wilson, and to his contract, he'll be on the team for a few years. It behooves the Broncos to find a coach who can take advantage of the way Wilson plays, and who can manage a strong defense. I wonder when Pete Carroll's contract in Seattle runs out.

One thing you don't see is any Bills player tweeting after games about how he's not being used right, or not getting enough playing time. Even Brian Daboll, who turned a rotten NJ team into a playoff team (maybe), is going through that. And in general the media aren't as nice to him in New Jersey as the Buffalo media were to him. Well he was warned he's not in New York anymore. As for McD, he is in his first NFL HC job. He was well-prepared but still had to learn a lot. Well, he has learned a lot. I seldom scratch my head at his tactics anymore.

The article said the Bills approach led to "boring football" and the announcers made it sound like they thought so too. Well tough noogies. These are professional doing what is best to win the game. I'll take a W any day and any way, compared to an exciting L.

Someone explain to him what "foot"ball doesn't involve.

No real GM, no real OC, and a DC who happens to be his son, who'd have guessed that guy would be their best choice. Also no QB, no good WRs. They have a pretty good defense and a strong RB, that's it. The Bills are returning to the point where they're a complete team. With the injuries to White, Hyde, and Poyer, they were NOT complete. Too many rookies and subs playing the defensive backfield. And when Milano or Edmunds was out, the D was just average at best. Now that White seems to be back and Poyer is back and Milano and Edmunds are back, the nearly-complete Bills team is on display. If that team carries on, they're once again the best team in the league. But the same is true for other top teams. Most of them are playing subs at critical spots. So much depends on injuries and, this year, on regular old illnesses that are too severe to let a guy practice or play. I don't remember that happening since the year Bruce Smith had to miss the playoff game against the Steelers due to the flu.

How much lower would the cap be, if we didn't have Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime? It would be worth it.

Beane's plan all along was to retain as many of the very good to excellent, but not outstanding players as possible -- except for Allen and Diggs, who are both clearly outstanding. The outstanding players at any position cost considerably more than the excellent players do, and far more than the very good players do. Through heavy investment in the D on drafting, the Bills have a long list of very good to excellent players on defense. Hyde, Poyer, White, Edmunds, Milano, Oliver, probably Groot. All have the ability when things break right for them to dominate in a particular game, but none of them can demand top dollar for players at their position. The strength of this D is not individual star players but is the complete unit that Beane built and Frazier coaches. This has been a tremendous success and it was Beane's plan to be able to pay them all. It has looked clear that Beane is not trying to win just this year. He wants to build a dynasty and keep it going year after year, disrupted only in the years when Allen or Diggs is injured. Then along comes the chance to sign Von Miller, and all that planning apparently went out the window. It won't be Edmunds's contract that keeps the Bills from paying Poyer or improving the O line, it will be Miller's. For this year, probably next year, and possibly more years to come, Miller is showing he's worth what he's getting now. But he's the outstanding player, the one who does get nearly top dollar for his position, and that disrupts all of Beane's planning. If we get OBJ, that's going to make it even harder to keep the D intact. And the only reason I'd like to see Beane go ahead with signing OBJ, is that I don't think he's going to pay Poyer. Which is a huge loss, since we've all seen the difference between Poyer and no Poyer. But, age. Beane can't pay Poyer enough to make him 26 years old again. I really hope I'm wrong about this, and that it works out for Beane to pay Poyer and keep the gang together. But go back to that list of defensive players above, and tell me which one you'd let go if you had to let one go. I think it's the oldest guy. As for Edmunds, I think the rest of the league thinks far more highly of him than most Bills fans do. And lots of teams will be willing to pay him. I think he gets $18M per year from us, or $20M per year from somewhere else.

Even if Miami loses this Sunday, if they beat the Bills later on, they still win the division. Even if Miami wins this Sunday, if the Bills beat them, the Bills win the division. Assuming both teams win out otherwise. So this week's Miami game isn't as critical as the KC-Cincinnati game, which is probably the Bill's last best hope for getting home field through the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Bills, with Josh Allen at the center of their efforts, are doing their best to hold off the hard-charging Miami Dolphins, a team that’s won its past five games. I find it more relaxing to see it fixed.

Belichick always tries to take the best opponent player out of the game. It looked last night like that guy was Oliver. But the Bills' D is so well-built that there are half a dozen other guys just as good, and no offense can counter all of them.

We always hear about how line play requires people to get low, to get leverage against their opponent. Usually that's true. So how can Groot be as good as he obviously is against the run, when he's so tall? The Bills have assembled a defense of unicorns, guys with special skills or attributes. Either huge space-eating bodies like Edmunds and Groot, or quickness and strength like Oliver, or speed and anticipation like Milano, or all of the above for Dr Poyer and Mr Hyde. Oh yeah, Tre White is back. Von Miller gets back in a few weeks. Please God we've had all the injuries a team should have to endure. It's time for good things to happen. I have NEVER seen Josh Allen berating a teammate in public, and I don't expect to ever do so. Leadership comes from doing your own job well, and inspiring those around you to do the same.