Utah John

At the time, Allen was a huge risk. Darnold (and the other Josh) both looked to be NFL-ready while Allen clearly wasn't. Cleveland had fallen in love with Mayfield for whatever reason. It's a good think for all concerned that Allen came to the small-market, used-to-failure Bills. He could struggle his rookie year and no one fussed much. He had time to get his mechanics right while McBeane built the team around his arm. If Allen had gone to the Jets, he would have been ridden out of town on a rail. If Allen HADN'T spent so much time and effort during the offseason fixing his game, he'd be gone from the Bills. But that wasn't the Josh that McBeane drafted, knowing what kind of man they had. He is not only relentlessly competitive, he's also relentlessly dedicated to improvement.

It's hard to say whether the Browns today or the Bills against the Bucs got hosed worse. Both of them deserved to accomplish big comeback wins against a glamour team.

Thanks. There's no reason not to say that out loud as long as you do it correctly.

I don't understand this but I can't remember the announcers telling us the name of the Browns' kicker. Several people have pointed this out. What's the guy's name?

Only one can be the official mark. Otherwise one could be different than the other and who's to say which is right?

Someday look up some Montana-Rice connections.

If the Bills had Teller, Bitonio, and Chubb, WE'D be scary.

GB can't stop Cleveland's running game. If the Browns can score before GB does again, it's a game. Otherwise the Browns have to go away from the run, and GB will destroy them.

The Packers are making good plays, and the Browns are making some bad plays -- BUT -- I count three missed calls by the refs that helped the Packers. The first INT was because of illegal contact by the Packers DB. The sack on Mayfield before he threw the second INT was after no call on a clear face mask by the Packers. This reminds me a lot of the Bills going into Tampa Bay and trying to beat one of the darling teams of the NFL. Of course I'm delighted whenever another AFC team loses to an NFC team, but this is pretty stenchy.

This seems like an odd move. I wonder if they're not happy with Haack.

The problem this year is how good they were last year, and what our expectations were going into this year. There were entire decades during the drought where if the Bills had a team as good as this year's team is, we'd have been ecstatic. But we all spent the offseason dreaming of glory this year, and we're not seeing glory. Between other teams doing THEIR job and figuring out how to stop us, and rotten O line play on our part, and Josh just not being as consistent as he was, and the players simply committing too many mistakes and penalties, every week seems like either a cakewalk against a poor opponent, or a struggle leading to disappointment.

Good post, but the purpose of the vaccination is actually all of the above, and more. For the individual, it reduces the odds of getting covid in the first place, and if the virus still gets a foothold the vaccination significantly reduces the chances of severe reactions including hospitalization or death. And it improves recovery time and the window when the individual is contagious to others. Pretty much what you said. The benefit goes way beyond that, to contributing to protecting the health of countless others and to reducing the rate of spread and the extent of spread of the virus overall. As to your statement that the breakout going on in the NFL has nothing to do with unvaxxed players, that's not really clear. Because delta and omicron are more transmissable, it's possible that some percentage of the new cases (maybe a majority) are from vaxxed players getting and spreading the virus -- but we don't know what that percentage is, since many of the vaxxed players still won't get covid at all, and whether the unvaxxed players are the ones spreading to everyone. The right thing to do would be to test everyone, all the players, coaches, and staff, every day. I think the league is afraid to do that because of what they might find out. They really might have to cancel games, or even the rest of the season. That would cost many millions of dollars, of course, so they're doing the ostrich thing and NOT testing everyone every day.

But they DID delay the Browns game to try to give their players a chance to return. That should be considered for our game as well.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/andersen-the-bills-super-bowl-window-is-closed/ar-AAS606h?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531 He argues that this year is THE year, because starting next year the Bills won't be able to afford to keep all the good players, let alone replace the problems on the O line. This is largely due to Josh Allen's big contract starting to take big bites out of the salary cap. And since the Bills aren't playing as well as they did last year, it's curtains for us. Reading into what he wrote, if he's right about this, it's back to mediocrity, and quite possibly this year could be the start of a new drought if we can't beat NE on Sunday. Or we can make the playoffs and beat anyone. Who knows. One statement that caught my eye is that the Bills have drafted well. "Although the Bills have consistently drafted well the past few years, it’s fair to say some regression may be on the way, as is usually the case with teams that string together a few good drafts." We look at how other teams have filled holes like ours -- KC has two rookies starting on their O line, and playing great, while we have Rousseau and Basham getting pushed around, and Epenesa hardly playing. Zach Moss and Cody Ford look like busts. McBeane seem unable to evaluate talent on either line. Most of all, the fire has gone out. Last year for a couple of months the Bills played like they simply couldn't lose, no matter who they played. This year they consistently lose the close games and beat up on the weak sisters. This is not how a proud, championship team behaves. The Bills peaked with the KC win -- their best game of the year, by far -- but the Tennessee loss changed them. They haven't had the same spirit ever since. The Bills seem to have good leadership among the players, but no one is actually getting his teammates to buckle down. We're still getting stupid penalties, dropped coverages on D, careless turnovers on offense, and long stretches where the offense can't complete a simple swing pass. The focus and concentration are not there anymore. I hope Andersen is wrong, but if he's right the Bills have no one to blame but themselves.

Looks like your awareness of good Pats players starts well after the beginning of the AFL. Don't forget Jim Nance, Babe Parilli, Gino Cappelletti, and Nick Buoniconti.

I really don't care what Pats fans say or think. My biggest concern with regard to this is what the Bills players think. Except for last year, the Bills almost always lost to the Pats. The Pats were less of a rival than a looming spirit of doom, printed in Gothic script on their calendars. Even in the occasional close games we found a way to lose (Leodis, thinking of you) or get robbed (just give it to them). Last year was great, and then this year we get Hurricane Belichick shutting down our passing game -- could it be that the curse isn't from Foxborough but is actually a force of nature? I hope the recent game doesn't infect the minds of the Bills, getting them thinking that the Pats are just better and will always be, no matter how good we are. The only real solution to this inferiority complex will be consistent wins in our games. Plus of course winning the division when they don't. GO BILLS.

Sure, I agree with you. But for people outside Bills World, what they remember is the W or L.

Go out??? Ride this to the Super Bowl.

I think this Seifert guy is dead on. Exactly right. And next year, the Bills will have a better O line (we assume) so Allen will be able to return to MVP performance levels.

For Pro Bowl voters, what counts for DBs is interceptions, and for D linemen it's sacks. Playing great team defense doesn't register. SMH but this is the way of the world in the NFL. I saw Jackson lead the Ravens back against the Colts in a huge comeback. (Of course the Colts were playing with trash DBs -- they couldn't cover the Ravens WRs or TE. But no one remembers that.) Those are the kind of games that people remember and vote for. Raise your hand if you'd take a trade, Josh for Lamar, straight up. No hands, I see. We still have the better guy.

Allen and the Bills lost to the Titans when Josh slipped. Allen and the Bills lost to the Bucs when Josh couldn't score in the first half. Allen and the Bills lost to the Patriots in a wind storm. Allen and the Bills got crushed by the Colts. Allen and the Bills lost to the friggin' JAGUARS when the other Josh Allen had a better game. Sorry, what the country saw in big games, was Allen falling short. And honestly it's the Bills' offense that's holding them back this year, unlike last year. The only Bowl that really matters is the Super Bowl, not the Pro Bowl. Allen has a much better chance of getting there than Jackson does. Take some comfort in that.

Beasley last year was the guy who reliably and consistently moved the chains. This year, not so much. I don't know if he's lost a step or if defenses are playing him better or if the rotten O line is not giving Allen time to go through his progressions and find Beasley. But Knox (with some painful exceptions) seems to have developed into a good, move the chains, kind of TE. And we have McKenzie. So we can get by without Beasley.

If I'm Beane, this off season I will cut/trade any player who's not vaccinated. Period. Probably he won't be allowed to say that's what's behind each move, but the players will get the message. And obviously not sign as FAs, or draft, any unvaxxed players. Send the message that the Bills are committed to winning, and anyone who's NOT committed to winning doesn't belong on the team.

If I'm Beane, this off season I will cut/trade any player who's not vaccinated. Period. Probably he won't be allowed to say that's what's behind each move, but the players will get the message. And obviously not sign as FAs, or draft, any unvaxxed players. Send the message that the Bills are committed to winning, and anyone who's NOT committed to winning doesn't belong on the team.

Like every other team, the Bills have ups and downs. Like every other team, they have strengths and weaknesses. We all want last year's offensive juggernaut to re-emerge but it ain't happening. Why? Mostly because other teams figured us out, and we haven't come up with new ways to attack. Or maybe Daboll is a crafty genius like we thought he was last year, and he's got a dozen new receiver route trees and blocking schemes all ready to go against NE, and he's been holding out on us so Belichick doesn't have a chance to work out countermeasures. Or maybe the Bills are just one of a lot of good teams and we're going to roll the dice to see where we end up.