Utah John

I gave up watching this in the 3rd quarter so I missed the muffed punt and Washington still needing three plays to punch it in. I get such flashbacks from watching other teams, of how the Bills used to be. Year after year of this kind of mediocrity. My guess all along was that his wife didn't want to move here.

This was billed as the difference inches can make, but it's really the difference EVERYTHING can make. A better, stronger, more accurate QB with top-level receivers, all of them on the same page. vs. A more experienced but not as strong or accurate QB, with prima dona receivers who think they can just do whatever they want because they're (fill in the blank, Jeudy or someone else). A more confident, take no prisoners QB at the top of his game. vs A frustrated, demoralized QB whose receivers are not doing whatever they can to make him look good. Also the Colts D is somewhat better than the Steelers D, this year, so Wilson had a tougher opponent to contend with. The takeaway here? Have the Broncos coaches show this comparison to their players and hope everyone gets smarter. The Broncos better fix this fast, or this trade will gut them for half a decade. Two firsts and two seconds plus some other players, for THIS? Yikes.

There is a very real trend that Josh's passing toward the right is sometimes (certainly not always) not as good as when he's throwing to the left. He missed two wide open receivers in the end zone toward the right against Pittsburgh, and if he'd hit McKenzie on a pass toward the right on the last play against Miami the Bills would be undefeated. I view this as just something for Allen to improve.

At least now when Brown or Settle move somewhere, everything moves more or less at the same time. No telling how long it would take the trailing parts to catch up with the leading parts if there was no uniform to bind everything together.

Bledsoe, paging Mister Bledsoe -- Oh, Mac Jones, you'll do.

Really good breakdown of how the Bills beat the Steeler coverages. But also he makes a point of saying Allen has a problem sometimes, throwing to his right. There were two missed TDs to the right against the Steelers, on what should be easy throws for him. Going back to the Miami game, the Bills win if Allen hits McKenzie, who's wide open, to the right, on the last play. Maybe this is a technique problem, maybe it's that Allen is reading coverages from left to right and when he sees the open receiver to the right, he's rushing. I don't know what the problem is, but there's something there that the Bills could improve on.

Seventeen years ago, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan traded running back Clinton Portis to Washington in exchange for cornerback Champ Bailey and a second-round draft pick. Portis for Bailey by itself would have been a win for Denver, but the extra draft pick makes it clear that Shanahan easily won the trade. Washington needed a RB but geez louise that was a bad trade. Even more now than 17 years ago, RBs are less important than top CBs. Bailey was one of the best CBs in the league, and he became a mainstay on an excellent Broncos defense. Portis did OK for the Skins but his legs gave out like happens with most RBs. That trade was a loser for the Skins to begin with, and the impact only got worse with time. So the point is, why trade Tre White to some other lucky team for a short-term patch somewhere. And where would that patch player play? Would you really trade a locker room leader and All-Pro player for a guard?

Yes. And that would be without our best safety!

The two DPI call you mentioned were good calls. The Chiefs DBs tackled Adams both times. As to the two main points, that the referees last night were terrible, and that Carr is overrated -- I completely agree with both.

Hackett's first name when he was the Bills' OC was "Can't". I think his first name is now "Still Can't"

Hamlin is a good player who's been watching two great players ahead of him for a while. He gets his chance and puts it all out on the field. The question is, is he starter quality? Both Hyde and Poyer have a limited shelf life left.

Just don't say it three times fast. No bad spirits allowed.

Be brave, my Bills. Head to Mordor on the Missouri. Find the evil ring and smash it, and win the Ring you've wanted all your lives.

Yes, my mistake.

Missing first round, all-pro CB, Tre White. Missing first round, pro-bowl LB, Tre Edmunds. Missing first round, coming into stardom DT, Ed Oliver. (Sorry, my mistake, which I'm happy to acknowledge) Missing all-pro S, Jordan Poyer. Missing all-pro S, Micah Hyde Missing starting TE, Dawson Knox. Might as well be missing record-setting WR, Gabe Davis. O line not playing well for run blocking. Missing WR Kumerow, WR McKenzie. Just finished four games against top teams, now holding a 3-1 record, and heading to Mordor on the Missouri next week, then Green Bay. Playing a lightly regarded team with a rookie QB, in Buffalo. Pittsburgh has last year's backup QB on its roster, guiding their D planning. This has trap game all over it.

They should pay Edmunds and let walk or trade Poyer. I think Poyer's great but the age/durability factor is working against him.

The NFL has for years wanted to expand to 40 teams. A few more in North America (despite CFL challenges) and in Europe, and they're there. The talent level is there, for the most part. A lot of nearly-there players just don't quite make a roster but would still be good eough if they did. Stinkers like the Thursday night game are still very rare, and that particular one was down to Russell Wilson playing terribly, plus a lot of injuries, not to a lack of talent. What will likely happen though is that there will be fewer really good, deep, talented teams across the board.

I've watched the first half. Boy has the game ever changed since then. The game was played in the rain, in the mud, and there was no speed to be seen. I noticed the Jets WR, Bruce Harper, was from Kutztown University -- a few years ahead of Andre Reed. Harper was a very good kick returner.

As much as some Bills fans dis Edmunds, the professionals in the NFL love him. The role of the MLB in today's game is to eat space, NOT to make a lot of splash plays or to thump RBs. If the play comes to him, he makes it, but he's the sponge that shrinks the field letting all the other defenders have the advantage over the offensive players. Edmunds has always had the size and speed, but now he's also had the experience that helps him avoid bad gap choices (which was a problem early in his career). Edmunds is a little banged up and there's a chance he won't play Sunday. Fortunately this is against the Steelers and not against a high powered offense, so the Bills should win anyway, but if he doesn't play we'll all get a chance to see how the Bills D looks running on regular unleaded instead of super premium. There's a good chance that the Bills simply can't match the offers that Edmunds will get from other teams. But if they can figure a way to make that work, they should do whatever it takes to keep him around.

The only comparable play I can remember is Hyde's interception of Mac and cheese in the playoff game last year. In both cases, a strong throw by the QB, or a throw to the outside shoulder of the receiver, would have prevented the great Bills plays -- at least the interceptions, and possibly not even a pass breakup. Something to consider about the Ravens kicking the FG and going up by 3. When the Bills get the ball back, they're in four down territory all the way down the field. As it was, if the Bills didn't convert a third down somewhere along the way, they'd have had to punt or try a FG of their own, putting the ball and the initiative back on the side of the Ravens. Of course if the Ravens had scored a TD, the Bills would have been in four down play all the way, too, but that would have been to tie and not win.

In that Tennessee game, the defenses were really gassed. Winning in OT was going to come down to the coin flip. I never blamed McD for that call.

Good Lord, I had forgotten how the other half lives. Lousy offense vs lousy offense.

In 1980 I was a grad student at the University of Wyoming, and UW grad Conrad Dobler was there for a public event of some kind. He had signed with the Bills, who needed him because they'd traded Joe DeLamielleure to the Browns, which was a trade Joe D requested to get away from the Bills HC at the time, Chuck Knox. I talked to Dobler, told him I was a Bills fan, and asked if he knew what the reason for Joe D wanting to be traded was. He was very nice, saying that sometimes people just rub each other the wrong way. He didn't act at all like his reputation would have indicated. (You young'uns on the board should look up what Dobler was accused of by other players.) As far as I know, Dobler is the only Wyoming player to be a Bill. Oh, wait ....

Mark Twain was touring Europe and attended a Richard Wagner opera. Afterwards he was asked how he liked Wagner's music and he said it's a lot better than it sounds. Same concept about Trubisky.

If he keeps this up the NFL will have to let defenses play with 12 men on the field.