Utah John

Conventional weather models, including ensemble models, are essentially skill-less two weeks out. Analog models might be useful if they're able to predict a blocking pattern or other stable situation. There's no harm in looking at whatever tool is available, but don't make big plans based on what's available. Check back in a week.

Even if the Pats don't need a QB, the top pick in the draft is worth a lot more in trade value. I realize the Bills will be sitting a lot of starters next week, but the Pats might not be interested in winning. Could be a very ugly game.

There are three former Bills players starting on the Dolphins defense. One is Jordan Poyer, whom the Bills let go because they could see he was aging and slowing. Too bad because he was a great player for the Bills and was foundational to the resurrection of the team. He isn't playing well for the Dolphins and I hope he can get through the season without injury and then retire. If the Bills have a Wall of Fame in the new stadium, I think Poyer deserves a place on it. The second is Siran Neal, a safety and mostly a special teamer for the Bills. Would he be better than Hamlin or Bishop? I think the Bills saw him as a old player (30) and they wanted to get younger. Still, this has been a much better year for the Bills than I think they expected, and I wonder if they would have held on to Neal if they'd known how it would go with their safeties. The third is Tyrel Dodson, who's lighting it up for the Dolphins after being released by the Seahawks for no apparent reason -- he was the Seahawks leading tackler when they let him go. The Bills could have kept Dodson but he was looking for a bigger contract than they wanted to (or could afford to) pay. I would love to have him back since Milano is taking so long to get back to speed, and Bernard doesn't seem to be as good since he got married. Maybe the Dolphis can return the favor. There's talk that if Miami is eliminated from the playoffs, they'll release Calais Campbell so he can sign with a contender. He's old but still huge and still effective. He would patch the biggest weakness of the Bills.

Josh should be in long enough to hand off to Frank Gore Jr. He played with his dad, and that would be a nice touch.

Huh. If Trubisky is that good, maybe we trade Allen.....

Well, Allen doesn't have Henry but he's got Cook and two other very good backs. I think the difference there is that without the Bills strong O line, Cook doesn't shine like he has been doing. (Also Cook has 15 rushing TDs and Henry has only 14. As good as Henry is, Cook ain't chopped liver.)

It seems to me that Bergey's career was a lot better than some of the men who've been selected to the HOF, but OTOH maybe he should be considered why the Hall of Very Good should exist too, at least on paper. Bergey was not defined by his statistics, which were very good, or his awards (All-Pro, Pro Bowl, etc) which were also remarkable, but by his ferocious reputation and his leadership. Maybe the HOF voters should ask themselves when they consider a HOF candidate, is he better than Bill Bergey? Does this guy's memory and reputation stand out any better than Bergey's? If not, then a no vote for the HOF.

If the Bills need to win to retain the 2 seed, they'll game plan enough to be pretty sure of winning. If not, they'll go very vanilla. Maybe even sit Josh Allen for the second half if they have a good lead. Looking ahead at the weather forecast for Sunday early afternoon, it's gonna be interesting. Quite warm for late December (high 50s) with rain, and with 10-15 mph winds from the south or southeast (hence the higher temperatures). The stadium has tricky winds even when the prevailing winds are from the west and straight down the field, but with winds blowing across the rim of the stadium and then swirling, it will be harder to connect on touch passes and deep outs. It's time to turn even more to the RBs. I would like to see Cook protected for the playoffs so paging Ray Davis, paging Ty Johnson.

I keep expecting an NFL-intensity tackle to snap Worthy in half. In the meantime, Coleman is settling in nicely. He has to settle for getting his share, just like everyone not named Shakir or Kincaid, whom I think Josh tends to look for first, not that I blame him. I think Coleman will turn out to be a great WR2. The WR1 will be drafted next spring. Shakir will be one of the best slot receivers in the league. The Bills offense is going to get even better next year. Carter looked pretty darn good before his injury. For whatever reason, he hasn't had the same impact since returning. Then again, no one on the Bills D line has looked good for the past two months.

If Detroit's defense wasn't so ravaged by injuries, and if Montgomery was still playing, then a cipher like Bridgewater could indeed win a playoff game against one of the weaker teams in the NFC playoffs. I'm thinking that the injuries are going to open the door for the Vikings to steal the division and push the Lions into a wildcard slot, probably the 5 seed, where they'll play the 4 seed, either the NFCW or NFCS pretender. That's a game the fully-healthy Lions could romp through if they still had all their players, even without Goff. A few years ago the Raiders put everything together and had a great record preparing for the playoffs. Then Carr (their QB) broke an arm or leg, and that was that. They washed out in the first round, then fell apart. I don't think the same thing will happen to Detroit going forward, but I really feel sorry for the team and the city that they had so much working for them before the injuries hit.

Whew. Red Bills, green Jets, would look like everyone forgot Christmas is over.

Spencer Brown's rise into one of the better right tackles... Well, how about Spencer Brown's rise into one of the best right tackles... So Penei Sewell is acknowledged as the best RT but how many other are out there that you'd take over Brown? An occasional hold? I don't remember him being called for ANY holding penalties. As for lining up off the line, he is far less egregious than the clown the Chiefs have at RT, who lines up back from the line AND jumps way early on almost all pass plays. And gets away with it, all the time.

Saw that coming.

The difference is that this year, it was the other team that found a way to lose. This one is going to eat at the souls of the Pats. Interesting to see how they respond in the game in two weeks.

He was solid all right. A solid C minus. Not exactly what you expect from a first round pick with several years of experience.

Good thing the Jets and Giants aren't playing on Festivus. The "feats of strength" would be far beyond them, and the "airing of grievances" would be nonstop. What? No Bills gear? Unless you were at nudist colony, turn in your Mafia Membership card. Yeah, I get that, but attracting new fans now should keep them on board in the dark days ahead. (Hopefully far, far ahead. But we're Bills fans so we know they're coming someday.)

Punters screw up, too. They don't always get off deep punts. But generally when they do screw up, they shank a punt out of bounds, which takes away the fair catch opportunity. I

I'm OK with any scenario where the Broncos are fighting for their playoff lives when they play the Chiefs in the last game of the regular season.

I do NOT CARE. As long as the Bills win and there aren't many injuries, the score is irrelevant.

For the first three weeks of the season, the NFL's waiver wire priority for teams is based on the draft order from that spring's draft. The worst team in the league from the previous season has the first claim The second-worst team has the second claim, and so on Traded or forfeited draft picks are not considered After the third week of the season, the waiver claim priority is based on the league's standings and changes weekly. The order is the reverse of the league standings, with the team with the worst record having the highest priority. So the Ravens would get precedence over the Bills. But keep in mind the Bills beat the Dolphins with Campbell twice this year. He's still a good player and I'd be happy to see him come on board if there's cap money available, but he's not the difference in getting the Lombardi.

Beane did something like this when it was time for Shady to go. Shady got himself onto the Chiefs and finally got a ring. He didn't hurt the Bills in any game, and as far as I'm concerned that was a great move by everyone. Players around the league watch how particular teams treat players, and that Shady move made the Bills look really good.

There is a chance that the Samuel signing will work out long term. Most likely Amari Cooper is a rental and maybe the Bills think Samuel will make up for his departure. I don't really think this is apples to apples since they really don't play the same flavor of WR, but it could still work out. Anyway, he's on the team, he's an asset, and maybe the Bills just have him waiting his turn for his big game (like Cooper had against the Rams).

Nope. Too small to play safety. And now, too old and possibly too slow. He was on track for the HOF but injuries.

Yeah, that was ESPN. Another ranking I saw had the Bills at 2, behind only Philly, and I thought that was right. The power rankings should reflect how well teams are playing NOW, not how many games they won or lost in September and October. The Bills might be playing the best of any team right now, or maybe not considering all the yards and points the D has given up. The thing is that rankings have nothing to do with who's going to win a particular game the next time out. Good or bad schemes and injuries can overwhelm any supposed advantage.

First of all, the priorities now are to win the 1 seed if possible (unlikely), if not then secure the 2 seed (very doable), get through three more games with as few injuries as possible (who knows), and give away as few of Joe Brady's secrets as possible (likely). Setting obscure records is nothing compared to a Lombardi. As for no one stopping the Bills offense, I remember the end of the season of the Bills' first SB team. They were an unstoppable machine. They won the AFC championship 51-3. And then the scored only 19 points in the SB. No one is unstoppable, no one is hopeless. Just play and win.