Utah John

People who choose where to live solely on the basis of the weather, have to live among other people who feel the same way. I've lived in 10 states, and the weather is a secondary aspect to the quality of life. After 10 years total in California, I'll never live there again. (As if I could afford it...) I live in Alaska now, and we haven't had an overnight low this year that didn't get down into the 30s. Fortunately it's nice and warm during the day -- the high 50s.

IIRC the money for Watson is fully guaranteed. If he's not allowed to play at all (i.e., in prison) does he still get the cash?

I think the thinking behind the prediction that only one AFCW team makes the playoffs is that they'll all beat each other up, not only inflicting losses on each other, but finding ways to punish each other physically. That's one very tough division. I don't buy the theory, though, since all four teams could accumulate enough wins outside their division to make it.

We'll find out in the first game, against Aaron Donald, about whether the O line is good enough. I'm thinking the Bills learned a huge lesson in Game 1 last year, not really being at their best against Pittsburgh and figuring they just needed to show up and win. The Steelers game might be the most important of last season, for this season. Not sure if the Rams got that memo, that they have to work even harder this year than last if they want to repeat. I doubt Donald needs any motivation -- that guy never stops. It's the rest of the team that I'm not sure about. They lost a lot more talent than the Bills did in the offseason, and their lack of picks in the first two rounds will catch up to them quickly.

Along with his yards, he also forced defenses not to play Kelce as tightly as they would otherwise have done. I think KC will struggle this year more than people expect. They could even finish third in the AFCW.

I recognize the importance of rest as much as the next guy, but this is a killer schedule. We all remember the Bills from the last few weeks of last season as this incredible powerhouse, but they just put it all together at the right time. There were stretches last year when the Bills were good to very good, not overpowering. If they have key injuries or if losing Daboll hurts more than we think, this could be rough. It's not inconceivable they're 1-6 after the first 7 games, with potential losses to the Rams, Titans, Dolphins, Ravens, Chiefs, and Packers. And the one win I'm counting in is Pittsburgh, who beat us last year.

The Bills played the Chiefs in EIGHT straight years, from 2008-2015. https://www.footballdb.com/teams/nfl/buffalo-bills/teamvsteam?opp=16 The system is the system, and it's designed to be as hands-off as possible to avoid complaints and to attempt to be fair. Building in checks that changed the results of the system would just cause incredible arguments.

Let's hope the referees get that memo.

Yes, it would indeed be DiMarco, the guy we could never figure out the reason for why he had a roster spot.

WHAT??? Is this a joke? I can find nothing online to back this up.

It isn't racism, exactly. There are more black QBs in the league than I can count without doing more work than I want to. Kaepernick is being blackballed because he insisted on bringing attention to a problem the NFL wanted kept quiet, and because a third of America foolishly believes everything Trump says. Trump used Kaepernick's protest as one of his many wedge issues, and his followers lapped it up. And now the cold-eyed NFL figures bringing Kaepernick back would not gain it anything and would cost it a lot of Trump's followers. For a heartless, soulless, amoral league, this is an easy decision.

The first INT he threw in that game was a good pass that should have been caught, but the Bill receiver (a fullback whose name escapes me) just let the ball bounce into the air, where it was intercepted. It was all downhill after that. So it was slightly about bad luck but also was about not being able to rise to the occasion, or to regroup after a bad break. THOSE were the leadership failings that got him canned. Just send me the money. I'll spend it all and not give you anything in return, but that's all you'd get anyway.

Put the famous Domino's Death Disks to work for them.

It's looking like Baker's wife will be spending next season, "at home with Baker Mayfield" and NOT at the Browns' stadium.

Wallace was guarding the sideline and did a great job of making sure the sideline didn't move. As for playing defense, not so much. I think his screwups during the 13 seconds and then after the Chiefs won the coin toss were the final straw for the Bills management, which has wanted to move on from Wallace for years.

Tannehill has always seemed like a slightly above average QB, good enough to keep the team winning most of its games but not a championship. But now I look at the AFC -- 16 teams, and it's easy to find at least 10 QBs better than Tannehill. (Allen, Mahomes, Watson, Russell Wilson, Burrow, Herbert, Jackson, Carr, Jones, Ryan) and at least two young QBs who are probably going to outplay Tannehill this year (Lawrence and Tagovailoa, possibly also Zach Wilson). Tannehill is no longer above average. In fact he's probably in the bottom quartile, along with Mills. And who knows what Trubisky will do in Pittsburgh -- he could turn his career around like Tannehill did in Tennessee. Tannehill could challenge for designation as the worst QB in the AFC. The Titans still have Henry, and a run-based offense will be regular-season effective in a league with pass-based defenses. They could make it into the playoffs, but Tannehill is just not good enough to win three or four post-season games against the top competition.

Beane has been obsessed with building a championship dynasty from the start of his time here. If the 13 second collapse hadn't happened, and the Bills managed to beat the Bengals in Orchard Park (pretty sure that would have happened) and the Rams (better than even odds that would have happened too), he would STILL have been back to work. 13 seconds or no, there were flaws on the Bills team revealed during the season, and Beane would have understood better than we what the problems were and how to fix them. I'm not yet convinced the O line is strong enough, and the changes to the D line sound so far like the attempts every year to make it better -- which haven't really paid off.

I have to agree about Bernard, just because he's pretty small for a LB. The Bills like to have fast LBs to cover all the fast receivers, I get that, but they also have struggled against heavy,strong-running teams. Maybe this is a choice they're deliberately making, figuring it's more important to stop the majority of teams with faster offenses, than to build a defense geared toward stopping the few running teams.

You're right, he wasn't cut, he just wouldn't settle for what the Bills were offering. What happened with Gary Anderson is really bad. He went to Syracuse University and was drafted by the Bills. He apparently had had enough of Upstate New York, or for some other reason, he chose to miss every kick he attempted in training camp. He clearly could kick but just refused to play for the Bills. So they cut him rather than go into the season with a PK who would cost them games, and he went on to a HOF career. This was before the great Bills teams came together -- if it had been Anderson and not Scott Norwood trying that FG, who knows whether the Bills win their first SB against the Giants.

For me, it's Cook. I like his full package of skills. I'm a little worried about Elam being forced into playing before he's fully engaged in the system. Put a rookie QB out there and if he's not ready, or if the offense is tailored for him, he'll struggle until he learns. If a QB can't do it, a CB could struggle too. Start out struggling and it's harder to excel in the long run.

If it's just alarms, a team could bring him in as a UDFA and see how he does. If it's clear he's never going to be that good again, probably the word's gotten out.

I saw a clip where Arazia was at his goal line when he punted, and the ball landed beyond the opposing 25. The knock on Arazia is apparently that he doesn't get enough hang time, and that's a big worry. The Bills had a punter with the highest average in the league a couple of years ago, Bojorquez, and they cut him, and so have the teams he signed with. I don't know if he didn't have enough hang time or if he couldn't kick directionally, or if he wasn't a good holder on FGs and EPs. Whatever, there's a lot more going on there than just punting for average. it would be great to have someone better than Haack punting for us, but I've read that Haack is an excellent holder for Bass. So it's not a lock that Arazia makes the team.

If you give a bad cook the best ingredients in the world, dinner will still taste bad. Sorry Jets.

Would any team draft any CB who wasn't confident about his abilities? He'll find out what the NFL is about, right quick. Actually I think this attitude is what the Jets need -- someone confident who might help turn around the garbage fire culture in New Jersey. He'll probably be one of their best players until he walks away as a FA or is traded because the Jets can't afford to pay him in a few years.

Belichick is a great coach, but he's a mediocre GM. The Pats should strip his GM duties away and let him concentrate on coaching.