Utah John

Lawson wasn't exactly a bust, but until his last year he didn't meet expectations. Even in his last year, he was never dominant. Seems like a good guy, and I'll wish him well, until he puts on that horrible jersey.

At the start of last season Miami was the worst team in the league. They'd traded all their talent and were tanking for Tua. Brian Flores pulled that team together and they were winning games against tough opponents at the end of the year. I really think the AFCE this year will be a two-team event between Buffalo and Miami. NE will fall and the Jets..., well the Jets will crash.

Google him. He's one of the guys who's just barely good enough to make a team but not good enough to stick for long. In other words, a vastly better athlete than any of us, but not quite elite enough for the NFL. He had one injury after another during his career, and I'm sure some of those become sources of chronic pain for players as they get older. His wife has some tweets that make it sound like the new CBA is what's going to slash his retirement. Why that might be, I have no idea.

All those scouts and coaches who've been on the road -- one or more of them could be bringing the virus back. They should be quarantined. Preferably in Foxborough.

This will be a tough year with all the travel. The Bills have historically struggled to win on the West Coast. Fortunately, the rest of the AFCE has pretty much the same challenges. I think this is the year the Bills win the AFCE, but probably not host a playoff game unless they win two road playoff games first. 10-6 will win the division but not get a home playoff game or bye. Other teams are getting better as well. Tennessee will be trouble. Miami is a tight group, playing without much talent but playing together, and in all honesty as Brady collapses or leaves, NE will probably finish third. The Jets are the disaster we thought Miami would be. I honestly think 2021 will be the SB year. The schedule will return to normal amounts of travel, and the Bills' core will have been working together for several years, with almost no one getting old yet. We need to hold on to Frazier, which is why I think he got promoted to Assistant HC.

This is certainly true. We could probably fill a photo album of shots of him with an offensive player's arm across his neck or chest, usually with the referee standing right there watching.

Any player, just about, can look bad in a system that doesn't suit him, or with a bad coach. Ref: O.J. in his first year or two in the league was a major disappointment, because of the weak team around him and coaches with no clue how to use him. After that, things got straightened out, and he was The Juice, the best player I've ever seen in person. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer were both just so-so until they got here, and now they're a tremendous force. Sometimes the system has to adjust to the players, and sometimes you have to get the right players to make the system work. McBeane have a batting average well over .700. I think they know what they're doing.

We shouldn't make too much fun of this. It was our hockey team that had the slugs on their jerseys.

More "efficient". I wonder what that actually means. More productive, I get. Efficiency ought to mean, did they take advantage of great field position when they got it. Did they get into position for a late TD or FG at the end of the half. Did they take what the defense game them. I am not sure how to run the numbers on any of those things. This all seems pretty subjective to me.

Jazz pianists say the notes you don't play are as important as what you do play. A lot of life is like that.

Buck is OK. Aikman is terrible. All Aikman does is recite bland clichés. Romo is light years better, discussing in depth what's going on, and why. Romo:Aikman as graduate school:middle school

Dawkins is a good LT but Williams is a great LT. If anyone should move to the RT position, it should be Dawkins. Ford can move inside to LG, and Spain (whom I like a lot, and who played really wall last year) would be the odd man out.

MNF was really big when the only alternative was the games on Sunday afternoon, usually the AFL/AFC on NBC and NFL/NFC on CBS. MNF was a chance to see another game, in a party mode, and see some highlights which we could only read about otherwise. And when the Bills were shown on the highlights, there would be cheering. Now MNF comes at the end of a gauntlet of games -- TNF, college on Saturday, three games on Sunday afternoon, and SNF. I have a few other things to do with my time, and that's too much football to watch. Granted, I record all games and watch them later, except for the Bills which I usually watch in real time. Still, there are other things in life. (Sorry if I offend.)

So what are we supposed to do with Foles? Pay him gobs more than we pay our starting QB? OK, it's a quibble.

BB is a cold, steely-eyed manager. He loves Brady as much as he's loved any other player -- ZERO except for what that walking meat could do for him. He's cut countless players who either were done or were almost done, who had contributed to his team's and his own success. Sayonara, Brady, good luck and don't face the Pats in the playoffs because we know how to stop you.

I don't blame him for wanting to travel with the team. For one thing, out of sight, out of mind. For another, McBeane are very strong on team belonging.

Yes, get him signed for 5 years at a fair price for a pretty good LT. That doesn't hurt the Bills too much if they decide to upgrade eventually. Dawkins will always have trade value if it comes to that, and a solid, non-exorbitant contract would increase his trade value.

The Cowboys got a lot better immediately after getting Cooper. So I'm saying one of the other NFCE teams should grab him. He's a good WR, maybe not top 7, but worth it to some other team for the added benefit of hurting the Cowboys.

I feel bad for Rosen, who never has had a chance. He was ruined in AZ and then didn't get a real shot in Miami, and both teams were suck-o. With a better team around him his career could have been completely different. However, I'm very happy we got the right guy.

The call that really cost us the game was the officials inventing a new rule about procedures during kickoffs. On the KO for the second half, the Houston receiver fumbled the ball, and the Bills scored, and the ref correctly called it a touchdown. That would have made it 20-0. Instead they did what kids do in the back yard, making up rules as they go. The Ford block was a terrible call. It was not blind side at all. Ford was at about 10 o'clock to the guy, in front and to the side. There's nothing blind about that. And Ford didn't go attack the guy, the guy basically ran into Ford. The other terrible call was on the Allen run in OT where Knox missed a block, and the Houston defender speared Allen in the helmet. No call at all. The correct call would have put the Bills in middle range FG range, possibly ending the game right there. So the Bills get a BS penalty against them, and a BS non-call against them, and a BS rule change in the middle of a playoff game.

If the Bills keep drafting and FA'ing so well the next year or two (1) We're winning the AFC East in 2020 and a SB in 2021, and (2) We'll be in absolute salary cap hell in 2023, with way too many great players and a great QB all wanting paychecks consistent with their talent. I would take that problem in a heartbeat, if (1) comes true.

Phillips had a breakout year this season, which just happened to be in his contract year. We're seen these situations before, where a guy plays exceptionally well in his contract year and then reverts to mediocrity. If he gets the big, multi-year contract he wants from the Bills, we'll be overpaying him for years. Tagging means possibly overpaying for one year, but keeping his rights while we see if he can keep playing at that high level.

The Bills are building a team that can win consistently for years to come, not throwing everything in for a single year that might or might not work out, only to watch the team dissolve.

Drafting Walt Patulski #1 overall. Trading Haven Moses to Denver.

The real story there is that Anderson didn't want to play for the Bills. He missed those kicks on purpose, forcing the Bills to cut him. If there's a boneheaded part on the Bills, it wasn't talking to Anderson before they drafted him, to see what his intentions were.