hondo in seattle

This is so good to see. I've been complaining for what felt like generations about the OL. For a while, I couldn't understand why Beane drafted a unicorn QB with little attempt to hire an adequate bodyguard to protect him. Well, little by little, Beane's built up a good one.

While you might be right, I hope not. Hamlin is a great story and a serviceable safety who knows the system and seems rarely to blow his assignments. But I'm hoping one of the other safeties proves to be better than him. Edit: I just saw Don Otreply's post and realized I just parroted what he had already said. I guess great minds do think alike. 😄

I'm with Special K: Elijah Moore and Cole Bishop. I think Moore fills an important niche and will be one of our top 2 or 3 leading receivers. I'm not confident Bishop will be a stud, but I do think he'll crack the starting lineup this year. And I'll mention a position group: DL. They've been mediocre for a while. While I'm not predicting great things from them this year, I do think greatness (or, at least, very goodness) is a possibility.

I'm not sure his post is entirely accurate. For example, was he really 14th string? We would have needed 42 wideouts in camp to man 14 strings. If he exaggerated on that point, maybe he did on some others too? Though it was still good to read the positive comments and sense the growth in maturity.

This was in the 1981 Excalibur movie. Stirring!

I lot of fans agree that the Bills skill position groups (minus QB) deserve to be ranked in the 20s. I wonder if these are the same folks who want to fire McD for not getting to the SB despite our shortcomings at WR, TE, and RB (and elsewhere). And if they're the same people who don't want to fire Beane despite some of the challenges he's had with roster-building. I'm not pointing fingers or blaming anyone. Just curious. Despite some poor decisions over the years, I personally find it hard to blame McD for not winning us a Lombardi when he's never been given a Lombardi caliber roster.

I agree, Shaw. The Bills have built something that's difficult to do: a team that's in the hunt perennially. I appreciate that. Still, when I'm lying on my deathbed many years from now (or maybe tomorrow, who knows?), I don't want to think of the 1990s and 2020s as the two periods in my long fandom that we had a good team that was never quite good enough. But with Beane, McD, and Josh, I think we'll be contenders for years to come so I still light incense to the Gods of the Gridiron in a hopeful spirit. Maybe this is finally the year...

I agree with every word of this and I'm grateful for Beane and McD. And yet, we still don't have a Lombardi. As Shaw66 says, this is a seriously good football team. And that's both a joy and a problem. Good is the enemy of great, as they say, and we're not great. We've never begun a season as the best team in the NFL, or even the AFC. There are always concerning injuries and/or roster holes, not to mention some questions about the coaching staff. So what do you do with a GM/HC who win lots of games but no trophies? Say thank you and hope for next year? Replace them with guys who - odds are - wouldn't be as good? It's a conundrum. I'll say this... Every year with Beane and McD, we have a legit chance. For 17 prior years, we had no chance at all. I like having a chance, so I'll roll with them. But I do wish each of them was just a little bit better.

I love the OP's confidence. His realistic prediction is we get to the SB. His optimistic prediction is we win it. My optimistic hope is we win but my realistic prediction is that we sadly bow out in the playoffs again. I'm not convinced were the best team in the AFC though I do think this team's roster may prove better than last year's. We'll see.

If you were there and know what happened, please contact the police.

Is my memory failing me? Wasn't McGee the CB who would blanket receivers but let them catch the ball anyway?

I wouldn't want to see OJ's face anywhere anymore, but I'll mention he did kick returns his rookie year and bit afterwards, finishing his career with an impressive 30 yards per return average. And I think Pete Gogolak deserves a mention just because he's the guy who popularized soccer style kicking in the NFL. After playing for the Bills, he went to the Giants and remains to this day their leading all-time scorer. For the youngsters in the cheap seats, before Gogolak NFL kickers would approach the ball straight on. But I agree with the OP, Tasker, Pike, and Moorman are all obvious choices. I'm not sure who I'd add after that. Bobby April is a good option if we're considering coaches too.

Mini Max Anderson... I was 9 or 10 watching what may have been my very first Bills game and Mini Max got hurt. One of the announcers said he swallowed his tongue. The concept freaked me out and I ran to my mother and asked if that was even possible. For years, I was afraid of swallowing my tongue.

I'd probably go if I wasn't 2700 miles away.

I remember this game. Then again, how could you forget something like this. What was weird is that this was when our offense was on fire so you'd expect if we did something spectacular with scoring it would be because of Kelly & the Boys. This was (almost) all defense and ST.