hondo in seattle

The Chiefs are/were amazing. For a while, they had the best coaching staff in the league and, arguably, the best roster. It was a remarkable accomplishment. And an ill-timed one as it just preceded the Bills' ascension. Now I'm beginning to realize Veach isn't superhuman. Their current roster, outside of Mahomes, isn't elite. But just because the Chiefs haven't built a great receiving corps doesn't excuse Beane for failing in the same area.

Neph, I agree wholeheartedly. Josh reminds me of Coach Lad. Bob Ladouceur was the legendary head football coach at De La Salle High School in California who won 151 consecutive games, the longest win streak in American sports history. Amazingly, unlike some other coaches at successful programs, Lad didn't recruit. He took whatever kids he had and taught them to play hard and execute at an extraordinarily high level. And he didn't talk about winning. His culture was centered on personal accountability, meticulous preparation (aka process), and teamwork. Some quotes... “We never really talked about it (the winning streak) much...I told them to hustle and play to the best of their abilities. And, when we won some games but played poorly, everyone knew not to be satisfied.” “I really don't think you can win 151 games in a row if you're trying to win.” “I looked at football as a vehicle to reveal character.” “It’s not about playing a position. It’s about playing for your friends.” “I am entirely focused on you as a team. I want you to realize your full potential. This has nothing to do with winning.”

I'm not sure if this was already posted but - to my surprise - Hawes is PFF's highest graded rookie after two weeks... 1. TE Jackson Hawes, Buffalo Bills (92.7) Hawes followed up a 93.7 PFF overall grade against the Ravens in Week 1 with an 85.3 mark against the Jets in Week 2. He played 35 snaps, primarily as a run blocker, and earned an 84.8 PFF run-blocking grade on zone runs (18 snaps). The fifth-round pick from Georgia Tech is the NFL's highest-graded tight end after Week 2 and ranks as the second-best run blocker at the position (83.1), behind teammate Dawson Knox (90.6). While Hawes has dealt with challenges in man schemes (58.3), he’s been excellent in zone, earning an 85.6 zone PFF run-blocking grade across 23 snaps through two weeks. As a receiver, Hawes has caught both of his targets for 34 yards, 29 of which came in Week 1. www.pff.com/news/nfl-top-15-rookies-week-2-2025

We wore leather helmets back when I played football (or something like that) - a great thing because, as a receiver and safety, I hated anything obscuring my vision even in the smallest way. Weirdly, I had poor eyesight and wore glasses yet I didn't like wearing glasses in games because I didn't like the rims obstructing my sight. A visor would have driven me crazy with the hint of glare. So I'm glad for #1 because Josh has already adjusted to the way the visor affects his vision. #2 and #3 remain problems. But I don't think heat or reverberation will bother him when he's in the pocket, scanning the field, in the flow, and entirely focused on the play.

It's easy to imagine Kincaid beating his 2025 high of 48 yards (vs. Ravens). And it's easy to imagine Knox having fewer drops than he did against the Jets! So far this year, the Bills are targeting their WRs 59% of the time. That stat surprised me because I had thought we were targeting WRs more this year. We're not - it's almost exactly the same as 2024. TEs are being targeted this season about 27% of the time and RBs about 14%. I'm guessing the numbers against the Fins will skew a little heavier toward TEs and RBs. Low-risk stuff with a chance for high reward considering the Fin LBs have been struggling with coverage and as a team they miss some tackles. The run/pass mix will be normal Brady stuff so I don't know if the TEs will have "big" days since we'll run roughly half the time. I guess it depends on how you define "big." Shannon Sharpe's single-game record of 214 is probably safe.

I think Brady's balanced offense allows for a larger margin for error. As Dan Orlovsky says, this offense can do whatever it wants. We can run, throw short, throw downfield... Whatever the D is determined to stop, we can do something else. But only to an extent. Because you're right that the receivers do sometimes struggle to get open, and when that happens, we rely on Josh to (1) thread needles, (2) scramble to give the receivers more time, and/or (3) transform a passing play into a positive QB run. I wish we had better separators and, at the same time, Brady schemed a better passing game. Still, it's hard to argue with Brady's results: lots of points, few turnovers.

I have trouble wrapping my head around this. While the Bills haven't been blessed with many great QBs in our 65-year history, we have had several good RBs, including two Hall of Famers: OJ and Thurman. And Josh has more rushing TDs than any of them. It's incomprehensible. And they're not all tush-pushes and QB dives. In fact, most of them are longer.

When I watch Brady's offense in action, I think he's good at scheming a run game (helped by the fact that opponents are more worried about defending Josh than our backs) but poor at scheming a downfield passing attack. That second observation bothers me because we have a cannon-armed unicorn named Josh Allen. But when I pay attention to stats, I can't help but notice that our offense scores a lot of points and doesn't give the ball up very often. That's not accidental. That's by design. On D, being in the top ten in takeaways for eight years in a row is not accidental either.

Years ago, I read an article that showed that yards gained and yards allowed are somewhat consistent from year to year (especially if the same coaching staff stays in place). But, the author argued, TOs are mostly a crap shoot - particularly fumbles but overall TOs as well. If a team is among the league's leaders in TO differential, they can't count on repeating. To say it another way, TOs are as much about luck as they are about skill according to the author. That doesn't seem to be true. Not with the Bills.

I attend a home game once every 50 years. I make it to more away games. Weird stat: Bills are undefeated in games I've attended live. I hope to bring that streak back to Buffalo next year when the new stadium opens.

Well, now I do know because I got curious and googled him. Former basketball player (and current sports commentator?). I stopped following basketball when the Braves left town back when Jimmy Carter was president. I felt betrayed not just by John Y. Brown and Irv Levin, but by the entire NBA. Haven't watched a game since.

You really believe this? I personally have no idea who Draymond Green is. Besides Bills games, I don't watch TV or do pop culture. I spend my time traveling, eating, writing, hiking, meditating, running, and reading books mostly about science, history, and philosophy. Whoever Draymond Green is, he's not in my world.

Bills 34 Fins 17

I never take any game for granted but reading through their hopeless pessimism does something good for my mood and optimism. Thanks for posting.

True. After wide right, 5-0 starts that led nowhere, and all the other stuff we've lived through, we've been trained to see clouds on blue sky days. But consider this: If we were passengers on the Titanic, we'd worry about the unsinkable ship sinking even before it hit the iceberg. And we'd be right.

Pretty much every time we play the Ravens, I expect to lose because they have a better roster, and their O is a matchup nightmare. So once the Prater nailed that final FG, the beginning of the 2025 season was already a beautiful thing. AFCE 'rival' losses, KC losses, etc. are all just icing on the cake for me at this point.

My first thought was "Oh crap! Josh is hurt!" And that's kind of like saying, "Oh crap! A meteor is about to strike Earth and we're all going to die!" But I quickly realized his arms and legs were working, so whatever was hurt didn't really matter.

Some good defense on the Jets part. Josh had a couple balls batted down, and he threw a couple of balls away. There were some bad drops, too, particularly by Knox. Also, Josh missed a couple plays with a broken nose (?), and then later sat for the last 8 minutes with the game effectively over. In any case, his arm just wasn't needed much today.

I admit I was a little harsh on the rest of the offense. But if you take away Josh and replace him with an average starter, this O isn't elite. The O Line is good. But Josh's pocket presence and evasiveness plusses up their pass-pro stats. And Cook is good. But the fact that defenses are far more focused on Josh opens things up for Jimbo.

Can't go stale, brother!

Jimmy, youse come in here flappin’ ya gums like the Jets ain’t been swimmin’ in the kiddie pool since Nam. Every year it’s “this is the year,” and every year it’s like watchin’ a pigeon try to do algebra. You got a QB carousel that spins faster than the 7 train at rush hour, and your O-line’s got more holes than a Staten Island pothole. Meanwhile, here in Buffalo? We got Josh freakin’ Allen. We ain’t just playin football—we’re playin chess while youse are still tryin’ to figure out checkers. So do us all a favor—grab a slice, take a seat, and let the grown-ups handle the AFC East. You wanna talk smack? Win somethin’ first. Until then, youse just background noise in a Bills highlight reel. Freakin' Trubisky in a mop-up role finished with more passing yards than that star QB you're pinning your vain hopes on.

Not true! Last week, I wore by "17" jersey and Allen played like the MVP that he is. This week, I wore my Kyle Williams jersey because I thought the D needed some added juju. Sure enough, Allen's productivity went down but the defense really stepped up.

I'd take Fred Jackson ahead of him. Fred never had a QB like Josh nor an OL like this. But I enjoy watching Cook and am glad he got paid. Generally speaking, McD can scheme well enough to shut down bad QBs, but doesn't have the athletes to routinely succeed against offenses with elite players.

Steel moon on the rise, helmets gleam like katana, fins fall in silence.

I agree with you. But then I look at the weapons Brady has: an All-World QB and a fairly average squad beyond that. Averaging 36 points per game doesn't seem like a bad outcome. Weird analogy but... My college had a game room full of pinball machines. For a while, I thought I was the best player on campus. I had the high score on a bunch of the most popular machines and could do all sorts of fancy slap-saves, shots, and passes. But then some hip-looking transfer student started breaking my records. I was confused because while his slap saves were as good as mine, he didn't have the same shots as I did and would never even pass the ball from one paddle to another. His skills didn't look impressive, yet he'd put up great scores. Finally, I asked him his secret. He explained it to me. "It's all about rhythm. You do some cool passes and back-handed shots, but you're all stop-and-go. For me, it's all continual action, more like music. That's why I'm better than you." That's kind of how I think about Brady. It doesn't always look pretty, but I think there's an unseen wisdom in what he's doing.