hondo in seattle
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Posts posted by hondo in seattle
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I don't know which Bills team will show up this week, but I'm going to believe it's the good one until Reality slaps me in the face and calls me an idiot.
Bills 35
Pats 24
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1 hour ago, Rubes said:
I mean, against Burrow and Chase, Benford allowed 0 catches. Not as effective against Higgins, but still. Add the sack and game-changing pick-6, and I really don't see how Rasul was better.
Rasul did have a good game.
But Benford, besides an overall solid game, made a play that entirely changed the trajectory of an important game with playoff implications.
It's a shame Josh's award precluded Benford from getting what he deserved.-
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29 minutes ago, transient said:
This one helped send us to the SB.
Listen to the fans! Bills fans being loud and crazy is not a new phenomenon.
I remember this game. The Bills offense, dominant all year, struggled mightily against the Broncos and need a defensive TD to help win the game.
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On 11/4/2025 at 2:33 PM, Buffalo Ballin said:
All we have to say is this, if we don't reach the AFC Title game this season, then what?
Okay, let's forget 13 seconds.
- Cincinnati Bengals eliminating us in 2023 Playoffs.
- Kansas City Chiefs eliminating us in 2025 AFC Title game.
McD doesn't have anyone to hide behind anymore. Started last year. Even Josh Allen owned up and took responsibility for losses.
Yes, we have a terrible defense this season. However, the latest win vs. Chiefs show that we can still hang. This team, as we said multiple times, starts and ends with Josh Allen. NOT McD.
We cannot piss away Josh Allen's prime years especially since, NOW, he's on pace to win 2nd League MVP award. If we don't reach AFC Title game, then what? Protect McD at all costs? I think "NO."
I understand, and share, the frustration. But let me ask you, is this squad good enough to reach the AFC Title game?
It's a little simplistic to say we have Josh Allen so McD should get us a ring. The rest of the squad matters and it's not SB quality.
I don't judge McD on how many trophies he raises up. I judge him against the roster Beane gives him and the injury report. I ask myself, Is McD overperforming or underperforming versus the guys he has on the field? I believe in most years he's given us more wins than we had a right to expect from the roster that Beane has given him.
Nobody is talking about 'protecting' McD. Those of us who don't want him fired believe we're probably better off with McD at the helm than whatever replacement Terry would choose if McD was fired.
Considering the roster weaknesses and injuries, McD would deserve a golden statue in Niagara Square if he coached us to victory in Santa Clara.
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He's a helluva blocker. One of the best blocking TEs in the league.
From what I've seen, his route running is unspectacular. If a LB or safety is assigned to him man-to-man, he likely won't get separation. But versus zone, he does seem to have an ability to find a soft spot.
And, so far, his hands seem reliable.All in all, a great role player and excellent value for the 5th round.
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All humor aside, the video does look encouraging.
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On 12/8/2025 at 4:04 AM, GaryPinC said:
Good point, but did Beane purposefully design it this way or is it because he fails to draft game changing talent and this is what we're left with?
I think it's kind of both. Beane is always kicking tires. He seems to be obsessed with depth. Considering how many injuries we seem to suffer, this is a good thing.
But he knows he needs game changers and has had some whiffs both in the draft and free agency.-
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55 minutes ago, chris heff said:
I was at that game, George Blanda missed a 50 yard field goal a few seconds after he turned 47 years old. Ferguson had Ahmad Rashad, J. D. Hill and Bob Chandler .
We did have some good receivers in those days!
As for Blanda, young people think of Tom Brady as the poster child for NFL longevity. But old timers like us remember when George was both throwing and kicking the ball at the ripe old age 48!
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56 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:
I think he would still be very successful if transported back to the 70s. He’s not built to take the pounding RBs had to back then, but his burst and vision translate to any era. Cribbs did ok in 1980, so I feel like Cook would have good numbers (e.g. YPC), just not a heavy workload like OJ got.I agree with your remarks about his burst and vision.
He's not elusive like Barry Sanders, nor powerful like Earl Campbell, nor a freakishly elite athlete like OJ. But sometimes I'm amazed at the creases Cook sees, and how quickly he gets to them.
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11 minutes ago, Gregg said:
I think if they beat NE which will be a tough game then winning out becomes very possible. The Browns and Jets games the Bills will be solid favorites. That Eagles game is also looking very winnable with how badly they are struggling.
I agree.
I respect the 2025 Pats. If the Bills beat them with good performances on both sides of the ball, I'll happily reevaluate the current state of the Bills.
And, yeah, Philly looks beatable.-
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9 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:
Outstanding, Brother Hondo. Outstanding!
Bravo!
BTW, for years...years,e ver since I was a kid I always remembered that Fergy didn't throw for a thousand yardds all year in the 2003 odyssey season. Hilarious.
BTW, you want another little trivia/stat for the pipe?
When Josh Allen throws for his next 301 yards he will pass Joe Ferguson for 57th on the NFL's all time passing yards list (29,817).
Brother Dollars, thanks for the kind words!
I don't think Fergy passed for more than 3,000 yards his first 6 or 7 years with the Bills. But he played a long time and eventually had a couple of productive seasons. But in the beginning, it was all OJ, all the time. And since our D was usually poor, the entire game plan of the opponent was SLOW OJ DOWN. If they could do that, they'd win.
Well, in 1974, we were invited to play on Monday Night Football (a big cultural phenomenon back then as you might recall) for the very first time. Our opponent would be the Oakland Raiders who were good enough to get several MNF games and had won them all. This was, btw, the first and only Bills home game I would see in person at the Ralph.
OJ was off to a good start, though frustratingly he seemed close to breaking one but hadn't yet. And then he got hurt right before half if I recall correctly. The game was basically over. We couldn't win without OJ.But Fergy threw a 13-yard TD strike to Ahmad Rashad with 13 seconds left to win the game 21-20. As it unlikely as it seemed at the time, it was Fergy, not OJ, who was the hero of our first MNF victory. Although I'm glad to see Allen rising ahead of him on the passing yards list, Fergy will always hold a hallowed place in my old heart.
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A man can dream, can't he?
But my rational, pragmatic mind tells me that we're not winning out. We've been too inconsistent this season, and we're too banged up right now, to believe winning out is a realistic scenario.We started the season 4-0. But since the hospital beds filled up and Brady lost his juju, we've been a mediocre 5-4 team. I'm hoping for a 3-1 finish but, given the trend, 2-2 might be more likely.
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45 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:
...and long story short, it looks like he is going to pass OJ Simpson's 1976 total of 1,503 for 3rd place all time.*
I know what you are thinking..."But Dollars, you gentlemen adventurer and warrior poet**, OJ did 1,503 in only 14 games and Cook gets 17."...
OJ ran for 1,503 on 290 carries. Cook has 1,308 on 249 attempts.
If...IF you were to grant James his 5.3 yards per carry average over 41 more attempts it would put him at 1,525 yards on 290 carries.
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Dollars, my good gentleman adventurer and fellow warrior poet, I'm appreciating what Cook is doing but you can't compare him to OJ for a few reasons.
Let's start with the quarterback. Clearly the defenses we face today fear Allen far more than they fear Cook. So we see, for example, teams line up in a two high shell and then put a spy on Allen. Teams don't put spies on Cook. I'm sure they respect his talent but he's not their primary worry.
OJ's usual QB was Joe Ferguson. Fergie eventually became a good QB but in his early years, his job was simply to give OJ the ball. For example, in 1973 when OJ ran for 2,000 yards, Ferguson passed for less than 1,000 despite starting every game. Defenses were fully, entirely keyed on OJ with spies matching his every move. And they still couldn't stop him.
Now let's look at defenses. Nowadays, most teams use the 4-2 as their base defense. In the 1970's, the 4-2 was called a "pass prevent" defense and was only used, reluctantly, at the very end of halves. Most defenses then, including the "Purple People Eaters" and the "Dallas Doomsday Defense," used the 4-3 and were intensely focused on smothering running backs.
LBs back then were not the quick, rangy guys of today with good coverage skills. They were freaking lunatic killers like Dick Butkus, Mike "Mad Dog" Curtis, Jack Ham, and Jack Lambert who hit you like a freight train and counted any day they hospitalized a back a good one.
DEs were different, too. Forget today's sack artists with superior bend, spin moves, and ballet-like grace. The DEs of the 1970s were hulking giants who pounded the snot out of RBs and made them cry.Cook is a good back, and I like watching him work. But he wouldn't achieve the stats he's attaining now on the 1970s Bills versus 1970s run-first defenses.
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"4 - Receivers - Two games in a row now where the receivers are almost non-existent."
Considering how useless our wideouts are in Brady's offense, maybe we should run a 14 alignment.
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12 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:
This is why I say Fire Beane. Many on here have noted since the start of the offseason (interviews at the combine is when I first noticed) a seeming "disagreement" between McDermott and Beane in regards to the team. The whole Lockstep seems to be out of sync.
McDermott said we needed to be able to stretch the field on offense, I specifically remember him saying that, and then... Nada in the draft. I would like to see what McDermott could do if he had a GM who could hit on his 1st - 3rd round picks better. Better DL, LB, DB and esp WR! Maybe then we can see the Defense, and offense, that McDermott envisions.
That said, Congrats to coach on his achievement.
I don't know if I'm ready to fire Beane but if I had to terminate one of the two: it would be Beane. Easy decision.
Everybody worries about wasting Allen's prime. I give credit to Beane for drafting Allen, but the rest of the roster tends to be rather middling. We've never had a SB roster since Beane arrived so I'm not sure why so many call for McDermott's head on a platter. Yeah, McDermott's made mistakes and has flaws, but the fundamental issue is we need a better roster.
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That play looked ugly until it wasn't.
It's 4th down. We really, really need to convert but Allen faces pressure quickly and starts scrambling. #92 shadows him and Allen can't juke him. Suddenly Allen stops with his feet parallel and in that awkward position he throws to Shakir who's surrounded by Bengals in the endzone including #44 who's directly in front of Shakir allowing no apparent window whatsoever.
I hated every moment of that play until Shakir caught the ball. I don't know how many QBs could have made that throw under those circumstances but it's not many.
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1 hour ago, Walking Tall said:
That swing was felt in my living room. My wife thought I officially lost it.
Mine too. She complained that the neighbors could hear me yelling. But our neighbors are football (49ers, Raiders) fans, too. They know the deal.
And I didn't need Next Gen Stats to tell me how much the game changed on that play.
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I think the concussion protocol is imperfect and needs refining but is better than the days when coaches/trainers gave concussed players smelling salts and sent them back in the game with a pat on the back. A work in progress.
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45 minutes ago, Andy1 said:
Allen, Benford, Knox
This is exactly my list of game balls.
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3 hours ago, Codger said:
In the late 1960's, Georgia had a very good linebacker named Happy ****. It's true. Went on to become a physician.
Didn't realize the correct spelling would be scrubbed. Does Happy Dix work?
I just had to look this up.
"The University of Georgia had a standout linebacker named Robert “Happy" D*cks, who later became a physician — specifically a neurosurgeon... He was an All-SEC linebacker and played in the 1969 Sugar Bowl against Arkansas..."
His unusual name led to one of the most famous sports headlines ever written:
"DOGS TO PLAY C*CKS WITH D*CKS OUT"referring to the Georgia Bulldogs vs. South Carolina Gamecocks without Happy in the lineup.
The original headline lacked the asterisks since the usage was legit, not profane.
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Considering we are, frustratingly, a better running team than a passing team, a good blizzard could be an advantage.
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4 hours ago, Rubes said:
I agree with you for the most part, though one thing I've been seeing is at least some learning as they go. Both for Brady and for Babich and the defense, especially the latter as they learn about which guys (eg, Shaq, Walker) are playing above expectations and others (eg, Benford, Hairston) are gradually improving over the course of the season. I'm more skeptical of Brady, but I was rough on him before the Steelers game and I thought he showed something to me in that one. We'll see if it sticks, or progresses.
It seems a little weird for a head coach with SB aspirations to choose two first time coordinators to run his offense and defense. And, yeah, hopefully they learning as they go and continuing improving.
But look at KC in comparison:
HC: Reid. A creative offensive guru, his track record speaks for itself.
DC: Spags. Some say Spags, a former head coach, is the best DC in the league. Romo says he needs to be in the coordinator HOF (if there was one).
OC: Nagy. Nagy, the NFL Coach of the Year in 2018, is known for creativity and QB development skills.
Reid/Spags/Nagy might be the most talented, intelligent coaching triumvirate in the league.
I like McD as a head coach but I don't think McDermott/Babich/Brady is in the same tier. Hopefully, they'll get there.
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4 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:
I agree with most of your points, especially when it comes to Brady. Also, when you mention the defensive alignment.
Where I differ is in the tackling and gap integrity being a coaching issue. Week to week, NFL coaches do not go over fundamentals such as tackling. Gap integrity is talked about, sure. But a lot of that falls on the players. It's like when people want to say the team comes out flat and that's a coaching issue. These are grown men that have played at a very high level their whole life. They don't need or at least shouldn't need some coach to teach them how to tackle, or stay in their gaps or be amped up at game time.
I see your point, but I do think coaches play a role in tackling and gap integrity.
Somebody on the Bills mentioned that the Bills D recently changed the standard from 'practicing until they got it right' to 'practicing until they couldn't get it wrong.' This is what made Vince Lombardi great. He wasn't brilliant at Xs and Os but he coached his guys up until they executed his limited playbook flawlessly. And that's been a strength of the McD defense in the past: superior communication and execution. It hasn't been a strength this year, though it seems to be improving.
I acknowledge, though, that there are players who, no matter how much or well you coach them, will screw up come gametime.
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37 minutes ago, T master said:
I for one am not a Debby downer when it comes to our current coaching staff or front office like many here are ! As soon as things don't go their way they want it too they all start complaining and want to clear the deck as far as the HC & GM are concerned but given the latest rash of injuries and the Bills 2 starting tackles having to sit out the last game I wanted to know just how many injuries the Bills had this year to this point and time so I checked it out .
This year through week 12 the Bills have had as many as 38 players on injured and 21 on IR and many of those are starters . There have been many lost for the season that are either vets or players drafted that could have very easily made a huge difference for this team if healthy, yet this is something that the haters do not take into consideration (it seems) when they go into their rants of who to fire !!
Hoecht DE, Jackson Edge, Carter DL, Rapp S, Hamlin S, Owens S, Bass K, out for the season - Oliver DT, Hardman WR, Samuel WR, can return but not for the regular season more than likely .
Then there are those that have missed games due to injuries like Bosa, Kincaid (china doll), Bernard, Dawkins, Brown, all out for some games all being starters too then those that have been playing through injuries like McGovern having a bad hand . Luckily Josh didn't wind up getting hurt last game or that would have been the end of the season for us all together .
But I am saying all of this to say sure each team has to have quality depth because every team have and will have injuries but at what point do the injuries change the course of effectiveness of the team to win and I would say that despite the amount of injuries to key players and to those that were hoped to be developed as depth the Bills & it's coaching staff have done a pretty freakin good job to keep this team in the play off picture because IMHO the wheels could have fallen off many teams by now .
I realize being a life long Bills fan that there are those here that prove no matter how good it is you can't keep them happy no matter what and will always complain and more than likely do in most situations in not only their fandom but more than likely in their personal lives due to their writings here but I for one will give props where either feel they are due .
And given the fact that the roster is 53 and that there have been as many as 38 on IR at certain points of the year which is well over half of the team I'm giving this coaching staff a At A Boy for having the team in the hunt because they very easily could have been nothing but a after thought as far as the play offs go already .
One other thought I have had is seeing as Kincaid is and has been IMHO a china doll in some respects and has missed as many as 1/3 of his games in his short career as a Bill would you trade him ? I'm thinking that if in 3 seasons he has missed that many games already I might think to trade him for a better, tougher player moving forward or a higher draft pick to replace him .
I know this will meet opposition but if he does continue to have these injuries that will give the haters just 1 more thing to complain about Beane not being a good drafting GM and how he should be fired because of something like this that he has NO control over what so ever . Just a thought .
GO BILLS !!
I agree with the basic premise. The injuries have been hard to overcome. Some of the injured players, to be honest, are barely missed. But guys like Oliver and Bosa are different because their backups don't come close to them.
I also think that the roster wasn't all that great to begin with. So losing key guys becomes especially problematic.
But I believe as well that there have been games when the offensive game plan was just plain bad. Brady doesn't seem to know how to scheme a downfield passing game (and, yes, I do cut him some slack given the WRs he has to work with). And some of his play designs seem unimaginative and his play calls predictable.
On the defense side, I have some complaints about the coaching, too. Some games we stayed mostly in 4-2 despite being gashed on the ground. It seemed like moving to 4-3 with Shaq on the field would have been a better decision. And other games we just didn't tackle well or maintain gap integrity - which means our players haven't been coached up well enough to execute at a high enough level.
I'm not ready to tar and feather Beane or our coaches just yet. But I'm not giving them any medals either. Still, I like @T master's positivity - it's a refreshing and much-needed counterbalance to some of the over-the-top criticisms on the board.
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Bills claim Darnell Savage
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
I've been using AI as my scouting department...
Savage’s strengths:
Savage’s weaknesses:
Bottom Line
Savage can function in Buffalo’s zone‑heavy defense because of his speed and versatility, but he’s not a seamless fit. His past struggles in Washington’s zone scheme suggest he’ll need to be carefully deployed—likely as a situational safety rather than a full‑time starter. Buffalo claimed him as a low‑risk depth move, not as a centerpiece.