hondo in seattle

Back in the 70s, the Fins won the Super Bowl with a "No Name Defense." I'd love to see us win the SB this year with a One Name Team.

Watson's life is a Greek tragedy. He was a very talented QB who seemed to be a respectful, courteous, hard-working young hero. But his libido got the best of him and he compromised his morals & ethics. And now his body is failing him. This is a sad - if well deserved - fall from grace. This is also further proof that America is emphatically not a meritocracy. People like soldiers, sailors, police officers and firefighters often work diligently for the public good for peanuts while anti-heroes like Watson get millions.

Even if the two conferences were exactly equal in terms of talent, you wouldn't see the AFC winning exactly 50% of interconference games each year. The world (math, statistics, probability, etc.) just doesn't work that way. Here's the AFC's record against the NFC over the past few years: 2020 .555 2021 .494 2022 .488 2023 .575 2024 .413 Because the sample size each year is relatively small, this doesn't tell us that the AFC was better than the NFC in 2023 but became worse in 2024. Instead, this looks like the two conferences are roughly equal. For example, I flipped a coin 80 times to predict the AFC-NFC results in each of the past five years. Here are the percentages the AFC won (the coin landed on heads) 2020 31% 2021 44% 2022 56% 2023 43% 2024 53% AFC-NFC matchups look a lot like a flip of the coin.

Bills dismantle Broncos vaunted D. Bills 30 Broncos 21

The Pacific Northwest is beautiful but Western Washington gets its fair share of wildfires.

Why do we care what Barnwell - of the 10,000 prognosticators online - thinks? Every year there are weird tips and bounces, bad ref calls, momentous injuries, questionable coaching decisions, guys getting hot while others go cold, and other surprises that makes prediction a farce. No one has a crystal ball. We just have to wait and see what transpires.

I can't say there's no fiery leadership on the Bills now. I'm not in the locker room. Not in the huddle. Not on the sidelines. But Kyle had juice that could only be good for this team. He loved the Bills and willingly bled for his teammates.

I don't know how much our coaches can do schematically. There just isn't enough talent on this defense. But they are good at takeaways. As strengths go, that's a scary one because it's unreliable. We won't get takeaways every game. As you say, the offense needs to keep rolling.

I wish Kyle would discover the Fountain of Youth and suit up for this edition of the Bills. Amazing character and energy.

I thought it was very cool that he painted his truck like that. He's a blowhard and made some questionable decisions during his time with us, particularly in regards to his coaching staff. But he's a generally likeable guy - though I would have liked him a lot more if he had produced more victories.

I wouldn't hire Rex but there's a certain point of view that says he's nearly .500 in his regular season career and over .600 in his playoff career despite never having a franchise QB. I'd guess that's how Rex himself views his accomplishments as a head coach. And he would have a point. It's hard to win in the NFL when you don't have the right guy under center.

I wonder if the Raiders firing of Pierce has something to do with Brady and his desire to make a run at Vrabel before the Pats or someone else snags him.

You're right of course. But I'm greedy. I want the running game to thrive. But I also want Josh to pass for 5,000 yards.

Steelers over Ravens. The Ravens are the team I most want to lose because I think they give the Bills the biggest matchup problems. But these two - Steelers and Ravens - split the regular season. Pittsburgh ended the season in a funk, but they'll rise to the occasion this weekend.

I'm bummed that Allen is throwing for fewer yards under Brady than he did under previous coordinators. Although I realize that Brady isn't working with all-star receivers, I do wonder about his ability to scheme a potent passing attack. Then again, this Bills squad scores. A lot. And that's what an OC is supposed to make happen. So I agree that we should pay him whatever it takes. But the lure of a HC job is more than just money. It's ego, the love of a challenge, the professional gratification of running your own show, etc. Money may not be enough to make him stay.

I normally gear up before a game which I did. No problem there. I normally cook wings which I didn't until after the game. Oops. And I normally watch every single play. Walking the dog, other household chores, conversation, peeing, pooping... None of that can happen when a play is being run. It's bad juju - but yesterday I missed some plays because it felt like a preseason game. My fault.

Maybe you're right but we're all just guessing. I've never met Stefanski and can't claim to read his mind or know his intentions. I acknowledge that it does seem odd when an offensive HC fires the OC who's running the HC's scheme. But Dorsey's been fired twice in past 2 seasons. Both offenses Dorsey was in charge of peformed better before Dorsey. One of them performed better after Dorsey. We'll wait and see about the other but the pattern we see so far isn't a good one for Dorsey. I also beleive McD and Stefanski aren't morons. They've earned HC positions partly because they make more good decisions than bad. In the realm of football, they probably have above-average analytical skills. And both agree that Dorsey isn't the OC they want.

Yikes, this was discouraging.

Agreed. Some at the time said this was proof of Dorsey's passion to win. As an ex-military guy, I had a different take that had to do with Dorsey's emotional maturity. If a military leader has a soldier injured or killed, they still needs to remain calm and analytical to carry out the mission. There's no time for childish antics. Venting and mourning are selfish luxuries for later. As a leader, you owe it to your soldiers to fully dedicate all your intellectual, spiritual and emotional faculties to eventual success. The stakes aren't nearly as high in football so it should be easier for a football leader to keep his composure and focus on what needs to be done. Dorsey's tantrums didn't reflect highly on him.

Our turnovers went down and our scoring went up but Josh didn't personally experience an explosion in production under Brady. His yards per game went down. I think his passing TDs went down too. I'm not sure Dorsey was fixated on keeping Diggs happy. He may have seen Diggs as our best receiver and thus wanted to feed him the ball. In any case, Brady is putting more points on the board and the offense is harder to defend because its not all about one connection: Allen to Diggs. So I'm just nitpicking when I agree with your general point.

Our receivers don't typically get a lot of separation anyway.

I've never liked Bayless. Sometimes he says unkind things with little justification. And sometimes he seems to act the contrarian just to be difficult. Not sure how he got a national audience.

She’s one of 50 people chosen by AP to vote.

who’s enamored? Personally I think he’s fine as a #3. I’m glad he’s getting reps and keeping Mitch and Allen safe.

This is true but may also be a case of false reductionism. Maybe poor production isn't the entire story. Maybe Stefanski watched how Dorsey prepared for games, worked with his fellow coaches, worked with the players... and decided the Browns needed better. A little over a year ago McD made the same decision about Dorsey when Josh Allen was Dorsey's QB. Maybe it's not the players fault that Dorsey was fired. Maybe it is Dorsey's fault.