hondo in seattle

So disappointed that this didn't count.

I have a lot of respect for the Bengals because of the class their coach, players, and fans showed when Hamlin got hurt. And yet I confess to a certain sadistic pleasure when watching our rivals fall apart.

I didn't want to go to Buffalo either but wasn't given a choice - my mom gave birth there. Met an Indian Silicon Valley techie who went to school at UB. Said he'll always have a love for Buffalo because people there are truly different. Although he currently lives in the Bay Area and is thus a 49er fan, he's also a big Bills fan. Says it was unavoidable after 4 years at UB - mafia mania is joyous, contagious, and bonds people together in a unique way. And that the unpretentious, warm people taught him a lot about "the American Way." Goff doesn't know what he missed and, in retrospect, I'm happy my mom pushed me out where she did.

One thing I'll add... in Josh's favor despite me thinking recency bias is a problem. When Brady was still playing, people were already hailing him as the GOAT largely because of the rings. But - other than the rings - how much better was Brady than some of his contemporaries: Brees, Manning, Rodgers, etc? These other guys often produced more yards, TDs, etc. But Brady played on better teams with better coaches and hoisted Lombardis. And, look, he was very talented but I never saw him make throws that other elite QBs couldn't make. His game was presnap reads, good decision making, and accuracy. His consistency is what wowed you, not any individual play. OJ, on the other hand, made plays no other RB could make. Bruce had sacks that very few others could have duplicated. Brady wasn't like that - but Josh is. Sometimes your jaw drops when he does something that makes you think something like: well, maybe Mahomes could have done that but no one else.

I think there's a certain group of fans who overrates Beane's roster-building and conversely underrates McD making lemonade with lemons. McD is the primary reason that our D has been mostly good the past 7 years. We've never been loaded with talent but McD has mostly made it work through scheme, teamwork, and preparation. But when the other team schemes on offense as well as we do on defense, then it became a matter of talent. And we lose that battle. Chris Simms, depressingly, put it this way: "Bills defense just doesn’t have a singular player who can wreck a game. They rely so much on scheme over talent. And when Bills play a team that can overpower them up front and get forced into M2M, it’s over."

I think there might be some recency bias here. Both Bruce and OJ are arguably GOATs at their positions. Bruce has the NFL career sack record. And back when offenses were built around RBs, OJ had a season when he nearly doubled the yardage of his nearest competitor. No other RB, QB, or WR ever had a season like that. It would be like a QB throwing for something like 8,000 yards this season. Few are claiming that Josh is the GOAT at QB. But I do acknowledge that QB is the most important position in football today and if I was drafting an all-time Bills team to play by today's rules, I'd draft him first.

I wore the zubaz sweats yesterday. They're undefeated so far this season.

The problem is that McD will sit Josh once we have a big lead. We might not get to 30. You forget to mention the Bills only practiced once last week because of the snowstorm. And still beat the hottest team in the league.

It's an awful weekend for sports only because I expect the Bills to lose. If the Bills in fact beat the Lions, it's a wonderful weekend IMHO regardless of what else is happening. Truly wonderful.

Judy Battista asks, "What did you get out of this?" Terry provides a very nice answer that has never mentions the main truth: He got hundreds of millions of dollars without giving up any control. I'm not criticizing, just saying. It's kind of like asking free agents why they chose to sign with a certain team. They rarely answer, "They offered the most money" even though that was usually the deciding factor.

I once read an article by a pizza connoisseur who had traveled all over the US sampling pizza. He said two of the best cities were obvious: NY and Chicago. But he opined that he'd place two other cities in the top three: Detroit and Buffalo. For me, pizza is THE choice for Sunday's game.

I don't watch Goff a lot and have never noticed that weakness. I hope it becomes obvious even to folks like me on Sunday.

It's a team sport. In the Rams game, Allen was the entire team. The defense didn't show up. The run game (outside of Allen) didn't show up. The special teams didn't show up. Allen was a spectacular one-man show and that wasn't enough. And, sadly, the Lions have a better overall team. But I sincerely hope you're right.

I'm predicting a Bills loss while hoping with all my heart I'm wrong. Lions... 35 Bills... 28

It's hard to know what will happen but I'm a Purdue alum. If the Boilermakers just hired him, I'd be giddy with hope. And I'm not the giddy type.

For a long time I considered the distinct possibility that I was just being a homer when I said we had the best fans in the NFL. But not any more. I remember back in the 90s, there would be 80,000 people in the stands and, according to some estimates, maybe another 20,000 outside in the parking lot. When have the Chicago Bears or LA Rams, for example, ever drawn 10% of the metro population to a game? Pittsburgh fans are great. But they have a competitive team year after year. The Bills, despite recent success, still have a sub .500 all time record. The mafia shows up even when we suck. Few teams can say that about their fans. And I saw an article once that tried to tabulate fan giving. No fanbase came close to the mafia. I saw another article written by a guy who visited every NFL stadium. He said the pregame fan experience in Buffalo was unparalleled. You can't measure fandom by attendance because some stadiums, and metro areas, are bigger. In fact, teams like Denver and New England don't just represent a city, they represent an entire region. And you can't measure fandom by merch sales for the same reason. When you find ways to measure passion and loyalty, the Bills win.

I half disagree. I think this team has a bunch of jags - more than a SB contender should have. What's gotten us to 10 wins is a combination of McD and Allen. Take those two away and I don't think this is a .500 team. As for Joe Brady, I think NFL history has proven that bad OCs can run bad offenses even with good QBs. I think Brady's doing well with what he has and I hope we keep him.

The Detroit Lions have been around for 90+ years but haven't had much success during the Super Bowl era with zero SB appearances. I like their coach and his leadership. A couple weeks ago, Fitz something to the effect that Bills and Lions have the best camaraderie in the league. I respect that. Factoring all this in, of course I cheer for the Lions. But I hope we beat the snot out of them this weekend. And again in the Super Bowl.

Love the enthusiasm... They have fun watching the Bills. For a moment, I could forget the sad end.

Agree. I can't fault Goodell for wanting to grow the business. And I do think it's cool we have non-American Bills fans; Goodell is partially responsible. A moon game, with 1/6th gravity, would be interesting. Punters would love it.

Agree wholeheartedly. But it's worse than that. When OJ and Jim Brown played, the NFL was much different. Hashmarks were closer to the sidelines making playcalling more predictable (you wouldn't run a sweep, for example, toward the short side). Blockers couldn't use their hands and had to block with their arms. Etc. Furthermore, defenses defended the run first in those days. You didn't have teams playing 4-2-5 on 70% of the snaps - or hardly ever. You saw either a 4-3 or 3-4 with a lot of guys in the box hyper-focused on stopping the run. LBs were different in those days, too. They weren't nimble, rangy coverage guys. They were beefy thugs with hard sounding names like Chuck Bedrarik and Dick Butkus who beat the crap of RBs for a living. Likewise, DEs weren't agile "edges" with nifty spin moves who could get to the QB. They were imposing man-mountains who found no joy in life greater than crushing a runner and making him wimper. With the longer schedules and today's pass-first defenses, Jim Brown and OJ would rush for 3,000 yards if their HC decided to buck the trend and build an offense, like they did in the 1960s and 1970s, around the RB. I like Barkley but he's just not in league with the all-time greats.

I lived in Korea for a year and my mom was born and raised in France. If the Bills play in either of those places, I'll go see them.

I did have a knee jerk reaction to the Rams game. But since before the season began through mid season and until now I've been singing the same song: We'll win the AFCE but probably bow out in the playoffs before the SB because the roster just isn't good enough. Yet, as a fan, I also hold out hope because it's not true in the NFL that the best team hoists the Lombardi each year. Lady Luck has a say. If we're healthy in January when other teams are not, if the refs favor us on a few subjective calls, if tipped balls go our way... we may have a chance to win it all.

Good doctor, I've known that for a long time - just about 5 minutes now. I had to ask AI about college GMs and found out, for example, that Andrew Luck is the football GM at Stanford. AI tells me it's a new and growing trend. And while in the NFL the HC often works for the GM, in college it's the other way around. Which fits Belichick perfectly.

It figures Belichick would have a 400 page plan. And one that includes a GM to handle the stuff he doesn't like such as NIL and recruiting.