hondo in seattle

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.

Due to longer seasons, rule changes favoring the passing game, etc., the Top Twenty of this list is dominated by modern era players. The oldest guys are Kelly and Marino who really lit up the league when they came in. It's also worth noticing picks. The narrative on Josh is that he hasn't won a MVP (or Lombardi) yet because he's a turnover machine. More than half the guys in the Top Twenty have more Ints than Josh through 8 years - and fewer TDs.

This is a solid argument. But we rank 10th in yards on offense and 14th in yards on defense. Those rankings suggest the Bills are an above-average team but not a great one. Our offense is mostly jags with the exception of Josh. Cook is a nice back but he's not Barkley. And Coop is five time Pro Bowler but hasn't played like one for us yet. Out defense is mostly jags except for... I don't really have a name here. Bernard? Benford? Milano - if he was healthy? Miller - if younger? All the playoff-hopeful teams have guys as good as Bernard and Benford. I often feel like there's a talent gap between the Bills and our opponents. We usually win anyway either because (1) Josh is an alien, and/or (2) McD, Brady, and Babich out prepare, out scheme, and out call their counterparts. I do think the culture McD and his staff has built gives the Bills a certain X factor but it's not enough to elevate the team to true SB contenders. I don't expect to beat the Lions this week, but if we do I may rethink my position.

Each squad on the team (offense, defense, ST) is capable of a range of performances from crappy to excellent. Yesterday, two of our units played like crap on the same day. In the playoffs, we won't be able to win like that. At most one unit can play subpar as long as the two other units play well enough to make up for it.

You really believe this? I believe this is a team that could potentially win a SB this season if we stay healthy, play our best, and get lucky. I wouldn't call it the best roster in the NFL. Not even close. But the team with the best roster doesn't always win the Lombardi. Maybe it's our turn to not be the best team but win it all anyway. I'd love that. But I'm not holding my breath.

Back in the 90s we had Biscuit and Bruce. Now we have no one. Our two biggest names on D are Milano and Von who in their prime weren't Biscuit and Bruce. And neither is playing anything near their prime right now.

I actually think scheme matters a lot. I love the X and Os of football. But sometimes the chess game played between the opposing coaches is played to a draw. So the team with the better players wins.

The 90s Bills team had a HOF coach and studs on offense, defense, and special teams: Kelly, Thomas, Hull, Talley, Biscuit, Bruce, Tasker, etc. This team has Josh. I really don't get why people think this is a SB caliber roster just missing a SB caliber coach. It's not.

Before the season began, scores of pundits predicted that the Bills would finish either 2nd or even 3rd in the AFCE. Even with Josh, they didn't feel we had enough talent to win a bunch of games. They weren't wrong. These football gurus didn't underestimate our roster talent at all. But they underestimated McD and our coaching staff. And yet some folks who want to fire the coaches that are getting this team to over-perform. Fans are a funny group.

Bills players - as well as some retired players and coaches - mention that the Bills defense is complicated and adept at disguises. For lesser QBs and coaches, it can be a hard puzzle to figure out. So we often look good. But McVay and other smart coaches and QBs understand what they're looking at. At the same time, we know what they're trying to do on offense. Neither team has a distinct scheme advantage because each side understands the other. But if their players are better than our players, as is sometimes the case, they'll move the ball. Yesterday, the Rams OL was better than our DL. Their receivers were better than our DBs. They won.

As someone said previously in another thread, the 90s Bills laid some eggs during the season and still reached the SB. That's what I'm hoping for. But that defensive performance - combined with the D's performance against the Ravens - makes me worry. Also, that 90s roster had its fair of jags but at the top of the roster was Bruce, Biscuit, etc. We don't have anyone like that now.

Agree. Our chances of winning at that time were pretty low. I think McD and Brady thought/hoped the initial sneak would work. If it did, we'd have a chance. They probably didn't think too deeply through the possibility of it not working.

Yep. And the Rams both ran and threw on us. This defense is suspect. Who are the playmakers? We don't have any stars or big names on defense kind of like Miami's '72 No-Name Defense. Minus the shutouts. And statistical excellence. And undefeated record. With Von and Milano playing at a level below their prime, this is a squad of jags.

I disagree. I think he's a good coach and I think the Bills will fail in the playoffs again because there are other teams with more talent. Other than QB, we don't have an elite position group on this team. McD (with a lot of help from Josh) is the reason we're even getting into the postseason. Beane needs to give him more to work with.