Stranded in Boston

Thanks for that, Chan! I forgot that Butch Byrd briefly overlapped with (my man) Robert James in the same defensive backfield 😃 ... Also, while Norm Bulaich had a solid but unspectacular NFL career, it seemed like he always killed the Bills!

Thanks for that, Muppy! I remember it well. On top of the slick move by Rashad, the ankles being broken on that play belonged to hall-of-famer Willie Brown -- no mean feat!

Yeah, guys. I haven't looked at the article yet (maybe check out on PubMed later today), but without a control group, the results are impossible to interpret. Not to wonk out here (too much), but short of a matched cohort (which might be tough to assemble given small N) this is exactly where you'd need to apply some sort of nested multiple regression or proportional hazards model including ALL NFL players to first account for variance (in subsequent # years played) that is attributable to non-ACL factors like age, position played, previous injury history, previous # snaps (for non-overt related wear and tear), etc. -- and only then add the ACL/non-ACL factor to the model to see if it explains any residual variance. Pretty sloppy oversight if they didn't do that ... (They're lucky we at TBD didn't review their paper! 🤓 )

LOL, c’mon Sal … and I’m mad at my wife, so I made an emotional decision to go out with Gigi Hadid.

Thanks for that, Chan. I needed a distraction from the news today ... 😕

Donald Wilson! Haven't thought of that name in a while ... Terrible in pas coverage -- but man could he hit! I recall he broke his face mask with a hit. Knocked himself woozy on that play too.

I remember it well, wnyguy, Check out 2:20 mark. 😀

I agree, Shaw. INTs off deflected balls are basically flukes -- especially with a 6-5 QB. It was just one of those extra fluky days when lightning struck twice ... Also, on the overthrow to Beasley, it sure looked like illegal contact by the Falcon's DB: he chucked Beas 10-15 yards up the field, throwing his route timing off. Atlanta was lucky not to get flagged on that play. Anyhow, QB ratings aside, I see no cause for alarm.

Lol, here in Boston, they think Genny is some kind of craft beer …

Heading out now with the wife and dog for a walk around Boston in my Bills hat. I've lived here 36 years and this is my all-time favorite Monday ... 😎

Well, technically the median … 🤓

I just hop on the Green Line in Brookline; ~20 min to North Station. (Also useful if I catch a buzz during the game. I always seem to end up at a table with some WNY college kids who want to share pitchers with the old guy ... 😎 )

Hey Promo, I haven't made it to The Harp yet this year. How was the crowd for the Miami game?

Fred Jackson, baby!! I like the pass-blocking by our young RBs, but nobody could crunch a blitzer like Fred! 😃

In addition to his athleticism and size, Rousseau plays incredibly smart football. He displays fantastic vision, both on the edge and when he drops into short zone coverage. What a great draft pick. ... And for my fellow old-timers here, I was surprised that Joe Cribbs wasn't among the former Bills rookies who won a POW award. I can't recall a first-year Bills player with a bigger impact than Cribbs -- 12 TDs his rookie year.

shhhhhhhhh!! 😎

Aw, did you have to bring up Ray Sheppard? It only took me 30 years to forget that one ... 😫

That's some fine old-time sportswriting there, Chan! 😃

As a kid I used to watch (or listen to) Bills games with my brothers, but since I left Buffalo 35+ years ago, I generally watch alone. I'm just an insufferable a-hole during the game -- scaring my poor kids when they were little, etc. One exception was Super Bowl XXV in 1990, when I stupidly decided to host a Super Bowl party in my crappy apartment in Boston. After wide-right, everyone kept talking and laughing at commercials and sh**, so I basically threw them all out (including this girl I was dating at the time; maybe not the smartest move). Now I will only watch games with fellow WNYers, catching a few games a year at the Bills fan club at The Harp in Boston, and years ago every Sunday at Sam Sansone's Bills Backers bar when I lived in Houston. You just have to be with your own species on game day ...

Nice write-up, Mi -- er, I mean Rubes. (However, you forgot to acknowledge your Bills' fandom in the COI disclosures. 😜 ) But we Bills fans-scientists all do what we have to do, eh? For example, I have tortured my Boston-area medical school classes for 25 years before Bills-Pats game (last year was more gleeful than usual in that regard). In addition, I know from an [ahem] EXTREMELY well-placed source that an engineer and fellow Bills fan at the Jet Propulsion Lab slipped a "Go Bills" message onto the Perseverance rover, currently cruising around on the surface of Mars. But don't tell anybody ...

Heck yes, Aaron -- that was a fantastic play by Zimmer. The kid can really run.

J. Zimmer continues to impress; man, that meatball can cover some ground! B. Basham also looked very stout at point of attack; he shed blockers extremely well on run plays, and really sticks his tackles. He looks a lot more like a very mobile, strong DT than DE to me.

Good point Chan, plus I recall our own Shane Nelson wasn't much bigger than that -- and he could hit like a hammer!

#15 Todd Collins, 1990s royal blue. After the Bills waived Collins in '98, a buddy of mine found it at a rest stop outside Erie, PA, on sale for ten bucks, LOL. I never much liked it, for some vague reason. Then one day I realized it reminded me of Jeff Hostetler's Super Bowl jersey ... 🤬

45 years on, it still baffles me that the Braves let Malone slip through their fingers -- 2 freakin' games?? I've often wondered if the Braves would have survived in Buffalo if they'd kept him ... Indeed, that front line would have been unstoppable!