BisonMan

Given the seeding, I think we'd rather play Pittsburgh as opposed to the winner of the Titan/Ravens game. If the Browns win, they'll draw KC in round 2, automatically. I much prefer a Bills/Steelers rematch in Orchard Park over facing either of the running games from Tennessee or Baltimore. Am I figuring this right? Anyone disagree?

Good stuff! Thanks for the research. So, 3 in the last 10 years didn’t have a first round bye and none in 7 years. We don’t know which of these may have rested starters in week 17 but likely none of the Wild Card teams. Division winners may have been able to rest though.

Trying to make my point? 😁 so, that would be once in the last 10 years?

Either no starters at all, or just run regular game prep and have them play one series at most. My question on this is: “Which starter, if injured, makes it worth losing him in meaningless game just before the playoffs?” The Bills are very lucky at this point to only have one Day 1 starter out for the playoffs (Cody Ford). My hope is that Beas returns in time. Everybody else could use the rest/rehab. I'm trying to think of a recent Super Bowl champion that didn’t have a week off before their first playoff game. Anybody think the Chiefs will be “rusty” before their first playoff game?

I still like Knox. I'm not sure but I think his drops are down this year from last year (when I think he led the league!). He made two critical catches last night that had high difficulty ratings. The catch on 4th down with a DB crawling over his back was a great grab. The better catch was the sideline "Toe Drag Swag" catch on a Josh rollout. Great throw and great catch. Best of all, it gave me my video clip of the year after the Pats challenged that catch: If Knox can make BB do this once a year, I still want him on my team!!! 🤣

Fitz isn’t getting a ring as the starter of a team and only has 1 or 2 seasons left in his career. He loves Buffalo and getting a ring here would be the capstone on his career. The way Josh runs, Fitz might be needed and can help win us a Super Bowl.

The dude is the best backup QB in the league. He’s on the last year of his contract in Miami and a UFA next year. Bring this fan favorite back to win a ring next year...after we win the first one this season. 😉

BTW, I’m not recommending the Chiefs purposely lose games or rest all starters completely. I think they can treat these like preseason games (for example: have healthy starters only play the first half). They’ll have a full bye week as well. I’d happily have the Bills trade places with them!

KC doesn’t need to win another game to get the #1 seed in the AFC. They can treat the next 2 games like preseason matches before the first round bye. They can rest anyone they want for the next 3 weeks. That’s scary for everyone else. I really hope the Bills treat week 17 as a preseason game regardless of their seeding. They’ll want everyone healthy before trying to win 4 in a row in order to get Josh the T-shirt he wants! 😬

I hope the team is only concerned about winning the Super Bowl. This is a team that should fear absolutely no team in the league at this point. They should have the attitude of welcoming a rematch with the Chiefs because you have to knock the crown off the king to be the king. The Bills already have a home game in round 1. They don't care who they play. They plan to win and can beat any team in the playoffs. The team should rest whatever starters needed (maybe all of them!), if it means being healthier and better prepared to march through the playoffs. That week is nothing more than a glorified pre-season game to a confident team. The Bills need to win 4 games in a row once the season is over. That's the only metric anyone should be thinking about. Our boy blue has it right: “This hat’s fine and dandy. This hat and shirt’s fine and dandy. I want the one that says, f—ing Super Bowl Champion!” —Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, in the locker room, to his teammates, after the Bills won their first AFC East championship in 25 years Saturday in Denver. P.S. That's the quote on the tee shirt they should be selling after the division win!

Married my wife in Spring of ‘96. Bills haven’t won the division since. I’m going to stop blaming her now! 🤪

We've heard it over and over again. Josh Allen's growth from year 2 to year 3 is unprecedented. Nonetheless, it's likely that teams will look to repeat the Bills' formula by picking a QB with the dreaded "potential" without seeming to understand the internal and environmental factors that allowed Allen to thrive. Internal Aside from his physical skills, Allen has two traits that have allowed him to have this massive improvement. First, Allen has a massive chip on his shoulders after being turned down by every college program when he came out of high school and got only one offer after his stint in JUCO. People think Tom Brady has a chip because he was drafted so late coming out of Michigan? Josh has been carrying this chip on his shoulder since high school. Second, Allen is a lot more studious a QB than people have given him credit for. His smarts have allowed him the ability learn more quickly than a lot of other players who never seem to "get it". Even this year, Allen has adjusted to changing defensive strategies to win games down the stretch. His drive has also allowed him to work more on his "craft" to become a better thrower of the ball. Environmental The Bills obviously have a very strong coaching staff and culture. That allows players the support they need to mature and learn. The team also has put in the pieces around him to allow him to succeed and grow with what his potential allows. He's often compared to Roethlisberger, but Pittsburgh surrounded Ben with a strong running game to protect his lack of skills early in his career. The Bills created an environment to stretch Allen's skills. I can see other teams with a weaker culture and less stable management reaching for QBs with "potential" in the coming years to find a Josh Allen but his background, internal drive and skillset are very hard to replicate. Add to that, the difficulty of creating the right team around him makes what the Bills have done, very unique in my memory. I don't really see a ceiling for Allen at this point. He could easily get even better with more experience. Other teams should be very wary of trying to replicate what has happened in Buffalo. I see a lot of mistakes being made in the coming years with teams chasing the next Josh Allen.

Re: Canada Americans’ knowledge of geography is generally pretty bad. When I tell people I’m from Buffalo, I’m frequently asked, “So, did you drive into NYC often when you were growing up?”. I had another person tell me that the Niagara River flowed from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie because that was “down” on the map! We’re lucky people know Canada is a separate country. Depending on how many bars you stop at along the way.

Great points. I didn't realize how few "pure" bison still existed although it makes sense given they were almost hunted to extinction. BTW, I never said "100% wild". Even cross-bred Bison are more Bison than cow. Similarly, you can get a wolf/dog cross breed but it's still dangerous as hell. "Manageable" and domesticated are very different things. The inability to domesticate bison over thousands of years is testament to the difficultly in getting to a bison that isn't dangerous. It's one of the key reasons that Native American culture fell behind Eurasian cultures technologically. Jared Diamond wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning book "Guns, Germs and Steel" about this topic and pointed to the bison's inability to be domesticated as a key factor in European dominance of North America. In any case, I'm sure they are joking because they know (at least Kim Pegula does), that having a bison paraded around the stadium would draw a lot of bison feces on the PR front. I can hear Bills' leadership saying, "Yes but they aren't completely wild...er...98% aren't pure...er...we're firing our PR department'

Note the first line in my response “I'm glad they are kidding...”. I was referring to both Pegula and Tre. It’s the people who take this seriously who I take issue with.

Agreed. It's looks like the Bills will be the 2nd or 3rd seed at this point, especially if they win tomorrow against Pittsburgh. That sets them up for a rematch with Pittsburgh in the divisional round presuming both win their 1st round games. The Bills wouldn't get to play the Chiefs until the AFC Championship game but there are a lot of "ifs" that predicate that. If they are playing well enough to get that far, I'd like their chances against KC even more.

Agreed. These are not pets or farm animals. Social distancing to a bison is a lot different than with people or domesticated animals. Being within 10-20 feet of a bison is like walking up nose-to-nose with a person. They don't take it well. I've also seen these in "fenced in" areas. I drove through Ted Turner's ranch in Montana, which essentially like a wild prairie. I was unlucky enough to be hiking in Yellowstone when a bison decided to follow me and my girlfriend down the trail. We didn't see him but felt the ground shaking like a scene from Jurassic Park. We turned around to see him coming and stepped a number of feet off the trail and behind some trees. It was like watching a large pickup truck saunter by. A bunch of idiots in Yellowstone get gored every year for getting too "close" Billy Bison might be thankful to be put out of his misery but it might be cruel to the fans that eat him depending on who's doing the cooking. Bison can be pretty tasty if cooked correctly, which has not always been my experience in the several times I've eaten it. 😝

I'm glad they are kidding as this is an incredibly stupid idea. No one should take this seriously. A buffalo (bison, actually) is a wild animal. This is no different than a circus elephant or an orca at Seaworld. A domesticated animal like a horse or cow, fine. They are bred to be around people and trainable. The stress on a bison to do this would be just cruel. I know teams have done stupid s#$t like this in the past and some college teams still likely use wild animals in cages as "mascots" (see: Mike the Tiger @ LSU). People have gotten a lot more sensible and aware of what this does to wild animals and the public outcry you'd get for doing this would be enough to stop it and make the team look like dopes. My 2 cents.

Entertaining segment on which team is most likely to beat the Chiefs and our boys get some love. some good stats to back it up as well...

Yes, they only have one tough game left, IMO, against the Colts. They may be the 2nd best team in the AFC now. No, that was our one loss in my scenario. I think I had Pittsburgh losing to the Colts...but I lost my scenario when I closed the browser.

I have us as either the 3rd or 4th seed even if we go 5-1 down the stretch. Pittsburgh has a very easy schedule with the Bills' game being the toughest one left on their schedule. KC also likely either wins out or only loses one more game. That's 1st and 2nd seeds in my scenario in the Machine. I don't see, given the game left, that Miami or Cleveland even make the playoffs. At 3, it looks like we would get either TN or BAL depending on who wins the TN vs. IND game this weekend. If we lose to Miami in week 17, we'd drop to the 4th seed. Here's my AFC playoff bracket:

I think Josh at #5 is reasonable but after that he goes off the rails. He's got 2 rookies in his top 10 (#8 - Herbert, #9 - Burrows). Come on. They've had good rookie seasons, IMO. However, putting them above the likes of Roethlisberger, Brees and Brady (to name 3) seems a bit of a stretch. Those two have a ton of potential and I have pretty high confidence that they will be good pros but the jury has to still be out on them.

This is absolutely the best pickup the Bills ever made. How do you argue with a QB that wins Championships? What's even better about this one is that the Bills picked up Kemp off waivers! 2 Championships with QB picked up off waivers? Only Brady's 6th round draft status beats that for return on investment for a team.

I'm completely supportive of this policy change. The NFL's revenue model doesn't penalize teams for being poorly coached or managed. Owners generally get the same amount of money whether they are the SB winner or in last place (not controlling for local attendance and sponsorship deals which vary mostly by market size). For example, Dallas is a relatively rich franchise while being very unsuccessful on the field. This is because of straight revenue sharing broadcast networks. Owners look to hire coaches and GMs that they are "comfortable" with, which feeds a insular set of people who "know" people. This results in textbook discrimination. Somebody tell me Adam Gase deserved another HC job after Miami due to his awesome HC performance. You can name a bunch of other example like this. Pegula openly said he felt most comfortable with Rex during that search. Ugh. Now, rattle off a list of black HCs who got multiple jobs after failing. It's pretty tough to find them. The same cannot be said of player performance where the best players generally get the most compensation regardless of race. For example, does anyone believe the Christian McCaffrey isn't going to be one of the highest paid RBs in the NFL regardless of race? Player performance is highly objective. Coaching and GM work isn't. The real tell is the actual distribution of HCs and GMs in the league. The "pool" of candidates starts with ex-players (college and pro) and coaches (college and pro). The coaching ranks are over-represented by white men at all levels even though black men make up the largest share of ex-players. That doesn't make sense unless there is a innate racial disparity in ability. I've never heard anyone make the claim that black man are less intelligent or capable leaders than white men. The integration of the US Military has shown that thinking to be false. What's truly weird is that it is statistically likely that available black coaching and GM candidates are actually more qualified because they are under-represented in the coaching field. So, under this rule, teams that hire black HCs and GMs will get a double bonus. They likely get a better chance of a top-notch leader but they also get modest draft capital. My 2 cents...and a few more. Bilichick will claim his sons are black as he promotes them. 😛