The Frankish Reich

It is that she is a shameless shape-shifter. A Nikki Haley type traditional Party of Reagan conservative who is now posing as a Trumpy disrupter. And that defense of Trump's brain fart is just about the most sniveling example of ass-kissery you'll ever see. A strong woman would be her own woman, not a toady for an old perv.

Right. You never know until the Super Bowl is over. The Ravens look dominant to me. They've smacked down the other pretenders, with only the Chiefs left. If they blow it against KC or in the Super Bowl, history will say they were good but fatally flawed. If they win both, we'll be saying they were unbeatable and dominant.

I'm with you here. It seems to be a requirement in these situations to say how long you've been a Bills fan. For me, 50 years. First game at the Rockpile. Seen it all. The older I get, the more I think about whether following the Bills was enjoyable. Not whether they win or lose in the end (since they never win in the ultimate end), but more like one of those old 1970s posters: it's a journey, not a destination. The journey: a really interesting season. I started with fairly low expectations. A lot of people expected kind of a down year. Then it started great. Then reality hit when Milano and Tre went down. Missing the playoffs? Yeah. It's happening. Then the win streak. Watching the Bills dominate the Cowboys - manhandle them - was the highlight for me. A different Bills offense. Allen going all late career John Elway on us, depending on the run game. James Cook growing into prime Dalvin Cook. Didn't see that coming. Then the Chiefs regular season game. Are you kidding me? The pivotal call - Toney lined up offside - goes in our favor and wins us the game? Then Allen turns it on. Playoff Josh. Put the ball in my hands and I'll win it for you. Beat down of the Dolphins to win the division. Huge plays: Sherfield's catch at the back of the end zone. I've never seen that done better. Shakir emerging as a big play guy. Could it be that this is our year after all? The snow. The delayed playoff game. Didn't bother us at all in the end. And a great game to end the season. Yeah, once again we almost did it. Not quite 2021, but a helluva ride. Entertainment value 9 out of 10. (Frustration value 6 out of 10.) Ahh, to be a Bills fan.

Yep. Really, you've got to expect that quality receivers haul in at least 2 of those 3. They were right on the money.

Can I do one of those annoying "both sides are right" things? Diggs is on the wrong side of 30. I would guess that he was bothered by nagging injuries in the 2nd half of the season, when his production declined and when he didn't seem to gain the same separation. We had a poster who showed us that in the NextGen stats a few weeks ago. But when you're on the wrong side of 30 that's what happens. Getting banged up is part of the WR life, but older guys don't rebound like they used to. But it's not like he's done, or trash, or whatever. He's still a very good receiver, on a big contract that's basically untradeable, so the Bills really need to make him fit regardless of whoever else they bring in or send packing at WR.

Unfortunately, "just a crap shoot" is my operating hypothesis until someone proves otherwise. Even this year, the offense was remarkably healthy all season. The only important injuries were to Knox and Gabe Davis. The O line was intact all season, which is pretty incredible. So if the training staff was doing something wrong it was somehow only to the defense?

We ripped Leslie Frazier for playing conservatively on defense against KC. Tonight McD dialed up a blitz in a key situation, Mahomes read it, and delivered a big gain. Sometimes the coach can't get a break.

Yeah, but we have had Boogie Basham! Drafted a few picks before Humphrey. (this comment is obligatory whenever Creed Humphrey is mentioned) In some alternative universe, Creed Humphrey is still snapping the ball to Patrick Mahomes, but both are in Bills uniforms.

So why was Sam Martin active? He was obviously unable to punt like an NFL punter. Was it his impeccable FG holding skills that allowed Bass to be his best self?

I mean, this season was weird, and we could've missed the playoffs entirely. But at the start of the season we were in our normal mode for the last few seasons - we play the entire regular season schedule to try to secure home field. And then we get it and it doesn't matter.

Wow. Well then it was just a terribly designed or terribly executed fake punt. Or both.

Agreed. We got THE pivotal officiating decision overturned in our favor. Against KC. On a play where I found nothing even close to clear evidence that the call on the field was wrong. The stupidity of the fake punt was negated. Status quo restored. We're gonna win! And then ...

Correct.

Here's the best explanation I could find. Some declared the curse broken during a game on August 31, 2004, when a foul ball hit by Manny Ramírez flew into Section 9, Box 95, Row AA and struck a boy's face, knocking two of his teeth out.[39] 16-year-old Lee Gavin, a Boston fan whose favorite player was Ramirez, lived on the Sudbury farm owned by Ruth. That same day, the Yankees suffered their worst loss in team history, a 22–0 clobbering at home against the Cleveland Indians Any volunteers to get two teeth knocked out? I mean, an ordinary tailgate Sunday results in worse injuries than that ...

It's still the Curse of #32 ...

The OP's topic is Bass = Norwood. Which sounds like it's bullying Bass, but in reality it's bullying Norwood. The quality of kickers overall is so much better than it was three decades ago, and unlike Norwood then, there's really no excuse for Bass's recent performances today.

You do that when you believe that the window of opportunity is open right now. Sometimes you're the Rams and it works. Most of the time it doesn't. Now we're stuck with some bad contracts for guys who may still be productive (Diggs is, and I actually believe Miller will be next year) but are clearly in their decline phases.

It was the ugliest fake punt I've seen in a long, long time. Even if KC had 10 men on the field (I counted 9 near the LOS and I guess there was just one deep return guy), KC had the LOS stacked to the left, which is exactly what Hamlin ran into. Is McD being nice to Hamlin (or whoever would call that fake) by taking the blame? What fake punt would ever have Hamlin involved in what looked like kind of a naked sweep? It may be that this goes back to the original mistake of keeping Martin active as punter when he obviously couldn't do it this week. Thankfully it was all negated by a call that I thought never should have been overturned, the "fumbled out of the end zone" on Hardman.

A healthy pre-injury/2022 version of Von Miller just might have put us over the top tonight. Zero pass rush will do that to you.

QB Class of 2018 is looking awfully good right now.

I've been watching this one kind of half-heartedly, not having a rooting or betting interest, but this 4th quarter may demand my undivided attention!

I had missed the part where he endorsed Trump. I guess he would for his own selfish motivations: Even if Trump wins, he can only serve one more term. So Ron 2028 stays alive! (He will have to contend with Trump's VP if Trump wins, and I don't see how Ron could do it since the President and VP can't be from the same state. If Trump moves back to NYC and switches his registration to NY we'll know what's coming next ....)

You mean it's time to give up and take the loss on that 50 acres of land I bought near the new Darien Lake area stadium?

Vivek got the usual Ron Paul crackpot vote. It is amazing that someone who says that many stupid and childish things even gets 5%. After all that storm and fury, he is once again irrelevant. Always a conspiracy. Yeah, various prosecutors brought tons of charges because they wanted Trump to get a publicity boost and win the nomination. Don't overthink this. The "It's a Cult" posters have a far simpler explanation. Because ... It's a Cult.

I always look forward to the part of the campaign where old white guys pretend to have their finger of the collective pulse of young(er) black America.