The Frankish Reich

Re: Kevin Spacey. Translation of his statement today: 1. I didn't do it. 2. If I did, I was definitely drunk when I did it. 3. Not that I did it, but if I ever did anything like that, it would definitely involve a 14 year old boy, not a girl, since I'm gay.

Ragland stood there in the middle of the field, 15 yards deep, and no Bronco dared come into his zone. It was a thing of beauty. And it exhibited tremendous maturity and leadership.

Just dropped into coverage on 1st down.

Here in Colorado a lot was made of the fact that Joseph was a Univ of Colorado guy, as if the Broncos head coaching job needed some kind special local connection to make it desirable. Whoever took this job was stepping into a great defense and a consistent winner. They acted like it was the Bills desperately playing up Marrone's Syracuse roots.

Thanks. That'll give me something to watch for in between the dropped passes and errant throws.

I missed that. What number is Ragland?

Don't you think he waited just in case in turned out he'd need Garoppolo for an extended time if Brady went down early this year? So he got half a year of a Jimmy G. insurance policy, then got probably the 34th pick in the 2018 draft.

The intended affect I imagine.

Run Shady till he pukes. Then run him some more. 33 touches on Sunday and he didn't look the least big nauseated. Right over his head.

Vance Joseph: I couldn't understand why Elway was so enamored of him. What precisely did he do to become a highly sought after head coaching candidate?

Scott Van Pelt is just way too disturbing looking. I have to avert my eyes. By the way, who likes him? Why does espn treat him like some kind of celebrity?

Andy Reid is in danger of blowing it by being a huge douchebag. Last year: the Dontari Poe "run up the score" passing TD. This year: the stupid gadget play with Tyreek Hill throwing it (INT) in the red zone, then playing for a TD with one minute left. Andy: THESE BRONCOS CANNOT SCORE! They just got shutout by the Chargers. They have 3 pts in the first half today. Just take the points and the victory. OK. I'll grant you that. But may I also point out the people who said Jerry Hughes = Justin Houston? Did Jerry Hughes ever completely destroy an opposing team's offense the way Houston does?

OK, now that all starts to make sense. NE wanted him as the vet backup, but not at his current salary. I'd be surprised if NE doesn't sign Hoyer.

OK, they have no choice - Siemien has to get pulled now. Brutal. (in a good way, since we need to eliminate the Broncos as WC competition)

Off the top of my head: 1. Paul Manafort 2. The Cuban guy on the Astros who made "Chinese Eyes" at Yu Darvish. 3. Harvey Weinstein 4. (Maybe) Kevin Spacey Oh, I could find the comments if I cared enough ...

And maybe the "Tyrod is better than Alex Smith" can tag along too.

From Belichick's perspective: if Brady goes down with a significant injury, there's no way the Pats are winning another Super Bowl. That was true with Jimmy G. there as a good backup, and it's doubly true with whatever scrub is the backup now. And for the Pats, it's either win the Super Bowl or declare the season a failure. There's also no they'd do a Packers-style switchover from Brady to Jimmy (even if Brady weren't under contract). So for them this was an easy move to make. We get used to evaluating moves from the perspective of a Bills type team. That's a mistake.

Well, someone's gonna trade for that 49ers 1st/2nd overall pick. Although their QB situation has been so horrible that I'd assume Jimmy will get them at least 2 or 3 wins. The 2018 draft just got a lot more interesting.

OK, you're scaring me now. (Because all of this is correct.) Let me try to talk myself out of it: - they have overcome very big injuries. Losing Clay and also Matthews meant losing your only 2 proven pass catchers. They've weathered that. - there's no doubt a huge element of luck in creating fumbles, and even more so in recovering them. But the turnover ratio? This is an offense built on not turning over the ball. Tyrod in particular is risk averse to the point of driving us nuts from time to time, but this is a proven skill for him, avoiding turnovers. - they've all been close, the losses as well as the wins (with the exception of the Jets in Week 1 and the Raiders today) All right. I feel a little better. But only an actual playoff appearance will extinguish that Bills fan feeling that it's all an illusion.

33 touches today! I love it, but I gotta admit - coming back from that on Thursday ain't easy. A true backup who can do the things McCoy does (albeit obviously not as well) would certainly help.

For the division, yes. But much as I hate to say it, the great thing about where we stand now is we can drop 2 to the Pats, and drop that tough KC road game, and STILL be in great position for a wildcard. If, that is, we beat the teams we're supposed to beat and roughly split the games that project as close ones.

Well, the scheduled Sunday nighter is Seahawks (the team America loves to hate)-Eagles (featuring America's new darling), so I doubt it, but that would be awesome, wouldn't it?

And interesting to see the odds of each game going forward on 538. The Bills right now are underdogs in just 3 of the remaining 9 games (Pats X 2, KC on the road). We're 1 point faves vs. New Orleans at the Ralph; I wouldn't like our chances in New Orleans, but as always the Saints are an entirely different/worse team on the road. We're also slim faves on the road (1.5 points) vs. the Chargers, and that's one that really worries me. Of course it won't play out game-by-game as projected, but the bottom line is 538 is right - we'll be clear favorites in about 3 of the remaining 9: Jets on Thursday, (but Thursdays are always more of a crapshoot than Sundays, particularly on the road - this one will be huge if we want to gain a little separation), Colts at home, Dolphins at home. As I mentioned, 2 games - Chargers on the road and Saints at home - are almost toss-ups, and right now 538 has Dolphins on the road as a third toss-up (I feel pretty good about that one right now). And then we're clear dogs in those 3. Win the 3 we're supposed to, and win 2 of the 3 that project as near toss-ups, and even if you lose the 3 clear underdog games if my arithmetic is good, that's 10 wins ...

Yup. Not too soon. Early, but not to soon. (The purpose here is to collect the various statistically-based playoff likelihood projection systems, not a more generic power rating.) fivethirtyeight.com updates immediately after each slate of games. And right now they have the Bills at ... ... projected at 9.6 wins. And chances of making the playoffs at ... ... 63 % Sunday night's game (Steelers) will have at most a minimal effect. Here's the most interesting part: their ELO rating (their version of a power rating, but given the site very objective/statistically based) has the Bills 10th overall, 4th in the AFC (NE, KC, PIT). There's a pretty big gap right now between the Bills and the 5th team in the AFC, the Broncos. I know we started 5-2 in 2011 as well, but given the poor performance of some of our clear wildcard competitors, I can't recall us being this well positioned after 7 games in a long, long time.

Can James Lofton get a game ball too? He handled this game like a true homer. I'm not complaining - it was fun to listen to. He obviously knows his stuff in the passing - and WR blocking - game, but I imagine Raiders fans are bitching about him right about now.