The Frankish Reich

McD learned from that first Pats game. First Pats game: Pats 100% committed to the run. Play a heavy formation with an extra OL on the majority of snaps. McD counters with ... 2 180 lb CBs playing 100% of the snaps. 222 yards rushing without even pretending to try to throw the ball. Compare Bills with standard offensive sets: 60 RB rushing yards. Later: McD/Daboll frustrated with O line injuries/ineffectiveness. Copy Belichick by playing Doyle as an extra O lineman. Imitation: sincerest form of flattery. The student will not be caught by the master again with his pants down.

Thanks for the excellent summary - the clearest I've seen. So as always there was a combination of a sound strategy/scouting and just a little bit of luck (or, if you prefer, some really poor decision making by some teams drafting ahead of us).

They did play the following good teams in addition to the Bills: - Titans (beat em) - Bengals (same) - Bucs (almost) - Pats (if we consider them "good") So there is that ...

And I think the Jets are finally on the right course. Of course a lot depends on whether Zach Wilson develops. Unless of course they get the other Wilson. Russell. I'm glad Miami pulled the plug on Flores, who also seemed to have them on the right course. Prediction: the AFC East will be a good division starting next season.

My take: weather is the great equalizer. Bad teams (read: the Bills, ~ 2005-2016) benefit from bad weather. Good teams (Bills 2019-current) can only be harmed by it. When you are the better team you don't want extraneous factors like weather having a role in determining the outcome.

Would've preferred Merlin Olsen, but I'll take it.

Agreed. This is the kind of thing really good teams do - find value in some guy out there for the taking. If you'd asked "is defensive end a position of need right now" everyone would've said no, it's way down the list. But getting just a little bit better, just a little bit deeper anywhere on the football field can make a difference - sometimes just enough of a difference to win a playoff game.

Here's the PFF take on him when he was traded to the Jets last offseason. Bottom line: nothing exciting, but a solid upgrade. (PFF numbers this year are the worst of his career, however): Lawson a proven pass-rusher: Lawson has settled into being a consistent force as an edge rusher over the past few seasons, averaging 38.5 total pressures for two different teams within the AFC East since 2019. Lawson no slouch in run defense, either: The best PFF grades of Lawson's career have come as a run defender, headlined by an 81.1 mark in 2018 for the Buffalo Bills. Jets' pass-rush struggles are clear: No edge-rushing unit in the league has graded out worse than the Jets' (62.4) since 2017. New York also ranks 32nd league-wide in pressure rate from the edge (16.9%) over that same period. With Carl Lawson lost already due to injury, the Jets simply had to find a source of edge pressure.

The only relevant question is this: IF you can sign him, and IF he's eligible to play, would he likely be better than the guys he takes snaps from? I think the answer is yes. So welcome back, Shaq! (Maybe)

Western Europe has been a leading indicator. Expect the same in North America. Still far and away the best preparation: get vaccinated/boosted. Most other measures are probably futile, but if hospitals become overtaxed it is also inevitable that some measures (limits on indoor events) will come into play in order to spread the wave over a greater period of time. I am double vaxxed/boosted, as is my entire family. We all got COVID over the last couple weeks. No serious complications - just what felt like a head cold. We can weather the storm, but be smart. Think of yourself, your family, your neighbors, the medically vulnerable who may need that hospital bed you can avoid using by doing the prudent thing now. I know many people here, including many suspicious of vaccines, try to live a Christian life. So do I. That's why I reject the "if you're vaccinated, why do you care whether I am?" line of argument. I have a responsibility to my family, my community, to others who may be expected to be impacted - negatively or positively - by my decisions.

You mean the Deep State War Heats Up thread? Well, it's high time for a bump of that, isn't it!

That's why we are suddenly seeing "ballot harvesting" presented as some kind of newfangled problem. I mentioned this in a post over a year ago. Nobody - nobody - is agitating for the post-Saddam Iraq style of voting, where you have to show up in person, be checked against a voter roll, and then dip your thumb in indelible ink so as to be sure that you vote once, only once, and only in one location. That is pretty foolproof. Nobody wants it. So there is a constant trade-off: we want to make sure everyone who is eligible to vote has the opportunity to do so without some kind of onerous process that would deter eligible voters, but we also want to make sure that only eligible voters vote, and that the vote is their own. It's a balance. I don't have any issue with states or federal governments trying to rebalance when it appears things sway too far in one direction or the other. But be wary of those wild claims of widespread fraud from Republicans, or of widespread voter intimidation from Democrats. Serious analysis doesn't support either type of claim in major (state/federal) elections, whether those claims come from Trump or Stacy Abrams.

Why wouldn't I believe that? Look, there's one rational argument against "ballot harvesting" (as typically thought of): it opens the door for an easier means of paying off people for their votes. That is already illegal. But imagine someone wants to "buy" my vote, with money or with some payment in kind. He approaches me and gives me $20. I go into the polling place, behind the curtain, and, lo and behold, screw him over by casting my vote for another candidate. Hah! Joke's on him. He paid me for my vote, but I got the last laugh. Take away that final private step and it opens the door to more shenanigans. I'm not ridiculing the proposition - it's a real problem. If mail-in/drop-off ballots are "harvested" en masse at, say, a nursing home, there is some potential that the harvester won't just be transporting ballots, but will actually be filling them out (or directing, under observation, senile old people to fill them out in a particular way). But here's a hint: starting off with a spirited defense of 1789-style limited suffrage doesn't help to convince many people ....

Ohh, for the days of white male landowners and white male landowners alone ...

I'll admit it. As the post says, Biden did fumble the pandemic cure ... that is, to the extent that one can "fumble" urine. Anti-vaxxers, start building your reserves now! I thought this was an Onion style fake news item. It isn't. This guy is real, his advice is apparently .... sincere.

And THAT could finally do it!

Every other AFC team has been equally inconsistent. So ... kind of.

2:56 left in Miami. Pats about to score a TD.

Nothing like a thrilling game of field position and punting. The glory of outdoor football in Buffalo in January.

I really don't think it matters much.

Yep. Is there anyone who isn't a Bills fan watching this game? Boring as hell punt-fest. Thanks Buffalo weather ...

Miami game will end a half hour before ours. Just sayin'

Miami FG Good!! 17 pt lead with 11 mins left.

Meanwhile ... Tua is kind of ... all right? even good? Mistake free as usual the 2nd half of the season, and makes the occasional play. And Mac Jones isn't.

Is there a way we can open the playoffs in LA? Las Vegas? Because that's what we need to try to do by any means necessary. This is a horrible bad weather team.