Tuco

And something very few people know, the extra point attempt, be it 1 or 2 points, is still technically called a "try" in the NFL rule book. ARTICLE 1. GENERAL RULES After a touchdown, a Try is an opportunity for either team to score one or two additional points during one scrimmage down. The Try begins when the Referee sounds the whistle for play to start. The team that scored the touchdown shall put the ball in play: anywhere on or between the inbound lines; 15 yards from the defensive team’s goal line for a Try-kick; or two yards from the defensive team’s goal line for a Try by pass or run.

I dunno. But when you guys get it all figured out can somebody then tell me why they call it cricket? Thanks

They could. When they play at home against the west coast teams they sometimes get the 4:05 start. Or if the network its on has double header that weekend they will get the 4:30 start. Chargers, Rams ans Seahawks at home this year could all be late afternooners. And the Jets sometimes are 4:00 start when both they and the Giants have afternoon games. Those teams almost never play at the same time.

The '94 season was the first season with a salary cap - even though free agency began in 1993. After giving big contracts to Thurman and Bruce, as well as front loading a bunch of other guys in '93 to help with the oncoming cap, the Bills still went into the '94 season almost $10 million over the cap. That doesn't sound like a lot these days, but the cap in '94 was $33.6 mil and the Bills were at $44 mil. So they were about 30% over. That would be like being almost $60 million over today. Just getting under the cap made it almost impossible to keep their free agents. Having lost Wolford to the original poison pill the year before, the line was further devastated in losing House Ballard and Jim Ritcher. Add in other free agent losses like Nate Odoms and Kirby Jackson and, well, we just weren't as good of a team any more.

On the 5 yard line, Giants side. Waaayyy up in something like row 88. The ending sucked but going to see the Bills in the big game was an awesome experience. I hope a whole new group of Bills fans get the chance soon.

If KC wins and NE* loses, KC would be the #2 seed with a bye.

Sort of. When the day started Pitt was ahead in conference record, 6-4 while Tennessee was 6-5. So Pitt owned the tiebreaker. Since they lost to the Jesters, Pitt's conference record is now also 6-5, so the tiebreaker now belongs to Tennessee via strength of victory.

All true. But none of it is what I said. I was responding to your post that said beating the Steelers guarantees us a playoff spot but not the 5th seed. Beating the Steelers does in fact guarantee us the 5th seed (or better if we can win the division). Not sure what your point is here.

Nah I think it guarantees the 5th seed. If we beat Pitt, the best they can do is 10-6 and we'll already be at 10-6 with the tiebreaker over them. The only other teams that can get to 10-6 are Tennessee and Houston. If Houston gets to 10-6 that means they had to beat Tennessee at least once and they would win the division. It also means that Tennessee can't be better than 10-6 and we would hold the tiebreaker over them too. The only way Tennessee can win the division is to beat Houston twice. That would make Tennessee the division winner but then Houston could only get to 9 wins max - leaving Buffalo and Pitt tied at 10-6, where we win the 5 seed again.. Beating Pitt guarantees us the 5 seed minimum unless I missed something.

If this were to play out the first thing would be to break the tie for the division between Houston and Tennessee. I believe the only way Houston gets to 10 wins is to at least split with Tennessee, that would give Houston the division. Then the other 3 teams would go to conference record, where Pitt would take the 5 seed. But then it doesn't go to the next step. Once a team is seeded the remaining tied teams revert back to the first step of the 2-team format, where we would get the 6th seed having beaten Tennessee.

Right.

It seems so, but it really is true. If we're talking about a 13-3 tiebreaker, then before this past week the Pats* needed to lose a game in addition to losing to us in order to get to 13-3. If that loss had come to Cincinnati or Miami, they wouldn't have the tiebreaker. So it is true, but only insofar (word of the day) as it pertains to a 13-3 tie. I guess it mostly pertains to a lot of discussion about whether the Bills would win the division by winning out and going 13-3. If that happens and the Pats* are also 13-3, the Pats* have clinched the tiebreaker. It doesn't mean they automatically have the tiebreaker at 12-4 or 11-5, etc.

I don't think that's it but who knows? Division tiebreakers come first since they're the higher seed so a 3 way at 13-3 with NE*, Buff and Balt should be the same thing. Hard to say but it's not hard to believe the machine isn't perfect given all the variables. EDIT: I just tried it through this site and it showed us winning the division with both at 13-3 as long as NE* loses to the Bengals. https://playoffpredictors.com/Football/NFL?L=EwRmoy3CW2x1HaKmss0BmF54z7IZJaJl4aaLqFHmmn40x7MIM1pGvyXeo0QqrxLIADJKmSQkwlzYppQA

You are right, that's what the playoff machine says. But I think the machine is wrong. If the Bills were to win out they would be 13-3. If The Patriots* were to lose to both Buffalo and Cincinnati, they would also be 13-3. Both teams tied head to head and division record. In common games they would also be tied at 12-2, with Buffalo having lost to Cleveland and Philly, and New England* having lost to Baltimore and Cincy. Then it would go to conference record where Buffalo would win 10-2 to 9-3. Not saying the Pats* will lose to Cincy. I just think the machine is wrong.

Finally got one in the "L" column.

Not likely to go to 4:00. CBS only has single game coverage that weekend so flexing it to 4 wouldn't give them any more viewing audience. It could go to the night game. I believe the Dallas game is out because they will have already had the maximum of 6 prime time games. Oh, and I love how so many people want the Bills to be good, get all that national press coverage, etc., but then complain because they get put into prime time games. The two go hand in hand, LOL.

Actually, the common games could still be in play in a 3 way. If 2 teams have a 7-5 conference record and 1 team is 6-6, the 6-6 team is eliminated and the other 2 teams would then have 4 games in common.

Thanks for explaining and writing this up. Now, when it comes to wild card tie breaking, conference record comes before common games. So yeah, let's beat Denver. Also, common games only applies if all teams have a minimum of 4 common games among them. So that step wouldn't apply in the 3 team scenario. The next step would be strength of victory. We suck at that. So I suppose, if we're concerned with a tiebreaker, we need the Bengals and Jets and Dolphins and every other team we've beaten to start winning.

Got it. It just took me a minute, as posted above. So for the record, in the AFC it currently stands- Bills 5-2 Colts 5-4

When talking wild card, conference record comes before common games. So yeah, beat Denver. Beat me by a minute. But the Bills have 5 conference games left, not 1. EDIT: Okay you were talking about NFC games left. I was talking AFC because, you know, that's our conference. LOL

Depending on when he was officially let go. All NFL transactions become official at 4:00 PM. And the waiver period is 24 hours. If he was released before 4:00 PM yesterday then he will be claimed or cleared by 4:00 PM today. If he was released after 4:00 PM yesterday then it becomes official at 4:00 PM today, and the waiver period would go to 4:00 PM tomorrow.

Most fans wouldn't mind a shortened preseas . . . wait . . . five BILLION dollars for a football stadium? Holy crapazoid!

Keep reporting it. Make 'em all wonder. Kinda like Marcia Brady's "probable" with a shoulder injury every week for like 2 1/2 years.

The new rule allowing challenges on pass interference has been made into a travesty. Some of the calls that aren't reversed are downright ridiculous. That said, there will always be mistakes, and that's why they have the replay system. Although I agree with others, they should do away with the challenges and just have a full time ref watch and stop whenever it's necessary like college does. If it's 5 times a game or one time a game, so be it. Then again, it doesn't help when a lineman blocks a guy for 5-6 seconds on a play, but the network keeps showing the same 1-2 second clip.

Actually there were a lot of players. You have to look at the timeline. After the strike of 1986 there was a lot going on. At some point, I think in the early 90s the players decertified the union - just like they always do when there's a labor dispute. Once they do that the owners can't lock the players out as a group just because they don't have a collective bargaining agreement. But then what happened was the NFLPA kept representing players in things like marketing deals, and using the money they raised to fund their lawsuits against the league. The NFL decided to take took advantage of the fact that the players weren't technically represented by the union. Since there was no CBA the NFL could make deals with individual players in order to market their jerseys etc. They paid a boatload of money to a bunch of players which added to the labor strife. But with no CBA and technically no NFLPA as the bargaining representative, the owners couldn't lock them out and the players couldn't strike - except as individuals. For the time being they both found it best to keep playing games and file their lawsuits - many of which wouldn't be allowed if there was a CBA in place. Anyway, that's why there were a bunch of players back then who weren't part of the NFLPA licensing deals with companies like TECMO. It actually didn't last long because a court decision found that it was illegal for the players to decertify the union in order to file lawsuits, and then keep using the NFLPA as a collective representative with licensing deals and in their lawsuits. The court said you're either represented by a union or you're not. And the eventual result was a temporary free agency system lovingly referred to as Plan B, which lasted until they finally all agreed on the current system we have today with free agency after 4 years but with franchise/transition tags and restricted free agency for guys with less than 4 years, along with the salary cap.