Logic

Oh fer chrissakes...

There's definitely a big segment of the sports watching population who use sports spectatorship as an excuse for excessive consumption of adulterants. One need look no further than a Bills tailgate for evidence of this. I happen to enjoy both American football and, uh...FOOTBALL football...sober as a judge. Okay, maybe a toke or two off a jazz cigarette...

Gotta think Tanner Gentry gets called up from the PS for this week's game.

Yep. Josh has played quite well in domes throughout his career. Meanwhile, a cold, windy day would've meant two things: advantage Browns, who have a much more consistent and punishing rushing attack than the Bills. And disadvantage Josh Allen -- I don't want a dude with an injured elbow having to whip the ball into the wind, and I can't imagine the cold would help either with regard to pain management. You can even throw in "will make the Thursday Lions game a little more familiar" as the Bills will have JUST gone through this travel routine and stadium/locker rooms/turf situation. I firmly believe the above mentioned advantages outweigh whatever loss in home field advantage happens (which isn't even a guarantee, as a decent number of Bills fans may still fill the stands in Detroit anyway.)

For any talk of whether this will be a "home game" or not, and whatever loss of advantage that may entail... I really don't care. Whether the atmosphere resembles that of a home game, an away game, or a neutral site game (most likely, IMO), it doesn't matter. If you can't beat the 3-6, Jacoby Brissett quarterbacked Cleveland Browns, you can kiss your Lombardi dreams goodbye. Buffalo, Detroit, Neptune, I don't care. Just win.

I'm sure you're used to that.

The U.S.'s odds in general are quite awful (+15000), though I'm not sure how likely they are simply to get out of the first group. Doesn't seem too promising. -------------- Separately, for anyone interested in educating themselves on the moral, humanitarian, and political implications of Qatar being the host city...I highly recommend the following article. It is long, but extremely thorough and well written. To the extent that I spend time watching the World Cup this year, I will feel at least a little better having educated myself as to the full implications of this whole messy thing. One thing I thought was jaw-dropping: Qatar has spent 12 years and $250 Billion dollars re-making their country, building over 100 hotels, re-designing downtown completely, installing a new public transport system from scratch, and of course building the stadiums themselves. This is more than the cost of all previous World Cups and Olympics combined (!!!). Obviously, the human rights and climate considerations of all of this construction is under extreme scrutiny. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n22/david-goldblatt/how-to-get-on-tv

Move to Detroit would be the best possible thing for the Bills. They'd get to play the game, then just remain in Detroit for the week to follow, leading to the Lions game. I can't think of a better solution.

Not enough question marks on the thread title, IMO.

Dominate the Browns, show out on Thanksgiving against the Lions (aka the semi-annual Josh Allen Turkey Day Invitational), roll into the TNF Pats game 8-3 and taking better care of the football, and all will be right with the world.

This song, written by Warren Zevon when he was dying of lung cancer, is absolutely heartbreaking. This version, by Eddie Vedder, performed as a tribute to Dave Letterman, who was a personal friend and big fan of Zevon's, is gorgeous.

Oh yeah. FIFA is beyond corrupt. 100% It's a weird, difficult, "cognitive dissonance" sort of thing to be able to separate the enjoyment of a sport from the knowledge that its governing body is evil. Same cognitive dissonance I exercise when I watch the NFL.

Those are sharp as hell.....unlike the absolutely hideous U.S. kits this year 🤮

Me too. This is the debate my cousin and I have all the time. He wants multiple titles. Which, coming on the heels of the Patriots dynasty and seeing how special Josh Allen is, is somewhat reasonable. Me? I just need one. One world title and I'll never ask for anything else again in my football watching life. We could go back to being perennial doormats and I won't care. Just one world title before I die. I need to know what it feels like. Just one. Is that so much to ask?

Just to sum up, in case anyone hasn't been reading along the whole way through: Beane and McDermott have been horribly mismanaging the roster that has posted the NFL's best point differential two years in a row and has made the playoffs four out of the last five seasons and sits 6-3 currently. The #2 defense and #3 offense are part and parcel of an overall complete mismanagement of resources by the front office and coaching staff. Additionally, Beane gets blame for letting Jerry Hughes walk and drafting Basham and Epenesa, but he does not get credit for bringing in Von Miller, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, or drafting Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, or acquiring Stefon Diggs. Oh, and Josh Allen was just a lottery pick that happened to hit. Total luck. No credit to Beane for drafting him or McDermott and his staff for fostering an environment in which he could grow into the player he is today. Any good part of our team is dumb luck. Any bad part of our team is evidence of roster mismanagement and general ineptitude. I think that about covers it.

Von Miller had 8 sacks in 2019 and 9.5 in the whole 2021 regular season on two different teams, in two different schemes. He has 8 so far this season in just 9 games. Do McDermott and Frazier get credit for getting more production out of Von than his three previous coaching staffs, or do they only get the blame when things go wrong? How about Hyde and Poyer being late round, free agent afterthoughts, and now both being All-Pro caliber safeties. Do Beane, McDermott and Frazier get credit for that, or do they only get wrist-slaps and raspberries for their "criminal roster mismanagement" and the aspects of the teams you don't like? My biggest problem with criticizers of Beane and/or McDermott is that they almost always ONLY mention the bad without also mentioning the good. You want to mention the players that Beane let walk that had production elsewhere? Fine, but it's only fair to also mention the players he brought in that had better production for the Bills than their previous teams. You want to blame McDermott and his coaching staff for various players failing to live up to the expectations you have for them? Fine, but it's only fair to also mention the players that they HAVE gotten great production out of and/or coached up into productivity. Be objective and fair, or it's clear that you just have a myopic, one-sided, pessimistic agenda.

I'd be happy with nothing but ugly wins the rest of the season. Ask Giants fans if they care how their team got to 7-2. At the end of the season, they don't ask "how?", they just ask "how many?"

This feels like one of those week where an insane weather event evens the playing field between two mismatched opponents. In regular November weather, I feel confident the Bills would beat the Browns handily. If there's two feet of snow on the ground? My confidence level plummets, particularly considering we're going against a potent rushing attack. Here's hoping that the Bills can find a rushing attack of their own, actually USE the talented stable of running backs they now possess, and overcome the weather and find their way to victory.

Who said anything about statistics determining outcomes? Statistics MEASURE outcomes. The outcomes of the 9 games the Bills have played dictate that their offense has been more effective in gaining yards and points than the Dolphins offense has been in the 10 games they've played.

The Bills are ahead of the Dolphins in yards per play, yards per game, and points per game, but sure, their offense is better than ours.

Figured I'd make a thread to discuss the World Cup, which starts in five days. If there is another thread already, I missed it. Please forgive me and delete or combine this one. Anyway... My stepfather growing up was a Frenchman, so the World Cup was a big deal in our house, and I grew up rooting for the French national team. I don't watch much soccer in non World Cup years, but I do always find the World Cup really interesting and enjoyable to watch. And hey, for the first time since 2014, the U.S. qualified! Are ya watching? Do ya care? Who ya got?