Success

Man, I just thought of this....does anyone know the Heat Miser's favorite charity?

The "I just want to go home!" factor could be a big one for the visiting team. Fans won't let the Bills have that kind of letdown if it doesn't start out great, but if the Pats are behind, it's just human to start to think that at a certain point.

It's oversimplifying, but the Bills have 2 essential paths to victory today: they can get off to a hot start & build a lead, or they can fall behind and come back. The Pats only have one of those options, imo. They're the team that HAS to take the early lead and hold it. On the road, in this weather & with a run-centric offense, they can't come back if they get down by more than a score, unless they get some lucky breaks. I wouldn't want to be that team. That was a defining characteristic of many of our drought-era teams, and it's very limiting.

I spent the entire Chargers/Raiders game hoping that this would not be the result. Now I'm totally embracing it. We've gone a long way burying the demons w/ a sweep last year, and beating them at Gillette this year. But a win over them in the playoffs? I'd really compare it to when the Red Sox finally beat the Yankees in the playoffs in 2004 (hate to use that analogy, but if the shoe fits).

It's hard to think of a coach in any sport who is less likely to continue with a worse line-up simply because he felt like he had to play a 1st rounder. Belichick is getting old. Soon, he'll be playing shuffleboard while the rest of the league is playing football.

I thought Belichick was supposed to be this great coach? He didn't know that when they were all healthy?

Did you clear that chowda w/ anyone? That's a very New Englandy dish. Beef on weck is, of course, universally acceptable and needs no red tape.

"Let's make the Pats the Patsies again." Too close to politics?

Where else would you rather be? Someone had to say it. Or maybe they have a few times, but I'll repeat it. In order: Barmore, Mills, Wynn. But each is a pretty big deal. I think Barmore is the biggest disruptor on the line, and out of the 3, the most difficult to replace.

I'm glad we're playing tomorrow. Monday would have been excruciating. I'll spend a fair amount of time on here. Will definitely watch the 1st game. Food & drink planning and execution prior to the game. Texting friends & family. This is all good stuff. I will never take it for granted after the years between Kelly & Allen.

Pats fans are saying it's addition by subtraction. I guess he allowed more sacks than the other linemen. Doubt it. They loved Wynn last year. That was probably just the spot Jones went to with his 2-step pocket "scramble." Mills being out is pretty big, too. Their secondary ain't deep. After all of this hand-wringing, it would be cool if it was a Bills blowout by halftime & we could get Trubisky some work.

To say rookie Mac Jones has a "bag of tricks" and then suggest it's deep....is generous.

I started thinking today that we might lose. It's Belichick, it's the Patriots, it's been 2 decades of frustration. The weather is going to be a factor again, it's been a weird season for us, it's hard to know what team we can expect. Then I remembered we have Josh Effing Allen, and I started thinking about who we might face in round 2.

We'll find out eventually that he was in the room w/ Brady during the deal w/ the devil....

I really didn't think that watching it - but I'm not mr. x's & o's. It just didn't seem like he was sending too many guys & it looked like they were laying back & trying to take away the deep stuff most of the time. The line played great that game, and they've really been stepping up in general the last part of the season.

Nicknames come naturally and can take time. I'm hoping for "Mr. February."

It's weird w/ Edelman. I could not STAND him as a player. Found him to be extremely annoying. But he's kind of likeable and hilarious now.

McD has been great against the Pats - even when they had Brady, his strategies basically shut Brady down.

That's strictly homer Pats fan perspective. I always check the other boards a bit after games - and that was pretty popular. When they can't explain something, they generally attribute it to some genius longview strategy they can't comprehend.

I've been checking the tabloids. It could have actually been Elvis.

I agree - and would say that if we get up 14 in this game, it's over. I'd love that.

We mythologize him too much. He's the greatest ever - but he's still just a coach. That said, he's cooking up something right now. It was EASY in game 1, w/ the kind of team he has. Get a lead early. Run, run, run. He got enormous praise, but I could have coached that. And if Allen makes that last pass, everyone is saying he blew it. He tried something weird in game 2. Not much blitzing - give Allen the underneath stuff. To which Allen said, thank you sir, may I have another? There are some who think he let Allen have everything underneath as a kind of "vanilla" scheme in case they met again. What do you all think about game 3? He's going to blitz more. I have no doubt on that - he wants to limit Allen's passing. He has to have Mac pass more - certainly more than the 1st game! He has some surprises in store. I just don't know what they might be - thus, they will be surprises, at least to fans. Thoughts?

Make the Pats throw. SEC Jones is not ready for this. I doubt he has experienced anything under 20 degrees.

I kind of enjoyed feeling like we had signed him. I'm going to chase that feeling.

If the Jags can beat the Bills, and NC State can beat Houston - anything is possible. That said....no.