Shaw66

Thanks. That's interesting. I finally figured out how to go the virtual private network route, and I bought NFLGamepass through a server in Germany. I actually like Gamepass, because I can watch any game I want, and I can switch between two good games. The VPN is only $10 a month, and I suppose instead of buying gamepass I could just get the VPN and CBS All Access. Wouldn't get me EVERY game, but it would get me most Bills games.

I didn't get all the bashing of Roberts around here this summer. Whenever I see him return kicks, including last season, it seems pretty clear that he has the knack. Through four games, Bills are seventh in kickoff return average and seventh in punt return average. Historically, leaders in average do it by having a TD return or too, but the Bills haven't done that. I'm sure the special teams are creating the opportunities, but it's obvious that Roberts can read the broken field and take advantage. He's an important piece to the team's success.

I hate to keep going around about this, but I thought I couldn't use CBS-All Access to get anything other than the game that my local CBS affiliate is carrying.

Wow. Thanks for this. I didn't know it was an actual law.

The NFL has some kind of deal with the NCAA not to play on Saturday, at least until the NCAA regular season games. I don't know if they have a written contract to that effect - maybe it's just a gentleman's agreement. It's also why there isn't Friday night NFL football - the league does it to protect high school football.

At an absolute minimum, yes. As I said, I think there is only one principle that is driving this: the NFL wants its money. I think the NFL should cancel games and impose forfeits, but at a minimum, at least flat out postpone and deal with the consequences later. Pats-Chiefs was a good example. No way the NFL wanted to give up the revenue from that game, so they moved it. It seems like it worked out, but we won't know for another few days whether playing caused a Chiefs outbreak. NFL already has Titans-Steelers revenue at risk, and Bills-Titans turns out to be another pretty good TV draw, so the NFL doesn't want to postpone it indefinitely and maybe lose it. It's all about the dollars, despite the good-face the NFL tries to put on it.

Maybe not, but for all of his brilliance, Belichick certainly has a problem with getting too close to the line, and that's part of the Patriots' culture. Vrabel certainly could have learned the cultural lessons without having the football intelligence that Bills has.

I like football, and I haven't really paid attention to the ins and outs of all that goes into making decisions in this environment, but it seems to me that the hard-line approach is the only thing that can work: If a team goes over the limit, the limit being whatever is deemed to be the acceptable level of positive test results, the quarantine rules, etc., the team forfeits the upcoming game. It isn't rescheduled, it isn't played. The players don't get paid. The scheduled opponent gets a win, and the players on the opponent team get paid, because they did all that they could do to play the game. This approach has a variety of benefits. First, it creates an enormous incentive to the players to stay healthy. Second, it doesn't penalize the teams that stay healthy. Third, it avoids the secondary unfairness of schedule changes. Why should the Bills be living this morning with all this uncertainty about their schedule just because the Titans couldn't manage their players and their facility properly? Why should we be talking about the Titans game moving to Monday night and the Chiefs moving to Saturday? Fourth, it makes a broader social statement - it says the NFL is deadly serious about controlling the disease - it is willing both to impose forfeits AND to take the economic hit of losing a game to televise. What's going on now just makes the NFL's greed more apparent. They won't cancel games because they don't want to lose the money, so instead they are doing caseoby-case decision making every day, trying to adjust on the fly. The NFL needs to put their big-boy pants on and take the hit.

I don't really know, but I do know that he learned from the master.

I think this comment, the "well, it's good when it works" comment, misses the point. I think the point is that the Bills had done their film work and they knew what they could expect as a defensive alignment. They knew in that alignment that everyone just had to execute routine, quick blocks. They knew there was little chance that anyone would penetrate the right side of the line. Could it go wrong? Sure - any play can go wrong. But just like teams have two point conversion plays that they are confident they can execute, the Bills came into the game knowing they had a fourth and one play that they were confident they could execute. Frankly, I think one thing that the Bills counted on was that the Raiders had seen McKenzie in motion a lot on film, but the Bills rarely gave him the ball the first three weeks. I think the Bills counted on the Raiders seeing McKenzie in motion and thought, maybe just for an instant - "decoy." Then he had the ball and was at the edge almost instantly. The real difference that we keep seeing, season after season, is that the Bills execute better and better every year. If they do something on the field, everyone does his job. Remember the play when the Bills were maybe third and three and Williams moved early? Five-yard procedure penalty. When that happened I thought, "man, that's unusual." The McDermott Bills don't make mistakes like that. So, when they execute that jet sweep on fourth and one, it isn't a surprise to me. The call is a surprise, but the execution isn't.

Real nice to hear that. That guy has some enthusiasm, and he has veteran leadership. You can tell he has seen what it takes and he wants his teammates to get on the train with him.

Nice job, Logic. Nice focus on what Norman meant to the game. I hadn't noticed that he was first on the scene for both Oliver's stop and Jefferson strip-sack. That's cool. Interesting to think that what the defense may have needed was an emotional lift. We'll see if it carries over into Sunday (or a week from Sunday, if the Titans game goes up in smoke). I agree with you. It's often difficult for the first guy on the scene to make a clean tackle; he's scrambling to do whatever he can. I saw it the same way; Poyer held Waller up long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. He didn't miss the tackle, and he did his job. As did Norman. And then some.

There's a lot of good stuff in this article. Well, good because it confirms things I thought. It says what we're seeing is improvement in Allen's understanding of the game. Mechanically they worked on little things, but they really worked on his understanding of the playbook, how he "processes the plays." Allen says he and Daboll are very much on the same page. Said Daboll will watch the Monday night game, come in Tuesday saying "did you see what they were doing? we could do something like that." Interesting stuff.

My sentiments, exactly. Absolutely no reason to start reading his stuff. You reap what you sow. That's not what I remember. I remember him trashing, absolutely trashing, Terrell Owens for being a cancer in Buffalo when he had been a model citizen. I remember him in press conferences trying to lead coaches into saying things that contradicted what others had said. I remember him ripping Anthony Lynn in his very first press conference, hours or days after getting the job. I remember him being contrary just for the sake of being contrary, to the point where nothing he said had any credibility. I remember him believing that he was more important than the story. I don't need to go back to that.

36 games into his career, he already has a five minute highlight reel. This is one of a dozen or more plays that has people saying that he does things on a football field that no other quarterback does. Right. On the replay, I was thinking he almost waited too long, because he couldn't throw it any farther. For Allen, that's throwing darts.

I haven't read the thread, so I didn't see it. It was a great moment.

Thanks. 9th in yards and 12th in points, just as you say.

I've said it, in different words, that the Bills have consistency and class at the four most important spots - HC, GM, QB and OWNERSHIP. The Pegulas know when they have a good thing going, and they're willing to spend money on it. The last piece I'm waiting for is Beane's extension. I hope he's happy and committed to the long term, and I hope the Pegulas write the check that he deserves. Extending Allen is a no-brainer. Once Beane is locked in, the franchise is rolling.

Well, I remember at the time thinking the Cowboys seemed to be playing a pretty vanilla defense, and not particularly well, either. Look at the defense this season, and it makes me think even more that the Cowboys just weren't very good.

Bills still might be a year away. We'll see where we stand in a couple of weeks. And even the Bills can go toe to toe with them, it's one thing to do it in the regular season, it's another to do it in the playoffs.

How'd you do that? Yup, there it is, 18 seconds into the video and broken down. I watched that play and said "he's a keeper." I mean, who do you know who throws that pass? Rodgers. Not sure Brees or Brady has the arm strength. Mahomes. Some guys can see it, but very few can see it AND throw it.

Oh, he definitely needs to get better. He isn't there yet. But you're right about last season. I thought it was pretty obvious, based on his progress over his rookie year, that Allen was a keeper. As you say, there were just too many plays that were hard to ignore. Different skill set, but I think the same thing was true about Mike Vick. Came in as a rookie, and I thought "this guy shouldn't succeed in the NFL." Then I watched him, and after a year of unbelievable plays, I had to conclude that the guy play. Had a lot to learn, but he obviously brought skills to the game that made him a weapon.

Honestly, it was his first preseason game as a rookie. He made a throw that I still remember, maybe 30 yards downfield, up the right sideline, maybe inside the 5. I don't remember, but I think he'd scrambled out to the left. He turned and fired the ball beyond the corner back who was trailing the receiver by half a step but had inside position, and the ball arrived just before the safety closed from midfield. There was a window between the two defenders, the window was closing, and as the ball went through the window, each defender was within 3-4 feet of the ball. Receiver slid to a knee and caught it. One of the best thrown balls I've ever seen. I thought right then, "Oh, we've got something here."

Nope

I'm happy for you. Seriously. I'm enjoying the games. You're enjoying the full experience. I'll get there.