Shaw66

I agree, ignorance is an important component. But the reporter's are ignorant because the standard refrain works for their purposes and there's nothing in it for them to dig deeper. They don't want to know a different story than the standard story, because they won't write the different story anyway. It isn't in their personal interest to diverge from the script, at least until the Bills actually start winning. So you get a lot of media people who can see how Allen is playing, who understand who Edmunds is, who have heard from sources that McD knows what he's doing, but they still don't tell a different story. Their view is the Bills are the Bills until they prove they aren't, and there's nothing in it for them to say anything different. The outliers are guys like Chris Simms, who's been quite vocal about Allen being an emerging star. They're in the minority.

There is a simple dynamic at work that causes the disconnect between the media coverage generally and fan perception. Actually, two dynamics. One, of course, is the fans are homers and as a general rule think the team is better than it actually is. That's a given, and it's always at work. The other is this: (I know there are journalists who actually form independent judgments and state what they believe, but they're in the minority. I'm not talking about them.) Most journalists are in a business. The business is producing content. They succeed in their job if they produce content that people accept, because that keeps people coming back to hear what that journalist has to say. If you're a journalist and you write or say things that people generally don't believe, then people stop listening to you. The general football public thinks the Bills are a bad team. They think that because the four Super Bowls were followed by what they believe was consistent failure, and it pretty much was. The running jokes about Buffalo and the Bills reinforce that belief. Okay, if I'm a journalist writing for a national audience, and I write the same old crap, and simply update it with Allen is not accurate, there were doubts about him coming out college, Bills were 6-10 last year, etc., my audience generally believes it. It all sounds right to them, so they think I'm a smart guy, and they move on to another article. However, if I write something like I did in May, saying the Bills are the next great franchise in the NFL, people think "WTF is this guy talking about?" They might read what I say, but most people simply aren't going to believe it because, well, it hasn't been true for 20 years, so why would be true now. And they're going to think I'm an idiot. If they think I'm an idiot, they aren't going to listen to me next time. Now, I don't really care what people think, so I write what I want. But if I earn my living writing this stuff, I care A LOT about what people think. Five years from now, when the Bills are the next great franchise, nobody will remember that I said what I said and that others didn't. So there's no upside for journalists to stick their nexks out saying the Bills are going to be great. All that will happen is that fans will think they're stupid. It's especially true for a small market team. There's some upside in predicting the Giants or the Bears or the Rams are going to be good, because there's a big market there that wants to hear that. No national journalist really cares all that much how much of the Buffalo market he's capturing.

They're ALL important. They just haven't been meaningful.

I'm bumping this because I thought it was interesting that a Boston Globe columnist recently went after the Pats organization with more or less the same thing I said. I don't think it's a misperception. It's just the nature of the Pats organization under Kraft and Belichick.

I think he's done. The problem for any quarterback is that as he gets older, he has to get better at the mental game. His physical skills are going to deteriorate, and the edge that keeps him in the game is his ability to read defenses, anticipate and make the right throw, accurately. If you've succeeded as a young QB because of your thinking ability, like Brady, you have a head start. When you've succeeded because of superior physical skills, you've got to work hard at improving your mental game, because your physical game is going to decline more than a guy like Brady. You could see this progression in Peyton's game. He had a great arm and it slowly deteriorated. He never was very mobile. But he grew into a true coach on the field, and that's how he survived. You can see it in Ben, too. He just can't do all the things he used to be able to do, but he is surviving on his ability to run an offense and to understand defenses. He looks to me like he's approaching the end. Cam just never was a field general, and I can't see him becoming one now. It's encouraging to me that the Bills are placing all their emphasis of Allen's mental game, his ability to read defenses, to anticipate things, to run the team on the field. That's the hill he has to climb to be a true franchise QB, and he's on his way. If he can climb to the top remains to be seen, but I'm encouraged. Honestly, I don't think Cam ever started climbing that hill.

I agree. I turned it off sometime in the third quarter. He looks slow running. Lumbering. His passing delivery looks really slow. He looks like an offensive lineman trying to connect on 15-yard out-patterns, instead of the nimble little guys playing QB now. Allen's release is MUCH quicker. Plus, I've never liked his attitude, all smiles when things are going well, pouting and whining when they aren't. I don't think he's a true leader. And no one has ever praised his field general skills. You don't hear announcers say that he's mastered the thinking game, that he outsmarts defenses regularly. I was never really impressed with him anyway, but last night he looked like he didn't deserve to be out there.

Well, I think the Bills still had a lot to do with how it was run. I haven't heard her say this, but Kim may share the view of a lot of women, that cheerleading demeans women. I'd guess that Kim is much prouder of the women in this video than she is of the Jills. She may be happy the Jills are gone. It's a new world.

Great stuff. I keep saying we are searching a truly great franchise on the making. Twenty years from now McD is going to be heralded as one of the great coaches of all time, partly because of his leadership on issues like this.

From the Boston Globe today. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is fond of saying that when you acquire a player, you get everything that comes along with that player, from his vertical jump to his work ethic to his personality. The Patriots are getting everything that comes along with Antonio Brown, and they have only themselves to blame. This being America, Brown is innocent until proven guilty. It’s possible that he is the victim of extortion here. But people who make bad decisions tend to find themselves in bad situations. And bad situations are as much a part of what Brown brings as precise route-running and exceptional hands. The Patriots have gotten themselves into one by taking on Brown. They excused his bizarre behavior and reluctance to suit up for the Raiders. The social media sedition, the wildcat strike over a helmet, his repeated insubordination that dated back to his days in Pittsburgh . . . none of it fazed New England. The Patriots willfully turned a blind eye to Brown’s judgment and his actions. Bill Belichick probably won’t send Brown packing. Instead of “Do Your Job,” the team’s credo should “We’ll Take Him.” Belichick has taken on players facing allegations of criminal behavior or with such behavior in their backgrounds before. He drafted the late Aaron Hernandez, who went to prison for the murder of Odin Lloyd, in 2010 despite red flags regarding the disgraced tight end’s character and drug use. He drafted cornerback Alfonzo Dennard in 2012, five days after Dennard punched a police officer. In 2016, the Patriots claimed wide receiver Michael Floyd off waivers from the Arizona Cardinals two days after he got arrested for driving under the influence and was so intoxicated that he passed out behind the wheel of his car. Corey Dillon, Albert Haynesworth, and Aqib Talib were all talented players who passed the Patriots’ roster calculus for acceptance. Dealt for in 2004, Dillon had been arrested in 2000 for domestic violence. (Dillon had the charge dropped after he donated $750 to a domestic violence center and completed treatment.) Haynesworth was acquired in 2011 while he faced a sexual abuse charge for groping a waitress. Haynesworth pled no contest to a lesser charge of simple assault. Traded to New England during the 2012 season, Talib had been arrested for simple battery on a cab driver in 2009 and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2011 after a confrontation with his sister’s boyfriend. The assault charge was dropped. How much is a seventh Super Bowl title worth to the Patriots to get into business with Antonio Brown, knowing everything that comes with it?

I gotta say, I'm not hating on the Pats because of their success. I admire their success as much as anyone on this forum does. Thay didn't succeed by cheating. They succeeded by being better than everyone else, a remarkable achievement over 20 years. In some ways that makes it worse. They don't even have to cheat to win. Bill and Robert do what they want because, well, they can. That's amoral. The Pegulas don't do whatever they want because, well, they know it isn't right. Bills and Robert aren't criminals, but I don't have to like their style. I thought about that, but there was so much press investigation of OJ, it seems impossible that he could have done something like that without it being discovered.

I have to say I'm really enjoying all the things people have written. Truly. Thanks for your comments. Collectively you make a good case that I'm just ill-informed. I'll plead to that. But I'll also say that you're mistaken if you don't think there is a culture in New England that is NOT in Orchard Park. I didn't say the Patriots were immoral, I said they were amoral. I don't think that 20 years from now, if they're all still in Buffalo, the Pegulas, Beane and McDermott will have been any place close to the Pats' 20-year history. Video taping and other stealing from opponents, scandalous personal behavior? From this group? No way. It's a different culture.

That's the other point of view. For some people, my point of view matters. I get that it isn't everyone's point of view. I'm not trying to start a debate, and I don't think there are winners or losers to be determined. I just had a thought about the amoral nature of the Patriots and expressed it.

Fair enough. But 1. I'm talking today, not history, and 2. OJ wasn't a murderer when he was on the team.

If they missed tackles, they'll get cleaned up. It's the Patriot way.

I’ve been commenting for weeks about first this thing and then that thing that the Bills are doing like the Patriots. The examples are everywhere: 1. The do-your-job mentality. 2. The offensive coordinator with the Patriot pedigree 3. The multiple shifts and offensive formations. 4. The solid tackling, stifling defense running out of the same sets most of the time. 5. The attention to detail. 6. The preparation for every situation. There are plenty of examples. I was thinking today about being happy to be a Bills fan instead of a Patriots fan. It’s an odd thought, I know, given the relative levels of success the two franchises have had over the past twenty years. I’d love to have the Patriots’ success, and as I’ve said often in the past few months, I actually believe that success is coming for the Bills. In New England, however, that success came out of an amoral culture. Too much has happened to support any other conclusion: 1. The Patriots had a murderer on their roster. A flat-out, cold blooded murderer. 2. The Patriots have a big-time drug addict on their roster. Now, I know taking drugs isn’t immoral, and I know there are other people with drug issues in the league, but drug addiction often is symptomatic of other behavioral issues. Josh Gordon has those symptoms. 3. The Patriots have, if you can believe the latest news, a rapist on their roster. A rapist who, by the way, quit on his first team and quit on his second team. 4. The Patriots are owned by a billionaire who, for his personal pleasure, encourages sex-trafficking of poor women from other countries. 5. The Patriots coach, for all those things I admire about him, is a cheater. His obsession with winning takes him beyond clearly delineated rules. He isn’t gentleman enough to behave morally. He often talks as though he respects the game and it’s past, but if he really respected it, he wouldn’t cheat. And that’s perfectly okay with his owner who, despite his good press, clearly respects winning more than he respects people. Any one or two of those things, okay, I get it. Nobody’s perfect. The Bill have a guy who’s been in prison. Richie Incognito had his issues. Duke Williams wasn’t a choir boy. The difference is, the Bills acquired those players and have kept them AFTER they’ve demonstrated that they’ve put those issues behind them. And they’ve actively rid themselves of players, like Incognito, who can’t continue to behave. The guys the Bills have are model citizens, and they are that way because McDermott and Beane wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s important to them, and I suspect it’s important to the Pegulas, too, that the players on their team be good people as well as good players. With the Patriots, the inquiry seems to stop at the good players test. And it’s not surprising, when the owner has such blatant disregard for the people he uses and abuses for his own personal pleasure. They can keep their rings. I’ll take the Bills. Go BILLS!

Fabulous article.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but I'm sure they wanted the time out to talk to the kick coverage team about what was coming and how they were supposed to play it. They had practiced it, but I'm sure McD wanted them reminded.

I'm sure you're correct. I just so wanted the clock to keep running. There were some really ugly scenarios running in the back of my head, scenarios that would have become legend among Bills fans, and I wanted things 5o be different this time. Let the Jets fan add this game to their dark legends.

Happy birthday, Scott!

I thought a pooch punt was necessary. Just kick it 20 yards. Low. Let it bounce, so the returner can't field it. Then the clock would run. Maybe force a fumble if the return guy tries to cover it.

Dawg - I gotta say you're overboard on Duke. I like the idea of Duke, and Ill be interested to see him when he gets on the field. But I was sitting on the 40 yard line in MetLife on Sunday, and some time in the middle of the game I actually had this thought: "What difference would Duke Williams have made in this game." And my answer to myself, even though I want Duke to make it, was that he wouldn't have made any difference. The Bills are throwing to the open man. They don't want to have contested catches. They're running an offense where they think they always can have a receiver attacking a soft spot in the defense, and that's where they're going with the ball. In that kind of offense, speed may actually be worth a lot more than catch radius. Still, I want to see him.

Thanks for this. Every day there's more evidence that the Bills are mimicking the Patriots. Sure seemed like with 2 running backs they were forcing the D to play three linebackers, and by then splitting DiMarco out they were forcing the D to make a choice - send a linebacker out to the flat, weakening the run defense, or send a DB out to take him, meaning that the Bills had a linebacker matched up with a wideout.

Only one team in this league is predictable. Pats.

They WERE intense. I was sorry to see Swartz go.

McDermott is building a team where everyone can play and everyone has a way to contribute. Every guy on the roster is a player, every guy knows he's going to play, and every guy knows exactly what he's supposed to do. It's pretty cool.