SoTier

Here are some things to do around Buffalo in October 2023 depending up when and how long you are in town ... Events in October.

I'll believe KC is falling off when I actually see it on the field. Elite QBs can make up for so many deficiencies that these teams are always in play to win the SB unless they lose their QB or the wheels completely fall off the rest of the team. Pundits predicted the Pats' demise almost every year for a decade before Brady left. I think it's the same with the Chiefs. I would add that the Bills and Bengals are right there, too, with probably the difference being that Andy Reid is a great coach while McDermott and Taylor aren't shoo-ins for the HOF at this time. One of the reasons that I couldn't put the 49'ers in the top 5 is because of their QB situation. Maybe Brock Purdy is the real deal but there are dozens of ex-NFL QBs who looked good for their first six or eight games before their careers went south. Trey Lance hasn't played enough to even know what kind of a QB he could be. The Chargers, Fins and Vikings need to acquire a semblance of an average defense before they can be considered top teams in the league.

Chiefs Bills Bengals Eagles Ravens Other dangerous teams: Jets, 49ers, Steelers

When were you last in Buffalo ... if ever? Either your experience dates from 30 plus years ago or whatever "city guide" you're using does, Joey. Now, go crawl back under your bridge.

^^^ I doubt that Rodgers' ego can tolerate being the QB of a mediocre offense for 5 or 6 games. In his mind, Rodgers knows he's the greatest QB ever. I agree with Fleezoid that Rodgers would become divisive to the entire team in short order with a poor start. He repeatedly demonstrated a penchant to blame everybody but himself for the Packers' missteps over the last couple of years.

LOL. I can't think of better examples of "groupthink" and having a "hivemind" than embracing conspiracy theories based on disinformation spread on social media.

Here's the link to the NFTA game day express bus service (NFTA Game Day Bus Schedule). I think you want to take Route 253, which leaves the Metropolitan Transit Center in downtown Buffalo (181 Ellicott) and drops you off at the stadium after a stop at the McKinley Mall. This bus route will have buses returning to the MTC a half hour or an hour after the game. Enjoy the game!!!! PS When you go to Niagara Falls, take the time to ride the Maid of the MIst boat ride!!!! The Cave of the Winds is good, too!

It might be a very hungry, very desperate young hawk.

I think that even if he stays healthy, Tua is simply a "good" NFL QB. Surround him with lots of talent, and he'll look good, put up impressive numbers, and win some games. He'll even win some playoff games, and maybe, if things go perfectly, maybe even a Super Bowl like Joe Flacco did. He's not an "elite" NFL QB who can enable JAGs to play far above their weight classes when needed. That's what Allen, Burrow, Hurts and Mahomes do. It's what Brady, P Manning and Rodgers did in their prime. I think QB is where the gap between the Bills and Miami is not only the widest but also the hardest to close. The Miami offense may have more talented offensive skill players than the Bills but because of Allen, the Bills get just as much firepower -- and sometimes more -- out of their somewhat less talented group. There's little doubt that the Bills also still have a better defense than the Fish. Even with injuries to key players almost from the start of the season, the Bills D held its own as one of the best Ds in the league, which speaks to the talent and depth the Bills have on defense. Last year, Miami's D was in the bottom quarter of NFL statistically, so they have a long climb to catch up to the Bills there, too. They've improved, but while they've strengthened their defensive starters, they lack the quality depth that they need to be a top defensive team in 2023. Having to replace Jaylen Ramsey with Eli Apple early on is a major set back to closing the defensive gap. Finally, while the Fish have added some big name players and a well-known defensive coach for 2024, the Bills haven't exactly slept through the preseason. They've modestly improved their OL, RBs and WRs. They added a top flight pass catching TE and a promising interior OLer in the draft. If White, Hyde, and MIller can return to pre-injury form in 2023, the Bills will again be a tough defensive team. The gap between the Bills and Fish has narrowed somewhat but the Fish have definitely not closed the gap. They may even have fallen further behind if Tua can't stay healthy.

I think the addition of Rodgers can change the Jets' narrative. Forty-year-old Rodgers still tops Tua, especially since Tua, even healthy, has never been mistaken for an elite QB. Rodgers could crash and burn in the Big Apple as Russell Wilson did in Denver, but at this point, he makes the Jets the Bills closest challenger. I saw a take on the Bills-Bengals playoff game last month or so by somebody on TV (maybe on GMFB) that suggested that the Bills hit a mental/emotional wall in the Bengals playoff game because they had been through so much as a team toward the end of the season that they were literally "running on empty" by the time they got to the playoffs. They certainly played "flat" in the Bengals game, and that mental and emotional fatigue might have been the reason.

I agree. The Jets have more of the right pieces to be a real threat than the Fish. Rodgers is easily better than Tua. I think their WR corps are about equivalent. The Jets defense is significantly better. I think that Saleh has proven himself a competent HC at worst, but the jury is still out on McDaniel.

I still have had no luck attracting hummers to my feeders but I definitely have several -- again, apparently all females -- visiting my garden because they've been having aerial "hummer wars" all around my yard. One of the girls likes to sit on the top rung of my tall tomato cage and chase off all the others. She's apparently the "boss" hummer. My new feeder apparently discourages pigeons ... but the smaller birds have been reluctant to try it at all, and the cardinals and blue jays just ignore it even with the old feeder empty. I even took down the old feeder but still no takers except for some adventurous house sparrows. So, I filled up both feeders. I suspect that some hungry birds will eventually use it, especially as the seed feast in my backyards diminished as we go into fall. On a side note, as more flowers come into full bloom, especially tall garden phlox, coneflower, and Joe Pye Weed (a type of domesticated milkweed), I've had a bounty of pollinators from bees of all sizes and butterflies (including monarchs visiting the JPW) to several different kinds of hornets and moths.

Student loan forgiveness programs go back to the 1970s at least. The general outlines of the programs have always been the same: students who accumulated debt in pursuing a degree could have all or part of it forgiven if they worked in specified fields, most commonly teaching in inner city schools. As college degrees became requirements for many jobs, most public employees were made eligible. In recent years, the program administrators, though, made it difficult for students to qualify for the program. The Biden administration has made it easier for more students to have their loans forgiven.

I don't get it either. Fangio has had a long career as a defensive coordinator and produced some outstanding defenses, but he's also had average and below average defenses which suggests that he's not a super hero who can turn JAGs into superstars when his defense lacks talent or has been decimated by injury. Belichick, McDermott and Saleh were all outstanding defensive coordinators prior to becoming successful HCs, so they're not exactly trash. More importantly, they've had several years to build their defensive teams so that their personnel fit their defensive systems whereas Fangio is going to have a defense that's largely been built by others, some or many of which may not be a good fit with what he wants to do. He also runs a very complicated defense that may take a while to become effective. I have no doubt that Fangio can improve the Miami defense this season, but it was pretty poor last year. There's no way in hell, though, that Fangio's a better defensive coach than Belichick. It's not Belichick's coaching that's fallen off in NE, it's the talent level.

Terry Bradshaw. The Steelers won 4 Super Bowls between 1974 and 1979 after spending decades as one of the NFL's bottom feeders, and TB was their offensive leader.

Nope.

The girl in the Araiza case or the young woman in the Alabama case? I looked up the result of the Araiza investigation, and the criminal charges weren't brought against any of the defendents because there wasn't enough evidence to get convictions. Apparently, after the DA declined to bring charges, the girl (who was 17 at the time) filed the civil suit, which made Araiza's name public.

Well, that's certainly a scientific sample.

I think the difference is that the woman in the Araiza case actually had a basis for her criminal complaint in that she felt that she had been raped by several men at a party. I don't know if the criminal case against the other men went forward but the criminal investigation revealed that Araiza had left the party. The woman in Alabama fabricated the entire incident ... there never was a toddler on the side of the interstate and she was never kidnapped.

Longevity and success. Andrew Luck retired a decade earlier than he likely would have because of the injuries he suffered, compliments of Indy not investing in a better OL, but he's just the most notable example. Totally agree. Last year, Allen had to "run for his life" far too much. He also had to intentionally run far too much because the Bills running game was ineffective too often. A better OL would improve both of those issues even with just average RBs.

I'm also not sold on McDaniel. Maybe he's the genius that he's been proclaimed to be, but the NFL's history is littered with coaches who seemed great in their first season but proved otherwise. Most recently, Chip Kelly with the Eagles and Kliff Kingsbury with the Cards turned out not to be quite the geniuses they were considered early on.

The gap between the Fins and Bills at QB is the size of the Grand Canyon. Tua is a good QB but he's not in the same zip code as Allen, Burrow or Mahomes, and that's the Bills' trump card.

Your statement, " since 2000, no true "running QB" has ever lasted as an effective starter past Age 33" doesn't actually mean very much. Most pocket QBs, even starters, aren't particularly effective starters past age 33, either. Most QBs enter the NFL when they're 21 or 22, which means that they would have to be in the league for 11 or 12 years, yet you include numerous QBs who aren't old enough to be part of your sample. Most QBs, whether passers or runners, don't have 11 or 12 year careers. I looked at the 43 QBs drafted in the first round between 1998 and 2012, meaning that they all could have the ability to play at least 10 years, and would have been the QB prospects given the most opportunity to become starters early in their careers. Only 21 of these 43 QBs (49%) had careers that lasted at least 10 years. Only 14 of the 43 QBs were starters for 10 or more seasons (33%). Only 9 of these QBs were starters every year they played (P Manning, McNabb, Palmer, Roethlisberger, Alex Smith, Cutler, Ryan, Stafford, and Tannehill). Phillip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers both sat on the bench for 2 and 3 years, respectively, before they became starters and Eli Manning was benched in his last year, so there were 12 first round QBs who were "career starters" over a decade or more in the NFL (28%). There are numerous reasons why QBs fail to have long NFL careers. Mostly, they simply aren't talented enough. Sometimes they don't apply themselves to improving their skills. Sometimes they have/develop substance abuse problems. Sometimes other off-field issues, including mental health problems, short-circuit careers. Of course, even "pocket passers" can have their careers shortened by injury, with Andrew Luck being the poster-boy for injury shortening a career.

Deja vue all over again ... the Broncos also were supposedly only a QB away from being a SB contender.

The Jests being the Jests, that was my first thought, too. Splurging on another RB is something they seem likely to do rather than improving their OL, which is terrible.