SoTier

While walking my dog this morning in Bergman Park, I spotted two hawks (possibly red-tailed hawks) hunting over a large grassy field of 4 acres or so. Their calls alerted me to look up. Just as I located them, a crow showed up to harass them. Mr Crow was soon joined by 3 compatriots and the hawks departed. The behavior of crows and other smaller birds harassing raptors is called "mobbing".

Sacks aren't the only measure of a DE's pass rushing ability. Rousseau does get after the QB. He not only had 18 QB hits in 2023, but he also disrupted passing lanes, forced QBs to hurry passes, and knocked down passes. More importantly, Rousseau is a good all-around DLer who plays the run well. Teams need those kinds of DEs as well.

Why do fans have to be "concerned" about Greg Rousseau at this point? He's a good young player with 2 years left on his rookie contract at a bargain price for the level of his play if the Bills pick up his fifth year option (which they would do if he continues to play at his current level). If Rousseau improves, then the Bills will extend him. If he doesn't, then they'll let him walk so somebody else will overpay for him. That's exactly what they did with Edmunds -- and i don't see how that can be seen as a "problem" since the Bills had Terrell Bernard ready to replace him. FTR, most first round draft picks don't become "difference makers", especially those drafted late in the round. Getting a good starting quality DE at the end of the first round who plays for five seasons is not a "miss", especially for a team that has to pay a veteran franchise QB.

I totally agree, which is why I didn't participate in the poll. Having the Bills always being a serious contender for the Super Bowl is infinitely preferable to having them struggling to win even half their games. Losing in the playoffs hurts terribly for a little while, but it's not the soul-crushing misery that came from watching the Bills regularly miss the playoffs season after season because the ownership and front office didn't make winning football games their highest priority. Been there, done that too much in my 60+ years as a Bills fan, so I will continue to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts, even if it each season eventually ends in disappointment.

I remember the moment I heard the news from Kent State just like I remember the moments I heard that Kennedy had been shot, that the Challenger had exploded, and that a plane had slammed into the World Trade Center.

Some other memories of the 1970s ... - on May 4, 1970 four students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, were killed when National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of students protesting the US bombing of Cambodia. The US interference in Cambodia led directly to the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot ruling the country and the death of more than 2 million Cambodians. - Secretariat's magnificent 26 length win in the Belmont Stakes to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. Time Magazine featured him on their cover as "Super Horse" in June, 1973. - the resignation of Richard Nixon as POTUS on August 8, 1974, in order to avoid impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal - the chaotic scenes of the last US helicopters departing Saigon in April, 1975 - the Blizzard of 1977, infinitely worst than our recent blizzards IMO because of the breadth, strength, and duration of the blizzard conditions as well as the extreme cold (Blizzard of 1977). Surprisingly, 23 people died in this blizzard in all of WNY -- in an era before 24-7 weather, storm warnings days ahead of the event, weather alerts, cell phones, etc -- compared to about 50 in the 2022 storm. The Bills were 0-for-the-1970s against the Fish. When the Chuck Knox-coached Bills beat the Fish 17-7 in Rich Stadium on opening day, 1980, the fans tore down the goalposts. The celebrations for the Bills making the Super Bowl a decade later probably wasn't as great as that moment.

You know this how, exactly? Even if you were a black person, how can you claim to speak for all blacks who have lived in both places? Aside from that, most states are large enough that there are huge differences between various regions within each state. My guess is that the Gulf Coast is significantly different from the Delta just as Long Island is almost an alien world compared to the Adirondaks.

As long as Purdy can play for Shanahan or a Shanahan disciple, he'll probably do well. I'm not sure he would be very good playing for many other coaches.

Didn't Bortles derail his career with too much partying? I thought that was the story going around when he failed so miserably in several spots after looking so promising early in his career.

First round QBs who bust generally have the physical tools to be good NFL QBs but lack the " intangible" talents/skills that even adequate NFL QBs need to be successful. They frequently fail to make good decisions, process what they see fast enough, learn to read defenses etc. They keep getting chances, however, because they look so good in practice that coaches are convinced they can do the same for short stretches in real game time. Mitch Trubisky is a good example. So is Gabbert. Successful backup QBs tend to be less physically gifted but make up for that with being better with intangibles. Frequently, they learn the nuances of the game so that they know what to do in most situations. Just as frequently, though, they don't have quite the physical talent to play consistently. Some are good enough to even making low-end starters -- at least for a while. I think QBs like Case Keenum and Brian Hoyer are examples of this. The Bills don't need a backup QB to inspire anyone. They need a reasonably priced backup QB who can come into a game on short notice and not lose the game with stupid plays. I'm not sure that they will be able to find one.

Gabbert or Jones, just say no to first round QB busts.

When I lived in the Town of Colonie outside of Albany, the Skunk Capital of the Civilized World, in the 1990s, the tried and true solution was Scope mouthwash. I cannot speak to its effectiveness as my German Shorthaired Pointer was way too smart to mess with skunks.

^^^ ^^^ Bull manure. Read the two posts above from GunnerBill and Billsfanatic. They are spot on. Allen wouldn't be Allen in the Shanny system. He'd be Brock Purdy or Jimmy Garappolo or he'd be on another team. Andy Reid had a Purdy lookalike in Alex Smith for 5 years. He made the made the playoffs 4 of those years but never got beyond the divisional round. Reid never hesitated to send Smith packing after he acquired Mahomes in 2017. Mahomes has turned into the best QB in the NFL under Reid's tutelage. I think Mahomes and Allen would have developed into great QBs under either Reid or McDermott, but neither have would developed into anything special under Shanahan. He wouldn't have given them the chance because they simply aren't his kind of QB. The very traits that make Mahomes and Allen great -- that separate franchise QBs from game managers -- are the very ones that Shanahan dislikes. It would be a disaster for everybody involved. Football players and coaches are people not robots. The traits and philosophy that Shanahan has made Purdy into a pretty good NFL QB, but would diminish the effectiveness of Mahomes and Allen. The traits and philosophies that Reid and McDermott have wouldn't work with Purdy but have enabled Mahomes and Allen to find greatness. If the Bills played in the NFC and the Niners in the AFC, I doubt you'd could say that. At this point, I'm not sure I'd call Belichick and Carroll has beens but I think that they should both just call it careers as HCs. How many brilliant OCs or DCs have turned out to be crappy HCs? Probably more than have become great IMO. The track record of "great" collegiate HCs successfully coaching in the NFL in recent years has been dismal. So, what's the point of firing McDermott if you don't have somebody better to replace him? Change for the sake of change makes no sense in any endeavor. You make a change when you have a realistic expectation of improving not when you would just be throwing manure at a wall and hoping what sticks will be better than what you've got now.

My thought exactly! What's the point?

The "Fire McDermott Brigade" isn't interested in reality, so you are wasting your time and energy. It's members inhabit a fantasy universe in which replacing Sean McDermott with any has-been or never-was will automatically bring a Lombardi home to Buffalo. I suppose some these cretins would even welcome back Dick Jauron. I totally agree that defense wins championships. After losing the Super Bowl after the 2020 season and then losing the Conference Championship to Cincinnati in 2021 playoffs, the Chiefs retooled their defense to make it stronger, and the result has been back-to-back Lombardis. During NE's long run, most of their SB success stemmed from their clutch defensive play. I think that the Bills had a good enough defense to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs this season. After losing Milano and White early in the season, they regrouped and played strong defense the rest of the season with LB Terrell Bernard and CB Rasul Douglas being keys to the Bills great winning streak. Losing Bernard and Douglas in the wild card game probably sealed their fate against KC; they only had 4 LBs dressed for the Chiefs game, and they were forced to play backups to backups in the defensive backfield as well.

As Albany, n.y. posted, whether you pay tax on your SS will depend upon your total income including SS. NYS does not tax social security at all but the Feds do if your income is high enough, so you always need your SS 1099. If you live in New York and own your residence, then you need to file a NY state tax return in order to qualify for STAR regular and senior property tax exemptions even if you don't have to pay state taxes. If you have enough income from sources other than SS, pension, and/or retirement annuity payouts, you will also have to file a state return and pay taxes on that extra income.

I think it was simply that the Bills had a GM in place when they hired McDermott. Doug Whaley and Russ Brandon were best friends going back to their college days. Something went wrong in that relationship between McDermott's hiring and the draft. I think people assumed it was a power struggle between McDermott and Whaley but if Brandon still supported Whaley, there would have been no way for McDermott to win a power struggle. I think Terry Pegula stayed out of team politics after his insistence in hiring Rex Ryan turned out so poorly. I don't think we'll ever know exactly what happened. I will say that the best thing that ever happened to the Bills franchise in the 21st century was Russ Brandon being named head of both the Bills and Sabres. Brandon's sexual harassment of a female Sabres employee who complained to Kim Pegula led directly to his ouster from the Bills in the spring of 2018. Brandon's exit enabled Beane and McDermott to set the team on a path to success.

Diggs is irrelevant if your purpose is to troll. Ignoring White, Milano, and Dawkins also works for trolling purposes. Forgetting about White and Milano on the Bills and including HIll as a factor in the Chiefs' last 2 SB wins suggests ignorance.

So, your "point" is that you're either an ignorant fan or a trouble-making troll? ^^^ You are correct, but I think the idea behind it is solid: I don't think McDermott ever had complete control over draft decisions. He was recently promoted from DC to HC for the first time, so it doesn't seem likely that he would have been given complete control over the roster. After Beane was hired, Beane and McDermott worked together on personnel selection. I think this is partly true in that Whaley was definitely on the way out by the time of the 2017 draft. Was that because there was a power struggle that McDermott won or had Whaley and Russ Brandon, who had solidified his position under the Pegulas after the Rex Ryan debacle, had a falling out? Given Brandon's belief in "money ball" style of management that stressed maximizing profits, I think he would have been reluctant to draft another first round QB in 2017 after they drafted EJ Manuel in 2013 because he didn't want to pay 2 first round QB salaries. Whaley recognized talent. If he had truly been in charge of personnel in 2017, I'm fairly sure that the Bills would have drafted either Mahomes or Watson in 2017. I think that the Bills FO was in significant disarray in the spring of 2017. I think that it's likely Brandon decreed no first round QB and then left Whaley and McDermott or McDermott himself to muddle through. Whatever the situation was, the 2017 draft yielded three top players -- White, Dawkins and Milano -- for the Bills. I would definitely have preferred Mahomes at #10 in 2017 rather than Tre White but it doesn't matter at this point. The Chiefs have Mahomes. The Bills have Allen. The QBs are so close in talent and leadership that the real difference between the two franchises is in coaching and the level of team talent, and even there, the separation is modest. IMO, if the Bills had had Tre White and Matt Milano in the divisional game, they would have won the game. Hell, maybe if they have Rasul Douglas and Terrell Bernard in that game, they might have even won the divisional game. Manure happens. In this case, injuries to key defensive starters -- and then to the next guys up just before the divisional round -- probably sealed the Bills' fate against the Chiefs.

Who, exactly is this "we" you are referencing??? You're a well-known Miami troll, so don't come here pretending to be a Bills fan. You would just love for the Bills to deconstruct their team so that your sad-assed Fishies might have a shot at winning the AFCE.

Exactly. The next closest in my life time (I'm 74), was the Bills trading Daryl Lamonica and a WR to the Oakland Raiders for QB Tom Flores and another player in the 1960s. Lamonica took the Raiders to AFC championships and the Super Bowl. Flores and the other player were duds in Buffalo. You very conveniently cherry pick facts to fit your argument by mentioning some Bills mediocre draft picks while ignoring the better ones. The Bills drafted Tre White with KC's 2017 pick. White was an All-Pro CB before his injuries. They also drafted Matt Milano in 2017 who became an All Pro LB for the Bills as well as 3 time Pro Bowl LT Dion Dawkins. Suddenly, the Bills 2017 draft looks pretty good: 2 All Pros and a Pro Bowl LT. In 2018, in addition to Allen, the Bills drafted LB Tremaine Edmunds as well as DB Taron Johnson was 2nd Team CB in 2023. You also conveniently ignore that the Bills traded for Stephon Diggs in 2020. It's very interesting that you ignore the impact of KC's DC Spagnulo and All-Pro defensive players Chris Jones and Trent McDuffie on the Chiefs' back-to-back Super Bowl championships, but tout Tyreek Hill, who wasn't part of the 2022 and 2023 Super Bowl teams. Crafty propagandizing or simple ignorance?

Exactly. In general, teams find franchise QBs at the very top of the draft, ie, the first five picks. It's why teams like the Jests, the Bears, and the Niners have traded boatloads of draft picks since 2017 to acquire QB prospects in the top 3 picks, all of whom failed. The farther down in the first round a QB is picked, the slimmer chances he has of finding great success in the NFL. Only about half of all first round QBs make successful NFL starters (and not even necessarily a franchise QB). The 2017 and 2018 drafts were unusual because both produced multiple great QBs from outside the top five: Mahomes (2017 #10), Allen (2018 #7), Jackson (2018 #32), and Watson (2017 #12)*. Of the QBs who were drafted before these QBs, only Mayfield (2018 #1) continues to be an NFL starter and has a successful NFL career. Drafting a QB in the first round, even in the top five, remains a really big gamble. * I included Deshaun Watson for his outstanding play in Houston before his off-field problems and injuries. He seemed to be starting to get back into form with the Browns before his injury.

Sorry, but even in hindsight, there is no way that the Bills trading away the ninth pick in the 2017 draft was the "worst trade in NFL history"! It wasn't even the worst trade in the 2017 draft! The Chicago Bears traded four picks to the 49ers (#3, #67, and #111 in 2017 and their 2018 third round pick) to move up to #2 in 2017 to take Mitch Trubisky. In contrast, the Bills used KC's 2017 first round pick acquired to draft All Pro cornerback Tre White, and then used the picks they collected from KC in 2018 plus other draft capital to acquire Josh Allen (#7) and Tremaine Edwards (#16) in the first round of the 2018 draft.

I seldom have an issue with squirrels because there's not a large squirrel population in my neighborhood, plus I have a dog whose purpose in life is to protect his turf from intruders, especially squirrels and pigeons, but for most people, there are some types squirrel resistant feeders. For small birds, there are cylinders in wire-cages that will only allow small birds (sparrow size) to get to the feed. For other birds, there are both tube and platform feeders that are designed to close when heavier critters like squirrels try to get to the feed. Squirrels are notorious for defeating most supposedly squirrel-proof deterrents, however. Sometimes people will try to lure squirrels away from their feeders by feeding them corn, either shelled or on the cob. I think that preventing rats from scavenging among discarded seed is an easier problem to deal with than raiding squirrels. The most important thing to do is to feed quality bird seed without fillers. "Quality bird seed" is seed that birds will eat even if it falls on the ground since some birds like doves, juncos, and cardinals like to feed on the ground or close to it. The most common edible seeds are sunflower seeds, white millet, peanuts, and niger (thislte) seed. Cheap seed mixes have filler seeds like milo (grain sorghum) which most North American birds don't like so the ground feeders won't clean them up. You can also buy hulled sunflower seeds and millet so there's no debris on the ground. I feed black oil sunflower seed, hulled millet, and peanuts in shells all in separate feeders plus a mix of hulled sunflower seeds, millet, peanuts and chopped fruit in both a hanging feeder and a platform feeder on the ground all year. I also hang suet cakes in winter. If you are a gardener, planting flowering plants that provide birds with food will also attract birds. I don't hang hummingbird feeders because the hummer come to my garden to feed on the hostas, trumpet vine, and bee balm blooms. I scatter some left over sunflower seed on the south side of my garage to create a sunflower patch that attracts goldfinches in clouds. Chickadees feast on the echinacea (coneflower) seed heads all fall. When I had a choke cherry near my pond, I would gets dozens of birds feasting on the ripe fruit, frequently birds that only visited my urban yard for the fruit like gray catbirds. Unfortunately, I lost the tree in a storm a few years ago, and the sapling choke cherries at the end of the yard aren't bearing yet.

And that's not going to change with Woody Johnson as their owner. When an NFL team is a perpetual bottom feeder, the problem is with the very top leadership IMO, and Johnson's proven that for more than two decades. Johnson's handling of the Rodgers situation is a prime example of the owner's stupidity. Look at the Bills and Lions. These two franchises were synonymous for bottom feeders for most of the first quarter of the 21st century. It wasn't until the Pegulas purchased the Bills that the team started to turn things around. Sheila Ford Hamp, Martha Firestone Ford's daughter, took control of the Lions in June, 2020, and suddenly the Lions blossomed as a league powerhouse. It's not that the Bills and Lions didn't have some great talent -- on the field and on the sidelines -- over the years that they were bottom feeders but they never ever seemed to get their team acts' together well enough to win consistently. On the other side of the coin, you have owners like the Rooneys and the Hunts whose Steelers and Chiefs seldom fail to be decent, even when their talent is significantly compromised.