Richard Noggin

We'll just ignore the Mahomes worship of your first paragraph, not because it's wrong, but because it's nauseating to anyone not on the KC bandwagon. The guy is easy to respect, and difficult to watch. Now, as for our buddy Spags. Love him, first of all. Truly great NFL DC. I genuinely admire the way he has had success in different ways over the years, while always remaining aggressive. And of course, he's a national treasure for defeating the Patriots twice with the Giants. That's ironic, actually, because nowadays with KC, Spags seems to emulate a lot of what Belichick's Patriots did on defense. He likes to get a bunch of DBs on the field. Without the benefit of readily available online information, I see a SUPER MULTIPLE, AGGRESSIVE, and AMORPHOUS defense that likes to clutter up pre- and post-snap reads and concentrate numbers in the box with interchangeable athletes. Belichick also favored 5 and 6 DB personnel whenever possible, from what I recall. Was always amazing and annoying to me how damned physical all the DBs were. Would seem difficult for them to hold up in this league, playing like that. KC guys seem similarly motivated to come downhill and/or drive a shoulder into a ball carrier who's just been downed. Come to think of it, didn't a couple KC DBs get dinged during last week's game? They might have all come back into the game. I forget. Too busy hating every Mahomes idiosyncrasy, every camera cut to the Special Suite, and every call by every ref, to think clearly on every snap.

Wait...are you saying Taron Johnson is NOT a starter on MOST other NFL playoff defenses ("maybe [he] could edge in")? And that Benford is not a starter on ANY other NFL playoff defenses? That's 13 other teams. That's completely ludicrous. Johnson has the most comprehensive/demanding defensive job on the field; these elite slot NBs who are part of the 2nd and 3rd levels, like LBs on some snaps but safeties on others, are like the undersized TEs of the defense (integral against run and pass). It might work out that these top, high snap count guys, like Kenny Moore II in Indy, can't consistently sustain elite play for more than a few seasons due to wear and tear and the fine lines between impact plays and being half a step late? (For those suggesting Johnson's play has cooled this season.)

Maybe, like jazz, it's the points we DIDN'T score.

There was a time when Knox was an angry runs favorite. Lest we forget lol

Interesting question. You're the first to ask it.

This is just good clean fun

Worse than fake punt direct snap to Damar Hamlin? Worse than the trick play in week 4 at Baltimore? Apparently Allen actually checked into that quick throw to Knox, at the line.

This combination would overwhelmingly result in a Bills win. Of course the Bills will utilize their base nickel defense more than any other alignment, so I hope Taron Johnson has a monster game against the Ravens (again). Need the Bills D to win on early downs and get some 2nd and 3rd-and-longs in order for this to be a good thing. Bills offense needs to play well and score points. That's the key to everything. Defense can hopefully feed off that. But the offense sets the tone and dictates the game script in a winning effort.

Injuries CAN absolutely help to explain why the Lions defense had trouble tonight. But moreover, watching Goff tonight felt a lot like watching Herbert against the Texans last week. Multiple INTs on throws that weren't 100% terrible, and definitely were perfectly played by the DBs (Stingley got 2 for Texans and Sainristil got 2 GEMS for Commanders) who seemed to know the exact routes they were undercutting. The TOs were the main story imho. Not riveting analysis, but if the Lions offense doesn't turn the ball over FOUR TIMES they would have been in a very different position late in the game.

Bravo.

Carry on.

Lake Erie is now .05 inches shallower to cool the servers that ran this calculation.

I probably insulted all of us. But this isn't the social media I was referring to. Years of constructive cultural curation, led by persistent and benevolent moderation and a collective yearning for community and civility keeps this platform pretty effing classy for an online public square.

No, the median is a single data point standing in the absolute middle of an entire set, with exactly half of the quantity of results above it, and half the results below it. Means can be easily skewed to be much closer to the top or bottom depending on distribution and magnitudes and blah blah blah. Billionaires and millionaires skew household income avgs higher, whereas social media sports reply guys skew intelligence avgs lower.

That's actual referring to median stupidity, not average. But either way it's prescient.

Super stupid of me. Gonna leave it. So dumb. I actually pride myself on being good with maps and whatnot. Wow.

OBL today touted a stat to the tune of: Von Miller leads the NFL in QB pressure rate over the past 4ish games? I forget how far back this stat goes. I'm sure Google could help us clarify. But apparently he's been having success recently (could be against a string of shite opponent offensive lines) at a rate much higher than most realize. This would certainly be the time to see that trend fully realized. We hope many of the vets have been load managing and building towards maximizing their impact NOW. (Would also love to see the Lions game version of Ed Oliver for three more games this season.)

19 hours so you're not coming in from Tenn as your avatar might suggest. Dallas area?

The Mixon discussion here is interesting. His career avg yards per carry is 4.1. That's not special pr even good. But when the Texans were dangerous early in the year, and also when the Bengals were previously dangerous in past seasons, Mixon brought impactful physicality and juice to both offenses. Reminds me of David Montgomery, to be honest (also 4.1 avg). He might be even more important to the Texans offense now that their WR corps is significantly reduced, despite his lack of explosive dynamism. It's depicted in his RAS to some extent: great size and speed for the position, with borderline good explosion and just okay agility. He tested a LOT better than RBs we want to group him with, like Najee Harris or David Montgomery. So he's no stiff. But he's also not special. Would be an ideal #2 RB on a contender (like Montgomery), if he could accept that role.

It takes discipline to read through an entire thread before replying. We don't all have what it takes.

Strongly disagree with your assertion that the Bills D was well schemed against KC in the playoffs last year. I watched a semi-retired LB (who was never really a coverage guy) try (and fail) to cover Travis effing Kelce 1:1 with the game on the line. That's unforgivable. It might also be indicative of the most damning criticism of Bills defenses throughout this recent playoff run: when it gets down to it, top offenses are able to dictate or at least decipher Bills coverages/pressure packages via tempo and/or formation/motion. The Bills don't have the dynamic defensive line talent needed to fall back on vanilla schemes and off coverages against the best competition. And yet they so often fall back against the best in the playoffs. (I understand 31 teams fall short of their goals each year, so this isn't some ultra-damning condemnation. But it is a 4 year (and counting) pattern that causes mucho angst among even the most faithful.)

Gotta think that further favors the physical home favorite, yeah?

I, too, expect too many of them present at the start of the game. And I expect them to be relatively belligerent. At least at first. It's up to the Bills and the Ravens and the refs how that progresses. Last week had some violent nonsense in the sections around us, which had become fairly uncommon. I expect this week to be worse (unless the cold can act as a prophylactic).

How'd that work out for them?

If we're specifically isolating overconfident and underprepared Ravens fans, then sure, there could be some risk. Ideally they'd just LEAVE. Which is yet another reason to want the Bills to jump on them early and often, if possible. Gotta go right after bullies and frontrunners. They are often weak-willed once you crack through that veil of invincibility. But for modestly experienced Bills fans, this game will not be dangerous or even uncomfortable.