WideNine

It is understandable considering the pace the offense scores at in the 1st half of games and the pace in the 2nd, coupled with a defense that has been pretty leaky this year protecting leads. If the defense comes together and plays a bit more consistent in games the nerve-racking pucker-factor of these games will subside a bit when the offense has a harder time moving the ball in the 2nd half. I thought our defense did a much better job against the run that game, which also involved Edmunds staying in the box and biting on some play action which opened up some of the field behind him. The Raiders did a good job of keeping themselves in 3rd and manageable for most of the game, but our defense made plays when they needed them and crucially forced some turnovers and had 4th down stops. Of course I am happy we won, just always thinking about ways the team can be better. I remember a year where I felt the Patriots won by the skin of their teeth in just about every game they played, and they had a heck of a run. I am fine if this team takes it a game at a time and finds a way to win each week.

Yet we wear seat belts, and avoid silly things like playing in traffic - go figure.

I feel more sorry for the people who had no choice when the virus took their lives. It's not just about your own comforts. Just say'n.

This - there is an element of dead horse being beaten, but our 3rd and 4th quarter execution has left us all at the edge of our seats. Either the defense is blowing leads, or the offense is stalling. I felt like the Raiders game our offense pressed a bit, but it still was probably the most complete complimentary game the offense and defense has played this year. I would have liked to have had that field goal to give us that 3 score lead and think that could have forced the Raiders offense to fold up a bit faster, and would have been easier on my heart, but a win is a win.

Trump's downplaying of Covid-19 coupled with how many of his zealots followed his antiscience approach to a pandemic that does not care about politics has many folks crowing - it is to be expected along with the lack of sympathy when there is karmic, laughable, irony. When he fought back against wearing a mask, or mask mandates and accused Biden of politicizing proven scientific precautions that Americans should take to minimize the spread of Covid-19. What do the denizens of Trumptopia expect? The focus on his health and all the ways he and his family flouted breaking the pandemic safety protocols is a bit over the top for my taste, I don't think you have to put things in size 48 bolded font when someone does something stupid. You can whisper it and it is probably enough... folks know when someone has done something stupid and indefensible. It is an election year and any gaffe can and will get blown out of proportion, but the complete lack of cohesive, informed US Federal leadership over the course of this pandemic, with Trump's constant stream of misinformation from his touting that the pandemic would disappear like a miracle, to touting miraculous unproven cures, to his claims of a vaccine being ready long before one will be. We are sitting at a gaffe that equates to over 200,000 US deaths. This is not a small thing, he is sitting at the captain's wheel, and it was his job to handle this crisis responsibly. I guess we can be grateful that this pandemic has not been some mutant easily transmissible ebola strain effecting folks of all ages with equally deadly results, but it has been deadly enough. It should be a sober warning shot across the bow for both political parties and the federal government about better preparation and to never play politics with a health crisis like a pandemic.

I could always wish that he would go senile, but have that feeling that by the time Belichick stops doing advanced football calculus I will likely be asking Alexa to remind what my name is, what meds I need to take today, and did it reorder my Depends.

It would be nice if the goat would just decide to pack up all his rings and retire, but apparently he has loved the game since he was an errand-boy for Teddy Marchibroda. They are going to have to pry that clipboard out of his cold dead hands.... and Kraft loves him so he probably has a contract for life.... so damn.

So true... if memory serves he lasted just one year as GM trying to put out that dumpster fire and now he is back assisting us with scouting. I remember folks commenting on this board about how short that lasted. Had to look up the title OBD gave him - Sr. personnel advisor. Was in role for us for 2017 draft that netted Tre White, Dawkins, and Milano - did strike out with Zay, Peterman, but nailed some starters. Too early to say how well our last draft went, but early contributions bode well for some of these guys becoming regular contributors - Davis is definitely looking like a lock: Epenesa, Moss, Davis, and Bass Their loss was our "Gaine".... ok, I know that was lame.

Having been an advocate of "pocket Allen", I think later in these games when opposing defenses are backing off into a variety of cover-3 and 4 looks and there is only a 4-man rush or a 4-man rush with a shallow spy on Allen then there are opportunities for Allen to move the chains with his legs. Some things I believe I noticed too in those late game situations: Allen's outlet/dump option, particularly away from his rollout direction is usually open, but he is locked deep. Although they try to hem Allen in the pocket, he has a lot of green if he beats one guy to the sideline, but he has almost gone too far at times the other direction looking to force a play downfield. Not too surprised as I thought the pendulum would swing a bit towards either extreme (pocket vs running) before Allen settled into more of a balanced approach. The kid is an extremely hard worker and as such perhaps he feels he has to force the demonstration of his maturation in the role and the changes he is making. He has proven he can throw from the pocket, but he needs to leverage his athletic scramble ability not just to extend plays, but to safely scamper up-field and to the side lines or slide when the defense is giving up too much green in front of him, and it may well be the better option than spinning away from one defender behind the LOS into the arms of pursuit, or having to throw while getting planted awkwardly into the turf. Not advocating playing scared, but taking advantage of what the defenses are giving and also giving Defensive Coordinators something else to think about.

The Houston Courant. The landing page that has a big ol' picture of Trump... Talks about an alleged campaign to allow voters to vote in Harris County where the GOP has worked tirelessly to block citizens from voting and have been unsuccessful time and time again. Appeals court sides with Harris County clerk over Texas AG Ken Paxton in mail ballot lawsuit https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/Appeals-court-sides-with-Hollins-in-mail-ballot-15578592.php The facts: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/texas-gop-group-asks-state-supreme-court-to-stop-most-populous-county-from-voting-early-because-of-ballot-harvesting-scheme/ The crux of the complaint centers around § 86.006(a-1) of the Texas Election Code, which states that a voter may deliver a marked mail ballot in-person to the early voting clerk’s office “only while the polls are open on election day.” However, Gov. Abbott’s July executive order explicitly placed a hold on that law as part of health protocols needed to conduct elections safely during the pandemic. “I further suspend Section 86.006(a-1) of the Texas Election Code, for any election ordered or authorized to occur on November 3, 2020, to the extent necessary to allow a voter to deliver a marked mail ballot in person to the early voting clerk’s office prior to and including on election day,” the order stated. But according to the petitioners, which includes litigious conservative activist Steven Hotze, the Supreme Court must order the county to cease accepting ballots because doing so is “promoting” a massive “ballot harvesting scheme to the Biden/Harris campaign” that was recently uncovered by private investigators. Amounts to another GOP "Hail Mary" attempt at voter suppression... over and over because they created a war chest to litigate this way. Similar to attempts in Montana to do the same with their mail-in voting laws: “The Plaintiffs maintain that because the Directive permits counties to conduct the November 3, 2020 general election by mail ballot, this election will be ripe with fraud and thus result in unconstitutional disenfranchisement of a both direct and dilutive nature. Yet, Plaintiffs have not introduced even an ounce of evidence supporting the assertion that Montana’s use of mail ballots will inundate the election with fraud,” the order stated. “Indeed, as indicated at the beginning of this Order, at the September 22, 2020 hearing on the merits, counsel for both the Member-Plaintiffs and Lead-Plaintiffs conceded they do not possess any evidence establishing prior incidents of voter fraud in Montana, which has an established and well used absentee voting system. The Court is thoroughly unconvinced that will change in counties electing into the Directive’s mail ballot option.” Christensen added that records were “replete” with evidence showing that Montana’s use of mail-in ballots in elections presented “no significant risk of fraud.” The Trump campaign was joined in the lawsuit by the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the Montana Republican State Central Committee.

Because it is the Dems that are tinkering with the Post Office removing machines that process ballots - more than double the machines they usually remove in a year and just before an election where a pandemic has more folks casting via mail, remotely, as Trump and his family does: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-post-office-idUSKBN26836Y and.... DeJoy and the U.S.Postal Service presented the excuse in a response filed Wednesday to a nationwide order issued by U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, last week demanding the return of some 700 machines that had been taken out of service. “Dismantled machines ‘are generally dissembled for their usable parts, with such parts being removed to maintain or enhance other machines,’” DeJoy, a loyalist and major contributor to President Donald Trump’s campaign, stated in his response. “It is therefore not possible to return such machines to service.” But witnesses reported that many of the expensive machines were quickly dismantled and tossed into dumpsters as scrap. The injunction noted that 72% of the ripped out machines were in counties Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. ...and limiting ballot drop-off boxes: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/02/919658842/texas-governor-plans-to-limit-number-of-ballot-drop-boxes-to-1-per-county ...and working so hard to keep folks from casting a vote. After the 2010 election, state lawmakers nationwide started introducing hundreds of harsh measures making it harder to vote. The new laws range from strict photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions. Overall, 25 states have put in place new restrictions since then — 15 states have more restrictive voter ID laws in place (including six states with strict photo ID requirements), 12 have laws making it harder for citizens to register (and stay registered), ten made it more difficult to vote early or absentee, and three took action to make it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions. In 2016, 14 states had new voting restrictions in place for the first time in a presidential election. Those 14 states were: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Whatever.... Voter suppression in the name of curbing the alleged mass voter fraud that no one has been able to prove exists with studies or when asked to do so in court. Is what it is, one party has drifted so off course that it attacks democratic principles, the other (although I am not in lockstep with their social or fiscal agendas) has worked to get the vote out. Easy to see which is which these past decade of dubious GOP leadership. https://thinkprogress.org/florida-republicans-admit-voter-suppression-was-the-goal-of-new-election-laws-f2954f7635d0/

No offense, but the Bills wanted receivers that could adjust to passes and catch contested balls as well as soft lobs when a db falls down or misses an assignment. I wish Zay well, but he did not show the elite hands I look for in a WR. I think the OBD staff was very patient waiting for that to happen. All QBs need that player who has a good catch radius, who not only can catch that great pass, but the one thrown off the back foot of your QB while he is getting mobbed by defenders. Folks said the same thing about Kelvin Benjamin and Allen's passes - that he did not lead him enough or take enough off his passes. Kelvin went to KC with Mahomes and it did not take long for folks to see that he could not bail out Mahomes when needed on tough contested catches. So they too had a standard for the type of receiver they wanted to invest in and Benjamin was out. Certainly Allen has learned to throw his receivers open better and to take some heat off his throws, but Zay did not perform to the level of Brown or Beasley who were productive even while Allen was improving his game.

So brave of Steve (a Trump campaign team member), to swim in that quagmire of idiots and spout the same idiocy. Yeah, Wallace standing up and being the lone voice of reason and journalistic integrity in the Fox news room about taking proper Covid-19 precautions was just so chicken-*****. So this is what happens when someone breaks from the cult and speaks the truth? The revisionist come along and spout the same left-wing conspiracy nonsense. How original....so Wallace was a left-wing plant when he was hired by Fox back in 2003. Just WOW....every time someone tries to help Trump-blinded conservatives rub a few brain cells together to get a spark you get the same echo-chamber mantra. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-10-29-0310290198-story.html Regarding Wallace joining Fox back in 2003 (as mentioned, he is not some new-comer): "But he became convinced after months of watching Fox News Channel that the network gets "an unfair rap. Its reporting is serious, thoughtful and evenhanded. ... If they wanted someone to push a political agenda, they wouldn't have hired me." Wallace, 56, represents a shift for a network whose biggest stars (Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Brit Hume) are viewed as conservative. Tony Snow, current host of the Sunday show, had been a conservative columnist and worked for former President George Bush. That means Wallace, who will also play a key role in Fox's presidential campaign coverage, will be its first front-line star since Hume to have made his name as a correspondent for one of the broadcast networks. Along with such moves as hiring Greta Van Susteren from CNN and co-sponsoring presidential debates with the Congressional Black Caucus, Fox seems to be inching toward more conventional journalism. "Do I have political opinions? Absolutely," Wallace said. "But I vote for the person, and I've voted for Republicans and Democrats and independents over the course of my life. I feel very strongly that you try not to let that affect the way you report the news." Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes called Wallace "one of the best interviewers in the business. ... I have no idea what he thinks personally, but he asks tough questions of everybody." Ailes said hiring Wallace "makes it more difficult for our critics" who say the network tilts to the right. James Wolcott of Vanity Fair, who has written critically of Fox, said Wallace "does give them a certain blue-chip quality. But you have to wonder how much a real professional journalist of the old school is going to resist the talking points that seem to get handed down. The test will be, will he fall in with the gang?" Wallace: Harvard Grad 17 years as a Fox news host - reputation for asking tough questions and not backing down from them. Moderated the 2016 Republican debate Was the first Fox reporter to get an interview with Obama, also interviewed Trump. If folks think Wallace is some timid new-comer to tough reporting you should lookup and watch his incredibly rare 2018 interview with Putin. Excerpt: PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, first of all, all of us have plenty of political rivals. I’m pretty sure President Trump has plenty of political rivals. WALLACE: But they don’t end up dead. PUTIN: Well, not always — well, haven’t presidents been killed in the United States? Have you forgotten about — well, has Kennedy been killed in Russia or in the United States? Or Mr. King? What — and what happens to the clashes between police and, well, civil society, and some — several ethnic groups? Well, that’s something that happens on the U.S. soil. All of us have our own set of domestic problems. But going back to what happened in Russia, yes. We do have crime and we unfortunately — there are some crimes. And to some extent, Russia’s statehood is maturing. And there are some side effects. And we prosecute people responsible for these crimes. But since you’ve mentioned the Skripal case, we would like to get at least some sort of a document, evidence about it. But nobody gives it to us. It’s the same thing as the accusations with meddling into the election process in America. We recently heard that two more people suffered from the same nerve agent that is called Novichok. I have never even heard the last names of these persons. Who are they? What — WALLACE: Supposedly they picked up the bottle that was used to attack Skripal.

Was there a Spain sighting or was Ford in the whole game?

There were some odd calls throughout the game, the hold on Diggs on the end of a run going out of bounds behind him was weak as hell, and the Raiders were assessed some head-scratchers too. Brown had possession and the ball broke the plane of the goal line it is a TD. Not sure why possession when it is a Bills player seems to entail something extra, or why a tie that wasn't a tie was awarded to the defense with Kroft the prior week. Just bad calls, but they called back that Raiders TD for the illegal formation. Those are usually pre-snap mistakes rather than judgement calls, but either way it went our way.

Beat me to it

I don't feel we ran the ball too much, but I do not think the run calls in the second half were terribly effective. So many teams are just dropping everyone into coverage in the 2nd halves of games that we have to find a way to be able to run out of our 13 personnel look so play action can still be effective. It is something Daboll needs to get figured out, because all those DBs deep force Allen to hold the ball longer and press and then plays break down and things get weird.

It will be nice if Norman can get back to playing at the high level he played when he was with McD in NC. He has not had a lot of success the past few years, but looked fired up.

I think what people want to see in the 2nd half when we are going up against a poor run defense team, and they start to drop 8 DBs we keep running the ball. I like Singletary, but in those situations I want someone that hits the gap with authority and Singletary does a lot of dancing behind the line. Daboll seems to be of the school that you keep feeding the same guy the ball, but would not have minded seeing some runs out of our bigger backs - Yeldon or Moss (if he was healthy). Yeldon looked good in limited action in one game and may be a good back to force teams to keep a linebacker on the field or a safety up near the line. No knock on Singletary, he is good at making guys miss when they stack the box. We made it through another game, and kudos for the defense playing with a bit more pride the second half of this game. Would like to see some better execution out of our offense and Allen getting rid of the ball faster in the second half of games. Always seems like later in the games that the odd extended play, taking a deep sack, and hero-ball creeps in. He is going to have to tame that side of how he plays. On a positive note the coaching staff did get Allen to throw the ball away a few times when there were no good options or the play broke down. That is progress.

Come on.... Just stop with the execution misfires. Good run.

Too much to ask for a game where we seal it with a 2 score lead. Here we go again Tylenol.

Tighten this up.

Jefferson was roasted last week for some redemption.

That was dumb of Allen. He should know better...he has to do better with his late game decision making when defending a lead.

Bass has got to pick up his game. He was kept because he could boot it out of the EZ....for touchbacks.