Nextmanup

It's a good question. I think a lot of it has to do with young kids participating here, the fact that no on knows each other or stands face to face as a part of real confrontation, and the general toxic atmosphere of repressed anger and hate that pervades this site.

Do you promise to keep track of BILLS drive extending flags too? I'm not sure why it's hard for Bills fans to understand that inferior teams take penalties and good teams sometimes avoid them. For the last 20 years NE has been the toast of the league and Buffalo has been irrelevant. Is it surprising to discover that the poorer players on one team might take penalties to keep up with the better players on the other? NFL officiating is horrible, we all know that, but it evens out over the course of a season.

This could really turn into a goofy game with crazy winds, at least at times. I remember many years ago (no idea when it was) a punter in a Bills game punted the ball out at Rich Stadium into a wind that was so great, the ball just went straight up, and was actually blown BACKWARDS by the wind such that the punt went for NEGATIVE YARDS. Or something like that. Maybe someone can fill in some of the gaps on my memory here.

Well it looks like we have TWO threads for this story. Oh joy.

Hmmm. I'm thinking that wasn't an accident. Although I pray to sweet baby Jesus that this WAS an accident.

Interesting! Great opportunity for your buddy. I love Sting and all of his music, from early Police stuff through all his solo albums. Saw him perform live on the National Mall in DC some years ago as part of some big, free, festival going on for some charitable cause.

You gotta get off all that stuff, man. I quit cold turkey like 9 years ago and haven't had a puff since. I found the first week to be torturous. One of the harder things I've done. The second week was very hard, but better. By the time week 3 and 4 got around, it was way, way better. Now, I don't ever think about having a cigarette ever, and when I pass someone outside smoking and you get that whiff of second-hand smoke, it turns my stomach.

For me, she is a slightly hesitant "YES."

Troy Aikmen is HORRIBLE. And I can't stand Joe Buck doing ANYTHING. Aikmen never says anything of interest, ever, and loves to spout out traditional, wrong, fictional, "football-isms." Buck puts me to sleep; I can't stand his style. And they are the No. 1 team on that network!

They keep talking about ridiculously high winds maybe being present for the game. One place said gusts up to 60MPH. If the wind is crazy, and it just takes over the game and turns it into a sideshow, I will be really disappointed. I think everyone will. We have the makings of an epic game here and who wants to see it ruined with crazy weather? I want to see skilled football, or at least have a shot at seeing that!

After watching last night's game and some deep thought, I've come around to a new realization. It's almost as if goaltending is important... Furthermore, Granato's style of play doesn't work. Picking up the long ago busted trash of the Blackhawks will give us a warm body to put in the crease, but it's not going to improve our goaltending situation. I am more and more realizing we are deliberately tanking this year. If this organization deliberately wanted to lose games this season in favor of a better draft pick, their approach to the goaltending so far would have been IDENTICAL to what it actually has been. And if you want to build a loser, the easiest single variable you can manipulate, BY FAR, is goaltending. I live about an hour north of that building and have been there for several games over the last 7 years or so. The atmosphere in there is always the same. It's at least half empty, always, regardless if the team is good or bad or middling. It's just how it is. A small percentage of people in the building are intelligent, enthusiastic, hockey fans, likely transplants from hockey parts of the country. Others are just there for something to do, then there's the empty seats. It is easily the worst atmosphere in the league, maybe other than Phoenix...and Buffalo these days. The atmosphere at home Sabres games has been DEAD for a decade now, but at least we had bodies in seats. Now it's much worse than that. Thanks Mr. Pegula! Let us know when you sell the team! And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of Dodge.

In general, trying to turn into that which we are not (a run team) is a HUGE MISTAKE for the Bills. If we HAVE TO switch because of weather, could be a long night. Let's hope Josh can still throw the ball, and I think that's what we should try and do. We have all heard ad nauseam about how Josh was drafted for his strong arm to push the ball through the December winds of Orchard Park. OK, show us, Josh. (I personally think that is all a bunch of stupid rubbish). Let's not forget that Feliciano, if healthy and playing well, will improve the line somewhat, but he fundamentally remains a HORRIBLE OFFENSIVE LINEMAN.

Out of curiosity, what is your favorite (or top 3) sci-fi movie of all time? I like the genre a lot, but find most offerings in this category are not well done. HBO has been playing this movie called "VOYAGERS" mercilessly for a month or so now. It's a really interesting idea and could have been a fantastic movie, but like so much Sci-fi, just isn't particularly well done and it misses the mark. It kind of represents the genre for me, though of course we also have all time greats like 2001 and Forbidden Planet, so there's that as well.

MATTHEW JUDON I have a strong feeling on this one. Dude is going to have a monster game. I would suggest Taron won't have to have a big game, b/c the Patriots won't want to pick on him; he's one of the better guys still out there and so I think the Patriots will avoid him and pick on the weaker sheep in the flock. A guy like Levi Wallace is going to have to step it up; he's the one they're going to abuse.

I definitely remember Thurman doing that; it's one of the last images I have of him in my mind. I think older fans will tend to agree with you, while younger kids will think the flashy show-boat crap is cool. It's just how it is.

It depends on the actual weather. It is a huge oversimplification to suggest Josh Allen = big arm, therefore he can throw in high winds where others can't. If the wind is bad enough, no one is going to throw the ball.

If it was hyperbole, it would be a deliberately exaggerated statement clearly meant to NOT be taken seriously. It's OK; the term "hyperbole" along with "narrative" and some others that I hate somehow became common on these types of sports message boards a long time ago. Anyway, you didn't mean "hyperbole" as most users of the term do not.

Of course it is. As is much of New England. It's funny, but they call the football team "New England" and the baseball team "Boston". Should probably be the other way around; the Sox enjoy a massive following all over New England. I used to live in DC for many years; when the Sox would come to Baltimore, I'd always go to the games. That was when the Orioles were always bad, and you could very easily get tickets to the games. The parking lots would be FILLED with Red Sox tour bus groups filled with fans from all over New England.....and then when something happened in the game favoring Boston, the crowd erupted as though it was at Fenway. That was common from like 2000-2010 era.

Patriots are going to pound the rock and throw 3-5 yard dump-off passes all night long, and dare us to stop that. If we cheat up in the box, Jones will then pick mercilessly on whoever BB thinks is the absolute WORST of our substitute def. backs. We have to be prepared for the their trickery!

No one ever did. I remember when 6-8 Bills would go to it every year out in Hawaii. No one cared then.

The Fierbaugh fireball shooter ???? EDIT: NEW AND IMPROVED: "The flaming fireball flinger from Firebaugh" ?????

Slowly over time, I have come to find Collinsworth almost unlistenable; he truly bothers me...a lot. Here is the essence of the problem: he very actively "sells" the game you are watching as though 2.5% of all NFL revenue goes directly into his pocket, and its his job to promote the game as much as possible. He does this so consistently, so heavily, and so artificially, it comes across as a disingenuous gimmick, like he's trying to pull one over on the viewer. He is supposed to be a neutral, objective, observer and commenter on the game, not a P/R guy promoting the sport of NFL football. He also sticks to simplistic, generalized, stereotypes in his commentary; he'll pick a big name from either team and then promote how incredible they are all game long. I LOVE AL MICHAELS; if only they would get ROMO in there with AL; that would be incredible NFL viewing!

It's funny, but in the old SB days with Kelly, Thomas, and Bruce, etc., Bills games were on NBC. NFC games were on CBS. And then you had MNF on ABC. That's all there was. The big CBS crew was Pat Summerall and John Madden. They were regarded as the best, No. 1 crew in the business at that time. They would almost NEVER give any sort of credit to the Bills or the AFC at large; they televised NFC games and their world view was limited to NFC teams and players. It used to drive me (and my late father) nuts. There truly was a real bias there; and I know what you mean about FOX now; same thing.

A really bad weather game of the type you describe (as a worst case scenario) HEAVILY favors the Patriots. The Bills are lightly constructed finesse team, like a scalpel. The Patriots are more of a sledge hammer. Let's hope the timing is off and the bad weather doesn't impact the game.