Old Coot

For the less tecnically inclined hack my dad watched the game with the sound off but the radio on and tuned to the Bills' game. The radio announcer's play by play is more informative. He has to be -- he's painting a picture in the listener's mind with words.. Try it; you'll like it.

I remember when free agency first came in in the 1990s. It was said to be the end of dynasties and, to some extent, I think it was. The pats were an outlier. They hit the trifecta as other have mentioned. To some extent so have the Chiefs but we'll see once Kelce retires. For all of Mahomes' greatness (and he is a great QB) Kelce distorts defenses making Mahomes' reads easier. On the other hand, the Chiefs aren't 9-0 on the strength of their offense. The last two years their D has been equal to the challenge. It will be interesting to see how TThe Chiefs' O performs against us.

Free agency changed all that. Before FA players were tethered to teams for their playing life (unless traded) so year after year animosities could develop / deepen. Now the guy opposite you may change from year to year plus it doesn't to piss off people you might be playing with in the future.

Agreed. As to why the Bills did not go after him, it may have been because he had back surgery while in college.

Not defending the guy, but he's battling turf toe. That's an injury that significantly affects a player's ability to cut.

Slim Pickens at WR this week. https://tenor.com/view/no-im-not-trump-weird-horse-dr-strangelove-1964comedy-peter-sellers-gif-14713516

Merriman could well be the highest paid Bills player ever. He got $1 million for 15 minutes work.

I think Poyer was trying to knock the ball out of the receiver's hands but got there late. He wasn't a dirty player here so it's unlikely he became one when he moved on to Miami.

Wish we'd had bass in Superbowl XXV.

Elam is a man cover CB. That's what he played in college. McD's use a lot of zone and even pattern recognition so one side of the D may morph to fit the patterms being run. It's possible that Elam has trouble with the more complex coverages.

I think in the Seattle game he was caught from behind twice. That's why I made my original post.

He will. Life is fleeting and not everyone is blessed with a long span of years. Ride on, Big John!

It's simple physics. In the red zone there's less grass to defend. Of course other teams will design plays based on what they see on film but McD is said to be quite good at disguising the D.

It's possible that the DC was asked about Josh and didn't want to give anything away so he mentioned something relevant but that everyone knows.

On the topic of Josh's running, he doesn't seem to run with the same verve as in past years. He did not get caught from behind previously. He does now. Is he a step slow or just looking to get some yards and slide? Probably looking to slide.

Going to one of the early games in 1960 at the Rockpile with my dad. We paid to park on some guy's front lawn. Mack Yoho was the Bill's kick returner. Every time the opponent teed up the ball the crowd would yell "Yo-ho, Yo-ho." The Bills' uniforms were silver and blue, the colors of the Detroit Lions, Wilson's favorite NFL team.

Lofton and Reed were perfect compliments. Lofton could take the top off a defense which gave Reed room to operate underneath, mostly over the middle. It's possible that Cooper may have similar synergistic results with the present WR corps.

It's all about bargaining power. The college teams aren't about to leave town and they fill their old stadiums (except for USC) so it makes no dollars and sense to incur the huge cost to build new stadiums. An NFL team can move out of town plus the NFL wants modern stadiums so cities and states with franchises must "pay to play" or risk losing their teams.

At varying points Austin TX, Portland OR, St Louis & San Diego were all interested. Let's hear it for the San Diego Bills! NOT!

As Churchill once said, "For every problem there is a solution that is simple, satisfying and Wrong."

Some pre-NFL Buffalo Bills / Bisons history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills_(AAFC)

Possibly, yes. Remember the game when the Pats gave up the winning score to the other team? They had Gronk at the 1 yard line. It was one of those endless lateral plays. Gronk took the wrong agle and the ball carriers get by him for the score. Remember, TEs practice offense everyday. They don't practice D. Against an elite athlete another elite athlete who is playing "out of position" will often lose.

In theory, yes. In practice, not unless the substituted "hands" players are competent DBs also. Remember, the O gets a look at who the D put on the field before calling/ executing the play. If you have several "hands" guys who don't normally play DB then you call a play to take advantage of that. Exaample: I recall an end of game score against the Patriots (can't remember the team they played). It was, I think one of those "endless laterals" plays. I think the Patriots were expecting a "Hail Mary" and had some taller players in including Gronkowski at the goal line. He took the wrong angle against the ball carrier who took it in for the winning score. Why don't teams prectice D against the Hail Mary? Because the play isn't run very often. Practice time is limited during the season so you can't waste it practicing against a play you might see no more than once every few seasons.

Start Bishop. What could possibly go wrong?

If Josh goes to see a concussion specialist he should have his head examined.