Ray Stonada

I don't love Watt as a personality, but he does offer something we need. Earlier this year my dad texted me saying we are great but we don't have a Bruce. Watt would give us that guy that the offense always has to be aware of, in big games, when he can turn it on. He could create some fear, and we don't have a guy like that in our front seven...

I just hope NFL Gamepass remains the same... living in Germany I get to see every Bills game live, at home. It's ideal. Also you get NFL Network with GMFB and the other shows, and it gives you a nice taste of home to see the commercials, even the ones for revolutionary nonstick pans and other crap.

As someone who watches zero college football, I am pretty darn impressed with how much knowledge it must take to do this, OP. And to see enough college gridiron from London must be even harder. Cheers.

Counts. Had the same game! Can hear that buzzing whirring now.

Me too. But at 45 with a bad knee I haven't taken the plunge...

All great reasons not to go to a 17 game season too! Also it just annoys the hell out of me that the mathematical balance and perfection of the 16 game season will be ruined, and stats will no longer be truly comparable, forever.

Sure, it counts! I remember a flag football game where we thought up a play for me (always lined up outside) to run a jet sweep type action, take a pitch and then drop back to pass, the idea being our QB would be wide open. (This was in 1992, but kinda sounds like a Bills 2020 play!) I had never played QB, ever. I got the ball, looked up, everything looked like a blur, got sacked. Ever since I've been impressed by what QB's do.

Free local calls... Wow, back in the era of normal life.

Yep, good point. Staying closer to home might be the rule for the next few years. The soccer leagues confuse me, I never understand all the different leagues teams play in... it feels like if the Bills were in the NFL but also two or three other competitions running at the same time. Sounds like your experience in the university league was similar to mine playing intramural. Weirdly, my friends who played serious college football seem less interested in watching it than I do.

That's pretty cool. Makes sense that they play games in London now... I wonder if they're seriously considering putting a team there.

Interesting. I know a little more about tennis cause I played it a lot, and there it feels like the gulf between me and the pros was so big I couldn't connect to much of what they could do. But I could empathize with the mental aspect. I'm amazed they have an "American" football league in UK universities. Is that across the nation?

I think I'm missing the joke here...

Just curious, how many people played organized football, at any level? Do you find it helps you a lot to understand what's going on when you watch the Bills/NFL? What kind of insights does it give you? I don't have much real experience. I was a WR/DB on my college intramural team, but it was a small D-III college. Other than that, it's watching the NFL since I was 12 or so (in my mid-forties now), and playing some video games which actually helped me a lot to understand formations and defenses. Always wish I had more of an insider view, and wondered what I would be able to see if I did.

I met Jimmy Arias at the U.S. Open, told him we were both from Buffalo, he was funny and relaxed. The guy was the prototype for all the big Nick Bollitieri forehands to come: Agassi, etc. No one hit forehands with huge topspin, like almost every player does now, before Arias. Pretty cool to have contributed to the evolution of a sport.

Getting to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam is an incredible achievement for anyone. There are so many levels of tennis you have to dominate to get to the final eight in Melbourne. Literally millions of kids wish for, work their a@@es off for, and never have an accomplishment like this. The Pegulas should be, and most probably are, damn proud.

Oh man, how I wish I was there. We were traveling, but kept getting calls with updates, first we were getting blown out, then the calls started getting crazier and crazier! I think it's only home playoff game of the 90s that I didn't attend, darn it.

Eff Gronk.

TB's superior D-line and linebackers were a bigger difference than their very similar game plan. It just worked so much better with their guys. The main game plan difference was that they hit Kelce off the line, and we let him off free. But he ended up open a lot in both games, and with very similar stats. The bigger difference was TB created a ton of interior pressure AND edge pressure so Mahomes couldn't escape, and they stepped up in the clutch when KC got in their territory and stopped them from scoring TDs. Players making plays, not coaching figuring out the magic formula.

100% agree! The 10-day depression after losing to the Chiefs has been replaced by the burning desire to get to next year. We have as good a chance as anyone to win it all next year, been a while since we could say that. Reminds me of being 16, in 1991.

And his first SB they shut down the Rams' Greatest Show. (The times they lost, they felt superior going in, to the Giants and Foles.) Brady consistently gets his teams to focus and gel and some of what looked like BB's coaching seems to have been his leadership.

It's hard to overestimate the impact he had on them as a leader though. Getting them to realize they can win it it all and staying focused enough to do it, not getting complacent after each achievement including the huge upset in the NFC championship. This wasn't the Giants squeaking by the Pats twice. Defense AND excellently opportunistic offense won this game, in a blowout.

And Mahomes looked slightly tight going against Brady, the way Josh looked a little tight going against Mahomes.

Agree. Sometimes I forget about it and just see Gronk, and then I remember suddenly and get mad again about it. One of the toughest replays to watch, the way he loads up on a defenseless Tre with glee. Sick and cowardly.

Might not be a fair comparison: the Bills weren't missing both tackles, and TB's D-line is better than KC's.

Yep. We could dominate the NFL next year.