Billy Claude

They already have the AFC equivalent of Green Bay in Kansas City.

Every league has superstar calls, whether it is Michael Jordan, Sidney Crosby, Lionel Messi, or Tom Brady. I haven't been following baseball that much but I am sure top echelon pitchers get the benefit of doubt on ball/strike calls compare to an unknown rookie. I don't think you need a the NFL league office handing out a conspiratorial edict for this to occur, it's just human nature. If DeAndre Hopkins is going up against some unknown rookie CB, Hopkins will get the benefit of the doubt on borderline DPI calls simply because referees expect Hopkins to come up with the ball.

They don't have to because Mayo had it in his contract that he would be head coach when BB left: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/jerod-mayo-hired-new-england-patriots-head-coach-bill-belichick-replacement-departure-robert-kraft-nfl/ So there was little chance they would hire Vrabel unless Kraft was willing to be sued.

People's ability to only remember things that confirms their believes is always amazing to me. In this case, the believe that Allen's turnovers don't actually hurt the Bills chances of winning. Even more amazing is the contortions people go thru to convince themselves that someone else is to blame for every interception that he throws.

Definitely agree that the blue font on green background they use there is awful and makes it hard to read. Readability should be the top priority and nothing is easier to read than black font on white background. As they say: keep it simple, stupid.

To be fair, there was a ton of holding by the Bills oline that were also not called. There was one on the QB pushes where the Bills oline man had his arms completely around the Dolphin player but perhaps they never call holding on those plays.

Bad weather, by which I mean wind, rain, or snow will definitely benefit Pittsburgh. I see some comments upthread that Allen's arm strength will allow him to cut through the wind. But that to me is the whole issue; rather than recognizing limits due to weather conditions, Allen just throws the ball harder which leads to poorer accuracy and more dropped balls. Hopefully, they will rely more on Allen's legs which is a huge advantage. The Steelers will try to replay their game against Baltimore though it will be much harder without Watt. The good thing is if the Bills get out to an decent lead (and don't make stupid mistakes) it will force them out of this mode and it is unlikely Rudolph will be able bring them back.

The defender also stood there for two seconds waiting for the ball.

Allen is a great QB, obviously the Bills would be nowhere without him but I hate that according to many every mistake is someone else's fault. How in the world, do people think that if Davis didn't trip, the 2nd int would have been a touchdown? The defender was standing there for two seconds waiting for the ball to get him. The best you could have hope from Davis was that he would break it up. However, that wasn't the issue, it was 4th down so the interception was better than turning it over on downs. The issue on that play was that he was looking at a TE who who was open and 90% would have gotten a first down on YAC and he didn't throw it to him.

Not to interrupt the Davis hate-fest but a lot of the reason Davis is targeted for a high percentage of Allen's interceptions are because pf the types of the balls thrown to Davis. To me Davis is targeted for a higher percentage of passes that Allen is throwing it 30 yards down the field during scramble drills, similar to the second interception tonight. Of course, those passes have a higher chance of being intercepted.

Difference was who they replaced. Favre was beloved when he was replaced while the Packers fans was pretty tired of Rodgers by the time he left.

How exactly does Lamar Jackson handing off the ball three times in the pouring rain affect whether he comes out flat in two weeks or not? If Allen did anything more than that in those conditions, everyone would be calling for McDermott to be fired (beyond those who are already doing so).

So lets take care of all possibilities why the NFL will choose a particular team to make the playoffs: Steelers -- large nationwide fanbase, blue-blood team (whatever that means), Rooney is an influential owner (no idea if this is still true but facts don't matter). Jaguars -- NFL desperately trying to build up fanbase in the UK. Bills -- Josh Allen is one of the most popular players in the NFL, Buffalo Bills are loveable losers, like the Chicago Cubs were before they won. It would be a great 30 for 30 story and the Bills have a lot of support as team #2 among fans of other teams. Bills need to be in the playoffs to to sell PSLs for the new stadium. Texans -- large market, exciting young player in CJ Stroud, great turnaround story and good to have a fresh face in the playoffs. Colts -- I've got nothing, maybe Gardner Minshew? He seems like a fun guy.

I think what you said was interesting though it would have been more effective if you made your point more succinctly.

Steelers have won 5 of the last 6 against the Ravens.

If Jackson had played in this weather he would have handed off three times and called it a day. Does anyone really believe that would make a difference?

I don't doubt that you are right but it is very difficult for an opposition HC/DC to say the Bills offense is well coached when the Bills HC clearly does not believe so.

In this rain I am sure everyone on the Ravens wants to get it over with as soon as possible.

That is recency bias because he has fallen off the cliff so quickly and is a kind of a weird dude. I feel Russell Wilson will definitely make the HOF. He was never the best QB in the league but for each season from 2013 to 2019 he was unquestionably a top five QB maybe as high as second best in 2019, he won one Super Bowl and went to another. The NFL HOF is not the baseball HOF, it should be more than enough to get in.

There's been plenty of players who threw a hissy fit when taken out even when they clearly had lost it.

I took a quick look at the states KC has a net negative for DPI but they are by far the largest beneficiary of defensive holding. I assume most of those are on passing plays. Not sure how holding on special teams counts.

Agree, all teams are on fumes right now -- the Bills are actually in a better situation than most. Also agree on the two bye weeks. I never understood why they just didn't keep it at 16 games and go to two bye weeks. The TV/streaming services just care that they have the content to fill up the time slots. The NFL would still have had the extra TV income (though not quite as much) without the cost of paying the players more. This is one issue that the NFLPA should have stood firm on. Going to 17 games is proof positive that the NFL has no real concern for player safety and that either the NFLPA is spineless or the NFLPA leadership is in the pocket of the NFL.

The problem with that argument the NFL is so big that it makes very little difference financially who wins or are you saying a Jacksonville Carolina Super Bowl would collapse the NFL. The risk-reward ratio is almost infinite. Also most of the owners with a few exceptions made their money in other industries. They have spent most of their lives being told how great they are. They buy the team for ego as much as anything else. Now you are saying a guy like David Tepper or Woody Johnson being perfectly fine with being regarded as idiots. Finally, the owners don't behave like the games are fixed. If it was everybody would just be cash to the cap like Ralph was and definitely they wouldn't be signing coaches to long guaranteed contracts.

However, in a sign of things to come, he was sacked once out of every 5.7 drop backs that year (6 sacks in 34 drop backs) for the Jaguars. He was also injured during his big game against the Ravens and was inactive for the next three games. In those days, before analytics, I feel that sacks were always blamed on the o-line (at least by the public) so nobody thought to consider how often he was sacked.

Based on the data, the DPI only happens very rarely, KC is the beneficiary of DPI 6 times this year and only 3 times last year (last in league). Just to extend the data further back, in 2020 KC was called for DPI 17 times (#3) and beneficiary 4 times (T30) for a net of -13, while in 2021 KC was called for DPI 13 times (#3) and beneficiary 6 times (T27) for a net of -7.