Billy Claude

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.

Your impression was not wrong. The Bills are the worst team in the NFL at drawing pass interference this season. They have drawn three pass interference calls this season which is tied for 31st with New Orleans They are 24th in yards gain from DPI calls. San Francisco (4), Philadelphia (5), and Miami (5), have also drawn very few pass interference calls. The top teams drawing DPI were Jacksonville (18) and Dallas (15). The average was 8.19 DPI per team. The Bills have been called for pass interference 8 times, which is about league average. Houston and Philadelphia has been called the most at 14 times, while Jacksonville has only been called for DPI once. So Jacksonville has the best differential, an amazing +17, while Philadelphia has the worst at -7. In 2022, the Bills received 8 pass interference calls (average was only 7.28 per team last year) and was called for 8 times also. Last year Kansas City was called for pass interference the most times (15) while benefitting the least amount of times (3 times, tied with Tennessee and Chicago ) for a net of -12. https://www.nflpenalties.com/penalty/defensive-pass-interference?view=team&year=2023

There might be individual refs/players who might throw a game. As many has pointed out, that probably has happened though I think it is much rarer than many implied. However, to believe that there is the NFL office decides winners beforehand is frankly ridiculous. It makes zero sense for the owners to accept it -- unless you think only Goodell and a small cabal of owners are in on it. Ask yourself these questions. Why would David Tepper throw a drink on a fan if everything is fixed? Why would he fire his coach and GM so he has to pay multiple coaches/GM if everything is pre-ordained. Why was Pegula paying three coaches at once? Why is Haslam guaranteeing Watson $230M if it doesn't matter. Everybody knows Jerry Jones is one of the most powerful owners in the NFL and the Cowboys are one of the most popular teams. Why don't the Cowboys do better in the playoffs? When do they tell new owners or potential owners that the games are fixed? Why don't any of these owners sue when they find out? Why do the NYC/Chi teams stink so much? Why are many of the top teams in the league from tiny markets like KC, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. It makes zero sense for these multi-billionaires to accept the level of ridicule they get from their fans when their teams stink (see Johnson, Woody). If I was Tepper and found out I run a scorched earth policy and sue the NFL (and any owners in the know) for every penny they have.

Like a lot of these so called fixes, someone will say it's is clear evidence of rigging no matter what they do.

Trubisky will probably be available for cheap after this season.

That Vegas is letting you cash out is a complete shock to me.

Allen was never supposed to be in the competition, McCarron was supposed to be #1, Peterman #2, and Allen was supposed to be #3. However, Peterman played great against the third stringers (the Kelvin Benjamin revenge game), McCarron looked awful and sulked, so they traded him away and ended up with Allen number 2 behind Peterman.

C.J. Stroud? Lamar Jackson? Baker Mayfield? Cam Newton? They all had decent year ones.