MPL

"The best dang defense you ever saw, unless you watched the Colts game and like five Damien Harris runs." Too long?

As a fellow Lawson, I approve this move. FWIW, they also signed Kenny Stills for the playoffs last year and I don't believe he ever dressed.

Great. So now we've lost 10 Super Bowls?

Well, it's like they always said... football is a game of inches pathogens.

I'm ready to stamp a big fat asterisk on this season and write-off all the end results as meaningless, flukey, and bogus... unless, of course, the Bills win it all.

Hypothetically.

Probably because we have no way to control the situation, and in an effort to reduce our anxiety about things completely out of our control we look for solace in data and hypothetical scenarios... or something.

If Vegas can beat Cleveland tonight we'll be in good shape. Otherwise we'll be officially out of the #7 seed and "in the hunt" this week. It still a high likelihood we get in either way, though. Beat New England this week and we've got a good shot at the #3 seed.

The 3rd round is clearly the best round to take a running back.

I'm so done with this century.

Cleveland is a team to watch and root against. I played around with a lot of scenarios in the ESPN playoff machine and if Buffalo and Cleveland both finish 10-7, Cleveland gets in and we do not. That's the only scenario I've been able to find where 10-7 doesn't get Buffalo in. But, hopefully we just win out and finish 11-6.

It is more common than not that a team that loses the conference championship regresses and finishes with a worse record the following season, or is bounced from the playoffs in an earlier round. I know there have been some exceptions to this in the AFC over the past decade, but what we're experiencing right now isn't uncommon. We didn't add any pieces and ran it back with 21 of 22 starters from last year. Teams had the whole offseason to study our offense. We haven't adjusted or adapted quick enough. That said, they've got a franchise QB who is one of the best in the league and one of the best WRs in the league. They should be able to retool the roster this offseason and come back better next year.

Oh the weather outside is... weather.

The toe, I believe.

Well, Star has officially been ruled out for Sunday, sooooo...

Sheesh—all this talk every week about what this game or that game means for Josh Allen's status. I wonder if Broncos fans debated this weekly in the 80s regarding Elway. I wonder if Packers fans felt this anxiety every time Brett Favre took the field in the early 90s. How about Dolphins fans and Marino for 10+ years? Or is this just a Buffalo thing because deep down, we expect the rug to be pulled out from beneath us at the last moment?

If I do have them, they're at my parent's place. I'll have to look when I'm back in NY later this month.

I think I have an unopened box of TO's cereal lying around somewhere. I'll have a bowl in anticipation... they should still be good after 12 years, right?

Bring the Wichita Lineman in and see if he can also be a serviceable offensive lineman.

FWIW, Bill Belichick is 3-4 against the Bills when Tom Brady doesn't play (if I counted correctly). Also FWIW, Bill Belichick is 0-0 against the Bills when Mac Jones plays.

How are we forgetting big Pat Williams? Also, the Patty Melt—a hamburger inside of a grilled cheese? That's one heck of a pat.

Is it concerning that 20% of the players on this list played for or currently play for the Bills?

Last year at halfway point, the Bills (and Steelers) were considered by some to be historically lucky. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-steelers-and-bills-have-been-historically-lucky-so-far-the-chargers-have-not/ So it shouldn't be too surprising to see things not go their way as much this year... though, it still sucks. Just a lot of unfortunate stuff this year... Allen not converting a sneak, guys dropping passes that they would have caught last year, McKenzie falling down and fumbling without being touched (I mean, seriously, wtf?). Some of its fundamentals, some of its physicality, some of its mental, and some of it just the way game goes. I'm not convinced they can't still get it together and make a run, but my expectations are significantly lowered at this point.

Can Joc Pederson play Guard?

uhhh... Reid coached for 20 years before winning a Super Bowl. Dude has lost multiple NFC and AFC Championship games. Pretty sure no one viewed him as a cut-throat destroyer prior to finally winning a championship 20 years into his coaching career. Arians coached for 6 years before winning a SB and also... Tom Brady. Pete Carroll? 3 pretty mediocre years in New England in the late 90s after inheriting a team that had just been to the Super Bowl. Also hasn't been back to the Super Bowl with Seattle for 6 or 7 years despite making the playoffs every year. (maybe missed 1 in that stretch?) Belichick is the exception... and what can you really say? McD isn't Belichick? No one is. Look, I get the frustration that this team isn't living up to the hype. It's disappointing, but progress is rarely linear.