BigAl2526

With Miami having such key injuries, the Bills need to make this a convincing win.

I'm always thrilled when people come to faith in Jesus Christ or are renewed in that faith. I think the prayer of thousands was certainly a benefit in saving Hamlin's life and hastening his recovery. What I don't buy into is God intervening to determine the outcome of games, the Sabres game alluded to in the article as an example. I believe God is active in the world, but is not in the habit of picking favorites in athletic events.

It's going to be chilly, but it will be dry and very little wind. Weather won't be much of a factor.

Take that, Pro Bowl voters!

I would take the opportunity even if the Buccaneers were comparable to Philadelphia or San Francisco. Right now Tampa is not that good. It would be a no brainer.

The Bills give up some big play potential with McKenzie out of the game day lineup, but, overall, he's been a disappointment this season, and like some other Bills has had too many drops. Beasley doesn't give you much big play potential, but historically he's shown reliable hands, and he's been a chain mover throughout his tenure on the Bills. It's pretty obvious that he was elevated as a response to McKenzie's injury, and the fact that they play the same base position is a primary factor in the decision to sign him to the 53 man roster.

The good news is Buffalo does not have to remake their whole roster. I doubt they'll be able to re-sign Poyer. I don't think there are a lot of other key veterans they need to re-sign. They need to do some roster tweaking, but they can probably do most of what they want with the resources they have.

McKenzie has been a big disappointment. I didn't think Crowder seemed to have much chemistry with Josh back when he was healthy. I'm glad he may be available, but Beasley's chemistry with Josh is immediately evident.

Frankly, in comparison to Hyde, Crowder is an afterthought.

Honestly, I don't think this is as much about Miami doing the right thing as it is about the league imposed concussion protocol. With Tua having already played in two games after sustaining a concussion, I'm sure the league is keeping a close eye on Miami. Miami may be trying to do the right thing at this point, but I don't think they have any choice in the decision of Tua this weekend.

Miami will have to play the game Sunday without Tua, and possibly without Mostert. Unless Buffalo completely "discombobulates," they will beat Miami handily. The following game will most likely be against Cincinnati. Having Hyde back and healthy would be absolutely huge in that game.

I think they're trending in the right direction, but they aren't quite there yet. Josh is still making some big mistakes, and the defense is not as dominant as they were at times early in the season. A big part of that is the absence of Hyde and Miller. I think Buffalo will get past Miami. Then they will have a huge challenge as the likely face Cincinnati in round two. Cincinnati had their way early on in the aborted game. McDermott and Frazier will have their hands full trying to stop them in the rematch.

I agree that O-line and WR are priorities. In round one, though, Buffalo is in a challenging position. Likely picking in the las five picks (hopefully the very las -31st pick) the top talent is going to be well picked over. This is not a particularly strong draft for the offensive line, at least at the very top. A lot of mock drafts have projected O'Cyrus Torrence to the Bills. Some, however, don't think he is a first round value. Moreover, he's pretty much limited to a power blocking scheme as he is kind of slow afoot. The Bills like to use zone blocking at least some of the time and I think that is where Aaron Kromer's strength lies as an offensive line coach. Al in all, that seems to make Torrence a less than perfect fit. A few others have projected Andrew Vorhees too the Bills, but he is even less of a value in round 1. The same quandry exists at WR. There is only a handful of first round WRs in this draft - maybe three. They may all be gone by the time Buffalo picks. The one who might be around, Jaxon Smith-Njigba lacks any truly elite characteristics and has played mostly in the slot, at least through 2021. He's got good hands, body control and short area quickness, and I'd be OK if he were the Bills' pick. The real value late in the first round might be at safety. Poyer will be a free agent after the season and the Bills still have a tight cap situation. Both Hyde and Poyer are on the wrong side of 30 and it does not look like the successor of either one is on the roster now. I think there is probably better value both for WR and interior offensive line from the second round on in the draft.

There is very little separating the top five teams. No team is an unbeatable juggernaut. Week to week circumstances will affect the order in the eyes of observers. That's just the reality of the situation.

If voters consider team performance over a multi-year period, I agree. Is there a precedent for them doing that?

It would be a huge mistake for the Dolphins to fire their coach. I would love it. Let them keep hiring new coaches every year or two and they'll be stuck in a pattern of missing the playoffs for years.

I've gone through training for CPR training both with breathing and compressions only. I guess the simplified it because too many people screwed it up when trying to do both, and the no breathing method works. I had thought that once Hamlin turned the corner, his recovery would be pretty quick. I don't really think he'll be back for the playoffs at all, but if he chooses to continue his career, I think he'll probably be able to do most of his off season routine and will be back at training camp next summer. I heard the doctors said that once he's breathing on his own, he could probably leave the hospital pretty quickly.

I think the TV networks would scream bloody murder if the league tried to push the playoff schedule back a week to accommodate a makeup Bills/Bengals game. There is no possible way to squeeze a game inn between this Sunday and Wild Card Weekend. It would be patently unfair to the team or teams that ended up having to play four days later, and playing 3 games in the space of 8 days. The reaction of KC fans is moronic.

I don't expect to see any more Bills selected as modern era players in my life time. We had a 20 year playoff drought and were known for mediocrity for the first two decades of the millenium. There are Bills on the current team who will end up in the Hall of Fame, but most of them are relative youngsters with a number of years left in their careers. After that there is a waiting period. It is likely to be 10-15 years before any of the current crop of Bills stars get consideration for the hall of fame. Maybe I'll be around for the early part of that period, but my odds of surviving another 15 years aren't great. I'll try my best though.

I think two factors help voters in choosing coach of the year. One is overachieving and the other is the team looking to be ready for a deep playoff run at the end of the season. I think it goes to Shanahan in San Francisco. He's got his team poised to make a deep playoff run with a third string 7the round draft pick at QB. Pederson and Daboll have made a strong case, but I don't think they go too far in the playoffs if they make it there at all. I like McDermott and think he should get consideration, but the Bills were widely expected to contend for a Super Bowl, and aside from the psychological challenges of dealing with Damar Hamlin having cardiac arrest have not suffered more than the expected injury issues. It's tough to overachieve when you start out with those expectations, and as I said, I think overachieving weighs heavily in the minds of voters.

I predicted the game would not be played, so I'm not surprised.

This makes sense to me. The Bills have to plan on Hamlin being unavailable for the foreseeable future. The Bills need a safety on the roster in case Jaquan Johnson gets injured in a game. The market of available safeties is probably pretty dry at the moment. I checked a list of available safeties. There are a bunch of names, but not a lot of them are recognizable. Mayden spent some time on the Bills practice squad. That means he has at least been exposed to the Bills playbook. He played college football at Alabama, so he's had quality college coaching, and he happens to possess a very good combination of size and speed. He can play both safety spots and has experience at CB too. This is not to say Mayden is a great player at this point. He was a UDFA. He's almost certainly a project that needs to be coached up, but he's a warm body at a needed position with athleticism and upside. I don't think the fact that he was released from the PS means the Bills hated him. The PS has been used by Beane to keep the roster balanced and fortify positions as needed. If an area of the team is hurt by injury, Beane may decide he needs to add players to that position, and he'll drop players at another position Mayden may have been one of those drops. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the roster in training camp. If he can get coached up, who knows. . .

Although Hamlin is still listed as critical, I think the expectation is that he'll likely pull though. I'm also guessing that since his cardiac arrest was triggered by "blunt trauma" rather than a blockage and that the response was immediate, there is probably no damage to his heart, and once he turns the corner, his recovery may be rapid. Buffalo has certainly faced challenges this winter though.

I can't imagine that the league would impose those kinds of restrictions on teams in a make up match. I also can't imagine how the league would be able to squeeze a makeup up game in without screwing up the whole playoff schedule.

Agreed. Frazier has made adjustments in the past against teams that started out like a juggernaut. There's no way to know whether he could have done so this time or not.