Sierra Foothills

That won't be necessary. I'm seldom right.

I stand corrected. My next prediction (consider the track record) is that Johnson will not make any significant contributions to the Texans this season.

Retired NFL players cannot come out of retirement after week 12.

Just speaking in general, I really don't know what the officials are thinking or how they're trained when it comes to calling penalties. If I was training them my criteria for a foul would be: 1) How egregious is the foul? 2) Did it have any bearing on the outcome of the play? Based on a summation of those two considerations a flag would be thrown or not. It seems increasingly like NFL officials just can't resist the temptation to throw a flag, no matter how marginal the infraction is.

Donald Defesne? The old Canadiens defenseman?

Fixed it for us. Yes, the annual discussion of Rest vs Rust. And the Steelers play Cinci in week 18. I don't expect them to have much left in the tank come the playoffs.

What's embarrasing is the lack of perspective of so many fans after a divisional win coming on the heels of 4 straight nationally televised games. The appropriate reaction is thankfulness and relief that we won a game that was inevitably gonna be a clunker. Hmmmm.... Jauron is apparently a motivational speaker now and Sauron's physical form was permanently destroyed, and his spirit dissolved into nothingness when Frodo threw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. Does that answer your question? The officiating was piss poor and I was a bit surprised as I have a generally favorable view of Brad Allen and his crew. The Bills were due for a letdown for sure. They aren't robots. Many people here remember AVP's shortened nicname, "The Pill," derived from his nickname "The Pillsbury Doughboy" given to him by Jim Kelly if I'm not mistaken. Never has that nickname been more appropriate.

Before inexplicably deciding that he wanted to provide more motivation for the Chiefs. Dude, this is priceless. Thank you. The picador put at least 6 lances in that bull's neck. That bullfighter could die as far as I'm concerned. He turned 19 on May 2nd.

If we're restricted only to yes/no responses... absolutely yes. Elam's getting more playing time which 1) will make him a better player and 2) will allow the team to make a better evaluation of him. Even after regressing this year it's likely that the team won't be able to re-sign Rasul. The Bills have to be certain about how they feel about Elam. Now if we're allowed a reasonable response, if the Bills are concerned based on what they saw today then by all means dress Rasul and spot Elam in as the game script allows. Keep in mind though that Elam didn't cost us the game today and he didn't come close to costing us the game today. He should be dressed and playing meaningful snaps.

As for the topic of sandbagging, I've assumed the Bills would be holding back these last 3 weeks. The playing of young players is an indicator of that. Some of the guys that are sitting out could play but the Bills are taking calculated risks here. There's a cost benefit to every personnel decision they make, every look they show, every play they call. They'll slow play as much as they think they can get away with. It's a delicate balancing act because you're worshipping more than one religion. Balancing out these different motivations could cause them to fall but it's a game all teams with championship aspirations play. It's not specific to the Bills. The top seed is unlikely but still possible. Bottom line is that the Bills won today. Their performance today didn't disqualify them from anything. That happened when they lost to the Rams. The Bills are still positioned to leapfrog KC if they stumble and still in the driver's seat for the number 2 seed. It's all good. I will grant that they dug themselves a hole and that the game wasn't in hand until the recovered onside kick but I really don't think the Bills came very close to losing today. Of course Josh is tired. He carries the burden of the team, the community and his celebrity into every waking moment. It's the winter solstice in Buffalo. The team has just come off a gauntlet of 4 straight nationally televised games against marquee opponents. These guys are athletes, not machines. They're all tired and it showed. And they won. I expected them to be flat and they were. I expected them to win and they did. I don't think there was any lesson learned. The Bills knew that they could dial it back today and still win. Now they have the great fortune of being able to watch Pittsburgh, KC, Baltimore and Houston play this Wednesday and watch the Chargers and the Broncos play on Saturday. Much of the Bills' possible fates will be determined before they kickoff on Sunday at home against the Jets. The Bills are in the catbird seat. The most dangerous game IMO is the season finale at Foxboro. It'll be very tough beating a divisional opponent twice in a short period of time. New England is gonna treat it as their Super Bowl and they'll be at home, armed with the lessons learned from today's loss. But the Bills might already know by kickoff if they have anything to play for or not. People here should be happy. It's odd seeing all the apprehension and fear and glass half-empty sentiments.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. We'll know by 4 pm tomorrow.

Also, more cow bell.

Einstein telling us to do the math... For sure it's a fine balancing act.

That's a legit question. Also legit question, at what point does he shake it off, call a huddle, rally the troops, and resume his professional duty to lead the team?

The US Military has a phrase... "Fit for Command." Even in a non-military, civilian culture, high-level leaders have a professional imperative. In fact I would imagine that there are many people in this very conversation who have professional positions where "falling to pieces" is simply not an option. Even as a head of household in the midst of an emergency/tragedy you cannot lose your mind.

I don't object to the conversation at all. For the most part there's been wise and considered takes. Also this is a legitimate conversation and one that should be talked about. There's always gonna be some misbehavior but many good points have been made by many good posters. To the bolded, EXACTLY. A salient point in this conversation is the "statute or limitations" with Stroud's loss of composure. I think many of the people who are criticizing him are thinking that at some point (sooner than it happened) Stroud has to shake it off, flip the switch, and get his head straight. It seems like that never happened. And again I apportion some blame to DeMeco Ryans. It seems like there was a big team-wide leadership void after the injury. It's definitely a national conversation... Bills fans aren't THAT different from other fan bases. I remember watching High Noon and wondering when Gary Cooper was gonna finally break down.

Which makes you subhuman. Thank you for letting me know. I felt a good cry coming on... At some point, someone needed to gather the team together and get their heads back on straight. I view that as the responsibility of a few people on any football team, including the quarterback. Anyone know what DeMeco Ryans was doing in the aftermath of the injury? Flutie vs Rob Johnson... True statement. That really pissed me off and caused me to dislike Stroud... but on the other hand it's a failure due to his youth and also a reflection of those around him who are supposed to be helping him keep things real. I can't remember a single NFL QB offering their list of top QBs in the league, much less putting themselves on that list above other obviously more accomplished QBs. This mere act defies acceptability IMO. WTF was he thinking? Correction, clearly he wasn't thinking. If he didn't cry in front of his teammates during the Damar episode I don't think it would ever happen. That's awesome! Did you get the special parking space too? Great post and I agree with it... but it's also true that an NFL team is a different culture with different standards. IMO he needed to get it out of his system, then set the emotions aside and resume his mantle of leadership. This is what great leaders do in times of adversity.

I wonder if they're in that group of stadiums that gives tours or hosts small events for additional revenue.

What I want: 1) Zero injuries 2) A Win 3) 30 points and the NFL record

As for discount stores, those growing up in Buffalo are likely to remember Twin Fair and Gold Circle. Interestingly, while on the discussion more and more brick and mortar retailers are adopting the "catalog store" model that the long-defunct store, "Brand Names" used. Best Buy is a good example of this... many of the products are not displayed in a way that you can touch or see them, you order at a counter and they bring the product out to you. Going a step farther at some locations you pick up the product in an encoded locker outside the store.

Yeah but the game's on Christmas Day. Maybe this loss is a learning experience for Houston but I have a hard time seeing them beating the Ravens.

Not only "some best QB lists"... Yes, Stroud listed himself as the 3rd best QB in the league and did not have Josh Allen in his Top 5. He later replaced Jalen Hurts with Josh Allen due to the obvious stupidity of his initial ranking. Does anyone ever remember any NFL QB publicly stating how he ranks himself among his peers? Ever? Keep in mind that Stroud was a rookie last year. Right? How things change in 2 months. Gotta love the "rush to judgement" tendency in our society. Too many are too eager to finalize their opinions. Too few keep an open mind. I see people here defending Stroud saying his O-line sucks. There's truth to that however a handful of QBs make their O-line look better than they are but most lack that ability. Those that make their O-line look better tend to "climb the pocket" more than those that don't. Stroud shoots a lot of fadeaway jumpers. With his athleticism it seems he should be better at extending plays... but he's still young. We're so spoiled having Josh Allen as our QB. I'm sure Rob Johnson could explain it to us. You could tell early on which way the ball was going to bounce. Yeah CJ's got a ways to go... Their OC is Todd Monken. He's a former college quarterback and has been coaching forever. He's worked with/under Tom Beck, Mike Gundy, Dirk Koetter, Freddie Kitchens, and Kirby Smart. How about securing the ball with both hands? It's not like he didn't see the defender coming up on him. Russ made some dumb plays for a guy who was drafted the same year we took TJ Graham. We're so spoiled having Josh Allen as our QB. Are we talking about Tank Dell? Did you see the play and the aftermath? For a guy who plays wide receiver I would definitely consider his injury career threatening. For his sake I hope I'm wrong.

Don't eat too many... any more chemicals and it would have to be reclassified as a plastic. 🙃

Athletically Josh reminds me of a super-sized Elway and/or a more athletic Big Ben. I also agree with those who mention a (super-sized) Brett Favre because Josh used to be 100% gunslinger before he evolved into his more cerebral self. As a runner (stylistically) the only comparable is former Chicago Bears QB Bobby Douglass who in 1972 rushed for 968 yards in a 14 game season (69.1 ypg). Douglass was a big, rawboned midwestern farm boy who had size, straight-line speed, toughness, and instincts. He snapped arm tackles and overpowered DBs, outran LBs, and played with reckless abandon. He could also throw the ball 80 yards in the air... just a big strong country boy. But he never learned to play QB... he was a football player playing out of position.