NyBob85

Is Boogie Basham too obvious to be an "unusual" suspect? I feel like he's going to give Burrow nightmares Sunday.

You know as exhilarating as the New Year's Eve miracle was in 2017, that Wild Card game against the Jags was absolutely soul-crushing. Not just because we lost but what an absolutely torturous affair to watch (even for Jags fans). 10-3 and not because the defenses were playing lights out. Just bad football. Not dissimilar to the next game we played in Jacksonville last year and lost 9-6, which I personally had the displeasure of attending firsthand. There always seems to be an ill wind blowing whenever we play those guys so I for one will not be too disappointed if we just get the Chiefs again next week.

70% feels about right to me, especially with the news breaking today about two of their starting O-Linemen being ruled out. Burrow's a good scrambler in his own right but he's not Allen or Mahomes or Jackson. Keep him on his heels the way the Ravens' defense did and we'll be in great shape. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the game the defense really makes their mark after being questioned all year long. It's a pity that they technically surrendered 24 points last week because really only one of those touchdowns was on a full, legitimate drive. They played awesome in every other defensive metric besides points against, most of which were set up by turnovers or special teams lapses. On the offensive side we just need Josh to be Josh and maybe be a little more conservative, at least in the first half. If we're trailing in the third or fourth then by all means pull out the hero ball stuff but no need to re-invent the wheel. Just keep up sustained drives - short-to-mid-range stuff coupled with some timely 4-or-5 yard running pickups from the backs and maybe an obligatory deep shot now and then to keep them honest. That should be more than enough to keep the Bengals' mediocre defense reeling and to keep Burrow and Co. off the field and give our defense time to rest. Cincy's defense cannot stop us and as good as their offense is they're going to lose a shootout with us every time unless we shoot ourselves in the foot like we did against Miami. Respect to them, they're a solid outfit, but they're not a special team. It also looks like it might be a mix of rain/snow/sleet on Sunday afternoon so take that as you may; I don't know if Burrow has a ton of experience playing in ugly weather but I sure as hell know our guy does and does it well. Any factor that might make them have to resort to using their garbage running game more is fine in my book. Bills 31 - Bengals 21. Let's f--n do it boys.

All the reasons used to rule out the Carrier Dome seem trivial and pointless: "Doesn't have the capacity." --The Chargers played in a 20,000 seat soccer stadium for three whole seasons, no reason why the Bills couldn't play a single game in a 50,000 seat college football venue. "Isn't an 'NFL-caliber' Stadium" --Again, you had the Chargers situation for three years, the Rams playing in an ancient 1930s college stadium for even longer, and plenty of other one-off regular season games in Europe and Mexico have been held in stadiums that were not designed with American football in mind. That excuse doesn't fly either. "Not equipped with NFL-level TV cameras/infrastructure" --This is the only one that halfway holds water, I guess. I suppose there are licensing and contractual broadcasting requirements that have to be satisfied but it's still pretty stupid. I've watched Syracuse home games on ESPN and the ACC Network that look pretty indistinguishable from NFL broadcasts in terms of picture quality and camera angles, but maybe I just don't have a nice enough TV or appreciate the artistic nuance enough to understand why flying drone cameras and super-HD shots of every last drop of sweat falling from the players' noses is an absolutely indispensable prerequisite to conducting a regulation professional football contest.

If that is the case it would be preferable from a "home field advantage" perspective. Toronto and Southern Ontario have far more Bills fans than Detroit. A game vs. the Browns in Detroit might have a majority Browns fans given the proximity to Cleveland while Toronto would be far friendlier confines for us. The Argos are also playing in the Grey Cup that evening at 6pm. Maybe they could sell it as a sort of football doubleheader - Live NFL action at 1pm and then invite all attendees to stick around and watch their hometown team on the big screen. Let the Molson flow all day. That would be pretty cool.

IIRC all purchased tickets were refunded and attendance in Detroit was free to the public on a first come, first serve basis for the Jets game in 2014. That would be the only appropriate and respectable way to handle the matter again this time around if the game is moved at the last minute, but with today's NFL where they try to squeeze a dime out of literally every last aspect of the sport that they can who knows.

I'm not sure why so many people are talking like this is a guaranteed loss if we start Keenum. You'd swear he was a droopy-eyed armless child and not a very experienced veteran who has tons of experience starting and playing (and winning) in far bigger spots than this. We don't HAVE to win this midseason non-conference game, obviously, but there's zero reason beyond the blind jaded pessimism that we've all adopted as Bills fans over the years to assume it's going to be a loss just because Josh is out. Yeah, the O-Line isn't anything spectacular but they can protect Keenum long enough on enough plays to find any one of our very talented receivers, and hopefully they're working on getting the push they've been lacking and opening up holes for the running game as well. Hines might end up being a very timely trade if we're going to be relying on the run and short passes this Sunday. Long story short, there's no need to panic and get into doom-and-gloom mode. If Josh is good to go Sunday, great, but I have faith that even Keenum can do enough to beat the Vikings so long as the whole rest of the team (defense especially) show up. Just prepare for a gritty 2014-style, defense-oriented, Kyle Orton type of game where we win 16-10 or something on the back of three Bass FGs and put the house on the under right now before Keenum is officially named the starter, lol.

I'm inclined to agree; never trust Belichick when he goes into phony humility mode. The Pats aren't the juggernaut they used to be but they're still a legitimate threat and a decent Wild Card worthy squad in most facets of the game. They're not ever regressing to Steve Grogan-era futility so long as the Dark Lord remains at the helm.

Nebraska is quickly evolving into the Dallas Cowboys of college football. Haven't been legitimately good in many years but buoyed by a delusional and fanatical fan base who insist that the big turnaround is just around the corner. I took Northwestern with the points because Nebraska has done absolutely zilch to justify that line against anybody let alone against a halfway-decent Big Ten school. But even I didn't think they were going to lose outright. Gonna be a long season in Lincoln for sure. Frost must have pics of the AD or the university president with a dead girl or a live boy. No idea how he's kept his job, especially in this era of win-now college football.

I generally agree, and if there's a silver lining from a football perspective it's that Araiza is brand new and hasn't had the time to develop many meaningful bonds or experiences with his teammates. If he had been a stalwart part of the team for a few years I'd definitely be more concerned about this situation affecting the team's collective psyche and chemistry. His brief tenure and clubhouse impact up to this point is just another reason to cut him loose now and keep his presence around the other players as inconsequential as possible.

I'm all for this besides having Bass punt. The last thing we need is our Top-5 kicker getting hurt in some freak play in a meaningless game as a knock-on effect from this clown show. Just go for it on 4th regardless of distance or ask anybody on the soon-to-be practice squad roster with any kind of kicking experience if they want to try their hand at it if they end up in a long-distance situation.

We live in the world of "at-will employment". Employers can fire you for pretty much anything they want to besides your race, sex, or creed and even then they can just make something up if they really wanted you gone for those reasons as well. That's been the reality that most workers have had to face in this country for ages, it's just that until recently it was only applied to workers who were a bit too "uppity" or "troublesome" or talked about things like better pay or working conditions or unionizing, and male employees who committed sexual harassment (to say nothing of full-blown rape) were routinely ignored. I agree that big businesses being able to summarily dismiss employees and ruin their livelihoods on a whim is an earmark of a dystopian society, but it didn't just magically become dystopian in the last few years just because it started specifically happening to men accused of heinous sexual behavior.

Likewise. In an absolute BEST case scenario he was messing around with a girl he knew to be in high school while he was a college senior and is still guilty of statutory rape. And that's only giving him the very generous benefit of the doubt that he had absolutely nothing to do with her being assaulted or forcibly raped by the other two, which is highly improbable at best. Even in a best case scenario he's pretty much admitted to committing a felony and has clearly demonstrated that he has a SEVERE deficiency in his decision-making abilities and is a creep by messing around with high school girls when he could easily sleep with any number of adult women his age consensually. In a worst case scenario he's a violent predator and a monster many times worse than DeShaun Watson. Either way he needs to go. The Bills can foster a lot of goodwill with the media and the fanbase and not only salvage but greatly improve their image if they send him packing right now. If not we look no better than any of the countless other teams who have scrambled to cover for the sex pests and abusers in their ranks. I'd prefer not to have any toxic presence surrounding the club or lingering around the locker room all season just so we can keep a good PUNTER on the roster. Let's cut our losses, find some halfway-serviceable punter among the free agents who can get up to speed in two weeks and move the hell on as quickly as we can.