dave mcbride

For the first week, I thought KC would blow TB out. But after the covid barber episode, the growing realization that their backup tackles were bad, and the ultimate distrsction of Reid’s son, I assumed TB would win. Those big pre-SB distractions seem to never fail to undermine the team that suffers from them. Fair enough; I’ll take your word for it. Bear in mind that it was said in defense of you (I thought Jeffismagic turned out to be a very prescient poster!). But as you’ll recall, there was a lot of discussion about this at the time. Regardless, you offer insight, and you should continue to post here.

I don't think market size has much to do with it. The 2000 TN-STL bowl and the 1998 Den-GB bowl did notably better relative to the years that surrounded them. My pet theory is that teams from Southern California and and Florida drive down ratings because the fan bases aren't committed. The LA area rating for the 2019 LA-NE was really low, relatively speaking.

Aha.

I don't think Jauron was all that religious ... nothing in his background suggests he is (Swampscott, MA high school and Yale history degree), and the internet ain't showing anything either. I don't recall it ever coming up as a subject when he was here either. He never mentions anything in the interviews I just checked out. What are you referring to?

I have NO love for Brady, but he had a 125.8 rating that should have been higher given the dropped TD pass by the lineman in the EZ. He should have had 4 TD throws.

It's also the most crapshooty draft ever given the reduced number of games, the lack of practice, the pro day problems, and everything else. Think about it this way: anyone who thinks Michigan is really a .333 winning percentage team in normal times is crazy. They had the fifth ranked recruting class in 2017, the 22nd ranked class in 2018, and the 8th ranked class in 2019.

yep!

They did one other thing: they went and signed elite-level talents on D-line (JPP and Suh) who had a history of being extremely disruptive, not "solid" guys like Addison and Butler. The one proven elite NFL talent that the Bills have acquired in this regime is Diggs. Some of the other signings have been good - Beasley, Brown, Hyde, Poyer, Williams -- but none of those guys match Suh and JPP.

My understanding is that it doesn't have to be on purpose. If he's running side by side, they probably don't call it because the DB is playing good defense. But this was a case where the receiver had a clear step on the DB. Intentionally or not, the DB who has been beaten and is about to potentially give up a TD clearly causes him to trip--costing TB a real chance at 7. I thought that ball was catchable. 50/50, but catchable for a guy like Evans. I have zero problem with that call.

Hey, he played for Dabo Sweeney, who is as big a Jesus freak as can be. Easterby appears to be a different level: a mix of religious zealot, snake oil salesman, cult leader, and Svengali. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see what happens. I truly don't care, and I'm going to treat this as a test of whether this can actually happen in today's NFL. It's not as novel as people think: we have the example of Carson Palmer, who was willing to sit out for a season. He pulled it off. Check it out (from Wikipedia): "On July 26, 2011 a video posted on NFL.com showed a press conference held by Mike Brown, the president of the Bengals, stating that he did not expect Palmer to return to the Bengals for the 2011 season, the organization wished him well, and that there were no plans to trade him. When asked why he would not trade Carson, Mike Brown answered: 'Carson signed a contract. He made a commitment. He gave his word. We relied on his word. We relied on his commitment. We expected him to perform here. He's going to walk away from his commitment. We aren't going to reward him for doing it.'" They traded him two and half months later for a first round pick.

More evidence that Pats fans still love Tommy. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/08/super-bowl-lv-drew-a-higher-tv-rating-in-boston-than-in-tampa/

TB's defense is great. They were second in defensive DVOA last season and 5th this year.

I thought that was the one penalty against the KC secondary they got right. The KC defender (Breeland) had been beaten badly, and that was probably a TD (Evans would likely have caught up with it). Regardless of intent, Breeland clearly tripped him and then collapsed on his feet. taking Evans down with him. You gotta call that.

I suppose we could ask him ...

They are one and the same as I distinctly recall.

No, it was the same person. It was an actual conversation back then.

No, he changed his name and rejoined. I was there and remember it clearly. He posted incessantly about Mahomes before the draft.

The Bills scored their one meaningful TD because the KC punt returner fumbled at the one yard line. Otherwise, the production was similar.

This is false. He was on the forum before the 2017 draft (as a Bills fan) and pushing hard every day on his argument that the Bills needed to draft Mahomes. He switched to the Chiefs because he’s a Mahomes fan, but he still likes the Bills.

Easterby was hired in early 2020, and Watson signed the extension 7 months later (in a covid situation). I think it’s fair to assume that he didn’t realize that he was going to be working under a cultish short-haired friend of Jesus driving a chartreuse microbus. I give Watson a hard pass on this one. Easterby and McNair suck and are toxic. To quote Janis Joplin, get out while you can.

He had a sneaky-dirty hit after the whistle on the bills’ first possession that set Jones off, and then he later delivered what looked to be a kidney punch (judging from the video) that caused jones to retaliate. I don’t fault feliciano - they were trying to get to the SB and the book was out that you could aggro jones into doing something stupid. He had been ejected earlier in the season for retaliating. On that play, the refs just missed the retaliation, but it was an ejectable offense.

Great post. Going back to his Miami days when he regularly stoned the Bills o-linemen, I have long felt that Suh had shockingly become one of the most underrated players in the league. He is a force out there—still extremely difficult to handle one on one.

NE fans will always love both.

I know an inordinate number of Patriot fans, and *every single one of them* is supremely happy with the result tonight. They also expect Belichick to turn it around. I don’t that most of them think in the way that Bills fans want them to. Tommy will always be one of theirs, as will BB. It is what it is.