dave mcbride

Metcalf is a brutal matchup for anyone.

We have one o-lineman left.

Exactly. Don’t let up.

25 percent of the Bills games have involved the Jets, which to date is the highest percentage for any team (because the Bills have played them twice). Factor that in. Again, Jets.

Hapless, Simms was an assistant NE coa h for a year, so it’s understandable.

Sunday forecast for Orchard Park: 68 degrees, sunny, and a 10 mph wind.

Except they did snap at the end of the third yesterday and got a ten yard gain to the NE 5-yard line. NE thought they wouldn’t snap it and were caught off guard when the play began with one second left in the quarter.

It’s a shoulder injury, which is bad. I remember Tony Boselli saying that people think knee injuries force players out of the league more than any other injury, but he said it was cumulative shoulder injuries. They’re not as dramatic because guys with shoulder injuries can gut it out and still play. Shoulder injuries ended Boselli’s career.

He is literally playing injured (not hurt). He has real flaws, but they have no one else, so he’s playing. He is basically a one-armed player right now. Factor that in.

He is literally playing injured — not hurt, but injured. I am not his biggest fan by any stretch, but fans need to recognize this. They have no one else.

I was a huge fan of raquon smith, who came out that same year. He was gone by the 10th pick, so obviously he wasn’t available, but he is a lot more instinctive than edmunds.

He is playing injured.

Simon, they blitzed relentlessly in that game. Worked in the first half, but not in the second. The Pats’ blocking crew played extremely well in that second half on passing plays.

I think people criticizing the D are missing the most important thing that happened in the second half: the Pats consistently picked up the blitz on passing plays, and the bills were blitzing relentlessly. It worked in the first half, but the Pats’ blockers did a fantastic job in the second half. It rescued their drives and allowed them to carry on. Also,, anyone who ever thought this would be easy given the history is crazy.

As a matter of fact, the only real game the Skins lost in 1991 was to that Cowboys team late that year at home (12th game), 24-21. So, no. Their other loss was the final game where Jeff Rutledge saw a ton of playing time.

Hank Jones was a backup in 1991, mostly playing ST. Leonard Smith started. Jones was a good player, however. As for the number of HOFers on Buffalo and Dallas, come on. It’s ridiculous that Nate Newton isn’t in the HOF, and I’d say the same for Erik Williams too given his dominance. Indeed, in that final SB, I literally felt badly for Phil Hanson, who was dominated by Erik Williams like I’ve never seen a player dominated before. They ran 10 out of 11 plays at him on that 3rd quarter drive. A lot of those guys like Lett and Williams were the among the very best at their position but flamed out (literally, in Williams’ case) because they took livin’ the life too far. But Lett, Tuenei, Newton, Stepnoski, Novacek, etc. were all great players. Darren Woodson should be in the HOF too. I will say this: except for the last SB, where the Bills didn’t party the week beforehand, they were out of control before gameday and that falls on Marv to an extent. As I said above, I think the Bills had a great game plan in the final SB (short passing; recall that Jimbo was 19-26 in the first half). It wasn’t Marv’s fault that Thurman couldn’t hang onto the ball, Hull couldn’t handle Lett, and Jeff Wright couldn’t tackle Emmett Smith even when he had him wrapped up. Plus they were unlucky—how often does a fumble into the middle of the LOS pile get picked up and returned for a TD? I am not claiming this about the other SB game plans, obviously.

Not true. They had a great game plan in the final one. The problem was that the Cowboys were a lot better.

Badol, if you think the Bills roster, which feasted on weaker competition, was better than the Skins roster, I don’t know what to say. They were far, far, far more dominant than the Bills that year, and at that point in time it was an o-line/d-line matchup league. The Bills’ best defensive player (and the only great one) was hurt all season (knee) and a shell of himself in the postseason. Bennett was quite good, but the rest were poor to middling except for Conlan and Talley (who was not as good as fans remember). They were rolling out a lot of replaceable players on that D (especially on d-line), and the one guy who covered it all up—Bruce—was a non-factor that year because of the knee. Also, you didn’t address my rejoinder to your alarmingly specious claim about the 92 Cowboys. And you, the biggest ‘Canes fan I know!

You have to get used to that to be sure. But driving around LA is its own thing and kinda cool in a way. Plus it is extremely bikeable given the weather. Plus we lived in a neighborhood that was fairly walkable (Beverly-Fairfax, surrounded by La Brea, Beverly, Fairfax, and Melrose.

Yeah, dick move. Not helping the team at all.

LA is a bad place to visit but a very interesting place to live. It has almost everything NY and London has, but it’s harder to find it. It takes living there.

Disagree *STRONGLY* about the Redskins. Their offensive line that season was one of the best in league history (and I think the last healthy season for Lachey, who was hands down the best LT in the league then—and better than Wolford). Plus Wilbur Marshall was still in his prime (29 years old) and a true game-changing player. He had 5 ints as a linebacker, which as you know is phenomenal. It was his best season ever, and he had a lot of good ones. Overall, they had GREAT vets who were decidedly not past their prime yet. Christ, They had Lachey, Joe Jacoby, Jeff Bostic, Mark Schlereth, and Raleigh Mackenzie on their line, and none got injured that season. All of those linemen were better-than-average to great players. More importantly, they destroyed virtually all of their opponents that season and finished first in offense and second in defense. They were quite literally one of the most dominant teams of the past 30 years. Their average regular season game score was 30-14!!! Bear in mind that they lost the last game of the season because they played backups for half the game. They were basically 14-1, only losing 24-21 to an up-and-coming Dallas team that won its last five games. The three scores in their playoff games were 24-7, 41-10, and 37-24. I recommend revisiting that team. I strongly believe it was one of the best in league history. As for Dallas in 1992, I don’t know where to begin. They played in the big-boy conference and finished first in defense and second in offense. They were *twice* as talented as the Bills that year, who were overmatched by speed at almost every position. And it’s not like jimmy and wannstedt were any fancier than marv. They just rolled out talent onto the field, kept it simple and let talent win out.

Same with me. Born and bred in Buffalo, but have lived in Brooklyn for 22 years and 8 years in the Hollywood/Beverly-Fairfax area of LA before that. Different strokes for different folks. I will never leave NYC.

Since the Rams game, they have played TN, which is 5th in rushing, and KC, which is 9th. The Rams are 7th. The Pats are 4th.

I have been saying for over a week that this is a terrible matchup for the Bills. Buffalo might win - they are better - but matchup-wise this is a nightmare.