dave mcbride

I think it's more "Rams! Rams!" than "Defense! Defense!" The Rams-Cowboys game in LA was for all intents and purposes a Cowboys home game, and the ratings for the Pats-KC game blew away the Rams-NO game. If the Saints had been in the SB, the ratings would have been a lot higher. It's hilarious to me that the league thinks that a team in LA improves their ratings. It very clearly doesn't as of yet because people in LA largely don't care about the Rams - at least not enough to regularly watch them. Just wait until the Chargers make the SB - then you'll see the lowest ratings of all time!!

A close friend of mine who is at once a true-blue Buffalonian, a fanatical Pats fan since early childhood, and one of the smartest football fans I know said that given the Rams LB corps, the smartest bet of all was taking the over on James White catches (the line was 6.5). I haven't asked him yet whether he actually made that bet!

On that second one, Gilmore had excellent D (a very subtle arm bar that NEVER gets called), and Harmon delivered a big hit just after the ball arrived. That is not an easy catch at all, especially when you're using one hand. It was a good throw, but it was basically into double coverage with one of the coverage guys being their top corner. It was well defended.

There have been a ton of worse games. SF-Denver in 1989, Raiders-Eagles in 1980, Raiders-Skins in 1983, SF-Miami in 1984, Denver-Dallas in 1976, Bears-NE in 1986, Bills-Redskins in 1992, Bills-Cowboys in 1993 ... that’s just a start. I didn’t even list any Vikings games or even all of Denver’s blowout losses.

This thread: LOL.

Good game. That’s all it was.

No, a thousand times no. Are you an NFL fan?

Two things can be true at once. Williams absolutely mailed it in that season. His performance against the Redskins was one of the lowest-effort games I have ever seen by a name player. Don’t make excuses for him.

This. He never said he was great. That's a misrepresentation of what he was trying to convey.

The first reader comment is hilarious: "Somewhere in Boston, an intern is secretly creating a “Known Rapist” chyron for next season."

This 100 times. Christ, I am still not over “just give it to ‘em.” That call screwed up the Bills playoff seeding that season.

The OP said they would have had 15 seconds left. That’s not true, and that’s my point.

Care to quantify the difference in favro of the Pats that you’re positing? Because from my perch, this play was a 48 yard swing in crunch time in favor of KC (38 yard pass plus missing 10 yard penalty), and in terms of egrgiousness, it went unmatched in the rest of the game. It really doesn’t get more blatant than this.

The worst call of the Pats game by far was the non-offensive PI call on KC that let KC take the lead 28-24. It was such blatant offensive PI that the blocking KC receiver took out not one but TWO NE secondary guys, and made zero attempt to make it look like he was actually running a route. It led to a 38 yard pass play to Watkins that put KC at the 1 yard line, after which they punched it in. It was a far worse ref mistake than the PF call on the blow to the head. The NO non-call was legit terrible, but please regarding the NE/KC game. The Pats got no favors in that game when you measure it against what KC got themselves.

Actually, it's been a massive media event since the mid-70s (SB ad rates set records every year back then too), but most of the games sucked in that earlier era. It was rife with blowouts.

Good list. Honestly, the Baltimore/SF game was a freaking phenomenal game too.

Not true. When the Saints got a first down at the 13, the Rams had two TOs and there was 1:58 left on the clock. Assuming 2 seven-second plays, then running down the clock to the end, and the then the 4 seconds it takes to kick a FG, the Rams would have gotten the ball with roughly 1:00 left.

We’re not super rich and NYC is in my opinion the best place we have ever lived by far (including 8 years in LA and 2 in DC). Been here nearly 21 years too. Still love Buffalo, of course! Nexy time you’re in NY, get in touch!

I think the mid-second round is the sweet spot for RBs - not an overinvestment, but early enough to nab a truly talented player. McCoy, Bell, Mixon, Derrick Henry, Matt Forte, Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, Clinton Portis, Travis Henry ... lotta talent historically in that round.

No doubt. I'm not saying we should be investing firsts in RBs; just that the Bills have been historically terrible in later-round RB evaluation. Btw, did you see my addition above about Dwayne Wright and Ralph? Remember that? Incidentally, Shady's 2017 season was measurably better than anything Bell ever put up ...

You are not listening to me. The guys they drafted in later rounds weren't any good. To a man. Full stop. None. Nada. They didn't suffer because they were blocked by superior talent. They just sucked, mostly. That's my point. Everyone talks about how good talent at the RB position can be found in the later rounds. That hasn't been the case with the Bills, and we have 4 decades of evidence to prove it. The RB talent situation in Buffalo has historically been the opposite of the dime-a-dozen scenario that gets thrown about so frequently. Can that change? I hope so. But I'm not betting money on it given past history. Christ, remember when Ralph butted in during the draft and pushed for the drafting of Dwayne Wright in the fourth round the same year they drafted Lynch? He apparently saw some Fresno State clips and was smitten. Now that's some classic Buffalo Bills history!

Meh re Gillislee. I am thinking of a back that can actually produce beyond 500 yards rushing / 800 rushing-receiving. Fred is the only *good* RB they've had that they didn't draft in rounds 1 or 2. 5 years from now, we're going to remember Gilislee (out of the league now after completely flaming out in NE and serving as a very short term steroid-related replacement for Ingram in NO) as a guy who had a cup of coffee in the NFL and not much else. When you're highest AV is 4 ( https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GillMi00.htm ), you ain't headed to the history books. Yeah, you can point to to his ypa, but he was a crappy receiver, and after he fumbled once in NE early in the season, he wasn't good enough at the rest of the things RBs are supposed to do to merit playing time. His legend on TBD is inflated to say the least. He also led in one category (in one season on a limited snap count), not several. Anyway, I'm focused on guys who turned out to be good players, not rushing-once-for-500-yards guys. Guys who produce at what I regard as a legit level get at least 1250 yards from scrimmage via rushing and receiving. Fred (who wasn't drafted) is the only one who did it (3 times), and moreover was the only one came close except for Rob Riddick in 1986, who combined for just over 1000. I don't give a crap about the Joique Bells of the world. He wasn't drafted by the Bills and never played a friggin' down for them either. He was a classic case of a Lions RB -- not very good but a guy who accumulated some (modest) stats because he was the only person to hand the ball off to. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I get that, but my point is that the guys who backed them up weren't actually any good. It's not like they were the U circa 2000, with McGahee waiting in the wings behind Frank Gore. They also did spend a pretty fair amount of late round picks on RBs over the years. Again, though, none turned out to be good. The best were Riddick, Bryson (a third rounder), and Morris.

Belichick has actually drafted RBs twice in the first round for the Pats: Michel and Lawrence Maroney.

When it comes to the Bills, Bills history is sadly something that should kept at the front of one's mind--certainly as much as league-wide trends. Freddie didn't even start with the Bills -- he played 3 seasons of pro ball for the Sioux City Bandits and the Rhein Fire before coming to Buffalo. He was picked up from NFL Europe. He was never on anyone in the organization's radar screen on draft day. The teams that tried him out his draft year were the Packers, Bears, and Broncos.