Ennjay

Amen. Knee-jerk network procedure is to always put a divisional game in a market where the home team isn't available regardless of the quality of the game. I'm expecting next week we'll get Bills/NE here in North Jersey when the Jets are on their bye, so for once the system might work.

Good points. I hope you're right. I was really wondering if there's any league procedure that would bar re-signing a guy you cut who's on another team's PS. I wouldn't think so (there's obviously no rule against re-signing your own cuts), but the NFL has a lot of procedural red tape.

The worst uniforms were those white jerseys with the blue hockey band across the shoulders.

Just for fun, headlines from today's (Bergen) Record, North Jersey's local paper: Jets’ 0-2 season is spinning out of control Jets won’t say why they benched CB Trumaine Johnson Jamal Adams’ frustration is becoming a concern for Jets And lest we forget that other local football team: GIANTS BOTCH BENCHING AGAIN Manning deserved better than team’s years of indecision

If I were the Jets (and thank God I'm not), I'd sign Webb off the Bills' PS to my active roster as Falk's backup because as bad as he was in training camp he should know the offense and he has to be better than any other available option. I also wouldn't want to waste draft choices or much $ on getting a short-term second-stringer (so I'm not trading for Eli -- that's a joke). Is there any reason other than Gase or ego that the Jets couldn't do that?

What you're overlooking is that losing your MLB and a 16-point lead to a division rival IS essential Jetsness. It may feel different from the Butt Fumble but it's really all the same thing. This is what Jets karma is. I'd be tempted to have some sympathy for Greenie -- he's a fan feeling a fan's pain, and we've all been there -- but what stops me is the unrealistic and overblown expectations people had around here in North Jersey. They picked up Bell and Mosley, so hurray. But they had a poor offensive line (anybody think they lured a broken-down Kahlil out of retirement out of strength? Get real!), a so-so set of receivers (anybody think you can ride Crowder into the playoffs? Get real!), and a simply awful defensive backfield, and local media spouts what a contender they are and playing the Bills in the opener is like having a fifth preseason game. Yes I have an attitude.

The rule includes "and no player attempts to possess it" inbounds (that is, not in the end zone) even after it "comes to rest". That should never happen -- both teams should be scrambling for an inbounds ball -- but I can imagine a quick whistle being blown when a ref thinks nobody's attempting enough.

Thanks for this. And the restraining line is the line 10 yards from the ball that the receiving team has to stay behind before the ball is kicked, right?

Thanks. I assume the rule was changed in the last few years to reduce kickoff injuries.

I've noticed more than once in the first two weeks that kickoff returners will let a ball go into the end zone and take the touchback without covering the ball. At least it used to be the rule that that was a live ball and someone had to down it or the kicking team could recover. Did they change that rule and I just missed it? And as long as I'm asking: at one point Sunday CBS picked up Phillips (Jordan) standing next to Phillips (Harrison). Has everyone done away with first initials on jerseys? Is there any rule about this? Thanks for serious answers.

Not quite the same, but when I was in high school we thought everyone we worked with on a summer job was named or nicknamed Waddell because on your first day whoever was in charge would come up to you and say, "Waddell's your name."

So would a squib kickoff.

Nice job OP. Thanks for the effort you put into this. One unnecessary addition: I sort of agree with your sympathy for the Giants. You see such a contrast here in North Jersey to the clown show that the Jets always are; the Giants usually have a certain touch of class and even dignity. But my sense is that they made a mistake with Gettleman who in turn made a mistake with Shurmur, so nothing will get fixed too soon. Then again, the front offices in Dallas and Washington aren't much better so maybe they match up OK with any competition that isn't the Eagles. I also think that this Bills team collectively has its head in the game more than a lot of teams of recent years ever did. I give credit to McDermott for that.

No surprise except I would knee-jerk always expect Seattle to travel the most. Giants and Jets are the only teams with a zero for a road game since they play each other. Absolutely true -- barring injury.

The offense will be Barkley and Engram, which leads me back to what I want every week: some 7 or 8 minute drives and a two-score lead in the second half. That doesn't completely take Barkley out of the game but it makes him a receiver instead of a RB.

What I take from this is that current Bills players want to play on this team. That's not a small thing. We've had a lot of players like Stephon Gilmore and Sammie Watkins who for whatever reason (good or bad) were ready to move on. Plenty of posters here will criticize or defend them, and I don't feel like starting that rehash again. But you can't get around that for plenty of years -- under Meathead, Gailey, Jauron, Rex, etc. -- a player had to wonder WTF he did to deserve getting drafted or waiver-claimed to the Bills. I love hearing guys talking about what amounts to a commitment to be here.

Good post. I'll add: I know Bell is tough to bring down but I thought the tackling -- for everyone, not just Bell -- could use some work. I saw a lot of arms and reaches by guys who were in position to make a play but didn't finish. One of Gannon's few valid points was that with starters and second-stringers not getting much PT in preseason, they don't get the game reps to put them into rhythm. Maybe that's what I saw on tackling.

Years ago when the Bills were wearing Donahoe navy blue, a buddy owed me a payoff on a bet and gave me a Bills jersey with my name on it. I've worn it to watch games on TV over the years, usually with the Bills losing, but I tended to blame the Bills and not the jersey. Today I got fed up enough to change into a Bills T-shirt late in the second quarter. After the change Vedvik missed his FG, the Bills didn't have another turnover for the rest of the game, and JA, Brown and Singletary got hot. Obviously the jersey is cursed. Anybody have any ideas? Can a jersey curse be lifted? If not, do I burn it? (I don't know if burning would work since it's mostly polyester -- do I melt it?) Do I bury it? Boil it in garlic? Donate it to a third-world orphan?

As bad as Gannon was, it started when Harlan said the opening kickoff touchback would come out to the 20. How long's it been since they changed that rule? Harlan is OK, but maybe he should switch to decaf. Not every play deserves his OMG doomsday excitement voice. For example, I liked the four sacks but it's not the most incredible performance in the history of football -- "that's the FOURTH SACK TODAY by the BUFFALO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" My wife suggested today that instead of the regular network color guys they should hire a homer of the week for each team (yes, a three-person booth) so there are guys who know each team and can talk intelligently about who's playing. It's not the worst idea I've ever heard.

It's my fault for wearing an unlucky Bills shirt. I changed just before the Jets missed that FG so I'm optimistic the karma's been fixed.

I was just thinking how when I was a kid in the 60's, when football players got offseason jobs and didn't stay in condition all year round, the all-whites made a lot of Bills look like overstuffed pillows. And I was thinking, at least today for whatever reason everybody's trimmer and looks better. Then you post this picture with O linemen in front . . . Regardless, I like the current uniforms. Plus I think white helmets with white jerseys and blue pants looks pretty sharp.

The important thing to remember is that this is a set of scientific evaluations made by unassailable experts at the peaks of their analytical powers. Is everyone's sarcasm detector on and working?

I like the Webb pickup too. FWIW before Gettleman got to the Giants you always heard around here in North Jersey how much they liked Davis Webb. Gettleman has a reputation for insisting on his guys and his ways so don't hold that cut against him. Or the Jets cut -- there's only room for one young/developing QB there and it's Darnold.

Sounds like he was born to play in Dallas. Or Cincinnati.

I agree and this doesn't bother me at all the way it would if he stayed in the AFC East. Good luck to him.