JDG

Yeah the hand was empty - except for the ball that was in it! Sorry, but we watched the DVR of that several times, and the hand was not empty. There could be some debate as to whether Warner had control of the ball, but it was not an empty hand. By rule, the booth should have called for the play to be reviewed. JDG

I like Bob Matthews' proposal to make it four points. That would allow a safety and a field goal to win it (or even, if it ever happens, two safeties.) JDG

But why would you want to take special teams out of deciding overtime? Another really interesting proposal is to have both coaches put in bid for what yard line they would be willing to start at - the team that selects the furthest back yard line gets the ball, and you play sudden death, same as now. This proposal does have the flaw of taking kickoff returns out of overtime - but that's not so bad since there can only be one kickoff in overtime anyways. This proposal does leave the punting game in place to play a role in overtime. JDG

What's up with the 13 yard punt?

Merry Christmas to you too, Scrooge! :-)

O.k., so the recipe for success is to hit on a Left Tackle with the 1st overall pick in the Draft, and have one of the savviest Veteran QB's in the League come free and sign with your teams. I'd also note that Miami has used the ninth-overall pick on a WR (Ted Ginn) and the second-overall pick on an RB (Ronnie Brown.) They've also used two second-round picks on QB's in the last two years alone, in addition to signing Pennington. They also have former high first-rounder Ricky Williams on the roster due to bizarre circumstances as well. JDG

Well, 8 games against common opponents would only be 50% - and really that would only be 7 games (44%). After all, if you are the team that drew Detroit twice this year, you don't really have the same common opponents as the team that drew the Giants twice this year. The current system has 88% of the games truly be common opponents. I also think that in the eight team format, the rivalries might actually be diminished. In the four-team format, the other three teams in the division are truly standing between your team in the playoffs. You play them twice, which I think can't be underestimated, and you can't even so much as get a wild card spot unless you finish ahead of them. In some ways, NFL rivalries are even better than college rivalries, since college has this bizarre system where you actually root for your rivalries in non-Conference games in order to boost your strength of schedule credibility with the voters and in order to win those crazy "best Conference" debates. With your system the teams you are competing with for those slots seem more likely to change from year to year. Also the team you are competing with might be a team that you played in Week 1 or Week 2, without a second matchup looming in the second half of the schedule. So bottom line, I just don't know how much of a "rivalry" develops with Cleveland and Pittsburgh under this format. I do totally agree with you about the travesty of an 8-8 team making the playoffs (less so about a 9-7 team, though.) JDG

And with that being said, do you have any doubt whatsoever that Lynch is a much better RB than McGahee?

Too early yet. If you miss the 2 and Green Bay kicks a field goal on their next drive, you'll really miss not having that one point... JDG

I think his problem this year has primarily been one of consistency.... he's had the big whiffs, but you can also see the athletic ability that can make him so dominant....

Its an interesting proposal, but it is not without its drawbacks. On paper, the current system is elegant because each 4-team division plays a schedule that is 88% the same as that of the other teams in the division. The top against the same schedule is the best and moves on to the playoffs. Under your proposal, the home-and-home concept within the division is lost, which detracts from competitive balance. Also, the teams no longer play the same schedule - the different schedules are all over the map. I think the combination of these two factors would leave too much of the division championship in the luck of the draw of the schedule, rather than in head-to-head competition. JDG

Jason Peters is a two-time Pro Bowl Left Tackle who is just entering his prime. There is no way you trade him for just one pick. You would have to get two first rounders for him to ever consider such a thing. And you better really like Demetrius Bell if you pull the trigger on that trade... JDG

And also, from Greer's perspective, McKelvin's drafting made it make a little less sense for him to sign here. If he signs with us, he has to think that the future for him is as a nickle CB behind McKelvin and McGee - he may want to go someplace where he would have a better shot to start. JDG

Greer's injury may well help us out in that regard. We shall see, definitely should be one of the bigger stories of the offseason for us. Ordinarily, you want your second TE to be a power-blocking guy. I'm not yet sure if Fine fits that mold - he seems to have more potential as (eventually) developing into your starting TE than he does to be a long-term second TE. JDG

Half right. The NFL did want to move the Jets-Dolphins Division Title Tilt to the 4pm National Title slot, but they also dragged Ravens-Jags with it to ensure that the Jets have something to play for (Jets get the Wildcard with a win and Ravens loss.) So I guess we lucked out in not getting the Bills-Pats moved to 4pm. In fact, wee may get doubly-lucky in that Bills-Pats could have fairly wide distribution on TV as the only other CBS 1pm game involving playoff implications is Oakland at Tampa Bay, and the Patriots make an inherently more attractive game for TV ratings. If Ravens-Jags were still at 1pm, that would probably have been the CBS National game, and obviously Jets-Pats will be a National game at 4pm. So it looks like a Christmas gift for Bills fans from the NFL... So, if you aren't living in Oakland, Cincy, Indy, Nashville, KC, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh on Sunday, I think you're very likely to have the Bills on TV. JDG

You'd go into next year with Xavier Omon as your backup RB?????? Jackson is pure gold for this team. No team would give up a first-rounder for him, and all he does is make plays for us. JDG

I normally agree with you, and I would have not too much problem with a 9-7 division winner getting in over a third 11-5 non-division-winning team. Giving 8-8 teams not just a playoff berth, but a home playoff game is a joke, though. I would support a "qualifier rule" that requires a winning record for a playoff berth, and so any 8-8 team that would ordinarily have qualified for the playoffs is sent home in favor of the next-best available Wild Card team from within the Conference, or if necessary, from the other Conference. The selected team would be the #6 seed, regardless of any other factor... JDG

We just don't know which one..... Just imagine if the Bills were in the AFC West (or even the NFC West) this year - and had won the division. Would our opinion of the Team/Coaching/Front Office change? Well, I know the Bills like Demetrius Bell - but I don't know if they like him *that* much. At this point, having him be our third "swing" tackle next year would probably be the best we could hope for. And trading a two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle who is so young to have probably not even hit his prime? I think the Bills would have to get *two* first-round draft picks to even consider it, even with the holdout and all.... That would be the only fair value to even consider.... JDG

Well, I think there are some caveats there as well. The Falcons had been decent before going through the single-year implosion of the Michael Vick scandal as well as a rookie college coach (Bobby Petrino) who was not only in way over his head, but quit on the team to boot... Similarly, the Ravens had a ready-made defense in place with tons of veteran leadership on it, and were only a year removed from a 13-3 season. The only real example of a single-season turn-around of a cellar-dwelling franchise is the Miami Dolphins - and what can I say, Parcells is the best in the business at that. Although it is worth noting that Parcells won the lottery when an excellent vetern QB like Chad Pennington not only came available - but then stayed healthy the whole season for them. And, of course, they drew the same easy schedule this year that we drew. With that being said, I remain skeptical about how enduring the success of these three roookie head coaches will be. I think Ray Rhodes once won "Coach of the Year" after going 10-6 following Rich Kotitite's perennial ..500 teams in Philly, and proceeded to be a complete wash-out. George Seifert went to three NFC Championship game and then won a Super Bowl on the fourth try, only to finish his career with two .500 or so seasons and then a 15 game losing streak for a 1-15 Carolina Panthers team. JDG

This is damning by faint praise, I know - but where did this idea that Dick Jauron wins the meaningless games come from? Didn't we lose both of our meaningless games last year against the Giants and Eagles? And the year before that we lost our one meaningless game against the Ravens too....

But what history is that? The Mike Mularkey, Drew Bledsoe and JP Losman history? We've seen this team win several games in the fourth quarter this year and win big games against San Diego at home and Denver on the road. We saw them go out to Kansas City and positively clobber the Chiefs. O.k. I'm not going to completely ignore the failures of this team this year - but if this team hadn't failed this year, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The point is that *given* that we didn't make the playoffs this year, there's actually a lot more reason for optimism with this team than we've had in a long time. We have serious needs for some pass rushers and probably a new center - but this team does look like it could take a step forward next year. JDG

Well, by definition, 50% of the Head Coaches in the League are below-average. The proposition was made that Dick Jauron's pretty consistent record at the .500 level defines him as a "mediocre coach" - so it seems pretty reasonable to conclude that in the hiring of an unknown quantity,@50% would be better and @50% would be worse. Every team in the League hiring a Head Coach this offseason will be attempting to hire one of the above-average runs. I see no reason to believe a priori that we would be any more likely than any other to succeed in doing so, rather than hiring the next Gregg Williams or Mike Mularkey. JDG

Its easy to dismiss this game as a meaningless win, but I think that completely overlooks what a legitimate big win this really. Folks, we just won a game at Mile High in Denver! How many tough road games has this team won this decade? Sure, the Broncos are a flawed team, but this was a team that knew that it could either win on Sunday and secure a division title, essentially a bye next week, and a home playoff game in the Wildcard Round - or they could have to go to San Diego next week in a de facto winner-take-all road playoff game against a Chargers team that had rightly nearly beat them in their own house earlier this season. This was a huge game for the Broncos. Moreover, this was a Broncos team that was getting healthier on defense with the return of Champ Bailey at LB and getting healthier at Linebacker. Plus, Trent finally won a game in cold weather. And we won a game without Jason Peters, and without Marshawn Lynch for the second half. Finally, I think we shouldn't overlook the fact that our defense *twice* managed to keep Jay Cutler and the Broncos out of the end zone at the end of the game, with Denver's season on the line. Those were big-time stops - and again, how many of those kind of stops has our defense made in the past decade? O.k. the Bills are out of the playoffs - but this kind of game should give us all hope that this team and its young QB are headed in the right direction. JDG

Be careful what you wish for, though. Let's accept your premise for a moment, that Dick Jauron is an average NFL Coach. If the Bills fire him, barring something crazy like Bill Cowher deciding that he wants to coach in one of the smallest media markets in the NFL, the Bills will be hiring either a veteran coach with a similar (or worse) track record than Jauron or else another unproven commodity. Basically, if your premise of Dick Jauron as an average coach would be correct, that would be a 50% chance of getting a better coach, and a 50% chance of getting a worse coach. The next coach might be the next Mike Mularkey or Gregg Williams.... However, I would point out that W-L records can be pretty misleading if considered independent of talent. Bill Belichick had one winning season (11-5) in five years as a Head Coach at Cleveland. If not for David Patten's unconscious head rolling out of bounds against a 3-13 Bills team, Bill Belichick would have gone his first three years in New England without a playoff berth (let alone a Super Bowl win). Of course, Bill Belichick soon caught Tom Brady's lightning in a bottle (and cheated a little bit along the way), and became a reasonably likely Hall of Fame Coach. This is not to say that Dick Jauron is as good a coach as Belichick - but it is worth noting that having Tom Brady at QB goes a long ways towards making you look like a good Head Coach and having Jim Miller, Shane Matthews, Cade McNown, Chris Chandler, Kordell Stewart, JP Losman, and a rookie Trent Edwards as your QB's can go a long ways towards making you look like a bad coach. JDG

For example, I'm getting the sense that the Bills think that Demetrius Bell might be ready to play as soon as next season - the went through the extraordinary step of saving a 53-man roster spot for him all season because they were so afraid of losing him if he hit the practice squad... JDG