BillsInBurgh

I've been lurking around the boards for a while, though I don't post much. Anyway, I'm opening a restaurant in Pittsburgh (Wexford area), and will be getting the NFL package, with at least 1 screen devoted to the Bills every Sunday. I'm also hoping to do beef on weck, and wings done the right way, and 40 beers on tap (though we may start with fewer -- like 24 or so -- until we figure out what sells well) So, please stop out if you want to get a little flavor of Buffalo in Pittsburgh. The restaurant is the old Poor Richard's Pub -- I've completely remodeled it, so it will be brand new inside.

Agreed, but it got me thinking -- how do the numbers all add up comparing division games to non-division games? Here's out it shakes out: 2002: Overall record of all division winners: 87-40-1 Record for games outside the division: 48-31-1 Record for intra-divisional games: 39-9 2003: Overall record of all division winners: 94-34 Record for games outside the division: 57-23 Record for intra-divisional games: 37-11 2004: Overall record of all division winners: 96-32 Record for games outside the division: 58-22 Record for intra-divisional games: 38-10 2005: Overall record of all division winners: 94-34 Record for games outside the division: 53-27 Record for intra-divisional games: 41-7 2006: Overall record of all division winners: 93-35 Record for games outside the division: 59-21 Record for intra-divisional games: 34-14 2007: Overall record of all division winners: 95-33 Record for games outside the division: 56-24 Record for intra-divisional games: 39-9 2008: Overall record of all division winners: 87-41 Record for games outside the division: 50-30 Record for intra-divisional games: 37-11 Leaving out the tie (because it makes my math a lot easier), that equates to the following totals: Overall record of all division winners: 646-249, .722 winning % Record for games outside the division: 381-178, .682 winning % Record for intra-divisional games: 265-71, .789 winning % So, for at least the last seven years, the division winner's records have been better (%-wise) within the division than outside of the division, by a significant margin. It's still just a correlation, not causal, but here's my guess as to the reasons for this: 1) Better coaching -- good teams generally have good coaches. Good coaches generally prepare well, and will be better prepared than an average coach for a second meeting between two teams. Since you play all divisional foes two times in the regular season, and no other teams twice, my guess is that the division-winning teams have a good record in the second games against the divisional opponents (anyone want to take on tackling that research?). At the very least, the coaches' familiarity with divisional foes from previous years probably impacts this.; 2) Strength of schedule. Though worst to first has happened a little bit, it's not all that common. Thus, a division winner is likely to have been a good team the year before. Because good teams from the year before are slated to face the other good teams from the year before (in the two strength of schedule determined games on every team's schedule), it is likely that strength of schedule for these teams may impact the out of division records. Even though this only effects 2 games per team per year, that would be a total of 112 games in this exercise (2 SoS games per year X 8 division winners per year X 7 years of records). My guess is that the division winner's records in these games is lower than their overall record (again, anyone up for that research?). Admittedly, there's nothing really useful here -- just thought the numbers ended up coming out interesting. My guesses above are pure speculation, but I can't think of any other reasons for the difference.

Best I've been: 1) Michigan Stadium -- nothing like it anywhere, at any level, in any sport. 2) Rose Bowl -- the backdrop is ridiculous (and I saw UM win nation title there, so I'm biased) 3) RWS 4) PNC Park -- horrible on-field product, great ballpark 5) Old Tiger Stadium Top to-do's: 1) Yost Ice Arena (UM Hockey -- crazy, crazy place I never got to when I was there) 2) The Horseshoe, specifically for a UM-OSU game 3) University of Phoenix stadium 4) Any large bull-fighting stadium (Mexico City?) 5) Neyland (U of Tennessee) Stadium bonus site -- Wherever it is that they're selling the hamburgers served on krispy kreme donuts, for the sheer 'instant artery clog' factor

Me too. I'm not sure I believe my own prediction, but until they're wrong, I'm holding out hope.

That sets up a post for another topic (a prediction we'll be 9-7, losing the season finale to Baltimore to miss the playoffs, and beating Indy on the way), but here's my Losman projected stats, for what their worth (which is exactly $0.00): 3450 passing yards 21 TDs 13 INTs 58.5% completion 475 rushing yards 5 rushing TDs 42 sacks, 5 fumbles

Sorry if this has been hit on before, but if Houston wants Moulds, is there any chance of swapping our #8 for their #4, throwing in Moulds and our first third-round pick (and picking up Brick)? By the draft chart, 4 overall is 1800 points and 8 is 1400, so we'd need to make up 400 points. If we give our first third round pick (72 overall), that's 230 points, leaving 170 points as the 'value' of Moulds -- a late third-rounder (20th pick, 84th overall). The overall value numbers seem to work, but any thoughts on it being possible?

But Soprano says Moulds will be back... Guess this is as good a topis as any for a new member to jump in on. Anyway, I like the idea, and have since the Davis talk started -- a 2 WR, 2 TE, single-back set, with the TEs being very versitile. The 2 TEs don't have to be tight to the formation -- could be used in the slot, H-back, split out, etc. Anyone with Davis's speed isn't limited to lining up tight, but from all accounts, Davis easily could line up tight and be a good blocker at the same time (I thought I saw somewhere that he blew guys off the ball -- the guy would probably be one of our top 2 OL if we lined him up there). Everett seems to me to be more of a Winslow-type -- great receiving TE with speed, but not all that impressive on the blocking front (maybe Winslow is a great blocker, but I hate that guy). My point is, this 2 TE offense would not be what people would typically think of as a 2 TE set, and would give defenses matchup problems. A few years ago, only one or two teams were using 3-4 defenses -- and it used to screw up offensive coordinators trying to gameplan because it was different. Why can't an offense do that to defense coordinators? Of course, this all presumes we re-sign Anderson as the cornerstone of a dominant OL.