Dr. K

Got any?

The Chargers are a stupid team.

I'm with you on this, Shaw66. Of course none of us know really what's going on in the locker room or in the minds and hearts of the players and coaches. Injuries or terrible luck can change the outcome of games and seasons. But I think there are enough committed and experienced men on this team for them to play with the kind of no-talk-just-play "assassin's mindset" you describe. My feeling about this is based on small evidence and nuances. I think they've heard enough talk over the last three years about them as a team and as individuals, and about other teams and players. In the course of those seasons at various times they've been overpraised or underrated. I think--I hope--that in their minds they are done with talking or listening to the talk. They know what it's going to take no matter what anybody says or thinks. We will of course see if we are deluded about this. It should be an interesting season.

My wife and I will be driving up from Raleigh to see the game.

I really like your board moniker. Clever.

Barring another series of injuries and major disruptions like last season, this team will be better than last year. But the schedule is considerably tougher. I figure it comes out to 11 wins in the regular season, and a stronger performance in the playoffs.

I agree that I'd like to see the picks in the first three rounds succeed more consistently. But the flip side of this is that it demonstrates that McDermott is not just blowing smoke when he says that who starts for the Bills depends on who plays the best, not on their draft position. Seems to me that this is the right policy, and that it has to have a good effect on the players' motivation, both the high picks (who can't just assume they will start) and the low ones (who know they have a chance if they outplay the high picks). We see that with that relative positions of Benford vs. Elam on the team. Sure, I'd like to see Elam play and play well, prove his value as a first round pick, but clearly on game day McDermott wants the best players on the field.

Maybe, while acknowledging that it was a poor draft pick, we might give them credit for cutting Basham loose if they have other players who can do what he does. A better move than to fall prey to the Sunk Cost fallacy.

Let’s all just kill ourselves and save ourselves the grief, right?

The Cooler

For pity's sake, take a deep breath and get out of the house.

Why are so many in love with Isabella for that matter? I’ve seen him make exactly ONE play in his two preseason games. He may be fast but he’s not that fast, and he has zero moves. He’s a terrible kickoff returner, too.

Positive outcomes: 1) Kyle Allen looked better. 2) Gabe Davis 3) Dalton Kincaid. 4) They can't commit that many penalties regularly, can they? 5) They've got a couple of weeks to work on things. 6) I got nothing else.

Lots of work to be done.

"He was a significant part of the Bills' early run game success. He moves people at the point of attack and while tougher tests will lie ahead in pass protection this was a really impressive first outing."

You’re kidding, right? Gunner wrote a whole evaluation of him.

Shavers dropped two of the five passes that were thrown to him. One, I’ll admit was the lousy Allen pass that got intercepted, but the other was right to him.

How do you judge these wide receivers when they are as erratic as Shavers and Shakir, making some great catches and then dropping easy ones? Tommy Doyle sure has bad luck. I hope his knee is not destroyed again.

Barkley > >> K. Allen

I'm an old guy, a fan of the Bills since the mid-1960s. I was here from the start, and even before on the Hyperbills site run by the Rochester Demagogue and Comical. When that folded, SDS saved our bacon by starting this venue for our madness. Thanks to all involved! Here's a photo from back in the 1990s.

It looks great.

I think if they stay healthy they win the Super Bowl. They may not win as many regular season games as last season, but I think the tough losses they've taken in the last two years will make them ready for whatever the post-season brings. Of course this is just a hunch. Nobody knows how things will really go, and a key injury or two, or a bad bounce of the ball or a terrible call, can derail a game or a season.

Good. More of this, please. I want everybody to be discounting the Bills. I'd like to see them get into the playoffs healthy and with a chip the size of Mt. Everest on their shoulders.

Does Hopkins really have that much left in the tank? I suppose we'll find out, but I'm against paying for a player's reputation when he's on the downward side of his career.

I can't help but like Mahomes even if I hate him on game days. As The Frankish Reich says, if he were on the Bills and Allen on the Chiefs, our opinions of them would reverse. The "Put the shoe on the other foot" test is always a good way of defusing your prejudice and judging the reality of a situation.