Cash

I continue to love how much Mahomes is getting hit. He looked rushed on that 3rd down.

Raiders run game has looked pretty good today.

Terrible play by the CB there. I like that Mahomes is taking a lot of hits though. Maxxxxx came to play today!

He always wants to retreat from the LOS, even when he’s moving left or right. Cost them atom of yards on that sack. Even when he doesn’t get sacked, it makes it that much harder to complete a pass.

With KC getting the ball to start the 3rd, the Raiders really need a score here to stay in the game. I don’t have a ton of confidence in them.

They haven’t looked very good on O. Raiders are doing a solid job vs the run and Mahomes has missed on a few passes.

Yeah I thought it was a terrible play at first, but then end zone view showed his guy was beautifully open; just a terrible throw. Combined with the FG miss, this game is close to feeling over.

What first killed it for me was moving it from after to before the Super Bowl. It used to be a nice digestif after a long season - you get all the Hawaii shots, the announcers are wearing the aloha shirts, etc. But even I couldn’t pretend to care the week before the Super Bowl, in the same city. No SB participants, none of the players want to be there (as opposed to Hawaii, which made having to play in the game more palatable)… it’s just depressing. Then the players stopped trying whatsoever and that was that.

McDermott said in preseason that safety and MLB are the two hardest positions to learn in his scheme. Between that, the missed training camp, and the current starters holding down the fort, I don’t have any worries about Bishop - at least not yet. If he’s not able to win a starting job next year, that’s probably when I start worrying. I also wouldn’t be shocked to see Bishop look significantly better if he has to start again at this point in the year.

Cool beans. I’ve been watching football since the early 90s, and in my amateur opinion Henry is one of the best I’ve ever seen and worthy of the HOF. Not sure where I’d rank him among guys I’ve watched, but definitely not first - that’s Barry Sanders for me. Top of my head, I’d for sure put Marshall Faulk and Tomlinson over Henry as well. But if I specifically need a third or fourth and short? I think Henry becomes my #1 in that situation.

Not sure I disagree with any of this. But just want to point out that you need to pull out high-end hall of famers to find a comparison that’s better than Henry. That’s not quite the diss that you seem to think it is.

You lost me at Antowain Smith “outproduced” Henry. Not sure what league you’re referring to, but I know it’s not the NFL. Also, remember Brandon Jacobs? Very similar in size to Henry, and mediocre at best. Size isn’t everything. #thatswhatshesaid

I think we play NE in week 18

Wow that was some sorry run D. Now let’s get Herbert a garbage TD for fantasy purposes.

How many of those flags were bad calls? How many non-calls should’ve been called against KC’s opponents? Raw numbers without drill-down analysis are worthless for this discussion. For the record, I strongly deny any conspiracy talk, but also strongly believe in unconscious bias. It is my opinion that refs, being human, aren’t immune to unconscious bias and it tends to benefit teams like the current Chiefs and the Brady/Belichick Patriots. With that said, I only saw one call or non-call on Sunday that favored the Chiefs, and it was the egregious missed facemask right before halftime. Might’ve cost the Bills 4 points but there’s no way of knowing. Other than that, I thought it was a very well-officiated game.

What is your source for that last bit? Is it your usual source of, “take my word for it, I’m old and therefore everyone else is stupid”?

Thanks! Makes total sense. I've heard a lot of nicknames for pacifiers but hadn't heard that one before. Yeah, I think 99% of the time franchise QB decisions go to the owner of the team. What I'd be curious to know is how much flexibility Schoen et al actually had. Could there have been a scenario where they re-signed Jones, but to a smaller deal that gave the team more flexibility in case he continued being Daniel Jones? Did they have the freedom to let his agent negotiate with other teams and try to match? Stuff like that. Yeah, Dimes was certainly overpaid, but he's not even close to the top. Osweiler was another one as mentioned above, and JaMarcus Russell immediately came to mind as well.

That's a new one for me. Could you translate to American?

Wow, mid-season. Didn't see that coming. Agree, definitely a bad look for the team all around. I would include ownership in that mix.

To me, the replays made it look really close, but not definitive either way. I think it could’ve been overturned on review, but I think most likely the call on the field would’ve stood. Even in the moment, I wasn’t that bothered by the lack of a review. A little bothered but not a lot.

I DEEPLY hope we don’t have to give up another home game. In the history of the 17-game schedule, we have: -9 road games -8 home games, plus a “home” game against a Jaguars team that had spent the whole week in London and plays there every year -9 road games (this year) If I’m Pegula, I’m screaming at the league office that we need to actually benefit from the unbalanced schedule at some point.

Did he actually say that publicly? (Or anything to that effect.)

I agree (and said that in preseason), but keep in mind Hyde would need to be on board with this plan as well. I won't pretend to have an informed take on how much Hyde does or doesn't have left in the tank. I don't watch the all-22, I'm not a serious x's and o's guy, etc. But I will say that a lot of Hyde's value for us over the years has been in the plays that didn't get attempted. Joe B at The Athletic had an article a couple years ago about how it was basically impossible to complete a deep ball against our defense, and teams that year had basically stopped trying. He attributed most of that success to Hyde. It's kind of like an elite rim protector in basketball - you can look at blocks per game or opposing shooting % at the rim, but neither one accounts for the times when a guy could've drove to the rim but didn't (because he knew he'd get rejected). Agree with you on the young guys, especially with us being so far ahead in the division. There's obviously a balance - young guys improve by learning from their mistakes, but that means bad things happened while they were on the field - and I'd like to see us shift the balance a little bit towards player development, even if it costs us a game or two in the regular season. Realistically, the road to the Super Bowl is going to go through KC, Baltimore, or both, so I'm not particularly concerned about seeding.

You kinda-sorta answered your own question via the bolded. The case for Hyde coming back *and it being a good thing* goes something like this: Hyde is old, but (hopefully) not fully done physically. Theoretically, with a few extra months of rest, he can produce at a high level for just the stretch run and playoffs. And his football IQ, ability to read an offense pre-snap and get everyone lined up right, and ability to read & react post-snap are all super high, and only the last one is impacted by slowing down physically. If Hyde wants to come back, I'm all for it and will hope for the best. If he comes back and it turns out he should've just retired, I won't be shocked, but I think it's worth a go IF Hyde feels like he's still got it.

So if I’m right about Jefferson being the Smoot replacement, Phillips is the Carter replacement. Which is fine I guess. I don’t mind the vibes Phillips brings (most of the time), but his days of being a plus player are probably over. Side note: DL overcommit much? 1. Rousseau 2. Epenesa 3. Miller 4. Solomon 5. Toohill 6. Oliver 7. Jones 8. Johnson 9. That rookie we signed from Atlanta’s practice squad 10. Jefferson (eventually back to Smoot) 11. Phillips (eventually back to Carter) With Ankou and K. Johnathan also on the practice squad. I get that they like to rotate, but this is a lot. Seems to me like they need to either start getting something out of the guy whose name I don’t remember, or just cut him outright and use that roster spot for someone who can contribute. It’s bizarre to have him as a healthy scratch while also calling up and giving significant snaps to Ankou. Also, not saying I could do better, but are we ever going to find a backup 1-tech who can play?