San Jose Bills Fan

I guess they wanted to take that shot in the end zone. But yeah, Kendall Hunter broke Urlacher's tackle like it was nothing. It looks like the Niners have great RBs. They don't even dress Brandon Jacobs or LaMichael James. Two pretty talented guys.

Yeah the play action is working. And we coulda had him.

It seems like it's gonna be a defensive battle. Two great defenses, two not so great offenses both missing their starting QBs. It could be similar to last night's Ravens-Steelers game. Salters is wrong. Harbaugh was actually told to reduce his caffeine. A run first team utilizing play action. What a concept. We always talk about the Bills passing up Andy Dalton for Aaron Williams. FWIW, we also passed on Kaepernick.

I agree but (regardless of the reality of whether they actually become available) most Bills fans seem to be against guys like Rivers and Romo. They don't seem to want second-tier franchise QBs as far as I can tell.

Speaking of penny pinching, it could be that Kelsay and Spencer Johnson are next year's cap casualties. I would also expect that Thigpen will be gone.

The problem is that most Bills fans don't just want an upgrade at quarterback. They want the next great quarterback and nothing less.

My prediction: Kyle Moore will start the remainder of the season regardless of the return of Mark Anderson and Chris Kelsay.

I agree with this. I think the Lions are a talented roster. Former Bills DB Martin Mayhew has done a good job acquiring players as far as I can tell. I'm not sure he hired the right coach though. That part's still not clear to me.

You're painting a black/white paradigm. The Colts have their presumed franchise quarterback. That doesn't mean they are a team on the rise. Pessimism vs Realism vs Optimism vs Realism I agree that there's a lot of our usual manic, bipolar optimism. But what do the Colts have to be optimistic about? One player as far as I can tell. That's as much fool's gold as anything is.

Yeah. The culture around that team seems very tainted. I wonder if Schwartz will be able to fix it.

Says the Cheatriots*** fan whose message is: "Cheating is alright because it happens from time to time." Thanks for that.

Good questions. I think the popularity of the sport is definitely built upon its violence but I think we're similar because I've always said that I don't watch hockey for the fights, auto racing for the crashes, or football for the kill shots. I didn't like Warren Sapps hit on Chad Clifton, and I'm generally turned off, not turned on by excessive violence. At the same time I love games like last nights Steelers-Ravens game, the Niners-Seahawks game a few weeks ago, and am looking forward to tonight's Niners-Bears game. Why? Because I LOVE a hard-hitting, fiercely fought football game. In other words I can't imagine football ever being a non-tackling sport. On the other hand I get nothing from Jack Tatum shots to receivers, quarterbacks getting hammered after releasing the ball etc. I DO believe that the NFL can make the game safer while at the same time retaining the hard-hitting popularity of the sport. JMO.

More fairly substantial drama from the Lions facility. WR Titus Young sent home for the week. http://profootballta...r-bad-behavior/ “It’s your job to make the team happy, it’s not the team’s job to make you happy,” Schwartz said. Young had two penalties in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, a false start and an offensive pass interference. Additionally, a false start by Lions offensive lineman Gosder Cherilus apparently happened because quarterbackMatthew Stafford yelled something to Young about being lined up in the wrong place, and when Cherilus heard Stafford yell, Cherilus thought Stafford was signaling for the snap. Young caught only one of the six passes thrown to him on Sunday. This is the second time this year the Lions have sent Young home for bad behavior. During offseason workouts, Young was sent packing because he sucker punched teammate Louis Delmas."

Geez, AC. You've never been the same since that slow-speed chase.

Having watched NHL hockey evolve from a helmet-less league to today's game, I also used to believe that the evolution of protective equipment had unintended consequences on player behavior in the form of increased violence. However I used to always say that the cost of re-learning how to play the game (via removing protective equipment) would never happen because the "learning curve" would be too costly to the sports league in terms of deaths, injuries, lawsuits, etc. So you and I disagree there. Anyways NFL Commish Roger Goodell spoke at Harvard recently and made me re-evaluate my position on the effects of improved safety equipment (the point we agree on): "For those who are suggesting that removing helmets will make the game safer by making players less reckless, keep in mind this fact that Goodell shared in his speech: In 1904, 18 college football players died, primarily from skull fractures. While no helmet can prevent a concussion, helmets prevent fractured skulls." http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/16/ten-takeaways-from-goodells-harvard-speech/

He's keeping a candlelight vigil for Gronkowski's full recovery.

It's hard to point to one thing with Detroit. Certainly as was mentioned, they weren't gonna sneak up on anyone this year. I think the parade of crime blotter material this offseason was certainly a red flag. While San Francisco has managed to stay the course of success, Detroit has stumbled. It might have to do with coaching.

As I've said in this and other discussions, there's a whole sabermetrics community out there trying to perform statistical measures of athletic performance. That said (based on common sense), there are probably good metrics, bad metrics, and a bunch of them in between.

You wouldn't care that an expensive special occasion birthday dinner for your wife was played out in the context of a loud, rude, low-class family at an adjacent table? Or were you being sarcastic?

If you're suggesting the crying guy was the deceased, I know from reading the stories that the only Miami stuff the deceased was wearing was a Dolphins baseball cap. I responded when you brought this up earlier but you didn't address it. Again, you have to look at the fine print in the lease. If there is a lawsuit, there could be numerous co-defendants. The county is the landlord. The Bills are the tenant. The security firm is a subcontractor but who for? If the security firm is contracted by the Bills doesn't that suggest some liability on the part of the Bills?

It's natural to wonder if Stafford has the head for the game because it seems every time he plays, he makes stupid mental mistakes.

Growing a beard? JK, couldn't resist.

The Bills and Jets games kicked off at the same time though, didn't they?

Fair point.

I wish I could speak as boldly as you guys. Seriously, this will be another opportunity to re-visit the wisdom of our respective 3rd round WRs, TJ Graham (69th overall) and TY Hilton (92nd overall). There were quite a few people on our board who liked Hilton better than Graham.