st pete gogolak

TB put out word same day on Evan’s: no structural damage. I don’t see why they can’t say the same thing about Beasley (assuming it’s true).

Baltimore is one strange team. They look utterly invincible and unstoppable until they don't. Then they look very beatable. I can't think of another team past or present that fits that description.

So if we beat the Dolphins, we get MIA or IND as well as securing #2 seed. If we lose we get BALT or CLEV, two of the best running teams in the league. Holy crap, why wouldn’t we try to win this game?

Is the "difficult to beat a team three times in one season" trope an actual thing or an urban legend? Anyone have any stats to illuminate?

If you feature Pete Gogolak in your avatar, yeah you say "pound the rock". Granted it's a passing team but it's a good opportunity to do some things differently.

What I'd like to see next Monday night: 1. Pound the rock with Singletary and Moss. Pats have given up staggering 436 yards on the ground last two games. 2. Give John Brown some work if he's healthy. 3. Give Diggs the night off if he's not 100%. 4. Give Daryl Williams the night off if he's not 100%. 5. Experiment with Milano, Edmunds and Klein all on the field at the same time (a 4-3; revolutionary!) and see how it performs against NE run game. We may be up against run-heavy teams (TENN, BALT, CLEV) in the playoffs and having an extra wrinkle to throw at them may come in handy. 6. Win to move closer to #2 seed. 7. Leave healthy.

Isn't it great in and of itself that they are comparing Allen to Mahomes? I keep thinking about the hypothetical - would KC trade Mahones to Bills for Allen and White (basically the draft choice trades)? I think it has come all the way from "no way" to "no, but let me think about it".

Very good post, as usual. I echo your comments regarding reaction after Allen pick in draft. I was really upset it was Allen instead of Rosen for two reasons. I was firmly in the camp that (1) most important attribute of top tier NFL QB is accuracy and (2) you can't teach accuracy. (Plus, I'm a UCLA grad so there was a little alumni bias.) I came around pretty quickly, however, thanks to a bunch of posters who posted Allen's college highlights which showed his potential and showed that his college stats were somewhat misleading. The Senior Bowl highlights were impressive. Unlike the national pundits who blindly followed the "he's just not accurate" narrative, anyone who actually watched his games in his rookie season and second season could see the potential. I won't lie and say that I expected this kind of season but I did expect a continued upswing from last season. He's arrived as an upper echelon QB and hopefully will be for the next 10 - 15 years. How great a feeling is that?

Don't forget the 1964 squad - 12 - 2, 13 - 2 if you include AFL Championship game win over San Diego!

Was Ted Washington on any of the drought teams? If not, how about Pat Williams? Either of those two plugging up the middle we are odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl.

D. Williams for sure.

Oh by the way NE eliminated.

Thanks! Really would like to see him competing for starting job next year.

Really liked what I saw of Dane Jackson this year. I'm not familiar with reserve rules this year. Is he seriously hurt and on IR? If not, can some other team pluck him from our reserve list? Thanks for the help.

Agreed. As good as Klein was, Bosa was a monster.

Certainly by the eyeball test the D looked worse this year than last year and it looked better the latter part of this season than the beginning few games. Then I took a look at the O rankings of the teams we've played so far this year. Not only have we played a bunch of teams with winning records, we've really run the gauntlet of teams with high-powered offenses. The current offensive rankings (YPG) of our opponents: #1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 17, 22, 30 and 32 (2). That's nuts. We've played a bunch of teams in the top 10 in rushing yards per game (e.g. NE - 17th in total yards but top 10 rushing yards). Bottom-line: last year's defense was good but had inflated stats given the quality of QB's we faced, this year's defense is better than its stats because we've faced high-end after high-end offense.

I'm kind of partial to the Cornell grad who introduced sidewinder style placekicking to the NFL. Just kidding! It's Steve Christie.

Even with a total collapse by the Bills, it's hard to envision the last game of the season not being for the AFC East crown. If the Bills go 2 -5 down the stretch, the Dolphins would have to go 6 - 2 for the game not to be for the title. Ain't going to happen. Split with Seahawks and Cardinals and we're in the driver's seat.

Is Ben Williams the most underrated Bill of all time? Really, really good player who went under the radar most of his career. Sad to hear the news.

I swore I wouldn’t watch it but ended up watching some of it. Agree we had some talent - McGee, Greer, Evans, Williams, Peters, Lynch. Not enough. The coaching, however. I’m sure the Bills has worse coaches than Jauron but there weren’t any I hated as much. Pathetic play-calling at the end of the half. Turned it off on Edwards interception. Coaching cost us the game right there. You have an eight point lead and you’re in the red zone. Three runs bring the clock below five minutes. Kick the field goal and go up 11 with less than 5 minutes left (or force Dallas to use time outs). Odds of winning the game at that point are probably 99 percent. Just stupid and brutal.

fanf***ingtastic!

How about most important punt return in Bills’ history. Hard to top Butch Byrd’s TD punt return in ‘65 AFL Championship Game, helped seal back to back championships. I think it was the first time I ever said a swear word out loud.

My personal favorite underrated draft choice is from the 1972 draft and no it’s not Walt Patulski. With the first pick of the 3rd round Bills picked Walt’s Norte Dame running mate Fred Swenson. But you say, “you can’t call a third round pick a monumental bust. It’s a crapshoot at that point.” Two things. Back then only 26 teams were in existence so the first pick in the third round would be closer to a low second round pick today. Second, SWENSON DIDN’T MAKE IT OUT OF TRAINING CAMP. Cut before the season started. That’s a bust.

He also missed a critical FG in the 1988 AFC Championship Game against Cincinnati. Not to pile on or anything.

I still blame him for f'ing up Peterman's career. If memory serves, Peterman had a couple of nice completions to open the San Diego game and then put a pass right in DiMarco's hands. It proceeded to bounce off his hands into a Charger's interception. It was all downhill (rapidly) after that.