Utah John

The three demoted officials are second-year umpire James Carter, third-year line judge Robin DeLorenzo, and first-year down judge Robert Richeson. I went through the box scores for all the Chiefs games in 2024. I found them on the ESPN site, and all the officials were listed except for the Week 9 game when the Chiefs beat the Buccaneers. With the exception of that game, I found that each of the three demoted officials worked one Chiefs game apiece. Robert Richeson worked the Week 2 game where the Chiefs beat the Bengals 26-25. Robin DeLorenzo worked the Week 12 game where the Chiefs beat the Panthers 30-27. James Carter worked the Week 13 game where the Chiefs beat the Raiders 19-17. The result of all this is that the demoted officials had only a limited opportunity to help the Chiefs. However all three of the games I mentioned were very close (total point differential:6). So who knows whether there's any correlation. nfl officials 2024.xlsx

Byrd got interceptions, but he wasn't even the best CB on the team then. That was Booker Edgerson, the shut-down corner of that era. But all-time? The best was Robert James.

They improved from being busts to being mediocre, and with 32 teams all needing a QB, that's enough to pull down that kind of money.

Possibly the Pats did this at Milton's request. He doesn't want to be a backup, and Maye is clearly a rising talent who would have kept Milton on the bench. But the Pats seem to have sold for a very low price. This looks like a steal for the Cowboys.

OK, fine, her parents are wealthy and can provide a private jet for her, that she really can't afford on her own. Just asking, wouldn't it be nice if Terry Pegula sold the jet and used the money to pay to the cap for the Sabres?

Now, Cook.

Gotta give some props to the chair, too. Maybe literally if you want to use the chair again.

I was at Rich for all the games in 1973, preseason and regular season. I was working as a pop vendor in the stands. Doubtful I'll get to any games this year since I live in Memphis now.

He's 31, and tore an ACL in the middle of last season. He will need to spend this entire season in rehab until maybe the last few games. Check out Von Miller's recovery to get a sense of how good Diggs will be this year. Next year, 32 years old, and probably not allowed to bring his walker out on the field. Diggs's big sin with the Bills was that he wanted the ball. All. The. Time. Allen was much more effective throwing to whichever of his (less talented than Diggs) receivers were open. But Diggs was very professional in how he prepared, and he took great care of his body. He'll have a good impact in the Pats' WR room and in the locker room, but on the field...?

By leaving money on the table, Allen could have a ripple effect around the league. Other GMs can look at their starting QBs and point out that Allen is the MVP and is willing to help the team win by forgoing some of the money he could have gotten, just to help his team win. (I think Brady did the same thing in NE, and he's doing just fine.) As other QBs look around, some of them might feel a little sheepish about demanding Watson-like dollars, and those teams' fan bases will look at that greedy QB as their team flames out, and ask whether a less-well-paid QB with a better roster around him might have been a better choice.

I think Allen is safer moving out of the pocket and passing, than he is either remaining in the pocket where someone could fall on his knees, or when he chooses to run. Even when he runs he usually can see what's coming and can protect himself, although there certainly are plays when he takes a shot or lands awkwardly. Brady's offense relied on quick passes to receivers who could get open quickly. And he always had a good O line. He was so smart he could diagnose where the defense was attacking and usually could identify which receiver would be open. And he became a great, accurate passer for long balls when he needed to and when the opportunity presented itself. The QB who's the true GOAT, IMHO, is Joe Montana, and he was certainly willing to get out of the pocket and move. At his time, he was one of the more effective QBs at scrambling, as it used to be called. When he got replaced in SF by a younger (and also quite good) Steve Young, Young was even more of a threat to run, possibly at that point the best running QB who was also very good at passing, in NFL history. So much comes down to the skills of the individual and how the coaches design the offense around that guy.

Benford didn't get targeted much because the Bills' other CB was always worse, with Douglas struggling at times and Elam a train wreck. Of course other teams looked the other way.

The Texans front office seems to make questionable moves. They gave up a huge haul to Miami to get Laremy Tunsil, who did play very well for years but wasn't the best LT in football. They gave up a second to the Bills for Stefon Diggs as a one-season rental when they really didn't need another great WR, and unfortunately Diggs got hurt so he didn't even play a full season. Now this enormous contract, way out of line with what other top CBs have been getting. The winners in all this are of course Stingley but also Stingley's agent, who twisted the Texans into paying this much. Stroud's rookie contract will run out before Stingley's new contract does, so there will be a period in there when the Texans are really up against the cap.

The Bills as it stands have 10 draft picks. It's unlikely there's going to be room for 10 rookies on the 53 plus practice squad. I'm thinking some of the lower picks get used to elevate one of the 2s or maybe even the 1.

It doesn't sound like Palmer is the burner the Bills need, to take the top off the defense. He actually sounds like a veteran version of Keon Coleman. Not sure this is what the Bills really needed. And $36M. Good Lord, this makes the Samuel signing last year look frugal.

Thuney is a lot better than Ford ever was, at least while he was with the Bills. Ford is a slow-footed road grader, and the Bills offense involves a lot of pulling linemen.

He had those great stats playing behind the Eagles' ferocious D line. It makes all the difference when the QB has the extra half second or so to find open receivers. The Bills' amazingly bad work on building a D line is what's kept them from the Super Bowl. Patching a hole in the defensive secondary with an expensive Band-Aid when we're still relying on losers like Epenesa and Oliver to get to the passer is not the solution.

Thanks. I missed that comment from the announcer, who by the way was Curt Gowdy. Gowdy was by far the leading play by play man in NFL games in the 60s and going into the 70s. Little known fact -- Gowdy was from Wyoming (as I found out when I went to grad school at the University of Wyoming -- before Josh was even born). There were so few celebrities from Wyoming back then that they named a state park after Gowdy.

Elbert Dubenion didn't get a mention. Was he injured? That was a great defense, particularly on the line, but really at all levels.

This is not the solution. The referees are still going to eyeball the place where the ball is spotted at the end of a play. So there will be a very precise measurement of a much less precise position. This would not have saved the Bills in any of the several egregious plays, where the Bills player clearly crossed the line to gain but had the ball spotted behind it.

More and more the past two years, I've seen ball carriers getting assists 10 yards downfield, when they're pretty much stopped and then some lineman comes barreling into the pile. I don't like that.

It's not like McDermott to call out a player publicly. If he's tried privately to convey that message to Coleman and it hasn't gotten through, then it's a particularly bad sign that he's resorted to a public comment like that.

Coleman was drafted to be a long-term WR2, never the WR1 we all thought (and think) we need. Drafting at the end of the first round, the options were limited. I think the Bills made a mistake by undervaluing Xavier Worthy, who turned out to be far better than many expected. So yeah, it was a mistake not to grab Worthy when they had the chance. But as for Coleman, maybe he does need to show more dedication to physical training, to tape study, to understanding the offense, and to better two-way communication with Josh. The fact remains that Worthy is a small guy and Coleman is not. You'd think it would be Worthy who was more likely to be injured, but a wrist is a vulnerable point for everyone. It could still turn out that Worthy gets broken in two by some throwback safety, and that Coleman becomes a productive and reliable weapon. Time will tell. All that said, it wasn't Coleman or any other receiver that kept the Bills out of the SB. It was the lack of depth and capability among the DBs. And THAT was due to Beane trying to play whackamole with all the gaps that appeared in his roster a year ago. He patched together what might have been an adequate secondary, but when a couple of starters went down, the weakness appeared.

Way too expensive, both in what it would cost to trade for him, and what his salary would be. ********************************************************************** Trading Stafford makes no sense from the Rams perspective. They were nearly in the SB last year, and will return a very good team even without Kupp. Nacua is the real deal. So they should be looking to win, now, not in a few years when someone new figures out how to play QB. Stafford is still a very good QB.

My brother and I had jobs as vendors when the stadium opened. It was our job to carry trays of beverages up and down the stairs, selling as we went. The first year I was 17 so I could only sell pop (boy it's good to call it that and not get sneered at), but the next couple of years I could sell beer since the drinking age was 18. I think I was there for every game the first three years the stadium was open. The comeback game against the Raiders, when Ahmad Rashad caught the winning TD, after OJ got hurt and wasn't available and after Braxton fumbled to give the Raiders the lead back -- probably the most amazing end of a game I was ever in the stands for. I also was in the stands behind the Minnesota bench in a late season game in the snow, when both OJ and Chuck Foreman were chasing the lead for rushing TDs. Someone behind me threw the snowball that hit one of the Vikings (Foreman, I think) in the eye. It was a great job for a college kid. I could make pretty good money and watch the Bills and OJ for free. I only gave up the job because I transferred from UB to Albany to pursue a major not offered in Buffalo. Probably not 1972. The stadium opened in 1973. I did get to see Namath play there, but his knees were shot by then and he couldn't do much.