Utah John

So the Steelers have 5 and there's all this talk about Tomlin earning coach of the year. Hmmm. Look at what McDermott has done, with hardly anyone the league considers a star. The Bills are tight, cohesive, disciplined (except for all those penalties...). They reflect their coach. The only competition for McDermott I can see are the coaches of SF and GB.

A few years ago we had a CB who couldn't tackle. Good cover guy, but never wrapped up. We let him walk in FA. Stephon Gilmore is doing OK now. Geez Louise, imagine having Gilmore still here and adding White on the other side. Whoo.

I moved away from WNY in 1976 but still consider it home, although I've lived overseas and in seven other states since then (military, government jobs). In all my travels I have met exactly ONE person who had been a Bills fan who switched loyalties to another team. He told me he became a Giants fan after the SB losses. I was shocked. There is something about being from WNY and/or being a Bills fan (almost redundant, there) that sticks. To suggest a Bills Mafia member would switch to the other side would be like a real Mafia member turning state's evidence. If I did that I think I'd have to go into witness protection. Fan since 1963, when my uncle, aunt, and cousins moved from Buffalo to Boston and the rivalry began. Well if my dog pees on the bush long enough, it will die. I know from experience.

After ROR's final season in Buffalo, he was interviewed at a point where he was sad and frustrated with the lack of progress on the team. He spoke from the heart, and it was interpreted by some as saying he was sick of Buffalo instead of what he meant, which was he was sick of losing. But after that he had to go, unfortunately. The Sabres with ROR today would be vastly better than the Sabres with whatever we got in return. He was a special player. As far as Eichel and ROR getting along, I never heard anything but it's possible, with two strong players both thinking they should be leading the team. The Sabres made co-captains work with Drury and Briere back when they were really good, and I don't see why it couldn't work again with the right players.

Although the Dolphins lost today, they're still playing hard, and they have a good defense. It is absolutely not impossible that Miami beats NE in week 17. The Bills have a slim but real chance to win the division. Plus, telling these guys to lose would probably get you beat up. They are close and tight and don't think anyone is really better than they are.

Manning held on for one last SB and he got it, but he was a shell of his former self. Younger fans compared the end of the road Manning to the Brady of that same year, and of course Brady was better -- THAT YEAR. Manning was an amazing QB, as a passer, a leader, a tough player. To me, there's never been a better QB. Brees second? Maaaaayyyybe. I think Montana was better than Brees. Hard to compare, different eras.

I can't imagine the Pats losing to the Bengals, but I can easily imagine Miami giving them a tough game and even winning. I give the Dolphins a lot of credit for this year, getting better and better after shedding their best players. That light in the rear view mirror is from Miami, certainly not from New Jersey. The Bills are going to have to continue improving in order to keep beating Miami. So I don't know -- if NE beats Cinci and loses to the Bills and Dolphins, and the Bills win out, the Pats and Bills will both be 11-5. Who wins the division, and who goes to #5? I don't have an answer to that.

Well, if we can't beat the Jets at home ...

The O line was overwhelmed. I think Cody Ford is really struggling at RT and the rest of the players are trying to compensate. There have to be some hot reads available for the times when other teams bring pressure. The hot read can't be Josh Allen evading three guys and throwing it away while running for his life.

You are all forgetting the rule. One game at a time. Everyone is assuming we'll beat the Steelers but come on. How many times has Pittsburgh been the undoing of the Bills? The worst time of course was 2004 when the Bledsoe Bills just had to beat the Steelers backups in a home game for the Bills to break the drought and get into the playoffs. And the Bills lost, 29-24. If something like that happens next weekend, (1) I'll be very surprised that this year's team let down like that, and (2) it will be a very bitter pill. Pittsburgh will have the edge on us for the playoffs, and we might have to beat both the Pats and Jets to get in.

It seems that every week Daboll introduces something new, which is also helping. It's going to take the best offensive game all year to stay close to the Ravens.

It will be a shame if it's not Romo doing color for the Bills game. He's my favorite announcer when the Cowboys aren't playing. I thought he was going to expire from despair on Thanksgiving.

Ravens 34-21. The Bills haven't been consistent for more than a couple of games at a time. The Ravens have figured everything out. The two wild cards are the weather, and Frazier. We definitely have a chance.

Absolutely. Edmunds is slowly improving as Mike but would be awesome as Sam. Shutdown coverage on TEs. Kuechly might be the best Mike in the NFL and he's not old. He is also a good fit for the process. If Carolina figures it's rebuild time and dumps Newton to move to the next guy, Kuechly might be available. Depends on whether Carolina sees itself as a good draft away from returning to contention, or if a full tear-down is needed.

He wasn't cut, he was traded. If they wanted to cut him they could have kept him the last year, and then just let him walk. Instead they got something for him.

As I recall the reason Watkins was traded was that he was going to become a UFA and the Bills weren't interested in a bidding war for him. So they traded him for whatever they could get before he left. When Watkins is healthy he can be a dominant force. It was only last year, when he was lighting it up, that I heard one commentator say he was the best WR in the NFL. I think that was an overstatement but there's still no doubt he can be a contributor. Now that Allen has it figured out (we hope), Watkins might be willing to come if for a reasonable one-year prove-it contract. There's no way he will need to go anywhere for the veteran minimum. He'll get at least $3M and probably more wherever he goes.

Some ups and downs are still to be expected. He's been playing great the last three games. I hope it continues, of course. Either way, this stretch has (I hope) convinced Beane he does actually have the QB he needs. No need to spend a high pick on another QB in case Allen doesn't work out, which at the beginning of the season was a possibility. Allen could just as easily have gone south as north -- we've seen that happen a lot. Not this time. So, getting FAs to Buffalo will get easier, WRs will be fighting each other to come catch his passes, and the draft can be used to continue the building process. Happy days.

At least Kyle Williams got to play in a playoff game. Not so for Fred Jackson. He had the satisfaction of beating out Marshawn Lynch, and the great respect and affection of Bills fans, but never got widely recognized (except the Chicago Bear he dismissed with a classic stiff-arm).

There's no downside to the Bills' win, but since this loss drops Dallas to 6-6, we still have beaten only one team (the Titans) that's currently over .500. I do NOT care. That stuff matters in college football where if the team you beat loses later on, you don't look as good. What's up with that, anyway. In the NFL, the Bills are 9-3 against professional players. Don't try to tell me Miami hasn't figured out how to be competitive using the players they have left. The Jets are showing up. Any given Sunday, all that, but the Bills aren't losing to the teams they're supposed to beat. Tough. Smart. Good combination.

A warning?? He would have gotten an ejection if he had hit Brady like that.

I think there's a morbid fascination about the Cowboys, wondering when Jerry Jones will open the trapdoor under Jason Garrett's feet. Jones said yesterday that Garrett's job is safe, a kiss of death if there ever was one. Also I would like to know how the ratings changed during the game. I wonder if the word got out that the Bills were putting the hurt on the Boys, and a lot of Cowboys haters piled in to watch.

I want to think the refs make mistakes, and we tend to notice those that go against us the most. But then I see Jerry Hughes trying to rush Prescott while a Dallas O linesman has his arm around Hughes, right out in the open. I see a phantom hands to the face penalty wiping out a good play for the Bills. I just don't see so many calls going in favor of the Bills.

What that play by Dallas, going for it on fourth and one at their own 19, showed me, was that Dallas was worried about us. If they think their defense can handle us, they play it the normal way, punt away, and expect to stop us. I agree with the people saying the turning point was the Oliver strip-sack. That guy seems to have figured things out.

The Bills have this year and a couple more to win, before Josh Allen's rookie contract expires. Dak Prescott is making $2M this year, and will jump up to $35M or more next year. There's no way the Cowboys keep all their talent together once the salary cap bites. The same thing will happen to the Bills. We're in great shape now, and I hope Beane has a plan to keep us on track even after all the young talent all wants to get paid. Milano, Oliver, Edmunds, White, Allen, Singletary, Ford -- all are on their rookie contracts and all will come due for $$$$$ at about the same time. Let's go Bills!

I'm glad they skipped the bickering Bills period and went straight on to the tight group.