Utah John

I've been hearing that Douglas won't play which makes sense due to the complexity of the Bills defensive schemes. But I don't see why Fournette and Joseph couldn't play, and they both seem tailor-made for a game like this.

One of my regrets about the Bills of that era is that neither Stevie Johnson nor Freddie Jackson got to make the playoffs with them. They were both good but not really quite good enough to propel them, but still they both played with heart and desire.

Comparisons between the Bears now and the Bills during the dark years, are a little unfounded. The Bears are spending too much money, while the Bills refused to spend anything. There was an accountant who worked for Ralph Wilson (can't remember his name, thankfully) who blocked the Bills from ever being competitive. The Bears are spending too much, at least it appears that way. I watched parts of Bears games and saw Tremaine Edmunds floating around the defense and joining in on tackles that he should have made himself. Brought back a lot of bad memories. I think Bernard is turning out to be a better player and much cheaper as well.

There are a couple of issues at play. Which teams the Bills play in a given year is predetermined, as far as the ranking of each team in their own division the previous year. There's no favoritism going on. Same thing for which team is at home and which is away for a given game. The NFL's goal was to eliminate the perception of unfairness. But, there's nothing in those procedures that says when teams will play each other. There have been years when the Bills started the season mostly against top-ranked opponents, making it hard to avoid a losing record at the halfway point. In other years the Bills play a softer schedule early with the hard games later -- like this year, except the Bills screwed the pooch by losing games they should have won easily. Agreed. If the Bills are truly SB contenders, they should do OK against the best teams in the league. Maybe not win them all, but win their share.

If he IS the pusher, I hope the QB is the other Allen.

The Vikings had that magic last year and started this year by losing all the close games it would have won last year. That was before the Jefferson and Cousins injuries. To some extent winning in the NFL or NHL is a probability system. Imagine throwing dice. The good teams win with most of the dice combinations, but there are almost always one or a few combinations where the other team wins. The goal of an organization is to have as many dice combinations as possible in their favor. Consistently winning in the NFL or NHL when the dice are against you is like winning at slot machines in Las Vegas. You might get lucky once but if you keep playing you'll lose. The "house" is the Eagles, and the "player" is the Panthers.

DK1 and DK2 are not the same guy. Knox is a muscular, tough player who has once or twice completely steamrolled a defender. Kincaid is a slimmer, streamlined guy who wins by quickness and smarts. It will be so good to get them both on the field game after game, year after year, once our offensive coordinator figures out how to use them at the same time.

I saw two highly flawed teams, neither of which could take advantage of the other's problems. It turned out to be an exciting finish but both sides could point to a dozen what-ifs that could have swung the game. Levis looks like a raw Josh Allen, great arm talent but no discipline when it comes to footwork, a big strong man who has yet to learn how to take advantage of his gifts. Paging Jordan Palmer. Pickett OTOH is just not very good.

I'd say there's just as much chance of Douglas blowing an occasional assignment as there was watching Elam doing exactly that. And Douglas's upside is much higher. I'm not sure Douglas really has his head on right yet. He seemed very sad to be leaving Green Bay, although he said the right things about helping his new team win. Fingers crossed he's ready. Milano is missed, every play of every game when the Bills are on defense. Can't be helped. Bernard is looking very active and smart, but he's a little undersized and the Bengals are very physical. So who knows. Maybe the addition of Joseph can help.

Well that's true, the Bills returned to the US in a very diminished state. But neither Milano's injury nor Jones' injury was due to the crap field. Milano got caught up in a big pile and his leg got broken from someone landing on it. Jones tore a pectoral muscle which had nothing to do with the turf. That said, the principle of the matter, that the NFL teams have to play on a crap artificial field when a grass field was right there, is correct. Players COULD have had crushing, career-ending injuries due to the cheapness of the NFL and the stadium. The bigger problem in that game was that schedule, that the Jags stayed over while the Bills showed up a couple of days before the game and were still pretty wobbly. The incredible offense of the previous three games just couldn't get going. Partly because, as later games have revealed, the Jags have a very good defense. Did you mean Dawson or Dalton?

I think the Bills didn't add a LB because Beane thinks we're set at that position for next year. His time horizon is always two years downstream. He's expecting Bernard and Milano to be the guys next year, and he didn't want to expend draft capital (which he covets) for a third starter-quality guy. If the Bills had beaten any two of the Jets/Jags/Pats (which they really should have done) perhaps Beane would have gone all-in for this year. But the gaping holes on the D line, LB, and defensive backfield are too great, and he's being honest with himself that this year isn't going to be THE year.

Geez, enough with the Barkley shots. He had an important role on the Bills and did it well. He helped Josh become Josh. He's not a great QB, of course not, but most backups aren't.

That's wrong on both counts. First, I was able to freeze the replay showing the ball in Jones's hand with the center having his foot on the 27 yard line, two yards past the LOS, and the center heading downfield. Second, the center interfered with Bernard getting to the play, and Bernard was the one who eventually pushed the receiver out of bounds.

I haven't gone back to check, but I don't remember that we'd lost half our defense to injuries when we played that game. Nor did that game follow two stinkers including another game we should never have lost. But yes I hope we turn it around and at least get into the playoffs this year.

Get ready for every Bills opponent to follow Belichick's lead, and attack the deficiency in the middle of the Bils D. It's arguable about which defensive player's injury has hurt the worst, but I keep coming back to Milano. I hope that guy gets back to playing the way he was early this year.

The one aspect where Davis has the edge is in size -- also strength. Davis is a good blocker for the run and downfield as well.

Sorry. Being trapped six inches underwater or 60 feet underwater, you're still drowning.

We'd have to throw in a first round pick to get them to take them.

The only two injuries on the Bills offense were Harris, on IR, and Josh's shoulder, which he's trying to play through and still passed quite well, maybe not up to his usual standards. The O line is not providing good pass protection or run support, and I think this is down to coaching and not injuries. Morse and the two guards are good players and aren''t injured as far as we know, but we're getting beat up the middle. Opposing DCs have figured something out and they'll all keep doing it until we can stop it.

You're right, when the ball left Jones' hand the center was not five yards downfield. The LOS was the 25, and Jones still had the ball when the center was crossing the 27. (I was able to freeze the play on my rewind at that point. The ball was clearly in Jones' hand, and the center had his foot on the 27 and was headed downfield.) So two yards is still a penalty, and the center interfered with Bernard as he tried to get to the sideline. You're also right that in order to pick up the flag, there should have been some explanation. But the overall point, that the Pats committed a penalty that affected the play, remains.

It all starts up front. Josh had few quiet, clean pockets and when he did get one he wasn't acting like he was sure it would be good. He didn't get deep into his progressions very often before needing to bail, and then the quick zone beating throws were no longer available. I love Kincaid as a receiver but as a blocker he's, putting it politely, a work in progress. With shaky O line play, particularly picking up blitzes, the Bills need to keep a RB or TE in to help. Their best RB (Cook) and their best TE (Kincaid) are not their best pass protectors at those positions. So Murray and/or Knox are on the field. (Did you notice that Cook disappeared in the fourth quarter? The Bills needed to pass and putting Cook out for routes would have been great, but the first priority is protecting the QB, so Murray was playing instead.) 1. Throw an accurate pass. Almost always, check. 2. Catch the freakin ball. Almost always, check. Very few drops yesterday. Even Knox caught passes. 3. Block the man in front of you. DING DING DING We have a winner

I had the same thought and was sad to realize that's how I felt by November most years during the drought. He DID block someone -- Bernard. Go back and watch the play (see previous post for the link). Bernard was in the middle of the field and eventually pushed the receiver out of bounds, but he had to get around a block from the center and then catch up. This is exactly why O linemen are not allowed downfield until the pass is thrown. The NFL won't allow the public to hear those conversations, but the NFL should have all their conversations taped so they can go back later and see what the refs were thinking.

It's not just that he was downfield so far before the pass was thrown. He actively interfered with the defense. Watch the replay and focus on 43 for the Bills (Bernard). Bernard was the man who eventually pushed the receiver out of bounds, way downfield. He couldn't get there earlier because he had to avoid a block from the center. It's astonishing that the refs would just pick up that flag. It goes both ways, too. There are often calls that need to be made that aren't. And it affects both teams. The Pats clearly covered the huge spread in the odds yesterday. More to the point, they won straight up too, so people who got great odds for picking the Pats straight up, cleaned up. It's looking like this league is rigged. I called out the Indy screwing in a post right after the Bills game finished. Not borderline, sorry. At least five yards downfield before the pass was thrown, and he interfered with Bernard who eventually pushed the receiver out of bounds.

Watching the Chiefs-Chargers game. The Chiefs O is doing what we got used to the Bills O doing. Play after play, clutch throws and runs.

A couple years ago, the Bills destroyed the Pats in a playoff game. Hyde made possibly the best defensive play I've ever seen. And today Hyde got his name mentioned ONCE for a good play. Poyer made a good play forcing a fumble but except for when he missed tackles he was mostly invisible. Back in the day no team would shred the Bills D so easily. I don't know if Rapp is a valid replacement for either, but the Bills really need to find two starting safeties going forward. Just the need to replace two safeties, however, is not a reason to tear the team down and start over. What I really think happened is that Jacksonville figured out now to stop the Bills O, the Giants did it too, and so Belichick had the blueprint. If Dorsey can't come up with new schemes, the O is going to struggle for the rest of the season.