Utah John

Another obvious tell is that there's a room full of other diners, and no one is paying any attention to Josh.

Tackling, too. And falling down. And blocking. Any kind of contact, really.

A word of advice. NFLST is now working OK for me, but I went through some real struggles getting it set up during the preseason when ST showed some bonus games. Do everything you can ahead of time to shake out the bugs. And Tremaine Edmunds will be in position to watch them both. Russell Wilson's stats for the Dolphins game were actually good. Their O was just overshadowed by the incredible collapse of their D.

Speaking of delegation: McDermott has figured out how to be a good HC, and I think he's probably delegated some of THOSE duties to others so he could do a good job as DC as well as HC. It seems to be working. It could turn out that if the Bills lose a few more games they should have won (e.g., the Jets) the team will start to question the current arrangement, and McD might not be in a strong position to address the situation, not with his DC duties eating up time. But for now, I'm happy.

I think it's McDermott's work as DC. Gone is Frazier's passive D that relied on Edmunds' size and speed to limit the damage, and waiting for bad opposing offenses to screw up. McDermott is attacking, and other teams haven't figured out how to respond. McD was an excellent DC in Carolina, and I suspect he was frustrated during Frazier's tenure. And he finally took action, easing Frazier out in the nicest way possible.

The biggest problem with getting Daboll back is that he'll be trying to leave again. Some team will give him a second chance as HC, and by then Ken Dorsey will also be gone. I suspect the Bills looked at the Raiders and Commanders as easy wins, not worthy of showing everything the offense could do. This week, everything comes to the fore. Let's hope so, anyway.

All your points about the historic nature of the Jets SB III win are valid. In fact there's some evidence that that SB was handed to the Jets through officiating and intentionally poor play by the Colts, so the Jets could win and the balance between the leagues would seem better. That said, Namath's good years were only from around 1967-69. His knees were injured so badly, and the Jets roster grew so much weaker, that he was no longer as effective. The point being that he had only about three really good years. Most QBs in the HOF have much longer periods of success.

Amazing how the hype about the Jets evaporated with a single sack by Leonard Floyd. Rodgers is still a good QB but (even before the injury, of course) he's not elite. All the great players the Jets are said to have, except for Rodgers, are still there. If the team could collapse like this just from a single player's absence, it wasn't that great to begin with. I'm sure the Jets are ruing their decision to let Mike White go to the Dolphins. White would be starting now.

The 1999 team's defense WAS great. Bruce Smith was still playing (for the Bills), along with Ted Washington and Sam Cowart, and it was just dominant. I recall telling a co-worker before the playoff game between the Bills and the Titans that the winner was going to the Super Bowl because both teams had such good defenses. I was right, and I think I would also have been right if the Bills had just covered the final kickoff like professionals. The offense was generally good, too. We had Andre Reed AND Eric Moulds. We had Thurman Thomas, Antowain Smith, and Jonathan Linton (whom we've forgotten about but who was pretty good). The O line was good, with John Fina and Ruben Brown. Unfortunately, we didn't have a dominant QB, and Ralph Wilson forced Wade Phillips to play the wrong one. This led to a defensive struggle throughout the entire game, because the Titans also had excellent personnel. The Bills had a SB-quality team, and I think probably would have won the SB if they'd made it there. Agreed. But don't overlook the other side. The Bills offense has been running in second gear, which has been good enough to win two games. I'm assuming that Dorsey has a long list of plays he's held in reserve, that will let the O dominate the Dolphin's D. Check the Broncos stats. Russell Wilson had a good game, which was just overshadowed by the collapse of the Denver D. The Bills have a considerably better O than the Broncos do, with more weapons and a better O line. And a better QB of course.

Regarding playing 1 pm games in Florida cities, particularly Miami, in September: I think there's a case to be made to OSHA that those games should not be allowed. Seriously, putting the visiting team in the direct sun while the home team is in shade, is going to get a player killed eventually. It's one thing to have a home team enjoying a better locker room, but the field conditions should affect both teams equally. A cold day, a wind day, or a snowy day (or all three) in Buffalo affect both teams equally. To the point of this thread, it's great that Bills fans travel well, but the travel would make even more sense when it turns cold in Buffalo (November) while the rest of the country is still warmer.

Yeah. He clearly had given himself up and was not trying to advance the ball. That could have been a really bad turn of events if the Bills hadn't been able to push the ball out from the goal line. Could have been a safety, or could have resulted in a punt from the back of the end zone.

In the fourth quarter, the Bills broke the will of the Commanders. That's not supposed to happen with professionals, but you could see the entire Washington offense, particularly Howell, just shrinking in anticipation of the abuse they knew was coming immediately after each snap. After that, it was sharks in the bloody water. Fun for us to watch and a warning shot to the rest of the league's also-rans, but shocking to see the Commanders fold like that.

Too many attempts to run Cook up the middle. The Commander's D line is above average (not as good as advertised, though) yet Dorsey kept trying to get Cook through the middle. And the red zone futility is going to kill them against strong teams. I don't see Josh as the problem. I think it's Dorsey.

Moss wasn't a good fit for the Bills. And the Bills were a terrible place for Moss to spend his career. Our offense was completely wrong for him. Wrong O line personnel, wrong schemes, wrong focus. We didn't need a power back to gain three yards at a crack running between the tackles. We have Josh Allen to hit short throws, or scramble downfield, when we need three yards. We need the RB to be a quick, dangerous runner who forces defenses to spread out of respect for the edge. This year we're seeing Cook get around the corner and downfield for 20, on plays where Moss or Singletary get caught and lose 2. And we're seeing more openings across the middle because defenses have to be spread a little more. I got to be a big fan of Utah football when I lived in Salt Lake City, and I particularly admired Moss and was happy the Bills drafted him. I thought he played with the same intensity and drive that we saw from Freddie Jackson. I think that's the guy the Colts now have. Good for Moss to find a place where he fits, and good for the Bills to finally have the RB they needed to begin with.

Milano's interception against the Raiders was amazing. Certainly a highlight play. Except for the NFL which ignored it when putting together their highlight plays of Week 2. What's going on? Have they decided that someone else is the flavor du jour, and it's time for Milano to fade into the background? Maybe in this QB-centric league, the PR machine can focus on only one LB, and that's Micah Parsons (who really is exceptional, don't get me wrong) -- so Mr. Milano can take his flowers and go stand in the corner. I hate seeing that. Milano makes great plays every game, TFLs or sacks or great one-on-one open field tackles. He deserves great recognition. I'm just glad that the contract he signed will keep him on the Bills for years.

First Shell, now Kirksey. Who knows what's behind this. Could be both those guys were just tired of the physical punishment and the challenges of staying in shape. Could be they didn't want to back up someone, they wanted to play. Maybe it was their wives, who were tired of moving and were not looking forward to seeing just how interesting a Buffalo winter might be. I don't blame Beane for this unless he had inside info that we don't, that whispered that either or both were likely to retire. There does seem to be a dearth of OTs and MLBs for whatever reason.

Not one of those QBs or any other QBs played defense. I think we put too much emphasis on a QB's personal WL record. The Chargers have allowed 63 points in two games, the worst mark in the AFC. But they've scored 58, and only Miami with 60 has scored more (in the AFC). So now they're 0-2 and I think that indicates the problems are more with coaching and the defense than with the offense. You know, the side Herbert plays on. All that said, I'm not convinced at all that he's at the same level as Mahomes or Allen. He plays in the LA market so he'll have lots of people supporting him -- until maybe the day comes when he's got a lot of people wanting him gone. He's more of a game manager with a great arm, than a determined leader who finds ways to win.

I remember the Lee Jeans commercial where the waist button of a guy's jeans goes shooting off, ricocheting around the room. Back in 1992, the obesity epidemic that's afflicting America now hadn't kicked in. I think Lee Jeans was just ahead of its time.

I just wonder what your wife plans to do with that recording. Play it at parties? Maybe she's thinking ahead and knows she'll want to be able to guilt your kid about something in 13 years.

Trubisky started out very well but regressed, so this early comparison doesn't due Fields justice. But geez Fields looks bad, a lot. I was thinking Jim McMahon (85 Bears) must have had at least 30. Nope. He had 15! And 2392 yards with a QB rating of 82.6. They were a great team, maybe the best ever, but it wasn't from great QB play. Of course that was 38 years ago and the game has changed, so passing stats are hard to compare. But only 15 TDs. Wow.

I sure hope you're wrong. He was never even close to being the best QB during his playing years.

Edmunds and Frazier went together. Frazier built a D that counted on tall and long and fast Edmunds eating up space in the middle, and statistically it worked. It just didn't work in the playoffs. I've always suspected the reason Frazier left was that he knew the Bills wouldn't be able to keep Edmunds, which meant all his plans would go out the window, and he didn't want to start over. Edmunds is a rather unique player. He's good at things other players can't do, but he's pretty bad at things a lot of other players do well. On a strong Bills D, his strengths were more important than his weaknesses. On a lousy Bears D, with no one to compensate for his shortcomings, the honeymoon will be over soon, and the divorce lawyers will be lining up in the hallway.

1. Close your drapes. 2. Or clean it up. Global warming isn't going to make it too warm for snow, or make winters not cold anymore. But what climate change is going to do, is make a lot of places not have enough fresh water. And THAT is going to push a lot of people to the vicinity of the Great Lakes.

I'd say Spencer Brown had a better game against Maxx Crosby than Jones did against Watt. But then again Watt >> Crosby.

Well, who would want to take the chance that Jim Kelly would stand up and tell them to behave? Of course that's a great section to sit in.