Utah John

Wake me up when anything Cowherd or any other sports pundit says, affects the Bills' play on the field.

So they used to let you make stuff but not anymore?

We see you.

But what's the effect on other players? Not good.

I just watched the GMFB discussion of whether the Bills are better or worse than last year. The conclusion was they're probably about the same, but they need to heal from within after the crushing emotional blows they had last year. So Diggs skips out. One of the team's leaders, and probably the most vocal leader. This is terrible. McD is right to be concerned. What are the other players supposed to think? That the Bills can just show up and go 12-7 or better and sweep to another AFCE championship? I sure hope that's not the thought. There's never a time for complacency.

Our Barkley is a lot cheaper. We couldn't afford theirs.

The comments are based in reality, that the Bills suffered an incredibly difficult season of woes and still finished 13-3. Presumably lightning won't strike twice, and they'll get through this season with fewer injuries/snowstorns/tragedies. Not mentioned was the departure of Leslie Frazier. Many people like to criticize Frazier for the Bills' D dropping off in the playoffs, but the truth is that the Bills have enjoyed an outstanding string of defensive seasons under Frazier as DC, at least in the regular season. I think McD and Frazier were on the same page, but that's not the same thing as saying McD can fulfill the DC duties as well as HC. It's not a matter of putting great players on the field and telling them to go play. There are detailed and sophisticated schemes involved in setting up attacks that the opposing O isn't ready for. Someone was coming up with those schemes for the Bills, and I think that someone was Frazier. If McD is too busy to do that this year, or just doesn't have Frazier's creative abilities, the D could suffer. The point is, it's not clear at all whether the D will sustain its level of excellence.

Put the football field on the infield of the racetrack during a race, and there'll be new meaning to running to the restroom.

Compared to today's announcers, the MNF crew (for this special Thursday night game) was pretty useless. Gifford did OK calling the plays, but Tarkenton and Cosell added nothing to the understanding of the game. I think they were all unprepared, probably coming off a Monday night game before this one. How many times did they mention Joe Cribbs not being there due to a holdout, or Shane Nelson being gone due to a knee injury? This was worse than listening to the Manning brothers kibbitz during a game these days. I had forgotten how much bigger Rich Stadium was in those days. And it was nearly sold out, pretty good for a weeknight game with school/work the next day.

I was surprised to see Ahmad Rashad playing for the Vikings. In my mind he'll always be a Bill, with that one great season, particularly the miracle victory over the Raiders. He missed the next season with an injury and then was gone. I'm not sure if the Bills traded him but he ended up going from Seattle to the Vikings.

First of all, watching Dalvin Cook highlights, you notice right away that the Minnesota O-line was a lot better than what the Bills had last year. D Cook would be working hard for short gains, like Singletary did last year, but the difference is that if D Cook gets a hole he can take more advantage of it than Motor could. Second, assuming the Bills O-line changes are upgrades, Cook would be a better option than any of the FA RBs the Bills picked up. But, dollars. I can't see how they Bills could swing a salary attractive for D Cook.

I think he already IS the next Dareus. Ship him out ASAP before the rookies get the idea that his lazy, unproductive performance is acceptable.

Marcel Dareus v.2 Talented DT taken high in the draft. Inconsistent performance, no better overall than the JAGs available off the street. And the attitude that he's deserving of a huge paycheck. Nah. Dareus got his money and still didn't come through. Not only that, but Dareus contributed to the team morale-killing laziness that defined the Bills for more than a decade. The Bills don't have Kyle Williams and Lorax anymore to take this guy out back and tell him the news. Who's the leader on D now? Milano is outstanding on the field but seems quiet by nature. Dr Poyer and Mr Hyde? I'm not sure Poyer's deeply committed after not getting the big paycheck he was expecting. Von Miller? Could be but until he gets on the field again, I'm not sure the youngsters are giving him his due. The Bills absolutely can't afford to let the cancer back into the building. If it takes an Oliverectomy to get the team back to having its head on straight, do what needs to be done.

As print newspaper ships slowly sink beneath the waves, the geniuses in charge decide to reduce weight by tossing all the buckets overboard. Wishing you all the best, Chuck.

Does anyone know why Miami didn't re-sign Shell?

Makes sense not to have all the driving to get places. Caution though -- I had an uncle and aunt who could never decide whether to live in the city or the suburbs (usually Orchard Park or Hamburg), and they kept moving back and forth every few years. They had a beautiful house wherever they were, but they always missed the place they weren't at. Actually it was my uncle who couldn't decide, and my uber-patient aunt who went along.

The NFL network re-aired the Bills-Ravens game from last year, yesterday. Josh ran several times, very effectively, and took a couple of tough hits. But the commentators also mentioned clearly how he was willing (last year) to take the checkdowns, to hit a short distance receiver for a good gain if the deep throw wasn't there. There were only a few plays with a designed run for Josh -- most of his best runs came from the defense leaving the middle of the field unguarded to cover the receivers spread across the field. Josh's runs in that situation bedevil the DCs around the league, forcing them not to guard any part of the Bills offense too heavily. When the Ravens left people in the middle, the Bills receivers were more open. THAT'S the main reason Josh's running is so important -- it forces the defense to make unappealing choices, leaving more openings elsewhere. Hines is right, and the coaches are also right. There are opportunities to improve how Josh is protected, but it's still part of the Bills offense to let him run if the defense begs him to do so.

So Josh, after you hand off, you go like this, and the defense all freezes.

No, that's not right. People get airline tickets months in advance to get good deals, and often those tickets are nonrefundable, or at least there's a large change fee involved. In fact there are probably people out there who already have plans and tickets in hand for the upcoming season. I think the league should have the crappy teams playing on TNF football, which hardly anyone watches anyway and which screws up teams' weekly routines. Teams should have to earn their way out of the TNF hell-hole by winning, to be rewarded with playing more games on Sunday or MNF.

I remember reading how when Jim Brown started his career, the Browns O line was not good. Brown would just put his head down and try to grind out whatever he could get. Then someone actually opened a hole for him, and he fell down forward because he wasn't expecting the lack of resistance. After that the line got better and so did he. Simpson came into the league just a couple of years after Brown retired, while running backs were still the key players on the team, and we used to argue about whether Simpson was as good as Brown, but I don't think he was. Simpson did break some of Brown's records, but as great as he was Simpson was still not as dangerous. Simpson was maybe a little faster and a lot more elusive. He was the same height as Brown (6' 2") but was about 15 pounds lighter. Brown ran with much more power -- the difference was a lot more pronounced than you'd think 15 extra pounds would do., The difference in public perception came from Brown's publicly not taking any crap from anyone, while Simpson was the pretty boy happy good feeling non-threatening black man that white people could feel safe about. Simpson was a little bit better as a actor -- OK, let's face it, he really was a little less bad -- but the biggest post-football difference is that Brown worked hard to improve the lot of black people through energetic community activism. Simpson, like most other former athletes, just walked away to enjoy life. All that said, I still think OJ is the best running back ever not named Jim Brown.

Well, yeah, but unfortunately he came back.

No worries, oldmanfan. I'm an old man and a fan, too, and the list of things I've forgotten is pretty long. I have it here somewhere but I can't remember where I put it.

It did happen. https://www.buffalobills.com/team/alumni/wall-of-fame

Well, you might have noticed the Bills logo was not one of the ones those people tried and failed to guess. That might have been so difficult for them it would have been unfair.

I'm trying to figure out who the quitter is, who people are referring to. Maybe Lou Saban? I think Saban definitely belongs on the WOF.