Utah John

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You can't blame the Chiefs for being upset. They beat the Bills in the AFCCG through defensive holding on our receivers, and then they were shocked shocked they couldn't get away with it in the SB.

One reason the Chargers D looked so good is that the Chiefs O line has not come together yet. Here's hoping Frazier was watching that game and figuring out how to adapt the Charger's defensive approach to the Bills personnel.

Maybe he's trying to get ahead of the curve, anticipating that the Bills will exploit KC's weak defense and win 42-35 or something like that. If the Bills can pull that off, and I think they have a better than even chance to do so, they'll earn the #1 ranking.

It was just a couple of years ago that the Dolphins were the worst team in the league. Then Flores rah-rah'd them up and convinced them they could beat anyone, and they turned it around, not with better players but by playing better. They were the odd man out of the playoffs last year, with the same record as teams that made it. But their last game was a complete thrashing by the Bills, and that seems to have taken away most of their juju. Even with Tua to start their game with us this year, they weren't playing as well as they did last year. And when Tua went out so did the rest of the juju. They're now losing the close games that they would have won last year. This is what bad teams do and as a Bills fan I recognize the syndrome. It's like they got somewhat better, stuck their head up and saw what it takes to be a good team, and then laid back down in a wagon wheel rut so all the other teams could roll over them.

So far this year the defense has outplayed the offense, which would have been unthinkable the last couple of years when the offense exploded and the defense couldn't do as much. I'm waiting to see the Bills put the A+ games out there on both offense and defense in a game against a quality opponent. Next Sunday night would be a great time for that.

If it's true that the Bills ran up the score on the Texans because the Texans didn't hire Frazier as their new HC, then I'm a little torn. As much as I like Frazier and have good wishes for him, I am simply delighted that no team hired either him or Daboll away. The message the Bills are sending is, hey other team, you'd better come hire one of our coordinators away and make us less dangerous, or we're going to embarrass you in front of your fans. Whenever either or both of them IS hired away, I'll see them off with high regard and fond wishes for success. Assuming they stay out of the AFCE of course.

Poor guy. He's sitting there minding his own business and some young woman he doesn't know starts rubbing her butt in his general direction. And everyone jumps to the wrong conclusion. Happens to me all the time.

I think the Jags job is just a placeholder until he can get promoted to the SEC.

Spikes was a great LB in his day, but I don't think he was fast enough to play today. Every player except QBs, linemen, Ks and Ps have to be really fast. The day of the big powerful thumper at LB is pretty much over.

Watch Allen's drifting and I think you'll see he often is giving himself a better angle for the pass. On the rocket to Sanders deep in the left end zone, if Allen doesn't move a yard or two to the left, the DB has a better angle at defending the pass. By moving left, Allen improved his angle.

Beane's intention was to PS him. Obviously he preferred a chance to get on someone's 53.

I watched two evenly matched mediocre teams last night. I think the Bengals are good enough to ascend into the perpetual 7-9 (now 7-10) trap, good enough to give their fans delusions but not bad enough to get top draft picks. The Jags will not be far behind. Another year of bottom feeding and they too will ascend into that no-man's land. We know that place well, having lived there for so long. The Bengals only real hope is to try to improve gradually while the other teams in their division get old and slow, but both Cleveland and Baltimore are at least a year or two from falling off that cliff. Cincy in, say, 2023 or 2024 makes sense, if they can get some help on their O line.

I find that strangely NOT funny.

Lots of good young QBs right now, but it's still gonna be rough for the teams who haven't landed their guy yet. Some of those good young QBs are going to have to endure a few years of misery before winning. Zach Wilson for example will have to get beat up for four years with the Jets before getting to go to an NFL team.

Are you suggesting that Brady is going to be playing for 10 more years? Nice points. I'd be delighted if the Bengals get good enough to give the Browns and the Ravens a loss each. No telling who the Bills' competition for first seed will be, or whether we'll need help like that.

The Spike is in Promontory, Utah. I lived in Nebraska for 4 1/2 years and I loved it there. I've lived in 8 states and Omaha was the city that reminded me most of Buffalo. Really. But I also lived in Utah and I visited the national park where the spike is.

I'll go with Gabe Davis. He didn't get many targets or even snaps last week, and I figure that was done to let Josh and Sanders get on the same page. Davis needs to be getting reps too, and it might as well be against the Texans, before we have to face the Chiefs.

I thought maybe he was throwing to 88, who cut into the middle of the field instead of staying wide, where the pass went. But it's also possible he was throwing it to the underneath receiver, as you said.

Now, now, we really don't know how good a tackler Gilmore is. We never got a chance to see him actually try.

If it's any comfort to embarrassed Texans fans, I don't think the Bills will cover the spread. I think they could do so, easily, but why keep starters in just to run up the score? I think the Bills will be ahead 21-7 or so at halftime, with the lead growing in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter Trubisky and a parade of backups will be on the field getting some game experience and letting the starters stay ready for KC. When that happens, the Texans will come back, a little, and the score differential will shrink.

A guy like Shady was a top back for a few years, and was certainly a high-skill player for most of his career. His career stats MIGHT get him into the HOF but it's not a lock. I hope the voters take into account his exceptional abilities and performances. On the other hand, a guy like Frank Gore who stuck around forever, never being considered a top back in any year of his career, is probably getting in just based on longevity. Seems wrong to me.

There is a perfectly logical explanation for all the bad calls or non-calls. Whether we like to think about this or not, the refs could be doing this on purpose. -- First deep ball Allen threw to Diggs in the Miami game. The defender tackled Diggs before the ball arrived. No call. -- Last deep throw from Brady to a WR at the end of the Bucs-Cowboys game. The WR blatantly pushed off. No OPI. Pass caught, Bucs in FG range, FG made, Bucs win. There are at least 2-3 games a year where an egregious call or non-call is made with a ref RIGHT THERE WATCHING. Are they trying to shape the flow of the game? Are they trying to help a home team win? Or (God help the NFL) are they thinking about the point spread?

That throw to Diggs against the Broncos sort of proves my point. When Allen released the ball he was standing on his own 25 yard line. Diggs caught it at the other 15 yard line. 60 yards in the air. It was a very accurate throw but because it had an arc it also gave Diggs a little room to make adjustments, which made it look like the throw itself was the only reason for the accuracy. Diggs also had a lot to do with it. Anyway, 60 yards seems to be a good distance for Allen making deep throws.

Some of the greatest basketball centers couldn't shoot free throws well. None of their shot motions -- either a close-in pop or a set shot from 10 feet -- worked. Sometimes they tried backing up from the free throw line so they could take a shot that fit their bodies. Maybe Josh's problem is that he doesn't have optimal mechanics on what would be range-stretching deep throws for most QBs. When he throws a 40 yard pass, it's a laser, and that doesn't work for deep throws where he needs air under the ball so the receiver can track it and make adjustments. He has great touch on shorter passes but not on that range. Maybe he needs to let the receivers get farther downfield, and then unleash a 60-70 yard arc the receiver can run under. DBs won't believe they need to cover WRs that far.