Chandemonium

Sure, there was some element of luck involved, but good players making good plays create a lot of luck for themselves by doing the right thing in the right place at the right time, which is what Dareus did on that play. To me the lucky part of the play isn't that Dareus deflected the ball with his head instead of his arm, it's that the deflection went to an area of the field that allowed Florence to easily intercept it and run untouched to the endzone. Even if it fell incomplete after the deflection, it still would have been a good play by Dareus.

Thanks NOSaint. It looks like I wasn't taking into account that more than 1 player could be credited for a tackle on a given play. I always assumed the Bills high tackle totals were because our defense was on the field more than other teams. It seems like this stat could easily be standardized by only crediting 1 tackle per play and crediting half tackles if the ball carrier is brought down by more than one person, like they do for sacks. I wonder why they don't do this?

This isn't the first time I've seen you make this claim and I have a couple questions about it, because quite frankly it seems ridiculous to me. 1) What is your source that we give out more tackles than any other team? 2) How is it even possible that we give out more tackles than any other team? If the play ends in bounds, someone had to tackle the guy. It seems to me every team in the league should credit one tackle per play ending in bounds. What am I missing here?

Nope. You're wrong. He's fighting a double team, and just as the ball is thrown he jumps and sticks his arm up. If that's not making a play on the ball, I don't know what is. I'm not sure what angle the video you have of it is from, but you can see this all very clearly in this video, particularly the replay angle from behind Brady that begins just before the 30 second mark: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d8228b2d9/WeeK-3-Can-t-Miss-Play-Florence-pick-six

I assume you're talking about the tipped ball INT against New England here, since I'm pretty sure that's only happened once this season. There was nothing random about that ball hitting Dareus, it hit him because he was making a play on the ball. If you re-watch that play you'll see him time Brady's throw and jump into the passing lane at the right moment to deflect the pass. Sure, maybe if he times it a little better he tips it with his hands instead of his head, but that INT was the result of Dareus making a concerted effort to make a play on the ball, not some random accident.

six more picks this week Bills win by thirty; fans moan Unsustainable

Well, we already lost to Cincy on the road. Pats and Chargers don't scare me for the reasons I already stated. SF's been playing really well, and Dallas has potential to be great but they've also been inconsistent. Playing at Arrowhead in primetime is going to be tough too, no matter how bad the Chiefs are. I'd say its a toss up at this point as to who has the harder remaining road schedule.

Cool video. You were a couple rows in front of where my uncles have season tickets. I was there for the Pats game.

And our toughest remaining road games based on current record are NE, who we've already beaten, and SD who has won a lot of close games against bad teams.

why so conservative Senator? the last few weeks you've been predicting 70+ points all the way up to triple digits. I hope the negative nancys around here aren't rubbing off on you.

It happens to the best of us. And anyway, as it turns out I wasn't accounting for barometric pressure, nor was I accounting for all of his kicks this year that would have been wide if a bald eagle didn't grab the ball out of midair and carry it through the posts at the last moment. But we can't count on that help forever!

I realize you're being sarcastic, but my inner geek can't let this go. If Lindell was actually kicking several field goals and extra points 4 yards off center, those would all be misses anyway. Goalpost width= 18 feet, 6 inches, or just over 6 yards. That means you have 3 yards on either side of the centerpoint of the goalposts where you make the kick. 4 yards off center would put the kick a yard wide.

There was one game a couple weeks back where I wished AJ Green was on the opposite sideline in a blue and white uniform, but I'd still rather have Dareus overall.

I don't think so. If I understand the rule correctly, the NFL prohibits owning a NFL team and a team in another league only if the city the other league team is in has an NFL team. This would make it possible for the owner of any of the Canadian NHL teams to also own the Bills. The owners of the Ducks and Blue Jackets may also be possible, although both of these teams have NFL teams close enough(Ducks would be the Chargers, Blue Jackets would be the Bengals and/or Browns)that the league might say that they are within that team's territory and disallow cross league ownership.Still, that's 7-9 NHL owners other than Pegula who could be allowed to purchase the Bills. Whether any of them can afford all or at least a controlling share of an NFL franchise, I am not sure.

I've noticed that he's been consistently making plays with his limited touches so far this season. He's even breaking tackles and playing physical. Yesterday on the play before the Nelson TD, he lowered his shoulder into Asomugha on the sideline and knocked him 5 yards out of bounds. I think he's at or getting to the point where he would be a #1 RB on most teams in the league. The fact that he's not there yet on this team is more a testament to Jackson than an indictment of Spiller.

Spiller has made plays consistently this season when he gets the ball. He's just in the unfortunate (for him, but good for the team and its fans) situation of being forced off the field by the great play of Jackson thus far.

If Stevie does secure the ball with both hands and gets his shoulders driven into the ground and breaks his collarbone, you'd probably be saying he should have protected himself in that situation because he's too valuable to lose over a 3 yard play.

Since when are warm and sunny and wind mutually exclusive?

I understand that, but do you disagree that it would have been even easier to make the same bad call if the ball actually came out or touched the ground at some point?

You're really grasping at straws here trying to find something to blame Stevie for on that play IMO. If he goes down with both hands on the ball instead of bracing himself for the contact with the ground, maybe he hits hard enough for the ball to actually come out, or worse, breaks a collarbone or something.

The main part of your post I was disagreeing with is not that the Bills have yet to face a top defense, but that they have yet to face a bad defense with a good pass rush. If fourth in sacks and 28th in yards and points allowed isn't the definition of a bad defense with a good pass rush, then I don't know what is. I will also say that as the season wears on, I expect the Raiders defensive rankings to climb. It's hard to look good as a defense when you've played a third of your games against an offense that is doing what the Bills have been doing so far. The same can actually be said for the Chiefs. I'm surprised their D is ranked as high as 23rd in yards allowed after getting totally steamrolled by the Bills and Lions before finally looking somewhat competent last week vs. the Chargers. As far as the success of the line being mostly Fitz, I agree that having a QB that gets the ball out quickly helps the line, but every offensive line in the league is going to look worse without the starting QB in there and Fitz has had time to stand in the pocket and complete some deep balls this year. You also have to look at what the running game is doing. Freddy is having a great season so far this year, and a big part of that is the run blocking. Guys are consistently getting to the second and even third level on run plays.You're right that there is a lot of football left to be played and we'll see how the season shakes out, but based on what we've seen so far I'm not sure who you could say has a better line right now.

I disagree. The Chiefs have Tamba Hali, who led the AFC in sacks last year. The Raiders have 10 sacks so far this year, but had none against the Bills. The Raiders have a defensive line that is regarded as one of the best in the league, and the fact that they didn't get a single sack against the Bills but are averaging 5 per game against other teams speaks volumes about how well our offensive line has played thus far.

Yeah, but is he a Dolphins fan?

I hope the Bills keep Fitz. Why would we give him back when he's been playing so well?

Hopefully it's a long-term deal, with a long-term lease for The Ralph to follow shortly.