hondo in seattle

Wins give you confidence. Enough wins get you a playoff spot with homefield advantage. So 'easy' wins are good wins. Consider the easier games preseason games if you like. You're still working on execution all season long. Regardless of the schedule, a team should be playing at a high level by the time it reaches the postseason - as long as it stays healthy. A few tough games on the schedule (and the Bills do have a few) may help prepare a team for what they'll face in the playoffs. But you don't need more than a few.

Oh, one more thought. Jim Brown and Cookie played against defenses designed to stop the run. Stout defenses with tough-as-nails linebackers like Dick Butkus and Sam Huff. Henry plays against defenses that typically play nickel or dime and are manned with agile LBers who are good in coverage and quick DEs who are better at pressuring QBs than smothering RBs. It's a different era. It's easier for runners these days, especially for power runners. Brown, Cookie, Earl Campbell, and some of the other old-time greats would run all over today's defenses.

A few random thoughts... About Henry being compared to Brown... Jim Brown was more elusive than maybe people remember or know. More fluid and elusive than Henry. About Henry being faster than Cookie... Probably so. But Cookie wasn't slow for a guy his size. I don't recall all the details but my favorite Cookie story goes something like this: It's early in a game against the Boston Patriots. Cookie runs around the right tackle to the Patriot side of the field, and finds a Patriot LB squaring off against him. Cookie was a violent runner and hard to arm-tackle. So the smart thing to do would be to break to the inside or outside and force the guy to try to tackle Cookie with his arms. Of course, that's not what Cookie does. Instead he heads straight into the guy, picks him up, and slams him down, knocking him unconscious. Then Cookie trips over his limp body, ending the play. The Patsies on the sideline are shocked at what they just witnessed a few feet in front of them. Normal running backs don't pick up and body slam defenders. But Cookie wasn't normal. Cookie defiantly eyes the Patriot sideline for a moment then angrily strides up to them, "Which one of you motherf*ck*rs is next!?!" No Patriot player speaks up. The Patsies wanted nothing to do with this maniac and the Bills went on to win against a disheartened Patriot squad.

You're called "sherpa" and you "carry" people? Up mountains? In Sao Paulo? I'm confused.

I decided a long time ago, if I see a celebrity I'm going to leave them alone. Unless it's a situation like the one Miyagi describes. I was once at a sports bar in the San Francisco area watching a Bills game. I accidentally stepped on the foot of a guy standing behind me as I got up to cheer a Bills touchdown. When I turned around to apologize, I saw a mountain of a man in a long black leather coat. I remembered the bartender had said they'd have some 49ers in the house since the team was on a bye. I guessed this was one of them, even though he was standing there by himself. So, after offering my apology, I chatted with him for awhile about some of the games going on. He never mentioned he was a player though I later learned he was, in fact, San Francisco's 2nd team TE (forgot his name). Who knows - maybe he wanted me to be awed and ask for his autograph. But I'll guess he appreciated being treated like a normal human being.

Last week I predicted Mahomes would make the biggest impact on the outcome - with four picks. I wasn't far wrong. This week, I'll go with Diggs against this secondary.

I think in America these days we're all too quick to judge someone a POS without taking the time to know the person.

I don't know the kid so I'll take him at his word when he apologizes:

I remember a drop but apparently it's been his only one. Singletary is the only Bill with 2 or more:

I don't drink. But after reading this list, I poured myself a big glass of bourbon.

I got a VPN, set my location to England, and still couldn't get Sunday Ticket. But then my daughter was able to renew her college-discounted Sunday Ticket account so I ditched the VPN and watch each game happily.

I confess... Last year I read/heard stories about how the Dolphins were the following the Bills blueprint and that Flores was South Florida's McDermott: a team-first, follow-the-process, culture builder. When the fins finished 10-6 last year - doubling their win total of the year before, I believed those stories. Silly me. Btw, as a reminder, the only time McD didn't get the Bills into the playoffs was 2018 when the we had the lowest active cap spending - and arguably the weakest roster - in the NFL. Just earning 6 wins that season was a solid bit of coaching.

I get who the sponsor is but it's still kind of weird: old Bills players driving through car washes with some young lady in the backseat.

I think they want to beat all their opponents and play more-or-less equally hard each game. I think that's one of the things that McD does well. He keeps the intensity high each week. The game may be a blow out (cross my fingers) but it won't be because the Bills hate the Titans more than the Chiefs and play harder.

Because pick plays are a matter of interpretation, the D just needs to assume they're legal and be prepared to defense them.

Nice write up. Is there a Reader's Digest version?

I personally live my life according to the "Wall Street Journal Test." I ask myself: If what I'm about to do gets exposed in the Wall Street Journal, will I be embarrassed? If the answer is yes, I don't do it. Obviously, I wouldn't want my bedroom activities to be reported by a media outlet. But other than that, I'm good with everything I do coming out in the open. There aren't any texts or emails I'd be afraid to have published. If you hack my life, I won't get fired. Not even close. I'm sure many, many other people can say the same. You're right. We live in an imperfect country with imperfect people and an imperfect justice system. None of that gives me any sympathy for Gruden.

So what do you want? Big Ben may have been a rapist but he was never even criminally charged, let alone convicted. Do you want the NFL to punish every player who gets accused of something? And the NFL did not discipline Gruden. He resigned. Maybe he was forced to resign by Mark Davis. I don't know. But his departure was inevitable. Gruden couldn't effectively lead his players with all this stuff coming out. Personally, I've lost all respect for Chuckie. He got what he deserved. I wish Big Ben and all the other a-holes in the NFL get what they deserve, too. But, sometimes, it just doesn't work out that way.

Gruden was cooked by his own unkind words. He lost credibility with his black and gay athletes with his remarks. Hell, after reading what he wrote, I wouldn't want to play for him and I'm white and straight. You might be right about how the emails got released, though. Hard to know.

Look, I respect all of America's good cops. Chauvin wasn't one of them. He killed a man, brought shame on the uniform, and deserves his time in jail. The big difference is Chauvin was caught on video. OJ's criminal act doesn't have any witnesses at all. One of the tenets of American justice is known as Blackstone's Ratio: "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" And that's why OJ's free. Because he just might have been innocent.

I spent time in high school locker rooms a few decades ago. Maybe you would have been right back then. But not any more. Not according to Aaron Rodgers: "I know that there's opinions similar to that, but I feel they're few and far between. The player and the coach of today is a more empathetic, advanced, progressive, loving, connected type of person." www.nfl.com/news/aaron-rodgers-no-place-in-the-game-for-opinions-jon-gruden-expressed-in-emails

I'm not so sure about that. OJ was my only hero growing up so I followed the trial obsessively. There were problems with what looked to be planted/tampered evidence and the forensics in general. The LA police - and Mark Fuhrman in particular - had credibility issues. Barry Scheck did a masterful job seeding doubt about the forensic evidence and Johnny Cochran brought race up at the right times and delivered the memorable line about the glove: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit." All in all, I felt OJ was guilty but wasn't sure I could vote to convict. The defense - especially, in my mind, Scheck - planted seeds of doubt. I've never read the book, OJ is Innocent and I Can Prove It, but many who have became convinced that Jason Simpson (OJ's troubled son) was the actual killer. No murder weapon, no witnesses, faulty forensics... the prosecution didn't have the strongest of cases.

I agree his name should come down, despite his amazing talent. I can't imagine what the family members of his victims feel when they see OJ honored like that. Then again, many readers of "OJ is Innocent and I Can Prove It" harbor doubts about OJ's actual guilt.

I went back and watched his college tape when we drafted him. I thought he was big, gangly, athletic - but not particularly strong. That worried me. I thought he'd need a year just to get tougher and more muscular. But I really thought the argument that he was getting clean up sacks was overblown. The kid was making plays in college, often using his length/wingspan to his advantage. So far with the Bills, though, he seems strong enough to handle himself against NFL competition. Maybe he spent a lot of time in the gym during his Covid off year. Whatever happened, for me, his effectiveness as a rookie has been a very pleasant surprise. Congrats Groot!

Gotta say, I like ELO more...