hondo in seattle

OJ's ranking is skewing because he's a murderous scumbag. When I watched him, I felt like I was watching the greatest football player of all time. His talent was otherworldly. I supposed Jim Brown fans felt the same way. Most folks call Brady the GOAT and he is masterful. But how much more masterful is he than some of the other QBs of his generation: Brees, Rodgers, Mahomes...? What sets Brady apart is the rings. Still, he's not enough better than his peers for me to call him the greatest ever.

I want a Filipino Jeep(ney)

So you really believe it's only the players on the field that determine the outcome of a game. Ha! How very faux-rational, non-holistic and narrow-minded! On September 12th, put on your best Bills underwear, pop open a Genesee, eat some wings with blue cheese, stick pins into a Roethlisberger-shaped donut that you've stuffed with garlic, and enjoy a Buffalo victory. It's simple cause-and-effect.

I used to have a variety of superstitions... the whole family must wear Bills gear... we must eat Buffalo wings during the game... and so on. But none of these have proven fool-proof. For a while, my wife and I noticed that if we got... um, "friendly" the night before a Bills game, the Bills would win. In fact, friendliness preceded Bills victories seven consecutive times. Then, I don't know, maybe we weren't friendly in the right kind of way because one Saturday night of friendliness was followed by a tough Bills defeat.

I don't particularly disagree. In fact, I think this is a pretty good Top Five list. I just want to point out that I currently live in KC and don't find the fans here to be as rabid as Bills fans. They don't wear their colors as much. They don't decorate their cars with team paraphernalia as much. They don't jump through flaming tables for their team. And so on.

As I remember, Schobel was a rare light of goodness during the Bills Dark Ages. Him, Moulds, Freddy, and Kyle are probably the guys I remember and appreciate best from that dismal era. Schobel's departure wasn't as pretty as it could have been. He was tired of losing. And, as I recall, Gailey said he was switching to a 3-4: no QB-loving DE's favorite alignment. I think Schobel may have said something about maybe wanting to play somewhere else. But, in the end, Schobel retired a Bill after 9 good seasons. I just looked it up: he's 81st on the official NFL sack list. Sacks were only counted since 1982 (39 years ago). So, on average, there's roughly only 2 sack artists coming into the league each year better than Aaron. That's not HOF worthy but still pretty dang good. In fact, it ranks ahead of Bryce Paup, Cornelius Bennett, Mark Gastineau, Jevon Kearse, Ray Childress, Geno Atkins, Chris Long, Clay Matthews, and a bunch other bigger names.

I'm not a NFL fan, just a Bills one. I'll watch every Bills game and maybe 3 or 4 other games during the season.

"The Buffalo Bills’ proposed new $1.4 billion stadium..." I'm guessing this is just the initial proposal. Which will be met by counterproposal. At this point, who knows what the Bills actually want?

Yep. Back in 1991, for example, the Bills led the NFL in attendance by a wide margin with an average home game showing of roughly 78,000. Buffalo has the demand for a bigger stadium. If you build it, they will come.

"Just One Before I Die." That's what it reads on my favorite autumn sweatshirt. The odds don't seem fantastically bad. Each year the Bills have one chance in thirty-two of winning the Super Bowl. I'm 62 now but my family is long lived, so I should - cross my fingers - be around for while. As I do the math, it seems probable that I'll someday have an opportunity to witness Bills players hoist the Lombardi. Then again, probability is just speculation with numbers. With 55 Super Bowls already in the book, probability says the Bills should have won one by now. Probability says the Bills should have finished victorious in at least one of those four Kelly-era Super Bowls. So screw probability, I need an actuality. Just one.

Marino was the first to reach that milestone back in 1984. No one did it again until Brees in 2008. Since then Brees did it four more times. In recent years, Manning, Brady, Roethlisberger, Winston, Mahomes, and Stafford have also joined the 5000 yard club. With the 17 game season, and passing attacks continuing to get more potent, the club won't be so exclusive anymore. But, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Allen burst through the club door.

When I think of coaches who changed the game, certain names come to mind... Don Coryell ("Air Coryell"), Bills Walsh ("West Coast offense"), Tony Dungy ("Tampa 2 Defense")... McDermott isn't in that category. But neither was Vince Lombardi who focused on effort and execution rather than innovation. I'm okay with McD just being a 'good leader.' (And, btw, I think Coryell should be in the Hall of Fame).

This is a very good argument. But there's a greedy side to me that says we should be able to stop anything the offense tries to do. We should render them helpless and break their spirits.

It's funny but some people still look at rosters the way they did 20 years ago. For example, the 2020 AP defensive All Pro first string looks like a standard 4-3 lineup with only 2 CBs. The Pro Football Writers of America put 2 RBs on their first team All Pro offense but only 2 WRs. Nowadays you often have 3 or 4 starting WRs, 3 starting CBs, 2 starting LBs, and of course 0 starting Fullbacks. The standard number of WRs on a NFL roster is 6. Given the talent we have, and the number of WRs we use, I also expect the Bills to carry 7.

That may have been true once upon a time. But sadly, if I had to pick my favorite wing spot, it probably wouldn't be one in Buffalo. When it comes to wings, most of America has caught up to Buffalo. Oddly, though, I still think the average pizza in Buffalo is better than the average pizza in just about any other U.S. city.

It's only an August game. It'd be so much more fun to meet in February.

Roussea... I watched some of his college game tape. I was impressed by how athletic he was and and how he used his length to his advantage. But I also thought he looked both raw and weak. Especially after taking 2020 off, I didn't think he'd be remotely ready for the NFL. I'm reconsidering that opinion.

Back in May I was in Bellingham, Washington, for my daughter's college graduation. One day, we stopped at a Thai restaurant and had wings as an appetizer. They were phenomenal. The next day, we ate at a Brazilian restaurant and ordered wings again. The wings themselves weren't special but the various dipping sauces they provided were great. A couple days later, we flew to Buffalo for a family event. Whenever I'm in Buffalo, I try to eat at least two of these foods: wings, beef-on-weck, and pizza. On this trip we went to Bar Bill for wings. Both my wife and I rated the wings at Bar Bill a distant third of the three restaurants that served us wings that week. Next time I'm in Buffalo, I plan to try Wingnutz. But right now Duff's gets my vote.

The 90s team was more solid all around. On O, they could run or pass. On D, the roster was more inconsistent but a few elite players elevated the unit. Last year's team was really good at one thing: throwing the ball. Looking at our stats, we didn't excel in any other area. But I do agree that this team has more 1-53 depth. Beane's done a great job there. And I'm hopeful that the running game, run D, and pass D all improve this season. Cross my fingers, we'll field a more complete team this year than last. If so, yeah it's a team that compete with the glory years.

Zima: small town on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, inspiration for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which was co-founded by keyboardist Robert Kinkel, a born-and-raised Buffalonian and possible Bills fan.

Agreed. The Bills got into the playoffs 2 of those 3 times primarily on the strength of the defense, once on the strength of Daboll's offense. Would love to see both the D and O play playoff caliber football this year.

It's interesting that Daboll now has so many supporters. I clearly remember when McD first hired Dabs, lots of folks were pissed. Daboll had failed as an OC in Cleveland, Miami, and KC. Many wailed, "Why are we bringing in this retread? We can do better!" If nothing else, McD deserves credit for seeing the talent in Daboll that wasn't obvious in his spotty resume. But I do think there is something else at play. Here, Beane's given Daboll a franchise QB and some great wideouts to work with. And McD has created a culture and implemented a 'process' that optimizes the performance of both his coaches and players. Daboll didn't create this high-flying offense on his own. Just like it takes teamwork on the field to win, it takes a team off the field to build a championship franchise.

So the Bills had 4 players in the Top 100. Average would be 3.

McD took over a crap team with a crap culture and built into one of the best clubs in the AFCE. I like Daboll but this isn't a hard decision.

Why are you on first name basis with the OL? You hang out with these guys?