hondo in seattle

Can you blame me for thinking Bass might miss one???

The Bills were the Chiefs of their day (minus the rings) - the insurmountable AFC obstacle to getting to the SB.

It's weird. I don't even play golf. I have a screwed up back and can't twist without pain. But there's something about the mental & spiritual part of golf I find appealing which has led me to read books like The Legend of Bagger Vance and Golf in the Kingdom. As a non-golfing, non-kicking observer, it does seem there are strong parallels between FG kicking and golf.

I agree. But I think that's a consequence of the yips. You once had good technique but now your technique has become bad/inconsistent because of some mental issue. “Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing… Somethin’ we was born with… Somethin’ that’s ours and ours alone… Somethin’ that can’t be taught to ya or learned… Somethin’ that got to be remembered… Over time the world can rob us of that swing… It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas… Some folk even forget what their swing was like…” ~The Legend of Bagger Vance (Steven Pressfield)

Decent size. Strong. Very fast. The guy seems to have the physical tools.

How does a kicker go from good accuracy (Bass-O-Matic) to bad accuracy (Bass is still a big problem)? It's not age because he's still young. It's not physical talent because he's already demonstrated he possesses that. It's gotta be psychological, which is to say it's fixable. Maybe the game-winning 61-yarder cures the yips. Maybe it doesn't. Given the options available, I agree with Beane and McD in continuing to work with Bass through his issues for a little while more.

37.5 yard per reception in his career so far. If he keeps that up, I'll allow him a spot on the 53.

Offense: Kincaid become the focal point of the passing attack Defense: Groot makes life miserable for Flacco ST: Bass kicks a 61 yard FG to win the game

Whatever you think of Merriman, his praise for Bills fans was pretty cool.

I think of the shrimp cocktail as a relic of the 1970s - not really a thing anymore. It's weird that it's associated with Indy though the St. Elmo Steakhouse connection, I guess, explains it if that's one of the more famous dishes at one of Indy's more famous restaurants. I agree with Miyagi, if a town (especially a landlocked one) is claiming the shrimp cocktail as one of its signatures, it's probably not a foodie place.

Before the season began, I said the Bills would win the AFCE but bow out again in the playoffs before reaching the SB. I'm sticking with that as a prediction while hoping for something better.

The breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches made sense to me because there are a lot of pigs in Indiana. When AI told me shrimp cocktail was also big in Indiana, I discounted it. Indiana is far away from any ocean. But then I learned that there are a growing number of shrimp farms in the hoosier state, producing both saltwater and freshwater shrimp. So maybe it's legit to call the shrimp cocktail a regional food even if Indiana doesn't have an ocean and shrimp cocktails are served across the States.

I used AI and got this... Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich: Often considered the quintessential Indiana dish, this sandwich features a pounded, breaded, and fried pork tenderloin served on a bun. I graduated from Purdue and remember nothing about the Indianapolis or Indiana food scene.

Bills 27 Colts 20

I'm in my sixties and can move faster than that.

Maybe you're right. But Beane is the guy who signed him and he doesn't seem like the type to promise a starting role.

Old turds like me will get this but for the younger fans out there who may not understand... Kenneth Davis was a backup RB for the Bills in the early 1990s. M*A*S*H was a TV show about an army medical unit that was on network TV back in the 1970s.

As it looks right now, the Bills will own the AFCE for years. But looks are often deceiving with the NFL so full of surprises that it's hard to be surprised anymore. Not long ago, out on the West Coast, the 49ers playoff chances were seemingly ruined when they lost their top two QBs to injury. Then soft-spoken, unheralded Mr. Irrelevant became an unlikely star. In Indy not many years ago, their QB threw for 39 TDs and then promptly retired at the young age of 29, stunning the football world. They haven't been relevant since. Personally, I wouldn't dare predict the future of the AFCE. Unforeseeable things will happen.

Once one of the best corners in the league. Now he's traded away by a team that doesn't want him for virtually nothing. I guess that's life in the NFL.

I'm not good at statistics or probability but I do agree with the Times that we have a much better chance of winning the AFCE than the Chiefs. In all seriousness, virtually every year, I feel like Beane & McD give us about a 10% chance of winning it all. Here the NYT is saying we have a 9% chance - roughly the same No team is so good that a Lombardi is guaranteed. And when you consider injuries, bad bounces, poor ref calls, and the one-and-done playoff system, you have to acknowledge that winning the SB requires a combination of skill and luck. Getting our chances up to 9 or 10%, when the average team has a 3% chance of winning it all, represents (mostly) good work by our HC and GM.

I love advanced stats like EPA. Sort of. The reality of the Fins game is that Miami gained something like 400 yards and scored 27 points. If not for an unlikely 61 yard field goal with 10 seconds left, we might have lost the game. The D needs to get better, whatever EPA or DVOA may indicate.

In 2020, we had the #14 D and the #1 O. In 2021, we had the #1 D and the #5 O. In 2024, we have the #20 D and the #10 O. This is not a great team. But if we get healthy for the playoffs, and other teams do not, we could make a very fun run.

Despite Bass's much discussed struggles, I thought the FG attempt was the right decision. Hail Mary's have a very low probability of success. When our opponents do Hail Mary's, I figure the odds are roughly 50-50. When we do a Hail Mary, I figure our chances are about 1 in 10,000. The odds of a successful Hail Mary or Bass kicking a 61-yarder are both long. Bass has the leg strength. Where the ball goes, though, is anyone's guess. Still, I though the roulette wheel slightly favored the odds on Bass.

Fins ran at will against us with Achane and Mostert both averaging over 5 ypc. Tua only threw 3 incompletes all game. And they still lost. It's gotta be frustrating for them.

Is it too late to choose Bass as my impact player of the game?