hondo in seattle

I told my wife about the post-game interviews about Tyler Bass: Josh choked up a bit. McD choked up. Bass choked up. My wife might have said, "And now you're choking up telling me about it."

That's exactly what I texted a friend before Bass kicked. I didn't really believe it. The guy struggles with extra points. How is going to make a 61 yarder? No Bill has ever made a FG from that distance. Perfect.

I didn't know the Brittania Arms closed. I was there 2 seasons ago. Now that the San Jose Bills Backers have moved, I may have to revisit with the group at the new location. From Facebook... Founded in 1989 and roaming around the South Bay at various bars and picking up the moniker South Bay Bills Backers in the mid 90's. The South Bay Bills Backers are located in Campbell, CA and the group gets together for every Bills game. We meet up at Kirk's Steakburgers located at: 2509 S Bascom Ave Campbell, CA 95008

I've been to the Bills Backers Bar in San Francisco at the Northstar Cafe. They had a great crowd when I was there - 100+. I've also been to the Bills Backers Bar in San Jose at the Brittania Arms. The crowd was much smaller. Weirdly -to me - it's at a British style pub (what do the Bills have to do with England?). My wife wasn't a fan of the food. I've driven by the Bills Backers Bar in Monterey at Bulldog Sports Pub but have never attended game day there. San Jose is closes to Santa Cruz - just a short trip over the Santa Cruz Mountains. But Monterey isn't far either and a prettier drive. All three Bills Backers Clubs I've mentioned have FB pages for more info. Good luck!

Offense: Cook. The Fins pass defense is good while their run D is mediocre. Brady will feed Cook. Defense: Douglas. I keep waiting for him to display the ball hawking skills he showcased last year. This is the game.

I've read novels shorter than this list, though only Gilliam is a definate out. The IR list should be part of the Injury Report to give the reader a better overall understanding of who'll be missing. Fortunatley, I think we only have one guy on IR though - unfortunately - it's Milano. I'm hoping Von, after an additional four weeks to recuperate, shows up better than ever.

Thanks for posting. Weaver was a pleasure to listen to, despite the loaf of bread comment. He's postive, animated, intelligent. Had a lot of nice things to say about Bills players that seemed very genuine.

That went out of style about the same time as bell bottoms.

I get your point about rather having great corners than safeties. But... In 2021, the Bills led the NFL in pass defense, giving up only 2,771 yards (163 ypg). In 2024, we're 17th in pass defense so far, giving up 208 ypg. Maybe with Taron back and Hamlin & Rapp learning to play together in their new roles as starters, our statistical performance will improve. Von's return could help as well. I'd love to see us hold opposing QBs to 163 ypg again.

Maybe you're right. But I was in the "Damar sucks" mindset through the first few games, as a carryover of previous held opinions. It took me a while to come to terms with the new & improved Damar. I'm guessing there are some others who are taking a bit longer than me to realize the 2024 edition of Damar is different than older editions.

We all know this is - sometimes - true. But why say it publicly? It's like he's convincing Josh to think more about ball security than he normally does, which would be bad for the Fins.

Hamlin and Rapp don't make me miss Poyer and Hyde (in their prime) but they don't have me hitting panic buttons either. Still, I do worry about this... The goal is to win a Super Bowl. We used to have an elite back end (Poyer, Hyde, Tre). I like our current CBs but I don't think our secondary, overall, is as good as it once was. You don't win Lombardis by getting worse.

I know where it comes from - watching Hamlin play in previous seasons. I thought he sucked too. I wondered last year if his spot on the roster was merely PR and sympathy. I had doubts he'd make the squad this year. But, to my eyes, he's playing at another level this year. Not Pro Bowl. Not elite. But decent. He seems to understand the defense and mostly be in the right place at the right time.

After some early season struggles, I want to believe that our two new coordinators are in a groove now. Bills... 30 Fins... 16

Damar is out there because the defensive coaching staff decided he's the best option available. I'm not sure why we'd want to bench him only to field a player who's worse.

I might be able to do $64.

I doubt if it's even just McD. I'll guess it's the consensus of the defensive coaching staff. These are smart guys who know football. I admit I was very wrong about this season. I penciled Edwards in as the starter, opposite Rapp. And I thought Hamlin might not make the final 53. But, like you, I trust our defensive coaches.

I hate to confess that I don't really care much about Josh's personal life. I guess it's kind of cool that he's dating an actress and showing her around Buffalo but, in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter much. As an empathetic human, I hope they're happy just as I hope all good people are happy and all evil a-holes learn to become good people. As a fan, though, I just hope his personal life never distracts from his dedication to the Bills and his craft.

I'd love Josh to become more... I hate to say it... Brady-esque: make a good presnap reads and get the ball out quickly to the open guy. But, you're right. That's not Josh. And if he's going to throw into tight coverage, you might as well find a big, strong wideout who excels at contested catches in tight windows.

Didn't know him personally, but he was one of my favorite posters. RIP.

I don't actually. I'm just saying its possible to have receivers who don't get separation and still produce in the passing game if your QB is a stud - which Josh is. Prior to Cooper's arrival, however, it was disappointing to see how little separation we were getting downfield. Although that group (Coleman, Shakir, and Hollins) were hardly an all-star trio, I did sometimes think the fault was more Brady's than anybody else's. But the offense looked beautiful (minus the pick) against Seattle.

Or Josh is just amazing talented doing so well with talentless receivers who don't get open. But I agree that I don't trust the metrics.

This is another one of those charts that look professional and pretty. But those qualities don't mean the data are worth a damn. I don't disagree with the general notion that our receivers aren't creating a lot of separation, but I don't need a chart to tell me that. PFF is one of the most respected data generators out there. And they rated Geno above Josh last week. The subjectivity involved in these "advanced" metrics is often too much to overcome. How do you even measure separation? Do you measure it at the time the ball was actually thrown? Or when it was supposed to be thrown? If the latter, how do you know? Do you measure & track separation only for the guy being targeted? Or all the receivers running routes, even those whose assignment is to rub a defender or clear a zone? Let's say a receiver is well-covered at first, but later as the QB scrambles, jukes the defender out of his jock strap and scores a game-winning 80 yard TD. Do you grade him as being covered on his initial route? Or do you give him credit for the great work he did later?

I'm with you. I was probably in my 40s when I learned the derivation of the word spaz. It was commonly used when I was a kid, too, in a mildly offensive way. We didn't say, "You spaz!" to our enemies as a serious insult, only to friends jokingly. I was surprised when I later learned that some people considered it deeply offensive.

Agree. When I'm in Buffalo, I eat mostly wings, beef-on-weck, pizza, and Polish food. Buffalo excels at these. When in Seattle, I tend to eat Asian food - in all its amazing diversity. And for some reason, Seattle has a lot of great gourmet ice cream shops, too. When in Kansas City, I eat KC barbecue. And so on. Once on a visit to Davao, my wife's hometown in the Philippines, her friends decided they wanted to treat me to lunch at an American restaurant. It was a kind, thoughtful gesture. But the place had pizza, burgers, tacos, and so forth and unsurprisingly none of it was very good. I, of course, expressed my appreciation but, in truth, when in the Philippines, I want to eat what they're good at: lechon, adobo, crispy pata, Addidas, etc.