WickedGame

There’s a small moment in that video that says everything you need to know about Josh Allen. In the biggest moment of his young career, seconds after being selected, he pointedly breaks off an embrace with Goodell to go shake hands with the Bills fan on stage. Lots of players shake hands with fans, but it was the way he moved Goodell aside and made a point of greeting this fan that sticks with me. It’s just 2-3 seconds in a whirlwind, but it shows Josh knew, even then, how important the fans are to this game…and how important he would become to them.

Nope, he’s not paid for his thoughts. He’s paid to get you riled up. He’s paid to keep you listening, even when you’re mad. He’s paid to deliver an audience for the advertisers. Sounds to me like he’s done his job.

Somebody should file a lawsuit against the Washington Football Team. It’s a crime to call that a football team.

Bingo.

I don’t think the evidence bears that out. Recency bias…the memory of the New England game and a less-than-stellar passing game one day ago…are at play here. In reality, Buffalo weather hasn’t been that brutal in recent years. Not to mention 75% of our home games are typically played before we even get to November. And if I recall, we played some playoff football in January last year without any weather-related problems. Does it snow in Buffalo? Sure. Is it cold and windy? Sure. But that’s true in Green Bay, KC, New England, and Cincy, too. Those cities have had productive QBs lately, if I recall. Meanwhile, dome teams like the Lions, Saints, Falcons, and Texans are as abysmal as ever. We can survive the weather. You don’t build a multi-billion dollar stadium just because the current guy looks amazing in a dome, no more than I’d build a million dollar sunroom in my house because my wife looks hot in a bikini.

If you want to get on the dome wagon, you don’t compare Josh Allen’s performance in home vs. away games. You compare it in dome vs. non-dome games. For example, Miami doesn’t have a dome, and Josh routinely obliterates the Dolphins in that city. He also had fairly sublime games in Foxboro, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay. I’m not saying he wouldn’t play well in the dome…just that the data you cited don’t prove your point.

Buffalo’s running numbers are an optical illusion. If you think the Bills have a bad running game, it’s because you only count RB runs…not Josh Allen runs. And for most of the season, if RB runs were your measuring stick, then it’s true we weren’t great. On the other hand, while QB rushes may be less satisfying to run game traditionalists, they DO count on the stat sheet, and the threat of JA17 rushing DOES make other parts of the offense work. Hard to cover receivers man-to-man if you have to look over your shoulder afraid Josh Allen is gonna rip you for 20-30 yards. The truth is, our running attack isn’t Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, and an OL that pushes mountains around. But it’s still effective in a different kind of way.

In Week 17, JA17 had a passer rating of 17. I think Bills -17 is just the universe trying to balance the equation.

Ripping on media is such a lame, cowardly activity. Lump a bunch of people into one bucket, criticize the group as a whole, complain about them when they’re not around to defend themselves, and when you’re surrounded by a bunch of people who agree with you so you’ve got the soothing comfort of safety in numbers and a friendly audience. I mean…do as you’d like, I guess. I just don’t get why people need a boogeyman in their lives. Best way to get Jerry Sullivan or Peter King to go away if you don’t like their views is to quit reading them. Losing an audience is the fastest way to the pink slip lane for an opinion writer.

Happy to report the Charlotte airport is PACKED with Bills fans heading to their destinations. I think I saw one Cheaters hat.

AFC is 35-23-1 vs NFC this year.

My son is an Arizona Cardinals fan (have mercy on him), and when he’s not playing the “my team’s better than yours” card, he’s arguing the AFC is weak compared to the NFC. Shortly after sending him to his room, I looked at records and marveled at the difference between AFC and NFC this year: * The AFC has three divisions where at least 3-of-4 teams are .500 or better, including two divisions where the entire division is .500 or better. * The NFC, meanwhile, has only one division with multiple teams that have a winning record. Further, until last week’s victories by the Saints, Vikings, and Eagles, the NFC had three divisions where 3-of-4 teams had losing records. Take it for what it’s worth…I just thought it was an interesting disparity between the two conferences.

I think rooting interest for Pats*-Titans is easy to figure out: You root for the Pats* if you think we can still win the #1 see; You root for Titans if you worry we’re at risk of not winning the division. But if we wanna win the division, we’ll need to beat the Pats anyway. If they beat the Titans, it just ups the stakes, but so what? We still need to beat them. And if you’re worried we can’t beat them and will need the Titans help to beat them on records, we have bigger problems to worry about. So you root for the Pats to beat the Titans, root for the Bills to beat the Pats, and we later go on to win the division and the #1 seed all at once, plus we prove we can beat the Patriots on our own merits and DESERVE to be considered Super Bowl favorites.

Here’s a mostly meaningless stat, but still: 276-91 That’s our combined score over the last 7 regular season games. We’re averaging more than 39 points per game over that stretch, and allowing 13 points per game.

Negative. Dunkin’ is a Boston thing. F the Pats***

I mean…clips like this are what would make me want the guy on my team. He screwed up, then went out of his way to go make a tackle when the rest of his team was apparently standing around. Heart, hustle, and that patented JA relentlessness to fix a mistake.

People can be jerks, no matter where they are. But sure. Everybody needs a boogeyman in their closet. Glad you found yours.

I’m not usually one to complain about the broadcasters, but man, this FOX NFL crew sucks. The color commentary guy is complete trash. Enough with the “that’s a good player” drivel.

Only keeping two TEs because we’re getting Zach Ertz, right? 😏

“WTF?? The equipment guy put “Right Josh’s” shorts in my locker again!”

Had this same thought last night. I’m not sure I buy it as a full-time position change, but it wouldn’t surprise me as an occasional gimmick.

No need. The Eagles find their way into TE Pitts territory, solving their Zach Ertz standoff problem. Set free of that holdout scenario, they trade Ertz to Buffalo, maybe even for a second rounder. Buffalo stays put in round 1 and grabs a rock solid CB to pair with Tre White. Now we’re only shy a stud DE, but there was none at 30 anyway, but we’ve majorly upgraded CB2 and TE and we have five picks to take a few fliers on.

Everyone who had “punter” on your Bingo card fill in a square.

Isn’t this where we’re supposed to comment about “This post has a vague title” or something like that? I kid, I kid.

Man, can we stop with the “woe is me,” we got dissed routine already? Wah f’ing wah wah. Let’s go find one more way somebody in the world didn’t crown us kings while also acknowledging we had to slay a horde of g** d*** zombies along the way. Why do so many people need to have their hardships as fans confirmed in order to feel validated? Why can’t we just have fun watching a team we cheer for beat a bunch of other teams?