fergie's ire

If the Bills beat Houston and the Pats win, that Bills would play at Baltimore and the Patriots would be on the road at KC.

Can someone please post the 20 things that need to happen (including the moon rising in the west) for the Bills to make the playoffs? I am used to seeing it this time of year and can't find it anywhere for some reason. ?

Wasn't Superfluous S one of the great rock power trios of the 70s?

I don't think it's Tomlin. I think God feels bad about making Stevie Johnson drop that ball years ago and is trying to balance things out.

I like the analogy to baseball. Allen has always had a very accurate fastball, but struggles with the off speed stuff. It's why the lazy "inaccurate" label has always bugged me. Now, I haven't looked at his mechanics carefully, nor do I know enough to really assess them. However, I have noticed something that is promising....but puzzling. If someone doesn't have great accuracy...maybe like Tyrod who had ballpark accuracy...you can't expect the thrower to put the ball in exactly the right spot. It's going to be just a bit off...sometimes left, sometimes right...sometimes long and sometimes short. My understanding is that is the problem with bad mechanics. It's impossible to reproduce the exact same throw every time. It's like a free throw shooter (to use another sports analogy) who needs to use exactly the same motion every time so the ball goes exactly the same place. With bad mechanics, I would expect Josh's throws to be all over the place. The weird thing is that doesn't seem to be the case. He seems to reproduce exactly the same throw almost every single time. It's directly over the receiver, five yards too deep. With such a consistent throw, it would seem to be easy to adjust...and then he should be able to reproduce accurate shows. It should be as simple as "Josh, aim five yards behind the receiver." Another baseball analogy. It's like the homerun that Aaraon frickin' Boone hit to beat the Red Sox in the playoffs years ago. He kept pulling the ball foul and someone (I think it was Joe Torre) told him, "Hit the ball back up the middle. Try to hit the center field fence." He did, and ended up hitting it just inside the foul pole. Again, seems weird that this adjustment hasn't been made already, but maybe he is afraid of throwing an interception?

We have one huge advantage against the Steelers. They like to play zone and not so great with man to man. A couple of weeks ago we were discussing the long pass from Josh to Brown and whether it was a true deep ball. My point is that there are situations when Josh is going to need to loft the ball and drop it in to receivers which is why those throws are a different type and hitting a 35 yards down field with a frozen rope is not the same thing. Yesterday, the ravens played press man to man. The way to beat that coverage is over the top. Our receivers DID beat it consistently early in that game...and Josh could not hit them. I think that such coverage is going to continue to be trouble for Josh for a while. But that is not what the Steelers do (at least not historically...as I have not watched them much this year). Josh is a competitor...will come out angry and if he faces zone, he will be able to pick it apart with strong and accurate throws in between the seems. I expect to see good josh this weekend.

I thought this was hysterical that Belichick challenged. I think he panicked. The Chiefs rushed to the line to get the play off....as if they knew they were going to lose the challenge (even if they knew they would probably win) so Belichick didn't have time to think and just chucked the flag. That is a TOTAL Patriots move that I have seen Brady pull a bunch of times. Then, the f'd up the play late from the four yard line because Tom and others were yelling for BB to throw the flag...even though they didn't have one and they rushed a play that lost 2 yards. The Patriots are always so much smarter then everyone else...but not so much yesterday.

Oh I DISAGREE. I could see a blowout by the bills...if things go wrong (stops turnovers) for the Ravens early and it snowballs. So, no, I actually have NO idea how it is going to turn out. ?

We'll have to wait a few years....but Stingley.

I live in CT and when I walk in a mall outside of Hartford and go by the Sports Apparel shop, I see Patriots (of course), Steelers, and Cowboys stuff hanging in the window. Everywhere I have lived there have been plenty of Cowboys fans....and there are even more of us who really hate them. So, they are a draw.

Shaping up to be much like Don Mattingly's career with the Yankees. Played all those years with no playoffs, then got to make a brief playoff appearance before retiring and then the team had great success after he left.

Agreed. Steelers are the same way. They've had lots of good years, but in bad or mediocre years they act like it was just a fluke that they didn't win the Superbowl.

Yes, after game reaction was good....but so was in game. On that long drive that ended in a field goal, once the Bills crossed mid-field, the stadium went dead quiet. It's as if they were all in shock, saying to themselves: "This can't be happening."

Yeah....He's not my cup o' tea either, but he is a WORLD CHAMPION Cowboys fan troll....and that I enjoy.

I disagree. They don't stand out at all for me...because there were so many great plays by Allen in that game. The throw to Beasley from the end zone....also to Beasley, this time to the sideline while rolling out....the 15 yard TD (first of that length by a quarterback on Thanksgiving since Jim Kelly). Even the throw to Knox that was knocked away at the last second was a great throw. And that whole long drive that ended in a field goal was a thing of beauty. Some big 3rd down plays. When they got to the red zone, I thought they were conservative...but smartly so...eating clock and then the field goal to go up three scores. It was really a masterful game by Allen.

The young'uns on the list won't remember the great joy that one feels when the Bills not only win, but destroy a franchise in the process. After the Houston comeback, the Oilers fired everyone, were never the same, and moved a few years later. Looking at Jerry's expression at the end of the game, I am thinking we might get to feel that joy again this week.

I spent a year in France after high school, and I remember excitedly going to the book store once a week to grab a copy of the International Herald Tribune with their paragraph write-ups on each NFL game, so I could find out how the Bills did.

THAT was the type of ball that he needs to throw....particularly against man to man. His inability to hit these before is the reason he has seen so much man to man lately. Now, I think I have seen him do everything a great quarterback needs to do. He just needs to put them together and then he will have that 300 yard game. I should also add that the touch throw to Cole Beasley was a great throw. JUST enough air under it to go over the defender, and this is the kind of throw he could not make last year.

This. And then the list makes sense. It is the list of quarterbacks who make Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes possible. There was a time, not very long ago, when the assumption was that African-Americans were great athletes and so could make great running backs and receivers, but they lacked the mental ability and leadership qualities to be quarterbacks. It took players like Harris and performances like Williams' in the Superbowl to start to change that attitude.

Yeah, I HATE the Cowboys...but it's not close. Want the Patriots. In addition to reasons above, I wanted them to go into Thanksgiving celebrating rather than desperate.

Yeah, I'd heard reports that Kraft said he would pay this guy over his dead body...or words to that effect...after the whole "different strokes" thing.

And have set themselves up to do so. The bears were giving away picks and signing big contracts (or at least one really big contract). The Bills have been collecting picks and keeping cap space open to build for the future.

No. I am not going to blindly trash Allen after a game like last week when I saw a lot of good for him...or call him inaccurate when I think that for the most part he is quite accurate. However, I am not blindly going to look for ways to praise him after a game like yesterday, when I still think there is a big hole in his game. I like Allen and THINK he can be a great quarterback, but I think anyone who is being honest and watches football regularly knows the kind of throw I am talking about. Sometimes a tight end runs a 15 yard out and the defender is trailing to the inside. The quarterback will throw a rope that the tight end catches in front of him. On another play the tight end runs up the sideline with the defender trailing up field. The quarterback lofts the ball and drops it over the defender to the tight end. Both are 15 yard passes to the tight end, but very different passes. Last year, Allen could not make the second throw with any kind of consistency. It was clear in the Jets game. Darnold was making those throws and Allen wasn't. THIS year, Allen is making those throws consistently. He has learned. However, he still needs to learn how to do that on deep throws. Sometimes there will be a defender between Allen and the receiver so "on a rope" won't work. I would agree.

Actually "on a rope" is the reason it doesn't count. I'm not talking about the distance it traveled but the type of throw...something with air under it. it doesn't have to be sixty yards, but it has to be able to get to a receiver who has a defender on his back.

Nope. I don't. These are the kinds of deep balls that Allen would throw last year....on a line. I have yet to see him drop a ball over the shoulder of a deep receiver...a true "bomb." The only time I have seen that kind of throw was a pass to Foster last year, who was wide open, so he did not have to drop it over a defender.