msw2112

I went to an Arizona Cardinals game where we parked on one of the more distant lots and had to take a shuttle bus to the stadium. It was terrible and I would never do it again. Tailgating near the stadium is part of the NFL experience, in my opinion. Perhaps that's just because I grew up in Buffalo and that's what I know, but I have enjoyed tailgating at many other NFL and college stadiums other than Buffalo. Given the option of riding the shuttle bus before and after the game, I might prefer to stay home and watch on TV or go to a sports bar.

I have said in other posts that I was skeptical about the Sanders signing. I thought that, given his age, he had lost a step, and the fact that he's now on his 5th team, and his 4th team in the last 3 years, that perhaps he isn't that desirable a player. I also said that I would love to be proven wrong. While there isn't a very big sample size yet, I'm going to come out and say that I am being proven wrong.

While I would love to see UB and the Bills partnering on the deal, I just don't see the synergies. First, the Bills sell out most of their games. UB is a MAC school and doesn't have a big football history. They just don't draw that many people, so they'd be playing in a stadium that was 80% empty. That's not going to be impressive to recruits and athough there's some "chicken and egg" theory here, not something that is attractive to fans. The atmosphere will be lacking. The second piece is location. UB wants to have its stadium within walking distance of campus. Having attended a university with a major D-1 football program, I can see why this is important. Many college kids don't have cars, Uber/cabs are too expensive, public transportation in Buffalo is limited, and who wants to take a shuttle to get to a football game? Games are usually Saturday afternoon, so college kids want to roll out of bed, have a few beverages with their friends, and then head over to the game. Moreover, the UB site does not appear to be of interest to the Bills. They have invested heavily in their faciltiies in OP, plus the land is readily available in there. They may have other reasons to dislike the UB site. I no longer live in Buffalo, but I am from the northtowns and usually stay in that area when I visit Buffalo, so a Bllls stadium there would certainly be more convenient for me and the people I would go to the game with (many of whom live near there), but I see it as being too sterile and a bad fit for Bills games. I'd rather make the trek to OP.

I'm not a ND or Brian Kelly fan, but the media's take on that was bad. It was clearly a joke and a reference back to McKay's comments. And I'm even less of an Urban Meyer fan, so I can't think of anyone more deserving than him of the current situation in Jacksonville.

I used to love the NFL pre and post game shows. I liked both the network ones and the ESPN show with Berman and Tom Jackson. Now, I don't watch any of them. I don't know if it's because of my life situation changing (trying to manage a job, a house, and kids), the decline of the shows, or a little bit of both. It's also true that a lot of the content is available online. I have seen a few minutes of the ESPN show with Sam Ponder and she is very easy on the eyes, but then you have to listen to the blathering of Rex.

I voted for Josh, because I am a Bills fan. That said, Stafford is probably more deserving. His stats came in a huge game against the defending champions and one of the top defenses in the league.

I take nothing away from Jackson, who is a great player. I think, however, that most, if not all NFL GM's would take Allen over Jackson. His skill set seems to be more complete. Jackson is a great runner and a decent passer. Allen is a very good runner and a great passer. Allen's size and style of play may make him a bit less injury-prone than Jackson. So I believe that Allen deserves to be paid more. That said, because Allen signed first, and the way things go, I could see Jackson getting the same or a little more. Given that the Ravens are a perennial contender in the AFC and are a competitor of the Bills, I hope they pay more, which hurts their ability to spend on other parts of the roster. My comments appear to be in line with what's been said above.

Mowins is the worst. I don't care what her gender is. Her voice is cringe-worthy and her commentary is untimely. She is my least favorite broadcaster on any network. I have to miss one of the next two Bills games for a family commitment. The commitment has to be on one a Sunday, either that one or the following one. I think I will miss the Houston game. I was leaning that way anyway, as it isn't a great matchup, but Mowins may have be the final nail in the coffin.

Thanks for the detailed analysis!

The previous comment is correct. More or less, the entirety of the old Soldier Field was razed. All they kept were the columns and they built a brand new stadium inside the pillars. It looks pretty bad - it looks like a spaceship landed inside the classic pillars. The two styles just don't match architectually at all. The accessiblity is difficult (on the lakefront, east of Lake Shore Drive, a very busy multi-lane (in both directions) "expressway" that separates the lakefront from the city. There is limited parking and some if its ramps, so the tailgating is very limited. Tickets are extremely expensive. I used to live in Chicago and the only time I went to games were 1) if the Bills were in town or 2) I was offered free tickets AND the Bills were not playing at the same time. I turned down free tickets to see the Bears at Sodier Field many times in favor of watching the Bills on TV. It's still a classic venue and a good place to see an NFL game. It would suck if they moved to Arlington Heights (a suburb) and would change the character of the franchise. The spot they are considering is the site of Arlington Raceway and old, but nice/fun horse racing venune. The Bears and Soldier Field aside, I don't get the hate for Chicago expressed by a poster a few posts up. It's a great city. Great people, fantastic architecture, great food, tons to do indoors and out, and the list goes on. It's a world-class city, but has great neighborhoods and a midwestern type of feel. Honestly, it's a lot like a bigger, more cosmopolitan Buffalo, and when I lived there, there was a huge community of Buffalo ex-pats who were friends and hung out to watch Bills games at a couple of bars, went to see the Bills and Sabres while in town, etc. That is still the case. The city has had its challenges with gun violence, protests, etc., but so have many other big cities. I have spoken with my friends who still live there and visited there recently, and a lot of this has been overblown by the media. And Marv still lives there, in my old neighborhood, where I ran into him a couple of times over the years and chatted a little bit about the Bills.

That was a fantastic throw, without question. But because he's made a couple of "vintage" Allen throws doesn't mean that he has not been throwing less accurately than last year overall and that he doesn't have any kind of injury. Clearly, he's made some poor and inaccurate throws this year of the kind he did not make last year. His long pass to Diggs in the 4th quarter was underthrown. Had the ball been in front of Diggs, it was an easy TD. Instead, Diggs had to adjust and come back for the "jump ball," making a fantastic catch. He has also missed some open guys and thrown some "floaters" down field that were nearly intercepted, which were not throws he made last year. There's no report or evidence of an Allen injury, and some swimmer-style neck therapy may or may not mean anything. Let's hope it doesn't and that he's just off to a slow start and needs more game reps to get back on track.

I have not seen Jones play much this year. He was very good at Alabama, but was playing behind an NFL offensive line and had NFL running backs and receivers at his disposal, when the opposition mostly did not. He appears to be a smart player who is very coachable and has enough athletic ability to do the job. A competent NFL player, but not likely a star who is going to set the world on fire. I am not concerned. His college profile is similar to that of Jake Fromm. Jones was obviously drafted much higher, but who knows, if Fromm had the opportuntity to come to a team with a good defense and running game and was asked to make short throws and be a game manager, perhaps he could do what Jones is doing. Fromm came to a team where his role was clearly limited to being groomed to be a backup, and the COVID situation last year, plus the availablity of a guy like Trubisky this year, has pushed him down from a #2 to a #3.

Slump might not be the best descriptor, but the Bills' passing game is clearly not playing at the same level that it did last season. As suggested above, perhaps some different play calling may get the passing game back into a rhythm.

What he said

Yes, the guy was terrible in preseason. But he's on the PS, and a veteran guy with starting experience who knows our scheme if we get to a point of desperation where all of our starting and backup tackles are injured - an unlikely scneario. He's the backup to the backups. Sure, you'd rather have Anderson, a rookie with potential to improve, over a veteran whose best days are long past (and probably never were that good to begin with) but it is not likely Hart will see the field this year.

Payback for Ryan Bates. Although upon further review, we did trade an "asset" (Eli Harold) for Bates, but he still is a young backup OL that we got from the Eagles. Bates>Harold + Anderson

Brady did some great things in the playoffs, but the reason Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl was their defense. That said, I don't this Bills defense is as good as last year's Tampa defense was in the playoffs and the Bills offense will need to regain their form from last year for the team to be Super Bowl contenders. It's still early in the season and the starters didn't get too many reps in the preseason, so let's hope they can work out the kinks. Allen's accuracy has been off and he has been floating deep balls down the field that could be easily intercepted. Even the deep ball catch by Diggs in the 4th quarter yesterday was underthrown and a fantastic catch. Had that ball been in front of Diggs, he would have coasted in to the end zone. He had beaten the CB.

I think Davis is a pretty good young player who can be a very good WR2 for many years to come. I'm not a huge Sanders fan. He's on what - his 5th team? His 3rd team in a year and a half? If he was that much of a world beater, teams would not be so quick to move on from him. He's also 34 years old and has likely lost a step. I don't think he's a bad player or a bad signing, but I see him more as veteran WR depth than a focal point of the offense. He can play inside or outside, which adds great flexibility to the team. If both were 100% healthly and I had I had to choose bewteen having Davis or Sanders play, I would go with Davis. If Davis is out this week, I will be glad we have Sanders. If Sanders ends up having a huge season, perhaps I will be proven wrong and I will be very happy if that happens.

I live out of market but would love to buy these for the younger kids in my family. The link doesn't offer a way to buy them online. Wegmans appears to be a partner in the program, so perhaps you need to buy them in the store. I was able to answer my own question: They'll be available starting today exclusively at Wegman's.

I would abjectly reject any Super Bowl victory in which the Bills were not undefeated and had won every game by shutout. Thus, I have mailed in it for this season and will start fresh with renewed hopes next year. I think with some tweaks to the offensive line and the maturation of our defense ends, we have a legitimate shot at this next season.

I had a deja vu when watching the play yesterday - and it was the play you show here. That may have been the highlight of the Mularkey era. Credit the Steelers staff for their extensive film review. I'm kidding of course... But when I saw the formation, I knew exactly what the play was going to be. If I knew it, I'm sure the Steelers did too. I would have been OK with the QB sneak or a play action quick slant to the TE.

I'm calm about it. The Bills laid an egg, but will likely be fine. I'm not sure they have a Super Bowl winning OL, but they have a contending team and will win a lot of games again this year. I am most despondent because my brother-in-law, who I do not like, is a big Steelers fan. Same for a former employee of mine whose departure from the job was not the most amicable. I hate for them to have the satisfaction.

I bought my daughter a brand new Bills shirt for the season. She was not home for most of the game, but arrived home around the beginning of the 4th quarter. She was about to have some lunch and I didn't want her to get anything on her new shirt, so I did not insist that she put it on, as I usually do. The shirt went unworn and we all know what happened. I can't blame the child, but Dad failed.

I recently took my daughter to a WNBA game. The tickets were on my fairly new, very fast, 5G phone. My daughter is too young to have her own phone. My ticket loaded, was scanned, etc. I then tried to open my daughter's ticket. No dice. They would not let her into the arena. We held up a long line of people who were starting to get upset (and I didn't blame them). Finally, we had to step out of line. It took a several minutes to get it sorted out and we ended up missing the introductions, anthem, etc. I'm not a big WNBA fan, but my daughter loves basketball and was really excited about the event. This episode really took something away from the experience. I hate electronic tickets. And for god sakes, it's the WNBA. There were plenty of empty seats. It was pretty clear that we were not trying to scam the system. Just let the kid in.... I also agree that the gates at the Bills' stadium are terrible and slow. The only thing worse was the old SD Chargers' stadium. I was there for a Bills-Charges game and we got to the gate with plenty of time to spare and missed the entire 1st quarter trying to get in. And although I wouldn't put it past the Pegulas to save a few dollars (much more likely on the Sabres side, however), I understand where the team is coming from. There is a labor shortage in EVERY INDUSTRY. My company is dealing with it, and just about every business person that I know. My wife and I even had terrible trouble trying to hire some household help.

I'd guess that a healthy Sweeney and Hollister are relatively interchangeable, but Sweeney has more upside and potential. Both are 2nd/3rd TEs with decent hands. Not sure of the blocking ability of either. Hollister has been around the league a couple of years, so his ceiling is known, whereas Sweeney has played so little that his ceiling is not yet known. Sweeney is a Bills draft pick who they have invested in and developed, so that also gives him the edge if having to choose between the two. As I say all of this, I'm a fan of Hollister and thought for sure he'd be on the opening day roster. If we could have brought him back to the Practice Squad, I would have liked to see it, but he got the chance to sign on someone's 53, so all we can do is wish him well, except in November when the Bills play the Jags. They made a decision to use the roster spot on WR and DL and I can live with it. They still have Gilliam, who can play some TE3 if needed.