Last Guy on the Bench

Yep. They are all over the place. And they are not shy. Also football weather literally can’t get any better than this. Perfect. What a day. Go Bills!

Just pulled into Gillette. My first live game in 15 years (been living abroad until recently) and first ever at Foxborough. Scored a ticket in row 21 at the 50 yard line. Best seat for a game I’ve ever had. I feel like I am 7 years old on Christmas Day. A good number of Bills jerseys in the lots and I heard the Shout song blasting as I pulled in. Go Bills!!

From the Athletic (on Von). Sorry if posted elsewhere: "Long absences don’t slow down Miller The previous two times Miller was green-lit to return from a long-term injury, all he did was go, go, go. Miller also suffered a torn ACL toward the end of the 2013 season. When he returned for the 2014 season opener, he tore through the opposition. In his first seven games back, he assembled a six-game sack streak, totaling nine of them along with 16 quarterback hits. He also missed the entire 2020 campaign with an ankle injury but opened the next season with 4 1/2 sacks and seven quarterback hits over the first four games. After missing the first six games in 2013 because of a substance-abuse suspension, Miller amassed 20 tackles, four sacks, seven quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and one recovery for a 60-yard touchdown in his first four games back. — Tim Graham, NFL senior writer" Full article: Bills Activate Von Miller

Wow. It's also amazing how balanced it is. They are first in both points scored and points given up. How the heck have we not won a Super Bowl? The same coaches that can win this consistently on both sides of the ball are capable of winning it all. We need a little luck. Sure maybe we are not the best team over the last 4 years - even with that point differential. (Have to give that to KC obviously.) But we are and have been a really, really good team and are plenty good enough to win at least one Super Bowl, hopefully more, if a few cards fall our way. Please let it happen!

This was fantastic. Thanks! It's super helpful for someone (like me!) without a ton of technical knowledge. Really helped me appreciate a couple things: 1) Those wide side throws and how long and difficult they actually are. Hard to see that live, because Josh makes them look so freaking easy and routine, like he's playing catch in the back yard. 2) How much anticipation he's throwing with. The answer for Dolphins fans asking "Why was Diggs always open?" is that Diggs wasn't open when Josh threw it. He and Diggs are so on the same page. It's crazy how he throws it (to difficult spots) way before Diggs has made his final cut. Josh had the early rep of needing to see guys open rather than throw them open. Not now. That Shakir drop was another one he threw so early. Moral of the story: Josh is unreal and we are INSANELY lucky to have him on the Bills for hopefully another decade plus.

It's really hard not to. Great guy. Emotionally mature. Generous. Very resilient. Given his physical limits (arm strength, etc.) he can really play. And he's still early in his QB journey. I wish he didn't play for the Dolphins so I could enjoy him more.

He's had more heroic games for sure. The KC playoff game for one. But yeah, he was so cool and collected today. Through three quarters, his face just looked like, "Eff these guys. I'm better than them." Throw in the long PI to Diggs, and the beauty that Shakir failed to come up with, and his numbers are even bigger.

One of my favorite things about this edition of the Bills is watching Spencer come flying in from out of frame downfield when the running back or receiver is in the process of being tackled. He launches himself into the tacklers with complete abandon. It makes me laugh every time. No one else does it with that kind of speed or unbridled joy.

They've been claimed.

I have two tickets for Training Camp Thursday - won't be able to make it. Free to the first person who DMs me to claim them, assuming I can get the Ticketmaster transfer thing to work.

Same for me. I just need one. Went on the site right at 1:00 PM but was already #800 in the queue, and it sold out by the time I got to the front. I've been living out of the country for years and recently moved back, so this will be my first Bills TC since I think 2005. If anyone has a spare ticket for August 6th I'd appreciate it. Happy to Venmo some $ for the effort. Thanks!

I absolutely don't want to see Diggs go anywhere. I think he has been and will continue to be a huge plus for the team. And I like the crazy bastard. But as to whether he could be traded cap wise, Florio says it's possible. His cap hit next year on the team is not that much smaller than his cap hit off the team (bonuses accelerate but salary - which is big next year - comes off). Diggs Trade Not Impossible

Yes. Very deceptive. I went in and signed up, as $10 would be an amazing deal. But when I checked my account status, it shows that it auto-renews at the regular $79.99 price on August 1st. So I just wasted $10, as there is no need for the subscription before August 1st for me. I was going to buy it anyway at the regular price, as I do every year. But that was some skeevy marketing.

He rarely looks too happy. Unless Kaiir Elam has his notebook out.

It was just so strange. I still have a bad hangover from that game - I'm not as into the draft as I usually am, I'm following the news less avidly. I'll spring back, I'm sure. I love this effing team too much. But it was almost inexplicable. Not losing. Just the way they lost. I can see why Taiwan is baffled. I'm sure a lot of the players are. Humans are complicated. Human collectives are even more complicated. I do think there is something to the fact that the year finally caught up with them and against a team that was primed and energized and a bad matchup anyway. It happens in sports. It happens in life. I expect them to come out swinging again. McD has his weaknesses, but leaning into adversity and jumping back up off the canvas is not one of them. So I'm very keen to see how they respond and what their vibe is to start the year.

One of the silliest things I've ever seen. And it shows how easy it is to manufacture conspiracy theories. Point: NFL is selling tix for Atlanta and has to return the money if the game doesn't go ahead. Counterpoint: as many people have pointed out, they are selling tix for all possible playoff hosts and have to return the money for all of those that don't go ahead. Point: When Cheffers refs the Bills have a great record over the last few years. Counterpoint: When anyone refs the Bills have a great record over the last few years. Point: When Cheffers refs, home teams win 60% of the time. Counterpoint: Home teams win 55% of the time anyway, so he would be a small outlier. And normal distribution would typically include small outliers - it's not like every single ref would have exactly 55% as their home team winning percentage. Not to mention that even if Cheffers is slightly more influenced by the home crowd than others (debatable - he gives an anecdote about one game where the visiting team was penalized a lot after a bad call against the home team - fantastic "proof" - you can find any pattern of calls you like if you only need to offer one game as "evidence") then that's just part of the home field advantage the Bills earned by only losing 3 games, unlike the Bengals. I'd like to say this video is unusually dumb, except we see this kind of weak sauce conspiracy weaving out of cherry-picked, out-of-context facts all the time in politics, culture, internet "science," etc.

You could be right. That does sound like someone from the Bills side.

Not saying it wasn't some Bills official or other, though I tend to doubt it, given the culture there. But that quote really doesn't have the vibe of Bean or McDermott anyway. I would be completely shocked if it were one of them. Can't see them sounding off to a reporter in that tone. Way out of character.

Yes, this is most likely - that the broadcast team was talking to the refs, who in the absence of any direction (yet) from the league, just told them what the normal rule was for restarting after an extended injury timeout. It's very hard to believe the league office called and told them to start the game back up after a five minute warmup. I think it was just the refs and the coaches in discussion - the refs saying this is the usual procedure, the coaches responding by saying they needed to go discuss things with their teams, and the refs (and league at some point) agreeing. But the conspiracy theorists are out in force tonight.

Doesn't seem that the article is saying cold weather gets you sick by itself. It is proposing a mechanism explaining why you might be less able to fight off an early infection in cold weather. You would still have to have gotten infected by something else, e.g., the proximity explanations you note above. If the authors are right, then cold weather would both increase your exposure to others (your explanation) AND lower your initial immune response, both of which would contribute to higher sickness rates in Winter.

?? There are only three games based on the previous year's finish aren't there? 14 are predetermined and have nothing to do with your previous record. Each team plays 6 in their division, 4 from the conference division they are matched up with that year (rotating, predictable, same for everyone in your division), 4 from the non-conference division they are matched up with that year (same thing), and then the three finish-dependent games - the team who finished in equivalent position in the two conference divisions you are not playing, and then the equivalent team in one of the (rotating) non-conference divisions - which is the new 17th game.

No chance we sit guys with a loss. We would still have a shot at the one seed with a Bengals loss and a Chiefs loss either this week or next. Imagine sitting guys, losing to the Pats, and then that happens. McD would be run out of town.

I like him a lot as a guy, but I don't think he's ever had a good feel running the ball. He's fast and can find a crease now and then. But he just doesn't have that sense of flow and he gets tackled really easily. Many, many times over the years I've thought he had room to gain a lot more yardage than he ends up gaining on a given play. Can't really put my finger on it. But after five decades of watching good runners flow through traffic, you just get a sense when it's there to be had. And I think he's left a lot of yards on the field over the last few years.

Not a chance. It would be pure insanity.

Yes, your mean-spirited, third-grade name calling is definitely an important part of the "checks and balances" that will help Beane and McDermott make the right personnel decisions so we can finally win the Super Bowl. Thank you for your service. I wish you had made up an equally clever name for Norwood in 1990 so we could have won SB XXV as well.