Logic

Bills fans are indisputably bad at this. I was at the game Sunday, and holy ***** was it loud on some of the Bills' offensive drives. It got ESPECIALLY loud any time it was 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1. I truly think that a lot of fans just don't understand this very basic concept. The Bills would be well served to film some sort of video or graphic to display on the jumbo screen in the stadium asking for quiet. When I was at the Texans playoff game in 2019, I seem to remember their stadium cuing the fans to be quiet when they were on offense. Highmark Stadium does have graphics imploring the fans to be loud on 3rd down, but it does NOT have anything imploring the fans to be quite when the Bills are on offense. For that matter, I would say Bills fans need to do a better job of being loud on ALL THREE DOWNS when the Bills are on defense. They shouldn't JUST get loud on 3rd down. For a fan base that is universally recognized as being great, Bills fans could use some lessons on how to help the team when they attend a game.

Norm was my favorite comedian. I saw him do live standup several times, and he was always great. He was definitely not everyone's cup of tea. At every show of his I attended, there would be a few walkouts. People who likely just knew him from SNL and then, upon seeing the type of comedy he did in his act, decided he wasn't for them. More than any other comedian I can think of, he had a very specific type of humor. If it resonated with you, it REALLY resonated. That was me. I feel that he had the most brilliant comedic mind I've ever seen. He worked on a completely different level. He was, thought its cliched, and for lack of a better term, "a comedian's comedian". Great examples of Norm being Norm often came from his appearances on talk shows. There was "the moth joke" on Conan. There was the time he ruined Courtney Thorne Smith's interview back in the 90s, I think also from Conan. There was his statement "the perfect joke, to me, would be the punch line being the same as the setup", which was typified by his Weekend Update joke: "Julia Roberts divorced Lyle Lovett today. According to Julia, the turning point in the marriage came when she realized that she was Julia Roberts, and he was Lyle Lovett". There was his book "Based on a True Story: a Memoir", which was neither a true story NOR a memoir, but which pretended to be both. The publishing industry (unsurprisingly) seemed to miss the joke, and still continues to place his book in the "biography" category. He also seemed like a kind and decent man. He once stated that he always tries to make time to talk to the homeless. Not only that, but he always tries to make physical contact with them in some way -- a handshake, a hand on the shoulder, something -- because no one ever touches them and people can go kind of crazy if they go too long without physical contact. He made me laugh. A lot. I will miss his mind, his smile, and his jokes. So long, Norm.

In fairness to the poster to whom you are replying... I actually kind of agree that it's a bit of a pain for out-of-towners. I flew in from Oregon for the Steelers game. I didn't bring my vax card because it wasn't required at the time, but I did reflect on the fact that if it WAS required, I would have felt a bit uncomfortable having to pack it, fly with it, and remember to keep it safe and clean and handy during the game. Not an unreasonable burden or undoable task, mind you, just a little bit nerve-wracking having to carry with you something that is small and odd-sized (doesn't fit in my wallet) and cumbersome to replace if lost.

Man, it must have taken you a long time to follow up with all of the attendees in the days that followed to see how many people contracted COVID at the show.

It felt like I could count on just two hands the number of masks I saw all day, from the time I walked in to the stadium to the time I walked out. This was the case despite the very clearly posted -- and oft repeated over the PA system -- stadium rule on masks in common areas. For those who are angry about the new vax requirement, I have a pretty clear idea who they can thank for it...

Agreed on all counts. I fully realize that by going to an event of such size and magnitude, I am accepting a certain degree of personal risk. I was under no illusion that I was walking into a completely safe and protected situation. That said, the onus has to be on the team, the stadium staff, the league, the county, etc, to at least ATTEMPT to mitigate that risk by implementing certain common sense measures, like enforcing -- or at least TRYING to enforce -- the "masks in concourses and indoor areas" rule. Saying "Full speed ahead, full capacity!" and not at least ATTEMPTING to implement SOME basic, simple common sense measures just doesn't make any sense to me. I went to the game as a sort of litmus test. I recognize that COVID is now endemic and that it's not going away any time soon. Attending the game was a way of dipping a toe in the water to see how it felt to return to doing one of my favorite things in life -- attending a Bills game. It didn't feel great. It might not have felt great no matter what, because of the basic nature of that type of event. But I can't help but feel that it would have felt SOMEWHAT better if people heeded the basic rules, the staff cared to enforce them, and there weren't hostile, lunatic anti-maskers harassing fellow fans. To each their own, but it just wasn't a great experience in my opinion.

Maybe I SHOULD have stayed home, you're right. I expected a relative lack of mask compliance. I didn't expect for 99.9 % of the fans in attendance to completely ignore the "wear masks in concourses and indoor areas" rule and for the stadium staff to not even TRY to enforce it. I guess that was naïve on my part. I also didn't necessarily expect the non mask wearers to be harassing the mask wearers, which I did witness happening a bit in the concourse and bathrooms to other people and which another poster attested to having experienced himself.

I'm sorry to hear you got harassed for wearing your mask. Absolutely ridiculous that that would happen during a pandemic that has killed over 600,000 Americans and left countless other with long haul ailments. I double-masked the entire game. I don't really care how many eyeroll or vomit emojis that elicits. Being densely packed into a crowd of 70,000, many of whom were shouting drunkenly and spewing spittle droplets everywhere, felt like a reasonable/logical situation in which to wear a mask -- indoors or not. I did not catch any crap from anyone at any point. I would have happily chirped back at them if I did, but luckily it didn't come to that. What's so infuriating about anyone having a problem with a masked person is that they don't have ANY CLUE what considerations played into that person's decision to wear a mask -- they could be immuno-compromised, have young children or elderly relatives at home, etc. Not only that, but the current stadium rules LITERALLY REQUIRE YOU to wear a mask in the concourse, so these people are essentially just harassing someone for following stadium rules and for exercising safety and caution during a pandemic. Ridiculous. Going forward, I'm hoping that teams either mandate proof of vaccination or strictly enforce mask wearing. I personally won't be attending any more games unless and until that happens. The vast majority of the time, it feels safe to me to be maskless outdoors. Being packed into a crowd of 70,000 screaming, drunken people -- many of whom are likely to turn to you at any given moment and scream "LET'S GO BILLS" directly into your face from 10 inches away -- did not feel like one of those times.

I'm never happy to be right when I predict the Bills losing a game. Still, several here called me a whacky Negative Nancy for saying it would be a close game and a Steelers win. As it turned out, well... I'd still rather have been wrong.

I'm reading Ravens fans' comments on their various forums, and I'll tell ya... Lots of fans feeling like their season is over because of the injuries to their running backs. Meanwhile, I feel like they'll be just fine in the run game because they have Greg Roman scheming it up. Put Ty'son Williams back there, put Le'Veon Bell back there...hell, it doesn't matter, put the ghost of Karlos Williams back there! Roman's going to have that running game humming, I guarantee it. Now losing Marcus Peters, on the other hand? That's a big blow. It's almost like they shouldn't have traded away rookie cornerback Shaun Wade to another AFC team...

All the people saying it's Le'Veon Bell time must not have seen Ty'son Williams run in the preseason. I have a feeling he'll be the lead back -- and a breakout star -- for the Ravens this season. Then again, I could just be saying that because I roster Ty'son Williams in all three of my fantasy leagues.

Brady and the Cowboys are so high atop my "NFL hate list" that I'll be rooting for a zero-zero tie tonight.

I would just point out that Brady and Manning were the two kings of the mountaintop while Peyton was playing. Despite the Pats' more consistent overall success and Brady winning more titles and beating Peyton head to head most of the time...I would still consider Peyton Manning the "face of the league" during those years. When it comes to marketing, there are considerations other than just "who is the better quarterback?" and "who wins head to head more often?" It could be pointed out that Peyton won a Super Bowl in his eighth year, so perhaps Josh has to do that before he can ascend to "face of the league" status.

I'm obviously biased as a Bills fan, but I think he's the most likeable superstar in the NFL. His whole backstory (farm boy in podunk town gets no college offers, writes 1,000 letters, is doubted every step of the way), his personality (well spoken, funny, playful, quotable, humble), his play style (exciting in both the pass game and as a scrambler, stiffarms d-linemen and hurdles linebackers), his "just a big kid out there" demeanor on the field...everything about him screams "face of the league". In my opinion, he's much more likeable and marketable than Patrick Mahomes, in the way that Manning was more likeable and marketable than Tom Brady, despite Brady winning more titles throughout their respective careers. If Allen's high level of play continues, and especially if the Bills win a Super Bowl, he WILL be the face of the NFL. He seems on the brink already. Couldn't think of a more deserving guy!

My favorite answer was the one Beane gave about Stefon Diggs. Basically, it suggests that you can do certain things to take various receivers out of games, but Diggs isn't one of those guys. He's essentially unstoppable. He can beat man coverage, can beat zone coverage, can beat the press, has elite route running, good speed, hands, and contested catch ability. What could anyone realistically list as a weakness in Stef's game?! Add in the intangibles, like the leadership and contagious swagger he has brought to the team, and you have one of the best trade acquisitions in Bills history. Here's the exchange: What makes [Diggs] such an asset to the offense even compared to other great receivers? "Physically, his release is really good. He’s hard to press. Some guys can get open versus man, but they don’t have a feel for zone. Some guys are zone players; they just can’t separate at the top of the route. Stef can play inside, or he can play outside. So no matter how you play him, he can still factor in the game. You can take certain receivers out of this game because of their skill set, and Stef makes it much harder to do that. His game speed? You can tell, even at practice, when he is in game mode, whether it’s one-on-ones with Tre’Davious White out there. He practices hard, but there are some days where you can see he’s going to be on a heater. You KNOW he’s going to catch it. To me, I see confidence, just like a cloud of confidence around him. I think that started with our quarterback, and now just the whole team feeds off his confidence, his swagger."

Nah. I said it just to bother you.

You mean the 2020 season that saw the Bills losing handily to the Chiefs in the AFCCG and then ended with a Chiefs-Bucs Super Bowl? Yeah, I remember that. Exactly my point. I’m seeing more people picking the Bills than the Chiefs or the Bucs. The Chiefs beat the Bills twice last year and the Bucs return all 22 starters. What changed?

I've noticed over the past week or so that more and more local and national reporters, analysts, and talking heads are picking the Bills to win the Super Bowl. Many are also picking Josh Allen to win the MVP award. Whereas earlier this offseason it was all "will Josh Allen regress?" and "can the Bills fix their pass rush?", now I'm just seeing a whole lot of "Bills win the Super Bowl" predictions. What changed? Was it the preseason performance against the Packers? The training camp reports of Allen and the offense being lights out? The perceived improvement of the pass rush? Are the Bills just the "trendy" pick all of the sudden? I'm sure there's much more than I'm listing here, but here's just a small collection of what I'm talking about. I'm not sure how to feel about all this but here we are. What a time to be a Bills fan.

I'll be at the game this Sunday, and this is pretty much what I was expecting. Not great, but predictable. Did you see ANY masked folks at the game?

Thanks.

As opposed to your scientifically unimpeachable, not at all subjective or hunchy analysis? Nothing subjective or hunchy or fan-speak-y in there. Nope. MILES better than what I wrote. Very objective and well articulated 🙄

I read back in April that Hammer's Lot is requiring proof of vaccination for entry into the lot. Does anyone know if that is still the case?

Thanks. I usually like being in the stadium early, any way. I like seeing pre-game warmups and introductions and pyro and planes and all that jazz. Gonna have to remember to be at the gates extra early this week. Nothing worse than spending all that money/effort getting to a game and then being stuck in that drunken cattle herd and hearing the sounds of the crowd at the opening kickoff from outside the stadium.

All good, it indeed was not directed at you.