SoTier

I don't think that Sanders is particularly divisive or controversial to his teammates. He's got some significant physical limitations as well as some terrible tendencies for a pro QB, but he seems to be improving and to be capable of motivating his teammates.

The Texans defense is one of the best defenses in the NFL; the Texans poor start was primarily the fault of their offense (or lack of). The Steelers defense has lots of outstanding players but they've played like a bunch of JAGs almost the entire season.

How many NFL teams have actually been built to "win 4 games in a row against the best teams in the NFL playing at their best" in the salary cap era? Neither the Patriots and Broncos aren't. My guess is that very few, if any, have been. Maybe the 2018 Patriots were, but they couldn't actually do it because they ran into an inferior team with a horseshoe up its collective ass ... and one of their JAG WRs caught a pass off his helmet and scored the winning TD. My point is that in the single elimination playoff format used by the NFL, any team that makes the playoffs can win the Super Bowl if things like injuries, officiating, and just plain luck go their way. That includes the Bills. You haven't been watching the Eagles recently. A couple of weeks ago, there was a thread about Philly's offensive issues (Not All Brotherly Love ... ) which seems to have nailed the problem, which hasn't yet been fixed if it even can be fixed.

Welcome to God's Country. Where did you finally settle?

Did I say their defense was bad in 2021 and 2022? No. It certainly was bad last year, and it's worse this year. They also don't have a decent running game or OL, and that's because they've invested in 2 #1 WRs, Chase and Higgins. So they put up big stats in the passing game even without Burrow but don't win games.

No NFL QB has been more betrayed than Burrow in at least the last decade. Burrow is a pocket passer with a rocket arm and a gunslinger mentality, so the Bungles have sent him out there with 2 great WRs but no OL, no running game, and a phantom defense. The 2021 and 2022 Bengals showed what could have been with just a decently respectable team around Burrow, but the Bengals don't seem to be particularly interested in building a respectable team, just a FF juggernaut.

I think you didn't read the article cited by the OP. The author pointed specifically to Hurts failing to following game plans because he's reluctant to throw into tight windows. I don't know if I agree with the author's implication that Hurts is simply "doing his thing" and refuses to change because he knows Philly can't change anything because of his contract. My guess is that Hurts would change if he could do so relatively easily ... and overcoming your natural inclinations is never easy for anybody. Because of the continual coaching changes with the Eagles, it may have also become a defense mechanism to dealing with the systemic changes that come from bringing in a new OC. I agree. Without the outstanding supporting cast Hurts has had on the Eagles, I think Hurts would be considered pretty ho-hum.

Pileated woodpeckers started coming back in the 1990s as more and more former farmland became forest lands. They are mostly forest birds and don't often come into urban/suburban areas unless there's a particularly choice supply of insects in a tree(s). There are several pairs nesting in the woods around Bergman Park and Hundred Acre Lot, two wooded parks on the outskirts of the Jamestown. Mostly you hear them rather than see them. There calls sound sort of like Woody Woodpecker, and their drumming is really loud as they literally rip chunks of trees apart getting to their quarry.

So many times, teams make and/or win the Super Bowl because they get lucky ... their playoff seed, injuries, bad/no calls by refs, and especially "fickle finger of fate" plays, the most notable one being David Tyree's "Helmet Catch" which enabled the WC Giants to beat the previously undefeated Patriots in the final 2 minutes of SB XLII. I think the Broncos offered Lucifer a better deal for their team soul, and the Chiefs have lost their remarkable luck. Karma is a you-know-what.

I want the Chiefs out of playoff contention ASAP, and losing to the Colts is another nail in their playoff coffin. Better Jones than Mahomes every day and especially on Saturdays or Sundays in the post season.

Pheasants aren't native birds. They were introduced in the late 1800s and early 1900s to establish populations in about 40 states, but changes in agriculture -- especially clearing hedgerows around small fields to create much larger fields -- has decimated those breeding populations, and so most birds used for hunting today are stocked birds. Pheasants need the brushy areas between small grain fields (wheat, oats, corn) for protection and nesting.

Not exactly in my "backyard" but while driving back to Jtown from our family camp in the Town of Persia in northern Cattaraugus County, I spotted a bald eagle in the Town of Conewango. He flew overhead and landed in a pasture. He was really impressive. While not exactly "common" like robins, cardinals or bluejays, bald eagles are numerous in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties. There are numerous nests in these counties including some right around Jamestown. It wasn't always that way. Bald eagles in the lower 48 states were almost extinct (along with other top level raptors like ospreys and peregrine falcons) in the 1960s when the insecticide DDT was banned. In the 1990s, the first bald eagles were raised and fledged in NYS from eggs brought from Alaska, including a group that was raised and released in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge between Rochester and Syracuse.

My Dad's family always named their female dogs they named either Queenie or Ginger. Investigating the family history, I came across a photo and a couple of letters from my youngest aunt to my Dad when he was overseas in WW II that referenced a small white dog named Queenie who apparently replaced "old Ginger". Growing up, we had a string of Queenies and Gingers although we also had other dog names.

Maybe he's a mean drunk.

All of the teams in the NFL passed on Brady at least 5 times, including the Pats. People forget that Diggs as a veteran WR helped Allen become a significantly better QB, something that any rookie WR, no matter how great he might become, couldn't have done. Diggs now seems to be helping Maye develop into a good/great QB as he did with Josh. I think that it was only in his last year as a Bill that Diggs morphed into a team cancer making it rather hard to plan to replace him.