SoTier

Even badly wounded, Detroit's D is still considerably better than the Giants' D.

They also have a game to lose in the race for the #1 seed, so sitting Mahomes against the Texans makes real sense. The Texans have a mean defense -- they are one of the leaders in rushing the passer I think -- so it's really risky to put a gimpy QB out there against them. Giving Mahomes 2 weeks makes him much more likely to play well in the final two games.

Really? How can you possibly know that with any kind of impartiality? Statistics, which we use so extensively to measure QB performance, won't work because of the differences in the game.

I "watched back in the day", and your statement is simply untrue because of the differences in the game today and back in the 1990s simply make comparisons of the QBs of those two eras impossible. Kelly was drafted in the great QB draft of 1983 (41 years ago) along with Elway and Marino. Marino was the last of the QBs to retire, lasting until 1999. That was 25 years ago. The game today is much different today than it was in the 1990s just as the game in 1994 was light years different from how the game was played in the 1950s and 1960s. What was/is valued -- and needed -- to be a great QB in the 1960s or the 1990s or the 2020s means that it's likely that few QBs could be successful if they were somehow transported to thirty years to the future or the past.

The next three weeks should enable the Bills to get all the youngsters/subs on both sides of the ball some real game experience.

I would prefer that the Ravens be a wild card, so they have no chance of hosting a home game, so I'll root for Pitt. The Stillers are my second favorite team, too. If KC is the #2 seed, then I want the Ravens to be the #7 seed. If the Bills are the #2 seed, then I want the Ravens to be #5 or #6.

If the Stillers have Watt and Pickens, the Chiefs will have a struggle whether Mahomes plays at 100% or not.

If the Vikings FO guys are smart, they've already decided to re-sign Darnold and let their rookie QB sit another year. He's not going to spoil sitting another year ... as Green Bay has shown with both Rodgers and Love, and that team is really good now, so carpe diem. The Bills also let Stephon Gilmore walk in FA in 2017. He went to make All Pro with NE and won at least one Super Bowl -- and not for just being on the team.

I think that Miami's real problem is philosophical: they've put all their eggs in the single basket of a high powered, precision timing passing offense. The Fins' aim is to get a big lead and never look back. That works pretty well against poor teams. It works decently with some middling teams, but it falls apart when they face talented, well coached teams. The Fins' inability to beat good teams is a fact. Miami didn't lose to GB on Thanksgiving because Tua didn't like the cold; they lost because the Packers derailed their passing game. The result would have been pretty much the same if the game had been played in Miami.

The Ravens defense is not nearly as good as it was last year. They lost some key defenders in FA as well as their DC, Mike Macdonald. Their pass defense is abysmal which is why they have 5 losses and are chasing the Steelers in the AFCN.

CBS News always has positive stories in the last 10 minutes or so of their nightly news, so I frequently flip there to see that part of the news which is why I caught the original airing of the piece on Davis.

I think if they can stay healthy (ie, about like they have been in the last couple of games), the Bills have a real chance to win it all. It could be worse. You could have predicted the Jests winning the Super Bowl and Aaron Rodgers winning MVP. 😁 I actually don't think that anyone on TSW predicted that but others, including some in the national media, jumped on the Jests bandwagon big time. OTOH, I doubt that many of even the most positive Bills fans, thought they would be 11-2 at this time in the season.

Johnson stepped aside before when he was Ambassador to the UK in the first Trump administration, but it didn't help the Jests then, so I don't see much real hope there.

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or truly believe this. In any case, I disagree. The Jests have missed on GM, on HC, and on QB every single time they've sought to fill any of those positions since Woody Johnson purchased the team in 2000 -- and they've had a lot of chances to get something right. The best they've done was drafting QB Chad Pennington in 2000 and then signing an aging Vinnie Testaverde. The best of their HC hires was Rex Ryan. None of their GMs went on to success on other teams. As others have said, the Jests' best hope for success is new ownership. I agree. I think the Pats have hit on a good one in Maye. Their HC Jerrod Maye seems to be improving as much as his QB this season. He's got that team playing scrappy and far above their collective talent level, so they are competitve with a lot of their opponents right now. Can they be competitive with the Bills next year? Probably not, but I think they have the potential to challenge in the future.

I have so many Christmas favorites, but Montgomery Gentry's cover of Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas to the Family" reminds me of so many of the Christmases or other holidays as a kid, especially with my mother's family. My mom was a city girl who married a farmer, but it was her relatives who were much more redneck than any of my Dad's relatives. Merry Christmas to the Family

To be fair to early 2024 predictors, not everyone was doom and gloom. I liked this post back in April, and it's aged much better than all the doom and gloom predictions.

Ironically, the Bills' current WRs are probably the most sure-handed the Bills have had since the great teams of the 90s. They seem to catch everything thrown their way.

The bolded statement is simply bull manure, and it indicates that your knowledge of the NFL is superficial at best. Football is a team sport, and the best current example is Joe Burrow. Burrow is a great QB playing on a team without a defense or running game. Despite all his personal statistical greatness, Burrow will be sitting at home in January for the second year in a row. Can't win the Super Bowl if you don't make the Big Dance. Jauron's philosophy was not to lose by too much. He was the kind of coach who sucked the joy out of football for many of his players, even great ones like Marshawn Lynch. Tentative Trent Edwards was his choice at QB because they were both pathologically risk adverse. Says the poster who has never made a mistake ever.

John Rauch, Harvey Johnson, Jim Ringo, Kay Stephenson, Hank Bullough, Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron, Perry Fewell, Chan Gailey, Doug Marrone, Rex Ryan, Anthony Lynn or their ghosts all say "Hi".

The Browns play for Jameis, and their defense is usually much better than they showed last night. Last night's game ... and post game ... was classic Jameis. He defines "gunslinger" QB ... and "born again Christian".

If Jameis gets hot, the Browns can be dangerous to any team. Usually their defense plays better than they've shown tonight. I'm glad the Bills don't have to play them.

No running game and a poor defense, especially in the defensive backfield.

Nothing lasts forever. It's infinitely better to be considering playoff seedings rather than draft order in December. If you don't believe that, ask Patriots fans about it.

During the Russ Brandon/Dick Jauron era when the Bills roster was filled with mostly non-NFL caliber players, I saw a clip of a Kelly to Reed long TD pass from a playoff game. It brought tears to my eyes remembering how good those 90s teams were compared to the then current iteration of the Bills. As old time singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell said in her hit, "Big Yellow Taxi", "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?".