Richard Noggin

Bravo.

Carry on.

Lake Erie is now .05 inches shallower to cool the servers that ran this calculation.

I probably insulted all of us. But this isn't the social media I was referring to. Years of constructive cultural curation, led by persistent and benevolent moderation and a collective yearning for community and civility keeps this platform pretty effing classy for an online public square.

No, the median is a single data point standing in the absolute middle of an entire set, with exactly half of the quantity of results above it, and half the results below it. Means can be easily skewed to be much closer to the top or bottom depending on distribution and magnitudes and blah blah blah. Billionaires and millionaires skew household income avgs higher, whereas social media sports reply guys skew intelligence avgs lower.

That's actual referring to median stupidity, not average. But either way it's prescient.

Super stupid of me. Gonna leave it. So dumb. I actually pride myself on being good with maps and whatnot. Wow.

OBL today touted a stat to the tune of: Von Miller leads the NFL in QB pressure rate over the past 4ish games? I forget how far back this stat goes. I'm sure Google could help us clarify. But apparently he's been having success recently (could be against a string of shite opponent offensive lines) at a rate much higher than most realize. This would certainly be the time to see that trend fully realized. We hope many of the vets have been load managing and building towards maximizing their impact NOW. (Would also love to see the Lions game version of Ed Oliver for three more games this season.)

19 hours so you're not coming in from Tenn as your avatar might suggest. Dallas area?

The Mixon discussion here is interesting. His career avg yards per carry is 4.1. That's not special pr even good. But when the Texans were dangerous early in the year, and also when the Bengals were previously dangerous in past seasons, Mixon brought impactful physicality and juice to both offenses. Reminds me of David Montgomery, to be honest (also 4.1 avg). He might be even more important to the Texans offense now that their WR corps is significantly reduced, despite his lack of explosive dynamism. It's depicted in his RAS to some extent: great size and speed for the position, with borderline good explosion and just okay agility. He tested a LOT better than RBs we want to group him with, like Najee Harris or David Montgomery. So he's no stiff. But he's also not special. Would be an ideal #2 RB on a contender (like Montgomery), if he could accept that role.

It takes discipline to read through an entire thread before replying. We don't all have what it takes.

Strongly disagree with your assertion that the Bills D was well schemed against KC in the playoffs last year. I watched a semi-retired LB (who was never really a coverage guy) try (and fail) to cover Travis effing Kelce 1:1 with the game on the line. That's unforgivable. It might also be indicative of the most damning criticism of Bills defenses throughout this recent playoff run: when it gets down to it, top offenses are able to dictate or at least decipher Bills coverages/pressure packages via tempo and/or formation/motion. The Bills don't have the dynamic defensive line talent needed to fall back on vanilla schemes and off coverages against the best competition. And yet they so often fall back against the best in the playoffs. (I understand 31 teams fall short of their goals each year, so this isn't some ultra-damning condemnation. But it is a 4 year (and counting) pattern that causes mucho angst among even the most faithful.)

Gotta think that further favors the physical home favorite, yeah?

I, too, expect too many of them present at the start of the game. And I expect them to be relatively belligerent. At least at first. It's up to the Bills and the Ravens and the refs how that progresses. Last week had some violent nonsense in the sections around us, which had become fairly uncommon. I expect this week to be worse (unless the cold can act as a prophylactic).

How'd that work out for them?

If we're specifically isolating overconfident and underprepared Ravens fans, then sure, there could be some risk. Ideally they'd just LEAVE. Which is yet another reason to want the Bills to jump on them early and often, if possible. Gotta go right after bullies and frontrunners. They are often weak-willed once you crack through that veil of invincibility. But for modestly experienced Bills fans, this game will not be dangerous or even uncomfortable.

Please feel free to elaborate on the bolded.

Looked like the Steelers D had its share of guys making similar business decisions last week, and not even just later in the game. I thought Patrick Queen was downright avoiding contact on at least 2-3 impactful plays. Hamlin, and whoever is at DE opposite Rousseau, need to step up and fill their damned gaps/set their edge Sunday night. Hoping for a defensive gameplan similar to what the Bills did against the 49ers back in 2020, with some 5 DL/2 LB alignments. Those 2 LBs, Milano and Bernard, would be the lynchpins on those snaps. Have to correctly and quickly diagnose and get to depth (on passes and especially play-action) or get downhill (on runs). Maybe Smoot and Rousseau would rotate through DE and that 3rd DT spot, with Miller and Epenesa also aligning on the other edges.

Reminder: NFL "narratives" aren't real and don't matter. Podcasts and TV shows and gambling websites and social media fan debates do not control reality. Only the games do. It does not matter how it "looks" to anyone. It matters what happens. I have grown to hate sports "content" and debate and the vapid voices that create it. It's designed only to reinforce simplistic, binary, and tribal divisions, and to drive revenue to retail and entertainment/gambling outlets. We've long since left behind sports journalism and meaningful commentary (except for a few rare exceptions?). It's all commercial. Designed only to capture.

Hopefully that's mostly just Ravens fans, innit

Someone had to mention Ernie Adams already when I wasn't even online yet huh @Augie

The kind of cold you're concerned about isn't really how this Sunday night will be, from what I'm seeing. Even that NE WC game wasn't all that cold inside the stadium. I'd think that recent Miami x KC playoff game is a better example of what you're suggesting (hypothermia risk). I went skiing last night in EC and it got down to 15ish degrees with some breeze, especially up on the lifts near the end of the night. Constant snow. It will be just a little bit colder than that Sunday night. Not super bad when you're in a bowl full of 70k standing/yelling/anxious people.

To make this assertion is, in fact, to make an argument (argument as in rhetorical claim, rather than contentious disagreement).

One comparison I hope doesn't play out: Bills fans sold A LOT OF TICKETS to Bengals fans for that playoff game. When Tee Higgins caught a pass, the "TEE" call was way too loud. It didn't feel right at all for Orchard Park. There were a fair amount of Broncos fans in attendance last week. More visiting fans than we'd seen this season, to my eyes and ears. And we all know tickets are broadly available again this week. Ravens fans are going to pay premiums to come to Orchard Park and potentially shove the whole MVP thing in our faces. Apparently it's a big, contentious deal among the toxic elements of the fan bases.