TigerJ

If there's any hint of injury he will. I don't know if he'll get a few snaps in the case that he is completely healthy. I wouldn't imagine he'll play a lot in any case.

It is interesting mostly for what McDermott will or won't do with resting players. I expect Gore, maybe Allen, Brown and Knox will be rested at least part of the game. We may have sightings of Duke Williams, Tommy Sweeney, Matt Barkley and Yeldon on offense. On defense, a lot of the reserves tend to rotate in anyway, though they might get more time than usual.

I don't disagree. I'm just not inclined to spend a lot of time fretting about it.

Sure he is. The doctors, I'm sure, are retained by the league, so this would only be an issue is multiple players were concussed and the doctor(s) were spread a little thin. Maybe somebody doesn't get the attention he really needs because Edelman faked it, but the odds of that happening aren't real great.

All over the NFL, players are always playing just over the edge, doing things that are against the rules, but that are usually overlooked. It's been said that every offensive line holds on every play. It's true that Edelman is one who often does thing and gets away with it, but his concussion ploy did not distract officials from the offensive pass interference as he hopped, and as the article points out, he missed a quarter of the game with the mandatory examination by an independent neurologist to rule out a concussion. If the league fines him, so much the better, but he did pay a price for his ploy in any case.

The article claims that Oliver pushed Brady's stomach to get up, in essence suggesting that the trip attempt was justified retaliation, but his forearm would have to be about 5 inches long for his hand to be on Brady's stomach. More likely his hand was on the ground right next to Brady.

I do think the Bills need to rethink the notion of having only two true running backs on the game day roster. Gore does not do enough to serve as real relief for Singletary. Personally, I'd think about doing what Baltimore does. Find a guy who can serve a s a rotational defensive end, and fullback. That would save a roster spot and let McDermott field three true running backs. Singletary, despite his lack of height is kind of a general purpose back. He's got enough weight to not have a lot of concern about his ability to take punishment, and he's probably as effective as Gore running inside. He's not a true bulldozer like a Derrick Henry, and he doesn't have breakaway speed to break of really long runs if he gets in the clear. I'd be comfortable going forward with him getting 15 -20 runs per game, but I'd like to see The Bills add a guy who can carry 220 -230 lbs. You'd want him to be at least a possible threat to catch a pass, and run better than a 4.6 40 as well as having some toughness. I'd also like to see them find a back who can run a sub 4.5 40 with some elusiveness and the ability to line up as a receiver. New England will have Sony Michelle, Rex Burkhead, James White and Brandon Bolden all active on the same day, and all four will get reps at running back. That might be a factor in their ability to pound the ball. Of course, Buffalo didn't tackle real well either.

The other Wild Card game will probably be KC versus Tennessee. If Tennessee wins (They are the 6th seed), Buffalo would likely face New England while Tennessee draws Baltimore. If KC wins that Wild Card game (as the # 3 seed), they would play New England and Buffalo being the lowest seed left (#5) would draw Baltimore.

I never stop looking at what might happen in the draft, regardless of what I think might be the current state of the Bills. Right now, I'm optimistic about what they might do in the wild card game. I'll take it one week at a time after that. If Buffalo does not make it to the Super Bowl, they will still give the team they lose to a run for their money. Another offseason to for Josh Allen to work on his game and for Beane to add a few more pieces to the roster, and I think this team could dominate a lot of their games next season

I think Schopp tends to discount the value of culture because he has none.

I suspect that Spygate 2 will likely be more of a slap on the wrist. The league will probably buy the story that the film crew was working for Patriots media and not as spies.

Yeah. First tiebreaker is head to head and KC beat New England this season in New England.

I'm pretty sure one of the times Frank Gore was tackled last Sunday at Pittsburgh was supposed to be a running back pass.

Patriots See the Handwriting on the Wall in Crushing defeat at the Hands of the Buffalo Bills. It's long, but has a nice biblical reference.

I haven't really thought much about KC and their remaining games. I just figured Houston is Buffalo's most likely Wild Card opponent, assuming New England beats Miami in their final game of the season.

Yeah, it's not real complicated this time around. Don't make the kinds of mistakes they made in September. They out gained the Patriots then, and would have won without the turnovers and blocked punt.

I admit I would be pleasantly surprised to see the Bills in the Super Bowl in 2020. Not impossible, but at some point along the way, they'll probably have to beat Baltimore to do it. They played Baltimore tough the last time, but they'll need to up their game to pull off the win.

I think when NE blocked Bojorquez in the first game, the Bills just weren't prepared for the Patriots using an extra rusher rather than having a returner. I would be shocked if Farwell didn't have his punt team practicing for that possibility this week.

The part about Daboll changing the labeling of offensive plays weekly is fascinating. I wonder if that is evidence of Daboll trying to mess up in advance what he expects to be a Patriot attempt at spying. Since he's from the Belichick coaching tree, he certainly knows what the old weasel is capable of doing to try and get an edge.

Not sure if we have room on the bandwagon for you Bill. Check back in a bit and we'll see if we let you on.

I'm trying to decide if this is sarcasm or not.

Well, I don't spend much time in enemy territory, so I can't really get a feel for what that is like, but there certainly is a sense that Buffalo did not get to where they are this year by luck. There was some of that earlier in the year when Buffalo was only beating the dregs of the league, but looking at their whole body of work, they played the two highest regarded teams in the AFC toe to toe, and only came up a little bit short (New England - first game, and Baltimore). They look like a team that can score playoff wins. There are only a few small things they really want to tweak. They earned a playoff spot with two weeks left i n the season. They did not back in on the strength of an improbable desperation play in the last week of the season in a game other than their own. The thing is, as much better as this team is than the one that squeaked into the playoffs two years ago, I think next year the Bills will be better than they are this season. We are going to see the full fruits of the Beane/McDermott rebuild.

I give Miami about a 10% chance of winning, but the Bills still need to go for it if just to send a message about next season. We're coming for you, Belichick.

Funny. Until Buffalo picked off Duck Hodges 4 times, he was the promising and surprising young undrafted QB who sent Mason Rudolph to the bench and had Pittsburgh on a trajectory for the playoffs. Buffalo shuts him down, so now both teams are trash? I predict that if (when?) Buffalo knocks off New England on Saturday, some media outlet will use that as a reason to diss the Patriots without giving Buffalo an ounce of credit.

Josh Allen has improved his game in many areas. There are some areas where he still struggles. His footwork on deep passes is still inconsistent, which leads to accuracy issues. He is not a quick decision maker, which leads to vulnerability to blitzing and a heavy pass rush. If he can't fix those, it lowers his ceiling. I don't think there is any reason to believe he can't grow in those areas, but until he does, there are going to be detractors out there. And, yes, some of them are blowhards.