Dan Darragh

"one Popeye's biscuit away from being a tight end." One of my favorite quotes ever.

I used to hate Greg Olson because he talks WAAAY too much but I actually think he's very good. Just gives me a headache. I thought Pam Oliver was supposed to be good but she sounded awful last week. She's like AI without the I

I once saw a game in Rochester when Bobby took a puck to the forehead that opened a gash, with about 3 minutes left in the first period, and the Amerks didn't have a healthy backup goalie. So they took the intermission between periods right then, and Bobby went to the dressing room to get stitched up. Out he came after the intermission, then they played the remainder of the first period and switched sides for the second. Bobby played the rest of the way. Here's a pic of Bobby. Looked a little like Tony Soprano. Once I went to a game in Rochester against Buffalo (the AHL Bisons, before the Sabres existed) and Ed Chadwick was the only goalie dressed for Buffalo. Mid-game he got knocked out (hit his head on the post and of course no helmet) and the Bisons had to dress their stick boy who played the rest of the game and into overtime. He was Porky Palmer, a name that will be familiar to long-time Sabres fans, because he was the equipment guy for decades. It was the first game I ever went to when I was about 9 and my father and I laughed about Porky for the rest of Dad's life. When Gerry Cheevers played for Rochester he also didn't wear any head protection but when he played for the Bruins he did wear a mask and famously marked every gash he didn't get on his face mask. You're welcome for the history lesson. Now back to football.

Last year I think we had one or two players, maybe Rapp?, who wore the helmet pillows (I guess they have some sort of official name but that's what they look like to me). This year I don't think any Bills are using it and I'm surprised that it hasn't caught on around the league, considering what appears to be an obvious safety benefit. OK, they look ridiculous, but probably face guards did too when they were new. (Kinda reminds me of hockey back in the '60s when only one or two players wore helmets, and the Amerks had a goalie, Bobby Perrault, who didn't wear a mask or a helmet at all. He's dead now.) Anyway I'd love to have the wisdom of my fellow posters on this all-important topic.

They should do two-a-days in full pads, the softies! When I played JV football the coach wouldn't let us drink water during practice.

REALLY I'M NOT JOKING - If Mitch is sick and can't play on Sunday it means we have to elevate what's-his-name from the practice squad which is an unfortunate use of a PS elevation

Remember: Bart Starr was taken in the 17th round.

And we got the first pick in the draft and took OJ

I'm more concerned that history doesn't even qualify as context, and in OJ's case particularly so, since he became - uh - "unpopular" later in life. His 1973 accomplishments should stand out in NFL history as the singular measure of RB greatness. What he did in 14 games with a good but not great team with a good but not great QB is incomparable. When someone else hits 2000 in 14 games we can talk. I love your comment "I don’t know why people are having a hard time with this, stating facts of numbers." I had a statistics professor in college who said "statistics don't lie but liars can statistic." Numbers can be presented to support pretty much any argument you want to make. But it's not a big issue. On to New England.

You're comparing Cook's best season to OJ's second-best season? In '73 OJ averaged 6 per carry and 143 per game. James has 5.3 and 100. That's the proper historical context.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRcz39ckgKR/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRcz39ckgKR/

Guys, get a room

You mean Tyrod?