bargepole

Lots of fans on here already talking about a possible home Championship game against the Bengals next week, and SB appearance after that. Let's hope the team and the coaches aren't thinking like that. They have to be 100% focused on the upcoming 60 minutes of football against KC, lose that and there is no next week. We also saw from yesterday's games, that the deciding factor was Special Teams, not the O or the D. Could this be the story again tonight, in another low-scoring game?

Over 40 pages in this thread so far, and not a ball has yet been kicked. Anyway, good news, the court case which I was having to get up early on Monday for has now been settled by my clients, so I'll be staying up late on Sunday night / Monday morning to watch the drama unfold. I've got a small bet on Josh Allen to be the first TD scorer of the game, at odds of 10/1, which seems good value.

This might be the last time that the Bills play the KC Chiefs. They are under pressure to drop the name 'Chiefs' as it is considered insulting to Native American groups. One of the leading professional rugby teams in England is the Exeter Chiefs, who use a headdress image as their logo, and various other native symbols. Following complaints from various Native American groups, they are set to drop all that at the end of the current season, and rebrand the franchise for 2022/23.

I'd agree with those who say that Jodh Allen is the best QB in the NFL. But on the other side, Travis Kelce is arguably the best TE. However, in a tight game like this, it's not just down to how well the respective Offences and Defences play. The deciding factor could well be Special Teams - kick-offs and returns, punts and returns, executing an onside kick if required, and slotting long range FGs. Then there is the unknown factor - if 4th down an 2 comes up, will they play conservatively, or will they go for it? Will there be any trick plays that haven't been seen in the regular season? All of this makes it a fascinating prospect for late night Sunday viewing.

Some people on here are moaning about the 6:30pm (ET) kick off time. Spare a thought for us UK-based Bills fans, that is 11:30pm GMT, which means the game will finish around 2:30am Monday morning - or even later if it goes to OT, which is a definite possibility. And i have to get up at 6:00am on Monday to catch the train to London for work!

I don't think a third year on the PS will be of any interest to Christian Wade, or the Bills. It's really now or never this year for him, he either makes the 53-man roster, or is picked up by another NFL team, or else the dream is over. If he wants to stay in the US, he could probably get an offer of $50,000 to join New York in next season's Major League Rugby, but that would be peanuts compared with the $500,000 he could get from any English Premiership club, and we at Wasps would certainly welcome him back with open arms. Difficult decisions ahead. I'd say he needs to really shine in at least one pre-season game, so that the Bills see that they have to keep him.

He would have earned 3 to 4 times that much if he'd stayed in Rugby. Even more if he had gone to the French Top 14 League, where they have no salary cap. I'm surprised he agreed to sign as the 11th exempt player, meaning he gets no game time at all this season, but he's obviously made a career choice, and a big commitment to the Bills. Just hope it all pays off this time next year.

Damn, I forgot the Panthers were based in Charlotte. What about Raleigh, then?

This might be a silly question, but isn't there a league in the US below the NFL where the cut payers can play for less prestigious teams on smaller salaries? I find it hard to believe that a country the size of the US can only support 32 professional teams. English soccer has 92 professional teams, tiered in 4 divisions. I can thank of plenty of major US cities which don't have an NFL franchise - off the top of my head, Birmingham, Charlotte, Columbus, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Portland, and so on. What do football fans do in those places?

That highlights reel shows that Wade is quite capable of going straight up the middle, and beating defenders to get past the line of scrimmage, as well as catching screen passes, holding the football properly and not losing it when tackled, or fumbling the ball. So he's not just there for the flashy runs into open space, he can do the hard yards as well. Anyone watching that, who didn't know he was a new recruit to NFL, would assume he was an experienced RB, that's how far he's come in a few months. If the Bills don't put him on the roster, other teams will be looking closely at that.

A view from across the pond .. To observers in England, the NFL season seems far too short, lasting just over 5 months. Just as we're getting into the excitement of who will qualify for the playoffs, then the playoff games, the Superbowl is upon us in early February, and it's all over until the following September. Surely there can't be, or shouldn't be, that much difference in quality between the first and second choice players for any given position, and with careful management and squad rotation, an 18-game season with each player playing a maximum of 16 games is easily achievable. For comparison purposes, the Rugby season is 8+ months long, with 22 scheduled league games, and the top 4 teams entering the playoffs. Then there's also the European Cup competition, with a minimum of 6 pool games, then playoffs for the top 8 teams. And some players will also be selected for their International sides, so can easily end up playing 30+ games in a season - and these guys have to stay on the field for a full 80 minutes of action in each game. The NFL millionaire players don't realise what an easy life they have.

Nor would I. So far you guys have only seen a small fraction of what Wade can do. I will go as far as to say that he definitely will be on the active roster of one of the NFL teams, and Bills fans had better hope it's theirs, as they have been the ones training him in the ways of American Football. Otherwise they will see him making yards and TDs for one of their opponents.

The same applies in Rugby - it isn't just about running into open space with ball in hand. You have to be aware of the situation on the field, what your teammates are doing, and support the attacking play in many different ways. As a winger, you also have to be prepared to step in to the scrum half position when your regular scrum half is buried at the bottom of a ruck. Then you also have to perform defensive duties when the other team have the ball (there isn't a separate defence team in Rugby), this includes tackling runners, fielding punts, closing down space, and so on. So if he can do all that and be considered one of the best in one game, he can do it in another - the two are not that dissimilar, Walter Camp changed the rules of Rugby to create American Football only about 100 years ago.

Fast forward to Feb 2nd. The Bills, having had a perfect 16-0 record in the regular season, and cruised through the playoffs crushing all opposition, are now in the Superbowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. As the teams head for the locker room at half time, the score is Bills 31 - Eagles 0 (Wade 4 x TD, and a field goal resulting from a 70-yard punt return by Wade). So McDermott says "Christian, the boys have worked really hard this season to set up all those opportunities for you, and I'd like to take them into town for a slap-up steak dinner. Would you mind finishing up the second half on your own?" He agrees, and much later Wade arrives at the restaurant where his teammates are several beers to the good. "What was the final score?" asks McDermott. "We won 31-7" says Wade. "31-7?" queries McDermott. "How did they manage to get a TD?" Wade replies "Sorry, coach, but I accidentally tripped one of their WRs in the last minute, and was ejected from the game".

I don't know why everyone is talking about Wade ending up in the PS. That just isn't going to happen. This is what I said in the other thread: "According to the Salary Cap chart, Wade is already on a salary of $495,000, same as Singletary. This is roughly the same as what he would have earned if he had stayed in England playing Rugby. But I really can't see that he would be interested in cooling his heels in the PS, this is a guy who needs to be playing every week. He has said this in many interviews. If the Bills don't include him in the 53, and another franchise doesn't pick him, I can see him reverting to his original Plan B, which is to go and play rugby in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand or South Africa). So Sean McDermott has a decision to make - put him on the roster, or risk having Wade rip the Bills' defence to shreds wearing a Jets shirt." But it's not just about 50-odd yard spectacular runs. The bread and butter for an RB is surely to convert those 3rd downs into first downs, and keep the chains moving. Wade will give you that, he almost always beats the first tackler, and makes a few more yards before two or three guys gang up to stop him. He did that week in, week out, in Rugby, and the tacklers there were also elite top class professional players, no insurance salesmen or grocery baggers there. I also don't recall him ever spilling the ball in a tackle in Rugby, and that ball is slightly bigger than the one used in American Football.