Sierra Foothills

All excellent and valid points with the one caveat that Burrow will have less rust and more practice in our game... plus it's likely that Higgins, who was inactive against the Ravens will play. On the subject of Kincaid and being injury prone, soft tissue injuries, non-contact injuries, etc, there are players who are seemingly always injured, players who are seemingly never injured, and that group in between. Kincaid is verging on being injury-prone, however people want debate it. It's the same concept as "you are what your record says you are."

Not to his teammates but the sheer amount of drama surrounding him involving the media and the fans and even the front office... wow. Talk about drafting a distraction...

The bolded is technically true but an odd characterization. It's equally true that he's a former 2nd rounder who's started 47 0f 51 games in his career and was available due to medical concerns. He had 3 interceptions in a game against Jacksonville. It's not like he's Dane Jackson.

Excited? Did you have an involuntary response? It's interesting. I don't consider the Bills to be a particularly good tackling team but Christian Benford was interviewed after winning the Defensive POTW award and mentioned that he takes pride in his tackling and that the Bills work on tackling a lot in practice.

I saw that. How's it looking for the Bengals? Did not practice LB Terrel Bernard (elbow) DE Joey Bosa (hamstring/wrist) WR Josh Palmer (knee/ankle) CP Ned Boy (oblique) Limited participation OL Dion Dawkins (concussion) OL Spencer Brown (shoulder) TE Dalton Kincaid (hamstring/knee) Full workout LS Reid Ferguson (neck) FB Reggie Gilliam (knee) TE Jackson Hawes (back) DT TJ Sanders (wrist) I'm older than you. I recall the days when the Bills training staff would use a buckskin wrap to hold a block of ice cut from Chautauqua Lake during the Mayville Winter Festival. I had to check with AI just to be sure: No. A spleen injury typically causes pain in the left upper abdomen and sometimes the left shoulder, but it does not directly affect the hamstring muscles. Spleen injury symptoms: Pain from a spleen injury is generally located in the upper left abdomen, under the rib cage. A classic symptom, known as Kehr's sign, is referred pain to the left shoulder, caused by blood irritating the phrenic nerve near the diaphragm. Hamstring injury symptoms: A hamstring injury involves pain, tenderness, and sometimes bruising in the back of the thigh and has no direct anatomical or neurological connection to the spleen. The only connection suggested outside of standard medical consensus comes from a non-traditional source which claims a link between the medial hamstring and the health of the pancreas and spleen based on flexibility practices, a concept not supported by conventional medical science. Yes. Apparently he has dual strains off the gluteus maximus muscles and literally can't sit. The athletic training staff has built a suspension device that essentially allows him to sleep in an inverted but upright position.

A Venn Diagram might be helpful.

Spleen. According to Pro Football Reference, Kincaid's played in 37 of 46 regular season games and 5 of 5 playoff games so 42 of a possible 51... 82%. That prorates to exactly 14 games played and 3 missed per 17 game season.

This was inevitable and predictable. What's hilarious is that the Browns, possibly more than any franchise aside from the Jets, can't get the QB position right and now they have the two most divisive, controversial QBs in the NFL on the same roster. You can't make this stuff up.

Benford started out the season like a guy who had a concussion hangover from last season but his game has been picking up. Against Tampa Bay he traveled with star rookie Emeka Ugboka who only managed 5 catches for 40 yards on 9 targets. The next week he traveled with Nico Collins who had just 3 catches for 55 yards. Of course against the Steelers he had a great game against both the pass and the run and deservedly won the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award with the scoop and score, the INT, and holding DK Metcalf to 3 catches for 32 yards on 5 targets. If you're being honest, Benford's been playing great lately and is peaking at the right time. Also Tre's had a solid season and Hairston has most Bills fans excited by his incredible athleticism. The acquisition of Slay gives the Bills excellent depth at a position where they've historically had epidemic injuries in the playoffs. In weeks 9 and 10 playing for Taron Johnson, Cam played very well and looked better than Taron had looked all season to that point. Amen. You're trying to improve everywhere, all the time. He was running those patterns for the receivers. It looks like his film study is exceptional. He knew what the receivers were doing before they were doing it. One half.

Yeah you're right. Bad idea! 😆

I'm sorry to hear of your loss and I hope the game is a fun win and brings some happiness to your family. Do you recall details of the last game you attended at The Ralph? As others have pointed to, the Bills gotta stop turning the ball over, which is to say Josh has to play a cleaner game than he's been playing. The Bills have to hold serve in this one. So you think the Bengals have adequately supported Burrow? Are you expecting a Bills loss? Maybe the most positive thing to come out of last week's game was that Ray Davis finally broke his sophomore slump. It looks like he's been watching Cook and has a better understanding of where the openings are going to be. It was also nice seeing Ty Johnson look like last year with that 20 yard reception. The Bills have needed more from their backup running backs... I'm not comfortable with an over reliance on James Cook. Plus both teams are coming off bad losses. It should be hard fought if nothing else. Week 14 would be the perfect time for Josh to start protecting the ball better and the team as a whole to start peaking. It's the stretch run! Okay.

Jim has aged very, very well... and what can you say about Rich Eisen? Thank you for posting.

Yes and then there's the whole palm oil issue. I buy stuff from the Girl Scouts to support them but not the cookies. Be careful or you're gonna get the Whammy.

Recently my brother and two buddies from WNY (Williamsville and Webster) had a blind hot dog tasting featuring Sahlens, Weigles white hots, and representing the Bay Area of California, Caspers. Both Sahlens and Caspers have that snap at first bite and are more seasoned than the Weigles which is pretty mild. My brother made pork and beans using salt pork and my buddy from Webster made homemade onion rings. Not the healthiest meal but quite good vittles for a backyard gathering in the fall.

You should have asked Leodis to be the ring bearer.

What's your official position on Girl Scout Cookies?

I almost missed the second part of the joke... well played good sir. So well that I have a sneaking suspicion that Psautcsk is actually a type of sausage... it sounds like something I'd pick up at with my leberkase.

This was in response to my post so I can only surmise it was directed at me. I enjoyed this victory very much and have been pretty consistently positive about this team. But Joe Brady has not proven that he deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this offense and specifically the passing game. I'll be overjoyed to be proven wrong but my skepticism is well-founded. As always, I'll believe it when I see it.

Yeah the timing of this topic is interesting. Hoping the MRI went well. No arguments there. Absolutely. Pet peeve while on the subject... I've seen some "professional writers" (beat writers) characterize the hit on Rodgers as a "strip sack." A "strip" is a very distinct physical movement. The fumble Bosa caused was due to the hit jarring the ball out and/or possibly a punch out but it was not stripped. People who write for a living should have the ability to describe things accurately. That is all. Yes, what could have been. The defensive injuries have been a big story of this season. I think the treatment of the Bosa situation is that you let him see what the market is and make him an offer. Maybe he stays, maybe he goes but you can't adopt a "sign him at all costs" attitude nor can you overpay your valuation. The age and injury history are too much to ignore. Hopefully if the numbers are close, he re-ups with the Bills because he likes it here. I'm always ready to cringe when McDermott speaks but I'm also too curious to not watch the video. There are a few real bonus moments in this one that make it worth watching.

Exactly, Chaos. And when other teams do stop our run game as they have before and inevitably will again, are you confident that Brady will have an answer? This is exactly my concern. We were concerned about the offense earlier this year and then we beat KC and everyone was placated... until we were stomped by Miami. Brady has absolutely not proven that he's evolved as quickly as he should. Apparently Coleman got some snaps from the slot against Pittsburgh... something posters here have been clamoring for all season long. Maybe there is hope but I'm more of a proof guy than a hope guy. I know Josh loves Knox and recently said something along the lines of "trusting him with my life" but Knox still struggles to catch the ball. A few times in recent games he's had to fall down in order to secure a catch where a better receiving tight end would have radiused to pluck the ball out of the air and head upfield. I guess it's too late to hope that Knox will ever improve as a ball catcher.

I'm ambivalent about Bernard even when he's healthy and at his best. I'd prefer him to have a role as a nickel/dime linebacker if anything. Shaq is our best linebacker but I question his durability too. In recent years he's shown an inability to be dependable and available. Though I remain confident in the evolution of this defense (Bosa's injury is the latest concern/setback), linebacker has to be addressed earnestly this offseason. In a perfect world, Shaq is a dependable and quality backup... unless he can reverse the recent trend of missing games.

Last year in 10 games he had 48 catches for 615 yards and 5 TDs. That was skewed a bit by the 5 catch, 110 yard, 2 TD performance in week 17.

The story was never about Milano's play like it was never about Tre White's play. Milano and White, along with Cole Bishop and others were made to look bad by players like Terrell Bernard and Taylor Rapp. Now that those two huge liabilities are off the field, the defense has improved. The actual story is how much better the Bills defense is when Shaq Thompson starts... like in the week 8 win over Carolina (40-7) or the win against Pittsburgh. For football aficionados there are few things as satisfying as watching good linebacker play. I'm mystified that McDermott and his underlings have the audacity to start Bernard when he's healthy. It's the most obvious case of favoritism on the Bills. It's alright for nickel backs to duck under blocks and finesse their way towards ball carriers. It's an outright embarassment when the player doing that is a linebacker. I get it... McDermott loves the guy... so give him the unsung hero award for keeping morale high among the backups... but keep him on the bench and don't embarrass the organization by making him your defensive captain.

You Brat!