Sierra Foothills

As of this morning (Sunday January 5th) most of the playoff field has been set, but two playoff teams remain to be decided and the No. 1 seed in the NFC will go down to the final game of the season. Here’s how the NFL playoff picture looks after the Saturday games of Week 18: AFC Playoff Picture DIVISION LEADERS 1. Kansas City Chiefs (15-1): Clinched the No. 1 seed, first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. 2. Buffalo Bills (13-3): Clinched the No. 2 seed. 3. Baltimore Ravens (12-5): Clinched the No. 3 seed. 4. Houston Texans (9-7): Clinched the No. 4 seed. WILD CARDS 5. Los Angeles Chargers (10-6): Clinched a wild card, will be the 5 seed with a win on Sunday or the 6 seed with a loss on Sunday. 6. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7): Clinched a wild card, will be the 6 seed if the Chargers win on Sunday or the 5 seed if the Chargers lose on Sunday. 7. Denver Broncos (9-7): Need to win today to be the 7 seed. OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Cincinnati Bengals (9-8): Would be the 7 seed if the Broncos and Dolphins both lose. Miami Dolphins (8-8): Would be the 7 seed with a win and a Broncos loss. NFC Playoff Picture DIVISION LEADERS 1. Detroit Lions (14-2): Clinched a playoff berth, will clinch the No. 1 seed if they beat or tie the Vikings on Sunday night. 2. Philadelphia Eagles (13-3): Clinched the No. 2 seed. 3. Los Angeles Rams (10-6): Clinched the NFC West. 4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7): One-game lead in the NFC South, but they would lose a tiebreaker to the Falcons. WILD CARDS 5. Minnesota Vikings (14-2): Clinched a playoff berth, will clinch the No. 1 seed if they beat the Lions on Sunday night. 6. Washington Commanders (11-5): Clinched a playoff berth, own the NFC record tiebreaker over the Packers. 7. Green Bay Packers (11-5): Clinched a playoff berth. OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Atlanta Falcons (8-8): Will win the NFC South if they win on Sunday and the Buccaneers lose. Clinching Scenarios Here are the full playoff scenarios released by the NFL: AFC CLINCHED: Kansas City Chiefs (15-1) – AFC West, No. 1 seed, first-round bye and home-field advantage Buffalo Bills (13-3) – AFC East, No. 2 seed Baltimore Ravens (12-5) – AFC North, No. 3 seed Houston Texans (9-7) – AFC South, No. 4 seed Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) – wild card Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6) – wild card Cincinnati Bengals (9-8) season over Cincinnati clinches a playoff berth with: DEN loss + MIA loss or tie Denver Broncos (9-7) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (15-1); Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS Denver clinches a playoff berth with: DEN win or tie Miami Dolphins (8-8) at New York Jets (4-12); Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX Miami clinches a playoff berth with: MIA win + DEN loss NFC CLINCHED: Philadelphia Eagles (13-3) – NFC East, No. 2 seed Los Angeles Rams (10-6) – NFC West Detroit Lions (14-2) – playoff berth Green Bay Packers (11-5) – playoff berth Minnesota Vikings (14-2) – playoff berth Washington Commanders (11-5) – playoff berth Detroit Lions (14-2) vs. Minnesota Vikings (14-2); Sunday night, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC Detroit clinches NFC North division title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, lone first-round bye and home-field advantage with: DET win or tie Minnesota Vikings (14-2) at Detroit Lions (14-2); Sunday night, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC Minnesota clinches NFC North division title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, lone first-round bye and home-field advantage with: MIN win Atlanta Falcons (8-8) vs. Carolina Panthers (4-12); Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS Atlanta clinches NFC South division title with: ATL win + TB loss Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7) vs. New Orleans Saints (5-11); Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, FOX Tampa Bay clinches NFC South division title with: TB win or tie ATL loss or tie

My money's on the Bills beating the Ravens in the Divisional Round.

The other guys will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe McDermott clearly stated that Hyde will not dress for this game.

Contrary to what you guys are saying, there is a line in football between what is acceptable and what is not. Unnecessary roughness is similar to the law enforcement concept of "excessive force." Do you guys remember this "clean hit" by Warren Sapp on Chad Clifton? The hit complied with the letter of the law at that time. Clifton suffered a fractured pelvis, was hospitalized, and couldn't walk for 5 weeks. He missed the remainder of the season including the playoffs. In 2005, the NFL Competition Committee agreed on new guidelines for "unnecessary roughness", making hits such as that suffered by Clifton illegal. Head on a swivel or not, acts like Sapps and Shnowman's are excessive, unnecessary, and malicious. Call me what you'd like but I'd prefer to enjoy a sport where there is some respect and consideration (and please don't confuse kindness for weakness) for your opponent. So I respectfully disagree with you guys.

As we all knew, Rex is getting interviewed... it's scheduled for Tuesday. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/jets-will-interview-rex-ryan-for-head-coaching-vacancy-on-tuesday I still don't believe they'll hire him though... more just to get him off their backs.

My bad! Sorry!!! (see below) The Chargers will go as far as Justin Herbert will take them and he's been playing the best football of his career over the last two weeks.

If Von makes a handful of outcome affecting plays in the postseason and the Bills win the Super Bowl, how will you feel about the acquisition?

Probably Tom Brady. I think it had to do with the Bills signing Lawyer Milloy in 2003. Due to the arcane and indecipherable NFL compensatory draft rules, New England was awarded an extra retro-future 6th rounder in 2000. Or something like that.

Yes, it possibly could. While the Patriots have not drafted well over the last several years we cannot assume that will continue next year. They could have a lucky good draft.

Excerpt from Joe Buscaglia's piece yesterday in "The Athletic:" The case for and against — practice squad elevations With the Bills wanting to look at some young players on their roster, here is a quick rundown of players they could consider. Remember, the Bills can only use two elevations for the game. QB Mike White — The Bills admitted that it will be difficult to call up White due to a roster crunch at other positions, but didn’t rule it out. RB Frank Gore Jr. — He had one call-up earlier in the season when James Cook was injured, but the team may want to get Ray Davis the bulk of the work. Cook also has some season-long markers the Bills may want to hit in the game. That takes Gore out of consideration. WR K.J. Hamler — Hamler is the only practice squad receiver with a call-up remaining, as the Bills elevated Jalen Virgil and Tyrell Shavers on three separate occasions, which is the maximum amount for the season. Hamler would get the call if the Bills want to rest Amari Cooper or Curtis Samuel can’t play. OL Will Clapp — Clapp spent 11 weeks on the active roster, and part of the benefits of calling up a player is that the player gets a 53-man roster salary for that weekend. The Bills may look elsewhere since he’s a veteran player and has gotten that level of compensation nearly quadruple the standard elevation limit. OL Richard Gouraige — Gouraige is an extremely compelling case for a standard elevation, as he could help the Bills give their entire starting offensive line the week off and also has the flexibility to play either guard or tackle. He would enhance their overall versatility should an injury occur to one of their four other backup offensive linemen. OL Mike Edwards — Edwards hasn’t been called up once this year, but it’s only his first year on the practice squad, and he is a guard only, which would probably give Gouraige the edge. Gouraige is in his second full year on the practice squad. DE Kingsley Jonathan — If the Bills want to give one of Dawuane Smoot, A.J. Epenesa or Von Miller some more rest, Jonathan would be one to consider this weekend. Jonathan is on the shortlist of those to call up. DE Casey Toohill — Like Jonathan, the Bills could consider Toohill for another option at defensive end. The only thing working against him is that, like Clapp, Toohill spent the first 15 weeks on the active roster, guaranteeing his full-year 53-man roster salary. LB/S Lewis Cine — Cine has one elevation remaining and is a very strong candidate to get called up this weekend. Not only does he give them versatility at two different positions, but they could use him on all phases of special teams to help lighten the workload of some others. CB Daequan Hardy — Hardy hasn’t been called up yet this season and could factor into cornerback this weekend. However, the Bills have a lot of healthy cornerbacks and a few different options to use on the 53-man roster already. S Kareem Jackson — Jackson is another consideration with one standard elevation remaining, though he may not have as much versatility to offer in this situation as Cine. He remains on the shortlist, however. S Micah Hyde — McDermott ruled out Hyde being called up this weekend against the Patriots. Projected practice squad elevations: OL Richard Gouraige, LB/S Lewis Cine It's behind a paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6034094/2025/01/03/josh-allen-bills-patriots-starters-week-18/

Of course. Being respected and being liked are not the same thing and if you dislike someone, you're probably not gonna vote for them.

And how about his return of the onside kick? A great special teams play. I get the feeling that ole' Spencer is not well-liked by opposing players. He looks like he's always trying to beat people up during the play and talk trash after the play. That's probably not the best way to win a popularity contest. 😆

Which brings us back to the original discussion of this topic and the general truth that it's cheaper to extend players earlier than it is to try to sign them as free agents later.

Yeah it'll be interesting to see how the team values Cook and Johnson. Johnson played this year on a 1 year, $1.3 million contract. If his price tag were to double (or more) next year the team could theoretically choose to move on and simply give that money and those 3rd down snaps back to Cook with the hopes that he can take the next step in his development as a dependable 3rd down receiving option.

The topic of my post is the ability for Cook to improve... as stated he's improved his pass protection, his ball protection, and his short-yardage, goal-line running. The point is that catching the ball is the final area of untapped improvement. He's actually dropped 3 TD passes that I can remember... against the Dolphins, the Jaguars, and the Eagles. What these TD drops also mean is that he's uncoverable. If he can regain trust as a receiver, the sky is the limit for him. And we can't simply assume Ty Johnson will be back with the Bills next year either so that's another moving part that in the long term, affects Cook's usage and his upside.

She's not alone. Plenty of people didn't know that the Kansas City Chiefs play in Missouri, not Kansas.

Who do I want in round 1? We desperately need a wrecking ball or two on the D-line. On the other hand you can never have enough good pass rushers and with a QB like Josh, I'd also be on board with a high-ceiling wide receiver. It really depends on who's available when we pick.

Well then go paint a picture, or you know, sketch an invention or something.

The Cameroonian Maroon!

I agree there's still potential upside for Cook. For one thing his pass blocking has clearly gotten better. For another, before this season began people here were criticizing Cook for being a fumbler but he's touched the ball 229 times so far and only fumbled once. So he's improved there too. He's also proven that he's a good short yardage and goal-line back which is something people were dismissive of. It's been commented here about his dropped passes but he was considered a good pass catcher coming out of college and it's far from settled that he has poor hands. IMO Cook could be used more heavily as a receiver and it's something that the team might be keeping under wraps for the playoffs. Cook is blazing fast, quick, twitchy, and explosive. Miraculously he's also very smooth which QBs love. IMO he's been underutilized as a receiver. Put the ball in Cook's hands in the secondary and he's a lethal weapon.

I would be surprised if this is true. I understand that Woodie is a moron but he can't possibly be that stupid.

Just to complete the picture, Trubisky: 1st round 2nd overall 2017 White: 5th round, 171st overall 2018 "Thatsa spicy meatball"

The value of the picks shouldn't drop due to poor performance or injury of the players we've lost. Why should WE be penalized if some other team makes a decision and it doesn't work out FOR THEM? JMO.

Thank you for always posting these. 👍 And the girlfriend?

The outcome was determined before the ball was kicked off.