sullim4

We were just on Maui in November and visit frequently. I get call outs for my Bills gear all the time, but have found no place to congregate with other fans. We typically stay on the south shore. Maui Brewing's new digs in Kihei is a good spot although expect it to be crowded. I liked Pint and Cork in Wailea as well which was less crowded and had decent happy hour specials (which run from 2-5pm every day). If you are on the west side, MBC also has a pub in Ka'anapali (despite the address, it's not in Lahaina), and Front St in Lahaina has a ton of bars that will undoubtedly be showing the game. These are all touristy spots though - if you want something where you'd find locals, your best area to look would be Kahului/Wailuku near the airport. Most tourists don't venture here aside from trips to the airport.

My ideal path... Bills beat HOU Bills beat KC Bills beat TEN This is the easiest path imo, but I doubt the Titans beat the Ravens. I'd much rather face KC in the divisional round than Baltimore so that means NE* has to go down in round 1.

Yes. It is a national simulcast on ABC - not just the Buffalo area. We have an OTA antenna and will be getting the game in Seattle :).

Wild Card Saturday: Tony Corrente All-Star Crew, complete with a young Walt Coleman: http://www.footballzebras.com/2019/12/corrente-hussey-cheffers-and-smith-are-wild-card-referees/ Yrs 2019 crew College Occupation R 99 Tony Corrente 25 Cal State-Fullerton former college officiating coordinator, retired educator U 102 Bruce Stritesky 14 Vinovich Embry Riddle airline pilot DJ 6 Jerod Phillips 4 Martin Northeastern State elementary school teacher LJ 65 Walt Coleman IV 5 Novak Southern Methodist financial advisor FJ 116 Mike Weatherford 18 Novak Oklahoma State energy trader SJ 86 Jimmy Buchanan 11 Blakeman South Carolina State insurance agent BJ 111 Terrence Miles 12 Novak Arizona State quality control manager Replay official: Mike Wimmer Replay assistant: Bill Ellis Alternates: Alex Kemp (R), Ramon George (U), Mark Steinkerchner (LJ), Gary Cavaletto (SJ)

A couple observations right off the bat after watching the first few series: - Jimbo was no future HOFer in this game. I think a lot of people here, myself included, romanticize his career and think the guy walks on water. While he's the best quarterback we've ever had, we see the very best performances today from the likes of Rodgers, Brees, Brady, etc and think Kelly did this every single time he walked onto the field... and wonder why QBs like Allen can't replicate this success. We watch games like The Comeback this time of year and think every quarterback should be able to do what Reich did that day. Watching stuff like this puts some of Allen's early-in-career performances into their proper perspective. - Norwood's leg strength was clearly a liability. I've watched a number of these games from the late 80s-early 90s on Youtube and he struggled to hit 50 yards. Polian should have been looking at options here - while I don't blame him for the loss in XXV, he didn't help us win either and getting a better PK could have made the difference. Hauschka's recent struggles make me think about this more. - The NFL was so much less corporate. It's the little things - the signs along the sidelines ('DRILL THE OILERS', Skid Row, etc) don't exist today. The press box is tiny by modern standards. Pete Metzelaars' name plate on the back of his jersey was horribly off center. They didn't care about that stuff back then - now you'd get fined for wearing the wrong colored shoe.

Put the Cheaters game on instead.... much more entertaining to watch these asshats having trouble with Fitz.

This is one time where you do not "Play to win the game" and instead "play to just play it" so that you can be at your best the following week.

I hate the FG there. Go for it, the last thing you want in this game is overtime.

High motor guy similar to Kelsay.... who is arguably TBD's most popular whipping boy of all time. Not surprised that the crowd here doesn't like him.

Yup. Can't remember the username. As another example, the "nevergiveup" account was widely believed to be Fitz.

I don't follow college ball at all... but this is crazy. They are on pace for 84 points in a playoff game. Is Oklahoma this bad? LSU this good? Why is there such a disparity between #1 and #4?

ABC/ESPN generally gets the least desirable game of the four. NBC gets the better game from the other conference. Bills/Texans is a virtual lock for the ABC/ESPN slot. The NFC teams likely playing on wild card weekend are all big draws - Eagles/Cowboys, 49ers/Seahawks, Saints, Vikings, etc. Thus NBC is going to get an NFC game and ESPN is going to get the worst AFC game. I think the Chiefs get the Sunday AFC slot regardless of opponent.

Bump. @Jimmy Spagnola - care to comment on youse predictions?

I do often wonder why specialists don't try to excel at both kicking and punting. You'd save a roster spot if your kicker and punter were the same person - it seems like this is something Belichick would think of.

I'd be fine with this if it was anybody but Greggggo, Marrone (obviously), or Belichick on the other sideline. I think the risk of injury against any of these three guys is too great... so I would sit the starters if it were me.

I'm waiting for Jimmy Spags to chime in here... I am sure "youse guys" want Gase canned.

Agreed. ESPN's picture quality is trash. I've watched it on cable, satellite, streaming... it all sucks. For the amount of money they command, you would think they could afford to stream 1080p but they are still stuck on 720p while CBS and NBC are on 1080i. CBS easily has the best picture quality and football production quality of the major 4 networks. NBC is a close second. FOX and ABC/ESPN are a distant third and fourth.

The line judge's watch is only used as a backup mechanism. The stadium clock is the official clock used in all circumstances barring technical failure. Look, you guys just shurg and want to know why other teams view your team as a bunch of serial cheaters. It's stuff like this. It's the inappropriate taping of the Bengals/Browns game. It's deflategate. It's the shooing off the field that McDermott had to do to little Belichick before the last game they played in Buffalo. It's the original Spygate scandal. It's the dirty plays from Edelman and Gronkowski. It's the picking through garbage of the visiting team's hotel to collect intel (thanks Coy Wire for doing something useful). No other team has consistently had this amount of nonsense around their franchise. None. The Pats* fans like to point out that it must be the overwhelming success that causes everyone to hate them, but yet other franchises that have many Super Bowls (Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Green Bay, etc) don't have anywhere near the hate that Billy Belichick, Bob Kraft, and Ernie Adams have generated for New England.

Personally I preferred the blue throwbacks. Gotta love Trent Edwards!

Possibly, but given that the AFCE is playing both the AFCW and NFCW, I don't think they'd force teams in either of those two divisions to make the trip to London next year. I expect to see teams like the Jaguars, Browns, and maybe the Lions against "popular" teams like Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Green Bay.

This is how the NFL network coerces the cable/satellite/OTT streaming providers to put the NFL Network in their packages. The cheapest way to get NFLN is to do a trial subscription of YoutubeTV. It's free for a week I believe.

Yoda told Luke, you must confront Vader... The curse is officially over if they win this game. It would truly be amazing if we beat them in NE, and Fitz finds some way to beat them in possibly the final game of his career.

If we had only intentionally lost one of those NFC games against the Cowboys, Giants, or Redskins, this wouldn't have been a problem...

Beating the Steelers in Pittsburgh.... just huge. We couldn't beat the Steelers scrubs in 2004 at home!

This is a simple fix - eliminate coaches challenges and have an eighth official in the press box that can override any calls made by the on-field officials. The AAF did this and I thought it worked well. I definitely believe that "good"/"popular" teams (Pittsburgh, NE*, Green Bay, Dallas, Seattle, etc) get the benefit of the doubt a lot more often than mediocre/bad teams. I don't know it it's conscious or subconscious... but without a doubt, across the league, teams like the Bengals, Cardinals, Bills, Jacksonville, etc get screwed a lot more often by close calls and poor officiating.