sullim4

I'm with you... that would be a terrific Super Bowl. No one wants to see Brady, Belichick, Brees, and Payton again outside of the fans of those teams.

I was eight years old at the time - this is my earliest Bills memory as a kid. We were listening to the game and my dad and I decided to go to the car wash at halftime to get our minds off the game. Then it happened...

I have no horse in this race, I only watch college football games a handful of times each year. I went to a D-III school that had D-I mens hockey, that's it. The main thing preventing me from watching more college football is the lack of parity between the top programs and everybody else. That's largely driven by recruiting and the cult of personality surrounding a small handful of coaches. Saban, Meyer, Swinney, etc. Bowden was certainly one of these guys in the 90s. Since there is no draft (because, of course, these players are picking the school for academic reasons, not the football team...), the top flight players flock to these programs. They are stocked with talent that makes any other team pale in comparison. Add that to the out-of-conference cupcake games that these teams inevitably schedule and you get maybe 1 or 2 competitive games on any of these top teams' schedules before the bowl season. These coaches end up being the highest paid public employee in their state, and this inevitably leads to a culture where this guy has a ridiculous amount of power and sway over their university. Unfortunately, look no further than State College to see how that can corrupt a university, going all the way to the top. I mean, outside of Alabama and Clemson fans, who actually wants to go see this game for the fourth consecutive year?

No, the issue is that there are 2 or 3 teams that whip the living daylights out of every other program. Alabama's dominance over college football isn't good for the game.

Classic Raiders move. "The Foolish Club" indeed.

Watch Chris Brown's twitter feed over the next few days. Usually you can read the tea leaves - if he tirelessly defends someone, and then all of a sudden goes silent, or throws someone under the bus, then the end is near.

Taking the racial question out of it, that first assertion around playing football making you a good coach is interesting to explore. If there's really something to CTE and cognitive capability, then one could easily argue that long, sustained playing careers make you a terrible candidate to be a head coach. A ton of backup journeyman quarterbacks (Garrett, Reich, Pederson), and lots of careers that topped out in college before they could take a licking (Belichick, Tomlin, McVay). Vrabel is the only person I can think of that had a somewhat lengthy, successful career as a starter in the NFL and is currently a head coach.

It's funny you mention this. Bowles is the only head coach I've ever seen that says almost nothing on the sidelines. Every time the camera is on him, he is just standing there, emotionless, saying nothing. Say what you want about McDermott, I think the clapping thing is stupid, but at least the guy shows some emotion on the sidelines. Bowles looks like he's watching an opera. Maybe it's similar to Ralph's reasoning about Wade and his headset... but Bowles behavior makes him look disengaged on game days.

Bingo. I think the expectations were higher in Arizona after drafting Rosen. The Bidwell family also doesn't have a sterling reputation as being great NFL owners, either.

It is hard to argue that Todd Bowles, Hue Jackson, and Marvin Lewis didn't get fair chances at being head coaches. They were each retained for longer than they should have been, white or black.

I don't have a problem with this. I'd rather they carry 3 QBs given the way Allen throws his body out on the field, and I don't think they are going to do much better than Derek Anderson as a QB3. Usually that slot goes to a very raw, late round QB (like Cardale Jones), or a journeyman vet like Barkley. They already have Barkley, and they have no need to draft a developmental QB. The only downside here is if you wanted to carry 2 QBs and use the roster spot on a different position. I don't think that's wise in the first place.

I'd really like to know who the person was behind the carousel at punter this year... was it "Always looking to get better" Beane, Crossman, or McD? In their quest to get better, they got significantly worse at this position. I don't think Bojorquez is the answer... with 10 draft picks I would like to see them spend a 7th rounder on a competent college punter.

I don't know that there are any tips... just go and enjoy the game. I will say that if you tend to be the obnoxious, boisterous type, that this behavior isn't tolerated and there's no warning before ejection. I don't know where Buffalo's club seats get a reputation for elitism on this board. I generally find the crowd to be on the older side; there are many retirees and life long Bills fans that sit there. Very few corporate types actually - most of them are in the M&T Club or in individual suites. The club audience is well out of the "go to the game to get drunk" phase and they just want to enjoy the game. Just because they don't scream and yell and drink a six pack of Genny before the game doesn't mean they aren't fans or know nothing about football. Quite the opposite, actually. After having a few less than ideal experiences in the 300's... I wouldn't ever go to a game and not sit in the outdoor clubs.

Two Thousand Eighteen Began with a playoff game Ends with a whimper.

The question that runs through my mind when I read this - what if this were McDermott, Frasier, or Daboll? How would TBD react? Tomlin is going to have a fun conversation with him I'm sure... although if I were Pittsburgh ownership, I'd be wondering what the hell Tomlin does during the week if his coordinators are this misinformed.

This game means nothing. Glorified preseason game. Nine months 'til Week 1!

Is winning losing? For the draft, most certainly. For the fans, no way!

Tickets for five bucks The lots packed with tailgaters How many arrests?

Gase is a head case Win? Lose? No matter the score his seat is white hot.

Lo! McDermott claps. Who is O'Leary's granddad? Squish the fish again!

I stand by this...

We are watching the end of the regime in Foxboro. Older Patriot* teams would be beating Buffalo by 25-30 points at this point.

Fitz. His problem is that he keeps getting into situations where he's named a starter, which he isn't capable of doing on a regular basis. He's arguably the best backup quarterback in the league.

You do that when you have no intention of scoring and want to prevent the opponent from calling all 3 timeouts and forcing a punt. It's a Jauron-esque play call... inexcusable.

I'd say an alcoholic is someone that allows alcohol to get in the way of leading their life. Do you need a drink before work? Can't go home to your family without stopping at the bar? Do you hide alcohol around your office or at home (yes, I know someone who did this)? Does your family regularly give you a tough time about drinking too much? These would all be good signs. Personally, if I'm going out to eat, I will probably have a beer, and I will drink a glass of red wine on weekend nights at home with dinner. Occasionally I'll have a glass of wine with dinner during the week. I will rarely have more than 2 drinks a day... maybe once every two or three months, usually at a beer fest or while wine tasting. I almost never order a cocktail. I don't like the "go x amount of time without wanting to have a drink" as the test to determine alcohol dependency. I find it hard to eat good food without a glass of wine... does that now make me an alcoholic? Likewise, I know of one guy that exhibited every single symptom in the first paragraph, that went without alcohol for a month and then started drinking like a fish again... so he's not an alcoholic? If you want to strictly talk about alcoholism in terms of quantity, I would say that if you consciously drink to get drunk once a week or more, that's a good sign.