Rubes

I just hope the deal is worth it. We need those draft picks.

Personally, I enjoyed Game of Thrones until whichever season they introduced Dorne, and it was over at that point. I think it was season 5. Once they got past GRRMs original material, it was clear that the writers had no ***** idea what they were doing. It was painful to watch.

Thanks, ya bastard. I'm pretty sure you're still older than me. I don't venture onto OTW much these days, so I completely missed this thread. Thanks for pinging me, @plenzmd1. I've now lived in SLC for 22 years, so oddly it's now the place I've lived the longest in my life, even though I still say I'm from Buffalo. Moved here in 1997, and let me tell you, it has changed like crazy since then. I'm pretty sure it was the Olympics in 2002 that really triggered the change. Lots of people coming here from other states, mostly California. Housing prices are going through the roof, but it has also slowly transformed into a pretty great place. The alcohol laws have always been head scratchers, although we're dragging the state kicking and screaming towards normal. There aren't any more of the weird "private clubs," and there are some pretty good bars here now, although my favorite place (where me and @plenzmd1 watched a Bills game together in some other century) finally got torn down several years back and replaced with a giant, ugly court house. I never did find a good Bills backer bar in SLC (I heard there was one in Park City, but never tried it out), and I'm actually surprised to hear Green Pig is one. I stopped watching Bills games at bars when my uncle died about 5 years ago, mostly because he was the only other Bills fan I watched games with here. Now it's all DirecTV for me. Overall, I think SLC is pretty fantastic, even for us non-Mormons. It still has its weird qualities, but I have to say, every city has its own idiosyncrasies, and I find the ones in SLC easy to tolerate. I lived in Chicago for many years, and it was a trade-off there, too -- a great, fun town with amazing bars, restaurants, arts, and so on, as long as you could tolerate the tiresome politics and bureaucratic nightmares of everyday life there. Here, it's sunny most of the time, the city runs pretty smoothly, the people are incredibly nice, there is very little crime, and the entire state is one giant amazing playground, if you like the outdoors. Not only is it the best snow for skiing, but there are 7 major slopes all within a 30 minute drive. A one hour drive will get you to countless hikes in the middle of absolute wilderness. And there are incredible parks a few hours away in every direction from SLC: north is the Tetons and Yellowstone (5-6 hours), west is Great Basin (<4 hours), east is Flaming Gorge (~3h), Dinosaur National Monument (~3h), and Rocky Mountain in Colorado (8 hours), and south...well, there's too much to list here, but of course there's Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Moab...the furthest maybe 5-6 hours away, most closer. It's almost impossible to see it all. I've camped, hiked, skied, and biked more since living here than I can believe. Plus, Vegas is only about a 6 hour drive away. I've only been to Ogden a few times, so I can't tell you much about it, but I hear it's not a bad town itself. Probably about 30 minutes from downtown SLC, so not far. It supposedly has a cool history as a less-than-pious town. As others have pointed out, Park City is about 20 minutes away from SLC, and it's a great place to go every now and then, especially if you like to spend money on fancy *****. Despite its reputation, SLC has become a pretty solid place for local brewing. There are more small breweries here now than I can keep track of, and they are making some seriously good beers. High West distillery up in Park City makes whisky that is sold everywhere now across the country. It has been great watching these industries rise up over the years to make really great quality stuff. Happy to go into more detail if you need. Utah is a very different kind of place, but for the most part that's a really great thing. There is nothing like waking up every day and staring up at huge, gorgeous mountains right outside your window. Very cool.

I'm down with it.

About a minute and a half longer than I was expecting...

I wish I liked it. Seems like a good drink to appreciate. However, I can't get past the fact that every single one of them tastes like gasoline.

Similar situation, though not since the team's inception. My father got seasons back in '77, and I've kept them in the family. I've thought similar things as you say above, but I'm not ready to give them up yet. Plus it took me most of this time to finally get seats near midfield on the Bills side!

One could have said the same thing about the O-line...

Yeah, like others my heart sank a bit when they selected him, thinking that Rosen would be the better choice. That said, I really didn't know much about Allen other than what the talking heads were saying. I really enjoyed watching him this year, which for me is as important as anything. I also think he managed to have a pretty decent season with one of the worst offensive supporting casts I've seen in my 40-some odd years of watching this damn team, and I've seen some pretty bad ones. That gives me hope for next year, when (presumably) he'll have a better O-line and more weapons to work with.

Yes, it is official.

I said nothing of the sort. I am a big Allen fan and I clearly believe (as I have indicated in other posts) that he has improved wekk after week. His game against the Lions was the kind of game I have been looking for from him. Not overwhelming statistically (or points-wise), but he was sitting in the pocket and making good throws. I think so far he's got what it takes, he just has to continually improve. Improvement, as others have pointed out, is not always a straight line. I was pointing out why next game may not be all sunshine and unicorns. He's playing on the road, in a tough stadium, against a coach that has traditionally feasted against rookie QBs. I'm just saying don't be surprised if he doesn't look so spectacular against a December Pats**** team. And if he doesn't, it's no big thing, he'll still improve.

Allen played pretty well -- at home against a sub-.500 team with a ton of injuries. On the road, in the nightmare that is Foxboro, with a low-talent offense, against Belichick and Brady who are trying to avoid a 3-game losing streak? I won't be too upset if Allen ***** the bed, like nearly every rookie QB seems to do there. He'll have his ups and downs, I'm just looking for more ups than downs. If he puts together a solid game I'll be overjoyed.

Rushing 4 only works against the Pats**** if you can get consistent pressure on Brady just from those guys. If you can't, then he'll pick you apart. If rushing 4 isn't doing the job, then you have to blitz to get pressure on him...but he's so good at recognizing and reacting to blitzes that he will again pick you apart if you don't get to him quickly. Even if he does pick you apart, blitzing gives you the chance to knock him on his ass. If you do that enough times, maybe he'll start to feel it. Whatever it takes, knock that man on his ass, again and again.

I'm not under the illusion we have much of a chance, but I'm just looking for continued progress. Would love to see Allen get the time needed to sit back in the pocket like last week, but I'd also like to see some RBs get real yardage to support him. And, as always, I just want to see Brady on his back, play after play after play.

No, he would normally be out at least a couple of weeks, so his season is effectively over.

Honestly, why Hackett would ever call a Bortles pass play in that game was beyond me. If he ran it 100% of the time they likely would have won.

We now have the league's easiest schedule the rest of the way, so it should be interesting to see how we perform...

Any OL worth taking a look at?

For some reason I can't help but think if Peterman was on the 49ers he'd be lighting it up.

It isn't just a Fitzy thing... (photo courtesy of the Buffalo News)

I think it's CBS who is begging them not to make this a "Peterman vs. McCown" clown show.

I always knew Bucky was a sharp one.

Sure he does. And it's not because he does not possess an NFL quality arm. He doesn't have the strongest arm, but it's not bad. Can't believe I'm defending him, but understanding the pick 6 against Houston requires a little thought, not just the knee-jerk "bad arm" reaction. The reason Nate threw the pick 6 is because the Texans have a good defensive coordinator who knew exactly what to do against Nate to bait him into throwing that pick-6. Against a young QB, with not a lot of experience, in the pressure of crunch time, you do what the defense did: blitz from one side of the field, expect the young QB to see the blitz and throw short to that side of the field, and have the CB jump the route because you know it's coming. The defense took advantage of Nate's inexperience, not his so-called noodle arm. It's still on him, but it's also on this offense for not being sophisticated enough to deal with simple schemes like that.

...According to Jim Kubiak of the BN Blitz: Jim Kubiak: Ugly loss distorts Nathan Peterman's solid performance I know it's the BN and many people don't have access, but there it is. Bear in mind that Kubiak "is the all-time leading passer at Navy, has played in the NFL, NFL Europe and the Arena Football League, and been a coach and executive in the AFL," and is analyzing QB play for the Bills this year. Some of the things he had to say: Don't shoot the messenger. I'm no Peterman fan...I thought the decision to run for it instead of tossing the Hail Mary was one of the most idiotic things I've ever seen, and he should have been shown the door at halftime for that. Nevertheless, an objective look at his performance may not have been that bad (I guess).