finn

"This game is what happens when a great story meets a great team." Sometimes Nick Wright earns his pay.

A lot depends on whether Pickens continues to indulge his inner adolescent. If he feels like playing, his connection with Wilson is elite. If they can pull ahead and make "MVP" Lamar throw instead of leaning on Henry, they have a chance. Plus, I believe they just got back a run-stuffing d-lineman. On the other hand, Tomlin's teams rarely do well in the playoffs. Three wins in ten years.

Apologies if this analysis has been posted elsewhere (I didn't see it), but it suggests that Brady is just as much part of the Bills' offensive revival as Allen. We haven't had a true, league-wide innovator since Ted Marchibroda!

Didn't know he was so big (6'3" 325) and not young (30).

The punter. Just joking. No one will ever be as slow as Coleman or as young as Edmunds.

But he's not younger than Edmunds, so.

Allen has never been sacked so little, so something has changed on the line. You can see that he has a lot more time this year compared to past years, when, regular as clockwork, Spencer Brown would be beat, Allen would dodge, and the play would commence. Snap, whiff, dodge, look. This year, it's snap, look, look, look, dodge, scramble, throw, or some variation. He seems to trust his protection more, too, unlike two years ago and maybe parts of last year.

I was worried for the Bills the last two times they faced his defense (and I was right to). Let's just hope he doesn't end up in the AFC East.

Except Patrick Mahomes.

One of the key questions for American society over the next decade, or until people don't care anymore.

Am I the only one who is muting the color guy to preserve my sanity? Guy seems to be just saying whatever comes into his head.

Wouldn't it be lovely if luck finally caught up with KC and, after yet another close game, the ball finally bounces against them, or the critical call goes the other way? I'd love to see their faces at that moment. "But, but, but...we're Kansas City! We always win!"

Or "Try it, you'll like it," for the older crowd.

I wish I didn't remember that commercial as well as I do.

To my unpracticed eye, Ankou seems to play well whenever he's in, better than Jefferson, Phillips, or Austin Johnson, so I'd like to see him play. But I believe callups are unlimited in the playoffs, so maybe we'll see him then if not Sunday. Same with Shavers.

Not likely, but maybe they're making room for Calais Campbell or another useful veteran who may be released after Sunday's games.

Maybe I'm just a homer, but looking at Lamar's highlights, like in this video, I'm just not that impressed. Most throws are ones we've seen most QBs make, including rookies Drake Maye, Bo Nix, and Jayden Daniels. I don't see many truly special throws--against the grain, while falling down, into tiny windows, with tacklers hanging off him or while running fast--of the kind that Allen throws every week, including the two TD just last week. Yes, Lamar shows crazy speed and moves on his runs, but his escability is oddly not much better than Mahomes, who twitches like a squirrel, and Allen, who has the frame to shrug off defenders. With his slight frame, Lamar goes down on contact if he can't juke, which might explain the 10 fumbles his fans don't see fit to mention. Over Jackson, I'd take Mahomes, Burrow, Goff, Daniels, or Allen any day. I'm thinking something else is going on besides production. Not race, exactly, although there is a resemblance to last year's Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark controversy. Something appears to be fueling resentment against Allen and hero worship of Jackson.

And yet the Bills coaches aren't recognized as elite. So logic suggests that either the selection process is highly flawed, or one or both of those two players are so much better than the rest of the league that they've carried the entire team to a better record than the Ravens. I suspect both theories have merit. Meanwhile, Benford is the biggest snub here. His play has been All-Pro quality, not just Pro Bowl.

If that's what you're saying, cheers. We're just misunderstanding each other.

You're doing the straw-man thing. I'm not saying talent, coaching, and other factors determine team success. I'm just saying chance plays a bigger role than people think. Your reply proves my point.

See?

For some reason, that joke is never going to get old.

I'm not discounting the myriad factors that go into winning football, including elite QB play and coaching; I'm just agreeing with the OP that randomness plays a bigger role that most people think. Injuries are a prime example. I'm convinced the Bills would have beaten KC last year if Bernard had been healthy. That critical factor is ignored in the crowing narratives of KC dominance over the Bills.

Amen to this, although I think the word "realize" may be more accurate than "admit"; that's how deep goes our collective delusion goes, one amplified by the loudest commentators in the media. For example, it's more likely randomness more than some ineffable winning quality that contributed to KC's near-perfect record this year--and their playoff run last year, when the Ravens or Bills could just as easily gone to the Super Bowl instead. Once you winnow the field to the elite teams, it's pretty much a coin flip from there on. Yet some part of us wants to bestow superlatives on the winners and pejoratives on the losers, as if the outcome were inevitable from the start, the winner always being winners and the losers always losers, with randomness and plain old probability dismissed outright, if considered at all.

Anyone know who is the Bills' emergency quarterback?