The Dolphins currently hold the #1 seed. If we can get another Christmas present tonight, and Jax loses, they will keep that spot for this week. The first goal for any team is to win the division. I want the Bills to lose in KC. If they do, that does nothing for Miami's playoff seeding, but it will put us 1 game closer to winning the division. Right now the magic number is 3. If the Bills lose, that number is 2. Miami's remaining games: Titans, Jets, Cowboys, @Baltimore, Bills. Dolphins are 19-2 over their last 21 home games. I think we go at least 3-2, maybe 4-1. Of course I'd love to see 5-0. If Miami does go 3-2, they win the division no matter what Buffalo does. Bill's remaining games: @Chiefs, Cowboys, @Chargers, Patriots, @DOLPHINS. The Bills are 1-4 on the road this year. I think the Bills will go 2-3 in their last 5. I think they lose to KC, Miami, and the Cowboys. However, if the Dolphins have the division locked up, and the outcome of the Bills @ Dolphins game doesn't matter for seeding, Miami may rest their starters and the Bills may take that game. In the latter scenario, the Bills finish 9-8 and most likely are out of the playoffs. Winning the division is the first goal for any NFL team. So I want KC to beat the Bills next weekend.
The Patriots are playing a brand of football unseen in the NFL in 85 years. New England has lost its last three games by scores of 10-6, 10-7 and 6-0. That makes the Patriots the first team since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals to lose three straight games while allowing 10 or fewer points in all three of them. That’s a rare type of offensive incompetence. Usually, if your defense can hold the opposing team to 10 or fewer points, you’re going to win: NFL teams are 54-0 this season when allowing 10 or fewer points, other than the Patriots in the last three weeks. Low-scoring slugfests in which teams won by scores like 10-6, 10-7 or 6-0 used to be commonplace in the NFL. But that was a long, long time ago. A student of NFL history like Bill Belichick can surely appreciate the significance of his team doing something unseen since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals. Even if he doesn’t like it.
I think it's a near impossibility for us to not win the division regardless of what the Bills do. We would have to go 2-3 at best in our last 5 games for the Bills to even have a chance. So winning the division for me is a foregone conclusion. Simulators suggest it's 98% probability right now, which seems in the ballpark. That means that Bills beating KC would be useful if we lose a game and still want the #1 seed. I'm still rooting for the Bills over KC. Doesn't really matter though. We can't affect the outcome anyway!
We are going to win the division unless something major (that I'm not going to say out loud) happens so I actually want Buffalo to beat KC just to give us breathing room in the race of the #1 seed. With what looks like Lawrence going down, it may then come down to us and Balitmore then.
If the Bills beat KC it will make it even harder to win the division. It would still be unlikely that we won't, but harder. I won't say this to any Bills fan, but they are better than they're 6-6 record. I mean, by all rights they should have beaten the Eagles. The refs screwed them just as bad as they screwed us and the Bills still almost won. The Pats, it seems, may have their number the way the Bills have had our number over the past 5-6 seasons, so going by that game doesn't say much. Even if we weren't one game up on KC, I'd still root for them to beat the Bills. Regardless, we control our own fate. Win out and we get the division and the #1 seed.
I don't think it makes it harder, win the next 2 and we win the division as Buffalo aren't going to win out. They are a much better team than 6-6 but their problem is that they have been too inconsistent and I think they are too beat up on defence to win out. They will lose at least one of the games against KC, Dallas or Miami. I can actually see us knocking them out of playoff contention in the last game of the season, which would be great as they could be dangerous if they do actually make it. It just depends on what version of Allen shows up on the day. What we really need is to make sure the route to the Superbowl doesn't go through Arrowhead again as the outcome there is pretty predictable.
The Bills still have the Chiefs, Cowboys, Chargers and Patriots to play before their season finale against us. If the Bills beat the Chiefs, as I want them to do, they still have to face the Cowboys and Chargers. I can see them losing one of those 2. The Patriots are in tank mode so I don’t see them winning another game and we’re going to beat them in Miami. Besides, math is starting to work against the Bills as far as winning the division. If we win our next 2, which we should, that puts us at 11-3 if Buffalo wins their next 2, they’ll be at 8-6. If we win against Dallas, that puts us at 12-3 and if Buffalo beats San Diego, they’ll be at 9-6. Won’t be enough games left. We win the division. For those who are tracking it, we have a 99% chance of making the playoffs and a 98% chance of winning the division.
https://buffalonews.com/sports/bill...ed_YuBm9QW95-kUoFycqBskZeavjDhEVxWktRoxtPM52M Sean McDermott offers clarification for reported 9/11 speech at 2019 training camp On Thursday, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott addressed a 2019 training camp speech that reportedly referenced 9/11. A long-form series by Tyler Dunne of Go Long delved into different aspects of McDermott’s coaching style during his tenure. In the second of a three-part story, Dunne reported on the “9/11 speech.” Dunne wrote: “At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough. He told the entire team they needed to come together. But then, sources on-hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection.”
Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton went for an MRI after hurting his knee during Sunday’s overtime win against the Rams and he could be out for a little while after receiving the results of the test on Monday. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Hamilton has been diagnosed with a sprained MCL. The report adds that Hamilton is considered week-to-week as a result of the injury. Hamilton has started every game for the Ravens this season. He has 69 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions, an interception return for a touchdown, nine passes defensed and a forced fumble in those appearances. The Ravens will be on the road to face the Jaguars and 49ers over the next two weeks. The two games that will help determine whether the Ravens can secure the top seed in the AFC, so having Hamilton available would be a plus for Baltimore’s bid.
The Bills are going to have to try to beat the league’s highest-scoring team without a couple of their key defensive players. Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced on Friday that edge rusher A.J. Epenesa and safety Micah Hyde will not play against the Cowboys on Sunday. Epenesa hurt his ribs after picking up an interception in last Sunday’s win over the Chiefs and Hyde suffered a neck stinger. McDermott said that injured reserve has not been ruled out for either player and that Hyde is likelier to land on the list at this point in time. Those two players have been the only members of the active roster to miss practice this week. Their full injury report will be released later on Friday.
Hopefully the Chargers will get that new coach bump after they fired Staley and it gets them to somehow beat the Bills.
There was football on last night? Truthfully, I did forget about the Thursday night game, but with a 63-21 blowout, doesn’t look like I missed anything.
Aaron Rodgers has spent the last three months talking about returning to the Jets before the end of the season, but that push has apparently come to an end. During a Tuesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers said that he would be pushing to play if he was 100 percent but that he has not reached that point in his recovery from a torn Achilles. Rodgers intimated that there would be a conversation about playing without reaching that point if the Jets were still alive, but they were officially eliminated from playoff contention last Sunday and Rodgers has shifted his attention toward the future. Rodgers said he thinks that future will see him playing for the Jets beyond the 2024 season. “I don’t think so,” Rodgers said when asked if next season will be his final one. “I felt like when I came here that I got a renewed passion and love for the game. Everything has been amazing here. . . . I wanted at least two years. I feel like this year is kind of a lost year now that I only played a couple of snaps. Wasn’t able to go out there and prove what I’m capable of, what we’re capable of as a team. I don’t think next year will be my last year.” Rodgers said he thinks the Jets need to “reload a little bit,” but that they have talented players on both sides of the field and that he’s a believer in head coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and General Manager Joe Douglas. “The night is always darkest before the dawn and we’re gonna rise again and it’s going to be exciting,” Rodgers said. ME - The Jets Messiah rising from the dead to lead them to......
They were talking about him on ESPN radio last night, specifically about how they have never seen a player who was out for the season interject himself into the team’s storyline as much as Rodgers did. I never used to pay him much attention, but he really has become an unlikeable guy.
He also went on to say that he is realistically about 3-4 weeks away from being able to play. Which would be about 4 1/2 months from the time of injury. In reality I'm betting that he's closer to 8 weeks away, but he's saying less because no one would expect him to come back now that the Yets have been eliminated. I'm still laughing at those who tried to ridicule me for saying that there's no way he can come back 3 1/2 months post injury. They instead tried to believe that Rodgers can somehow will his body into healing faster than humanly possible. Saying that, it is remarkable that a 40 yr old guy could have possibly come back at the bare minimum (6 months), but there was just no way possible for him to come back in half that time.
Well Belichick is gone from the AFC East, what a great timing for the Cheatriots now they can snag Vrabel… Doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me.
What did Verabel do in Tennessee except get fired? I think his players are on the edge of playing dirty trying to hurt players and that would be my only concern having to play them twice a year.
I would hate to see him here, because I think he’s a good coach. He was coach of the year, has a winning record despite never having a QB and he worked for a cheap ownership who didn’t want to pay AJ Brown for instance.
Sunday's NFL wildcard game between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers could be moved to Cleveland if lake effect weather prompts a state of emergency to be declared in Western New York. On Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch for much of Western New York, including Orchard Park where the Bills play their home games. It is in effect from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning and states over seven inches of snow are possible over the weekend, with winds possibly reaching 60mph. And Pittsburgh's KDKA Radio are now reporting that Browns stadiums officials have already been informed that a switch of venues may be required. Cleveland Browns Stadium is located 184 miles southwest of Orchard Park.Cleveland Browns Stadium officials have been put on alert in case the game has to be moved. It would be a huge blow for Josh Allen and the Bills if they have to give up homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, who go into the game as underdogs, would be delighted to have the game moved to a neutral venue. The report also predicts temperatures could be in the 20s at kick-off time, although it could feel as much as 10 to 15 degrees colder. 'We've been through a lot of games here where we've had to, no pun intended, weather the storm that way, right,' Bills coach Sean McDermott said this week. 'It affects how you play the game, how you manage the game. So when we have that here, it's an added dimension to our preparation.' Rudolph is 3-0 as a starter since taking over for an ineffective Mitch Trubisky before a game against Cincinnati on December 23. The Steelers have averaged 27 points since Rudolph took over, a full 10 points more than they had been averaging during a sometimes rocky season that included a 1-4 stretch from mid-November to mid-December that dropped Pittsburgh out of playoff position. 'We're simply staying with the hot hand and not disrupting the apple cart,' Tomlin said Tuesday. 'We've been in some tough circumstances. He's delivered, we've delivered.'
