Cosmic

Did anyone else notice the clock kept running after that catch with ~11 minutes left in the 4th? Even though it seemed like a very obvious out-of-bounds to me? If one team runs out of time on a comeback drive at the game, that's going to be big.

Edit: From the NFL drive summary. Pushed out of bounds, but next play didn't start until 39 seconds later on the game clock.

I don't need the Bills to win the Super Bowl. I just don't want to lose to the goshdarn Chiefs again.

I like these little snow fountains in the Bills crowd. Reminds me of the videos of flying over LA on July 4th.

I guess they didn't finish shoveling. It's the stadium version of "F it; we'll do it live!"

There's a lovely, fluffy, snow globe snow falling at my house right now that would make for good TV without messing up the game too much if it migrates down to the stadium.

30 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

Dear Cosmic,

 

It's all a psyop, dude!!!

 

All the best,

Shannon

 

Luckily, my car is unvaccinated so the snow doesn't affect it!

Read between the lines of this statement from the county executive: "Driving ban lifted mostly everywhere, but the highways are impassable and make sure you take these specific roads please shovel out the stadium go Bills!"

13 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

Well, yeah, the sun is out at my house and the roads are plowed because I live slightly north of the city, like a civilized person.

The Bills have had to cancel the beginning of their shoveling operation; there's still a driving ban in most of the county, and the stadium is going to keep getting more snow until nightfall. The NWS is predicting an additional 4-6" during the original game time. Expect some good "this is what the stadium would have looked like during the game" posts soon. It's going to be kind of impressive if they actually clear out the stands for tomorrow with the obstacles that are in place.

1 hour ago, TrueYankee26 said:

 

They can still play! Just go for two! /s

3 hours ago, infrared41 said:

MOD REDACTED by me.

 

Suffice it to say that a Twitter user was none too happy with Governor Hochul's decision to move the Steelers - Bills game to Monday.

 

Completely unrelated to the fact that it's a woman, I'm sure.

I wish I predicted this earlier to sound smart, but I really don't see how they were still pretending the game was going to be played on Sunday at 1 as recently as this morning. The stadium is going to have a minimum of a foot of snow dumped on it overnight. So you're going to clear out the stands in like four hours to get fans in and players warming up? No chance. 

And what are these people mad about? We're trading a game where there would have been <5 passes thrown for one that should be pretty normal. Even if the snow ended up missing the stadium, the game would have been played in 50+ MPH winds.

I'm reminded of a passage from The Good Book (by which, of course, I mean Football Hall of Shame by Bruce Nash and Alan Zullo) where a southern football team had to play a game in the cold. They saw their breath for the first time, thought their gizzards had frozen, and promptly got destroyed.

The Dolphins could shut themselves in a freezer to train, and it wouldn't even come close to what it's going to be like in Kansas City.

3 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

6-3 finish

The Bills and Browns had horrible luck (can you believe it?!) in the 00s where, in 4 seasons, they had games against each other end 6-3, 13-6, and 8-0. I think they were all weather games.

9 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

And unlike last year, Buffalo can't use Detroit as a backup.

And Pittsburgh is the away team, so handing them a home playoff game would be kinda rough. I don't think it's supposed to be THAT bad that they would have to move the game, but it's an interesting problem.

31 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

"Football weather" usually makes for terrible football. Watching two teams try to avoid freezing to death while playing a football game is not fun. Snow games look cool, but that's about it.

Yeah, the wind is supposed to be pretty wild, too, so it doesn't look like a high-scoring game. Snow is hit or miss, but wind forecast is usually pretty reliable. Bet the under.

Still early, but we could be looking at a snow game on Sunday in Buffalo.

8 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

This game is a microcosm of the Bills season so far: explosive offense, terrible picks, and so many missed opportunities.  And injuries in the secondary.

This comment is still very true, even after they won. The team just can't seem to get out of its own way a lot of the time, but I'm choosing to be cautiously optimistic for the playoffs.

The fact is, they finished the season with a five-game winning streak (including wins over the Chiefs, Cowboys, and Dolphins) and their worst loss all season was by 6 points. They could win the Super Bowl or flame out spectacularly against the Steelers.

6 hours ago, infrared41 said:

 

Once it hits 15 or lower, I don't know why they even bother with giving the temperature. It's not like 14 degrees is noticeably warmer than 4 degrees. They should just call it all cold and save everyone the trouble.

I used to think this way... and then I went to Ottawa in February. -40° wind chill when I arrived. When it got up to 4°F, it was practically warm and toasty- your nose hairs stopped freezing every time you breathed in. Those numbers on the thermometer actually do mean something.

12 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

That spot on the 4th and 1 was bogus. And why did they whistle it dead while Josh was still moving?

I will totally believe the wrasslin' ref conspiracy theories on this play. The refs know where the ball needs to get to. They know the game is either over right then or the national TV audience gets one more high-stakes drive for a division title. Blow the whistle as soon as you can plausibly do it, and put the ball down where you get a 70/30 chance of the Dolphins getting the ball back.

3 minutes ago, BBTV said:

Good on the Bills - would have looked really bad to lose a game at home for the division.  Pulling for Cleveland or them in the AFC.

I'm not sure if that was a joke or not, but they're in Miami! The Bills just travel well.

1 minute ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

I'm doing my best reverse jinx. I hope this isn't a double reverse jinx.

Last time these teams played, the Dolphins just flat-out gave up once the Bills pulled ahead. Like 4 iguanas stacked up in a trench coat playing WR kind of gave up. Let's see it again.

(Now THAT'S how you double reverse jinx!)

Two Josh Allen INTs in the end zone, average of about 20 yards on each given back to the Bills by lack of situational awareness by the Dolphins.

2 hours ago, the admiral said:

the most beloved trophy in sports getting out-SEOed by a :censored:ing Starbucks promotion

Don't worry, the crack NHL marketing team will get around to doing a Stanley Cup Stanley cup in about 7 years.

44 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

I think @RichardWitham has an authentic SF Redwoods jersey

Wow. Was he a lineman or a DB?!

USFL and XFL were probably the two biggest brands in spring football, so naturally they borrowed the name of that short-lived league where everyone shared the same colors.

The end of the Bills-Chargers game had one of those really interesting "let them score?" dilemmas, but it was taken out of the coaches' hands by an automatic review. 

Chargers were ahead by 1 with 2:34 left. Bills are in the red zone. Bills receiver caught the ball while going down to the ground, but the ruling on the field was got up before being touched and scored a touchdown. Automatic replay reversed it, giving the Bills "just" a first down. I think it was the correct call after the replay, but you had to really go frame-by-frame. Bills never got another first down, but milked the clock and kicked a field goal.

So, depending on the result of the Bills' 2-pt conversion, the Chargers would have been down 5 or 7 with one timeout left and about 2:30 on the clock. Instead, they ended up getting the ball back with 31 seconds left and no timeouts, but only down by 2. Probably would have been better for them in the first option.