On the tenth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me
It's a great time to be a Buffalo Bills fan, the best time in the past 21 years. They won 11 games so far this year, and this is the first stretch of back-to-back 10-win seasons since 1998-1999. It is also their first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1998-1999. Almost as emotionally important, they haven't beaten the Patriots twice in one season since 1999, and it looks like they have a good shot at doing so on December 28.
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Oh, they also won the AFC East for the first time since 1995.
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The offense has scored the 5th most points, accumulated the 6th most yards, and picked up the 6th most yards per play. Josh Allen has the 4th most passing yards, the 6th most passing TD, the 7th best passer rating, and he's finally starting to play more like John Elway and less like John Elway with a lobotomy. Stefon Diggs leads the league in receptions and has the 3rd most receiving yards. Based on these numbers, it's no surprise that they have the 4nd best passing offense according to pro-football-reference.com's "
expected points contributed" metric.
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What is surprising is Josh Allen's progress over the last three seasons. His passing yardage went from 2000 to 3000 to 4000 yards, his passing TD went from 10 to 20 to 30, and his completion percentage went from 53% to 58% to 69%. The fact that he has the 6th best completion percentage blows my mind. Also mind-blowing: his 26 career wins are the most of any Buffalo QB since Jim Kelly.
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The defense is middle of the road statistically for the season, but they've tightened up over the last 4-5 games. Tre'Davious White is a badass (although I'd still rather have Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick in the 2017 draft), and Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde are as good a safety tandem as any. AJ Klein and Tremaine Edmunds are affirmatively good and Edmunds wears #49 (I love the new rules allowing LBs to wear numbers in the 40s). They're a fun group to watch.
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The Bills are also fans of our Bite Me Randy Newman recurring bit, with a not insignificant number of their significant players being relatively short. There's Devin Singletary (5'7"); Cole Beasley (5'8" and zson is getting his jersey for Gheorghemas, luckily no Gs in his name); Isaiah McKenzie (also 5'8"); Zack Moss (like me an ideal 69" tall); and Tre'Davious White, Taron Johnson, John Brown, and Andre Roberts (all 5'11").
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I'm really happy about the team's direction. If your team fails to make the playoffs, root along with me for the Bills. They might pull off a Gheorghemas miracle, they're a pretty Gheorghe crew.
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27 comments:
I made the bold (stupid?) decision to tag #BillsMafia when posting this just now to the tweeter machine...let's see if zman can get some love from his fellow Bills fans.
Had a couple of those Karate in the Garage brews last night...yes, very tasty, but not quite as good as the peanut butter stouts that preceded. No hangover, not even a hint of grogginess. Strange but welcome.
Screw the Bills and their newfound competence. Same for Miami.
I'm in on the Bills, Z. Just like SI's Dr. Z was several times in the 90's. (Z... Dr. Z... coincidence?)
I hope to watch some Bills playoff action from the local Bills joint, The Dirty Buffalo. Sat next to Bruce Smith at the bar there some years back. It will be raucous and tasty. Sweet Sriracha wings and a Labatt's.
Also coincidentally, the next "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" to air on the Food Network will be one called "From Spicy to Icy," and it features the Dirty Buff. It's on Christmas Day at 1pm, in case Z is through the morning gift frenzy and settling in for a long winter's veg.
Belated gracias to Rob and Senor Z for explanations on DOJ and Wal-Mart. "Shoulda known better" may be an underused legal tactic.
I'll pull for the Bills. Why not? I liked McDermott at W&M more than the offensive prima donnas.
I was also under the impression that 6 ft .9 inches was the ideal height.
actually, rootsy, 69-4(ish) inches is the optimal height. blood has a shorter distance to travel, making for better oxygenation and agility. makes for worse ability to reach things on shelves, but that's a fair tradeoff.
Belated comment on Bazemore, too, who I covered in college. Good chap. Drove Blaine Taylor crazy early in his career. Settled down, became more disciplined and polished later. As Mark pointed out, if you have ability and are willing to embrace a niche, that can lead to a productive and lucrative pro career.
A couple years into the league, he returned to NC and Norfolk during the summer to run a kids' camp for a few days. He appeared happy to see me, and when he was done, we sat and shot the breeze for 45 minutes. Here's piece I wrote at the time, if you're interested.
https://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-bazemore-nba-20140816-story.html
that's a cool look at baze, dave.
also cool, the insane selection of treehouse and trillium beers i just got from birthday boy squeak. merry christmas to me!
this evening in chicago, nathan knight will put on an atlanta hawks jersey (#1 in your program, #1 in your heart) and sit on the end of the hawks' bench during their game against the bulls. he's not likely to play, but even dressing for the game will make him the first w&m player to do that since brent weidner in 1984. i think.
i'm a medium:
https://hawksshop.com/collections/jerseys/products/knight-nike-mlk-city-edition-swingman-jersey
Did Thornton never dress? I know he had a 10-day contract.
Trillium beer is good and the brewery is gorgeous.
I’ll gladly root along with the Bills. Josh Allen is incredibly fun to watch and Sean Singletary loves Publix Chicken tender subs. As do I.
been trying to determine whether thornton dressed. don’t think he ever left canton.
i need to take dave's advice and start ignoring national politics. trump's final month in office is going to drive me to violence.
Rob - did you type that before or after his 69 additional pardons tonight?
I am struggling with all the awful news. I have scaled down the amount of Never-Trumpers in my Twitter feed to lessen the onslaught of doom. I have to do the same w/ my political podcasts. It gets overwhelming.
On a more positive note, I aced some broiled salmon tonight. I don’t cook it a lot, so I get concerned b/c it’s $40-$50 of flesh and it cooks so damn quickly. I kept the short marinade simple: lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, olive oil and a bit of Worcestershire.
I finally figured how to maneuver food in my broiler. I cook at the lower rack, but move it up a bit for the crunch/crust. Winner winner fish dinner.
typed it after the pardons, tr.
just sitting here 'watching' the hawks/bulls game via espn gamecast just in case nate knight gets a 2-minute run. having a normal one over here.
hawks up 32 entering the 4th. is that...nathan knight's music?
My wife is addicted to Love/Life After Lockup. Not gonna lie and say it doesn’t suck me in at times as well.
nathan knight is playing nba basketball. started his career with a turnover and a foul. nowhere to go but up.
3 boards, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 0-2 from the floor in 5 minutes. a william & mary dude played in the nba. pretty, pretty cool.
Wife and I just finished the Clooney Netflix movie The Midnight Sky. I give it a “meh” w/ a lowercase m.
First time in 20 years, we’re home - not working - tonight. Worship services are virtual. Probably only time this happens for another 15 years! Bizarre for us all.
are you conducting any of the services yourself from home?
We videoed at the church in sanctuary with small worship team. We follow protocols. We do allow 1 family group (couple today) or soloist to sing. It’ll go on Wythe Pres Church FB page at 5 pm.
ah, gotcha
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