Rex Ryan repeated several times in his post-game press conference that yesterday's win was great but that the Patriots were "down a man", referring of course to Tom Brady who is set to return next week from his four game deflate-gate related suspension. They were down more that one man with second string quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo also inactive yesterday and star tight end Rob Gronkowski seeing limited duty and recording only one reception in the game. But still. A win in New England when it counts - unlike the last game of the 2014 season when the Bills won against a Patriots team which had clinched home field throughout the playoffs - is quite an achievement and something which two weeks ago seemed almost unthinkable.
The score was actually flattering to the Patriots who were thoroughly dominated throughout the game. With the exception of two deep passes which were each slightly overthrown and would have resulted in touchdowns, Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor looked like a franchise NFL quarterback yesterday. The offensive game plan and series to series play calling were excellent yesterday and have been much improved over the past two weeks - certainly compared to the first two weeks, After hitting what appeared to be rock-bottom following a prime time loss to the Jets then changing offensive coordinators, prospects for the Bills season were looking bleak after two weeks. But now at 2-2, they find themselves only a game back of the Patriots with a re-match coming up, with Tom Brady back in the line-up, on October 30th in Orchard Park. Suddenly, the division title, while still a steep hill to climb, is no longer a total fantasy. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This week offers another stiff test: a trip to Los Angeles to face a Rams team which is playing well and is enjoying strong support from football fans in southern California.
I was watching Rudy Giuliani offer his thoughts on the Donald Trump tax issue which has dominated the US campaign this past week. He said that Trump was a "genius" for arranging his financial affairs so as to pay no taxes for as many as 20 years after claiming a loss of nearly $1 billion in the 1995 tax year. Trump himself, in Monday's debate, referred to himself as "smart" for not paying taxes. Many very smart Americans, with the help of their lawyers and accountants, pay no income taxes. They are rich and paying no taxes helps to keep them that way. Are they smart for paying no taxes? Maybe but I really doubt that Trump is being smart about this issue in the current political context. His base of support lies among disaffected, white, working class males, many of whom have lost their high-paying, low-skilled manufacturing jobs to Mexico or to China or elsewhere. But when they working, they had little opportunity to reduce, defer or evade paying their taxes which were usually deducted at source by their employers. Even if they had concerns about how much tax they were paying or how the government spent some of their hard-earned money, they understood the connection between the taxes they were paying and the operations of the military, border services and police - all things which Trump has advocated for building up.
Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump has broken all of the conventional rules which candidates generally follow. He had made outrageous (and often false) statements on various issues and has viciously attacked his opponents. Through it all, he has somehow continued to poll well, keep the race tight and he amazingly remains within reach of the presidency. There are five more weeks of campaigning and two more nationally televised debates with Hillary Clinton where Trump can try to re-frame the tax issue if he chooses to do so but his pattern has been to double and triple down on things he has said or on positions he has taken. The Democrats will likely continue to hammer the tax issue and if Trump holds to his claim that he's smart not to pay taxes, his base may finally soften enough to cost him the election.
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