JESSEFEFFER

For the last few years of Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing career, I kept making the point that he would be a great candidate for a network broadcast job if he wanted one. His 9 city playing career, smarts and personality made him a uniquely qualified candidate to add to an NFL broadcast. But, I was not thinking of a Harvard version of the Terry Bradshaw studio commentator role. I thought he could be a better version of Tony Romo. Smarter, more fun, more league wide connections, more self aware, more energy. I think the only thing Herbstreit brings to the role is that he has many more years of having done it, albeit in his unremarkable, lowkey style.

Expectation - Reality = Disappointment. Bills have been in the mix for the Lombardi for 4 years now. Not much has been expected of the Jags. When a team hangs out in the disappointment zone, fingers are going to be pointed at the QB and head coach.

I like his voice. It's forceful and he can raise the volume of his voice without raising the pitch. I think Don Criqui was much the same style. I do not favor the shrieking style unless it's for my team. Then it's ok. For the too young to know crowd: Don Criqui is an American sportscaster. He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons on NBC and CBS. Wikipedia Born: 1940 (age 83 years), Buffalo, NY Education: University of Notre Dame, St Joseph's Collegiate Institute Sports: American football, basketball, ice hockey, golf, tennis

Maybe this SI article for reference. Josh-Allen-jokes-Christmas-gifts-getting-expensive-for-Buffalo-Bills-offensive-line

I think the Bills will enjoy a January trip to South Florida, maybe for a night game. Josh has played well in that stadium with good results other than the 12OF in the sun game with the Bills offense on the field for 90+ snaps where Diggs needed 2 IVs, OL got decimated with Tommy Doyle finishing out the game although his knee was wrecked and the offense lost the juice to finish 12+ play drives with TDs. The Bills will play well there in week 18 and the Bills Mafia will show up and make themselves seen and heard. If they had to return for a playoff game, that would be fine with me too.

To each their own but my opinion is that all the Bills colors should show. The all whites work because they make the red and blue stand out even though they are only trim. The reds do the opposite.

He had very memorable roles, which is the ultimate sign of great acting, imo. There was a cold case on Homicide-Life on the Street that involved the murder of a little girl and how that case weighed on the detectives. Doing some research I found that this episode won Tom Fontana a writing Emmy. I always thought they could make a full length film with some of the those same characters in which the cold case was solved. There is huge drama involved in the closure of cold cases, such that they can make a TV series based on the real life examples of when it has happened. It would have been solid with Andre as the lead or somehow involved. Also in the research, the Adena Watson story line was based on an actual case in the city of Baltimore and out of respect for the family the producers decided to not have a resolution to it. I wonder if that is still true.

Once the details were laid out in the civil suit, Araiza's future with the Bills was over. Up until then, there were only vague accusations made by her attorney, Dan Gilleon, and it's likely neither the Bills nor Matt knew what the specifics were to be. Once they were described in the civil suit it became a much bigger deal. No way the Bills were going to enter the 2022 season with a rostered player with that kind of legal and civil threat hanging over their future. It was destined to be a media frenzy of which the Bills did not need or want any part. Her lawyer was going to make sure of that and the slow pace of the legal system would prevent any quick resolution. Also, there are no grounds for any suit against the Bills, imo. NFL teams make 1000+ of roster cuts every year and they can be for any reason. I'd bet there is language in their contracts that spell that out whether the NFLPA likes it or not. New York State is an “Employment-at-Will” state. That means that an Employer may terminate an Employee at any time and for any legal reason or no reason at all. Likewise, an Employee may terminate his or her employment at any time.

He has traits for sure.

Strange route to bend that back to the only DL there.

Two Tua fumbles on one play.

When that play happened and Von broke down over the line at the snap I thought it was a free play for the Chiefs. Happy for no flag. Very happy,

Bills close to being Offside on that 4th down play. I think he assumed he had a free play but no flag.

Maybe thought Bills were across the line and should have had a free play.

Harbaugh wasted a timeout challenging a TD ruling.

Shades of Bills fumble in 4th quarter vs the Jets. Snap came too early.

Well, if you do a story on what's wrong with the 6 and 6 Bills, why they are losing to inferior teams and then seek the opinions of those no longer with the team, this is what is the most probable result.

Sean's style is really more likely to get a team somewhere. The question for me is whether he has enough self awareness to improve his overall effectiveness. Rex might screw up because he was not paying enough attention to details and could not hold his staff accountable. Sean's style requires that he be a competent, confident leader when the pressure is on and have more awareness about how his style plays within the organization. He seems to be lacking in both. He may be the George B McClellan of NFL HCs. Maybe Tyler Dunne's article might lead to some sort of self correction.

A total of 25 interviewed. Some who went on the record had positive things to say.

Sort of like R. Lee Ermey's Parris Island DI admiring the outstanding marksmanship of ex Marine Lee Harvey Oswald.

After Rex, it was clear that the Pegulas wanted a detail oriented, set the right culture guy. Trouble is that details oriented leaders often obsess over nonsensical details because they do not know the one detail that can get them beat. Sometimes that one detail has been his elite, playmaking QB who can get tricked into seeing opportunities for plays that aren't really there. So, he has probably developed the thought that he needs to reign Josh in with better "situational football" acumen. For Want of a Nail For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. But, on the other side of the coin is Captain Queeg and his obsession with the strawberries. It takes some real wisdom to not devolve into that guy. That story about McDermott's heated altercation with a beat reporter for writing about bulletin board type material posted at drinking fountains (where the reporters could see them) and that they were practicing a fake punt play, smacked of Captain Queeg to me. As did Chris Brown's suspension for answering Tasker's on-air question about O-Line personnel groupings in a preseason practice which sounded like a McDermott inspired thing to me, too. The off season work hours thing mentioned here sounds petty and Queeg-like, as did making the "very concerned" statement about Diggs. Yeah, consistently getting beat in big games by last minute execution errors seems like evidence of a guy whose leadership fails when the game pressure is on. Sean needs some self reflection/correction before it's too late.

Some differences that matter greatly. Cutting a rookie punter that had not made the 53 has very little financial ramifications. In Von's case, the ramifications are huge. With criminal and civil cases that were destined to wind their way through the entire 2022 season, it was clear the victim's lawyer was going to make it a media circus all the way. That's nothing an NFL team wants to deal with. We have no idea how Matt Araiza conducted himself when interviewed by the Bills' lawyers. He may not have left a good impression. In one case the alleged victim is recanting and in the other the alleged victim and her lawyer have not and the civil case goes on.

Also, bring a dome team into the Great Lakes region, in an open air stadium, on December 17th for a late afternoon game with sundown at 4:42 PM and I wonder if they will even know how to handle it. It's easy to get accustomed to playing offensive football in perfect weather conditions. But, there will be an extra portion of Cowboy fans there as every such fan within 200 miles of High Mark has likely considered going to game as it is a once every 8 years opportunity. So, beat the Chiefs and it looks more much more doable. Just don't leave the game to the defense to fail at the end. Play and coach the game with that as a an overt goal. There are a majority of other contenders that are wounded at the QB position. That has to matter.

Both were noncontact, connective tissue injuries which makes it even worse, imo. Contact injuries are often more of the bad luck variety when big men, moving fast and crashing into one another at bad angles applies Newtonian physics to the human body. It's the evidence of Doug Whaley's "humans were not meant to play football." Running full speed and quickly changing direction causing two injuries is a very bad sign for his career path where he needs to do that on every play. Much respect for trying to come back from that. Much surprise if he can.

One theme was that JT hated throwing a wet ball and was amazed that Josh showed no signs of struggling with the rain.