JESSEFEFFER

Ha! I took to long to type my answer but at least we agreed on the o-line point. As to Jeff Wright, he may have been among the Bills best defenders in Super Bowl XXV. Conlan had a great game too but neither was involved in that Mark Ingram 3rd and 13 play that killed their chance to end that first Giants drive of the 3rd quarter.

Off hand I would say that John Butler tried to keep the team intact as best he could for one last run. By that time age, free agency salary cap crap and such meant that the end was approaching in some inevitable way. It was jsut a matter of when. One big issue that I remember was the decline of the o-line. The Bills lost both tackles (Wohlford and Ballard) to free agency, Wohlford in 93 to some shady contract language that prevented the Bills from matching which has since been made illegal. Ballard was replaced by Jerry Crafts who I likened to a bank vault door swiveling on a hinge. The Bills got caught without a decent replacement for Ballard, and Crafts was the weak link of that line who was huge by the standards of 25 years ago but was remarkably slow footed, imo.

I think what was described rings true. During the open part of practice, the Bills were working on some fake punts and Fairburn reported on it. Coach confronted him and went sort of McDeranged, got in his grill and accused him of not being "on the team" mixed in with some profanities. Fairburn never reported on the exchange because good reporters never want to become part of the story. This was mixed with the preGiant game postings around the AdPro facility about Shurmur's low bar assessment of Josh Allen. These were left in places where the press had easy access and McD seemed to be uncomfortable even talking about it after the reporting. My take is that McD is that details kind of guy that the Pegulas wanted their next HC to be. The thing about people like him is that they think every little detail is important because they believe some small, unforeseen detail can be what gets them beat. It's the "for want of a nail a kingdom was lost" mindset that defines the style of many successful leaders. We know Rex is not that type of leader and we know how his Bills teams lost some critical games which left most of us wanting an anti Rex HC. If all of this is as presented, I think Sean was out of line in how he handled it, given that it was in the open part of practice and Fairburn was just doing his job, imo. He could have made it clear where he thinks the line is without the physical intimidation part but I doubt he would see it that way. Again, he would see it as some small detail that could get his team beat and that he needed to forcefully address it with crystal clear intent. I think the Bills are in good hands but would not be surprised if such things happen again. Thinking of Belichick's staff (+ son) watching the Bills pregame warmup.

Imo, his completion % is more the result of "stuff" and less the cause of "stuff." I think the Bills offense would function well in Houston. It would almost be a treat for them to play in a climate controlled domed stadium much like it was for them in Dallas.

100%. All it would take is for a slight tip or a bobble and it would be picked. By the distance they would appear to be easy throws but when you see the replay you realize what having a big time arm actually provides. It's not a 60 yard throw, it's more what it can do with limited time in small spaces.

I thought the Patriots owned the lines on both sides of the ball. How many times was Brady hit vs Josh? How much did the Bills get from their run game vs what the Pats got from theirs? Playcalling and QB playmaking look different through the lens of overmatched lineplay. OT would have been fun but the Pats would have had the advantage there due to their line play. Brady had a much easier game than Josh, imo.

Nice technique to avoid an overthrown deep ball.

Something like: Bills beat Pats = 40% Bills beat Jets = 75% Phins beat Pats = 13% .4 x .75 x .13 = .039

My gut feeling is that a 23 year old QB that plays well relative to his peers in Redzone, 4th quarter and 3rd and long must have some special qualities. Winning while learning is not easy and you have to wonder what it will look like once he has it figured out.

I would need to watch a day's worth of highlight videos to get the image of Josh stiff arming his face into the New Era turf on the QB draw last year.

Gore has been very good as the closer RB. Ball security, tough yards and some first downs when the D knows he will be running it. The heavy short yardage is a fail all over the league, imo, as one failed block lets a defender meet the ball carrier 2 yards behind the line.

Not many of us that are happy to admit it. I am partial to MSB's "My Town." I know Cleveland kind of "owns" it but is the anthem of Great Lakes Rust Belt cities and their proud residents defiantly fighting for a comeback. But, I am pretty old now and have entered Classic Rock status myself. For instance, I never know any of those songs that they run the polls on during the home games and see no connection between them and football/Bills.

Outdoors in the NE in late November/December/January is not conducive to looking good on offense. It just isn't. I think just as in the Dallas game, the Bills offense will view it as a bonus to play in a domed stadium in January. It would be in their comfort zone.

The baby photos of the Edmunds boys with their dad, William and Mary College clips of Tomlin and McDermott with shots of their college coach at the game is all good. His McNasty nickname was new to me. With everyone complaining about Collinsworth's commentary, you seem to be wishing there was more of it. It was nice seeing my team get the star treatment for the first time in decades. If things as well as I think they will we are all going to need to get used to it. This will all become more routine.

Eric Wood is the next roastee for WGR550 charity celebrity roast event. It's at Riverworks next year and Fitz brought the house down when Fred Jackson was the roastee. I would think Fitz couldn't stay away from Eric's event. Fitz does his Fitzmajic thing and pulls the upset, we go crazy collecting money for his charity and present the check to him at Eric's roast. Sounds perfect to me.

I think the one Watt attempted on Josh that just barely missed was even more "vicious." A direct hit on the ball with that punch move is going to dislodge it the majority of the time.

I agree with most of this and will add to it. The way they treat their fans, players and employees is first class. It's not that way everywhere in the NFL. They are patient with the results but will pull the trigger and make changes when they realize that the right people are not in place, even when it costs them money to do so (Rex, for instance.) It's easy to blame these changes on "being in over their heads" or "inexperienced" owners but really its much the same as drafting a QB. You look for traits that you think will matter and hope it works out. Rex had some credibilty as to running the show but was mostly covered by b.s. and sabotaged by lack of attention to details. You think Kim and Terry learned something about what traits are most important for a HC? Once they get things right I doubt that their egos would be why they fail to keep it intact.

Allen's throws are tough to adjust to based on shear time. Soft tosses with lots of air are easy to adjust to and make the throw seem accurate. Derrick Burroughs. That's where it started.

I thought so too. Might still have had his feet in.

I would make the argument differently than TPBF but have much the same opinion about Duke. He has traits that others in the WR corps lack. That deep ball to Foster that some wanted a challenge for PI? Duke does not get easily bumped out of position and then used like a pommel horse by the db. On that post by Brown Duke could lean into the db just prior to the break with a bump and then his wider body prevents the db from getting to the catch point to get the pbu. Anyways, a bigger bodied wr has ways to win a play that others do not.

Lofting deep throws on a windy day is not a recipe for success. A lower trajectory, power throw can be better placed but it makes for a tougher over the shoulder catch -- the Knox catch and Beasley drop. The blitz happy Buddy Ryan Eagles came to then Rich stadium and the theme was short throws with big YAC. Slants and shallow cross with rubs. That's a windy day offense against pressure.

In general, I do not like the idea of our Smurfy receivers playing against a physical secondary. I think it wears on them to the point of not being able to perform and the drops have something to do with that. Not calling them unwilling just not able to matchup physically for a whole game. I do like the idea of Duke Williams in this and I wonder why the Bills do not see the value of having a wide bodied, strong handed, tough to move, fight for the ball target in their offense.

I have a hard time squaring two thoughts. When you read his RB RAS as around 1 but then watch him make moves that leave tacklers stumbling and wrapping up air you wonder how both can be true. I would have thought either you are a quick twitch, extremely agile, freakish athlete or not. Hopefully he gives us many years as a Bill to ponder it.

I would wonder if there is any value to playing the final 7 minutes with the knowledge that your team is down just one score vs. two. Would the defense play with a different level of intensity down 8 vs. 9? Would they feel more invested in getting the ball back to the offense knowing they could potentially get them to tied with just one score? Failing at the 2 point conversion with 7 minutes to play could have a deflating psychological effect...........maybe. Just a thought.

Or turning it into a Bletchley Park operation that employed multiple people, databases, special communications, etc. Excerpt from Wikipedia: 2015 ESPN report[edit] In a report for ESPN, Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham contend that commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of Deflategate was influenced by his hasty and incomplete handling of the Spygate incident.[4] Van Natta Jr. and Wickersham argue that the true extent of the Spygate scandal was covered up by Goodell and the National Football League in order to protect the image of the NFL and as a favor to New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, who was in part responsible for Goodell's promotion to commissioner.[4] The report alleges a highly complex system in which opposing teams' signals were recorded, decoded, and relayed to Patriots coaches and players on the field during games spanning at least 40 games between 2000 and 2007.[4]. This system also included a personal assistant to Bellichick who had a photographic memory and had the official title "Football Research Director", the only person with such a title in the NFL, he told congress stories about sneaking behind opponents benches and filming their huddles. According to the article a scout team would go out to future Patriot opponents and film signs and plays. They would then make a spreadsheet of all the signs and corresponding plays, Patriot staffers would then hand off the spreadsheets to the "football Research Director" who would match signals to the plays. The Patriots would also sometimes bring in former players of the team they were playing ask them if they accurately had recorded the signals, they would later cut the player.[4] The article goes on to quote a former Patriots assistant as saying "things got out of control," in reference to the entire system of covert taping and signal decoding. Maybe to communicate within the 15 seconds of the play clock when the radio comm goes silent?