Hapless Bills Fan

Two points: 1) Physical teams were not worried about Brown if the refs let them play "sticky". He could be jammed on the line and held. He had 1 great game of 3 in the playoffs, when the Ravens focused on taking away Beasley and Diggs. The Chiefs held him (probably literally) to 0 for 4 in the regular season and 2 for 4 in the playoffs. 2) I think John Brown started the season as a premier deep threat, but John Brown for the 4 weeks after the Raiders game was either inactive with injury, or clearly not the same guy. Then showed up Big Time in 2 games before getting injured again and going on IR then Covid list for 5 games. A guy can't be a deep threat for ya if he can't stay healthy enough to play all the games close to "full go".

Amazing how that happens when people explain their thinking to each other politely along with the basis for it! 👍

Wanted to put up something positive Gabe Davis posted something truly inspirational about his camp on Instagram: Best of luck in the upcoming season, Gabe! Go Get Em, Dawg

Last I herd he was dating his cows' veterinarian

Bobby Hart meets the Turk. Ryan Bates can fill in at tackle.

I agree with the first sentences. You posted: That appears to imply the Steelers would be a tough test because they're a "smash mouth type of team". My only point is that they weren't last year, they were heavily reliant on the passing game. I agree they should be better balanced this year, and actually it's the balance that will make them a test.

I was asking P Riv about his description of the Steelers offense as "smashmouth" and a good opening day test for our D. While it's possible they may become "smashmouth" with a great run-it-down-your-throat run game, that's not who they were last season

Najee Harris is a very promising rookie. 6'2", 230 - He might be the next Derrick Henry. What did the Steelers do for their OL? Do they have a top run blocking OL now? Maybe they can run it now, maybe they can't, but the Steelers got to 11-0 by passing the hell out of the ball last season They're smashmouth now when they prove they're smashmouth

Why do you think we'll get a "tough test right out of the gate" in Week 1 vs Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh was last in the league in rush yards last season, and 28th in attempts meaning they were beyond worst. What's changed this season to make them "smashmouth" (honest question, I dunno)?

My spouse witnessed someone die in a motorcycle/car accident. The motocyclist accelerated to go through an intersection on a stale yellow light. The light actually turned red as their wheel hit the intersection, and they struck an SUV that was making a L turn (on a green light) in front of them. Had the whole thing on dashcam and provided it to the State Police investigating I'm not saying that motorcyclists aren't at higher risk from cars because they are, but I wonder just how much of the accidents are people behaving like fools. Cold!

We're having to work way too hard to keep this clean Players going off on Twitter, which people naturally and understandably want to quote but some of them spouting nonsense, are not helping

Except that the NFL and NFLPA negotiated that vaccination was supposed to be a player choice, not required. I think it's fair that the choice has consequences for the player (eg, they have to follow last year's protocols) but to put consequences on the whole team for something that may not even result from protocol violations by the player seems very coercive.

Very doubtful he sees it that way. Hopkins likely subscribes to the same viewpoint a Player Who Shall not Be Named expressed "If you get vaccinated you are good? So if I don’t i shouldn’t pass it on to you regardless, right?". He also likely is more focused on false positive test results than false negative test results, so he believes (like said Player who Shall not Be Named) if he tests negative everyday, he isn't infecting anyone or hurting them with illness. Both of those beliefs are mistaken, but FROM THAT VIEWPOINT, he's likely not at all cool with hurting teammates, family etc with illness. He doesn't think that's a factor. This whole "punish teams for something that's supposed to be a player decision" is a horrid, horrid move by the NFL.

Think he already deleted that one

I think this is one of two valid points made by a Player who Shall Not be Named (admixed with a bunch of silliness and contradictory points, but valid is valid) The NFL's protocols are appropriate for the Covid situation as it was last Fall and the initial data on vaccination, where data said a vaccinated person was ~12x less likely to get any form of the disease and even less likely to spread it. That was Then, This is Delta. The NFL really needs to get its medical experts into a room and have them look at the best available data current situation and modify their approach accordingly. At this point, the whole thing seems like Sabre rattling to me. Weren't they saying a few weeks ago that games would not be re-scheduled at all?

Now we might not have done ENOUGH to improve the D. That's entirely possible. But it seems to me we took a good number of steps intended to improve the D, specifically the DL. 1) We signed a FA who is supposedly 9th in the league in per-snap (or some other normalized metric) of sacks, and two other vet FA DTs Obada would have led the Bills in QB hits with 18 and sacks with 5.5, which may say more about our output, but he may be more than JAG 2) We used our top-2 draft picks on DL in Rousseau and Basham 3) We tried to improve linebacker depth (depth was lacking), signing FA Tyrell Adams. Adams would, I think, have gotten more buzz if he had the same stats as he had last year, but on a better team https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2021/6/18/22533429/90-players-in-90-days-linebacker-tyrell-adams-buffalo-bills-2021-nfl-offseason The Bills are apparently counting on Lotulelei to return and contribute, and on Harrison Phillips to be back from injury, freeing Oliver and Butler to play their best position at 1TDT. They're counting on last year's 2nd rounder Epenesa to take a step, and some contribution out of their FAs and rookies. They did something similar on DL to what they did to improve the OL in 2019. In 2019, they signed a bunch of capable but 2nd tier FA and drafted a rookie, as well as hoping for improved play from Dawkins at LT. They believed that when the dust settled, they'd have an improved OL. It worked. Time will tell if this will work.

To the point about our D stopping either Run or Pass, but not both - this guy breaks down a lot of film from the Ravens game where our D IMO played at their best and took rightful pride in what they did. But you can see on film (though he doesn't point it out) where a better QB with a better designed passing game filets us with the same plays.

Yeah, as Allen's passing game has developed and his awareness of the need to "stay available" has developed, his rushing yards have declined. He was 3rd in rushing yards in 2019, and 3rd in 2020, and I don't see that changing. If they tracked and added in all the running he does behind the LOS, he would probably be first by a long chalk.

40 is probably just like 106 in some base system, but I can't figure out what that is right now. I don't think it's integer.

Neither. "Mean" in the "Mean Joe Green" or Football sense, meaning tough, physical, and punishing That's exactly what we were last year - we could stop the run if we "sold out" to do it, or we could stop the pass, but we weren't able to do both because we simply couldn't get enough pressure to affect the QB with our front 4.

??? Lofton was 34 and playing for B'lo in 1990. So you only have to be 40-50-ish to remember it pretty well

He was indeed, for a year or two I've heard it said that actual speed is about the last thing to go, and agility stays pretty well too. It's the ability to take the punishment of football and recover by the following week that becomes a problem, so it becomes harder and harder to contribute all season and make it through the playoffs. Heard Stephen A. Smith, who played 16 years until age 37, talk about it with Zo Alexander once. They were pretty funny. I just had a look for that show and couldn't find it. It was stuff about do the young guys listen to Zo about eating right and taking care of their bodies - something like Zo: "they don't listen, cuz they young! They roll out of bed on Tuesday and they fine" Smith: "we like, Oh, not this day. I need that deep acupuncture, gimme that pressure massage"

To work in the Little Feat reference I riffed on. I hear you moan, I hear you moan, I hear you moan

And is there a Fat Man, in the Bathtub, With the Blues? We don't have access to his GPS data obviously, but several analysts have concluded that from watching film last season. Me, I think it's hard to tell as he was limited by his QBs in N'Awleans My first thought was "what about Cole Beasley?" He came damned close to 1000 yds last season, and he has that "connection" going with Allen. If he plays, it's hard to imagine him not getting A LOT of looks from Allen, or those looks leading to A LOT of yards. It's OTAs, but Sanders wasn't looking "all that and a bag of chips" in early returns - not being where Allen expected so communication or playcall issues, not hauling in a pass that hit his hands etc.

So that's a "No", then? The Rams are unlikely to offer an original-round pick to a guy with 2 years less on his rookie deal who has had a mixed track record,