Hapless Bills Fan

This is the kind of exaggeration that weighs against your credibility here. Fact: we punted 41 times last year, which was the lowest in the league and considered a bit of an outlier. But even that averages 2.6x per game, so 2-3 would be the more appropriate range. The next lowest teams were 44, 45, and 47 punts, so 3 punts per game would be a realistic "team that doesn't punt much" number. We also had a very high TB%, 7th in the league. But with 101 kickoffs, that still means 30 kickoffs that weren't TBs, or not quite 2 kickoffs returned against us per game. So even with a low punt total and high TB %, that's still 5 plays per game that can have a significant impact on field position and the outcome of the game.

So what's your opinion on Cole Beasley's golden locks?

Huh, I woulda swore I saw him on Spotrac's roster list for the Bills a couple weeks ago. Maybe I misread Marquel Lee, who is signed. He said just after the season that he had an offer sheet from the Bills; I would think that must be expired by now. Thanks for setting it straight. Yeah, he called in to a radio show and said the Bills had given him an offer sheet, but I'm sure it was for vet minimum and he was hoping for more. But I would think that offer sheet has an expiry date (start of FA? same deadline as signing an RFA tender?), anyone know?

This. Wade's exciting play (TD and long run) in a 2019 preseason game against the Colts highlighted the difference. After OTAs and preseason, it was a test to see how well the "new game" was sticking. He carried the football like a rugby ball. He didn't perceive teammates downfield as setting up blocks (he spoke about this in an interview) - in Rugby your own teammates would never be ahead of you or blocking so his "field vision" saw them all as players to avoid. As a result, he didn't take advantage of a block that was properly set for him and failed to score on the 2nd long carry. It was simultaneously an exciting, special play and a play that illustrated the long road Wade has to travel. The Bills see promise in him, or he wouldn't still be here. But he's got a long way to go to develop the instincts to function as an NFL running back where he sees and hits his holes or sees and follows his blocks - the little things guys who have been playing American football since youth do automatically, like when Taron Johnson saw Tre' White running up alongside him on his right, saw Ravens players closing on his L, and slowed a step/veered right just slightly to let Tre' cross in front of him and block Lamar Jackson so he could get to the endzone. And that's not even touching on the RB's duty to block in pass protection, which FredEx Delivered. Who could forget that bruise on JJ Watt's thigh after FredEx leveled him? Wade'll get his chance to compete, that's why he's still here. But he's got to show a lot of improvement. It hasn't been discussed, but his best chance is probably to compete as a KR/PR on ST and even there he has to be able to see/follow open field blocks. On McKenzie's punt return TD he makes ~3 guys miss all on his own, but at other times his choice of moves is clearly driven by using the blocks he expects his teammates to set for him - for example, he zigs right to avoid the punter (towards other Dolphin players) because he expects Matakevich to block a guy, and Dirty Red does just that for him.

Well! And I don't even flip the interlock switch and fire up my snark generator when I wander these hallways! Reminder to self: send Snark-O-Meter for calibration as most of our mods don't flicker the needle a bit Question: Do people still "get" that reference? Have analog meters gone the way of clocks with numbers on the dial and rotary phones?

He signed with the Bills.

Canadian grocery shopping is apparently a Good Time

OK, so that’s confirmation. He took money from his agent, according to him, so that his mom could retire early. Given what nurses make in different areas of the country, a relatively modest sum by NFL standards might do it You don’t need to suppose. You can take it to the bank that if Beane didn’t think he had strong potential they woulda drafted someone else or traded down I mean, the concern about the guy is minimal experience, so it would make no sense to truly “redshirt” him and deny him what he needs

I don't understand the Ins and Outs but he says he wanted his mother to be able to retire early, and the idea is that declaring for the draft and opting out allowed him to take money from an agent and let her retire. I don't understand the "ins" and "outs" of college football rules on money except "don't get caught", but I would gather Rousseau could not accept a large enough loan to retire his mom and still be eligible to play college football. Whether it's true or not, is your decision to evaluate but given the above, it does make sense as stated.

Perhaps Chris Trapasso would care to enlighten us about his history of grading draft prospects and how it aligns with their performance as pros? I'm not sure I like him as a 1st round pick. But, Pick 30 is practically in the 2nd round and Beane has made the point that edge rushing talent goes early. So taking him at #30 instead of trading back into the 2nd makes sense especially if he needs some development time, as it would give us that 5th year option. Lance Zierlein, who does prospect grading for NFL.com, had Rousseau as a 2nd round pick. Not that he's infalliable, either but when I go back and read his write-ups, I often find myself saying "yeah, that's what we see on the field".

What's your point here? We moved on from Spiller after 2014 when he contributed 300 yds to a 9-7 season that missed the playoffs. Most of the time Spiller was here we were 6-10. Is your argument Spiller wasn't good enough to move the needle for the Bills becoming a winning team and contender then, so someone who might not be worse is a good standard for who might be good to put on the roster now?

No argument there at all, I was just responding to a guy who said "McKenzie can run all the pass routes, he doesn't have to block". In Daboll's offense, the WRs gotta block. And given a choice between a WR who can run routes and block, and a WR who can run routes but can't block, job security goes with the latter. (Which has me wondering WTF the Giants think they're doing signing Kelvin Benjamin to play TE, because with the Bills, he laid down some of the laziest-ass megawhiff blocks I ever saw a WR put on the field, but I guess that's a different thread) In interviews, C Wade has talked about his difficulties learning blocking.

Um.......how McKenzie was being used became predictable in 2018 and 2019 until they started asking him to run more routes (slants and crossers) but he was only OK at them. In 2020, McKenzie's route running did improve - if you look at the route chart of the Miami game week 17 where he played a lot, some of them look like real routes although some are still rounded off. But that raised the question "who do you take off the field for McKenzie to go on?" While Brown was out injured, McKenzie became part of the 4 WR rotation. When Brown was active, not so much. The fact that the Bills signed Sanders says that they aren't persuaded McKenzie is ready for more snaps. Yep. In Daboll's scheme, WR are expected to block, period. He doesn't have to level the guy, but he at least has to have timing and the ability to get in the way.

[This is an automated response] As a courtesy to the other board members, please use more descriptive topic titles. A better title will help the community find information faster and make your topic more likely to be read. The topic starter can edit the topic title line to make it more appropriate. Thank you.

[This is an automated response] As a courtesy to the other board members, please use more descriptive topic titles. A single name if far too vague to post as a title and provides little insight into what specifically the post is talking about.The topic starter can edit the topic title line to make it more appropriate. Thank you.

Good find, Thanks! for posting!

Some folks here must wear the pair on the Left

Minicamp Roster https://www.instagram.com/p/CO22mbjprXC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

That's what he had become by the time he was in Buffalo. His rookie and 3rd year he played in 16 games. One 1000 yd season and one close (941 yds).

I don't think we've ever had much in the way of reports from the mini-camps. I'm not even sure they allow teams to do anything that look like real football

I thought only rookies and players without an accrued season were eligible. Huh.

My understanding is that if a certain threshold percentage of players are vaccinated *in each group*, they have fewer restrictions on use of the training facilities, can have in-person meetings that aren't socially distanced, they only get tested once a week instead of every day, and they don't have to quarantine if they are close to someone who tests positive. If they don't have that threshold then the meetings have to be virtual, there are limits on the number of players who can use the training facilities at one time and they must be masked, they get tested every day etc etc etc. Beas said that he turned over his social media to his PR people. Bad time to change. Good warning for me though I'll stay away.