Hapless Bills Fan

“Known your friend long?” whispered Scipio to me. “Fairly,” I answered. Scipio's bleached eyes brightened with admiration as he considered the Southerner's back. “Well,” he stated judicially, “start awful early when yu' go to fool with him, or he'll make you feel unpunctual.” -Owen Wister, "The Virginian" I'd like to point out that a good bit of the Bills ST-specific spending was tied up in Andre Roberts (2 yr, $4.6M or $2.3M/yr). I believe the expectation when Roberts was signed was that he could run all the routes and had good hands, and would be able to fill in capably as a backup WR/blocker, at which he had shown some abilities early in his career with AZ. But he was outplayed in that regard last year by Davis, McKenzie and even Kumerow, all of whom can block capably (McKenzie less so due to size but there's a ton of fight in that dog). Matakevitch, on the other hand, looked very capable as a backup LB vs. Miami and if he gets more chances and plays well, I expect his stock will rise a bit.

OK, so first of all, context - Levi's remarks were made before the changes to kickoff and blocking rules (pretty sure on this) that increased touchbacks and fair catch. So before pronoucing it the "dumbest thing Levi said", I think at least take a careful look at what the game impact was in his day. I see where you're coming from on saying it's not 1/3 of the game now, but for the 44% of kickoffs that are brought out and the 50% of punts that aren't fair caught, I think the importance may be >10%. It's arguable in any event.

I don't think it was just that Chiefs game. I think they saw several patterns (not routes) and decided they needed to move on. 1) Ability to open against physical ('sticky') man coverage. It's not just the AFCCG where Brown had 2 receptions on 4 targets, but he was blanked vs. IND, held to 1 reception on 2 targets in the 1st NWE game, and blanked (2-0, 4-0) in 2 others. There were also games last season where Brown was effectively taken away or severely limited as well, including both NE games (despite the great deep catch), the Ravens game, and at least partially in the HOU playoff. 2) Response to injuries. He was injured and missed A LOT, and was limited when out there. Maybe there was some feeling where Beasley missed one game with a broken fibula then put up 14 receptions on 18 targets for 145 yds (77.8% catch) in the playoffs on that thing, while Brown missed 4 games on IR (after the bye) and went right on the covid list as a "close contact" for the 5th game? The injuries were different and a high ankle sprain may be tougher to play through, I grant. And injuries can be random in how they strike. But there might be opinions there on how Brown handled the recovery (I don't have anything to back this up) 3) Development. IMO Brown actually took a good step as a WR this year. He was making some of those toe-drag tough catches and going down for low throws that he didn't make last year. But maybe there were some other things that they wanted and he didn't or wasn't able to do? He and Allen seemed to be not on the same page at times, and Brown alluded to the complexity of the playbook and that Davis (the rookie) was helping them grasp it. As a Bills fan, I'm profoundly grateful to Brown for all that he contributed to the Bills over the last 2 years and those contributions were BIG. But they also showcased Brown as still capable of >50ypg production and of >62% catch %, so Win-Win, Thank you very much and just as with Barkley and Lee Smith, grateful but time to move on. That's pretty much how I see it. Sanders is a craftsman on routes and willing/able to play physical in a way Brown is not. And he's like "Bring It" on the complex playbook.

I'm curious how you reach this conclusion that ST is 10-15 percent of the game. Is this based on number of snaps or something? Every drive starts and ends with a ST play. And Marv Levy is not above criticism for all aspects of his coaching, but I think he gets the benefit of the doubt over you for the wisdom of his sayings.

Only if he does it. Like Dizzy Dean said, "it ain't braggin' if you can do it" The problem with making a statement like that is it's evaluated in hindsight. If Rosen had played OK and shown flashes in AZ, and was now developing as a quality NFL QB, it would be viewed as confident determination by now. But he didn't and hasn't. And yes, he had crappy teams around him but so did Allen his rookie season and he still showed flashes as well as jaw dropping athleticism and that competitive spirit. Oh, Well Then. Rosen only has to beat out CJ Beathard I guess. And Mullens. And since they're FA, maybe he already has. But then there's UDFA camp arms to come....

Yep, but don't hold your breath waiting LOL at this guy:

Bummer

Which apparently has also left an electronic trail, but not one that shows what services were expected and consented to

It's a puzzle, for sure. But it seems like athletes around the NFL who are young, relatively wealthy (even the rookie practice squad guys are making money in the 95th percentile for the US, straight out of college), and have the social "capital" of playing a professional sport, regularly get into trouble with sketchy encounters when it would seem probable to us that there would be women lining up to give them whatever they want, in an aboveboard and 100% consensual way. I can only think that the ambiguity or risks of the situation must be part of the allure. Look at the "Cheesecake Factory #### ###" story about Baker Mayfield. Someone here who seems to have some inside info about Berea said something to the effect that it was considered "par for the course" with Mayfield's behaviors at the time and that his wife knew and was OK with it, IIRC. That woman, taking her story at face value, was very clear about the consentuality of what happened - she knew beforehand what Mayfield wanted, she came there expecting to provide it, they chatted, then Mayfield explicitly asked "are we gonna do this or not?" giving her a chance to back out or go forward. Mayfield came out of that episode (again, taking it at face value) looking like a sleeze, but a consentual sleeze. But Mayfield had clearly put himself in a situation (again, taking story at face value that it occurred) where the woman could have told a totally different version, made him look much worse, and hired a lawyer. Then if the "par for the course" part was correct, maybe a dozen other women woulda come out of the woodwork. Why would a guy do that? I can only think either the risks of the situation must be part of what they want, or they're so focused on football that they have no clue as to other ways to proceed.

Fairly said, sir. Thank you.

The "loopy" part becomes a practical problem if you got a guy who doesn't believe the advice he gets from doctors, trainers, etc eg takes his walking boot off against medical advice, doesn't come to his rehab meetings because what do those guys know etc.

We're not in a place where we have an extra $4M here, extra there to toss around. We also don't have extra roster spots and an extra ball. We need to find playing time for last year's draft choices, 2019's TE, RB, and this year's draft choices. If he's the "director of PR" wouldn't it be part of his job to follow accounts which might say stuff so he can "shift the narrative" as needed? I can't see it as an endorsement of credibility.

This is pretty strange to me because I thought the coca plant and the tobacco plant were native to the Americas?

Does anyone have a clue as to what the Bills cap space currently is? Spotrac lists it as $3.14M but it's missing: 1) Matakevich restructure (still at $3M) 2) Boettger signing (still listing his tender - but I thought he signed?) 3) Taiwan Jones signing 4) the biggest ticket - Feliciano signing 5) Trubisky signing 6) Levi Wallace signing (we must be restructuring someone else to accomodate all that) It's got Emmanuel Sanders on there with a $5.9M cap hit, and I thought I heard he had a void year on his contract to knock that down Overthecap is even further behind - still has Mario Addison with a $10M cap hit instead of $8M

Haack's contract is "up" on Spotrac. Says $1.575M cap hit this season. Salary $1.2M Looks like essentially his signing bonus, this year's salary, and most of next year's salary are guaranteed ($1.05M signing bonus, $3.25M guaranteed) Basically far less $$ than putting even the least expensive "tender" on Bojo, and Haack seems competent and a downgrade on average punt distance, but maybe an upgrade as far as directionality and pinning the punt inside the 20 vs touchbacks. In a tight cap year, if we plan to have a good offense and not punt too much, this makes sense.

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/matt_barkley_shares_pic_of_horrifying_spider_spotted_in_his_buffalo_home/s1_8061_28912493 No thread though

I haven't watched Trubisky that much, but I thought the "word" on him was that his arm wasn't that strong

Yep, clearly the Bills saw it the same way. Don't we pick at 30?

I got nothin'. I would think high-end "professional services" (unsure why a pornstar would be desireable) with a confidentiality agreement would make far more sense.

Yolo, any notion who is behind these @NFL_Talk_Sports and @NFLrums accounts? Are they generally considered to have any credibility? Do you think Ertz would want to go play for Carson Wentz at QB again? They kind of weren't lighting up the stadium last season. And would Ertz have any leverage if "no"? On the other hand....Ertz might welcome a reunion with Frank Reich.

https://theathletic.com/2461640/2021/03/18/as-mitch-trubisky-heads-to-the-bills-what-will-the-bears-regret/ Though, I don't think the author has a clue about what kind of offense Josh Allen is actually running two lakes to the East. With the references to "play under center" (40% last year, 30% this year) vs. "from shotgun" and a "productive run game", I kind of wonder what Bills team this guy was watching. But I guess we'll see if he can process and do pre-snap reads or not. Doubt they'd be bringing him in if they thought that he couldn't. I think McDermott likes to have a veteran in every room, so I think the Bills are sincerely interested in Ertz or a different vet TE - but only at their price.

Serious question: When a lawsuit is filed, can one party's lawyers file some sort of gag order to prevent the other party's lawyers from dragging their client's name through the mud or trying the case in the "court of public opinion"?

IMO...Fitz has noticeably improved his throwing technique, not just from his feet, but the same "rotational throwing" thing that Allen worked on this off season. It wouldn't surprise me if he did that same whole-body map that Allen did last off season and has been working on it the last couple years. He also IMO has looked fitter and less paunchy. Of course "better living through chemistry" could also be involved

If nothing else, a year of Trubisky gives them a year for Fromm to develop like a normal rookie and actually take snaps with the team and (hopefully) play in preseason and so forth.