Hapless Bills Fan

Wait, in SKOLland it's a mess? Thought they just made a good GM hire

That's Mayfield Josh bumps with after the completion, I think?

This is an opinion piece on it. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/why-demeco-ryans-was-smart-and-brave-to-turn-down-interview-no-2-with-the-vikings/ar-AATpzSC Basically, the author's take on it is that Vikes new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has strong ties to Jim Harbaugh from the 49ers days, and that perhaps he had no real chance at the job and was being asked to interview as a Rooney Rule box checking exercise. I'm not clear on at what point Ryans turned down Interview #2, but the Vikings interviewed Giants DC Patrick Graham yesterday, so they have fulfilled the NFL's rule and it's between them and their consciences if Graham actually had a chance at the job.

So to help out, here is a list of the Bills current FA: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/buffalo-bills/ Here is a list of the Bills current roster and their cap: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ Until they hire a DC, I have no clue about who they might want on the D side of the ball 1) I think Daboll may sign Ike Boettger, who is an UFA. His season finished with a torn Achilles, but every OL coach likes to bring a couple of "his guys" in as player coaches to help teach his blocking system and how he likes things done, and Johnson has used Boettger as an example of his technique in seminars. Bangedup Bills says "Due to more aggressive rehab, there have been advances that have shaved the return to play in the NFL down to six to eight months. Improvement in performance following the injury has been observed, suggesting that this isn’t as much of a career-ender as it was a decade or two before. Return-to-play rates are north of 80 percent, according to The Athletic on a profile of the Indianapolis Colts’ management of the injuries." so it's not beyond possibility to think that Boettger could be in camp next August, although probably on a LP basis (but could still be around the guys and help out). 2) Along the same lines...we owe Jon Feliciano $4.97M next season, of which only $1.5M is dead cap. That's a lot of Sofrito for a guy who only started 6 games, only played in 9 games, and finished the last 5 games on the bench. Time to move on. I think Beane may try to trade him, and you never know what the BeaneMeister will pull off in that regard, but if he doesn't trade him he may cut him and Johnson may want to pick him up if he can do so at vet minimum, as one of "his guys" to teach the blocking - especially if Boettger needs more time on IR 3) Cole Beasley if he can get him. I know the Giants are short on cap right now, but I would expect Daboll and Schoen to overhaul the roster. Beasley was instrumental in Josh's development, helping him understand option routes and giving him a target in the middle of the field. I'm one who tends to think that Beane's presser was, ah, "lukewarm" for a guy they plan to bring back for $7.6M in a lean cap year. A few cuts here, a few cuts there and they could swing it - or maybe they have a piece that Beane wants.

https://www.facebook.com/PretzelBoys/photos/a.1611979805490849/5763908260297962/ St louis pretzel company weighs in on the Superbowl matchup

https://hackaday.com/2022/01/26/major-bug-grants-root-for-all-major-linux-distributions/?fbclid=IwAR1iTHGjIpSEwnOeQocKD84A81CYZ3cJWGCussudWWA_mcJTyBBkiPTCaVM

I know a bunch of guys here are big fans of "Bruce Exclusive", but this just strikes me as weird. First of all, if Joe Brady taught any of the Carolina QB to function out of empty sets with 5 man protections, it's news to me. According to guys like Sharp Football who track this stuff, Carolina ran less than 1% of its plays out of 5WR sets and most out of (1,1) or (1,2) sets For another thing, Josh seemed to function out of an empty backfield with 5 man protections just fine in 2020. To the extent that he didn't in 2021, it seemed to have a lot more to do with the quality of the OL and the way opponents were defending us.

Marcel L-J article on Flores. Very factual. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33194862/brian-flores-sues-nfl-others-former-miami-dolphins-coach-alleges-racism-hiring-practices

Why didn't they sign him to a futures deal right away then? Just trying to figure out what counts as stealing so I can join the fun

No, not at all "powerless" or "victims", but in terms of say in how the team is run - what their daily schedule is, what they practice and when, how much weight they lift, whether they play or not, what their role is if they play etc, they are definitely at the bottom tier of the scale in terms of choice. Being relatively well paid doesn't change that, especially when most of them can be released at any time. And yes, the star players and the top draft picks get "huge signing bonuses", but most of the players in the locker room do not. PS players get nothing. Maybe the top 12-15 paid players on the roster - the top 20%, do. If you follow this branch of the thread, the person I'm responding to suggested that the NFL owners and upper eschelon can not be racists because they hire black NFL players. I hope you'd agree that's baloney. They hire the guys their scouts and pro personnel people select out of the draft and FA class. They may believe some of those players have the capability to develop into coaches and scouts and executives, regardless of skin color - I hope they do - but it bears no evidence for or against that idea that they hire black players.

ESPN reporting it https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33201753 That's only for OC and DC interviews, and HC I was thinking that would be intriguing, given his history in NE playing for the legendary Coach Scar. But now I wonder if they want to bring in someone relatively more experienced to support a new OC.

Um. $240k is way more than a practice squad guy like Webb makes. https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/heres-how-much-money-nfl-practice-squad-players-make An Accrued Season is a single season with 6 or more regular-season games on "full pay status", meaning active roster or IR I'm unclear on whether games where the player was elevated from PS then returned after the game count towards accrued seasons, but either way it's a moot point; despite being drafted in 2017, Webb only has 2 games in 5 years. So Webb made $165k plus $36,700 (one game at NFL minimum) or about $200k. Which is still more than most of the US population earns. It's my understanding that a full position coach, such as an RB coach, or a QB coach, could make $200-400k, but that his assistants (assistant QB coach, offensive assistant) might be paid more in the 5-figure range, $40-50k since these are kind of considered an apprenticeship. Said to be hiring Joe Brady https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33201753 Getzenberg/ESPN is usually pretty reliable. Guess where he went to college....

On that last, I have no argument. In fact, I tend to think all POV would probably agree.

Oooh. Salty

What about Free Agency? Don't think Waivers apply at present, nor does practice squad - PS guys have either signed Futures deals or not

Ha. Well, yeah, actually - I do. I think there was a bit too much "buzz" about Flores to the Giants for it to be without foundation. I think someone in the Giants organization was impressed by what Flores did with the Dolphins despite the unsettled QB situation, and thought he would be a great HC hire (maybe Mara?) I also think once they decided to hire the GM first, assuming the GM stipulated for reasonable GM things, it became a foregone conclusion that "Whoever Schoen wants, Schoen gets" and his first choice wasn't Flores. I think one reason Flores is so very angry right now is that he feels bait-n-switched - he thought he was a serious candidate, and he was, until he wasn't.

I could be wrong, of course, but I don't see it that way. If it's true as has been tweeted by local media, that Dorsey was being considered as OC by 6 different teams - it was not a "foregone conclusion" that he would sign with the Bills even if he was their leading candidate. I mean we all see it that way in hindsight, and also being fans we think "who would want to OC for another team when you could be OC for Josh Allen?!!!!!" but every guy has his own criteria which we don't know. Anyway, after I researched them a bit both Tee Martin and Edgar Bennett sound like interesting candidates with a lot of relevant experience; I hope the fact that they were asked to interview by a winning organization with a top QB will lead to them being interviewed elsewhere.

I think the latter, but of course one can't rule out a "double standard" with regard to baggage from a guy's youth. In addition, I assume that anyone being seriously considered for HC has an in-depth investigation conducted on them - and it's possible that the single DUI in Bieniemy's 30s is not an outlier. 🤷‍♂️

Sean McDermott's quote seems appropriate here: "They had us for dead, we ain’t dying yet” Here, let me give you another viewpoint: Ha. Now isn't that a point?

When did Dorsey run the offense with the Hurricanes? He was the QB. He ran the plays that were called

On the whole, Yes. You name a Star in Lamar. Yes, every player has Stars who have big guaranteed contracts, and on whom the success of the season rides - Lamar, Rodgers, Wilson, Aaron Donald. But you weren't talking about a few stars on each team, you were pretty clearly talking about the majority of the team. There are 69 players in each NFL locker room, counting the 16 on each practice squad. Do you really want to try to cast an a argument that most of those guys have power in the organization? The Isaiah McKenzies and Ryan "Rick" Bates and Tyrel Dodsons who comprise the majority of each NFL roster? C'Mon Man. What power do most of these guys have? They don't have guaranteed contracts, they can be released from the team at any point during the season for any reason. As for "competitive at all costs", do you honestly think the 2019 Dolphins were trying to be "competitive at all costs"? How about the 2003-2019 Browns? You think an organization that is genuinely dedicated to "Win at All Costs" manages to achieve such abysmal results? What about the Bills from the late '60s to the early '70s, or in the early '80s, or for that matter during the recent Drought? You really think that's "win at all costs" when Ralph Wilson was known to hire people he trusted vs. the best football guys, and "lifers" "dysfunction junction" and "cash to cap" were part of our Bills fan vocabulary? And don't get me started on the Detroit Lions. No, I'm not going to go into a history lesson on institutional racism and sexism for you. It's beyond the scope here. This is hysterical from the guy who made the statement ""If racism is rampant throughout the league, owners would not employee black players." Get a mirror and check yourself.

It's not just "not running enough". Daboll is no fool to not do something that works, just because. It's that our run game was just not working. I believe he had to have his arm twisted to really dig into that and figure out how to make it work, but eventually he did - it wasn't just that we ran more, it's that we were running different run plays behind different blocking. I think if the rumor that there was tension between Daboll and McDermott is true, it would be over this issue - Daboll might feel "well you didn't give me improvements on OL that I needed if you want me to make the run game work and I'm not going to keep calling plays that are ineffective" and McDermott might feel "look, you had a working run game in 2019 with the same or a slightly worse OL and the same back, Figure It Out." Like most things, there would be points of merit on both sides.

Yes, Sir! 1) Steelers game, all game - 16 points, 1 TD, 3 FG 2) Titans game - I know it seems odd to say of a game where we scored 31 points, but the fact is, we stalled out - what was it, 5 trips to the RZ and 1 TD? 3) 1st half of 2nd Miami game - scored 3 points, 3 punts and a turnover on downs 4) Jaguars game - no TD, 2 FG early in the game, 2 INT and a fumble 5) Colts game - skunked for the 1st and 3Q, 1 TD each in the 2rd and 4th 6) first Pats game - skunked in the 2nd and 4th Q 7) first half of the TB game, 3 points 8 ) we won, but 3 picks in the Atl game? C'Mon Man! Basically the first game laid down a template that IMHO led to a stretch of "wheel spinning" in the middle of the season. Then we adjusted and figured out how to craft a bit of a run game towards the end. Lots to improve, and several causes. OL issues were a part, offense so predictably pass centered that D's could stop defending the run entirely and just tee off on the passing game was a part. Need improvement on OL, and while we should not become a run-first team, we need to be able to mount a capable rushing attack that does not involve Josh Allen. At times our offense was AMAZING, but when defenses were able to execute certain game plans it could be stymied. Any time a defense doesn't have to defend all aspects of the game and the entire field, it's a Gift to them. We went 0-5 in one score games during the season, and 0-6 overall. Anytime there is something that non-random, questions need to be asked about design and execution leading to that effect.