thurst44

I know it's a joke, but Gov Murphy will probably just do whatever Cuomo does -- that's been his M.O. so far. (and i'm fine with it)

This sucks. Fwiw, Bills greatest defensive player of all time was suspended for cocaine (if memory serves) and that was a few years into his career, and still had a HoF career with team. Hopefully this is a blip/wake up call for Oliver.

This is why I'm so excited about this team's defense in 2020. Every time I try to remember everyone who is on the D-line, I get excited by the talent, but every time, a few minutes later, I think "oh, right, I forgot we got Addison" or "man, and what about Quinton Jefferson. he could have a breakout year." I never fail to forget at least one player. It's fun to have such abundance on this team.

Yes, let's just take one statistic and say that that's definitive. That's just as, if not more, insane. Also, let's just pretend he doesn't make things happen with his legs to the tune of as many rushing TDs as some of the best running backs over the last two years. Look, I'm not saying he's a sure thing, by any means or does not need to improve. But to act like he hasn't started to improve (17 TDs plus 6 rushing TDs and a receiving TD against 3 INTs in his last 13 games is pretty damn impressive) is a problem. Right now, I'd aver he is at a tipping point. Does he go in the Trubisky/Mariota/Bortles direction (all of whom were top 10 picks and had a run that inspired confidence, but I don't think anyone ever believed they had as high a ceiling as Allen) or does he go in the direction of, say, Brees or others who took a couple years to reach potential, but got there. Check out Drew's second full season stats (and that completion pct). I like Josh's chances given his attitude, leadership ability, intelligence both on and off field, work ethic, and the fact that he's already shown improvement in one part of his game that was supposed to be his weakness (short passing accuracy) -- not to mention the fact he'll be playing behind an intact line with two young promising RBs and one of the best WR corps. Finally, why get so up in arms for people actually having hope for their team after a 10-6 season with a young team filled with promising players -- especially during such a depressing time.

Given that they are 47 & 57 years old, I'd have to agree.

I had been considering dropping it before COVID due to finances, but now am likely to renew. I'm in the NYC metro and was in the hospital in 2017 for over a week with serious lung issues (they were debating a ventilator at one point, but thankfully took an upturn) so unless something changes big time, I'm not going to chance going into the city to watch the games at a bar, and I don't like to miss any games. Plus, while I used to be a Bills fan more than a football fan, I've become more interested in the league at large lately.

If people are filling the hospitals and dying in the streets, that's not exactly great for the economy either. You don't get to pick and choose with this virus. It is happening. If you have a business near a shore as a tsunami was about to hit, you get to higher ground. You can say, "well, I don't want to lose business so I'm staying here" all you want, but that won't make you any less dead and your business any less defunct when the waves hit.

That's the point though. Playing for the Bills, he... has... not... sucked. But I'll just believe my eyes. I just don't like it when a player has a rep, performs well, but people still lazily go with the reps. You honestly think he's worse than those guys I mentioned even though he has played better than them as a Bill.

I'm never gonna get the Barkley hate here (although i'm relieved that it's not going the other way and no one's calling for him to start -- as much as i loved reich, that got old fast). Yes, he's never been great in the NFL, but as a Bill, he's started one game, on the road, against a defense that was having a good year up to that point and put up 41 pts and a 117.4 rtg. He wasn't great in his two games last year, but one was coming in cold against a defense that was having one of the better first halves in NFL history (and frankly, his numbers were comparable to Allen's in that game) and a mop-up meaningless game for us that the other team was trying to win. He's certainly replaceable, but hardly a concern or terrible and I definitely prefer him to A.J. McCarron, Ryan Finley, Jeff Driscoll or Joshua friggin' Dobbs (smart guy, mediocre quarterback).

One, this doesn't affect that. Two, we have at least two back-ups at RT who have starting experience in the NFL, including one who was very recently an All Pro (and his three career penalties may be one of my favorite stats ever). That being said: I love what they seem to be doing in trying to keep consistency on a line of relatively young starters. Ideally, Ford-Feliciano-Morse-Spain-Dawkins works out and benefits from being in their second year working as a unit.

It's fair. But arguably that's also numbers one and two in the whole league -- depending on how Wallace plays, if Norman has a '15-style renaissance, Gaines fits in like he did a few years ago, and/or Taron Johnson stays healthy.

Don't get me wrong; I love Hughes -- he was a great acquisition and I want him in Buffalo if we have a SB run, and getting his finishing move back in the playoff game might be a good omen. It's just a weird feeling I have that with all the potential 8-12 sack level rushers and Beane's ability to get higher draft picks than one would suspect, that they might consider him expendable. I hope I'm wrong. Again, I also have a bit of a suspicion that they will keep an absurd number of defensive linemen.

Maybe, especially if they need money. However, I would not be surprised if he's more of a lock than people think. Re-watching the season: he was a beast in the last few games. I'd almost suggest Hughes might be on the block if they could get a decent return for him. However, I could also see them keeping 9, or even 10 players technically designated as defensive line and doing a ton of rotating and mixing up formations.

I'd also have to say 1999/2000 is one of them. The way the feel-good season crash landed into the mess with whole Flutie/Johnson divisive nonsense. It stung extra as I had been a Flutie fan since I was a kid and saw the Hail Mary pass and was so overjoyed he had not only come to the Bills but was winning with them, and did not care for Rob Johnson's blase attitude from the beginning. Even if I liked Johnson and hated Flutie, the move would have rubbed me the wrong way, because it just seemed all kinds of football wrong (never be fooled by a game against competition that's not trying). The last thing I want to do is open up that Pandora's Box, but that was my perspective and why it was an especially rough season from my perspective. Then a few weeks later was the cuts of the last remnants of the glory years and it was just salt in the wounds. Also, 2011: I just remember being in a bar in NY's Port Authority the day after the third of their three straight post-5-2 start blowouts, meeting up with a friend who couldn't care less about football. Before my friend arrived, I sat there musing about how it always falls apart for the Bills but had a bit of a joyful epiphany while thinking at least we can follow Fred Jackson's historic season as he was on pace for 1700 yards and well over 2000 from scrimmage at the age of 30 and what a fun underdog story that it was that an undrafted running back who had been through every other minor football league, after a couple training camps, caught on with the Bills and now was one of the best players in the league. What an amazing story. That will at least give this season some purpose. Then a few moments after my friend came in, I looked up at a TV screen tuned to ESPN and "Fred Jackson out for season" came across the crawl, and I just shook my head "Bleep football!"

Can't we just look at this as pretty cool that an UDFA with a high upside was this excited to sign with us.

I get why people are opposed to the pick. He's a player who feasted at a lower level of competition, so how will that translate at the next level (worked out pretty well for McNair). Plus he plays at a very unexciting position. However, first, I agree with what you said about trusting McBeane on these things. I'd posit he might be the best possible pick for a team with no real needs and few depth holes -- a guy who might be a bit of a project, but whose upside is elite. Also, it might be the best landing spot for Dugger as he will have time to get his sealegs beneath him behind Poyer and Hyde, while he also can come in and be a ST beast immediately. If we're picking at 54 and Epenesa or Gross-Matos haven't dropped this far, Dugger is my pick -- he's got huge potential to be a steal at 54 (but he also might not last that long) Ultimately, my preference is to trade up to nab someone if they can get up enough for any of Epenesa, G-M, Jaylon Johnson (who i just love), or Trevon Diggs (simply b/c it would be a great story and i suspect the brothers would be good for each other).

FWIW, Fournette did have almost 1700 total yards last year for a lousy team, and he killed us during his worst season in the pros when we played them in 2018, but then his hotheadedness also arguably gave us the win. All that said, I would not want to give more than a single day three pick for him.

Also, Jim Kelly got a 15 and famously did pretty OK with the mental aspect of quarterbacking. Dan Marino got a 16. Tyrod got a 15 and one could argue its his improvisational acumen on the field which has allowed him to occasionally start in the NFL in spite of lesser talent. In this group, Jerry Jeudy got a 9, and while I know it's not as important for WRs, his college tape immediately impressed me as one of the smarter route runners.

Not sure what lists you are looking at. Other than PFF, he's pretty universally near the top of every top 10 list. He was All-Pro, so that puts him in the Top 2 according to AP, PWFA, and SN Here's the first non-PFF lists I could find: https://www.ranker.com/list/best-cornerbacks-in-nfl-right-now/ranker-nfl https://sports.yahoo.com/nfls-top-10-cornerbacks-2019-203303503.html https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2019/06/04/the-nfls-11-best-outside-cornerbacks/9/ He was 4th in passes defensed, 2nd in passer rating against, 1st in TDs allowed, 1st in Interceptions. I'm going to say that your lists of "top 10 CB" is not overly scientific.

If you take his first three years in Buffalo, he averaged 1636 total yards and 10 TDs per 16 games (and that's just missing five games).

This is some excellent analysis, but good news as I think we have two more roster spots to fill this year as it's up to 55 players (I could be wrong here)

Singletary had a YPC of 5.4, was a dynamic playmaker, and had he not been hurt would have likely had well over 1000 yards and have been in the RotY conversation. Surely that just came out wrong.

I'm going the other way and they are going to somehow trade all the way back up into the 1st round.

Have you looked at his body? Do you know that it "looks completely broken down"? He might have just had very bad luck. We have five solid cornerbacks before him so I don't see what's the harm in bringing in someone who knows the system and has played in it very well when he's been healthy. If he gets hurt, we're already practically playing with house money.

That's the point though. You're not relying on him. You've got Tre and Norman and Wallace and Neal and Taron Johnson.