hondo in seattle

When I hear Josh speak, I'm reminded of Carol Dweck's book on the "Growth Mindset." Most people define themselves a certain way and put false ceilings on themselves. But Josh believes in his growth and believes he'll continue to evolve & get better. When he struggles and finds flaws in his game, he puts his head down and confidently works to improve. It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. He believes he'll get better so he does.

I wasn't excited when we signed Haack and am not surprised he's gone. I thought Austin, though, had a chance.

Ziegler told him, "We'd rather pay $8 million to have you NOT be on our team than have you suit up for us." I agree. I see the respect for Drake-the-man but no respect for Drake-the-player.

Good summary but too comprehensive and long. Instead of trying to cover a myriad things already covered in other threads, maybe you should have limited yourself to the W-L record in close games and the idea of regression to the mean. As for Allen, you follow the regression-to-the-mean theme again and I think it may be misapplied a bit here. Allen tended to perform his best when the OL gave him time. While he made some amazing plays when the OL broke down, some of his worst games statistically occurred when he was running for his life. Allen's talent is certain. His production will be determined by a lot of variables to include Dorsey's scheming & playcalling and - maybe even more importantly - the performance of this year's offensive line. If the OL is as improved as we all hope it is, Allen will have his best year yet.

Let's say a team has a lack of WR depth. So they're looking at Hodgins, hoping we'll cut him. If we do cut Hodgins, there are 30 potential other suitors. Why not trade a 6th round pick for him when - statistically speaking - most 6th round picks contribute very little to the teams that draft them? So I do think there may be a trade market for some of our bubble players. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if it doesn't happen. With the team eyeing a SB run, I think Beane will keep our best 53 players and try to hang on to our top 69 (53 active roster; 16 practice squad). The remaining have no trade value.

I'm with you. I know Beane's likes collecting draft picks. But I hope he doesn't trade anyone away that would've made the final 53. We want to win the SB and that requires depth. If we can find trade partners for guys we were going to cut anyway: great. I think Crowder is a Final 53 guy.

I think some of the Hodgins hype comes from fans who were worried about our depth at wideout. Hodgins is NOT one our top three WRs and is not playing like one. But, as an unheralded sixth round draft pick, he's performing better than many expected. And that's exciting if you're a Bills fan who was losing sleep over WR bench.

As another 50+ year Bills fan, I'm not sure Beane's the very best Bills GM ever. Bill Polian comes to mind. But in a long history of bad GMs, Beane does shine. Whatever anyone thinks of the Cody Ford pick, Beane has made far more good moves than bad. Beane inherited a weak roster and fairly quickly transformed it into one the best rosters in the NFL.

If I knew how to change "Ethan in Portland" to "Ethan in Cleveland," I would have changed "Hondo in Seattle" to something else since I moved out of Seattle a year ago! If money wasn't an issue, my favorite cities to live in/near - in no particular order - would be Portand (OR), Seattle, San Francisco. But after visiting 45 states thus far, and however many towns and cities, I do believe all American cities/regions have their own delights and pleasures to offer. I hope you find happiness in Cleveland. And if you figure out how to change your name, let me know.

Agreed. I moved from the beautiful Pacific NW (Seattle) to the Midwest (KC) but quickly regretted it. I missed the forests, mountains, ocean, diversity, foodie culture, and more. Moving back West (NorCal) next month. But I hope you like Cleveland better than I like Kansas City.

I'm sincerely sorry to learn that. Yeah, I hope he's somewhere in the afterlife still cheering the Bills on. We're at the beginning of an exciting multi-year ride.

When you become a new HC, the first staff you build will be suboptimal. Most the best coaches will be under contract and unavailable. And some coaches may be reluctant to take a job with a first time HC in a rebuilding situation. And, of course, the new HC is bound to make hiring mistakes based on bad recommendations or whatever. Given the challenges, I think McD has done a commendable job building his team of coaches.

What happened to Senator and his 16-0 predictions?

A couple centuries ago when I play HS football, our varsity squad scrimmaged against the JV one day. Both squads used the same playbook so we knew each other's plays intimately. At some point during the scrimmage, the varsity coaches started yelling the plays out before we ran them. Despite knowing the calls, the JV defense still couldn't stop our varsity offense. We were bigger, faster, and more talented. Belichick understands the Bills O. Heck, he more or less designed it and taught it to Daboll during his days there. But last year, BB didn't have the advantage of knowing the play-calls. Nor did he have players who could execute at the same level as Josh, Diggs, and company. For anyone who still wants to argue the point, what did Hodgins say that you think would be revelatory to Belichick? The guy has been breaking down film since he did it with his dad before the U.S. first sent troops to Vietnam. He's probably the world's foremost expert on the E-P offensive system. While some of Hodgin's comments helped me understand things better, I really don't think he told other teams anything they wouldn't easily figure out on their own. If you believe otherwise, I suggest you are underestimating the deep expertise of NFL coaches. But, to the broader point: Yeah, there needs to be some clearly articulated limits governing what players disclose.

Dorsey is using Daboll's offense. It's a variation of the Ernhardt-Perkins system with some spread concepts mixed in. Daboll learned this offense from Belichick in New England. Any tweaks Daboll added, or Dorsey adds, BB and other knowledgeable coaches will identify quickly because of their immense familiarity with E-P.

Big Tree Inn is where the 90s Bills used to hang out and there are some interesting stories about the happenings there. The place has history. But if the 38-foot TV is still there, though, I'd go to the old 716 sports bar - whatever it's called now. Besides the tv and Pegula connection, Canalside is a nice place to hang out.

Just for the record, I did watch the video. And I did learn things I didn't know. But I'm just some random fan. If BB watched this, I think he would conclude it was a waste of time. The Bills are not reinventing the wheel. They are not employing uniquely novel concepts BB doesn't already thoroughly understand. When you've immersed yourself in this stuff seven days a week for 20, 30, 40 years, your comprehension goes beyond "educated assumptions." I'd even go so far as to say BB understands the Bills offense better than anybody in that video. But understanding it doesn't mean he can stop it. He doesn't know each play-call ahead of time nor does he have the talent to match up with us. But I get what you're saying. I'm a former army officer, so I value OPSEC - operations security. The Bills should - and probably do - give their employees instructions on what they can, and can't, reveal publicly. And when you draw that boundary, you need to err on the side of caution.

Every team has coaches - if not players - with virtual Ph.D.'s in scheme, player tendencies, and all that. I don't think BB, for example, would learn anything from this show that he didn't already know.

I'm neither conservative nor liberal on this issue... I'm solidly, independently in the middle. It was not a great play. A faster, more fluid back with better vision would have gotten to the left more quickly and gracefully. Still, he deserves credit for getting there eventually and picking up some yards.

I remember feeling bad years ago for the players who didn't make the Bills final 53 or practice squad. Often that meant they were entirely out of football. If you couldn't make the Bills, you were unlikely to make it anywhere. In fact, some of our "final" 53 guys ended up out of football because we'd sign some of the guys cut by other teams who were good enough to bump someone off our weak roster. Now, it's very different. Some of the guys we cut are going to make the roster of other teams. Beane, overall, hasn't just improved the quality of the starting 22. We now have depth guys who are pretty good. I think a couple of the wideouts we cut loose will find new NFL homes pretty quickly.

Disagree. Preseason isn't about winning. It's about evaluating players.

I was just a little kid when Lamonica was a Bill and don't remember him much. But I do remember my best friend's father was very loudly angry when he was traded.

Mahomes has a better OL.

I don't know how McD can coach up Benford's speed... the biggest knock on him as an NFL prospect.

When the Bills line up, we typically see two interior linemen, two edge rushes, two LBs, two safeties and THREE CBs. Beside arguably being the most important position on the defense, it's also the most numerous. You need to get them in free agency (expensive) or the draft. So I'm onboard with drafting CBs early and often. As for Benford, I do worry about his speed - or lack of it - in man coverage. He can be good as a CB in zone.