hondo in seattle

I don't want to beat up Trapasso too much because I also see Rousseau as a long-term project. But I think its odd he's so critical of Rousseau's game tape and says Rousseau didn't win one-on-one battles. Trapasso never explains how Rousseau was so damned productive if he was so poorly skilled. It seems to me Trapasso clearly saw Roussea's shortcomings but is blind to his strengths. I knew next to nothing about Rousseau when we picked him so I quickly got on Youtube and watched some highlights. What I saw was a raw, tall, gangly kid. But I also saw a young player who was clearly more athletic than the guys trying to block him. Roussea earned his sacks & pressures every way possible: by speed, by power, by persistence. I thought Rousseau's unpolished skill set was understandable given his youth and newness to the position. In 2017, he was a high school safety and WR. In 2019, he was terrorizing college QBs playing on the defensive line. His rawness didn't bother me at all under the circumstances. What did bother me was Rousseau's disappointing pro day numbers. Normally, I'd expect a 1st rounder to excel both on the playing and the practice field. I'm not sure Rousseau possesses - right now - the strength and agility to excel in the NFL. But he's just 21 and took a year off for Covid so its hard to tell how much stronger and better he can become. In the end, I agree with what others have said: I trust Beane and our scouts more than I trust Trapasso. And I can't imagine McD not giving Rousseau reps in the rotation.

Both were great. Marino had a quicker release and was a little more accurate. Jimbo was tougher and more fiery.

USCGBILLSFAN, I forgot to mention that Buffalo boasts a lot of beautiful, old - sometimes decaying - architecture. 100+ years ago, Buffalo was the 8th biggest city in the U.S. and one of the richest. The Erie Canal made it the hub of inland shipping. In fact, it was the biggest grain port in the world for decades. It was a huge rail nexus as well. Pierce Arrow was building some of the best and most expensive cars in Buffalo. And the Westinghouse power plant on the Niagara made Buffalo the first electrified city in the world. In turn, that made Buffalo the Silicon Valley of its time - a place where inventors and innovators came to experiment with - and get rich on - electricity. All that money meant a lot of cool buildings were built, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House that you can visit. A section of Delaware Ave is rightly called "Millionaires Row." City Hall is almost worth a tour even if it's in a sad state of disrepair. Then there's the Hotel Lafayette, Richardson Olmstead Campus, Central Train Terminal, Statler, Saint Paul's, Botanical Gardens, Ellicott Square Building, and so on.

I grew up in the Buffalo suburbs but haven't lived there since I was maybe 20. But I do visit from time to time. So here are some thoughts from someone who is kind of a local and kind of an outsider: Don't be afraid to drive. Buffalo is a small city as American metro areas go and the traffic congestion is nothing like LA. There's no burb of Buffalo that's out of reach no matter where you stay. Wings. This didn't use to be true but you can now get good wings in lots of cities. So I would go to the Anchor Bar, despite it not being the best wing joint in Buffalo, just to see the birthplace of the wing. I do agree that Duff's and some other places are better than the Anchor Bar. But they're not necessarily better than the best wing spots in other metro areas. Pizza. I read an article by a pizza connoisseur who raved about Buffalo pizza. It is indeed very good and for a very good reason. Buffalo has far, far more pizzerias per capita than Chicago or NYC. In fact, depending what list you look at, either Buffalo or Orlando (?!?!) have the most pizzerias per capita in America. And interestingly, most pizza places in Buffalo are mom-and-pop places - the national chains don't tend to fare very well because their product doesn't meet Buffalo's high standards. The pie competition in Buffalo is fierce and brings out the best in the local pizza chefs. Beef on Weck. Charlie the Butcher is my go-to spot. NYC celebrity chef, Geoffrey Zakarian, loves the place. So do I. Sponge Candy. I visit Parkside Candy's Main Street location nearly every time I'm in Buffalo. The chocolates and sponge candy are good and the store is housed in a dilapidated architectural treasure. Niagara Falls. Visit both the American and Canadian sides. On the American side, you can walk out onto Goat Island, Luna Island, and the Three Sisters and get up close to the rapids and falls. On the Canadian side, you get a better panoramic view of the three falls that make up Niagara: Horseshow, American and Bridal Veil. The Maid of the Mist boat ride is worth the price and will take you to the middle of the Horseshow Falls. Btw, I have to disagree about Mighty Taco. Mighty Taco used to serve awesome tacos and burritos in filthy little holes in the wall. Then they went all Taco Bell and starting building typical fast food style restaurants with cheaper, crappier versions of the delicious stuff they used to sell. I'm so disappointed in what Mighty has become that I will never visit them again. Also worth knowing, there's a Bills souvenir store in front of the stadium. Sometimes I find things there I don't see online and didn't know I needed until I saw them there. Enjoy your visit. Hope the Bills give you a victory to celebrate!

Bojo had a 44 net last year. Haack netted 39.8. Say whatever you want about placement, Haack doesn't seem like an upgrade to me. Really hope I'm wrong.

The opener doesn't matter much to me. But a Bills-Bucs Super Bowl would be awesome!

I actually heard the same thing Toledo Bill heard - though I don't recall if it was a solid source. Money was part of the problem but so was geography. Supposedly, he preferred to be closer to his home/family in California. Maybe I'm in the minority but I was sad to see him go. That kid can kick the crap out of a football!

I think we have great depth at RB. But I’m not convinced we have a true #1 back. But like Shaw66 likes to point out, our OL didn’t give our backs a lot of space. Not only was our OL better at pass pro than road grading, Daboll is probably better at pass scheming than run scheming. I hope this year we can make defenses pay when they sell out to stop the pass.

When I joined TBD, I thought I’d be lovingly embraced as a brother and acclaimed for my unparalleled insight.

Rule changes have made it easier (and better) to pass. So offenses are built around quarterbacks and defenses are built to stop the pass. There are more DBs and fewer LBs on the field than ever before. And defenders aren't run-stuffers any more. Lineman have to be able to crash the QB and LBs have to be able to cover. Today's defensive players have different bodies and skill sets compared to the defenders who played when I was a kid. Which makes me wonder if the OP has a point. Could a run-first team, built right, succeed against defenses constructed to stop the pass?

I read some of the article. I didn't find it insightful. The author strikes me as immature. His opinion means nothing to me.

Is this true? If so, it shows what an inexact science talent evaluation is. If I was an agent, I would remind all my undrafted clients of this.

I don't watch college ball. My knowledge of prospective draft picks is limited to what I read before the draft including the good stuff provided here by people like GunnerBill. So I don't have a strong opinion about the specific players. I was however happy to see we addressed the lines. There's still some truth to the old adage that games are won and lost in the trenches - even in today's passing NFL. A good OL makes a QB much more effective and keeps him alive & healthy. A good DL can make an opposing QB ineffective. At this point, I've concluded that Beane isn't Matt Millen. Beaner and his scouting staff are good at their jobs and know far, far, far more about college prospects than I do. So I'm optimistic and looking forward to seeing what our new Bills can do. Though, as a Purdue alum, I was disappointed we didn't end up with Rondale Moore. That kid is a rocket.

Agreed. It's always fun when amateurs critique experts. When I was overseas waiting to go to war, I could only laugh at some of the media assessments of the pros & cons of our strategy & tactics. Very few military observers were at all astute. Many were downright clueless. The average football fan has extremely limited knowledge of a draft class. Even the media draft gurus can't come close. A NFL club has a team of professional scouts, doctors, private detectives, analytic experts, as well as a wide network of external sources. Some draft gurus will be honest enough to tell you which games they watched. In some cases, they only watched and graded three games of a particular player. A NFL scouting department will watch all the games, talk to the coaches, talk to the player, and so on. My personal budget for researching college players: $0. An NFL team spends millions. I appreciate that the NFL GM ranks have included guys like Matt Millen. But second-guessing good GMs, like Beane, is a task for fools and fans.

The YPC comparison isn't really valid. Defenses were more run heavy in those days. Last year, defenses only sent out 3 or more LBs on 24% of snaps. The LBs who do get on the field these days are generally better in coverage but worse at tackling than the LBs in Thurman's day. But mostly we're asking Moss to break tackles of sleight CBs. You allude to the other shortcoming of the comparison. The 90s Bills ran a lot. This meant opponents actually schemed to stop Thurman. Count the number of DBs that Josh was looking down last season. Defenses had no respect for our run game. Nearly every defender out there was a pass rusher or pass coverage guy. This is a fair argument. I know some teams actually have a budget for each position group. I get the impression that Bean has decided to prioritize his financial and draft capital on throwing the ball and stopping our opponents from throwing on us.

I'm kinda thinking what people say about good players not deserving HOF induction. It's the Wall of Fame, not the Wall of Very Good.

I'm not sure where I'd put RB on the list. It's not our most glaring need, for sure. We scored a lot of points last year with the folks we had. Still I hated seeing KC in a 4-1-6 and other teams likewise selling out to stop the pass. To prevent that we either need to upgrade the line or the RBs or both. We did a little - not a lot - to help both position groups this offseason. We'll see how it works out.

Thanks for the Hon-Do-It story. It's kind-of the origin story of my own nickname. Cool stuff. My wife - who controls the remote - really liked Shemar Moore on Criminal Minds. Maybe I should convince her to try the new SWAT. I recently read that there are 3 or more LBs on the field only about 24% of the time in 2020. Back in 2008, that number was over 50%. Back in Jim Brown's day, I'm guessing it was close to 100%. Today there are more CBs on the field. And the LBs who are out there are smaller than the LBs of Dick Butkus' time. Today, once a back is past the DL, he's facing smaller, though quicker, guys than the backs of old. If Campbell was a man amongst boys back in the 70s, that would be even more true today. I think the OJs and Barry Sanders of the world are super fun to watch. But given what today's defenses are built like, a good power back would be a great addition to the Bills. More Yeah, it's interesting how many good-to-great running backs the Bills have had over the years and how few good/great quarterbacks. If in today's game I could choose Josh or Thurman, I'd choose Josh. No doubt. But how fun would it be to have both?

Funny - SWAT is where my nickname comes from. My HS head coach used to mispronounce my last name, calling me something the first syllable of "Hondo." Another player added the -do. Embarrassingly, there was a drill we did where my form was a little goofy (some might say not very masculine though I would strongly disagree) and it became known as the Hondo Drill. The Assistant HC made me lead the drill since it was named after me. Since I was leading it, I refused to actually do it. Screw 'em, dammit, if they're going to laugh at my pigeon legs! Given that defensive speed is more important than size these days, and LB coverage skills are arguably more important than tackling skills, I think a back like Earl Campbell would be a wrecking ball. If you're a DC facing us, do you blitz from the outside when Earl might come crashing up the middle? Do you load the box to stop Earl when Josh is slinging it all over the field? There are no good answers.

I'm sure it'll 'get handled.' But let me fantasize for a second as I did in another thread. Imagine OJ or Thurman in the backfield. Or even Freddy or Cribbs. Kansas City won't be able to line up in a 4-1-6. It's a pick-your-poison scenario. DCs can't sell out. A franchise back doesn't just make the running attack better, he makes the passing attack better by forcing teams to respect the run.

This is insane. I can't believe someone took the time to do this!

Kiper says it's a "head-scratcher" that we didn't find a RB on Day 2 or 3. But we already have Day 2 backs on our roster now. The elite backs were gone by the time we picked at #30. Motor says he'll be a different back this year. Some say Breida has untapped potential. A couple posters think Moss will come into his own in his sophomore year. And the trenches set insist our OL will be better this year, giving Moss & Motor the space they need to be effective. I hope somebody's right because our offense was one dimensional last year.

Ever the optimist, I thought there was hope for Rob Johnson, JP Losman, Trent Edwards and EJ Manuel. Oh, and I though Marv would be a good GM.

I loved the 90s Bills. Collectively they gave me many good days. But Beebe and his drops drove me crazy! Hopefully Stevenson has better hands.

I really, really hope one of them proves me wrong this season but all our backs are JAGs. The lack of respect they generate allowed the Chiefs to line up in a 4-1-6, blanketing our wideouts. Imagine if we had OJ in the backfield with Josh - or Thurman? Or even Freddy or Cribbs? What would a DC do? He’d have no good options. If a ‘franchise RB’ was available on Day One or Two, he’d be worth the pick.