hondo in seattle

When Daboll was in New England, he was helping to coach one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history. I gotta imagine that made an impression on him and helped shaped his coaching philosophy. Belichick likes to attack whatever mismatches he sees, whether through the air or on the ground. He also tries not to be predictable and show up with the game plan you expected from him. I think Daboll is emulating that approach.

Although I currently live in the Seattle area, I'm not normally much of a Seahawks fan. I am tonight. Condolences to James White & family.

Thanks for the link. Some of the Jets fans seem surprisingly knowledgeable. Right now I'm grateful that I'm a Bills - not a Jets- fan. Feel sorry for those guys.

Impressive stat. Impressive company. Even in my most optimistic fantasies, I didn't see Josh starting the season like this.

Yeah, that was my assumption. 90 degree temp with 90% humidity - that can be tough. When I was a soldier at Fort Stewart, GA, we hated field training during 90-90 days.

300 yards last week. 400 yards this week. If he doesn't throw for 500 yards next week, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Decades ago when I was an undergrad at Purdue, basketball coach Gene Keady brought in a sports psychologist to work with his unheralded team. They finished Big Ten co-champions and credited the psychologist for his contribution.

Every D has a bad game. Missing the two LBs clearly hurt. Fitz isn't the best QB in the NFL but he is a smart, savvy vet and he knew how to find the mismatches. Sure the OL could be better. But enjoy the trajectory. A couple years ago, we had the lowest paid roster in the NFL and it showed. Beane has done tremendous work building a good roster and hopefully the trend continues and the team we field next year is better yet.

This is exactly what I thought when the final seconds ticked off. Our offense has done enough to get us into the playoffs 2 of the past 3 seasons. But just enough. The defense has carried the yeoman's share of the load. And without a more productive offense, playoff success was going to remain elusive. I would have preferred a 31-0 final score instead of 31-28. But it was really fun to see the offense deliver a victory on a day that our defense - hindered by injuries - played a subpar game.

Lots of Bills LBs nominated. And lots of very good players nominated but only a very few that I think are deserving of the Hall. I've always been torn about Tasker. He was great at special teams but that's not a lot of reps per game. If he wasn't a Bill, I'd say no.

Josh's game today wasn't a thing of extraordinary beauty but he got the job done. The RBs weren't doing much so Josh moved the team with both his legs and his arm. We could have scored 40 if not for the two fumbles and two missed FGs. I don't want a QB who throws for 300 yards every game. If a QB is throwing for those kinds of yards all the time it probably means the running game isn't producing jack or the defense is playing turnstile. But today Josh needed to put up 300 and he did. The first half was very fun to watch. This offense has potential.

The 40 hour work week/overtime, medicare, medicaid, minimum wage, social security - these are all socialistic programs. Every country is somewhere on the continuum between pure socialism and pure capitalism. The Nordic Model of socialism - which leans more to the left than we do in the U.S. - produces countries/economies that seem to do well. Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Sweden all score highly, for example, in the World Happiness Report. I'm certainly not advocating socialism - merely pointing out a few things. Oh, and I think it's great the Bills are giving a platform for their players to speak out on social justice.

I don't want to disparage an ex-Bill but... the funny thing about this highlight reel is that there are no real highlights. He never does anything that any other NFL fullback couldn't do. He looks slow and unagile even in his best moments. I get his locker room leadership contribution but we won't miss him on the field of play.

Good point. After I posted, I started thinking who else on the Bills belonged in the top 100 and while you could make a case for Edmunds, there really wasn't anyone who was a slam-dunk choice. What Beane and McD have created is a team with a lot of good players but few real superstars. I'm sure they're drafting for superstars but in free agency, Beane is more interested in the affordable solid starter and strong backup than he is in the overpriced Pro Bowler. Development of our younger draftees and a playoff run this year (fingers crossed) will put more Bills on the ESPN radar.

Given that those 100 spots are divided up by 32 teams, you'd expect the Bills to have at least 3 or 4 players ranked. I'm not sure ESPN gives us enough credit.

Good prediction - just a few years too late. The Nickel became the base defense in the NFL back in 2011. That was the first year that defenses had 5 (or more) DBs in coverage on more than half the snaps. These days teams have 5 (or more) DBs on 2 out of 3 plays - more or less. It seems to me - in this pass happy league - CBs are more important than ever. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-why-the-nickel-defense-is-the-new-base-defense-in-the-nfl/

We can criticize McD's game management and other things. But I look at the big picture. Before McD, we never went to the playoffs. After McD, we've been to the playoffs in 2 out of 3 seasons. And we've got to assume McD's still learning. Belichick had one winning season during his six years with the Browns. He made the playoffs once in his first three years with the Patriots. But he learned, he got better, and now some consider him the greatest NFL coach of all time. I don't know how good McD will become but I do think he'll also get better. And I like the Steeler model - one head coach change every decade or so. If you find a good coach - not necessarily the best coach - stick with him. Continuity in the coaching staff is important. Extending McD is great news.

The NFL might be different but most business deals are executed with borrowed and/or investor money. There are terms can't be met when revenues are lost. I'm certainly not saying the NFL should prioritize business over health but I'm sure team owners are facing a lot of pressure to make the season happen. If there's any hope they can have a season despite COVID 19, they'll chase that hope - and not just out of greed.

Shaq had 16.5 sacks over the past four years. Addison had 39 over the span. Shaq's best year during that span wasn't as productive as Addison's worst. Lawson has played like a backup during his career so far. Mario plays like a bona fide starter. Age is the only wild card complicating the comparison. At 32, will Addison slow down or become more fragile? And Shaq has already played four years in the NFL so you would think he's already hit his peak. But maybe he's a late bloomer - like Addison.

Bryan Cox Jr. being on the team reminds me of this...

In regards to Diggs, he has a right to be concerned. Either the NFL needs to cancel the season or take effective precautions. It can't be football as normal - that just isn't responsible. I'm not certain what the 'effective precautions' might be (hopefully something more robust than banning jersey exchanges!) but there's another thread about modified football helmets. Since Covid 19 is spread primarily by respiratory droplets (and, maybe, respiratory aerosols) a modified football helmet like the one below might help. https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/is-that-what-an-nfl-covid-19-helmet-could-look-like/

Since the emerging science tells us that Covid-19 is primarily spread through respiratory droplets, a modified mask would be a huge help. Here's what it could look like. https://www.americanfootballinternational.com/is-that-what-an-nfl-covid-19-helmet-could-look-like/

This is a fair point. The other criticisms I received are too, as a matter of fact. But I'm still unimpressed by this poll. Granted fifty guys working in the NFL can probably grade NFL players better than 50 random fans but I still think ESPN's anonymous panel of judges is flawed. ESPN said they asked more than "50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players" to rank players. An "executive" could be a GM or Director of Pro Personnel. Someone like that would be an expert. But an executive could be the VP of HR or IT. We don't know what execs ESPN talked to. Even coaches may not be great overall evaluators of NFL talent. How much does the Assistant RB Coach in San Francisco study AFC quarterbacks? I don't necessarily trust ESPN to put together a group of fifty fully qualified personnel experts. I think they probably got whatever fifty NFL-connected people they could convince to do the poll. We all know JA took a big step forward from Year 1 to Year 2. If he takes a similar step forward again this year, he'll be a Top 10 or 15 QB. If he doesn't step up, we're in trouble. No one - certainly not a nameless ESPN panel of random NFL employees - knows whether or not JA will improve this year or by how much. All we can do is hope for the best.

Although I certainly hope Josh performs like a top ten QB this season, I think putting Josh somewhere between 15 and 20 is realistic. 19 QBs received votes in the ESPN informal survey. Josh wasn't one of them. I personally think JA is in the top 19.

JA, with no votes at all, wasn't even in the top half of NFL starting quarterbacks. It's good to know, though, that games aren't played in the imaginations of a motley assembly of fifty or so NFL employees. The voters included NFL scouts. Scouts are experts in college football. I wonder how well they keep up with the development of professional players. The voters also include NFL players. So I wonder how much does a special teamer from the Saints know about AFCE quarterbacks. The voters also include NFL execs. And here I wonder how much the VP of Communications in Seattle knows about Josh Allen. Just because a guy has a job in the NFL doesn't mean he has an expert, comprehensive knowledge of all the players and can accurately project their play in 2020.