hondo in seattle

To me, it's all about the eye test. Does the OL create holes on running plays? Do they give their QB a clean pocket? Are they able to push defenders back on short yardage plays? While there are some stats that capture elements of these things, stats can be skewed by a number of factors independent of the ability of the OL (QB play, RB talent, play-calling).

2016... good player - maybe a future 1st rounder 2017... torn ACL 2018... back surgery 2019... mediocre player - not fully recovered? Here are the closing sentences of a good article on Trey from SB Nation: "If you’re an NFL GM wanting to take a chance on him in the later rounds, obviously your angle would be hoping that with time Adams could return to his earlier form or at least near it. Who knows if that’s possible — likely it’s not, but if your team drafts him at a later round and he does overcome his injury history and get his athleticism back to earlier, then you’ve obviously just gotten a huge steal." https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2020/4/19/21226649/washington-huskies-football-nfl-draft-profile-trey-adams

This is interesting. I don't put much faith in draft grades. How much does a guy sitting in his home office actually know about all these prospects. An NFL team employs a team of scouts, watches countless hours of video, compiles advanced analytics, conducts player interviews, utilizes insider information... even hires private investigators in some cases. A Mel Kiper or Todd McShay just can't compete. They don't have the resources (money, man hours, sources) - not even close. But there might be something to this "wisdom of the masses" approach. Collectively, the draft gurus might actually give out accurate draft grades. And I'm happy to see the Bills scored much higher than the Pats.

Kirby, I get your concern but I'd rather draft a good football player than a combine warrior. There are hundreds of examples like this but let me remind you of just one. Steve Largent was small and slow - WRs are supposed to be big and fast. He was drafted in the 4th round and then waived because he wasn't athletic enough for the NFL. And then he proceeded to have a HOF career with Seattle. Some guys are just good football players. They possess important skills that aren't adequately measured at the combine but show up on the field of play. Epenesa can't run fast. But how fast can he beat his man with his hand skills, shed the block, and get to the QB? The tape says he can do these things plenty quick.

Daboll of course is quite familiar with the success the Pats had with the 12 grouping when Hernandez and Gronk were there. But I'm not sure about the 12 in Buffalo. Generally speaking, the best offensive formation is the one that puts your best players on the field. Personally, I'm not enamored with any of our TEs. Except for short yardage situations, I don't really want to see more than one of them on the field on the same play. Like every other NFL team, we'll run a lot of 11. It'll be interesting to see how much 21 or 22 we run - Daboll might want both our young backs on the field at the same time.

I apologize if this was already posted. Interesting observation from Bleacher Report... "...several opponents (and teammates) called Epenesa the toughest defender they ever faced, or the second-toughest besides Chase Young." https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2888450-nfl-draft-2020-day-2-grades-for-every-pick

I'm going with the inaugural 1920 season - Buffalo's first (debated) championship. The Buffalo Americans finished 9-1-1. They took the name "All Americans" because so many players were in fact college All Americans. The uber talented squad steamrolled their hapless opponents. They won each of their first four games by 20 points or more - a record not equaled until the 2007 Pats. They outscored their first seven opponents by 218 points - a record that still stands. The Akron Pros finished that season with a 8-3 record and had tied Buffalo when the two teams went head to head. If a tie counts as a half-win/half-loss - which is how many saw it - the teams were dead even atop the standings. Both teams ended the season by celebrating their co-championship. Only at a later NFL meeting was the championship taken from Buffalo and awarded solely to Akron. In 1921, Buffalo would again have the NFL championship stolen from them at a NFL meeting after the conclusion of the season in the so-called "Staley Swindle."

1977 was a horrible year for the Bills. OJ got hurt and never played for the Bills again. Jim Ringo was the HC. His 3-20 career record earn him consideration as the worst NFL head coach in NFL history. The O was pathetic. The D was terrible. Not sure who watched these games.

Most of us will look at points per game and yards per game. But as the "eye test" tells, those stats don't tell the whole story. If the offense is giving up lots of 3-and-outs, losing the battle for field position, and coughing up the ball, that team's defense will suffer the consequences. One of my favorite stats is yards per drive. It's not perfect either but a good D will not give up a lot of yards per drive. Defenses that face a lot of drives because of their inept offense will not be disadvantaged in the yards-per-drive statistical rankings.

In a different thread, I said I wouldn't be surprised by any pick outside of QB, P, and K. Reading Buffalo Timmy's post, I'll add FB. I agree with BisonMan that the Bills probably feel good about the roster and aren't thinking a lot about positional needs going into the draft. GMs say "BPA" all the time but in fact balance BPA with need. But I think Beane truly is looking for the BPA. Needless to say, the Bills are more likely to draft good players if they're thinking BPA instead of roster spots they need to fill. So despite the lack of a pick in the 1st round, I'm looking forward to this draft. And when the first round is in progress, I'm going to imagine Roger Goodell saying, "And with the 22nd pick of the 2020 NFL draft, the Bills select Stefon Diggs!"

Reading this thread, I feel like I'm in a minority because I don't care much about the announcers. Two Bills Drive keeps me up-to-date on the Bills and I don't need Fouts to explain to me who's who or what's going on. I do appreciate it when a color commentator goes deep into X's and O's but that's rare and doesn't seem to be what the networks want their color commentators to do.

I don't think we have a lot of "needs." And rather than reaching for a "need," I really think Beane should go BPA - as he said he would. When you draft for need, you end up passing on better guys who would have helped your team more in the long run. If Diggs turns out to be the BPA when the Bills are on the clock, it could be fun to have Stefon's little brother. And he does sound like a good fit for McD's D.

The OJ type backs get drafted in the first round. Bulldozers usually last a little longer. I don't follow college football very closely but I imagine there's a good bulldozer to be found when the Bills are picking.

I'm not sure about the gas. In any case, I'd like our other back to be a big, bruising, between-the-tackles kind of guy. Thunder and Lightning.

Here's how I interpret the word "slide." The media initially overvalues a guy. As they start to do more homework and realize the player's flaws, they begin to downgrade him. Thus the slide It all starts with the media's mistake of overvaluing a player.

I don't get all the Carr criticism. Just because the guy wasn't a great NFL QB, he doesn't have the right to criticize a current NFL QB? Then I guess that none of us have the right to criticize any NFL QB - including David Carr.

Weird to see Terry mentioned because I wrote about him just the other day in the draft bust thread. I can't find this on Google but as I recall Terry had some kind of problem with his eyesight and lost his peripheral vision after his promising rookie effort. He only ran for about 500 yards the rest of his career.

Ben's a retired neurosurgeon, not an epidemiologist. He's not an expert. But let's say he's right. If you get this highly contagious disease, there's a 1 chance in 50 you die. It's a significant enough possibility that I avoid people outside my own immediate family, wash my hands a lot, carry hand sanitizer with me at all times, and wear a mask when going to public places. Another concern... Under normal circumstance, according to the data collected thus far, an infected person will typically infect 2-3 others. I don't want to inadvertently get someone else sick and potentially kill them. I'm not going to any games.

There are 7 human coronaviruses - 4 of which are responsible for the common cold. There isn't a vaccine or proven treatment for any of them. Coronaviruses are hard nuts to crack. On the other hand, I don't think there's ever been so many labs spending so much money looking to solve a particular communicable disease.

SDS does a great job with this site - a site we enjoy at no cost. Many thanks to SDS for both hosting this site and keeping false - and dangerous - information off it. People who don't take the necessary precautions are more likely to contract Covid 19 - and then pass it along to others. Btw, I don't get my Covid 19 information from tv - I never watch tv news and don't trust reporters to get science/medical information right. I get my information from science websites. The folks I trust include some of the world's leading epidemiologists, including: Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, Dr. Lipsitch, Prof. Delfraissy, Prof. Cobey, etc., etc. They agree that Covid 19 is a real global threat to human health.

Until the Covid 19 storm blows over, I'm avoiding all public places as best I can. First of all, I'm 61 and my lungs have been screwed up since the Gulf War (oil fires? chemical agents?). Plus, I don't want to become a carrier who gets other people sick. Like BisonMan, I'm not expecting a vaccine or effective treatment by the 2020 NFL season.

Congrats to Eric! Well deserved! But we still never should have gotten rid of Rusty.

I was deep in the Arabian Desert for the Gulf War when the Bills beat the Raiders 51-3. No ice where I was - nothing much besides sand & sun. I wasn't even able to watch that game on tv. But when I heard the score, I felt really, really good about our Super Bowl chances. Well, we all know how that turned out. The war went as well as a war can go. The big game... I'm glad I didn't get to see that one either.

I just asked my beautiful Filipina wife what NFL QBs she could name off the top of her head. Here are her answers in order: Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Jim Kelly, EJ Manuel, and Payton "Mr. Omaha" Manning. Rodgers was the first QB she named. Rodgers doesn't suffer for name recognition.

Here's the TMZ article. Sounds bad: "Long story short, officials believe CJ2K rewarded a gang member with cash after the guy allegedly killed two men who were suspected of gunning down Johnson's friend in 2015. Here's the backstory ... Johnson nearly died in a shooting in Orlando, Fla., back on March 8, 2015 ... when Orange County Sheriff officials say someone opened fire on a Jeep that Chris was in at around 4 AM. Johnson suffered a bullet wound to his shoulder and made a full recovery ... but the driver of the vehicle, his friend, Dreekius Johnson, did not survive the attack.... Officials also say ... months later, a noted Florida gang member named Dominic Bolden shot and killed two men -- one on Jan. 19, 2016 and one on July 24, 2016 -- who were believed to be the shooters in the March 2015 incident. In the court docs, officials claim an informant told them as a reward for Bolden's alleged actions ... Chris helped the guy become a leader of a famed drug trafficking organization (DTO) in Florida." https://www.tmz.com/2020/04/09/chris-johnson-accused-of-murder-for-hire-nfl-gang-court-documents/