hondo in seattle

Mercury Morris, the Dolphin's elecrifying RB from the 60s and 70s, just died. When the Fins went undefeated in 1972, both Morris (scatback) and Larry Csonka (bruiser) rushed for 1,000 yards - an NFL first. RIP.

That's all any of us can do.

That comparison wouldn't have occurred to me in a million years. But I see your point... I think. I agree. I just wish he'd let others champion his cause while remaining humble.

I've always run but eating right is a new thing. And don't be too impressed with my mileage. I am SLOW. But the dog loves our weekly rambles in the mountains and I imagine the health benefits I get from it aren't much different than the folks who are faster than me. Sorry to hear about the neck. Nothing the docs can do for you?

I'm in my 60s. I try to do the right things to live a long & healthy life. I eat right. I exercise 6 days a week - in fact, I just hiked/jogged 12 miles in the mountains (2,300 feet of elevation gain) with my husky. My parents and grandparents all lived to the ages of 86-99. So I think I got some good years left. But I don't think I'll see another QB of Josh's caliber under center for the Bills in my lifetime.

So far I'm 0-4 on these so far, but I'll try again... Offense: Dion Dawkins. The Jags are good at Edge, but Dion is going to keep Josh safe. Defense: Rasul Douglass. 4 picks in a half season with us last year. He'll play solid D throughout the Jags game and get his first pick of 2024.

Ah. I think you're right. I feel better now. And that seems to pass the eye test. I'm not sure how well our receivers are getting separation since I don't do All-22 but the OL has been playing well. It's been good to see to see Allen stand in clean pockets with time to scan the field.

I agree and felt the same way when I saw the chart. But for their chart, "disruption" doesn't just mean pressure. It could also mean perfect coverage. If that's the case, this doesn't speak highly of our receivers and/or Brady's passing schemes.

Fran was a talented scrambling QB. I used to enjoy watching him play. And I remember hearing him once say he loved football so much that he would have played it for free. I like it when guys love their sport. But, yikes, whining for credit isn't a good look.

Good news/Bad news Good News: this chart shows that Josh does better when "disrupted" than any QB in the league. Bad News: this chart also shows that Josh gets "disrupted" more than any QB in the league. That's a problem.

This drive looked sluggish and unimpressive... until it won the game.

I think one thing that made Brady impressive is that he could succeed regardless of the circumstances. If had a bad offensive line, for example, he'd make a good presnap read, decide who to throw the ball to, and get the ball out in 2.1 seconds. If he had Randy Moss, he'd air the ball out. If he didn't have deep threats, he'd successfullly dink and dunk down the field. He factored in the strengths and weaknesses of both his team and the opponent and played appropriately. Not all QBs have the temperament or talent to do that.

We seem to be getting our data from different sources. According to NextGenStats (using "Average Intended Air Yards" - the average air yards on all passing attempts, not just completions), here are Josh's numbers: 2022: 9.4 2023: 8.6 2024: 7.4 According to this, Josh is throwing shorter passes now. Which seems to be a general league-wide trend though some QB are still slinging the rock downfield. Our next opposing QB, Trever Lawrence, is averaging 11.0 air yards per attempt this season thus far. But, to your point, it's only two games.

Yes, that's true. And Kurt has said that Allen needs to get the ball out on schedule to whoever the play was designed for instead of waiting for a bigger play downfield. This is one of the things that made Kurt successful. He intelligently took what was given. Sometimes that was the long ball. But if the play was designed to go underneath, or if the D took the long ball away, he happily threw the short stuff. Efficiency and YAC, more than air yards, will earn you a good YPA. That's why Josh is at 8.8 yards per attempt this season versus his career mark of 7.2 (and better than Warner's career mark of 7.9).

What was interesting to me is that McD chose to convey the singles story to Allen which supports the idea, promoted by some here, that McD wants Allen to change. He's clearly asking Allen to be happy with singles and not swing for the fences so much. Which is probably the same thing Kurt Warner and Tom Brady would tell him, based on their public comments.

It's true that no team plays two deep all the time. But it certainly seems teams play it more than before. And the most common defensive alignment nowadays is the Nickel. Teams last year lined up in the Nickel something like 2 out of every 3 plays. Back in Kelly's day, they called the Nickel a "pass prevent" defense. By the standards of the 1990s and before, today's teams are in a pass prevent defense most of the time. Maybe we'll see more teams line up in conventional 3-4 and 4-3 defenses now. Which would be great for Josh.

I don't think any game in NFL history ended with that score. I'm going with something a little less bold: Bills - 24 Jags - 17

This has been one of my main criticisms of Beane for a while. If you have a great QB, you need to get him a great bodyguard. He hadn't done that. I think Josh's critics ("he's overrated") don't understand that earlier in his career Josh was often running for his life trying to make things happen. Although it often looked great in highlights, it sometimes resulted in TOs, sacks, and missed opportunities. But, so far this year, the OL has done a very nice job giving Josh time to quickly scan the field and throw.

The great football strategist, Sun Tzu, once said, "You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended." And if that's what Brady is mostly doing, great. But sometimes it's not what he's doing. And as another famous football strategist, George S. Patton, may or may not have once said, "If you have a big gun, shoot it." We're winning and scoring points so I should probably just shut up but I'd like to see Brady make max use of Josh's arm talent.

I'm still not entirely sold on Brady though I'm getting sold more each week. EPA looks great this year - so far - as do points on the scoreboard. But for those who say Carolina represents who Brady is... I don't automatically agree. First of all, coaches learn and grow. I'd like to believe that Brady has studied his craft, learned from experience, and is a better OC now. The other point is that context matters. Brady has a different roster now than he did in Carolina. He also has a different group of offensive coaches supporting and advising him. And a different Head Coach. Sometimes people do crap in one environment and then thrive in a better one. I'm still unsure if Brady can scheme up a potent passing game if the need arises. What if we're in a shootout, like GB mentioned? Or what if a team plays single-high and/or loads the box? Can Brady design a game plan that nets us 300-400 yards with medium and deep passes? I'll feel better when I actually see a few games like that. For now I'm cautiously, ambivalently, hopeful.

Bookies used the age of their projected 53 man roster. Eball averaged the age of starters.

Two ex Bills featured. But who makes videos about the week's greatest punts?

I wrote that before the regular season began and have been pleasantly surprised since. Last year, Josh did a lot to make the OL look good - better than it was. This year, the OL is doing a lot to make themselves look good.

I think this is interesting. I've been saying for a few years now that if I was a HC and didn't have a franchise QB, I'd build an offense around a RB. The defense McD runs, with five DBs and only 2 LBs, would have been called a "pass prevent" defense in the old days. And what do you do against a pass prevent defense? You run. To make the run game even more attractive, today's LBs are not nail-eating brutal killers like Dick Butkus, Concrete Charlie Bednarik, or the other big thumpers from days gone by when the NFL was a running game. They're more like safeties these days with better coverage skills than tackling, faster than they are strong. Give me Cookie Gilchrist and I'll give you 6 yards, a cloud of dust, and some broken bones in the defensive second layer. The changes are frustrating to me because we have an amazing QB with a howitzer for an arm. I want to see him sling the ball downfield but that's not what defenses are allowing these days. Defenses are built to prevent the pass and so it seems the offensive pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction. Last night I watched the Chiefs Bengals play. Reid is one of the best pass game coordinators of all time. Mahomes is one of the best QBs. Yet KC ran more than they passed. Mahomes only had 151 yards. And the Chiefs won.

When you watch on TV, you don't often see what the secondary is doing. Especially if you're like me and keep your eyes on the ball. I could only infer the Bills secondary was doing its job because it contained two good QBs. The chart is interesting because I consider Douglas the better of our two boundary CBs but it seems, so far, Benford has outplayed him. Then again, as Matt_in-NH says, it's a small sample size. It's too bad Taron isn't out there too.