hondo in seattle

If anything, I pay more attention to the Bills. It's the extra incentive you mentioned. Since McD and Beane arrived, I feel like every season we have a chance to win a Super Bowl. A slim chance maybe but it's not 1,000 to 1. Maybe 10 to 1 and that's enough to grab hold of my hope and blow it up. So I watch the team closely to see if maybe this is finally the year.

Agreed. The narrative on him has been that he's good at press coverage and man-to-man but the Bills primarily employ zone which he doesn't excel at. How does size impact your ability to play zone? Zone requires smarts and quickness, and Elam doesn't seem to lack either. He may be a bad fit for the Bills but not because of his size. The whole thing is puzzling, and I feel like we're not getting the whole story.

I don't think Brady is saying he won't do this. I think he's saying he's building his offense around the skills of the players on the roster. And that starts with Josh. I'm sure Brady has the desire to scheme guys open but it remains to be seen if he has the ability.

I don't think the do-nothing camp looks defeatist at all. While I don't necessarily agree, I think they're just being prudent. I suppose it partly depends on how you evaluate the current squad and whether or not it has glaring needs. Apparently, you see WR as a glaring need. Orlovsky and others seem to think differently.

When I got in trouble as a kid, my mom would slowly call out my full name: first name... middle name... last name... If I had Davis's name, I'd be out the door before she got to Jamar: "Re'Mahn Walter Zhamar Jamar Davis, where do you think you're going?!?!"

I just want to mention the obvious... When I think of the leaders of this defense over the past few years, I first think of Matt Milano. As far as the identity - McD isn't going to change his scheme very much when it's mostly worked. While it's broken down in the playoffs, I'm guessing that he doesn't see that as a schematic problem as much as a roster & injury problem. So I think this will look a lot like previous years maybe with a few tweaks as he adapts to different personnel. McD philosophically prefers to pressure with the front four. But if that doesn't work, he's not afraid to blitz. So maybe we'll blitz more than what's been the norm. Overall, it'll be a solid, well-coaching defense with excellent teamwork. But it won't be an elite, stifling D because there's just isn't enough individual talent. I wonder what wrinkles, if any, Bobby Babich will bring. When I see him at pressers, he looks like he's in his late twenties, so I think he won't have much to offer. But the guy is actually 40, with 18 years of coaching experience. About half of his time in the NFL has been with McD so I think he's probably a McD protege & disciple. It'll be good that the two will understand each other and work together well. But I wonder how much he'll be able to challenge McD with divergent opinions?

I love the Zhamar Jamar part!

I agree. I didn't register any negativity about the Bills. He's just doing what he's supposed to be doing: talking up his new team. The truth, of course, may be a little different. He's made it clear in the past that he's a mercenary and will play for the highest bidder. I assume that's the true reason why he chose the 9ers.

Another tidbit... His first name isn't actually Ray. His full name is: Re’Mahn Walter Zhamar Jamar Davis.

I was ignoring that and looking at how much each team spends on their current wideouts. Sadly, we spend more on a receiver who plays for another team than all the receivers in Bills unis combined.

Great way of saying it. The NFL is a hard mistress. Ty was a star in college (3rd most all-purpose yards in Maryland history) and now he's fighting just for a roster spot. Despite his success in college, he wasn't invited to the combine. And yet he reportedly benched 27 reps at 225 lbs - more than any of the backs who were invited to the combine that year. And one scout timed him at 4.26 in the 40 - also better than any of the backs at the combine. Other scouts had him between 4.3 and 4.4. The guy is an elite athlete by many measures, yet barely good enough for the NFL and has already been released by two NFL teams.

I think in the past Beane has underspent on the OL. And this year, he's underspending on the WR group (5th lowest in the NFL?). But I like his approach toward the RB room. With our offense revolving around Josh, he's trying to man the RB position with low-cost draft picks on rookie contracts. Cook is already a bargain and Davis looks to be one. Johnson has a modest cap number of about 1.1m. You can't spend everywhere so Beane has decided not to spend heavily on the backfield. But he's getting us some talent there regardless.

It's good to see a former NFL QB being even more optimistic about our receivers than a homer Bill fan like me. But it's easier to get open when you have a good OC scheming up good plays and calling them at the right time. I don't know yet if Brady is that guy.

Agreed. I think the waters will be a little clearer next year, allowing Beane to make some focused additions. While there's some uncertainty on the OL, I'm thinking especially of the WR room. Who will step up? Who won't? Do we actually need another starting caliber wideout? And this will be the first year to truly see Brady's offense in action. That might also help clarify 2025 needs.

I read somewhere that we have the 5th cheapest WR room in the NFL. I have to admit, that's concerning. When you have a great QB, wouldn't you want to give him great folks to throw to? But a bunch of these guys have upside. And I think there's enough talent here that Brady - if he's good at his job - can scheme guys open.

I think Claypool, MVS, Hollins, and even Coleman to certain extent, all get side-eyed by a certain segment of the mafia because of Diggs's departure. "What? This guy is supposed to replace Diggs?" I don't expect any of them to replace Diggs. I do hope they play up to their potential and become important role players.

As a homer optimist, I'm projecting 6.

I've heard Kurt Warner and others suggest that Josh gets frustrated by 2 high shells and other defensive schemes that take away the long ball. According to the narrative, Josh doesn't like to dink and dunk down the field. Yet, we didn't hear this story a lot when Beasley was with the team. Maybe folks are right and Allen will throw to a covered deep guy before an open short guy just because he likes to air it out - film certainly shows instances of that. But maybe Josh doesn't trust his recent short threats the way he once trusted Bease. I'm not sure what's going on but whatever it is, it needs to be fixed because teams are frequently using 2 high shells to slow down QBs like Allen, Mahomes, etc. Our offense needs to become proficient at moving the ball, regardless of the defensive scheme. And Brady has talked about making defenses 'defend every blade of grass.' We need to get better at that. The encouraging thing is Brady was adept at using short crossers at Carolina. But guys open short won't matter if Allen inappropriately chooses the guy running the intermediate or deep pattern. Schematically, Brady needs to find ways to get guys open at all levels of the defense. But he also needs to persuade Josh to choose the guy with the greatest separation, even if that guy is James Cook or Dalton Kincaid, only 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Thanks for the recommendation. My wife was underwhelmed in Clarence, but I've convinced her we need to give East Aurora a try next. I think I recall going somewhere on Genesee with a friend. Don't recall the name. Or a char pit - so maybe not. I'll add Macy's to the list. You guys are making me hungry! I currently live south of San Jose, CA. There are some fantastic Latin and Asian restaurants around here representing all sorts of regional cuisines. But I have yet to find good pizza. And I'd love to be proven wrong when I say that the world has caught up to Buffalo's wings.

PBF81, you insist you don't care yet you keep pounding the table. I already told you why I like Weisman's opinion: because I want him to be right because I'm a Bills fan. I get some reassurance that Weisman might be right because Buffalo716 (former scout), Josh Allen, Brandon Beane, and some other folks I respect generally agree with him. But opinions are like *elbows* - everybody has them. And the draft is a game of chance. Even good GMs/scouts are often wrong. Even bad GMs/scouts are sometimes right. The good GMs/scouts simply have a better batting percentage, though that's a metric that's hard to measure precisely. Scouting is a very inexact, predictive science. A scout needs to guess who's going to get bigger, stronger, faster. Who's going to fully dedicate themselves to their craft and resist the temptations that come with fame and money. Who's going to set their ego aside and be receptive to the coaching and take it to heart. Who's not going to sustain a career-ending injury. And so on. Weisman, Allen, and Beane may all be wrong, and you may be right. I don't know. But I know this: I have no way of knowing. So I choose to maintain hope that Coleman turns out to be a great pick. Given some of the people who believe in the kid, and my own observations, it's not an unreasonable hope.

La Nova is a place that's been on my Buffalo list for a long while for both pizza and wings. I've never been to Nine-eleven or Desi's but maybe they get added to the list. And I'll give Bar Bill another chance whenever I visit Buffalo next. Both my brothers are Duff's guys and I do like Duff's. While Duff's hottest wings aren't as spicy as Wing Dome's in Seattle, Duff's is better overall. I don't recall any great Buffalo-style wings when I lived in Seattle, but I did have many good Asian-style.

Of course, flavor is more important than spice level. But I'm not a traditionalist. I'll make or otherwise eat classic Buffalo Wings made with Frank's Redhot from time to time. But I really enjoy more inventive, "new fangled" recipes with better (IMHO) flavor profiles. And this is where some non-Buffalo restaurants occasionally shine. I suppose it's a weird tradition, but I eat wings virtually every week during the football season when I sit down to watch the Bills. Sometimes the wife either makes them or orders them. When I make them myself, gochujang (fermented spicy Korean chili paste) is almost always an ingredient.

Thanks for the explanation. Somewhere I read examples of actual NFL scouting reports, but I was vague on the mechanics of the process. There are something like 900 college football programs in the US - counting all levels. To boil thousands of players down to a manageable and accurate draft board seems like a daunting challenge.

I haven't visited any cities that I find especially good at wings, just particular restaurants here and there. For example, I visited my daughter in Bellingham, WA once when she was going to school there. We had wings for an appetizer at a Thai restaurant that were so good we had to order another serving. The following day, we had wings at a Brazilian place that specialized in wings/chicken. The wings themselves were unexceptional except that they came with a variety of tasty & interesting dipping sauces. A week later, we were in Buffalo (Clarence) at Bar Bill. My son, wife, and I all agreed the wings at those two restaurants in Bellingham were better than any of the three flavors we got at Bar Bill. As a Buffalo native, it was disappointing. I want Buffalo to be the superlative in all things wings. But I went to Duff's once on a visit back home and ordered the Death Wings. They were hot but I ate them. On the other hand, I once ordered the 7-Alarm wings at the Wing Dome in Seattle. I barely finished one and swore - with tears in my eyes - that I'd never consume anything with hot sauce ever again. Whenever I'm back in Buffalo, there are a few things I try to hit: pizza, wings, beef-on-weck, and Parkside Candy (I love the store itself more than the offerings but I do love chocolate). The pizza is probably my biggest pleasure of the four.

Let me ask you something about the mechanics of the scouting process. Let's say an NFL scout sees a kid that he likes. He'll make his evaluation, write up a report, and submit it. Does he then call the GM or Director of College Scouting to advocate for the kid? Do the various scouts compare notes in meetings? How do the area/regional scouts influence the draft board & process besides filling out scouting reports?