hondo in seattle

Happy New Years! I wish us all abundant health and happiness... and a Lombardi!

No. This season, Beane decided to pay him $31 million to go away. That's how bad he wanted him gone. After paying him $31M to be off the team, why would Beane pay $1.2 million - or even $1.20 - to get him back on the team? The Bills have less talent at wideout this year and yet we're scoring more points and seeminly exeriencing more teamwork, unity, and camaraderie. The Diggs trade was a classic case of addition by subtraction.

Altough I see the clunkiness too, your earlier point is valid: it's hard to argue with the results. As it stands right now, the Bills have the second highest points per drive for a season in NFL history. In other words, this offense is more productive than the offense of nearly any Super Bowl champion in history. I suppose the question is: Is the offense productive and consistent enough to produce wins even when our medicocre defense falls on its ass?

Sadly, I think you're right. And if we do have an offensive letdown, we'll probably lose because this D isn't equal to the talent of the offenses we'll face. And then everyone will blame McD for not scheming a better D instead of Beane for not managing the cap better and drafting/signing better players. Hopefully we get lucky with the timing. We can still win it all if our O's off game comes on the same day that our defense and special teams have atypically great days. Complimentary football matters. One of our three squads can be a little off and we still might squeak out a victory. But if two squads have bad days at the same time, we're doomed. I hoping and praying that Brady, Josh, and this offense go on a historic offensive run and we don't have to rely too much on the D or special teams.

I both agree and disagree with the "Props to Beane" sentiment (as a Zen Buddhist, I'm comfortable with paradox). Beane did do a good job building this roster considering we currently carry $71 million in dead cap (according to OTC). Then again, Beane is the one who put us $71 million in the hole and that is certainly not worthy of props. It probably deserves mentioning that we have a One Name offense and mediocre defense. While we have a lot of depth, we may not have the right starting 11 on defense to win it all. As GunnerBill and others have noted, Beane is good at finding good role players but is not as adept at finding good playmakers.

I think we're going to in the playoffs pre-Super Bowl. And people will blame McD because the defense will let us down. Never mind that it's just not that talented.

Coleman, Knox, and Shakir about where I thought they'd be. But, wow, I was way off on Kincaid and - especially - Samuel! It's been an interesting year.

Achievements and accolades are two different things. I'm sure Allen cares about what he achieves. He wants to run for TDs, throw for TDs, and all that because he takes pride in his accomplishments and he wants to contribute to the team's success. That doesn't mean he cares about MVP awards and all that.

I may have been a little off...

They've been chastised. Their excuse was they thought the Bills were playing an early game.

I finally got around to reading the linked article. Truly funny! Thanks for posting!

I had some fears and worries about Brady before the season but have loved what I've seen the past 10 weeks. Points per drive - to me - is a big thing. I believe points per drive and yards per drive are great ways to measure the potency of an offense. If an offense scores a lot because it gets a lot of drives, what does that really tell you? The fairest way to measure an offense is to measure how productive it is on the drives it gets. To be sitting at #2 all-time is impressive. Take Allen away and this group looks nothing like a historic offense. Joe and Josh have both been impressive.

I think my logic was okay but my optimism was undercharged.

I don’t think McD intentionally employs a bend don’t break defense. Given that something like 2/3rds of the yards in the NFL are gained through the air, he defends the pass first. But he also plays the cards he’s dealt and does the best he can to defend both. I’ll guess he doesn’t want to bend or break.

Bills…. 29 Pats…. 18

Bummed. Attending a wedding. Will miss a Bills game for the first time in years.

I respect a guy who admits he was wrong more than one who hides he was wrong.

His stats were very good for his time despite playing in the swirling winds of Rich Stadium. QBs tend to be more mobile now but their better stats has more to do with rule and scheme changes than increased talent.

I agree - sort of. Every pick, every signing involves risk. But it seemed like Beane knew he needed to generate some pass rush and went big on a guy who was probably on the downside of his career. This wasn’t a normal NFL risk - it was an expensive gamble with a questionable payoff and huge opportunity cost. We could have and should have used those dollars for more cost effective players.

OJ didn't win MVP in 1975 when he averaged 130 yards per game and led the NFL in scoring despite playing against 1970 era defenses that were designed to stop the run with brawny RB-eating LBers and man-mountain DEs. Why should Barkely get MVP for averaging 123 yards per game in a league where the base defense is 4-2, LBers are agile coverage guys, and DEs are finesse QB chasing edges with ballerina spin moves?

The folks who chose to watch the Bills-Lions contest made the right decision and had no regrets.

Rules, defensive schemes, offensive schemes... were all different back then. If you look at a list of the top twenty most total TDs, they're all newer guys. No Otto Grahams or Johnny Unitases. It's just a different game now: more games in a season, more rules to protect the QB, rules that make blocking easier, rules that allow receivers to run free, etc. Interestingly, the oldest guys in the Top Twenty of total TDs are Marino and Kelly. Kelly was a scoring machine in his time. Not quite as strong-armed as Josh but probably more accurate and just as tough. None of the leg talent though. Kelly would be top five in today's game with today's rules and schemes.

For years I've been complaining that the Bills need a better bodyguard to optimize the production and protect the health of our unicorn QB. This year's OL looks good, and Dawkins may be the best of them. I voted Dion.

I've had wings at The Peanut. If my memory is correct - it isn't always - the wings were good but lightly breaded so not true Buffalo Wings.

I like JT's breakdowns as a way to learn about X's and O's and see things I didn't notice during the game. This one is particularly fun just because it was one of Josh's better games.