WickedGame

I wouldn’t put Derek Carr in the same zip code, much less the same ball park as Josh Allen when it comes to having the respect of his teammates. Not even close. There’s also a big difference between a guy who had no choice in which team he was trade to vs. a guy who has been given permission to find a team to be traded to. AB’s stunt was nothing more than an orchestrated stunt to get away from a place he didn’t want to be. The Raiders are the Jaguars in that comparison, not the Bills. Not that it’s worth us squabbling over it, mind you. I’d rather just stay excited about the guys who ARE on this roster and the good things they’re doing. Go Bills!

I don’t necessarily want him, but this whole “locker room problem/chemistry killer” thing goes away pretty quick if Josh Allen reaches out to the guy and leads the welcome wagon once he joins the team. That’s what leadership is. The way this team is rallying behind Josh right now, if he makes a move like that, everyone else will be good. Also, even malcontents can get in line when they see how “The Process” is a foundation of a winning culture. In New England, they call it “The Patriot Way,” and it has brought everyone from Chad Ocho Cinco to Antonio Brown into compliance. People buy into a culture when you show them evidence of its worth and give them a reason to buy in. Jacksonville hasn’t given anybody a reason to buy into anything.

Wait until late in the week. Somebody will looking to unload whatever they could sell early in the week for a premium price. Market forces take over and prices fall.

I’m generally in the “Cincinnati might give us more trouble than you’d think camp,” but I’m not sure what to read into Dalton playing well against the Seahawks defense. This is the same Seahawks defense that let the Steelers hang around behind the quarterbacking talents of Mason Rudolph and the running of someone named Benny Snell.

I’ll take “Back-up Quarterbacks Who Accomplished Nothing” for $500, Alex.

Had Doug Whaley chosen Deshaun Watson, would he still be Deshaun Watson? This is why I roll my eyes every time someone says the Bills could have drafted Mahomes. Yeah, we could have...but it’s a near certainty he wouldn’t have looked anything like what you’re seeing in KC. Compared to what he walked into, Buffalo would have seen him play with a worse OL, worse WR group, worse TE, and less QB-friendly coach.

I asked a similar question here a few years ago...thought it would be fun to bring back the poll. Bonus points if you think it’s a fat dude. If Spain scores our first TD, we’re clearly gonna be an offensive juggernaut.

Maybe he’s announcing a trade for Melvin Gordon. Younger than McCoy, cap space available, and a Gordon-Singletary backfield is a longer term answer to pair with Josh Allen than anything revolving around McCoy or Gore.

Back on the active roster, maybe. "Ready" is a big question mark.

We should sign him just to put him on IR with Mike Love.

My team name this year is “Ed Oliver’s Jacket.”

When Josh Allen throws a bad pass, or especially if he’s picked off, it’s taken by most national media — and some fans — as evidence JA just doesn’t have what it takes to be an NFL starter. When Cam Newton throws interceptions, here’s what they say in The Charlotte Observer: ”Newton was intercepted again in a goal-line situation, this time by the Bills’ Levi Wallace. While it seems like Newton, back from shoulder surgery, has been picked off a lot this training camp, that could be him testing where he can fit passes into windows, as opposed to simply making mistakes. Trial-and-error are part of the preseason process, particularly for a veteran quarterback secure as a starter.” Link

I had similar symptoms with my first concussion. Took a hard knock on the head, and just assumed I got my bell rung and that I’d shake it off after a bit of cursing. The thought of a concussion didn’t cross my mind. I didn’t get real concerned until about an hour later when I was riding in the car to dinner with my family. I got a little nauseous, and when my wife saw the look and my face and asked if I was okay, I couldn’t even spit out a sentence. Then when we got to the restaurant, I could read the menu and recognize the words, but I couldn’t process them. Can’t really find a better way to describe it. I would see the words “burger and fries,” and I knew I recognized the words, but I couldn’t put it together what those things were. I tried just pointing at a menu item, but the minute the waitress asked me a question, all I could do was mumble. All of this was happening in front of my 7-year-old son...pretty scary when you’re a kid to see that happening to your old man. My wife immediately took me to the hospital and they recognized a concussion almost right away.

I don’t want to derail the conversation from what we should be talking about — football (although, I’m not the one who took it off topic). However, I’d like to say that comments like yours are not constructive. I didn’t “get my panties in a bunch.” I just asked what the relevance was. Pure and simple, your comment is meant to be nothing more than an insult. You didn’t like my question...that’s fine. But the whole “people get their panties in a bunch” crowd...I just think you’re probably better than being that kind of person. Your comments on football, on the other hand, are on point. I’d rather have a hearty football discussion with you any day (and I agree with your OL observation, btw) than get into a Bills fan vs. Bills fan brawl. Let’s talk about which line-up gives us the best chance to win, and not worry what race a player is (or what race we think he looks like).

Does it matter? Why bring it up?

Possibly the worst analysis I’ve ever seen on this site. You don’t judge the value of these players by adding up their combined PFF scores and comparing the totals against each other, or comparing our highest score from last year against our highest from this year, etc. I’m not even talking about the foolishness of a PFF metric as a measuring stick here... At the very least, if you’re going to rely on this particular data set for your analysis, at least do an apples-to-apples comparison: * Is Mitch Morse (69.5) better than Russell Bodine (61.6) and Ryan Groy (46.7) at Center? Yes, substantially. Is Ty Nsekhe (67.8) better than Jordan Mills (56) at Right Tackle? Yes, substantially. Is everyone we brought in a stud? No. Did we bring in a few players whose scores are lower than guys who walked away? Yes. But did we vastly improve two positions on the line? Yes. And as far as the rest of the OL additions, I’m not concerned that they’re not (according to PFF metrics) a clear-cut improvement. These are depth players anyway, and given how bad our starters sucked last year, I’m at peace with upgrades at C and RT and shuffling the deck chairs at the backup positions. Heck, maybe you get lucky and one of those new deck chairs is a big upgrade over last years P.O.S. starter. But to say we’re not better at this point? Sheesh. EDIT: Let’s not overlook two other important facts: We dumped an OL coach who was accomplishing nothing, and we brought in players who may fit our OL scheme better than their prior teams’ schemes. I personally think we draft Risner in round 2, but that’s just a guess.

I met a Broncos fan at the bar a few weeks ago and when she told me the team had no plan at quarterback I suggested this exact scenario. It makes a ton of sense. I don’t think the Broncos think of Flacco as their answer at QB. Instead, I think this tells us they don’t like the options at QB in the 2019 draft and they’re getting Flacco as a bridge to the 2020 draft. They’ll draft their rookie QB next year and he can learn under Flacco for a year. This is actually bad news for anyone hoping Buffalo would trade down. If Denver is truly out of the QB market this year, there’s less incentive for teams like Washington to trade with Buffalo to jump ahead of the Broncos.

I actually just looked at Astro’s reports on scouting visits from last year. I was hoping it would show us something by looking in the reaview mirror. I was surprised that I didn’t see a lot of players the Bills drafted or signed as UDFAs on the list. Josh Allen was on the list, obviously, because we looked at all the QBs. Cam Phillips was in for a predraft visit. But beyond that, I didn’t see many familiar names on Astro’s list from last year. Not knocking Astro’s reporting...I think it’s fantastic. I just think the scouting and visits aren’t a good crystal ball for who we might pick. I wonder if those visits end up being more useful after the fact for scouting players other teams drafted.

It means Derek Anderson will not make a position switch to safety.

I think the correct answer is “Who the h&ll cares?” I just don’t understand people who’s sense of satisfaction is derived from seeing the evil awful media proven wrong and knocked down a peg. #sad #toolittletobegratefulfor

Hey, that’s FOUR L’s. Know what else has four L’s? Oh, wait... Too soon? ?

Being proud of where I'm from and pointing out the short-sidedness in how others label us aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, you might say they kinda go together.

Allow me to preface this post with a tip of the hat to all hard-working Western New Yorkers (and Upstate New Yorkers, in general) from all walks of life. I'm proud to have grown up in Upstate NY (born in N.T., grew up in Syracuse), and I'm equally proud (yes, equally) of my blue collar father, stay-at-home mother, and my own "white collar"(ish) career. However, I've grown weary of the lazy stereotyping of Buffalo as a "blue collar town." Yes, WNY and CNY have a history built on hard-working, industrial labor. Manufacturing and farming were once the powerful engines that fueled the growth of our communities. But while those industries and jobs still exist, and still play important roles in our economies and our culture, they're no longer the defining industries of our region. Consider these facts: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest employer by industry is healthcare and social services (18.6% of jobs); manufacturing accounts for just 7.4% of jobs. In fact, even if you add the jobs from construction (3.6% of jobs) and transportation/warehousing (4.2% of jobs), the combined jobs from those industries still don't equal the jobs impact of healthcare (Side note: I'm not implying healthcare employees aren't hardworking...simply that the prototype of a lunch-pail-carrying, boots-wearing, calloused-hands worker isn't an accurate representation of most Buffalonians). Looking again at industries, some of the largest employers are educational services (9.5% of jobs) and professional/scientific/technology services (7% of jobs). By occupation, the highest number of people in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls region are in office/administrative support roles (16.3 of each 100 jobs); sales jobs are next (10.5% of jobs), followed by food service roles (9.8%) and education/training/library roles (7.5%). Manufacturing production jobs are the 6th most common occupation (6.4%); Farming/agriculture jobs are 21st on the list. I share this just to point out the absurdity of the "Josh Allen is a blue collar guy...a farm boy...he's a perfect fit for Buffalo" arguments. They have little basis in fact...just clinging to outdated preconceptions of what Buffalo once was. If a city's narrowly defined "culture" and its "fit" for a player had any significance, we'd have to let go of half the roster.

Logically, if he weighs the same as a duck...

Doesn't qualify. He's still a Bill, not a former Bill. Alas.