Mango

Oh so could I...IF we upgrade BOTH pieces around him. Just sort of thinking out loud.

Of course Bodine graded out OK. The line went: LT- Decent/OK LG- Bad C-middling RG- bad on most days RT- middling How does Bodine grade out if we upgrade both guards to decent players and the A-gap becomes a much bigger target/responsibility for uncle Russ? I am pretty wary of players who grade out as “meh” on bad units in any sport. More often than not it seems it’s because it’s just much easier everywhere else.

I think he’s talking about more so, how much will it cost in 10 years for the town of Tonawanda to insure KAT, TTFA, and high school football teams. Filled with underaged kids, not adults making millions. Do most townships have it in the budget to fit that bill down the road/is it worth it? I coached a kid in a different sport with 5 concussions from football. It’s been about 6 years since he played football. It took him an extra two years to graduate high school because he can’t sit through class, read, or sleep through the night for that matter. What happens when that kid comes from a very well off family and ties up the district in costly litigation? What happens if that family happens to win a large settlement because of negligence from the district employed head coach? Do other townships take note and bow out of the sport because premiums go up through the roof? Absolutely! And they compete with more “white bread” sports like hockey, rowing, and lacrosse? (Not that there isn’t serious risk in any of those)

Oh I totally agree with you. Just touching on the insurance issue in the thread. I do think the “end” or drastic decline in the sport will come from availability due to insurance, not that kids will just stop playing. Doesn't mean it’s not happening. It’s just a much slower burn.

Youre not accounting for size. How many kids at your average HS play football. JV and Varsity, about 40-60 each. About 100 per school. Conservatively 20 high school teams alone in the region. Plus middle school and pee wee teams. There are probably 2500 to 3000 kids in Buffalo alone, running into each other head first for two hours everyday plus Friday/Saturday games. There are much fewer kids in MMA. Tournaments are far less than sparring and training. None have an affiliation with a school or municipality. Apples to oranges.

I have been beating this drum for a while. Football will drastically diminish or go away entirely because it becomes too expensive to insure for schools and municipalities. Sure there will be some drop because more parents won't want their kids to play given the CTE issue. But eventually there will be hugely won court cases, and insurance companies will make it so expensive for middle america and below, that football won't even be an option for a lot of kids. Not without a hefty price tag at least. Even so, those white collar areas will have to heavily compete with sports like row/crew, hockey, lacrosse, etc. People won't stop playing the sport in large numbers because people are running from the head injury risk. Insurance companies will make that decision for them in a lot of places. I am fairly confident in saying that my grand kids most likely won't grow up playing football or even with the NFL. I am in my early 30's and no kids. Probably 40 years at least from being a grandpa.

I hate to say it, but at this point I am beaten down by the energy it takes to hate them. I mean I will never root for them. I can't and I won't. But I have succumb to the fact that what we are and have been watching is special and will likely never ever be reproduced again. There is a certain merit to it that I respect at this point. Brady and Bellicheck have single (double?) handedly participated in devaluing every other HoF career they played against. Manning, Ben, etc.

Jesus Christ. This is like watching your friend in a toxic relationship fight on the street corner.

Thought I’d share for Bills and NFL fans to put out some good vibes towards Marquise. Goodwin’s wife loses twins a year after a losing his son. The same year he loses his dad. Also has a disabled sister that he designed, built, and bought a customized house for. Tough 365 days for anybody. The guy is constantly positive and up beat despite having things pretty tough. Good vibes to you Marquise from Buffalo.

I fully agree greed with your take on UB as a good school and bang for buck. I went to UB. I get it That doesn’t make mean that higher education is a major pillar of our community, and defining pillar. It’s not Boston, Chicago, NYC, the Bay Area, or for the sake of this conversation, Pittsburgh. Outside of UB the educational opportunities here are middling. Employment opportunities are currently relatively entry level for much of the population. We don’t have a diverse job sector. A lot of those things go into what makes Buffalo affordable. We’re in the NE, so we are ahead of the curve compared to a lot of cities and regions. But Pittsburgh is a great example of what Buffalo should strive for. Good use of waterfront. A lot of diverse employment opportunities. More than one good school for higher ed. Reasonable cost of living.

I think the point is being missed here. Granted my response was full of some snark. Most and many of the jobs for companies like Ingram, Citi, Ingram, Blue Cross, Kalieda, etc. are largely low end employment in the grand scheme of things. Largely because of the need for work in Buffalo and the low cost of living. There are a number of colleges in WNY, but it’s not a hub for education. It is a mid sized city with colleges that are relatively average. UB, Buff State, Cansisus, D’Youville, Daemen. It is not an educational hub. Buffalo props up these companies and universities more so than they are actually recognized outside of the community. Not to hate on the area. I moved back a few years ago for a number of reasons, mostly personal and home town stuff. But it is also an honest inventory of the region. Most of the actual data for the Buffalo area does not point to any sort of resurgence or renaissance. It’s a relative fallacy. Very little meaningful data points to an upward trend. It’s still stagnant with a few coats of paint.

I love buffalo. Don’t get me wrong. It’s my hometown and generally under rated. But let’s call a spade a spade. Pittsburgh is a cool town with more going for it than Buffalo. They do have a history of money. They also have a world class (top 5-10 in the world of not better) university in Carnegie Mellon. That is in addition to Pitt and Duquesne. Driving there does suck though. Cleveland seems to be doing a good job as well. Always seems like there is a lot going on whenever I am there for work. Buffalo has some of the most debt collection agencies in the country. We have a low income need, and low skilled workforce. Debt collectors love it here.

I really liked the “Major Industries” for Buffalo. Financial Services, Technology, Education. ...basically collections, Ingram (which is half call center), and UB. Looking great.

Cool! Does Allen start games with a 7 point lead then because he didn’t have that “luxury”?

And he just threw an INT in the end zone. Haha. I agree with you fully. Poor timing on the post.

Brees is a weird case. He’s basically working on a series of 1 or 2 year deals that are almost entirely gauranteed. Brees will also account for AT LEAST 10 mil against the cap the year after he retires. It was in his last contract, it just keeps getting pushed back. So anytime you see Brees getting reported at 25 mil-ish, remember, he has 10 mil sitting in the bank for him the year after he retires.

I mean, the likely scenario is Whaley advocated for Watson. McD said "no, we are holding off on grabbing a QB high until I see what we can do with TT. I need a better zone corner, especially after losing our CB 1 in Gilmore. Get me a guy"

Agreed. Bad special teams is generally indicative of an incomplete roster/lack of depth. There is a difference between under performing players and bad players. We have bad depth at CB, LB, WR. Doesn't give your ST much of a chance. That said, Crossman still blows.

For me it is less about W-L. They need to beat and/or play good football against good football teams. We split a bad Jets team. Split an average dolphins team. Lost to 7 playoff teams. If the Bills go 8-8 next year and 4-4 against playoff teams or teams over .500, I’ll know we are moving in the right direction.

I think his floor, attitude aside, is probably similar to Jay Cutler.

I had the exact same thought. Pretty dangerous going forward. The Browns are another one to watch. They played some good football this year, and tight against some pretty good teams. Lots of room. If Baker continues to progress, they could be very dangerous very quickly.

I would prefer Hugh Jackson. ?

I was a Rosen guy admittedly. And admittedly I have been a bit disappointed this year. I’m also really excited about Allen. He is a fun player to watch behind center...that said the book isn’t written on either. There is reason to be cautiously optimistic about Allen. And cautiously pessimistic about Rosen. What i I dislike about this is poo pooing analytics or stats. What people liked about Rosen was they he was a more “precise passer” (seems to be a buzz word around these parts. That his college career in most categories gave him a chance at a higher success rate than Allen. No matter how their careers pan out that still true. If Allen turns into Favre and Rosen into Edwards, that doesn’t change the probability coming out of college. Just because a FO swam against the current once, doesn’t mean it is good practice. And just because you swim perpendicular to shore in a rip tide, and still drowned, doesn’t mean it’s a flawed practice. no matter what happens a bunch of us will be right and a bunch of us wrong. Still, nobody knows and people need to be less polarizing about it.

I mean he’s .500 against Buffalo in Miami. I would be more anti-Gase if we could count on more wins against him.

Basically we aren't good enough to beat 37.5% of the league. Great. We are 50/50 against draft picks 3 and 13. Sounds about right. Woof