Rocky Landing

It's more a statement on Derek Anderson, than Allen. Anderson was never more than mediocre at best. The best thing he has going for him as a vet is that he has been in the league for so long. But, he hasn't played an entire season since '07. (That was, in fact, his only full season). I have to wonder how much Allen is getting from the guy at this point. And, let's not forget, Allen's "vet mentor" going into his rookie season was Late Nate Peterman. Also, if Tyree Jackson shows himself to be a worthy prospect, which is certainly plausible (albeit, another bold prediction), then other teams will know it, and they may not want him on the PS. And, they're certainly not going to carry four QBs.

These are bold predictions after all. Derek’s use as a vet mentor may be played out by September. And Tyree might be an exciting enough prospect to keep around.

My BOLD PREDICTIONS: 1. Derek Anderson is cut, and Tyree plays third string. 2. Gore is not on the team come September. 3. Dion Dawkins does not start week one. 4. Jake Fisher becomes #2 TE on the depth chart.

Gore might be more useful in preseason than he is during the regular season. I still have a hard time believing he is a lock for the opener.

I hope so— loved his energy. But, between Roberts as KR, and Beasley in the slot, what would his role be? Beyond KR, is McKenzie useful on ST?

I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how the Fisher experiment works out. Obviously, he can block.

Interesting side note to all this: If Kraft* is found guilty of misdemeanor soliciting prostitution, he will technically be barred from entering Canada for ten years unless he earns Criminal Rehabilitation or a Temporary Resident Permit. In fact, since Canada does not exercise a presumption of innocence regarding foreign nationals with arrests, he may already be barred.

Kraft should just own it, and distribute it a la Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee.

I knew someone would catch that.

Apparently, you missed my point entirely. I'm saying that in this context, the word "projected" is misleading.

I hope Ndamukong Suh never plays another NFL snap in his life. He should have been banned from the league the second time he intentionally tried to injure somebody after the whistle blew.

Hilarious? He was a Bill, and one of the best guards in the league while he was. From all the accounts I have read, he was an exemplary teammate while wearing a Bills uniform. There are plenty of ex-Bills players that Bills fans "pull for" once they move on. I mean, come on-- the guy's just trying to get ahead.

What might help the AAF, or XFL would be for them to affiliate with the NFL the way baseball does. The Rochester Redwings, for example, are a farm team for the Minnesota Twins. I would have paid a lot more attention to the Birmingham Thunderbolts (or, at least knew they existed) if they were a farm team for the Bills.

When news outlets cover elections, they will say that a candidate is "projected" to take such-and-such a district because they have reliable evidence, such as exit polling, or a majority of polling places having tallied. Thus, projections are rarely wrong. This is the most common use, and connotation of the word. Not a simple guess.

I suspect that quite a few fans have already overestimated our WR corps, even the ones who were here last season. We Bills fans have terrible short-term memories, and it’s easy to look back on last season and remember some of Robert Foster’s terrific plays, and forget some of his egregious drops, for example. Certainly, Foster and Jones developed during the season, and the least we can expect from our upgraded WR corps is some real increase in production in our passing game. That’s pretty obvious. But, I don’t think it’s going to be huge. All that that being said, I think Brown, Foster, Beasley, Jones, Roberts make the 53, and Williams, Sills vie for #6. Williams for his potential, Sills as a red zone target. Sorry to see McKenzey go, but I think his role is supplanted by Roberts/Beasley.

Well, as a predictive model, it's a little weird to have the Chargers, and Chiefs both above 55%, and the Browns, and Steelers below 50%. Vegas, BTW, has the Browns with the third best odds of taking the AFC, behind the Pats*, and Chiefs, and ahead of the Colts, Chargers, Ravens, Steelers (in that order).

Kay Stevenson went 2-14.

Well, if it worked in 1985, it should work now. Oh, wait... I did that wee bit of research you suggested. 8-8 in '83, 2-14 in '84, canned in '85 after losing their first four games. I'd have to do a wee bit more research to see how he subsequently did after becoming HC for the Edmonton Eskimos. Edit: OK, I did a wee bit more research-- 9-9 in his one year of being the Edmonton Eskimos' HC in '98. But, hey... it's cold up there!

Players not securing the ball?-- Of course. Josh Allen throwing the ball too hard in his short passing game?-- I'm not so sure I agree with that. In fact, watching him last season, I felt that one of his strengths was his ability to throw to a poor WR corp-- an ability he undoubtedly learned at U of W. We did, after all, have literally the worst receiving corp in the NFL, according to several outlets, including Bleacher Report, and PFF.

Because why limit him to "20 or so simple plays?" Whether or not it's too much for him (I'll guess it's not), this scheme has the end effect, for someone who has not even played an entire season, of limiting him. What is the point of that? What you are proposing is essentially an experiment that could backfire stupendously. Let him audible (if Daboll believes he is ready!), but just handing him the reigns does what for us, exactly? Does it help us win games?

From PFF's Glossary Page (bolded italics mine) : "Drop Rate Drop rate is another individualized statistic for receivers (or any pass-catcher for that matter) as it takes into account the amount of catchable targets thrown a receiver’s way against the amount of dropped passes on those catchable targets. This isolates the amount of actual passes that could be caught by a receiver, not the amount of total targets, and produces a better mark of how ‘sure’ a receiver’s hands are a given game, season, career." That being said, I think your point still stands, to a degree. I remember Jay Cutler, early in his career, would absolutely rifle passes at his receivers when that amount of velocity was unnecessary. But, I do think that the way PFF administers this particular stat, it mostly removes accuracy issues from the statistical results.

I just threw up a little bit. Maybe one of those crowd flip card things? I'll donate.

讓子彈飛！

No, I don't believe that for a second. I was kinda making a joke. I just thought it was interesting that John Brown, who may very well end up being our #1WR, had the most success last season when Flacco was throwing to him, and Flacco, and Allen are tied for most dropped passes. Honestly, I have a higher opinion of Flacco than most. And, I think John Brown is great.

Bob "Smell My Finger" Kraft.