Kirby Jackson

Bledsoe got hit hard and a lot because he was slow through his progressions and had cement feet. If he played on today’s NFL he would be miles worse than he was for a large part of his career. He was sacked 467 times!!

Allen absolutely is a top tier athlete. He was the first QB ever with 3 straight 100 yard rushing games (again at least I think). That 40 time means nothing because his play speed is elite. Again, he has play speeds the others haven’t. 17 rushing TDs in 2 years is elite. Allen has kept the ball on 3 or 4th and 1 24 times and converted 23. He’s averaged 5.8 YPC on a substantial amount of carries. Again, no one is arguing that he is the QB that those others are but his athleticism, especially at his size is elite. He’s the EXACT same guy that Cam was when he entered the league. Cam has been beaten up lately but physically they are the same. Mahomes is the only QB in the NFL with the physical tools of Allen. 21 MPH at 240 lbs is way ahead of those others as the chart shows.

Bledsoe had 3 decent years in New England and 1/2 of a good year in Buffalo. Other than that he was an AWFUL QB. Lamar has one good year and one MVP season. Lamar’s peak has already been better than Bledsoe’s and he only needs about another good year or 2 to surpass Bledsoe’s entire prime (‘94, ‘96, ‘97). He was a BAD QB before Brady ever took over. I was living there at that point and followed them a little. He is and was one of the most overrated players ever and certainly the most overrated the Bills have ever had. If you exclude his first 8 games in a Bills uniform his numbers are as bad as Losman, Edwards, EJ, etc... He certainly has a ways to go but his peak has been better than Bledsoe’s already.

I disagree Allen is absolutely in that top tier athlete category. He’s actually a superior athlete to Watson, Mahomes and Wilson. If you look at the next gen stats he was second to only Lamar in top end speed (at least I think). He was at like 21 MPH. Allen was also a 3 sport star in high school. He may not be the QB that those others are yet but he absolutely is in the elite athlete tier. This chart is a touch dated but he’s as big and fast as Cam:

You’re buying Bledsoe but not Lamar? Odd

Singletary and I don’t think that it’s that close. Personally though, I’m higher on Singletary than most of the board and lower on Moss than most of the board. IMO, Singletary has a chance to be a star. Moss feels like a nice complementary player to me. The Bills backfield could be really good this year.

This

Thought you were taking about the BR skill position ranking from last year. I apologize.

Exactly The point was that Singletary, Brown and Beasley way outperformed their preseason ranking of 24. 2 of them had career years and the other averaged 5.1 YPC. If they were to rank them retrospectively the Bills were probably 16ish. Now you add in a number one receiver and bump the rest down a notch and you have a high end group. Take arguably the worst RB in the NFL out of a rotation and add a talented rookie and that group improves. You had a rookie RB and a rookie that room presumably will take a step forward. Thats how you go from 16ish to 8. Everything moved in the right direction. There’s a CHASM between the Bills skill players and the skill players of the Jets, Pats and Dolphins.

The point is that the Bills ended up underrated at 24. It was a preseason ranking. Beasley and Brown has the best years of their careers and the rookie EB averaged 5.1 YPC. Guys that were question marks entering the year overachieved. Now when you add Diggs, you have 2 1k receivers and a high end slot option. Brown and Beasley now face easier matchups. Moss in unquestionably an upgrade over Gore and that’s why you are looking at the Bills 20 spots ahead of anyone else in the division. The have the best receiver, the best #2 receiver, a high end slot guy and arguably the best backfield in the division. Bell may still be that guy but there’s a very good chance that the Bills backfield emerges. We aren’t splitting hairs in the division. The Bills weapons are far, far, far beyond the rest of the AFC East.

That’s honestly why I said (if he isn’t already). I like Gesicki quite a bit. He’s an athlete. Former basketball players make great tight ends. I think that Knox has some of his athletic upside and is a way better blocker. He will be the more complete of the 2 but not sure that he will catch up to Gesicki as a pass catcher. I wouldn’t be shocked though if both guys became like 800 yard receivers with 7 or 8 TDs.

Yep The AFC East has some good defenses with the Bills among them. The Bills just have way better offensive talent than the other teams. If you look at a position by position comparison it’ll really show. This Bills roster is deep and balanced. With the possible exceptions of RT, backup QB and punter there really aren’t holes. You can’t say that for the other AFC East rosters (or most rosters in football). He had to have been. 2.49 YPC in a good running game is atrocious. Singletary was running the same plays and averaging double the production. That’s virtually impossible. It would be one thing to hide behind “the running game was struggling” but it wasn’t. They ran well when Gore was on the sideline and terribly when he entered the game. I’m going to be surprised if he makes the Jets roster. They may want his veteran presence which they could use but he can’t play.

They are great players. Anderson and Samuel are really nice secondary pieces too if they can stay healthy. I guess I didn’t realize their talent until I thought about it. I’ve viewed that roster as pretty poor but there is some talent. That whole division is loaded at the skill positions.

It’s not for fan benefit. It’s because the military is a giant sponsor. https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/amount-money-military-gives-nfl.html/ I agree that we’ve universally accepted it because why would people oppose that? It shouldn’t be “do you accept the anthem or not?” That should be 100% yes. It should be the same with systemic racism too though. That’s where this is headed. It shouldn’t be you sit on one side of the fence or the other. It should have the same universal support. It clearly hasn’t but it is trending in that direction. You aren’t going to see less protesting this year. It will be more and will also be more accepted. It won’t be universally accepted but it won’t be nearly as controversial as when Kaep started.

20 is too low for the Ravens but I do like what they have in Carolina. Moore, McCafrey, Samuel, Anderson, etc.. is pretty explosive.

Rebuttal 1 - Those guys, outside of Diggs and Moss, have produced in this system. Diggs was an all-world recruit that was under drafted. He has been a productive player. There’s no reason to think that will change. His work in the intermediate is his strength. That’s also Allen’s strength. His passing efficiency in the intermediate routes was near the top of the league. It’s the deep ball that they struggled with. Rebuttal 2 - They are going to run the same offense that they have the last couple of years. They took a step forward last year as they surrounded him with better players. It’s reasonable to expect another step forward with better players and another year of progression. Rebuttal 3 - I know you’re a Jets fan but you didn’t watch Frank Gore last year. He’s a HOF back. He doesn’t belong on an NFL roster at this point. From week 8 on he averaged 2.49 yards a carry. Keep in mind Singletary was amongst the league leaders at 5.1 in the same system. The Bills could have brought Gore back and they elected for Moss. They tried to move up to get him. Gore is BEYOND cooked and Moss is a massive upgrade. That doesn’t even mean that he will be great. If he’s just okay it’s a big step up. ...and the Bills offense is way ahead of the others in the division. None have a proven QB. Three teams have talented young guys. A lot will rest on their development but the players across the board on the Bills offense are way ahead of the others in the division. That’s why they ranked 20 spots ahead of anyone else in the AFC East. That’s been my point. It isn’t splitting hairs. It’s a chasm. That’s as much of an indictment on the rest of the division as it is an endorsement of the Bills. The Bills offensive talent is good to very good. It isn’t elite. The other teams in the division are a disaster. There’s a lot of room between disaster and good.

I think that’s a fairly utopian view. Should they not fly the flag at games? That’s political. We’ve been over the anthem. We have flyovers. We have presidents throwing out first pitches. We sing God Bless America in the 7th inning stretch. We honor military heroes during games. We do a salute to service month. The stadiums are funded by the public. There are lots and lots of political aspects of sports. That’s never going to change. That’s one of the things that I keep going back to. If a DB takes a knee on 3rd and 4 it becomes an issue.

Ironically, if we switched places with the Panthers in the NFC South we might have the worst skill players in the division. If you objectively compare the Bills skill guys to the others in the AFC East it’s really difficult to make a case for anyone else (or that it’s even close).

The Bills skill players are WAY ahead of the rest of the division at this point and their OL is similar to others. I’d say that they have a middle of the league OL but probably top 10 skill players. Diggs is the best WR in the division. Brown is the best #2 WR in the division. Beasley is a top 10ish slot guy in the league. The rest of the division is good in the slot as well. Knox could very well be the best TE in the division by this year (if he isn’t already). Singletary’s 5.1 YPC was tied with Derrick Henry last year. He trailed only Mostert and Gus Edwards in that category. If you add more carries for him and the massive upgrade from Gore to Moss you have a pretty big gap between the Bills and the other skill positions in the division.

Maybe that’s a me problem? It’s not something I’m thinking about during the game. Maybe I need to be? That’s a fair question. Are other people fixated on it throughout?

Not trying to be an antagonist but I asked this earlier and no one responded. How, specifically, is someone kneeling during the anthem impacting your experience? Are you still thinking about that with 3:38 to go in the 2nd quarter? Once the game starts the only thing that I’m thinking about is how the Bills can have more points when the clock hits zero. I just don’t really understand. “Wanting to escape” to me is code for “I don’t like the protest.” That’s why I’m asking the question. I want to be educated. If anyone wants to explain how it changes their experience watching the game I’m all ears. It’s just something I can’t wrap my head around at this point.

Timely: https://theundefeated.com/features/for-the-nfl-issues-have-to-outweigh-the-optics-this-time-around/

LOL I’ve had a really lousy day and this just cheered me up. I can see the headline tomorrow, “Brady supports looter and Bucs cut ties. Coach Bruce Arians is excited to see what Blaine Gabbert can bring to the table”

I used the Ford example as to why it’s different. At Ford you have people that work on the line to create cars to sell. In the NFL the players are closer to the cars than they are to the guys on the line. The NFL needs it’s stars or they lose money (and potentially millions). These players are immune to things that would get the rest of us fired. Obviously they can’t do what Aaron Hernandez did but they can do things no other “employee” could. I’m half-kidding about Mahomes taking a dump on Reid’s desk but he could. He could punch Andy Reid in the face and start 2 days later. You can’t punch your boss in the face. It’s not the same. See the last post. If you punched your boss in the face would you be fired? If Mahomes punches Reid in the face would he? It’s not about the actions it is about the PERSON doing the actions. Players are different. They can do as they want (certainly the top guys). As you said, follow the money

The employer has a right to terminate whomever they want. If the Chiefs decide they don’t like what Mahomes is doing on their time they can fire him. It’s like that in any job.