BarleyNY

There has to be an agreement from the player and usually there is a financial settlement. Incidentally, he has a bad groin injury. Still, expect the Browns to make another claim for him when he goes through waivers again. They did so the first two times and they are still very interested in him. Plus they are in long term team building mode. They’ll take him even if they have to IR him for the remainder of the season. Edit: Raiders are also interested in Tak.

That’s back when the Steelers were pioneering steroid use in the NFL. (There were no rules against them yet.). It is no coincidence that the Steelers had some “phenomenal” draft classes in the 70s though.

This is the most plausible reasoning I’ve seen.

Hey! Thirty is a kid when you’re my age! But, yeah, you’d think Saints coaches would be well aware of his ability to play QB by this time. I’m not a big Winston fan, but I’ve seen nothing from Hill that makes me think he will be close to as good as even Winston is.

Yup. Plus their DL is probably the best in the league this year. Our OL needs to be in top form for that game.

High school aged kids don’t have contract clauses (which include guarantees for injury) and a players’ union to deal with so I doubt it would be necessary.

I think it still makes sense. A coach should never publicly contradict the team or independent doctors, especially with something like this. Clearance to play - or lack thereof - from doctors can mean a lot of money (and cap space) in the event a player’s contract is terminated. I think Morse is a candidate for that in the offseason due to the size of his contract and his past concussions. Also how would it look if McD contradicted the doctors and then Morse got another concussion after the bye? No coach wants to open up that can of worms.

That’s a very good point. I was thinking along the lines of others that it’d make more sense to have Morse at center and Feliciano at OG. But getting Morse completely healthy makes more sense. My daughter got a concussion playing soccer 12 days ago and still is having headaches and light sensitivity. The longer you can give concussion to heal, the better. Glad they’re taking extra time with Morse.

I thought you were going to say that the only way the Bills don’t win the division is if Miami wins more games than us. But on a more serious note Frazier is running McD’s defense, isn’t he? If the play calling isn’t good or something else is wrong, then McD should be stepping in to fix it.

If you could argue against my points, you would have. But you’re not........

Good thing you have that “reason” to stop arguing rather than admitting you were obviously wrong.

Or you misunderstand it. And here’s why that’s the case: - That the phrase “in which he is moving toward or parallel to” is included. If the intent of the rule is that a stationary player can’t block toward his own LOS, then why include that phrase at all? The rule would be more simply stated. It would just read that blocking in the direction of the LOS outside the designated area is illegal. They added the requirement of movement toward the LOS for a reason. - If blocking toward the LOS is considered moving in that direction then every downfield block that starts directed away from the LOS but the defender gets turned parallel to the LOS would be a penalty. That’s not the case obviously. And that happens a lot as defenders try to get past blockers. - Any offensive player outside the tackle box who facing parallel to the LOS or back toward it would be defenseless under your interpretation. Again, that’s obviously not the intent of the rule. Sorry.

As in if an offensive player is facing the LOS they can block a defender coming at or by them (rather than get trucked) as long as it’s above the waist. But they can’t run toward the defender and do that. That’s how I understand the rule. Yes. 3 yards on either side of the LOS.

The Cardinal blocked in the direction of the LOS, but he wasn’t moving in that direction. I believe that is a necessary condition for it to be an illegal blindside block.

You can’t put a hand on the back of a player while blocking them. That’s said, I watched the play several times on the broadcast from 3 angles. It looks like he hits him from the side as he dives for Murray and that’s where contact is made. His left hand may have touched his back on the way down, but that’s not a block in the back IMO.

I think we are very close to Allen being a finished product. He has two hurdles to clear in order to become an elite, franchise QB IMO. And that’s not to complain as I think he is in the cusp. IMO they are: 1) The rate of substantial mistakes has to drop. I do not ever expect him or anyone else to be perfect and he’s improved dramatically as a QB, but in the Arizona game he had 5 turnover worthy plays by my count. The two picks were on him as were the two passes that hit Peterson but weren’t intercepted. Plus the 3rd and 10 throw for -5 yards to Singletary as he was getting thrown down. It was into a group of defenders without full control. I love the determination to make a play, but he’s got to be smarter than that. Let me take a moment to say that I love what I’m seeing from him on most plays. Other than those 5 plays he was everything you’d want from your starting QB. He just has to get those plays down to 2 a game rather than 5. I think that comes with experience. 2) In the playoffs this year, when the pressure mounts, he has to perform better than what we saw from him post fumble in the Houston game. You could tell that he had not been in a game that big before and that the pressure got to him. I think it was a learning experience for him and that, judging by how well he has performed late in every other close game this year and last year, that he’ll be fine. But it’s still a hurdle he has to clear. That might sound more critical of Allen that I actually am of him. I’ve seen great growth from him and I think he is on the cusp of being elite. Just a couple more hurdles.

While it is true that Buffalo controls their own destiny, so does Miami. If Miami wins next Sunday then we are tied at 7-3 with the tiebreaker going to the Bills. If both teams win out through week 16 (or have the same number of losses) then the week 17 winner takes the division. While I like our chances - especially against Miami in Buffalo - that’s the math of it.

I’ve been complaining about our TE corps the whole offseason. Knox was really the only hope and he has not really panned out so far.

That’s a block from the side, which is legal.

Yup, that’s generally how I see it too. If you’re looking at the value you’re getting from each unit and player, then the defensive front seven and Morse may bear the brunt of the 2021 cap squeeze. It makes sense to cut a little deeper on the underperforming side and keep the better performers on the better unit. But that’s speculation based on the worst case league cap situation. I don’t know that it’ll be that bad.

Assuming the league wide expectation is that the cap jumps back up in 2022 I do not expect players worthy of sizable long term contracts to take much of a hit. Players looking at one or two year contracts are going to bear the brunt of that along with the overpaid/underperforming ones.

The first year hit doesn’t have to be near the AAV of the contract so it’s possible to retain Williams. A lot depends on the cap next season AND the expectations of the cap in 2022. A timely and effective COVID vaccine would go a long way toward getting the cap back up. I expect that there is some real work ahead for Beane. We have $170.8M in expected cap expenditures next season with only 40 players under contract. Unless the cap is well above the $175M agreed upon minimum there will be a bit of a blood bath. The defensive front 7 will get hit and even a player like Morse could be released. But there should be a lot of short term deals out there with a lot of teams in really bad cap shape so all would not be lost.

Totally agree across the board. My immediate thought on Williams is a Conklin contract, which is exactly $14M AAV. Mongo getting a contract just North of Spain’s is my thought too. Nsekhe would be a solid short term solution at RT as well. He’s 35 now so we’d need to draft someone to be the future, but he could hold the fort down for a year or so.

This. There were a few very good players moved at below market value, but those players were directing where they were going. If we couldn’t get a player like that, then I’m happy we didn’t get involved with a bad deal.

Heinz is really the only option for ketchup IMO. It’s perfectly balanced, or in food lingo “has very high amplitude”. Lots of specialty mustards are great and have gained local or national market share because regular yellow mustard is garbage. (My favorites are Stadium Mustard for most things and Trader Joe’s Dijon when I want that flavor. It’s real Dijon, not the weak crap found at most grocery stores.) But specialty ketchups just can’t compete on taste with Heinz. Most are way too sweet or have another dominant flavor that makes it one dimensional.