BarleyNY

I met Brian Daboll a couple years ago. His daughter, who already lived in the Buffalo area with his ex wife, was on my daughter’s soccer team. I can’t say much except that he was a nice person. His fiancée at the time (I think) and daughter also were also good people. Guessing they are married by now if they weren’t. Looks like a good hire hire from a football standpoint too.

One of my all time favorite announcers in any sport. Rest In Peace, Mr. Jackson.

Yup. Not a lot of people understand statistics or modeling.

I follow 538 quite a bit. As Election Day neared they only had HRC as a very slight favorite - and that was with the caveat that there was a very real possibility of Trump winning due to the potential of high turnout among many people typically considered unlikely to vote. They were the only unbiased outlet that I saw give Trump a real chance to win.

Yup. The OP is just offering the same fallacious reasoning we’ve seen before: Look! There are teams with highly paid/franchise QBs that aren’t in the playoff! Ergo it isn’t important to have one. Obviously that’s stupid. What they miss is the massive importance of having a FQB where winning a SB is the goal.

The Bills would need some star power and popularity for that. They don’t have it at this moment. There is one thing that trumps ratings - Goodell’s authority. Don’t cross him or you get hosed. The Saints found out the hard way with Bountygate. Goodell told them to stop and they didn’t. The hammer came down. Josh Gordon lied to Goodell’s face and got hammered. Kraft and the Patriots got away with a lot for very little punishment, but Goodell had to follow through with Brady’s suspension. It was a matter of preserving his authority.

We did not. The Patriots were asking more of AFC teams than NFC teams for him - even from the Browns. No way they give him up to another AFCE team. It was also rumored the Belichick wanted to trade Brady and sign Garoppolo long term, but that was nixed by Kraft. At the time I assumed that the rumor was just posturing to get more in trade for him, but now I believe it.

It’s about money. The NFL isn’t in the business of having a fair or equitable league, it’s in the business of making money. Star players and well liked (and much hated) teams get more people watching. It’s that simple. Notably, this is an important reason to try to obtain a star QB. If you have one that people want to watch, you’ll get the calls.

Yup. And I can’t wait to see if the NFL brass manages to arrange for the Giants to get the best QB prospect in the draft.

Its not bribery, it’s them being encouraged to keep the marquee teams on top. The leauge wants teams like the Patriots and Steelers to be on top. Gotta keep those popular teams on TV. It’s about money.

The payback should be against him or Brady. Not a late shot, but something more like a knee level tackle from a deep safety when he is on a seam route. Or a knee/head shot on Brady is also an option. The message has to be clear: Try to injure or cheap shot a Bill and we will end your playoff hopes. That’s the only way to get this crap to stop. The NFL isn’t properly policing Gronk because they don’t want to hurt their TV ratings. So it’s up to the Bills to do that job - or it’ll never end and we will forever be a bullied little punching bag.

The team is sure watching. Their reaction and the league’s are going to be the only ones that matter - and they won’t let this continue. The stadium will get built downtown, near Pegula’s properties and that’s where people will need to go to drink and eat before and after the games.

Some very interesting analysis in this article to consider when looking for a QB in the offseason. The breakdown of the league’s QBs is really telling. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nfl-quarterbacks-are-leaning-on-the-short-pass-and-its-not-working/ Picture this common scene on a Sunday afternoon. Your team could really use a scoring drive to turn the tide. On a 3rd-and-10, before the quarterback is even pressured, he quickly throws a 2-yard pass, and the receiver is tackled a few yards later to bring up fourth down. The crowd grumbles, the offense casually jogs off the field and the punting unit comes on. Better luck next time. Sure, once in a blue moon the offense may throw a bubble screen on 3rd-and-33 and end up with a 52-yard touchdown, like the Rams did with Robert Woods against the Giants in Week 9 this season. But that is the rarest of exceptions.

I agree. And that doesn’t even factor in failures of QBs due to poor development by teams. It is always interesting to see these things play out.

Figured they’d go 7-9, give or take a game. Looks like that’s about what they’re going to do. Shrug. Lots of people indulge in hyperbole - they gotta be great or they gotta totally suck - but reality has been that they’re pretty average. They can build on that and get better, but it’s who they are this season and it’s who they’ve been for awhile.

Franchise QBs are too intentionally rare to put off. If you have a shot at a player you think can be one, you take him. If not, then add other supporting talent as best you can.

I disagree. He could’ve thrown to Brown. They ran that play exactly how they wanted and got the desired result. JuJu did his job and then let Burdlict know exactly what it was all about. This is how the Steelers have been operating for decades. They’re no strangers to cheap shots.

Absolutely correct. The play was designed for JuJu to get the crack back block on Burflict. The helmet to helmet was intentional and malicious. The intent was to injure Burflict in retaliation for several cheap shots on Steelers players, including a recent one on Antonio Brown. I’m sure JuJu let Burflict know exactly what the hit was for. This was the Steelers not only paying back a cheap shot, it was them sending a message to other teams that this is how they handle their business. It’s why some teams get away with cheap spotting opponents and some don’t. It is why the Bills need to retaliate against Gronk (or another star Pats player coughBradycough) in a couple weeks. If the league isn’t going to sufficiently police this crap - and they sure didn’t with Gronk - then the players have to. The alternative is to accept our role as the bullied little kid. That should be unacceptable at every level of a team with any pride.

I think he was just trying to see over the linemen.

The Tyrod Taylor Era is unofficially over here in Buffalo.

Enthusiast, I think you’re in luck

Agreed. Two terrible calls - one for and one against. At least the last one didn’t cost us the game.

Thats exactly who we’d be - and we’d likely do the same thing they did: Fire the incompetent front office that can’t draft talent and hire one that can.

Cleveland has even said that now is the time to cash in on their draft capital, so yes, they’re taking a QB at 1. Almost certainly that’ll be Rosen. Darnold will be in the conversation but Rosen is showing more. And that is where my agreement with you ends. I’d be fine with Mayfield if he was taller but he’s not close to tall enough for the NFL. That makes his odds of success very long.

I agree - and that’s on the Pegulas. It’s such a horrific mistake to hire coaches that revamp the general style of play of a team - especially when you have something that is working well. Case in point is the Bills top 5 defense under Schwartz. 4-3 one gap attacking defense with a cover 2 that turned over to a 3-4 two gap read and react cover zero and now going back to a 4-3 one gap but with a cover 3. So many wasted picks that didn’t fit the current scheme. The same happened with the offense and their blocking schemes. Owners need to pick an overall vision that works and stick with it.