BarleyNY

People are arguing the impact of penalties on this game? SMDH Anyone notice the head shot on Zach Wilson that didn’t get called and would have extended a drive? I didn’t think so. With very rare exception (Saints), it’s ridiculous. It’s a loser’s mentality.

He’s trying to be the hero in a win rather than just trying to win. He’s taking unnecessary risks to make highlight reel plays rather than focusing on making the correct/smart plays. He is hurdling defenders on first down, throwing deep into coverage and bailing on clean pockets instead of sliding, making safe underneath throws and getting the ball out on time to shorter patterns. Then, when that hasn’t worked, he finally panics and fumbles, throws a pick or just plain misfires on his throws. What a freaking waste.

That’s the issue here. What we need is a coach with the brass to ****ing bench him. One that gives him specific instructions and then sits him when he ignores them. Allen has to understand that he will hurt the team and himself by ignoring the coaches’ directives. The real issues are that they didn’t nip it in the bud a year ago and that the OC is his bro and second fiddle to him. Daboll would not have stood for it, but what’s Dorsey going to do? So now it’s on McDermott to handle it, but he won’t. He doesn’t have the brass for it and he’s off with his head in the sand coordinating the defense anyway.

Awhile back I heard an interview with a former GM. He was talking about going to the SB and how going in they thought they had it won. Their focus was on their QB having a spectacular day and being elevated among his peers. They took their eyes off the ball and it cost them a championship. Obviously they only realized what they did after the fact, not at the time. I get the same feel here with Allen. It isn’t enough just to win, but he feels he has to ball out every game with big numbers and highlight reel plays. That pressing and extra pressure results in what we’ve seen. I do not think it’s the play calling or other players either. This is on him. The exception on the coaching side is that they have not held him accountable. For that McDermott and Dorsey are culpable.

Good point. That penalty was uncharacteristically stupid of Milano.

It’s fair to say that things aren’t as bad as they seem at the moment. But it also seems like they are not going to get anywhere near where we hoped this year.

I think that’s the case. Why revive this now? Was something said or leaked?

I just hate the strategy of taking a QB like Bryce Young who has such a low ceiling. If everything works out for the best, then he’s what? Kirk Cousins? Dak Prescott? And you will be stuck with that kind of QB long term unless you have the brass - and ownership buy in - to move on from that. Give me the high upside guy who can potentially help win a SB. If not, they flame out a you move on.

Dawand Jones news. RT Jack Conklin of the Browns got his knee blown out in the first half yesterday. Dawand Jones took over and is expected to start the rest of the season. He did well against the Bengals Sam Hubbard in sloppy conditions. Big challenges for him in upcoming weeks though. It starts with TJ Watt on MNF next week. He will also see David Ojabo and Nick Bosa in the next 4 weeks.

Mac Jones with his first TD pass of the year!

I believe the wording of the antiquated rule is now being scrutinized. It used to be that guaranteed money had to be put in escrow - and some owners used that to their advantage when negotiating. But now with the increasing amount of guaranteed money in some of the huge contracts everyone is looking much more closely into what is really required. I don’t know where that has landed (or will land). Edited to add: This is one reason why you now see “fully guaranteed” and “total guaranteed” in the breakdown of contracts. Some big contracts have rolling guarantees that are effectively fully guaranteed, but they are not officially guaranteed until a later date. That way the money doesn’t have to be escrowed until that later date.

I love football. I’ll watch them all. I’m just not into histrionics.

Either way, it’s just week 1. The Bills stomped the SB champion Rams in week one last year. It’s just one game.

For all of Edmunds athleticism he was an awful blitzer. It never made sense, but that’s how it was.

I saw the Onion AFC & NFC articles last night. Hilarious across the board.

It was a market value extension at the time it was done. It was done at a lucky time as NFL revenue and the cap have exploded.

You’re too nice

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Since it was not a football related injury the Bills put him on the NFI list. That means they are not obligated to pay him his salary or any per game roster bonuses. That’s $3M they don’t have to pay him. Also the Bills can choose to pay him his full or a lesser amount. I have no information about what they chose, but I bet they aren’t paying him much, if anything. Thus the lawsuit to recoup his lost earning. If some idiot on a jet ski hit you, tore up your knee and cost you at least $3M you’d only sue if they were drunk or high? LOL You’d sue.

And I think it’s fair for fans to be concerned by how poorly Bernard performed last season. That doesn’t mean he can’t improve.

Couple points: - There’s a big difference between acknowledging that someone is an expert and asserting their infallibility. - On the tax example my MIL had hers done by the same professional for decades. She passed away last year and my wife is handling her estate. She found numerous mistakes in the taxes sent to her by the same professional tax accountant. Some took several corrections before they were fully rectified. Thus the danger of appealing to authority. - Similarly a lot of fans thought that despite his extensive experience Rex Ryan was going to be a disaster here. And they sure weren’t wrong. I hear the same argument of “he’s the pro.” - Just because a fan may not be able to do the job of a GM doesn’t mean that they can’t point out where they think he went wrong. I’m not a professional chef, but I can tell you that a meal is terrible when I have a really bad one - and sometimes even when I’m watching one be made. - Let’s not confuse name calling and belittling someone with fans voicing legitimate concerns and criticisms. - I don’t see the same push back when Bills fans criticize other teams players, coaches and GMs. Why the double standard? There’s nothing wrong with a fan stating that they think we will have a problem at MLB because our starting MLB performed poorly last year and hasn’t been on the field in the preseason. That’s legitimate. That doesn’t mean that they’re rooting for the player to fail or rooting against the Bills.

Yup. "Appeal to Authority" is a logical fallacy. It is when someone asserts that something is true because someone deemed an expert says that it is. I have heard a version of this for just about every coach and GM that the Bills have had. I'm not sure how anyone can make such a claim after seeing all of the mistakes they've all made. That includes the current group.

The only thing I disagree with is that I don’t see a retooling until after the 2024 season. The Bills are set to move on from several key players at that point. Of course there are some they could choose to move on from earlier and some they could extend, but that off-season seems like the logical place to make the most moves. Contracts set to expire after the 2024 season include Dawkins, Morse, Brown, Gilliam, Hines, Harty, Poyer, Neal and Johnson. It’s also the point I expect them to get out of the contracts of Von Miller (definitely) and Diggs (possibly as 2025 would be his age 32 season). It also the logical point for staff and coaching changes to be made, IF any are warranted at that time.

Agree that it’s a ridiculous metric to use. It’s meaningless. Every team has to start a fair number of their draft picks - and a GM that’s run a team for a long time will have a bunch. Duh. Please note that I don’t think Beane is a poor drafter. I think he’s been average/solid. He’s found some good players but if I had one criticism it would be that since the Allen pick he hasn’t drafted a big difference maker (unless it happened this last draft). I’d like to see another home run soon. But people saying that he sucks don’t know what an average draft looks like. Overall he’s certainly put enough talent on the team to compete for a championship.

IIRC Burrow never said that he would “take less” money. What he said was more vague. Something like he’d “work with them on his contract to keep” Chase and Higgins. I took that to be more related to the structure of his contract (like Mahomes) or that he might trade non-guaranteed money for guaranteed money.

That’s a fair question. I agree that he never got anywhere close to the old Tre last season, but he did seem to be improving. By now he should be healthy and over the mental hurdles. The remaining question is whether he is back 100% physically. I have heard (Marino on Locked On Bills) that he looks great, but I haven’t seen it myself. So there’s some hope built into my prediction.