GunnerBill

And I don't trust the Steelers to win out or anything close. Let them win today and finally kill off the Bengals.

Yes I was asked specifically about if that play was today.

Yes. We are trying to make the game safer.

I am the ultimate, keep your composure let the zebras deal with it... but that was disgusting and totally intentional. I'd have lost my cool there.

Bengals defense is funny. Like funny, funny, funny bad.

Not only should he be ejected he should be suspended the rest of the season.

I don't blame the Jags for going mad there. That was disgusting.

God this Hawks - Jets game is weird. Kick return TDs. Kick return fumbles. Pick 6. Missed XP. Hahaha.

ARod pick SIX

Jets winning games when they are dead to hurt their draft spot is nice.

Bengals D can't stop anyone.

Forbes doesn't fit our scheme. I quite liked him coming out because he had a pretty unique skillset. Fair to say the Commanders scheme change has hurt but similar to Elam he is someone who has value in man coverage in a league that every year seems to lean more and more into zone heavy coverage. Also worth saying that in that class I thought Witherspoon, Gonzalez and Porter were bona fide studs and should have been the first 3 corners off the board and all have been great. The rest all had question marks - Forbes (was my CB4), Banks (my CB5) and then Cam Smith (my CB7), DJ Turner (my CB9), JuJu Brents (my CB12), Tyrique Stevenson (my CB10).... that entire "second tier" has struggled. You have to do down to Garrett Williams (my CB14) who went early 3rd - but I had a late 3rd grade - on to the Cardinals to find the next "success" certainly as an outside guy. My CB6 was Clark Phillips III and he has been good for the Falcons but as a slot only whereas I thought despite his size you might get a bit of outside flex with him.

This is plain wrong IMO. The disrespect Benford gets is because he is a 6th round pick, but he is super talented and going to get paid. He isn't the best corner in the NFL, that's true. But by almost any metric he has been a top 10 boundary corner in the league this year and some of that is him flat out making plays, like that exceptional pass breakup to Hopkins against the Chiefs. It is more than just "he knows the scheme and is always in the right position." People presume because he was a 6th round pick he is just another Levi Wallace or Dane Jackson redux. He isn't, talent wise he is much closer to Tre White (not quite as talented as Tre but close) than he is to those other guys. He is going to get PAID either this offseason by the Bills or next offseason as a free agent.

Benford flat beat him out in camp last summer. Even before Elam was hurt. He lost that competition fair and square and that was coming into it with a lead after ending their rookie years the stronger of the two - as you say. Elam's biggest issue in a zone defense is still what it was coming out. His transitions are clunky and at this stage I gotta imagine the Bills have done whatever they can to tidy the technique up.. but his transitions still just aren't as good as Tre White, Benford, Douglas even Dane Jackson. And in a heavy zone scheme that is just hard to overcome despite all the things Elam can offer that some of those other guys can't.

I think there as a risk of Josh failing and it was that a team either: a) tried to hide his weaknesses in the development phase and didn't expose him to things. As you say the Bills did not do that; or b) they tired of the mistakes and pulled the plug on the development right before the break out happened. I think a) was the bigger of the two risks and it is why I give Daboll credit. I don't think he is responsible for Josh Allen or anything like that... Josh's talent is responsible... but Daboll developed a guy like Josh absolutely the right way. No stabilisers. There is a world IMO where a team tried the alternative approach of hiding him early, then got frustrated because the ceiling appeared lower and gave up only to see him succeed somewhere else. I think that is sort of what happened with Baker in Cleveland. They installed an offense to try and prop him up rather than truly develop him and as a result they never got the ceiling version of Baker that Tampa are now enjoying. Josh is better and more talented than Baker, no question, but the risk of a similar career arc was there IMO. It seems to me that of the two Schoen is the one more likely on the hotseat. They should either keep them both or fire them both though. Mismatching regimes rarely works.

He has always been one of the most aggresive coaches in the NFL on 4th down since Josh broke out in 2020. We are actually 5-1 against the Chiefs in the regular season, but you know..... stats... In the 2020 Conference Championship game McDermott kicked FGs instead of going for it. He hasn't made that mistake again.

How's the snow?

Yes there are. But you can't call those 35 times a game and ultimately when playing a heavy man team the tariff on your outside guys winning 1 on 1 5 or 6 times in the game is higher and that tends to be why the better offenses v man tend line up with better receiver talent.

Neither QB is on the injury report. Odd.

I mean it really wasn't. He threw two passes then stopped throwing on Wednesday. At that point it was anything other than obvious. Friday was the first proper practice he had all week.

That Eagles game Shady went OFF if I remember correctly?

Eberflus's instinct that you keep the clock running, call a play, get another 5 or 6 yards then call time out was correct. But it was clear at 22/21 seconds that Caleb was panicking. At that stage any HC worth his salt steps in, calls time out, gives himself 30/40 seconds to calm his QB down and work out what to do. 21 seconds, slant for 5 or 6 yards and run on the FG team is an option. Of you try and find something to the sideline.

The late, great, Brian Clough - a soccer coach from the UK in the 70s and 80s who made a small provincial club two time champions of Europe - always wanted his players to get married young because he thought it settled them down. I don't know that I totally buy Cloughie's theory but there is no doubt in my mind that Josh Allen is in a better place mentally now than he was two years ago. I really think the personal life turmoil affected his play in late 2022. I think he is playing the best football of his career and if this relationship is part of it then long may it continue.

Also depends what he thinks of Caleb. Because if you think Caleb is good (and there have been flashes as a rookie) then there is a good chance to win quickly in Chicago. The downside is it is a very tough division. I think the Lions and the Packers are the two best teams in the conference and Minnesota has talent and is well coached.

Probably because Kyle Shanahan lies about injuries more than any coach in football. That said I do think Purdy is going to give it a go.