The Frankish Reich

That would definitely seem to follow from your analysis - way too predictable. By the way, a lot of what you just did is exactly what the much disparaged analytics guy-in-the-khaki-pants types do. I certainly hope they've recognized these trends too. If not, I hope they read TSW. And that the coaches listen.

I think this is probably right, but to really confirm it we'd have to have a RB who can actually get outside.

Still the best post title ever. I'm no Rams fan (they are acting like the Yankees of old, acquiring every name player available, which is the surest way to incur my hatred), but I gotta feel bad for Woods. He's still the one former Bill of recent memory that I really regret letting get away. Not the biggest, not the fastest, but he just has a will to succeed that overcomes everything. I hope this knee injury is another example of that.

Well, there's always this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/193457/total-league-revenue-of-the-nfl-since-2005/ It's a business, not a public service. I have to assume the owners love the bottom line results or they wouldn't keep re-upping him.

Leader of the free sheeple? Please do not allow this ^ vaccinated lamb's photo to ruin our little Borax Bath Party. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/11/13/anti-vaxxers-recommend-bathing-in-borax-other-detox-to-undo-covid-19-vaccines/?sh=5b11b01b38e3

Exactly. I started the damn thread and even I'm sick of it. Vaccine mandates? I'm for them (hey, that's the title of the thread!) but I will gladly concede that there is room for debate. Mandate for whom? When? What types of exemptions? All of that is ... debatable. Watching this morph into "vaccines are garbage" or "vaccines are part of a vast big pharma conspiracy" or, as we have it in the latest version, actually RUIN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM is just depressing. If one wants to lose all faith in the intelligence of ordinary Americans, well, this may be the place to start.

Sorry, I meant Brown was abused at RT, and that doesn't bode well for him moving to LT. In general, I'm an optimist re: O line issues. NFL coaching staffs generally figure out a way to patch them together during the course of the season. We probably all remember the disastrous Pats O line in, what was it, 2016 or 17? They got it fixed. Even our historically bad O line at the start of 2018 was poor but ... better by the end of that season. Sometimes a good reshuffling is the start.

Yikes. After a promising first couple games, Brown was pretty much abused at RT. I don't want to see him protecting Allen's blindside anytime soon. I do agree about Dawkins. There's been a cascade effect stemming from his subpar health/play. But I don't think there's any real alternative there. He has to play through it and we have to hope that by January he's closer to the 2020 version of Dion Dawkins; otherwise, we'll be in rough shape approaching the playoffs. Agreed. Between a healthy Dawkins and Morse, a healthy Feliciano was certainly able to hold his own. But that's just not been the case this year. I'm all for experimenting when you're talking about swapping out one journeyman type for another journeyman type - sometimes (Justin Zimmer for about one calendar year?) you get lucky.

How many destinations must one have to be labeled a "journeyman?" Because but for his mere two NFL stops, that's kind of how I see Feliciano. I imagine he may graduate from apprentice to journeyman next season.

File under: Embarrassing Admissions.

This is what is meant by "regression." No, Josh Allen did not get "worse" than he was last year. No, Josh Allen did not unlearn the important things he learned in 2019 and 2020. Unless we're talking about a veteran mediocrity who suddenly has a great season in his mid-30s (Rich Gannon?), we never know when a guy is having a career season until after the fact. You could say the same thing about Patrick Mahomes' sophomore NFL season, his first as a starter. We still have a very, very good QB, and he'll still do great things. He may have seasons that equal or even exceed his 2020 season. But absolutely everything fell into place just right last year, and no one should realistically expect that to happen year after year after year.

Thanks for the update! And no, I didn't seriously mean DiMarco himself, but maybe a younger DiMarco type ....

I thought you were citing a sketchy paper. You weren't. It's a real study by reputable scientists in Sweden. But ... IT DOESN'T SAY WHAT YOU CLAIM. Read the abstract. It confirms waning effectiveness of the non-mRNA vaccine, possibly going to zero after 121 days, whereas the mRNA remains effective, although at a reduced level. Therefore, it concludes that there is a strong case for boosters. Really, some of you anti-vaxxers will twist facts any which way to prove a stupid, made-up point about highly effective vaccines somehow "ruining" your immune system. Here's the conclusion of the Swedish study. Show me where it says "COVID-19 vaccines actually ruin your immune system over time" You should be embarrassed to have posted something so completely untethered to reality. Interpretation: Vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic Covid-19 infection wanes progressively over time across all subgroups, but at different rate according to type of vaccine, and faster for men and older frail individuals. The effectiveness against severe illness seems to remain high through 9 months, although not for men, older frail individuals, and individuals with comorbidities. This strengthens the evidence-based rationale for administration of a third booster dose.

Usually whenever someone says this, I am right there to respond "oh, yes they can - that's why the current guys won the job." But in this case I feel like it's the early 2018 line that almost got Allen (and McCarron before him) killed. I don't think it can be worse.

I don't know about you guys, but personally I'd like to see a fullback on the roster. Lord knows we need someone to help with pass protection, and the ability to changeup to a heavy set wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to keep defenses off balance. Speaking of forcibly retired players ... Hey, where's Patrick DiMarco these days? EDIT: a real fullback, not a jack of all trades TE/FB/Special Teams Guy (Gilliam type)

I just maxed out our savings bond purchases for 2021, and I'll be right back for more in 2022. I Bonds - boring-ass old people's savings vehicle - are now paying an annualized rate of 7.12 percent. I have some old bond I bought in the early 2000s that are currently paying over 10 percent. No, I don't believe what politicians or the Fed tell me about inflation. This is the Treasury's own formula for the prevailing inflation rate, incorporated into the I bond rate. So at least 7 percent on an annualized basis.

(Re: Allen being top of the 2018 QB class) Has anyone gone back to look at what the "experts" said? I'd tend to agree with this. Wasn't it something like an even split between Mayfield/Allen/Darnold/Rosen with a smaller Lamar contingent?

Yet. (re: Lee Smith)

It's even o.k. to win 12-9 Funny how everything people said about Mahomes and the Chiefs offense a couple weeks ago now applies to Allen and our offense. Defenses adjust! The big play based offenses are struggling. Offenses need to adjust too.

Lee Smith, Bills Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

And he may very well have a second act where he's used more in that manner. I haven't given up on him by any means.

9 carries by running backs (Singletary 6, Moss 3) in a game in which the teams combined for 15 points is just ... weird. Other good teams have punished opponents that commit to stopping the big play by going to heavy sets and running the ball down their throats. Remember the Pats with their fullback/James Develin sets? Do we not have the personnel to do that, or do we just lack the will to try it?

I agree with the idea that they've regressed, but I don't think it's inexplicable. Dawkins came into came greatly weakened by a bout with COVID, and at this point I'm not sure he'll regain his form during the course of the season -- he may need a full offseason to put back the weight and strength. Feliciano was always kind of a marginal starter (he'd be best suited on a strong line as a backup guard/center) and, of course, whoever is playing at LG will suffer from Dawkins' reduced strength. So ... it's a problem, and one that probably will be there all season. I view the failure to make some kind of deal before the trade deadline as GM malpractice. We have a tremendous window of opportunity now as the Chiefs are starting to look like they're into a down cycle and nobody else has shown they're quite ready to emerge as the favorites in the AFC. I'm not saying mortgage the future, but there were opportunities to upgrade and/or plug some holes on the O line and at RB, and that simply didn't happen in the offseason or even before the trade deadline.

It's almost as if we went into the season with no depth behind a developing TE in Knox and no outside running threat other than a reclamation project in Matt Breida.

October 5: Urban Meyer is in over his head. He has given up on his team (staying behind in Ohio to frolic with coeds), and his team has given up on him. November 7: His team is far behind the best teams in talent and experience, but Urban Meyer is beginning to build a team with fight in it, and with some incredible talents (the other Josh, Lawrence) on both sides of the ball. The never-ending story of the hot take.