HappyDays

I get myself in trouble when I say things like that because I don't think through exactly how many players I would define as "elite." McCaffrey, Barkley, Henry, Kamara, and Robinson for sure. Then you have a 2nd tier that's probably like Taylor, Mixon, Dobbins, Jones? I'm doing this off the top of my head. Cook I think I would put in the lower end of that 2nd tier. I don't know how you would classify RBs like Achane and Gibbs where it's very boom or bust. Putting that list together now, saying he's close to elite is probably a stretch too far. I'll say this - for this offense with this QB I value Cook's traits more than I would value say Joe Mixon even though Mixon is probably the better all around RB in a vacuum. We get the benefit of defenses giving us a lot of open space within 5 yards of the LoS because of Allen under center so I value the burst and cutting and pass catching ability that Cook gives us over a more traditional back like Mixon.

Yeah I don't know where all this hype comes from for Breece Hall. Seems like it's only a Bills fan thing, maybe because he was talked about as a 1st round option for us and he happened to have a couple good games against us. Jets fans on social media complain about his vision, there are too many times when a hole is there and he misses it. Cook has been outstanding in that respect especially this year where I'm not sure I've seen him miss a single rushing lane. Only thing that leaves you wanting with Cook is his contact balance but you can't have it all (and Hall isn't really any better in that area). Cook's burst plus his quick feet plus his vision makes him pretty close to an elite RB IMO. He's having his most complete year so far too.

Nah Cook is much better. Hall is a pure straight liner with mediocre vision.

A proper TNF classic

Kenyon Green might be the worst IOL starter in the league. Why did Houston stop running after the penalty? Bobby Slowik is the latest in a long line of offensive coaches that gets away from what his team does well just for the sake of it.

Rodgers has been terrible since they traded for Davante Adams. They should trade him away to save their season

He is having a bit of a sophomore slump. I've not been impressed with his ability to handle pressure in this game. A lot of young QBs struggle with that including our own back in the day so nothing against him.

Houston should run Mixon 50 times in this game. Every time Stroud drops back to pass something bad happens.

Jets run defense stinks

Houston forgot about their OL in the offseason. The same problem that got them blown out in the divisional round is still a problem.

Bills 34 Dolphins 17 I don't have anything interesting to say about this one. We own the Dolphins, period.

I'm sure. Allen is elite at leading his WRs away from hospital hits. Underrated trait of his.

Another benefit I thought of the Jets winning - I want as many teams as possible vying for the 7th seed. Right now it feels like Pittsburgh (or Baltimore?) and Denver have very good odds to be the 5th and 6th seed. The last team I want in as the 7th seed is the Bengals. Jets, Chargers, or Colts are the dream scenario.

I think my favorite play is the one 37 seconds in when two DBs get their hands on him (including Devon Witherspoon, no slouch) and he just pushes through the contact like a turnstile to get wide open downfield. That's the kind of play I envisioned when I advocated for him to be our pick. For good measure here he is getting around press coverage stacking Woolen and forcing a DPI to prevent a TD: Down for down this was the most physically dominating performance I've seen from a Bills WR since I don't know when.

Cook definitely not. Use him up for the next season and a half and let some other team make that mistake, and get a decent comp pick back. Shakir I'm 50/50 on right now. I know slot WR is easier to fill but I'm usually in favor of paying players that create plays that go above and beyond the scheme. He's really a perfect mix of chain mover and playmaker which is not going to be easy to replace. And it's not like Knox where we'd be paying him for one outlier year of production. It's going on two seasons now where he is catching an absurd percentage of targets and finishing top 15 in yards per target. Hopefully we draft a WR decently high next year so that if we need to move on from Shakir we have someone waiting in the wings. If he ends up getting $20M per year like people are predicting I'm not in favor of that at all.

Yeah I could see us ending the season 14-3 and still ending up the #2 seed behind the 16-1 Chiefs. I guess you hope they lose one of their remaining divisional games, maybe in Denver, and then hopefully the Texans or Steelers find a way to beat them. It's hard to see them ending the season any worse than 14-3 and even that record is assuming we beat them.

Root for the Texans to lose as many games as possible before Nico Collins is back. Man I wish the Colts had made the QB switch one week sooner. Texans have a sneaky difficult schedule to end the season - they still have Lions, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Ravens. I think 1-3 in those games is likely. If they also lose tonight that puts them at 6 losses on the year and I would feel very confident we end ahead of them in the standings in that scenario. But hey if the Jets lose that will still be a good result because we'll basically lock up the division with a win on Sunday. No bad outcomes tonight.

Arm length was only used as a talking point regarding his ability to play outside. And that has turned out to be a legit talking point - 69.8% of his snaps this year have come from the slot. I don't have access to stats on his exact target share from the slot versus outside, but from the eye test I'm mostly only seeing him get outside targets on screens, everything else is coming from the slot. Not that there's anything wrong with him having a defined slot role. His efficiency from that position has been otherworldly and his YAC skills are as good as it gets. That's been my favorite aspect of this new pass catching group as a whole. YAC is arguably more important than ever now because of the way defenses are schemed. It's very hard to win over the top these days, so getting chunk plays with the ball in your skill players' hands is the best way to move down the field in a hurry. Joe Marino does a weekly recap of Josh Allen analytics as part of his Substack. According to his data 57.4% of Allen's passing yards come from YAC. That ranks 4th in the NFL. Coleman and Shakir rank 2nd and 5th respectively in YAC per reception. Kincaid ranks 12th. This is a massive upgrade from previous seasons where I know we consistently ranked near the bottom of the NFL. So we may not have a defined vertical WR right now but I think we're more than making up for it with the efficiency of the group.

There's really no questions about any of these players. Elam is worse than Benford and Douglas and it's not close. Edwards I can't speak too as much because I haven't seen him play this year but I won't ever question McDermott on DBs. Deion Jones? He is a free agent, not even offered a PS spot anywhere. Why did you even bring him up? And Bishop is a rookie who blew a coverage so bad we gave up an uncontested 60 yard TD. I'll be critical of McDermott when warranted but none of these players have proven they belong on the field.

I'm sorry but it is laugh out loud funny that a career backup has the audacity to demand a trade. Hard pass for me, even if we got an offer which I doubt we would. Quality depth is an important attribute of championship teams. Edwards himself is a good example considering he had to step in for KC during their playoff run last year. A swap of 7ths or whatever isn't worth giving that up.

McConkey is never going to be much better than he is right now IMO and he'll likely be relegated to the slot. High floor low ceiling type of player. I think you can find that skill set in the 3rd round or later. Big physical WRs with elite body control don't make it out of the top 40. I am all about drafting for the future, not for year one. And as we're seeing with Coleman sometimes that future comes faster than you think for the physically gifted players.

Yeah well I have a few complaints about your British English: 1) Not every word needs an extra "u" thrown in. The letter "o" is perfectly fine on its own. 2) The first floor is the one that touches the ground. The one above it is the second floor. Etc. 3) We don't learn histories, sciences, or Englishes in school. And so neither do we learn maths. It is a singular concept.

Is he really "under fire"? Seems to me like he said a word that is considered offensive in the UK - which the NFL is actively trying to expand their market into - and is likely being told by Fox not to use that word anymore. I've seen more outrage about the supposed outrage than the supposed outrage itself. I haven't seen anyone calling for him to be fined, fired, or anything like that.

Beautiful eulogy @SDS. Thank you for taking the time to write it. If you spend as much time on here as some of us do, you have to have a few screws loose. John was no different. I'll miss his particular brand of posting and my thoughts are with his son and daughter.