HappyDays

We're going to freak out over a well blocked well designed end around. I should have known this was coming but come on get a grip people.

Andy Reid still the GOAT. Way too easy.

Masterful coaching more than anything. The OL was really struggling and they found a way to make it work. Nice work by Lamar standing firm and making the throw to Flowers on 3rd and long too.

Honestly I'm good with all these flags. Offensive linemen have been getting away with BS that gives them an advantage. Taking that out of the game is a good thing and you have to make a statement to send a message to the league.

Ravens young OL players are really struggling

I'm rooting for Kyle Hamilton to welcome Xavier Worthy to the NFL.

Dude we're talking about investment. That's where you brought the conversation - investing in a WR means you aren't investing in a guard. So under that context which you, not me, specifically brought up, absolutely I would have taken the WR investment over the guard investment. And that was last year before we knew Diggs was playing his last season in Buffalo. And are you saying Jalin Hyatt wouldn't be a starting outside WR this year in our offense? He wouldn't be out-snapping Mack Hollins? If that's your opinion, have at it. I know where I stand.

Base level starting QBs absolutely ARE more valuable than any WR. Because the drop off from that QB to a backup QB is much larger than the drop off from Justin Jefferson to the next WR in the pipeline. If you don't believe me, check the point spreads when a QB is out versus when a WR is out. But likewise Jefferson being out would have a bigger effect on his team than say Micah Parsons being out. And so on down the line from there. You can't sidestep the valuation or act like the NFL has it wrong. The market is the market and the results are clear - it's QB, then it's WR, then it's everything else.

Admittedly I was not a fan of drafting a RB at that spot to begin with, namely because the difference between a RB there and a RB like Ty Johnson is practically nothing, so that certainly colors my opinion here. But I figure if you take a RB in the top 5 rounds they need to be part of the top two rotation from day one. I guess if Davis is the #2 within a few weeks it's not a huge deal.

Uh, yes, the answer to "how" is indeed spending draft picks and cap dollars on them. How exactly do you think most teams acquire valuable players? They just spontaneously generate in the locker room? So instead of wasting everyone's time by acting like there was nothing the poor old Bills could have done to improve the room, just come out and admit up front that you don't believe the position is that valuable. If you want proof that your opinion is wrong, rank each position group by AAV. Spoiler alert - the 5th highest paid WR is making more AAV than the very highest paid guard. Only the top 2 highest paid defensive linemen would make it on the list of 5 highest paid WRs. The value has been determined by the league. Here's a good starting point for you: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/player/_/year/2024/position/wr/sort/contract_average https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/player/_/year/2024/position/dl/sort/contract_average

Lol you're asking people to list realistic options, and you just rattled off three... I don't know what else there is to say. Missing out on Hopkins was incredibly dumb. Massive missed opportunity and there's really no excuse. As to this part - "Beane has been very clear that he doesn't like to do that" - this has only been the case with WR. With regard to other positions, notably on defense, he has wasted millions of cap dollars on bloated contracts which has led us into the cap trouble we're in today.

This remains to be seen. He had a poor preseason. But also he just plays guard, not a difficult position to fill. If I could swap him out for WR Jalin Hyatt, which is who I wanted with that pick when it came up last year, I would still take that deal now.

What did he say exactly? I had been hoping the depth chart was standard "humble the rookies" BS. I don't want to believe the RB we spent a reasonably high pick on is starting the season behind the RB we claimed off the waiver wire last year.

Did Brady really say Ty Johnson is getting the 2nd RB reps to start, over Davis?

I'm not worried about our run defense at all this year. We have one of the best run stopping front 7s in the league. Rasul Douglas has done very well coming up and making tackles in run support. If they try to run it down our throats it will be a long day for them. On the flip side I'm pretty sure the Cardinals have a mostly poor run defense so I believe we can control them on the ground pretty easily.

My dark horse team is the Bears. In the bold predictions thread I predicted them to win the NFC North. They have a top 5 group of offensive weapons, an exciting young QB that can rely on his physical skills while he learns the mental game, and a defense that statistically performed extremely well down the stretch last year. They are also graced with a 4th place schedule which really helps in what should be a tight division. In their first 9 games the only opponent I see as them being a true underdog against is the Texans and even that is not by much. Their schedule is very strange in one aspect - all 6 of their division games come in the final 8 weeks of the season. I think they can be 7-2 or 6-3 at that point and control their destiny to 1st place in the division, and by then a relatively young team should be hitting its stride.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that was possibly the worst commercial I've ever seen.

Bills 21 Cardinals 17 Slightly more nervous than I'd like to be. I think ultimately we will end up running the ball down their throat and grind out a sloppy win. I don't trust our defense versus Trey McBride, I think he will convert some very annoying 1st downs. But at the end of the day the Cardinals are just not talented enough across the board and they are a west coast team playing a 1PM EST game. So a sloppy win that we are never in any real danger of losing, but the Cardinals make it more annoying than it should be.

This is overstated. The first two games Brady took over - Jets and Eagles - were terrific offensive performances. After that it was pretty middling overall other than the Cowboys who we punched in the mouth. Only 20 points against the Chiefs, 24 points against the lame duck Chargers, 20 points against the Pats, 14 points against the Dolphins. In the divisional round our offense fell off a cliff in the 4th quarter (not blaming them for the loss, it's just the reality). I do think Brady brought a different energy to the offense that was badly needed. But to use last year as an indication that Brady will be an "excellent OC" is a major exaggeration IMO. I'm giving Brady a clean slate to prove what he can do with a full offseason.

Sort of off topic, but why in the world is Ray Davis listed BEHIND Ty Johnson? It is almost pathological this regime's need to "make the rookies earn it" even if it means casting aside what everyone can see plainly with their own eyes. There is no universe where Hollins and Johnson should be getting more touches than Coleman and Davis. Not even in game one. Get the rookies on the field and let them learn. What exactly do we have to gain in a rebuild season by putting them behind washed up vets? I really hope this depth chart is just McDermott trying to humble the rookies and that it isn't the reality on Sunday.

I have nothing to add other than I still can't believe our game @ Houston isn't in prime time. That will be must watch television.

I definitely think the narrative that Brady saved the season is way overblown, for a number of reasons. But I'm willing to see what it looks like now that he's had the full offseason to install his own offense. Might as well, right? We've spent months arguing about the offense and how effective Brady can be in leading this group of weapons to a championship caliber level. In 5 days we'll start getting answers. I find myself running out of new things to say until we see the results.

IMO the obvious move is letting Purdy walk. I know the argument is going to be that you have to pay him because the alternative is QB purgatory, the same argument that came up with Tua, but you have to draw the line somewhere. If Purdy wasn't good enough to win it all with last year's cast of weapons, how will he ever be good enough to win it all? Especially once his salary is taking up a large percentage of the team. Kyle Shanahan has spent his head coaching career getting elite offensive production out of limited QBs, and he should know that paying the latest incarnation of limited QB at the expense of his weapons would be a mistake. The difficult answer is the correct one - they need to keep shooting for a QB that can actually elevate the offense in critical moments, instead of going all in on a QB that appears to give their team a hard ceiling.

I'm fine with this PS signing, but I'm curious - when was the last time a high draft pick flamed out with their original team, signed with a different PS, and actually turned their career around from there? I feel like there are a ton of these stories every single year and they never actually go anywhere. By far the most likely outcome is that Cine just plain isn't very good and will never see the field.

Purdy starting on those Stafford Lions teams would have been riding the bench by the middle of his first season. Since we're on the subject of most overrated QBs I will claim Purdy as my answer. An absolutely ridiculous amount of offensive talent and elite offensive coaching, and he still couldn't win a Super Bowl with his defense holding the Chiefs to 3 points in the 1st half. I'll agree he is a better QB than Garrappolo simply because he makes less horrific mistakes, but his limitations were the single biggest factor in why they didn't win it all last year. He is the poster child for why context matters when talking about QBs.