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Crazy how silly he makes a few of those left tackles look. 61 for the Jets barely gets a hand on him. 74 for the Pats was frustrated as hell. The one play where he's unblocked cracks me up. He kinda slows up for half a tick like, "Uh, seriously? No one's blocking me?" before making the sack. The speed and the bend off the edge he had was crazy.

I don't know for sure, but in my experience in interacting on these kinds of boards, it seems a lot of fans don't care for excuses. "Your head fell off in a terrible smelting accident? Pff, cut him, he's useless!" I dunno, some people can be kinda heartless and not even really see players as human beings. This why I've never been keen on picking apart someone's game and trying to point out and nitpick what they don't do that well. I'm over here on a friggin' couch with one season of JV football under my belt, what the crap do I know? Stuff happens. Most of these guys play at less than 100% throughout the entire year. And some of them go to extreme measures to make sure they stay on the field. I remember reading a story back in the day about Jason Taylor, had a wicked back injury and the only way he could sleep was standing up, leaning against a wall. He'd get like 20 minutes and then walk around to loosen up his back and then try again to sleep. All so he could suit up and play on Sunday. It's pretty crazy what these dudes go through.

Indeed he was, alongside Zo, and everyone's favorite, Ramon Humber. I just looked at the starting lineups for that playoff game and wow, the improvement Beane has made on this roster is something.

For those wondering about DiMarco, I think he sticks because he's a special teams guy and a leader, was a captain last season.

I've noticed that about the numbers as well. Just looks kinda odd. Nike makes like two or three types of replicas. I forgot how they title them, but they basically have a low-end replica with screen printed numbers/letters all the way up to a high-end replica with stitched numbers and letters for like $300.

I've always been skeptical to buy into anything declared by a dude named Thad. I think Ford will be fine.

I wish the Saints would use their throwbacks full-time, or at least do a redesign that incorporates that look. The gold lettering on both the home and away jerseys looks so much better than what they currently use. I was a Bengals fan during SB XXIV only because I was like, "I like the orange black guys better than the gold and red guys." I was bummed when they lost... not as bummed as I would be a year later, tho, yeesh. I think I was 7 or 8.

I think maybe they went out and picked up a couple of cheeseburgers *with* Eddie...

Haha, for sure. Yeah, I don't see Beane exploring a trade for Williams. They like Dawkins and definitely wanna give him every chance to really lock up the LT spot.

Oh, you meant Trent Williams. I got confused and thought it was Trent Murphy. Derp.

Wait... a tumor?

I agree with the others who've said the OL is the most important thing to bring together, and hopefully they can identify their starting five by the third pre-season game. Last season they were still tinkering with the lineup going in to Week One. I'm confident that they'll get it right, though. Having Morse is a huge factor. It's almost a given that Dawkins will be the LT. I expect Ford to win the RT job and it looks like Long and Spain will be the starting guards. I'm sure they're going to give everyone a chance to compete but if someone starts to emerge as a clear cut starter, let him run with it, don't go back and forth swapping out different players just because you feel like you have to keep up the competition. As for the rest of the offense, I feel like they don't have anywhere to go but up. They don't have to worry about a QB competition and both the QB and OC are headed into their second year together with Daboll allowing Allen more control over the offense. The new receiver additions are veteran guys, they know how this stuff works and I don't think it'll be a huge problem for them to get on the same page relatively quickly. Run game should get better if the OL is better. TE is an interesting spot right now with Kroft as the projected TE1 being out, I'm sure Knox will have a lot of opportunities to contend for playing time. The defense should be able to pick up where they left off, Edmunds will be more comfortable, the secondary is maybe the strongest overall unit on the team. White, and then either Wallace or K. Johnson on the other side, I really like Taron Johnson in the nickel spot and Poyer and Hyde are very good players. And if a CB goes down, they'll have solid depth with either Wallace/K. Johnson as the main backup CB and EJ Gaines able to come in and play inside or outside. Bush, Jaquan Johnson, and Siran Neal probably make up the safety depth. Overall, it just looks like it should be a really solid group. I didn't read the entire thread so I'm not sure if anyone mentioned special teams but that's an area that really needs to improve and I think they did enough to address it so I would hope we see some strides there. Just don't wind up on the losing end of anymore blowouts, those are some real skidmarks on McDermott's HC career so far.

Yup, this is what I was thinking. As well as the off-season salary cap babble about how "if they cut so and so they can save X amount! Of course, they have no one to replace him but think of the savings!" Or the inevitable whining about free agency and how they "overpaid for everyone! Get rid of Beane!"

"Bills face harsh realities of balancing off-season workload with health risks" - uh... is this not true for all sports teams in like, any league anywhere? Or is this special to the Bills? "If youse guys do workouts in da off-season, youse might get hurt! More at 11!"

This was my thought as well. Seems to make more sense to let Zo take him under his wing for this season and hope that Joseph can take over next year when Zo retires. Really can't see him pushing Milano for snaps as that kid is somehow always around the ball.

LMAO

Yep. Just making light of Deion's reputation in his playing days as a guy who avoided tackles if he could.

Avoid tackling at all costs!

Gil Brandt also had Manziel as his top overall prospect for 2014, even calling him one of the best players he's ever seen in his life.

I suppose it might depend on your TV/radio, etc. but in the past when there's an analyst team I don't care for, I've tried to mute the TV and turn on WGR 550. The unfortunate thing is that WGR's transmission is faster than the TV, sometimes by a whole play. That was my experience though, give it a whirl yourself and see what happens.

Perry has worn it most of his career and wears it in honor of his family, or something. He was surprised to find out it was available. Maybe it's been available for a while but nobody's ever asked for it? Either way, whatever. OJ is a turd.

Haha. I think Marrone said after a game that he was so worked up over something that he would go home and "probably not even pet my dog." Moody guy, that Marrone. And Zeke is a great big turd sammich. I sincerely hope he smacks his toes off of every piece of furniture he owns. I hope his car runs out of washer fluid at a really inopportune time. I hope the postal services misplaces his packages. I hope he drops his phone in the terlet. I hope his shoes fit poorly so that when he walks he gets a giant blister on his heel. Minor inconveniences because, I, too, like to live dangerously. I don't think he's "troubled" so much as he's arrogant and irresponsible.

He seems to think all his film reviews and number crunching make him infallible, but he's not. This instance is proof he either doesn't know what he's talking about, or has just drummed up some BS to get his name out there in discussions. I dunno if he's familiar with the super simple, age-old formula that you put your best 11 on the field each game, and the best quarterback on LA's roster is.... Phillip Rivers, surprise, surprise. So he'll be starting (obviously) and this nimrod will hopefully fade into oblivion sooner rather than later.

What a buncha crap. The roster has been improved and these dingbats think the team will do WORSE than last season because of it? GTFOH. McDermott is developing a reputation as a coach who can get a lot out of a little. In 2017 he had a real mixed bag of a roster, it definitely wasn't put together how he wanted yet they made the playoffs. They do what they have to do to get their franchise QB and after some demoralizing losses to start the season, the team remained competitive and pulled out six games when everyone knew it was the total rebuild year and figured four wins would be lucky, let alone six. And now the "analysts" mark them down to draft fourth overall next year. That'd mean they'd finish 4-12 or worse (most likely). I hate to sound like a homer but I just don't see this team doing worse than last season. The defense was a strength last season (mostly) and they only got stronger. The offense and OL will take some time to come together but I can certainly see them making some strides in the right direction. You have these guys saying they'll go 4-12 or whatever while other analysts have said "anything less than a playoff appearance would be a disappointment." Nimrods.

Whaley knew in January 2017 he was gone after the draft. This seems like more of a surprise. I hadn't seen any speculation that NYJ was going to shake up their front office.