Rochesterfan

I think part of the issue is when Haack normally kicks the ball - he gets a ton of back spin. It was part of the reason he was so good placing the ball around the goal line in years past. He gets the ball to bounce straight up or even draws it back, but that is not what you want kicking into the wind. You saw him on the sidelines practicing drops. I think on the first kick - you saw the ball move between his drop and the ball hitting his foot. The second short kick was no different than when Mann kicked it into the wind for 28 yards. The ball went up and died - the wind pushed it back and down. The fumbled snap - the ball from Reid moved almost 3 feet to the left. Typically Reid hits him chest high between the numbers. That snap was not only outside of Haacks body - it was a full body to the left. It looked like the snap and then the wind moved the ball left - making it difficult to react to. Haack has not been good, but Mann kicking into the wind was no better with short kicks and a block. It is most likely an off season issue, but I am not expecting anything at this point.

And yet the Pro Bowl still garners higher ratings than competing NBA and NHL games - so it still makes the networks and the NFL money. For the players - especially those on the rookie wage scale - it also directly equates to money and the fifth year option. I really don’t care if they move on or not, but I think the NFL will try to do everything they can to keep it and get one more week of money from the networks and the networks want that one more week of football because of ratings.

Considering Mann had a 28 yard kick into the wind and a block - I think weather was the biggest factor in some of the kicks.

Yes, but he is not the GM. He stepped out of that role - so the new GM should not be held accountable for Elway’s previous decision. By next year - he might be part owner also - still doesn’t mean the GM should be blamed for what Elway did as GM.

Elway stepped down last year - they hired a GM last off season.

The GM came in last year - he should not be blamed for Elway’s decisions.

I don’t think so. I know they kept saying that, but Fangio had chances to be better, but he was terrible with in-game decisions. Case in point the field goal at the end. I think even with Rodgers - he alone costs them 3-4 games with his decisions. He is a fabulous DC and from everything said a great guy, but from the games I saw over his 3 years - he should not be a head coach. I expect them to look at GB (Hackett) to try and entice Rodgers.

Baldy did color for a while - was not very good. - I don’t think there was enough time for him to do and say everything he needed to. He is much better doing his screen grabs for Twitter. He has time to point out exactly what he wants and say it how he wants.

It would be fine, but do you think in the 10 seconds they have to speak between plays these guys would provide more. My guess is you could replace maybe 2 color guys - guys like Sanchez and Talib, but in reality there are probably 50-60 former players that would do a better job waiting in the wings. They could hold open auditions and maybe find some fresh blood - but I think if they were open up auditions there would be more and more guys that would show up from the college ranks - mostly former players that do it at a different level. A guy like Eric Wood that does it on college and radio level just moving into national jobs and then a fraction of people hating on them. I think they could definitely do a better job of hiring - I just think they are going to work hard to maintain their own and the game is only a small part of it. I think the former players have a higher level of trust when getting access to pre game info, plays, and background info. They know what it was like and what they can say. I would guess if you brought in a straight outsider, that created content for a living - guys are not opening up and talking to him in the same way. I definitely think there are improvements to be made - I just think that sometimes (aka Romo) they find out that they have to really scale back and limit what they share.

The reason I would dislike this is then you will get a slanted view of the game - you get some hometown guy that can add insight to one small part of one team and then that would cause the color and the others to focus on the home team. Can you imagine listening to a broadcast and having one of the NE reporters like Zolock - on a national feed giving all kinds of praise to NE. I would have to puke and shut it off. Give me the mostly balanced neutral guys. If I want the Buffalo only take - listen to the local radio broadcast.

I think the Manning cast goes to show - you don’t even need guys talking directly about the game - they add little snippets here and there and when they do it is great. Then there are large parts with chatter with guests - that I find funny and has nothing to do with the game. I am following the game and hearing stories - it is enjoyable to me.

There are a lot content creators, but many times they would not be good live. They are good with the plays they choose, but in the moment - most of these would not be able to diagnose or add anything. I think they choose former players and coaches- not because people will watch them that liked them as players, but because they have some insight into when they played. Plus a lot of them do not speak well and I doubt they would be excellent commentators in real time trying to diagnose something with limited knowledge of all 32 teams. I think there could be a spot of 1 or 2 on a local team, but on the national stage - I think it would make you long for the former players.

I think it is more than Stefanski. Baker had issues with Beckham and that exploded on Twitter. Then Hunt’s dad went after Baker. I don’t get the feeling that the other Cleveland players have the same level of respect and trust of Baker. Baker has been very inconsistent and with the injury this year - you really can’t question his toughness, but was he and Stefanski doing want was best for the team - playing him with all the injuries. Also if you look at last year - Baker was very inconsistent early with 6 of the first 10 games under 200 yards and 2 additional below 220 yards. It was late in the season - after they shut down Beckham - that he put together a nice 5 games stretch with some big wins that propelled them to the playoffs. It is not that he had an elite 2020 - he did have a very nice stretch of games though. We will see, but I don’t get the feeling many players will be truly sad if they move on from Baker.

Agreed - especially when pieced with the new info from the night before. I think you have to remove any rational thought.

12 used to be just right, then 14 was just right - then 16 became just right. It was not just right it was what you were used to. 18 is a round number - 20 is even more round. I don’t want them leaving things alone - they should always be looking at change because if they don’t- they become Baseball. They go from America’s sport to an afterthought because as the wold changed - Baseball refused. TV was coming - they had opportunities to make changes and make the game better for TV, speed things up, and they went with tradition and became an afterthought. Change is how they will survive and continue to grow.

Totally wish there was another week of regular season football. Heck give me 3 or 4 more weeks of football. I have not heard anyone except you complain - I would love it if the added more football and went to March. Get rid of Baseball and add more Football.

Of course it is not pertinent to your point - because it just smashed your point to pieces. You were left with no point to make. The NYT may or may not ruin the Athletic, but the large group of people early have made a “political” decision that they will stop supporting it because of the politics of the NYTs. The biggest stated argument is they don’t want politics in sports when as @GunnerBillstated - it has always been there - it just mirrored the beliefs they favored.

I will give you Penny is younger, but I do no see how anyone can say he has gotten past the injury bug. He has missed multiple stretches of games this year and is on pace for just 10 games played for the season. In four years he has played 14, 10, 3, and maybe 10 games. Due to his availability - he is league minimum value at best His Y/A is nice, but he catches no passes at all - Never getting double digits receptions and he is hurt all of the time. I just do not see what he brings that changes this team and I certainly would not want to pay him due to his availability. He gives you the same 1 dimension that you get out o Singletary and Moss - with a touch more speed countered by missing 6+ games a year. You are absolutely correct that Patterson is not a prototypical back and that is the exact reason I like him. We have Moss and Singletary to be prototype backs. Patterson gives you more speed to hit the edge and even better more flexibility to split out and play his original position of WR (51 catches at a 75% rate and over 10.5 Y/R) forcing teams to have to adjust how they are covering him. His running ability and speed make him a good candidate for the trick plays, sweeps, looping motion that Daboll likes. Plus he has been a 1st team All-Pro and multi-time ProBowl player due to kick-off returns. You have that position solidified and if you bring back McKenzie - you have a Punt returner. Finally, he has made money in this league - He is currently on a 3 million dollar contract and he spent years with Diggs in Minnesota - I think you could go after him with a similar deal for 2 years trying to get a ring and add another genuinely good guy and team first player into the mix. Just my opinion.

Can we merge this crap with the other thread and have them closed. 🙄

He has been around the league and played a ton of positions. Right now he is on a 3 million dollar contract and we know that Diggs was feeding him info about Buffalo with the wing tray. You may be right, but I think getting late in his career with a shot as a big supporting cast member on a potential Super Bowl level team - I think you can work some things out. I think the Bills could offer him a ton of potential positions - including helping to stabilize the return game and still give him enough playing time to make it worth while and he offers something we know the Bills staff love - flexibility. I think the options are there if he wants it.

Looks and sounds like opinions have not changed much on Penny. Most still seem to think he is not worth it.

And this above is a half truth - there were a few that didn’t sell out, but even with the ones that did sell out - there were a bunch that Ralph or several other local businesses had to pick up the last 5-10,000 tickets to get the sell out. They would then distribute to Veterans groups or give away to the snow shovelers. It seemed nearly every late season and playoff game after the 90 season - everyone was on the edge of their seats on Thursday waiting to see if we would hit the magical sell out number by the 1pm cutoff for the game to be on TV. Then we would get notification that Ralph picked up the last 8,500 tickets and gave them to this charity or that group. If the companies or Ralph hadn’t bought those tickets - we would of never seen most of the late season and playoff games in the 90’s. At the peak of team success - late season games would garner about 69,000 fans and the remaining tickets were almost always difficult to get rid off. It is even worse now as you can bring less in with you.

Agree I don’t know for sure, but Stefanski traditionally runs a play action, quick passing attack with lots of passes to TEs and RBs - quick plays that should get the ball out of the QBs hands - allowing a guy like Hudson to handle Watt because the ball is gone. The Browns run a ton of 2 and 3 TE sets just to accomplish this, but Mayfield was again not getting rid of the ball and therefore things went bad. I get the feeling both guys were trying to prove a point and both will suffer as neither fits what the other wants to do. Mayfield is not a quick rhythm thrower - he likes off sequence plays where he is the man. The funny part to me is when Mayfield played within the confines of the system late last year. Lots of completions- move the chains - let the running game lead the team - etc. the Browns were good and end up winning enough to make the playoffs and then get that gift of a game in Pittsburgh- their house of horrors. Mayfield - especially with the injuries - needed to get back into that scheme more than ever, but never did. I think this will be interesting to watch as I agree with @YoloinOhio - I think a divorce may be coming/needed - it is just who goes and who stays and how quickly.

oh look at who shows up with garbage comments 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Nope - want nothing to do with him myself. He has talent, but can’t stay healthy and adds little to the backfield the majority of the time. I would rather see Cordarrelle Patterson by far than Penny. Patterson is on a 3 million contract - can play RB and WR and can run some of those gadget plays and he has been remarkably healthy across his career playing all 16 games most years and 15 games a couple of times. Let Penny get overpaid by some team for limited production and a guy that will miss between 5-8 games a season.