Richard Noggin

"Talent" doesn't need extra time to be assessed. "Talent" is innate. Skills and traits, and therefore efficacy/success can be improved, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with talent. On one hand, we can see talent defined narrowly and assessed quickly. Thus, we'd already know how Josh Allen rates against Bruce Smith, strictly with respect to "talent." Except that...more talented people have more potential for improvement (the whole "high ceiling" thing). So asking for more time to see if Allen surpasses Bruce isn't really wrong at all. And also, wtf do we mean by "talent" anyway? Obviously RAS is a big part of it, but there are many other traits and gifts and abilities that are more complicated to quantify. And the whole notion of a player's potential, or ceiling, versus floor, or bust-ability, adds layers of subjectivity and projection.

Nevermind the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of objective journalism to a functioning democracy. Or for that matter, a populace able to discern fact from fiction, and priority from frivolity. Nonetheless, I like the reporting I read from The Athletic.

"Free"

The two Broncos players who I waited on at Vonn Miller's table the night before that Kids Day preseason game DEFINITELY don't respect Elway's leadership style/personality: as Miller told an interesting and complimentary story about himself and McD at training camp (related to camp rules and McD's direct, respectful approach to a specific, unreported disciplinary matter), the Broncos guys, one especially, took that opportunity to remark how DIFFERENT Elway is, interpersonally, in a negative way: the kind of guy who thinks HE knows EVERYthing and no one else knows ANYthing, in any room he's in (rough paraphrase). Was Pres of Football Ops until this offseason. Now a "Consultant." Def still had the ear of ownership right up until the recent sale. Doubt he maintains the same clout moving forward, right? And also, sorry to hear that for fans of competing AFC West orgs...

My question is then: do the Rams play a more zone or man-heavy coverage scheme? I know Ramsey is a beast in press man. But do they sprinkle in a healthy mix around that? We all know McKenzie has flashed primarily against man coverage (Patriots and Dolphins). Crowder is presumably pretty well versed beating zones?

Nothing I disagree with here. And to one of your points, they need to get serious about having more in the pipeline at both WR and OL while they have #17. An extra 2nd or 3rd round asset in the last 3 drafts on the IOL could be REALLY valuable right about now. I have some questions about IOL depth, which I'm afraid are answered by Bobby Hart and Greg Van Roten and maybe Tommy Doyle? Injury at G or C (Bates HAS to be the backup C, yeah?) immediately exposes this likely weakness. What am I missing? Counterpoint: the threat of being able to run the ball and utilize play-action and screens more effectively DOES improve a team's passing game by slowing down the pass rush and wrong-footing defenders on the 2nd and 3rd levels.

A guy like Moss COULD be replaceable by a street FA, yes...(especially with respect to cost) But we might be able to get more than you think out of him (especially next season) in a predominantly zone-based scheme with more play-action and screens. You've seen him flash as a physical back with some passing game dependability (against New England stands out). You've also seen him be less than 100% and look a step too slow and lose his touches. For a 17-game season, I like Moss as the #3 RB for the Bills. And with Duke and Raheem on the PS, at least for now, I LOVE the depth overall. These guys get dinged up. The ROI on the two 3rds and a 2nd hasn't been much to date, but that might tick upward if Singletary continues to improve his upfield explosiveness, and Moss continues to looks healthy, and Cook continues to look smooth AF.

Agreed, generally. But not absolutely. Singletary will be gone after this season, and Moss will be gone (at the latest) after next season. Cook could/should provide 3+ seasons as a matchup weapon for a QB who hasn't yet had that out of the backfield...

NYPost lol and TB12 lol Vapid at their best...

Your ability to watch ANY portion of a live Bills game without "any stress or anxiety" is commendable. What's your secret? Blacking out?

The Chiefs have spent on the RB position, sort of. And while they've been elite for a few years now, it really has NOTHING to do with those high-value RBs (Edwards-Helaire in the 1st and signing Ronald Jones, a former 2nd but for peanuts, who seems to be behind the 7th round rookie Pacheco). I guess one easy criticism is that one of the last three years that RB draft pick could have been spent on another OL. Gotta start redirecting assets to that group (who then makes RBs more effective). Obviously Ford not panning out here hurts. Trading away Teller remains a major ouchy. Hence, we seem to be missing at least ONE promising IOL in the pipeline. Backup G/C is lacking. Backup RB is NOT. Wouldn't we all rather invert those two groups?

Love your post except for the bolded point. Moss is MUCH better in the passing game (especially as a receiver but as a blocker, too). I've actually never seen or heard someone suggest Singletary is even "good" at that facet of the game. LOVE where Devin's at as a ball carrier; he might even be underrated there. But Moss is actually a decent complimentary committee member for the superior skill sets of Singletary and Cook. And he's under contract for another season once #26 is gone (as you rightly recognize).

"I have all the characteristics of a human being, but not a single identifiable emotion." That's good stuff. He's like a preppy Frankenstein's monster fueled by fear of losing, rather than fire. Not at all convincing as a human being off the field.

I don't think it's been shared here, but this is a long thread already: how many of us think this organizational blind-spot in drafting a player who clearly had such a serious off-field time bomb is the unfortunate result of Araiza being projected to go much higher in the draft than the Bills were willing to consider taking a punter? What I mean is that the Bills probably didn't do a DEEP dive on a nicknamed, award-winning punter projected to be drafted possibly on day two or at worst EARLY day three. Araiza clearly fell, and by the 6th round the Bills likely couldn't ignore the value prop of such a high-ceiling prospect. But that means they probably hadn't invested pre-draft resources in vetting him off the field because they reasonably expected him to be gone before they were willing to consider a punter. Like most organizational failures, it's often a combination of oversights and unfortunate circumstances. I'll bet Araiza was not a serious pre-draft target for the Bills, and the decision to draft him was less informed than their usual selections. At least, this is a plausible rationalization.

Keeping Bryant? Interesting. He's flashed at DT. But that's TEN (10) DL then? That's a lot.

Something not being considered much in this press conference commentary, is maybe, just maybe, Sean McDermott is incredibly upset by the gravity of the allegations and the potential that a young woman was savagely attacked. Maybe his demeanor was an honest reaction now that the game's over and he can finally and/or must finally face this horrible situation. I thought he was fighting tears several times.

Civil court is a bit different, though, innit? Not sure how admissibility is different there, if at all, tbh.

I thought it was a face-full of bare butt?

It is not embarrassing for McDermott to be upset and to take a serious matter seriously, in public. The team's non-handling of this up until that press conference IS an embarrassment, though, for sure.

Do you think that one option is cutting the accused player? I agree with that option as an immediate move in the event the accused player has misled the team in any way or withheld salient information from them, which certainly seems likely from the early reporting we're getting. It becomes an easy decision in that event.

This is...surprising. Probably adding to McD's rawness up there.

I appreciate coach putting an empathetic, human face on this upsetting situation. That tracks with his integrity. I hope to see the team make the sober, correct decisions moving forward. As coach just said, "Find out the truth...and do the right thing." We can work with that.

We're on to the Rams.

4 TEs is highly unlikely, imho. But I'm guessing most Bills fans already feel similarly. Sweeney and Morris should not force more difficult decisions elsewhere on the roster. Another OL or DL or DB or WR all seem like better ideas to me.