Richard Noggin

Hilarious that after the call with his agent when he learns the Buffalo offer details, he sees it's 11:11 am, like a sign of the stars aligning or something. It's become a well-documented part of the toxic digital playbook to text exes and crushes at 11:11, 12:12, 12:34, etc., so that they read into the timing. His agent did that for us.

There with my 70 year-old mom whose fanaticism is why I'm the unfortunate way I am about the Bills! She hates the cold enough to have moved to Florida for almost 20 years (before boomeranging back when I started a family), and was there beside me that night. We had season tickets for the first time last season. And while it means I don't tailgate the way I'm accustomed to, it does mean so much more in retrospect. That degree of cathartic joy we felt, in those conditions...that's a rare experience.

I don't agree that this is the draft to acquire a wealth of later Day Two talent. There just aren't enough spaces for such players who probably won't play much but will need to be on the 53 to avoid poaching. The following picks would present roster management conundrums that are either unnecessary, or at least not immediately rewarding enough to justify cutting other players from depth chart: 57. David Ojabo (only easy answer is an injury redshirt season for 2022; would player be okay with that? otherwise he's unseating another 2nd round pick in Epenesa, or Lawson, most likely, with negligible 2022 return) EDGE Michigan 64. Jalen Pitre (maybe if they keep 5 safeties (and fewer CBs), but if not, would be difficult to unseat Johnson and Hamlin; would 2022 return justify cutting one of them? I guess if he's promising enough) S Baylor 145. Jerome Ford (camp battle with Johnson and Moss, unless he can play STs and threaten Jones) RB Cincinnati *this disruption probably doesn't upset any fans...could be left off list 168. Kyle Philips (Diggs, Davis, McKenzie, and Dotson would be locks. Crowder is a likely keeper. Kumerow has STs value. A healthy Hodgins has a real chance. Room for a 2nd rookie WR is unlikely without STs value) WR UCLA

That's a bonkers draft haul. Damn. I don't think the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th round picks are available there, but wow if they are.

That meme is deeply flawed with respect to logical causality. The programs in question experiencing budget reductions are the result of a halt in temporary pandemic funding. At least that's what has been reported by more credentialed news outlets. One could still make compelling arguments about the societal priorities that lead to such seemingly imbalanced budgetary priorities. I'm here for that. But this particular stadium deal is not some uniquely nefarious corruption. Just business as usual. Public investment in those who need it the least, but who can nonetheless demand it the most. (Until such unlikely time as anonymous private money is legislated out of our political processes, and somehow a majority of the voting public is able to see the world objectively enough to seize control of its rigged systems.)

To date, I'd argue that Bowles is definitely an ELITE COORDINATOR. He's got another chance now to make it work as the head coach. As long as the QB is who it is, of course, I hope they fail spectacularly.

I think practice time restrictions in the CBA mean that having a player NOT on STs practice as the holder would harm their ability to practice elsewhere

But why would you do that: 1) for a team that willingly moved on from him, and 2) that plays a zone scheme he is less ideally suited for, and 3) that asks its corners to actually tackle?

Or a Roger McCreary, for that matter.

But will all that drafted depth actually make the 53-man roster? And if not, will they be poached (either when initially waived or as members of the PS)? That seems to be the debate around how to use this year's picks. There IS a case to be made for packaging picks to move up at some point in the 2022 draft.

I was living and working in hospitality in uptown Dallas when that first George Strait concert was held. It was like the biggest concert event in the history of music for a considerable demographic of the U.S., and the celebrities, athletes, and ultra-wealthy corporations and private citizens who flocked to it must have generated enough revenue, and the promise of future revenue, to exponentially reward the Jones clan on a scale most of us cannot really grasp. As you note, WNY isn't playing on the same field as markets like Dallas and LA. While I don't wish to forgive our MEGA RICH owners for their lack of comparable skin in the game, I also know the State and County essentially are forced to play ball. And of course it's not an investment without merit, considering consequential revenues collected over the 30-year term. Just sad that this is where things stand.

In a vacuum, I can see the wisdom to this team-building strategy. Draft a QB annually and plug him (or a recently drafted prospect who outperforms him) into a loaded roster. Rinse (trade or release) and repeat to remain stocked with cap space and draft assets. But what coach/GM combo has the job security to willingly employ it? If said coach/GM combo has 40+ mill to work with in a given offseason, what is incentivizing them to NOT pursue EVERY possible scenario to bring in an ELITE QB? Or, to utilize premium draft assets to acquire one (either by drafting or by trading for one)? In a given offseason, by the time they potentially realize they're shut out of acquiring their QB savior, then they've missed out on many of the defensive and offensive FAs who could help to carry out the proposed plan for the rest of roster. And coaches/GMs don't often get more than one crack at the QB lottery.

But don't Dallas and LA charge PSLs anyways? And aren't the State and County contributions considered loans/investments because over the course of the lease the taxes remitted back to those entities more than pays for the initial outlay?

EVERY major professional sports league is now disqualified from being an actual sport based on everything that ever happened before the 2000s.

I hear this approach. Sounds like an awesome setup. Over the course of this past season, though, I'd argue that something special happened inside the stadium. From frustrating losses, to improbably and memorably bad weather ALL season long, to a late season surge punctuated by an epically cold and generationally joyous playoff win, the Buffalo Bills organization and its fans RECLAIMED HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE. Truly. After decades of homefield futility and crushing defeats, after Josh Allen's early-career yips at home, after 2020's barren stadiums, and after comically bad weather on MNF, this current Bills team finally figured out how to win in Orchard Park when it matters most. And in doing so, they reconnected with the gameday fans. So while I LOVE a good gameday backyard, garage, basement, or cave bar experience, the stadium experience was special by season's end. Everyone in attendance had to EARN IT this year.

That's what he said?

In many ways, the Bills should probably be the Bisons. Outside of Berman's "nobody circles the wagons" refrain, no one is thinking about "Buffalo" Bill Cody and his iconic status in the execution and romanticization of the U.S.'s fraught history of Westward expansion/colonization. We're mostly thinking about stampeding herds of bison, obscured visibly by nostril jets of vapor on a wintry plain and audibly by the seismic rumble of their unstoppable advance. (Ironically, eventually stopped by the likes of Cody and those he inspired.)

I mean, would a guilty person refuse to answer a question on the constitutionally-protected grounds that his answer could admittedly, in turn, be self-incriminating?

So are we thinking those deposition clips COMPLETELY exonerate Watson, or just MOSTLY exonerate him?

It CAN work, and HAS worked, every now and then. It might become less likely to work, however, as dynamic, QB-driven attacks proliferate. As @4merper4mer points out, though, there is some opportunity in the near future for an NFC team to pull off this approach. In a one-game Super Bowl, they might catch one of those AFC QBs on an off-night, or be able to disrupt them just enough. Doing that for two or three consecutive playoff games, to get out of the AFC tourny, is far less likely.

Seems silly to even post this one, dontcha think? The first two rounds are at least highly favorable (i.e., questionably good) value, and Watson in the 6th is just disqualifying. Just no chance. And also, no offense.

LFG

The obvious answer is to guarantee his acquisition. If there is more than one team interested, then a release would give the asset some control of where he goes. Giving up assets eliminates that uncertainty. Obviously.

NO ONE would lose sleep over using 6th and 7th round picks to move up in the 2nd round to draft a promising WR. In large part because no team would agree to trade down in the 2nd, more than a pick or maybe two, for such meager return.