DCOrange

These comparisons of Brown/Beasley this year compared to prior years I think boils down to their team role more than anything (though I think everyone can agree Brown in particular is simply playing better than he ever has before as well). But for example with Beasley, 16% of the Cowboys' pass attempts went to Beasley the past 3 years compared to 23% this year. That's probably the simplest reason that Beasley is having his most productive season of his career; it's not really about Allen. It's about the fact that he's the #2 target on the team by a mile versus just being a guy with Dallas.

I definitely disagree with Rivers and Goff being included, but you also didn't mention Deshaun Watson who I would say is indisputably better right now. I'd also argue for Wentz and Roethlisberger and probably a couple others that I would say are on par with Allen.

Yeah, whoever it was said it was something they'd try to study in the future but I found it to be a very interesting theory at the time. Would still think there's TE screens or mid-screens that we could try to incorporate instead but -shrugs-.

I can't remember if it was the Cover 1 guy or the YardsPerPlay guy, but one of them was theorizing that with QBs that run like Lamar and Allen for example, it's more difficult to run screens because the edge defenders are generally trying to contain anyways and that naturally puts them in a good position to disrupt the passing lanes on screens. I think it was focused on Baltimore at the time but was basically showing that Baltimore, Buffalo, and (I think) Seattle are like 3 of the bottom 5 teams in terms of how often they throw screens.

Sounds to me like he's missing his passes by so much that even the DBs can't get to them. /s Really though, he's clearly done a much better job of protecting the ball since the pretty disastrous start to the season. He is still missing a lot of passes that he frankly shouldn't be though. All in all, I can live with it because he's definitely showing progress, but he still isn't where he eventually needs to be and the offense as a whole has remained pretty bad partially as a result of the passes he misses.

More likely outcome is they'd look to sign a free agent QB as a stop-gap and just wait until next year to draft someone again. I think Ben will be back though; doubt he stood around on the sideline all year just to retire in the offseason when he's finally healthy again.

I don't know this year's draft class super well yet, but regarding the WRs, the guys that seem likely to be available around our range that I would be interested in are: Jalen Reagor - TCU - 5'10", 195 lbs, 4.35-4.45 40. DeVonta Smith - Alabama - 6'1", 178 lbs, 4.40-4.50 40. These are the two I have circled so far.

Would love this pick if it happens. Him and DeVonta Smith interest me big time where we're likely to be picking.

I liked Allen at Wyoming and am happy with his progress this year as well. But still, I'd take the following guys over him (not factoring in contracts for simplicity's sake): No Brainers: Mahomes Lamar Wilson Rodgers Probably: Dak Watson Could go either way, but would probably just rather keep Allen since he has experience in the system: Kyler Jameis

Even if Ingram were to be out, I think they'd likely get similar production out of the Edwards/Hill combo. Obviously Baltimore would rather have all 3 though.

I think Brown would be the #1 for most of these teams with the exception of Green Bay (Adams), and maybe Philly (Jeffery) and Washington (McLaurin). If we're saying add both Brown and Beasley to these teams, Beasley wouldn't be the #1 or #2 WR for any of these teams. Oakland: Brown & Tyrell Green Bay: Brown & Adams Philly: Brown & Jeffery Washington: Brown & McLaurin Giants: Brown & Tate Miami: Brown & Parker That's not a diss to Beasley, but he's probably just a good #3 guy that happens to be forced into a larger role due to our limited options. At any rate, being a #1 or #2 for a bunch of teams that have lackluster receivers isn't really saying all that much. Much like ourselves, all these teams are looking for upgrades.

from Joe Buscaglia’s writeup after the Dallas game.

I’ll try to find the article but I’m not even really sure where to start lol. It was definitely specifically about the QB sweeps though.

Statistically, it's probably been our most effective play this season. Can't remember where I saw it, but a couple weeks ago, I remember reading that our success rate on the QB keepers was like double our average.

Gonna buy it tomorrow to take advantage of the 24 hour refund thing. Figure if we lose tomorrow, we’re pretty much locked in to Houston. If we win, I cancel the flight and get my money back. Don’t know the exact plan for the actual flight but I promise it’ll be cheaper now than it will be once it’s official. I flew to Jacksonville a couple years ago for the game and during the 10 minutes after we clinched it, the flight prices literally tripled.

I'm still super early in my scouting, but of the guys that will realistically be available in our range, DeVonta Smith and Jalen Reagor are the two that have stood out to me so far. Reagor wouldn't really be giving us the size a lot of people are looking for, but both of these guys are absolutely electric and DeVonta in particular has great hands in addition to being insanely explosive. Probably around a 4.55ish

I plan to buy a flight on Saturday, figuring we'll probably know by the end of the day if we're actually going to Houston or not and then I can get a refund if not.

On his latest podcast, he and Mina Kimes spent about 10 minutes to talk about the Bills. Long story short, he thinks Buffalo is a very dangerous team headed into the playoffs, a terrible matchup for Houston in particular, and thinks we’re poised to be the best team in the division for years to come. Also said the way we’ve scouted UDFAs and players already in the NFL is very Patriots-like and that we’re one of the few teams that effectively molds our philosophies to the talent on the roster.

No doubt they'll probably need to figure out a way to get the college players to unionize or something or it'll be too complicated. Personally, I never really understood the need to use player likenesses, but that's just me. Once you get past the first couple seasons of a dynasty, it was all made up players anyways. I guess it must have been important to some people for them to bother with it though.

Hopefully it will return in a few years!

Brown is playing better this year than ever before, but regarding last year, it was probably more of just a flukey start than it was the Flacco-Lamar switch. In Flacco's final 4 starts for the Ravens, Brown went: 58 yards on 14 targets (only caught 4) 28 yards on 3 targets 134 yards on 7 targets (caught all 7) 28 yards on 7 targets Up until this season, Brown was basically always a big play threat that would either give you a home run ball or nothing. Last season was more of the same; it just so happens that he hit a couple home runs the first couple weeks. He and Lamar clearly never got on the same page the way Lamar has with his receivers/tight ends this year, but point being, Brown's struggles started before that change ever took place.

If you're fine with playing older versions of football games, I wouldn't really bother with the new Maddens honestly. Madden 05 or NFL 2K5 were probably the peak of football gaming (or the last NCAA Football game). The current iteration of Madden is probably the worst of the main sports video games on the market.

In a perfect world, the NFL hall of fame would be stricter about who gets in so that guys like Rivers and Eli did not get in. But I think both will pretty easily make it at the end of the day. Rivers was a good to great QB in this era. The few years he had a truly great team around him, it seemed like they had terrible injury luck at the worst times. I still remember Rivers playing on a torn ACL one year. Things just never aligned perfectly for the Chargers and they had the misfortune of being in the conference with the Brady-Patriots and Manning-Colts/Broncos. Kinda similar to all the great NBA players from the 90s that never won a title because Michael Jordan existed.

It'll be interesting to see what the WR free agent market is like this offseason. The draft is incredibly strong at WR (assuming the expected guys declare), so that could theoretically depress the free agency costs. But on the flipside, the FA market is so barren that the couple of great WRs available (Cooper and Green) could end up getting overpaid. It'll be interesting to see how it all balances out. Ultimately, I don't really see any WRs that move the needle for me in free agency. I'd be looking at who might be available on the trade market; otherwise address it via the draft finally. Someone else mentioned Allen Robinson...I don't think it's totally crazy to think he could be available (as compared to Evans/Godwin, who I think are untouchable). Robinson would be a huge get for us.

Yes, extremely. Dak has nearly twice as many yards as Brees this year. Not that yards are the end all be all, but it shows just how much Brees has missed; guys like Brees and Tyreek Hill should not have been given any consideration at all.