Troll Toll

Unfortunately, the NFL brought this on themselves. IMO RBs have been a huge ratings draw for decades. People want to see special athletes. RBs are the most electrifying part of football. A league without the truly special RBs and where all QBs succeed just does not sound like a long term winning formula. When all teams look the same, where is the intrigue?

Shady looks a hair slower this year, he probably has two good years left. AP is just physically at another level from all other NFL RBs, which in itself is mind-boggling because these are elite athletes. You could tell leading up to the draft that AP was this kind of special athlete. I remember one guy saying Adrian Peterson was the 2nd running back he ever saw that he thought could have played in the NFL while he was still in High School.

It’s really sad from the standpoint that it sounds like he had the brain of a small child. I’ve seen people like that and I don’t think it is necessarily a parenting thing. For whatever reason some people seem to be helplessly limited in terms of mental capacity and development.

I think you have to let it run it’s course. You can’t risk having one guy that ran the offense the best so far getting benched for a guy that comes in and stinks up the joint. Let Barkley play himself out of the job and into a supportive role for Josh. Josh can learn a ton from Barkley, so I’d like the team to do things to make sure he sticks around and is a good teammate. He definitely earned another start yesterday. The locker room could sour on Josh if he starts the next game and they stink. While I’d like to see what Josh can do, the best thing for the team is to ensure that they believe our coaches have winning as the number one priority.

I have a tough time telling how much of our success was a result of an unmotivated Jets team. I feel like when we saw our defense under Rex unmotivated they would give up 300 yards rushing. Jets just didn’t look like they had any fire. That said, I was ecstatic to see the Bills play well. Seemed like everyone knew what they were doing.

I was on board with the fire Jauron billboard. He made a lot more money than Peterman, had no end in sight with our ownership, and seemingly gave no effort or was just a moron. Peterman I just feel kind of bad for... He is a late round pick who obviously is not set for life at his pay grade, and he’ll be out of the NFL forever in the next few months. His biggest shortcoming is his arm strength, which would seemingly be out of his control. Just seems like salt in the wounds.

He already couldn’t play football. His injury kept him from playing football, he’s not entitled to a perfect fix. It sucks, but people blow my mind with their sense of entitlement. If the doctors could choose a perfect outcome they would do it every time. That’s like if his team sued him for having a bad game.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing when I was watching it. Is a receiver not defenseless within one yard?

64k in one night in a bar is a bogus bill, hope the person responsible for charging that rots in ****.

I think the real question is: would they be successful in Buffalo. My gut feeling with Mahomes was that when he landed with Andy Reid he would be fine. I wasn’t sure about DeShaun, but he landed in a good spot in Houston (with Bill O’Brien, DeAndre Hopkins, and a good defense). I honestly don’t know if they would still be successful in Buffalo.

As a proud descendent of the distinguished Wizkowski lineage, I resent that remark.

Hi Shaw, I don’t speak much, but I’ve read and enjoyed your weekly columns for years going back to the BBMB. I think this is probably the best one I’ve seen yet. Very entertaining and framed it perfectly, you really nailed it.

Historically, when players show up and become the starter in a week they really struggle. If Derek was here through all of training camp I would have some confidence he could win a few games, but that is not the case. At this point I’d be shocked if we won any with Derek. He should make it a lot easier on the eyes than Peterman though.

3 picks and 3 fumbles from Rosen tonight, I still don’t see why one would come to the conclusion he is doing significantly better than Allen.

Rosen is a bottom ***** and McD is a power bottom, they just aren’t compatible. Allen is a power top. Peterman is versatile, which is why he has hung around this long.

I guess I still don’t understand how people can crown Deshaun Watson a stud, demolish Josh Allen, watch a game where they play each other and not grasp the irony of Josh Allen outplaying him. Watson has arguably the best receiver in the NFL at his disposal. There seems to be a lot of irrational opinions on how Josh is developing. Brady won a Super Bowl MVP throwing for 135 yards.

None of these guys are > 60% completions. Statistically, I’d group Allen, Rosen, Mayfield together. Darnold’s numbers are slightly better, but he has had the easiest schedule. Eyeball test too, I’m not seeing much separation amongst these QBs.

I see a lot of buyer’s remorse going on with Josh right now and I really don’t get it. I don’t see the other rookie QBs lighting it up yet and Josh was the 3rd one taken. Had he not been injured, I think we beat the Texans and he moves to 3-2 as a starter with 3 wins against playoff caliber teams. People say they aren’t seeing improvements and I couldn’t disagree more. The deer in the headlights look is fading and the game appears to be slowing down. I’m seeing far fewer ill-advised decisions. He is still a work in progress (like all the other rookie QBs), but nothing so far makes me think he has any less ability to be successful than the other guys. I think the biggest remaining areas for improvement for Josh are: 1. Properly gauging what is NFL “open”. If he can get a grip on that this year, wait until he gets targets who can separate. 2. Presnap recognition. He is a really smart kid and I have confidence he will excel in this area over time. This is the first time he is seeing the exotic defenses of the NFL. Biggest reasons for optimism over QBs of the drought era: 1. The arm talent - Throw on any EJ or Fitzpatrick game and you’ll see head scratching zip code accuracy issues. 2. Use of the middle of the field - We rarely saw this with Losman and Tyrod. It completely handicaps an offense when you refuse to use half of the field. 3. Willingness to throw downfield - Trent Edwards was the worst at this. Defenses will play close to the LoS like they are moving the fielders in against the kid who sucks at kickball. You have to keep the defense honest. 4. Signs of pocket presence - We’ve gone through many QBs who had no feel for the pocket and would just take off at the first sign of pressure. Allen has shown flashes of poise, keeping his eyes downfield, stepping up in the pocket and making a throw. He still has a ways to go, but I didn’t even see flashes of this from past QBs. When you throw 23 passes a game, you generally won’t hit 300 yards. To do so would require ~13 ypa which is a phenomenal number. He is developing before our eyes, but it seems like a lot of folks can’t see the forest through the trees. My eyes tell me he is already on par with where Tyrod was a year ago and he is just getting started.

I think he has been catching more spears than balls.

Personally, I don’t want players that don’t want to be here. Oftentimes they also play like they don’t want to be here.

How about Foles for Shady?

I’m 31... I can recognize Roy Orbison. I thought I saw Elvis Costello playing guitar. The others I can’t place, so I’d say you’re right about needing to be over 50. Great song though, one of the few things I have in common with my father is his musical taste. Hard to come by music from the heart like this nowadays. Favre is definitely the more apt of the two... With Young I compare more to the intellect, running ability, and heart. With that 38 wonderlic it will be interesting to see how cerebral Josh gets. However, I think the closest to Young in similarity is Aaron Rodgers.

Ceiling is probably closer to either Young or Favre. Floor is what he is right now. One good thing is he should be facing a tough defense in practice.

Tennessee was a playoff team that hung with New England last year. Today was a solid win and Allen didn’t lose us the game. Cleveland was lethargic today as well.

Color me unimpressed with Rosen’s first start. Lots of throws that will be picked in the future. Still comes across as cocky college kid that will be put in his place like Manziel. The NFL is filled with grown men, not kids he can embarrass. That said, all rookie QB’s except Baker Mayfield leave a lot to be desired at this point. Seems like the media is reaching to try and annoint Allen, Rosen, and Darnold.