JGMcD2

The article goes into further detail on how we scheme and practice to put pressure on kickers. Just because they’re not physically blocking the kick doesn’t mean they don’t have an impact on the missed kicked... not much different than a QB feeling pressure from a DE and throwing it away making a risky throw. Although that is what Jerry Hughes’ does and people dismiss that as well... so probably another bad comparison ? We have 2/17 blocked kicks in the NFL this season.

[Edit to add link - I believe the OP is referencing this Tim Graham article from The Athletic. OP, please correct if I'm mistaken https://theathletic.com/1504304/2020/01/02/bills-secret-weapon-in-reaching-the-postseason-a-historic-field-goal-defense/] All across the NFL this year, it felt like kickers were putrid. At one point we even had (maybe still have) some issues with our own Stephen Hauschka. It felt like every game I watched, kicks were being missed left and right, especially in our games. I really didn’t realize the magnitude of it! Here are some excerpts from The Athletic detailing how good we were in this department. I understand many will dismiss it as all luck (yes, it takes some lick) but if the Patriots can get a pat on he back for their punt blocking prowess, why can’t we get some love in this department. “Bills opponents made 61.5 percent of their field-goal attempts and 84 percent of their extra-point attempts, both lowest in the NFL. That parlay hadn’t occurred since the league grew from 28 teams in 1995.” “Across the NFL this year, kickers converted 81.6 percent of their field-goal tries. (For the record, Stephen Hauschka made 78.6 percent. Fairbairn came in at 80 percent.)” ”The Bills’ 20.1-point differential relative to the league average is the greatest disparity since 2001. In that season, NFL kickers connected on 76.3 percent of field goals, but Pittsburgh Steelers opponents made a bewildering 45 percent.“ “The Bills won by a combined margin of 55 points. They watched 34 possible points against them fail to pass between the goal posts.“ Some really interesting stuff... especially consider how much this coaching staff seems to emphasize special teams. I personally believe that Heath Farwell has done a pretty good job this year across the board.

Are you talking about 2x World Series Champion, 4x Manager of the Year, 4th most wins amongst MLB managers and Hall of Famer Bobby Cox?

I haven’t looked in awhile at football specifically but aren’t PF and PA basically the end all be all in terms of correlation to wins? I know PF has a greater correlation than PA but they’re both vastly more significant than any other variable. It is a really intuitive concept that I feel some often overlook. I’m more of a baseball guy and there the entire name of the game is maximizing run prevention and run production. Those concepts are leaking over with football analytics.

I was reading up on some of the 2020 coaching candidates and got to Josh McDaniels. A friend of mine is a Browns fan who is pounding the table for McDaniels... I wanted to have a base of knowledge before I discuss anything because my only impression of him is that he’s a horrible leader (mostly after last year’s debacle with the Colts). My reading on him only strengthened my opinion lol. 2010 was JUST before I really got in to football so I didn’t have any recollection of this but I couldn’t help but laugh. Josh McDaniels was fired by the Broncos in 2010 after the NFL discovered Steve Scarnecchia (former Patriots video employee and son of longtime Patriots coach Dante) video taped 6 minutes of a San Francisco 49ers walkthrough in London. Scarnecchia was let go as well. It was stated that McDaniels didn’t view the video nor did he ask Scarnecchia to do it, we were supposed to believe Scarnecchia acted alone. I find it comical that we are supposed to believe the Patriots incident with the Jets in 2007 was isolated (according to them) and then all of a sudden when two Patriots disciples (with the organization from the beginning of their rise) go off on their own RANDOMLY have an isolated incident of their own in a season that they’re severely struggling to win. I am honestly surprised that this isn’t brought up more!

I definitely see what you mean by keeping so many safeties and them not seeing much playing time, but almost none of our backups have played extensively this season due to how healthy we have been. You could argue Ford but he’s basically been in a time share with Nsheke the entire season. I know Coleman is strictly a safety but Marlowe, Johnson and Neal do offer some flexibility and I’d assume that’s how McDermott and Beane viewed it when constructing the roster. I’m almost positive we released EJ Gaines with an injury settlement after placing him on the IR before the season. If that’s the case, I don’t believe we could resign him even if we wanted to. Munnerlyn was somewhat puzzling to me, the consensus seemed to be that we would resign him at some point during the season but we never did. Maybe it was because we remained so healthy all year?

I believe I heard that this year we only used roughly 54 different players in a game up until this week. Harrison Phillips, Zay Jones, Kyle Peko, Connor McDermott and Maurice Alexander are the only players that made the 53 man roster that aren’t active for us as of week 17. Phillips and Alexander on the IR, Jones traded and McDermott and Peko released. To replace those players we signed Senorise Perry, Duke Williams, Corey Liuget, Vince Taylor and Kyle Peko (Peko was signed to replace Phillips and then released for Taylor). Let me also point out that our castoffs have consistently been coveted (or at least immediately picked up) by teams across the league. Russell Bodine, Wyatt Teller, Zay Jones, Connor McDermott, Kyle Peko are all players that teams have traded for or claimed off waivers, rather than wait for them to hit FA. With all of that being said... this well written and there is thought behind it so I won’t dismiss it like others have thus far. Out of curiosity who would you have cut this year and when would you have cut them? What corner(s) would you have added? If you had cut a player in week 17 you are going to be leaving another position group susceptible to injury or cutting a player that shouldn’t necessarily be cut. So which position group/area of strength would you be more willing to jeopardize?

A good friend of mine who has close ties to Kareem said we had interest in signing him this year and will continue to have interest in RFA. I could see us offering $5M - $7M per year to pair with Singletary. Browns have to pay Chubb after next season... I can’t see them tying up $20M + between Chubb and Hunt.

Hey guys - I was at the game in person on Saturday, my Dad threw on a recording of the game today for us to watch together. We’ve been able to find answers for a lot of questions we’ve had watching the game but haven’t been able to figure out why Phillips was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Does anyone have a clue?

Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!

I’ve traveled my entire life and travel for work. I enjoy the places I go and I lived in Massachusetts for 4 years. Many of my good friends are Boston sports fans and we get a long. I’ve never had a single solitary issue at a Red Sox/Celtics/Bruins game or any game at an opposing stadium in the country and I’ve been to over 60 different venues over the four major sports. I spent the entire day tailgating with 40+ Patriots fans. There we absolutely zero issues, we had a great time. I’m conscious of the fact this was the 1% that ruined it... I know it happens everywhere in some capacity. I even stated that Buffalo has a bit of a reputation for stuff like this. It’s not a coincidence that Patriots fans warned me about a toxic atmosphere not fans of other teams that had attended games at Gillette. I got separated from the 2 Pats fans I was sitting with at the game on my way out of the stadium and then I started having issues, that’s not a coincidence either. Of course someone who is a Boston sports fan isn’t going to have issues at Boston sports events. Boston sports fans are some of the best in terms of passion - they love their teams . There’s also a reason folks from the Massachusetts/New England region are referred to as Massholes... they’re built differently than most and have a rough demeanor - which is fine. They embrace it... which is also fine. Boston sports fans in the four major sports often rank within the top 5 most disliked fan bases in each of the four major sports. Part of it is due to their success, but that’s not the bulk of it. It’s the attitude and behavior and you are naive if you don’t think that’s the case. They have a reputation across the country of behaving this way, it’s the 1% that ruin it for everyone, but it’s not fake.

What exactly do I have to gain from lying about that? I literally had a security guard watch 3 Pats fans starting shoving Bills fans as they were walking by, then then they shoved me and grabbed me when I ignored them and walked away. I looked and said “Are you going to do anything about that?” They shrugged and didn’t utter a word. I had friends who are fans of different teams call me and warn me when they saw pictures of me at the tailgate that it’s a horrible environment and to watch my back because they’ve seen and experienced horrible things. I was staying with my friend’s family who happen to be Pats fans and they warned us that they had seen and experienced horrible things.

Yup! I totally made it all up.

Yeah, I can definitely see that being the case. I was just kind of appalled it happened numerous times. I had a long coat on over my jersey. You couldn’t tell I was a Bills fan, and all of this was when I was entering and exiting the stadium, not during the game. Our fans can be brutal but I’ve also been in numerous situations at New Era and even on the road where I’ve gotten on some Bills fans for unnecessary behavior. I let into a guy in Pittsburgh last week and from 5 rows up and he got the message when he realized it was another Bills fan and not just Steelers fans. He apologized and ended up yucking it up with Steelers guys around him after that.

I believe that. I’ve got some good friends who are big fans and they’ve never behaved that way... it’s definitely just the 1% that ruin it for everyone else. They’re like that everywhere but I have noticed that Massachusetts folks are undoubtedly more aggressive... especially the generation my age that has experienced 20 or so championship parades.

Not really what is was getting at. There is a thing called being a decent human-being. I can deal with banter and the occasional chirps but when people are getting physical with you numerous times it’s an issue. I’ve been to 4 road games this season alone, including Pittsburgh and haven’t experienced 1 issue with opposing fans.

Yes, I do. They were upset it was taking so long and we were driving. They thought Morse was hamming it up for us to stop the clock and they didn’t appreciate that. A few around me were yelling “roll him off the field!” The fans around me were so upset that the refs were “screwing them” because our player was obviously faking and they weren’t making us burn a timeout for the injury. I had to explain that there was 2:59 on the clock and you are only forced to use a timeout under 2 minutes.

I lived in Massachusetts for 4 years and I’ve know this for a long time, but my lord Patriots fans as a whole are extremely low class. I’m a huge Bills fan but I work for a professional sports team so the whole obnoxious cheering and crap talking has been out of my toolbox for a few years now. I keep my mouth shut and try to soak in every aspect of the game... I enjoy that portion of it. Picking up the finer details and analyzing things in real time- it just comes with being a professional. Point being, I don’t invite being attacked. On ten separate occasions, TEN, I had people shoving and soliciting me to fight them. Ten different situations where it was 3-5 on 1 during my experience at Gillette with people attempting to fight me. I was appalled. I can MORE than handle myself but it’s not worth 25 to life for what the end result would have been. I’m just shocked... disgusted. The cops/security/game day staff seemingly turned a blind eye to it all. I know we have a bad reputation in Buffalo but I’ve NEVER experienced situations like these.

Dang almost - I was at UMass Amherst! Lol

This is so true! My roommate through all of college is a Bills fan as well (which was helpful during 3 painful years of the Pats making it to two Super Bowls). We said it every year “wait until they start losing, nobody will show up and nobody will care.” Heck, half the Patriots “fans” I know barely pay attention now. They’re not invested, they just like talking a big game when it’s easy to do so.

I’m currently sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight to Boston. I went to school in Massachusetts so going with a bunch of college buddies... first time we’ve all been together since graduation. Really pumped up about this weekend for numerous reasons. I’m actually EXCITED to play the Patriots... I used to dread it during school. Pats fans are just brutal but I’m finally CONFIDENT - even though we’re going into Gillette. This will be my 5th game this year (WSH, CLE, MIA, PIT) and I have to say the vibe around the team and fan base is so different this year. 2017 was the first playoff game I’ve ever seen (being 2 in 1999 I didn’t get to watch) and while I could feel excitement in the atmosphere of Rochester/Buffalo the week leading up to Jacksonville... it didn’t quite feel like this. Being there when we clinched was electric. I’m walking around the airport in a Bills jersey getting “Go Bills” or having people chat me up about the game, even the guys at TSA were excited about the Bills. I’m super proud of growing up in WNY, I guess it’s just nice to see WNYers proud of their team. It gives me a little glimpse into what the 1990s must’ve been like and makes me think of all the stories my parents told me about the Bills growing up. My friends from Massachusetts don’t have an appreciation for this feeling, if one team is doing poorly they just flip their allegiance to one of their other teams inevitably doin well. I’m so glad I’m a Bills fan and stuck through because this feeling is great. That was a lot of early morning airport rambling ... GO BILLS!

Yes, they do. No, not really. I was on there today for a bit. Tre White was rated 87 overall. Micah Hyde was 88 overall. Jordan Poyer 85 overall. Milano and Edmunds were both 79. Lorenzo Alexander was 83 overall. Ed Oliver was 80. I believe Phillips and Star we’re like 76. Josh was 76. Singletary 80. Brown was like 85 and Beasley was 83. For reference on Tre White (87) ... Stephon Gilmore was rated 98 overall. The team itself was roughly 85 overall I believe the defense had the same rating at 85, while the offense was around a 76.

Thanks for this... some interesting pieces. Stats don’t tell the whole story BUT it is nice to see the positive side of Josh’s stats. I’m tired of seeing completion% with no context with people screaming he’s no good.

Potentially... although I compared all of them to current deals for players at their position. The RFA and ERFA are based on the tender amounts as well.

I’m not. Future 1st is discounted one round, all future picks are, so that can’t be the case. Using the Bears (no 1st rounder) as an example trying to get back into the 1st to take a QB, say Jalen Hurts. Value of our picks that I listed would be 832.6 (1,4,6,6). Value of their picks (using the 1st pick in round 2 as value for their 2021 1st) 1,037 (1,4, 2021 1st). Highly doubtful the Bears have the #1 pick next year so I’ll use a mid-round 2nd rounder for the future 1st value. Value comes out to 926. Is it really that unreasonable to believe that Chicago would make that deal? Excess value is roughly that of a late 3rd/early 4th.