Ethan in Cleveland

My top 6 for 2021 Chiefs Bills Browns Chargers Ravens Titans Chargers lost a lot of close games and may have the third best QB in the AFC. Browns have a pass rush and improved their secondary. Roethlisberger is shot. Colts best player is a guard. Miami chose the wrong QB and despite a good roster will struggle to get to 7 wins with Tua.

Savannah is a great 2 day trip. Good architecture. Good food. Not much to do after 2 days though

It's not puzzling at all. He is far better than Zimmer and Phillips. His return allowed them to focus on DE in the draft. His return let's Oliver exclusively play the 3-tech. He's not a superstar but he is an adequate DT that helps the entire rotation.

Agreed! There was no difference in play last year. Bills offense was historically great with little camp and no OTA's and no pre-season games. And that was with two new WRs, Ford at OG, and a new RT. These OTA's are meaningless except for the very bottom of the roster. Just expand the PS and let teams carry a few extra guys into the season.

That’s not the point. I agree with everything you said but Virgil and others say the player should “honor the contract”. The teams don’t honor the contract so why should the player. The team can cut him and the player can hold out to negotiate a new deal. That’s the system. Why blame the player and absolve the teams? As you said all parties know the final year money is fantasy. If the player is bad they get cut. If the player outperforms the contract they renegotiate. Skipping OTA is standard practice when renegotiating.

Nobody really knows who has the power. Beane came after McD. Im sure almost all decisions are done by consensus but who has the final final say is unknown.

Does Belichick honor those deals? No. Does any team? No. Why should the player have the same expectation? Did you say the Bills should have honored John Brown's deal instead of cutting him?

Cool. Nice job finding that. Seems like a silly thing to motivate professional players that way, but it seems to work. Even Brady seemed to respond to slights as motivation.

What are you missing on their plan? The have a great o-line and d-line. They have a capable QB and they invested heavily in the WR and TE spot. This offseason they tried to fix their secondary. It's practically the same playbook the Bills have taken only the Bills fixed their secondary first and are now addressing the d-line. Honest question. Has he ever done that before? I am not aware of any time where he took a perceived slight to the team and used it for motivation. If he has let the board know. I'm not saying he hasn't I just don't recall a time where he did or the players talked about him using that specific motivational tactic?

No one has addressed my other point. Maybe the staff did a good job in developing him but it just took too long to see the finished product. Heck maybe he completely regresses next year. Who knows.

Yes and no. Teller and Thomas were already on the team when they added more talent at TE and guard. But you are correct, teh deeper the roseter the more liekly they are to lose a quality player. This year will be no different i'm sure. They are usually good for one "IR" draft pick per year. I'm sure you will see one of the swing tackles or the C/G from the 7th round tweak a calf and be put on IR to stash them for next year.

And what? If you don't like the thread don't read it or don't comment on it. Logan Thomas was the lead story for the NFL section of ESPN.com today making the thread timely.

I didn't say he was the missing piece. I agree he may very well be a one-hit wonder. Good take. I do think on balance McD's staff seems to coach players up more than not. As others have said, he may have been getting better just not fast enough and they made the move to draft Knox and Sweeney.

After seeing Logan Thomas break out with the WFT, my initial thought was how did the staff miss his future development having him in Buffalo for two years. It's not as if there was a superstar TE that got 90% of the reps. Of course it reminds you of the Wyatt Teller story as well. I then decided to put a different spin on it. Maybe the Bills' staff is the reason he has progressed. Maybe they deserve a lot of the credit. Maybe they can do the same with Knox and Sweeney,

Still massive question marks at the linebacker position and our safeties are getting up there in age. Beane needs to hit on two of the three DEs he drafted. If they are at least solid then he can spend draft capital on safety and center next year. If Edmunds doesn't get better or Milano proves to be injury prone they will have big holes to fill. Chargers will be a factor this year if Herbert does not regress. They had a great off-season. Sadly so did KC and Cleveland.

I was at that game. Amazing! Huge Bills fan attendance. I have a signed Thurman jersey. It would be cool to get Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith as well. I was not born but a Cookie Gilchrist jersey would be awesome. I have a signed ball from the 1980 team. Real pen ink - not something that was mass produced. Butler, Cribbs, Ferguson, Smerlas, Williams, Haslett, Freeland and Nixon and even Mickemeyer are all on there.

Good point on the losing

Darkhorse is an interesting choice of words. As many have said, most expect the players to play well. I will go with Cody Ford as my dark horse candidate to play really well. Many expect him to be competing just for a roster spot. My darkhorse to lose his job is Feliciano. He was never that good but seems to be a fan favorite. He drew little FA interest that we know. He is on my short list of surprise camp cuts.

We do know. When he was traded to Seattle he was a SB winner and a superstar.

I have defended Dareus and given McD crap for not coaching him up and taking the easy way out by trading him. However it's wrong to say he had no role models. He had Kyle Williams playing next to him. He had Hughes who by all reports is a good locker room guy. Maybe if McD and Frazier had been his initial coaches instead of Ryan it could have turned out better. Dareus is one of many NFL players to get the second contract signing bonus and then give up. He won't be the last. I still suspect given the right circumstance Dareus could still play at a high level. At least be solid rotation guy.

Good comments so far. How about Ryan Lindell? He was a really good kicker. If the Bills had a better offense he probably has a much higher total point total.

Beating the defending champion Steelers to clinch a playoff spot but not the Division title yet

Wow that was really cool to watch. A few thoughts... I was ten and knew nothing of the streak and was just beginning to follow NFL football. I knew very little of the details of this game other than the victory and the post-victory celebration. I knew more about the rest of the 1980 season including Cribbs amazing year and sadly Ferguson's ankle. Cribbs and Butler could play in 2021 NFL. Maybe Smerlas as 3-tech DT. Not sure there is another player on either team athletic enough to play by current standards. The 2020 Clemson, Alabama, or Ohio State team would have beaten either the 1980 Bills or Miami by 20 points. I know people say current bad NFL teams would lose to the best college teams but that is non-sense. However the talent difference between 1980 and 40 years later is undeniable. I suspect even some average collefge teams beat these teams from 1980. My God were these players small. I think the announcer said a 270lb OT. Reggie McKenzie looks like he is smaller than some current NFL safeties. The color analyst said Ferguson was most underrated QB in the NFL. He is on my short list for most overrated Bill of all time second only to Talley.

Wasn’t Dak leading the NFL in yards before his injury? Last year Elliott took a step back as their o-line was banged up. If they can stay healthy they will be very good. Same goes with the Bills

Agreed. They get paid regardless. Why not let them all dress. Blowouts happen all the time. Good opportunity for a few live reps for the bottom of the roster.