Old Coot

Belichick has always been good with Xs & Os.

Conrad Dobler (look him up)

That's Rich.

Watch his You Tube highlights. He was fast even in slow motion. It's not old man hype, he was that good! You don't rush for 2003 yards in 14 games (avg. 143 yds per game) often against stacked boxes wothout being that good. Props to the Electric Company (his OL because they turned on the Juice). My dad & I rooted for the Baltimore Colts before the Bills came to town in 1960. After that our teams were AFL: the Bills; NFL: the Colts. I remember attending games in the Rockpile with my dad. You'd pay a homeowner to park on his lawn because parking was a nightmare. When the Rockpile was built not everyone owned a car. My butt still hurts from sitting on those concrete bleacher seats despite the folded blankets we sat on.

Good point. Add to this that in NFL defenses, the zones aren't static. They often adjust to the route combos being run so the zones may shift or convert to man depending on the combos. This puts a premium on a CB being able to read several WRs routes quickly.

Perhaps this is because in play action with the QB under center the QB dropping back must turn his back to the D so that the play looks like a running play. He then fakes a handoff to the RB then pulls up and looks to see who is open because a D player got sucked in thinking it was a run. If the QB glances back at the D while retreating from under center, he gives away that it's really a pass play. The in the play action pass, tehre is no option. The play is pass all the way but designed to fool the D by looking like a run. The RPO is a true option; it may be a pass or a run depending on how the D reacts. In an RPO, the QB in shotgun or pistol can focus on the conflict defender and, according to what the defender does, pass or run; that is, if the defender plays pass the RB keeps and runs and if the defender plays run the QB can pass. With Josh, the RPO has the option for Josh to keep and run. Is this analysis correct?

The Bills had some success with condensed formations last year. It's not something you can use all the time but it allowed us to run the ball effectively up the middle. It can also get receivers into space. The outside receivers can run to grass outside and that can open up the middle. For those not familiar with condensed formations there are several Youtube videos explaining the concept. Here is one: Here is an explanation you can read: https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/02/07/why-the-49ers-use-this-type-of-formation-more-than-anyone/

Poyer was a stand-up guy. When he had a rib injury and could not fly, he drove himself to and fron KC so he could play in the game. That's hardcore!

Belichick's dad Steve wrote a book on scouting old school. I've often wondered whether Belichick's ability to draft well (mostly at the end of the various rounds) for so long (for example, Brady and Edleman not drafted until round six) and his ability to trade vets just at the cusp of their future decline was learned at the feet of his dad and honed by Belichick's experience on the coaching side of the NFL.

This was meant as a tribute to Buffalo and the people of WNY but when I said solid small town values some might have thought I meant narrow-minded people. No, I meant the positive small town values of neighbors looking out for neighbors, helping out one another, saying "hi" to a stranger you pass on the sidewalk and more. WNY was a great place to grow up and I did not appreciate that until I moved away.

A thoughtful gesture. Josh is the way he is because he was raised in a small town with those solid small town values. I'll add that Buffalo is the biggest small town I have ever known.

"People are strange when you're a stranger"

One other factor in the closing of the gap between stud and pretty good receivers: WRs coming out of college have been playing in pro style passing attacks for years, even in HS. That means they are much more experienced in that style of attack.

I don't think that Shaw66 is saying that the WR position is decreasing in importance as has been the case with the RB position. I think he's saying that the gap between stud WRs and pretty good WRs has decreased as has been the case with RBs. I remember seeing Jim Brown play. He was huge compared to the men he was playing against. He's right about that partly because the physical attributes of the pretty good WRs has increased. I think it's also because of rules changes over the years that have favored the passing aspect of the game. Everything from hands off the receiver to not taking the hear off a crossing receiver to not mussing the QBs hair have enhanced the passing game. Thta means a pretty good receiver can occasionally perform as a stud. There is the ability to scheme open a pretty good receiver. Many of Belichick's Patriot teams did not have stud receivers but Belichick was able to scheme open his guys. So I think that Shaw66 is essentially correct that a room full of pretty good receivers might be just as good as having one stud receiver.

MVS would have an insider's knowledge of the Chief's scheming, coaching, etc. My questions: How much insider's knowledge is a player expected to give up to his new team? Is this context dependent, for example, on the player or how he left his old team? Does it really matter since the old team must assume that such knowledge has been given up and act accordingly?

He was a defensive mastermind. Among other things he used the zone blitz decades before it became popular. See this write-up of his career: https://books.google.com/books?id=g9W5B0L1O0wC&pg=PA48#v=onepage&q&f=false

You rang?

That's as good a moon walk route as I've seen run. The downside of running the route is that the receiver may wear only one glove.

Why would the Panthers trade to jump ahead of the Bills? Presumably they were afraid the Bills would take their guy Legette.

Going for quantity (picks) over quality?

Can't blame him. What could possibly go wrong.

Nothing could be worse than the Broncos' infamous "Milk Duds" uniforms of the early '60s. Plus dig the vertical striped socks

I voted Front Office but I'd really liked to have been a player but then I don't want to be a physical wreck by age 40. Those guys really do sacrifice their bodies. Remember Eral Campbell, the Oilers' monster running back? He ran over not around people. I don't think he was ever seriously injured in his playing days but by age 45 he was a physical wreck. He uses a wheelchair now.

Thanks for the Year of the Rams video. It brings back memories. I was a Colts fan (Baltimore, that is) and those Colts-Rams games were titanic. The Rams had the best D line in the league: The "Fearsome Foursome": Roger Brown, Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen (HOF), and Deacon Jones (HOF).

Roman Gabriel, Rams & Eagles QB dead at 83 He was NFL MVP in 1969 First (and only?) Filipino QB. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Gabriel