Beck Water

He played for the Ravens last season under Mike McDonald, so he's familiar with the Ravens scheme. He signed a 1 year, $6M contract with Carolina so it's possible the Ravens would have liked him back if he came cheaper. I'm guessing he asked for his release because he had an inkling (*nudge nudge wink wink*) that the Ravens might take him back Not sure he's a great scheme fit for KC or 49ers? He's a 3-4 LOLB and probably maps into a 4-3 LDE. His pro-bowl years were with Bob Sutton as a LOLB in KC, 8-10 yrs ago. He had 9.5 sacks and 17 QB Hits for the Poe-Birds last year. Leonard Floyd up to 10.5 and 19 with 3 games left to go

I don't think that MLFootball guy's file proves quite what he things it does. Some of those are quite legit - the lead one features the Pats defender taking 3 steps after the ball is thrown and hitting his helmet into Josh's face mask. Flop or no flop, that's a penalty - Josh just sold it so it was harder to miss.

LOL yeah that had the ring of sincerity "And they've got that STUPID HORN, and they don't play it when you come to the LOS, they play it while you're in the HUDDLE trying to CALL A PLAY!" He did kind of imply that the 'Boys looked like a HS team out there, so I enjoyed that.

Did we have this For the record, Shady called Allen becoming a "big star in the league" after his rookie year.

And I'd like a vacation to the Dominican Republic, and a Pony. It's not a question of preference, it's a question of the normal recovery timeline for the injury. McDermott said that it was a chance to get DaQuan back late in the season, but not Milano from what he's been told about it. That fits what Bangedup Bills said about the timeline of a pec tear requiring surgery (what Jones had) vs. a tibial plateau fracture (if that's what Milano had)

Yeah, I think they might activate him and let him start practicing for the next 2 weeks. Guys always think they'll be ready to go immediately and need the training staff to pull the reins in.

Great writeup as usual, Virgil. I just hope the Bills can and do "handle bizness". Couple of points: This reminds me of a game sequence the Bills used in, hmmmmm, 2020. Then as now, Josh was recovering from a sprained shoulder (L shoulder but Hasselbeck says that impacts the throwing motion). McDermott had been all P-A mutter mutter need a run game mutter mutter in press conferences. The Bills went into NE, and Daboll had them pound the rock 38 times for 190 yds - of which Josh had only 23. 18 passing attempts for 154 yds. It wasn't the same dominant effort that Brady sent out there with Cook, but it was "Oh, where did THAT come from?" and it clearly took Belicheck by surprise; the Pats kept defending it as though they expected the "Real Bills" who want to throw it all over to walk onto the field for the next set of downs. The follow-on was, next week the Bills went into Seattle and flip-flopped the attempts - 39 pass attempts to 19 rushing attempts, about half of which were Josh Allen scrambles IIRC. It was the "Josh Allen Laser Light Show", 415 passing yards, 3 passing TDs. Postgame, Pete Carroll said he "didn't expect them to pass so much" and "we had a nice little plan to stop their run". Everyone at the time was "cool, we can run the ball, let's run more. And we did lay down a couple strong run games later in the season but it never did seem to become integrated into the offense. Anyway, I think the Cowboys never did get away from "we expect Josh to be Josh and come out throwing on the next drive" defensive mindset, just as Belicheck didn't and just as Pete Carroll didn't stop expecting the Bills to run the following week. And if we can sustain some of that run threat, that's fundamentally McDermott's point about a balanced offense - it's damned hard to defend. This is where I've been told about OL and DL play, "it's mental. It starts in your mind, with an attitude". Of course that pre-supposes you start with elite athletes, but when the Bills were getting their asses whupped on both sides of the line by the Bengals, it's not that they aren't capable of laying down a can of whupass. It's intensity. It's mental. Let's hope we keep bringing it. GO BILLS!

After the first pick he looked as though his truck broke down and his dog died

@Rigotz is a bit mistaken according to head of football operations in that the specific fines were for "impermissable use of the helmet" and for hitting a defenseless receiver. So I think it's the repeated instances of what they see as the same behavior. But sure, we should be concerned if Oliver's fines are for repeated instances of the same thing vs. flexing in a guy's face or a legal hit that's late or something.

Yes on the repeat offender. So 4 previous fines for similar. Interestingly, Tom Brady has a different perspective: https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2023/12/18/pittsburgh-steelers-tom-brady-damontae-kazee-suspension-blame-gardner-minshew-nfl/ I'm a little puzzled by Brady's take, anyone? This is perhaps a better view on it. I wince watching Pittman's body bend backward. OTOH, the QB is leading the WR, maybe a bit much. Should the WR not "lay out" for the ball? Should the QB not lead the WR when a defender is in the position to run up and make the tackle? Don't Shoot the Messenger, Friends. I will say this: Rapp needs to clean up his ***** act, or we're going to be reading about his fines soon and his suspension not long after. Right, that was my take. The way he flew over a sliding Dak, striking his head on the way and then held out both arms like "look, I'm an innocent man".

Jimbo don't care (said in my best "Honey Badger" voice) https://twitter.com/thegreat__4/status/1736540961977589889

Oh, my, Cincinnati. So first of all, does Jake Browning (who?) putting up like 70% completion and close to (or better than) 300 ypg passing in like 3 of his 4 starts, make one think differently about Burrow and how much of the Bengals offensive success is actually resting on their system and their 3 great WR? I mean, here's this guy who's been playing "left bench" for 2 1/2 seasons with the Bengals after kicking around on the Vikes practice squad for 2 years, and he's lighting it up. I have no idea how we let Cincinnati beat us, unless the team just had collective PTSD from the Hamlin incident. I expect them to walk over the Steelers, and can only hope that KC and the Browns give them Hella Fight.

So one of the graphics media analysts were dropping pre-game was how Dak was rocking an incredibly short time to throw, and releasing the ball essentially as soon as he hits the top of his drop. Great, but that means he's either got a 2x speed processor in his brain, or he is in fact reading the coverage and making some of his decisions pre-snap. I think all QB do this to some extent, it's part of the chess match. But if the defense counters successfully with disguised coverage, then it's time for adjustments.

That would also be up there, yes

LOL did you see the piece Warner did prior to the Cowboys game? https://www.nfl.com/videos/warner-and-carr-s-film-breakdown-preview-of-bills-cowboys-nfl-total-access He explicitly diagrams a play we stole from the 49ers But he is, isn't he?

This gave me a double-take. I hadn't even realized that Philly brought Patricia onboard as an assistant. I do think Patricia is a strong defensive coordinator but sucked as a HC. Patricia's track record outside NE is as a HC, then he came back to work for NE on the offensive side of the ball and that was a disaster. But when he stays in his defensive lane, I think he's pretty sound. He had top-10 defenses in NE from 2012 to 2017. Of course with NE, you never know how much was the assistant and how much was Belicheck, and, during that era, how much was Brady and the refs.

Or maybe not lucky. Anyone else think Rapp pulled quite the "Soccer Flop" right in front of the ref when Martin bumped him? He sold it. Baldy is all about what Martin did, but I thought he cost the 'Boys.

Just Win, Baby https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nfl/bills/buffalo-bills-playoff-odds-nfl-james-cook/article_16053164-9d0d-11ee-959d-a726bb28cc0a.html#tncms-source=login

Yeah back when I was....ah...I've previously heard multiple feedbacks that there is message board software that allows sub-threads to be tracked and selected, and that would be a Good Feature. But of course it's fantastic that Scott continues to maintain this board using whatever software he considers best all around. and allows the swan's feet underneath the pool of the continued operation to pass unseen. Really appreciated your up to the minute report on your time at the game, Great Stuff! Baldy pointed out that not only did Brady keep running - he kept running the same play "we're gonna do this until you prove you can stop it" Dallas couldn't, so Brady kept calling it

Wow, Stephen A Smith been hitting the "Holiday Cheer" I look at it as laying it out for the Bills that they can still control their own destiny, but don't count on any help; get out there, take care of bizness, and get it done.

Josh Allen with Spencer Brown: "Let...James....COOK!"

What about at 10 wins? Yeah I thought that was weird. The precise second at which he "gained control of the ball" was difficult to tell because the ref blocked one angle, not the ref's fault but it is what it is. It seemed entirely possible that the heel of his tucked-under foot or his butt was out by the time he really secured control of the catch.

Mitchell out for season. Big loss for the Ravens, he's been playing very well https://www.nfl.com/news/ravens-rookie-rb-keaton-mitchell-knee-likely-out-for-season

Shaw, Thanks for your post You said "That was a special performance" not "that was a special running performance". I get it that you feel that was implied by the previous series of posts, but this isn't software which makes it easy to break out and read sub-threads. In another post, @K-9 helpfully pointed out that running backs of that era weren't often used as receivers, which would be why I didn't remember him as such. Peace out

I don’t know about “better for the Bills” but I’m ready for someone other than the Chiefs to have the #1 seed and home field through the playoffs