Beck Water

More detail: Burgers and fries at the afterparty, too - def. peak "Football Wedding", OL-pleasing style https://pagesix.com/2025/06/16/style/hailee-steinfeld-reveals-details-on-her-wedding-dress-that-left-josh-allen-stunned/ And, guests in formalwear jumped in the pool at the end of the night (3 am)

Thank you Buff I shall avail myself of your kind permission. People IMHO get way too excited by 40 times, especially now a days when a good number of players train specifically for the 40 yd dash. Some training that improves a 40 time is applicable to football, like sprints, plyo, deadlifts. But a good bit of it is "pajama olympics", like training for the best acceleration out of a 3 point stance. Josh Allen ran what? a 4.75 second 40? Pat McAfee said to him his rookie year "I think you play faster than that" to which Josh replied "Thank you, I think I do too". Allen's first couple years were notable for defenders taking bad angles to run him down because he was, in fact, faster (and more nimble) than he looked and than his 40 time led them to expect. Those days are gone. Explosion, cutting ability, and the ability to create deception with body cues are all at least equally relevant and while there is a correlation between fast 40 times and playing speed, it's just a correlation. I think you implied the problem fans have with Coleman in your last sentence there. "He has a lot of room to grow and become a really good football player". The problem fans have, is that being drafted with the Bills first pick, fans expected him to walk in and ALREADY BE a really good football player. Instead, Coleman fits Beane's "type" for drafting at the end of the 1st round exactly - an athletic, high ceiling, low floor guy with a world of potential but also a lot of growth needed to realize it.

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2025/06/bills-qb-josh-allen-had-rockstar-moment-at-wedding-hailee-steinfeld-says.html Now we know why we haven't seen much from the wedding - "No Cell Phones" An afterparty with a DJ, cigar bar, grilled cheese sandwiches and cookies with milk sounds like peak football wedding, though Snap you got there first.

I think a key difference with the Pats winning 11 with Cassel and anything the Bills might do without Josh is the fundamental difference between the two teams. The Patriots offense under Brady was built on "do your job" precision and timing. Know who the open guy will be, hit him in stride and let him get RAC. Oh and if you shut that down, we'll run over you until you prove you can stop us. The Bills offense most of the time Josh has been here, is far more dependent on Josh creating something when there was nothing there. Even the run game we had last season, IMO is sometimes facilitated because like LJax, the D needs to keep awareness that Josh might run. So it was far more possible to plug a very average QB into the Brady-years Pats system and have him succeed.

Pssssst. The Bills have basketball hoops in their indoor training facility, and guys play some pickup half court after practices. McDermott countenances it if not encourages it because he thinks it fosters competitive spirit. When he was newer to the league, you used to see Josh Allen distracted by the hoop goings on during interviews - he would be answering questions with one ear and pining to be over there with the other. Imagine watching 5'8" Cole Beasley doing windmill dunks after practice.

I hope he dunked on Diggs

I'd take that depending upon how you see Palmer, Moore, and Samuel

Any MLB looks better if the players around him are assignment-sound

I'm not there yet. Against the Ravens during the regular season, Williams was playing next to Baylon Spector and the D as a whole had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. In the playoffs he was playing as part of a 4-3 base he'd played in a bit, but we don't play it that much. But the reason that coaches like Andy Reid and John Harbaugh have been around and successful as much as they have been, is that they are extremely thorough in drilling into film to understand exactly what the defensive assignments will be given their offensive set and their known playcall tendencies from that set. Then they figure out how to exploit those assignments to put defenders in unfavorable roles. I think it's fair to say that we've met Terrel Bernard and we've met Matt Milano and Dorian Williams is not Bernard or Milano. But I think it's a long step from there to say that his understanding of the defense is a problem. McDermott is on record expressing he feels players often struggle their second season for various reasons and then really take a step in their third. So we'll see.

I think this may happen

On iphone, several ways: -download an app. Image Size or Imageresizer are two people have had luck with -email the image to yourself. chose a small size. save the photo from your email. On computer, -use a website https://imageresizer.com/ https://www.canva.com/features/image-resizer/ -the "email it to yourself" trick also works if you use a computer-based mail client -serious .jpg editing programs like Irfanview have this capability and many others, but require more time to learn https://www.irfanview.com/ [FAQ for this and similar would prolly be helpful @SDS @Simon]

I can't argue with your perception on ranking the honors. As a counter argument, I'll offer that the "proven performance escalators" teams accepted in the 2020 CBA on rookie contracts involve pro bowl, not all pro (1st or 2nd team). So evidently pro-bowl still means more than all-pro to someone.

Everyone posting in this thread apparently, including myself who considers it bad juju. Fair comeback. I will say the problem with the "average QB play" trope is that it's very hard to find a backup who can deliver average QB play. Kind of by definition, 16 average QBs are starting around the league on any given Sunday. The ranks of "average QB" serving as backups are thin.

I'd just like to point out that McDermott managed 9 wins and a playoff appearance with Tyrod Taylor at QB, starting Shaq Lawson, Adolphus Washington, Preston Brown, Ramon Humber, and EJ Gaines on D. We did run the hell out of LeSean McCoy though and the OL was good.

I personally think this post is extremely bad juju and should be terminated with prejudice. But that's just me.

Yeah I wasn't looking at 2nd team and I lumped pro bowl and all pro together for this purpose, but you come to the same point - it's not a defense built on athletic "freakazoids", it's a defense built on "Do Your Job". I agree with you about pro bowls, but they are a form of league-wide recognition, enough so that contract incentives are based off them, and yes, Tremaine made 2. And yes, Tre White was the closest thing we had to that athletically superior freakazoid and it hurt to lose him, and hurt more that Elam never developed into a player let alone a replacement. Everyone has draft "oops!" but that one hurt. I don't think we should overlook the impact on Bernard of 1) playing next to Dorian Williams for 11 weeks. He was kind of minding 2 gaps - his own, and the one Williams might, or might not, be minding. 2) He also was dealing with injuries - got back on the field after a torn pec in a week. That's unheard of, but it has to have been affecting him beyond his first game back. He also gave 1 whole game to an ankle injury. (I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but he also got married mid season. Even if he's doing 0 planning, the groom does need to be involved). Really the question with Bernard - he's got that smaller frame, no doubt he's tough as nails but he has to be going at 95% to make plays bigger dudes can make going at 80% so will he be durable longer-term? I think the thing the Bills really like Bernard is his on-field generalship. Part of it, of course, is who Edmunds was playing with. When you're a rookie playing with Zo Alexander, Matt Milano, Tre White, Dr Poyer, and Mr Hyde, there's not too much need for field generalship and in fact, it might not go over well. But when backups are playing, and as the roster churned, there was a need, and it took several years for Edmunds to develop that part of his game. I thought it was notable that there were vignettes in "mic'd up" of McDermott sending coaching messages on field through Micah Hyde at critical points in critical games. I thought it showed some in 2022 with Rousseau and when we lost Hyde and had Benford and Elam playing across from Dane Jackson. Bernard, from what I've seen, is more like a little Honey Badger. He don't care who you are or how many years you've played, he just cares where you are and what you're doing on the field and if it's not the right thing you'll hear about it - on the field, on the sidelines, and if need be afterward. Hopefully the baby will be getting more sleep by September and as long as he stays healthy, I'm confident he'll be fine.

I can't comment on the specific plays you have in mind. But I don't think it's quite that simple. Part of what makes the offense of a top-tier team with a top-tier coach so difficult to defend, right, is that the top-tier coaches will do a careful dissection of how a defense like McDermott's will handle defensive assignments in certain plays. Then they'll tweak plays to force the coverage to be what they want. You don't want your MLB covering Kelce? Too bad so sad, we're going to exploit your coverage rules so that's where you end up. Every team does this, of course, but someone like Reid is a master at it, and he goes harder during the playoffs. And of course, the Bills are aware of this, and will normally have some wrinkles of their own to counter it. But that requires two things: players who have the mentality to master changes to the playbook on a short week, and players who have the physical capacity to execute. Hold that thought. It's now the division round, and the Bills are playing KC on a short week after a Monday late WC game. You're Sean McDermott. You've been missing your starting OLB most of the season. His replacement, who's been doing OK, is playing with one arm and a shoulder brace. Your starting MLB is out, his backup is out, and the guy who knows the scheme well enough to direct the traffic is 32 and just got off the sofa a week ago. But that's not all. One of your starting corners is out. The other didn't play the previous week nursing a knee injury and it's unclear he'll make it through the game. So you have a judgement call to make. Do you try to empty the playbook and throw every wrinkle you can craft back at Reid? Or do you look at the Jimmies and Joes who will be available next Sunday and say "let's stay with what we know these guys can execute and just try to be assignment sound and limit the damage"? The thing is, we almost pulled it off. I know "almost" only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and tactical nukes. But we were a bonkers fake punt attempt and a missed FG away from doing the thing, mishaps in coverage and all. And it's not like Kelce ran rampant over us, he had one fewer reception and fewer yards than he did during our regular season win. He had 6 more receptions and gained 41 more yards against Baltimore the next week. PS I think Tre White will do a Micah Hyde and wind up on the practice squad. He's already got his guaranteed money and he keeps it if he's cut. That's just my opinion.

That was true his rookie year 2023 which is why we saw Dodson out there for Milano and AJ Klein (not Williams) for Bernard in the playoffs. I think it's less true now. I don't think the Bills win 9 of 11 games which Williams started in place of Milano if he hadn't improved substantially in his play recognition and his understanding of his role in the play. But yes, he does need to take another step mentally which is why we saw Milano as soon as he could take the field.

Interesting. As far as fan expectations, fans will always expect first rounders to contribute strongly, starting their first year. As far as fan expectations being realistic - Beane has a draft pattern of trying to overcompensate for drafting late in the first by choosing high ceiling/low floor kind of guys. Rousseau was an example of that - a player who had a lot of raw physical talent and had shown potential, but had actually had played very little college ball. 15 games, that's it. Rousseau looks like a decent contributor now, but it took him a while to get there. Elam IMO was an example of that - a physically talented fast guy, who needed to take a big step in his actual coverage skills to play at the NFL level. And of course, the ultimate example was Josh Allen. Anyway I see Keon as another of Beane's "high ceiling, low floor" rifle shots. He's big, he can box out like a basketball player ('cuz he was one) - can't coach size and physicality - and he needed a lot of work on his route running and release moves.

Well...it does roll that way sometimes (regression in 2nd season). Look at Kincaid.

This is well and clearly put. To repeat something I posted elsewhere in support: McDermott's defense is built to depend upon players who understand their role on each play and execute flawlessly rather than physically superior stars. It breaks down when we have a player who ad-libs outside his role. Example: Jordan Phillips in 2019. As a 3T on the Bills #2 ranked D, he had a career year with 9.5 sacks. But that same D was 18th in the league for rush Y/A and one reason for that was Phillips being a bit too quick to head for the QB, rather than maintaining gap integrity against the run. The dependence on everyone on defense knowing and doing their job is how the Bills manage years like 2023 where the Bills D was #4 for points given up without a single defender who received all-pro or pro bowl honors. In contrast, the Ravens #1 defense had 2 1st team all pro honors and 4 pro bowlers. The #2 Chiefs had 2 1st team all pro and a pro bowler. And the #3 49ers had a 1st team all pro and 4 pro bowlers. #5 Cowboys, a 1st team all pro and 3 pro-bowlers. #6 Steelers a 1st team all pro and 2 pro bowlers. One can argue about the significance of pro bowls or the voting process, but in the bottom line they both recognize what Emmanuel Acho (I think) called "freakazoids", players who have athletic abilities that let them make game changing plays most players at their position simply couldn't. The Bills D manages to be solid (most of the time) without freakazoids, because guys know and do their job. And when it's "next man up" with guys who don't know their roles and execute near flawlessly, we get badly gashed. Example: 2024 reg season Ravens game featuring Baylon Spector at MLB, Dorian Williams at OLB, and Cam Lewis at Nickle and then Rapp went out and Cole Bishop came in for him. 471 yds, 271 on the ground, no interceptions, 1 sack for 1 yd. Ugly all around.

Brah.....weird choice of example to criticize McDermott's mindset. AJ Klein was out there playing MLB - the "QB of the defense". That was Dorian Williams rookie year, when he couldn't figure out his own assignment starting at OLB with Bernard barking in his ear like a seal. Dorian Williams could no more have taken on the MLB role in that game than he could have flapped his arms and flown over the stadium. It would have been a total CF.

Exactly. Spencer Brown would be another rookie who played. To play under McDermott, especially on defense, the rookie has to play better than the alternative. And that isn't just "display more physical talent", that's know the playbook, know their assignment in the playbook, and be able to read and interpret their keys pre and post snap during the stress and sheer physical exertion of an actual game. What people don't seem to take into account when they say "McDermott won't play rookies" (or "Levy didn't play rookies" for that matter) is that since 2019, the Bills have had a top-10 defense (on points) every year but 2020 (when they were dealing with a shitton of of turnovers and the offense was so hot the D may have relaxed a bit) and 2024 (when they were 11th by 4 points with a meaningless Week 18 game). 4 of those 6 years, the D was top-5 on points. In the same period of time, the number of defenders recognized with pro-bowl or all-pro honors can be counted on one hand. Tre' White and Edmunds (2x). Poyer (2x). Milano. I think that's it. 2 years, it's been "no one". Wrap your mind around that - a #4 and a #10 offense with zero, zip, zilch, none, no defensive players recognized by people around the league as top-notch. That's because the primary thing for a defender in this defense, is to be assignment-sound and work together. What does that mean? We've had some posters here who've pulled back the curtain a bit - @HoofHearted, @Buffalo716, sometimes @Simon (who quietly played ball into middle age), I'm sure I'm missing some. It's not just the offensive formation and the plays the opposing offense tends to run. It's being attuned to dozens of little tells pre-snap. Spacing. Hand position. Head position. Foot position. And then after the snap, each defender's assignment changes depending on what routes are actually run and how they are run. And the defensive players communicate with each other post-snap using body language just as the receivers and QB communicate. I remember a play, against NE I think it was, when Hyde took a horrible angle and a play went for a big gain. One of the film guys broke down the play and pointed out that Dodson, filling in at LB, had mis-directed Hyde with body language that conveyed to Hyde "take the other gap, I've got this one", except from his body position and leverage, he didn't. So Hyde started for what should have been the open side and had to put on the brakes and chase the play. That's part of what's meant when McDermott says something like "I can't put someone out there the other players don't trust" - it's not just knowing the assignment pre snap then how it changes post snap depending on what the skill players do, it's communicating clearly and correctly with the other defenders through body language and positioning, while not giving away the defensive call with your own pre-snap "tells". See above. I think what McDermott means there is not some intangible film room/locker room rappore kind of trust but a tangible "is he assignment sound pre and post snap? Does he communicate during the play so the other defenders can react appropriately? Does he interpret the communication he's getting and react appropriately?" This is all taking place while these guys are putting out peak physical effort play after play, and it takes a while to become second nature. And for some players (*cough* Elam *cough*) maybe it never will. And I think what McDermott means when he says it starts to affect the way the other guys play is, they try to compensate. If he can't trust what the LB is communicating, the safety will hang back and wait to see which gap the runner takes, leading to a surer tackle, but a bigger gain. A 'freakazoid' safety could commit and recover and make the play. Our guys can't.

Same was true of 'Nard Dog himself his rookie year. The 1 game he started (that close loss to the Jets) did NOT make me optimistic when McDermott announced an MLB competition between Bernard, Spector, and Dodson (Williams was never in it, and Klein fell out rapidly if he was in at all) But he came out his second year and Did That Thing. And Williams was OK last season - not Milano but OK We'll see on Bishop but there's a pretty strong history of defenders being Lost in Space in McDermott's system their 1st season and doing much better their 2nd. Lord knows we need him to.

Never say never, but that would probably be a bad sign. When Douglas was injured last season, Ingram came in to finish the game. But after that, it was Elam. Ingram was ahead of Elam to be game day active because of Ingram's building ST chops, not because the Bills thought he was a better CB Ingram has started one game at CB - the Week 18 game vs NE when we were resting players