Beck Water

DL: I don't like seeing Poona at #3. That puts our DTs as Oliver/Phillips at 3T and Jones/Settle at 1T, and reminds me of the precept "insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result". It's not that the first 4 aren't good players - they are - but Phillips has been injured so often "and then what?" Unless we keep 5 DTs this year which would bring us to.... Von Miller pairerd with Rousseau and Epenesa paired with Floyd is at least different...but will they move on from Basham, or will they be trying to keep 10 DL? Other comments on Defense: DB: Hamlin/Lewis for safety #4 is a surprise. They also show Lewis as the backup nickel. So it'll be interesting to see how they break it down. They have for the last 3 years gone with 6 CB and 4 safeties, which could be something like White, Jackson, Benford, Elam, Johnson, Lewis? Would they actually move on from Siran Neal? Then the safeties could be Poyer, Hyde, Rapp and...Lewis, if they keep Neal? Or Hamlin, and they keep Lewis as a 6th CB? Neal, for the capology inclined, is signed through 2024 and his salary this season is fully guaranteed. A puzzle. LB: shocks me to see Matakevich and Klein lost on the 4th string behind Howard and Spector. For those who keep track of such things, Matakevich signed a $2.5M guaranteed contract, but his cap hit is only $1.8M because they pushed half his signing bonus off into a void year. So it costs the Bills cap to cut him. They may, however, plan to move him from PUP to IR/eligible to return. Klein, on the other hand, is on a vet salary benefit deal with $100k signing bonus, so he can be cut with minimal cap impact. I thought they liked Klein, though. Maybe he's really fallen off and Spector is really coming on. ST: well, for those who thought Shakir was leading the PR/KR race, Nope. It's Harty. What happened to Darrynton Evans, though? I guess he quickly fell out of the running, which, well, doesn't look good for his chances at Running Back with the Bills. Offense: WR: Harty/Shakir sharing a slash at the slot is interesting. So is having Marcel Ateman ahead of Shavers and Patman. I thought Shavers was showing some stuff. Ateman (and I had to look this up) was a 2018 7th round pick of the Raiders. He spent 4 years with the Raiders, mostly on their PS, before signing with the Cardinals and getting cut just before the season. He was then signed by the St Louis Battlehawks (Ka-kaw!) but apparently injured. So the Bills have a couple guys who are a bit long in the tooth as journeyman (in Ateman and Keesean Johnson, a 6th round AZ pick in 2019) ahead of a couple of guys I thought were promising (and younger) players in Patman (2020 6th round, Colts), Shavers (2023 UDFA) and Isaiah Coulter (2020 5th round, Houston). Then there's 2019 2nd rounder Andy Isabella who is right behind Harty/Shakir as a slot. .....hitting Josh Allen in the head with a football at the Red and Blue Scrimmage can't have helped Coulter's case LOL. But it will be interesting to see how this depth chart goes down. RB: I thought Jordan Mims had promise. OL: I had hopes, from what we've heard, for Richard Gouraige. Disappointed to see him behind Ryan Van Demark at LT - and where did Tommy Doyle come from to be 2nd behind Dawkins? I haven't heard a peep about him. Interesting to see Ike Boettger behind David Edwards on the depth chart. Are the Bills finally ready to move on from him? Achilles is a hard injury to come back from. TE: for those who thought Steinberger over Morris, this depth chart says 'nope'

I'm not sure that it's true Torrence was getting most reps with the 1s. I think he got reps during the walk-throughs before stretching and that confused many of us that he was "starting with the 1's". Other than that I think he mostly got reps when Bates was working at C with the 2's

That's an interesting thought, but I think (as far as we can tell from what's public) that the buck stops with Beane for who is on the 53 man roster. I'm not sure why you'd think that; there are only so many ways to construct a roster that both has sufficient personnel/depth at each primary position AND enough talent at ST. I'm sure it's influenced by the coaches, but it's probably indirect. For example, demanding to have a full rotation of talented players at all DL positions and enough depth at DB to play a 3-2-5 primary defense probably constrains those roster construction options.

Elam left a garmet on the field and it had something wiggling inside it. But let's give him props, it was Gabe's moves that pulled it off him.

Did we see this one yet?

Sal Capaccio notes on camp https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/bills/cornerback-middle-linebacker-battles-still-too-tight-to-call?utm_campaign=sharebutton&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=WGRAM That is also true, interestingly enough, of Harty/Shakir. Beane said they saw Harty as slotting into their 4/5 role, but I would say he's now competing for 3. Iron sharpens Iron

This is where Beane's principles about team building sometimes work against building the best offense. It's a principle for him - he's said this in press conferences mutliple times - that if you're a backup WR on the Bills, you MUST play teams. If you're a backup OLman on the Bills, you MUST have positional flexibility. Well, Hodgins did not do well playing teams so it was Kumerow > Hodgins with ST "chops" factored in. But it was pretty clear it was Hodgins > Kumerow as a WR. I don't think it's accidental that both our WR draftee and our WR UDFA are noted for their ST chops as well as having receiving potential.

I dunno about that. His 2nd season, 2018, Jones had 56 catches for 652 yards. 2.9% drops. I don't think we moved him because we thought he couldn't play, I think we moved him because his "haid" was messed up and not in the game. And we weren't wrong - it took him 4 years and 2 teams to get back to that level of production. I also think we believed Hodgins could play. Beane just made a hard, and in hindsignt, bad choice, when faced with a roster numbers crunch at DB. I do think this might be the kind of decision where McDermott being a defensive HC comes into play; he seems more protective of keeping bodies on defense than on offense, and we 100% could have used Hodgins once Kumerow went on IR.

Looked like Kincaid was held, too. I think one reason why the Bills traded up for a promising receiving TE. The question was, how would he do against the more physical play in the NFL? and early returns say "just fine". You can just tell the guy is "built different" from the way he practices. Did you see the clip of him warming up on the sideline? Other receivers face the guy throwing the ball. He was facing away, doing that fake run thing they do, then turned, quickly adjusted to the throw, and caught it. Another session, someone was tossing him multiple tennis balls at once and he was catching the second while holding the first he caught. It made me think maybe we don't insert enough "degree of difficulty" into how the other receivers practice. Edit: upon looking harder at the film clip, I believe that might be one of those annoying calls where it's pretty clear the ball is on the receiver's arm and he's controlling it, but the point touches the ground before he gets it against his body or brings in a 2nd hand so the @#$@#%#ers overturn the "catch" ruling.

That's a big "if". It's very rare that anyone is as good as advertised in camp. Isaiah McKenzie was playing lights-out in camp last season and looked totally solid as a slot. It's different in the regular season when the DBs aren't playing to avoid injury and are actually trying to rip your arms off and crack your ribs. Players at other positions say that speed is the last thing to go. I think the reason RBs "age out" is that it becomes harder and harder to heal from the punishment they take during the season. But maybe we can use him very sparingly and keep him healthy.

Did you catch Josh Allen talking about Murray mic'd up at the Return of the Blue and Red? "He's huge. I wouldn't want to tackle him" "You guys are the same size!" "Well, I wouldn't want to tackle me, either!"

are you there? or did I miss the sar chasm?

FWIW, and I don't have the convos or permission to share so take this with as much salt as you like, but I DM'd the Banged Up Bills guy (Kyle Trimble) back at the start of the off-season when Josh was golfing in that pro-am tournament. He explained to me that the forces used by the golf swing and the forces of throwing a football differ, so playing golf should not be a problem for Josh's healing UCL. "Golfer's Elbow" has a totally different cause.

Yeah, it was kind of notable that when someone brought up Brittany he would usually kind of grimace. Like with Kyle Brandt when he said he watched football whenever it's on and Brandt asked "does your girlfriend like it?" and he kind of grimaced and said "I guess maybe she likes it a little, but there are other rooms and other TVs in the house, I think she watches HGTV, I don't really know what she watches". Or one time he was talking about loving to have teammates over "against his own best interest" and the interviewer said "what does that mean?" and he said "someone calls and I say sure, you can come over" and I should talk to my girlfriend because she has plans for us to do something together". I mean, it's true in a relationship. If plans have been made, both partners better keep track of them; if inviting crowds of people over to your home, check with the other person living there first. But it just seemed odd - NFL players are the ultimate scheduled people and Josh too famous around WNY to go out on a whim without serious clout- and name-dropping. Long before the rumors, I just kind of felt hints like maybe it was a relationship between two people who really didn't have a lot in common and it had perhaps run its course.

Not watching "Hard Knocks" Can you explain more about that last? (Saleh not more likeable) I suppose I've had a little soft spot for him ever since the Bills game where they did this to his SF defense.

I think partly Josh is just trying to be private and a regular guy, so he doesn't want to talk about his personal life. Which I 100% understand.

There's an upside and a downside to having a partner who has their own career and their own life vs one who latches on and makes the player their life, right? A lot of players and coaches have wives (or girlfriends) who basically make being "Mrs Coach" or "Mrs Player" their full time job. And especially with kids, it probably is. The upside is they try to make a home for the player and themselves and are always available. The downside comes if they are kidless, the wife or girlfriend is not seriously employed, and is unhappy with life in WNY. "Nothing to do but Each Other", isn't that what Jordan Matthews said? A girlfriend like Hailee Steinfeld has her own career and you're probably right, she's not going to spend time hanging in WNY just to be close to Josh. She's gonna be doing her own appearances and auditioning for her next roles and so forth. On the other hand....she's not going to be bored in WNY and asking the player to take her out on dates or entertain her when he wants to hang with his teammates or needs to be studying extra film. If she wants celebrity status, she has that on her own; if she does come to WNY it would be to share the NFL football life with Josh. I kind of had the impression Brittany longed for the "glamorous life" and felt that dating a young wealthy athlete ought to be her pass to A list Celebrity status, which she wanted to use more often than Josh did, and that she wanted to do more date-like things with Josh and spend less time with a house full of football players. I could be totally wrong of course, it's just based on a couple of things Allen said on Kyle Brandt's show. It really didn't seem as though she and Josh had that much in common except the dog.

That's a good question, and I'd also like to know the answer. Could only find a site before the hire, implying that it would only apply if Bieniemy was hired as a HC So I can think of two reasons Rivera might talk about it - one positive, one negative. The positive one is spin control. Rivera might figure that there's enough grumbling that it's going to get out, so stay ahead of it and put his version out first. The negative one is based on the theory some have that Rivera will be fired and Bieniemy is the HC in waiting. In which case, it could be seen as saying "this guy has some lessons to learn first".

How to put this politely? I'll try this. While you may be 100% correct about the intentions, let's just say that W-L records around the league, despite all attempts at parity, suggest that the intentions may not always be implemented in a way that is actually conducive to achieving them. Let me ask you this: Assume that the owner/GM will always hire the guy they PERCEIVE as the best man for the job. Does the hiring of HC such as Nathaniel Hackett, suggest to you that their perception is 'in sync' with some kind of objective assessment of the actual best candidate? If, in fact, the best candidate is always being hired, how do you explain some of the patterns around the league? Bienemy may have flaws of character or approach that would make him a poor head coach. I don't know; neither does anyone here. I would say the same was probably true of Doug Marrone, who obtained 2 different opportunities with 2 different teams. His record as a head coach was W:38 and L:60, so if he was the "best talent" available, that was kind of a fail, no? Why yes, actually. Both of these can be true. I think you're mixing in a couple of things here. There are all kinds of objective measurables and performance data available about players. It's one thing to be choosing the best performers on the field, based on all those measurables and performance data. It's another thing to choose the best guy for the executive suite - the criteria are somewhat less tangible, most would admit. That's not unique to football - there are plenty of places where the lower echelons look like a cross section of America or may even be predominantly minority or predominantly women - but as you look up the org chart, the top positions are dominated by Old White Guys. I'm sure they're absolutely the best and most talented people for the job, always <-sarcasm We all have our perceptions, and if we hire without examining them, we 1) don't necessarily choose the best candidate 2) we may in fact, systematically rule out candidates of certain characteristics. Doesn't make us racist or sexist scum, but it's still a problem if you believe in meritocracy and fairness. I likely won't continue this; I've said 90% of what I have to say, as clearly as I can say it, and the convo can easily become inappropriately broad and philosophical/political.

Of course! But, since most coaches who are hired don't, in fact, lead their team to the Lombardi - 1/3 of current NFL coaches don't even have winning records with their current teams - and some of these coaches get chance after chance with different teams - your observation simply raises the question "why do the NFL execs or owners charged with hiring, feel their chosen hire can lead them to the Lombardi? What criteria are they using? Are those criteria, in fact, the most relevant criteria? And if they are, are those criteria being applied differently to black or brown coaching candidates? I'm not saying this to flap the "racist conspiracy" bedsheet. I don't think there's some grand conspiracy. I don't even think there's necessarily some kind of conscious racism at play. But I do think, without some serious and careful examination, there's a natural tendency to settle on hires we "click" or are comfortable with, and a lot of times those are people who who remind us of ourselves - not necessarily the people who have the best background most likely to lead a football team to victory. And people who remind us of ourselves, tend to be people who look like us and talk like us and have a somewhat similar background. Which is why it's worth giving some thought as to whether something like "Candidate A is detail-oriented; Candidate B is picky. Candidate A is invested in his job and sets a high standard; Candidate B is demanding" might be going on. Neither the reactions to my previous post, nor the posters who made them, surprise me a bit. " It is what it is"

Nagy also moved on to the Bears before Mahomes took the reins as starter in 2018

It may very well be that Bienemy learned his intensity from Andy Reid, and that it's been a factor in the Chiefs offensive success, and that it's been lacking in Washington, and their offense will benefit from his approach. 2 different things can both be true. There could be legitimate concerns resulting in Bienemy not being seen as the best guy for a HC job. It can also be true that there's a double standard, and that the same concerns would be overlooked in a different candidate with similar experience/qualifiications are perceived as eliminating a man of color. This piece is about how the same traits are perceived differently in men vs women, but if you care, you can substitute a few words and figure it out. "How To Tell A Businessman From A Businesswoman" A businessman is aggressive; a businesswoman is pushy. He is assertive; she is confrontational. He is detail oriented; she is picky. He loses his temper because he's so invested in his job; she's bitchy. He's persistent; she doesn't know when to quit. He's firm; she's inflexible. He makes judgments; she reveals prejudices. He says what he thinks; she's opinionated. He exercises authority; she's tyrannical. He's discreet; she's secretive. He's a stern taskmaster; she's difficult to work for.

Interesting. McDermott, and other coaches have stressed that you have to "get to know players and care about them as people, before the players listen to what you say to them as a coach." One thing I was fascinated by was Daboll's progress from a first year OC, very terse, calling players out a bit in his press conferences (not by name, but when you talk about "we can't have problems with the QB-C exchange" it's clear who you're talking about, and when Beasley tipped up a low ball and it was picked on the deflection "maybe the throw is a little low, you still have to catch it" that's clear too. By his second year he was much more protective of his players to the press, and also much more relaxed and affable dealing with the press, asking them how they were, etc etc. And his press conferences became less adversarial. I knew a coaches kid from Dick Vermeil's Rams, and he talked about how impressed he was just after his father was hired, when he walked into the practice facility for the first time and Vermeil greeted him by name, asked how his grade in school was going, and if he'd found a band yet (he was a musician). Vermeil used to send his assistants to Dale Carnegie classes to improve their people skills if he thought it was needed. So this from Rivera: Perhaps that "this is it, this is the way it's going to be" from Bienemy is part of the reason why

Second recommendation of Gabriel's Gate. My kid spent a summer living in downtown Buffalo as an intern and she and her friends really liked it. To the OP, you might want to look into the special "Game Day Express" bus NFTA is advertising as returning for the 2023-2024 season. $5 each way They say they haven't finalized the stops, but last year it ran from the NFTA Terminal on Ellicott Street & North Division downtown, and drops off at Gate 1 of the stadium. Board the return bus on Abbott Road after the game. I google mapped it as a bit over a mile and a half from the Lenox Hotel. There are also a number of other hotels a bit closer. https://www.wgrz.com/article/sports/nfl/bills/nfta-game-day-express-returning-for-2023-2024-bills-season/71-8f4209ec-2b84-4b07-9f68-a4b1e5433337 Many folks here have had the experience of wandering through the parking lots where people are tailgating on Gameday and being offered food and drink everywhere they stopped to chat, especially if you have a little something (whatever your Argentinian specialty beverage is?) to offer.

Not sure what you mean by this? Is there a better place you would recommend to our Argentine friend?