Beck Water

Dang, you're right!

No, it's not a misallocation of resources. The draft is a bit of a crap shoot. Teams put their best effort into scouting and then take their best shot. It's understood that some picks will hit, and some will miss. Kincaid is on a rookie contract, he's not taking much resources. The only TE in Kincaid's draft class who is contributing more is Sam LaPorta, and he's doing it on significantly more receptions. GB got a nice TE in the 3rd round, but there were 7 TE drafted after Laporta in the 2nd and 3rd rounds - so sure, you can get a good one, who is he? Every team would like their draft process to improve. I will say that Beane consistently takes a kind of "boom or bust" approach to drafting. He has a "type": athletic, very physically talented guys who have fallen towards the bottom of the first round where we can reach them because of some perceived gap in their skills which Beane believes the Bills can coach up. Exhibit A Edmunds pre draft profile extolled his size, speed, and explosiveness but noted: "Instincts are average and relies on athletic gifts. Can be a step slow to diagnose. Lured by misdirection. Will take random downhill paths that trap him in the quagmire." So the idea was the Bills would coach him up on his ability to diagnose and make it instinctual. AJ Epenesa was another project, they asked him to totally re-make his body for the NFL. Rousseau, relatively minimal experience playing football - was drafted with only 1 season of college football, due to a broken ankle as a freshman and then Covid as a junior. Kincaid, beautiful route runner with soft hands but only played 1 year of HS football before deciding to go that way in college, pre draft profile notes "Jarred off of his base by average contact." and "Physical defenders are able to slow his routes." Again, Beane's idea is he'll get coached up and learn to release and cope with physicality in the league and then, look out. Coleman is sort of along the same theme as Kincaid and Rousseau, very athletic guy with good hands who is not a polished route runner and struggles to release against press man. I can't say Beane's idea is wrong. We're drafting near the bottom of the rounds consistently so if a team wants to bring in top talent, they have to try some kind of strategy or get lucky in the late rounds. The fact that Kincaid missed 4 games with his knee injury didn't help his production, either.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43348810/tyreek-hill-agent-says-star-wr-committed-dolphins Drew Rosenhaus says Hill is really committed to the Dolphins "I think at the end of the day, he's committed to this Dolphins football team," he said. "I believe Tyreek is a great asset to the Dolphins and I think he's the last guy people should be worried about in this organization. They have many more worries -- Tyreek Hill's not one of them." But he can not confirm that Hill wants to stay in Miami: "Let me just say this -- I've got to have that conversation with Tyreek. I'm not going to speak for him," he said. "I'm not going to say, 'He does, he doesn't.' That's a discussion I'm going to have to have with him that I haven't had yet."

Believe it or not, the guy on the roster with the most recent experience returning punts is.....Keon Coleman. He returned punts for FSU last year. If you want the ball caught no matter what the winds are doing, bring up Hyde and stick him back there. If you want a guy with more recent experience, bring up the guy that Codrington beat out, but who was drafted in part for his ST chops, Daequan Hardy. Dark horse not involving PS call-ups, Coleman. Again, do NOT want to see Shakir fielding punts, just like when Hyde was our starting safety I didn't like seeing him back there. Hollins does not have NFL experience returning punts, and only 1 KR.

I do NOT want to see Shakir back there returning punts. He has been the most productive WR for the Bills, and it isn't close. Coleman is 2nd with 265 fewer yards. Just "No" to risking Shakir on the craziness and the scrums that punt returns can involve.

Fair questions. Seattle is a longer trip/flight for the home team - 2 3/4 hr - ish. San Francisco and AZ are about the same length of flight, 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 ish. All of the stadia are open (AZ has a retractable roof) but the open stadia in San Fran and Seattle sometimes admit pouring rain, which is probably something LA doesn't want to deal with. AZ is gonna be easier to handle last minute logistics of hotel rooms for players, staff, and media than San Francisco would be. It's only a 2 hr adjustment for Minnesota to LA, so it takes an hour off, and gives the Rams an hour, but I don't think that's a big deal

Took them long enough. I don't know what they thought was gonna happen to make it playable in LA, just due to air quality and leaving aside that the high winds make it unpredictable how and where fires will spread Stay safe!

This piece with Jason Garrett is new, but it's been talked about before https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2021/11/15/Upfront/The-tech-advantage.aspx and this embarrassingly gushy pre-national-game interview with Chris Simms It's interesting to see how much chunkier Allen was back then. Part of it is a flattering beard style that shapes his face, but he genuinely does seem to be trying to be more in shape

Doesn't Surtain stick to one side and not follow a receiver?

Here Someone pointed out after I posted that Payton was suspended for 2 games in 2012 which would make it "even steven" for Payton as HC of NO vs McDermott as DC Of course, the two QBs and offenses had roles, it's not entirely on McD

Broncos got 5 of them vs. Kansas City in the final game. (Poor Wentz)

During and after the game, it was said "no observed or reported injuries". So none of us know for sure if the final punt return was where Codrington injured himself (though Bangedup Bills commented limping slightly afterwards) He might have injured himself on one of his other 8 ST snaps or his 27 snaps as a CB and aggravated it there. He might not have realized he was hurt vs just shaking off a hit until it started to stiffen up a couple days later

It may well be. Allen said last week he feels the best he's felt going into the playoffs. I hope that's a good omen.

Good question. Lions maybe? Giants maybe?

Sooooooo Peyton Manning 13 years with the Colts, 1 Superbowl Win with 7 years of Dungy? Then 1 Superbowl appearance with Caldwell.... are we dissing on Manning now?

I'd like to see Kincaid taking a big step towards being able to release quickly off the LOS especially against press man. It's one reason he doesn't get the targets he would otherwise.

Definitions aren't your thing, and neither is "diversity of opinion" of which there is plenty around here. I'd suggest you look around and read some other posts to find plenty of criticism and people civilly disagreeing with each other, but I'm going to guess that reading comprehension may not be your thing either.

Go Smell Some Grass

I do think it's an oft underlooked point that if you want to get the most out of the QB - if you even want to be able to adequately evaluate whether you have a QB - the team really needs to invest in OL. Pittsburgh drafting Pickett behind a rookie LT and next year a rookie RT had a bunch of people saying "they need a better OL to even figure out what they've got. Pickett got gun-shy Beane got away with that with Allen only because Allen is so mobile and such a tiger, and even then it took him a season to overcome his happy feet. Well, That, and we did have a LT. I was thinking of "cheaping it" more as a totality of investment, not strictly cap dollars. To your point, Cincy has not yet paid a Chase/Higgins duo - but they did invest high first round and high 2nd round picks in them. Miami has not paid a Hill/Waddle duo, but they did invest a high first in Waddle and of course a high $ contract in Hill. As far as duos winning Superbowls, KC paid Hill in 2019. So they were paying Hill and Kelce when they won the 2019 Superbowl, went to the SB next year, and won the conference in '21. And then of course, they were able to recoup that investment by trading him for a 1st, 2nd, 4th and next years 4th and 6th. Yes they weren't paying Mahomes yet. Now it gets more interesting as far as 2022 and 2023. In 2022, KC was paying 3 WR in their top 10 cap %: Kelce, MVS, and Mecole Hardman, and a 4th just outside of it (Juju S-S at 11). Now, we look at that, and say "poor ROI!" but the point is, they made the investment. And Kelce, S-S, and MVS were their top 3 receivers. Then the next season, they invested a 2nd round pick in Rice while they still had MVS on the roster, and he pretty much filled the S-S role by the end of the season. Let's not roll with the narrative that KC hasn't invested in WR. They have - not the investment (again, speaking of both draft and FA $$) that Mia or Bengals have made, but significant. And of course, the Bengals made it to a Superbowl. Just to close things off - in 2021 when the Rams won the Superbowl with Stafford, they had 2 receivers in their top 10 cap % - Tyler Higbee and Cooper Kupp. And, they'd invested a 2nd round pick in Van Jefferson. The closest the Bills have come to that kind of investment is 2021, when they were paying Diggs and Manny Sands. (He wasn't taking up as much $ of their cap, but only because they added void years to his contract) Now, to your point - the investment KC and the Rams have made at receiver, were not in paying multiple top dollar super-elite receivers. Both KC and the Rams are paying a TE, and while they're great players - it has to be noted that elite TE get paid less than elite WR on the open market. That might be one reason why Beane is looking to Knox and Kincaid as a key part of the build he's trying? Back to my point, I think it can be justified that Beane has under-invested in the WR position ("cheaped it") especially when looked at as investment of either $$ or draft capital. Yes, I think it could be as simple as missing 1 or 2 day 1 or 2 draft picks at WR. Now some of that can be the way the draft falls. But I can't help looking at Carolina's build while Beane was there, and thinking that's the model he's trying to follow, where he expects his big, mobile QB to elevate his receivers and make magic happen, and doesn't see the need to invest a bit more there.

The media is in love with Lamar's running prowess. I get it; he's a legit talent. But they somehow seem to ignore or understate Josh's escapability and running prowess. It's like because he is big and physical and can run guys over or hurdle them, they don't see that he has field vision to avoid guys and can juke and cut to make guys miss. I continually hear the commentators saying stuff like "No other QB in the league could make that play" and thinking "Exsqueeze me?" while Josh simply shrugs and says "here, Hold my Beer"

Surely there could be a worthy teaching message in having the pupils watch the game

I would say that arguably, 2020 was the year we had the best WR talent so far -Diggs at his peak with 1535 receiving yards and 127 receptions -Beasley at his peak with 967 receiving yards and 82 receptions -Gabe Davis with 35 receptions on 699 yards as a highly promising rookie who the league hadn't written "the book" on yet -John Brown, slowing down and injured part of the season but still able to turn on the afterburners -Isaiah McKenzie, able to beat man coverage and run gadget routes, but used sparingly and not being depended upon For what it's worth, Josh threw 10 interceptions that year (one of which was not an interception and yes I'm still salty), a 1.7% interception rate vs. this year 1.2% I think we need to stay balanced, but I don't believe adding receiver talent and passing yards would necessarily add interceptions. It would be nice to be able to have at least 2 receivers get open on almost every play once again, instead of "all fall down" (or get flattened) and Josh has to make the magic happen

That's a really good question. I would like to know the answer to that, myself.

Soup with lots of garlic. Try roasted garlic soup (about 3 entire heads of garlic per quart of soup, maybe 4, that's what we're talking about) but chicken noodle would do if it has lots of garlic Lemon juice, honey, and whiskey for a sore throat. Take hot showers. Heat rosemary and sliced lemon in a pot and breathe in the steam. Guafenisin to loosen up mucus. Delsym extended cough syrup to sleep, if you have a cough; sudafed (the original kind the stores keep locked up) to help keep your sinuses clear

Little note that the Eagles had to sign Cine to their 53 man roster, and they must pay him as though he's on their 53 man roster for at least 3 games (not sure how that changes with playoffs if they're 1 and done, but if they get additional games, they don't have to keep him on their roster but they do have to pay him, is my understanding) Yes, the Bills and Cine's agent would be called by the Eagles and told "hey, we want to sign Cine to our 53" at which point Cine gets to say "great!" or "oh, no, honey I'm good!". If he says "I want on a 53 man roster" the Bills get to say "OK, we'll sign you" or "good luck Eagles, he's a great kid! Good luck Cine we wish you the best!" The team will provide a hotel for a week. Then it's up to the player. Good teams have player engagement staff who try to help out. For PS and bottom of the roster guys, they either rent extended-stay hotels or furnished studios month by month; find a roommate; sometimes an established player will let them stay in a room, especially if they've played together in college or pros and have a connection. There have been practice squad players who literally slept in their cars. Some guys who have families, leave the family established in their hometown and look for roommates. Others bring the girlfriend and the dog with them. It's not too bad in Buffalo where there's a fair bit of housing stock and the prices are reasonable, but guys bouncing around in HCOL areas like the E or W coast have it rough.