Beck Water

Did we have this up-thread? Josh made the comment that the Jags have the best defense in football right now (statistically) Anyone know by what parameter this might be? 'Cuz it isn't by points - they're 8th, tied with the Bills It isn't by yards - they're 11th. Is this some Frankenstat where they're best?

So this was actually a point of contention in the Dallas game where Josh recovered a botched snap on 4th down and "out-aggressived" the entire Dallas front 7 to gain the 1st down. Dallas was all fluffed up that it was a fumble, but technically the snap is considered a backward pass, so Buffalo converted the 1st down.

Yes, Benford absolutely did. But there are two ways to look at that: 1) Dang, Elam must be horrible! A 6th round pick beat him out! 2) Elam has shown flashes in his limited chances to play, it's not like he's horrid or can't play in the league. But Benford is very very good.

Anyone know what the deadline is to IR a player before a Monday night game?

It just amuses the hell out of me that Bojo by report, wouldn't take the Bills offer because he wanted to play out west instead of in nasty cold snowy Buffalo.... ....and in fact, was able to sign with the LA Rams. Good for him, except he lost the battle to their established punter, got traded to warm sunny Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then I believe pretty much his only offer was with the Browns. So much for playing on the West Coast, Bojo.

What if Douglas and Benford are just very good?

No, that's the problem with concussions. The damage is invisible to X-rays and even MRIs, and it won't cause paralysis in and of itself. He may have things like constantly hearing noises, constant pain in his head, visual disturbance or sensitivity, forgetting how to perform ordinary activities like driving, navigate, etc. If you're interested, here's a good article on Kevin Kolb from that man we love to hate, Ty Dunne (but he's a damned fine writer). https://www.golongtd.com/p/part-i-what-happened-to-kevin-kolb It starts with Kolb in 2013, having sustained 3 concussions of which the 3rd had scary-bad symptoms, and then sustaining a 4th. This is after concussion #3, which it took him 10 weeks to recover from: After #4 and his retirement: On a positive note, it recounts how eventually most of the symptoms resolved, how some of his struggles had to do with football, his passion for 2 decades, ripped away from him suddenly, how he basically had to re-learn how to live as an ordinary human and father. Kolb today is keeping busy as an enterpreneur, but still has visual symptoms.

This point is absolutely correct. If there was a "vicious hit" as some have called it, it was BY Tua ON Hamlin. Hamlin actually looked like he was trying to minimize impact to Tua while making sure he was down. Tua ran full speed into Hamlin's chest protector and damned straight, if your head is fragile, don't use it as a battering ram. But the media loves them their stories.

I think your point is more likely than not, but there are a couple things to bear in mind. I think there's no question that Tua would likely be better off if he hadn't been placed in a position to suffer a 2nd concussion 4 days after the "undiagnosed" first concussion, but it's not a certainty that he wouldn't be having problems without it. If you look at the video of the Milano "unnecessary roughness" hit, it was positively wimpy by NFL standards. Tua took a double handed shove to the chest. Doubtful Josh or Mahomes even fall down from that, unless they're in front of the ref and milking it for a penalty. And if they do fall down, no way they wind up concussed because they have the instinctive body control and neck strength to roll into it. Tua fell straight back with no twisting motion or someone on top of him or being thrown. It was a hit and fall that every QB in the NFL takes maybe 4-5 times a game. That's one reason why I think Tua's locker room "back spasms caused my balance breaks" assertion was so glibly accepted - it really didn't look like a fall that should cause a problem. My point being, while I think you're absolutely correct that sustaining that and then playing 4 days later was a horrible thing that caused more severe damage, I think the concussion likely sustained from Milano's shove on Sunday is evidence that Tua's brain was already fragile to concussion. And, Tua did sustain a 3rd concussion that 2022 season against Green Bay. There's a good chance that Tua would be better off if his 1st 2022 concussion had been labeled as such and handled properly, but I don't think it's a certainty by any means.

OK, fair enough. But when you mention "retirement", please recognize that you're moving into different territory than "cut" or "not medically cleared to play". If Tua is cut or not medically cleared, he Gets His Bag, no question If Tua retires, remember that Eric Wood "Non-retirement Retirement Presser" which Fitz famously roasted? That was because if Tua retires, the Dolphins under the CBA can ask to be repaid the amortized portions of his signing bonus and to void his future salary guarantees. Now some teams go ahead and hand over the bag, as the Colts did with Andrew Luck in recognition, I think, for how hard he'd gone for them, how hard he'd tried to come back, and how poorly they handled his injury. Do the Dolphins seem to you like that kind of class? If Tua is not medically cleared, but doesn't have pretty iron-clad medical science behind it, and he wants to play, the NFLPA is bound defend him As far as sitting in front of a judge, the first issue would be the legal validity of the waivers drafted by the best lawyers the NFL can buy, which all NFL players sign. That would have to make its way through the courts long before there's a jury that watches video.

That's a nice thought but in fact, York got away for a year and did not come back better, or the Commanders wouldn't have cut his ass.

I mean, that may be what the Locked on Dolphins guy said, but as far as what Spotrac indicates (and they're usually pretty good) it's way higher than that. After 2025, it's down to Diggs-ish levels of hellishness though Spotrac isn't very clear on the structure of the option bonuses. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/47598/tua-tagovailoa

Question: Those companies have a pretty strong union like the NFLPA and a CBA? Those people have a contract with the specific subsidiary of those companies with $93M fully guaranteed (40% of the subsidiary's allotted personnel budget)? See how more complicated it gets with the injection of a few real parameters? You got the digits swapped. Tua has a dead cap for 2025 of $83M. After that it falls to something reasonable.

Eek. So Carlson was 7 of 11 from 40+ yds and missed 5 XPs last year. That's worse than Bass In 2022 Cade York was 9 of 12 from 30-39 yds 10 of 15 from longer In terms of history, neither an improvement Surprised the Bills didn't work out a LB or 2

Good ***** @WhitewalkerInPhilly Good *****! As the players seem to say to each other after a good play. Regarding Elam: one of the reasons that first round picks have the bust rate they do, is that it's very difficult to predict the impact on a young man's work ethic and ego when he suddenly Gets Paid like a 1st round pick. But from what we saw in pre-season and when Elam has had his chances, I don't think that's what's happened. I do think his previous DB coach wasn't the best fit for him and he may have struggled to listen there. See Tua comments on Flores for how that can play out. Back to Elam, I don't think he's a star but I don't think he's a bust, either, and I think he'd improve if he actually got a few games of snaps. My personal take on it is that Christian Benford is just a gem and has outplayed a good player. Elam seems to have worked hard and leveled up this off season, and Benford looked over at the in-team competition and said "OK Bet". You could think of it as Edwards-Helaire and Isaih Pacheco. Edwards-Helaire played 13 games as a rookie, had 1100 yds from scrimmage, which projects to 1438 yds in a 17 game season. He played 10 games his 2nd year, again would project to 1038 yds from scrimmage in 17 games. He's not CMC or peak Travis Henry, but that's Solid, that's not a bust. But Isaih Pacheco "seized the day" when Helaire got injured again, and has never looked back. It's not that Helaire is a bad player or a bust, it's just that the guy originally drafted in the 7th round turned out to be a gem. ------- I am (maybe the only?) one who has the opinion Tua went into the game with an undiagnosed concussion from the previous Sunday night. I have this opinion because I thought from the first drive, and certainly by the end of the 1Q, Tua was making uncharacteristic mistakes. Now maybe the Bills defensive coverage and pressure had him that stymied, but he was definitely making "unforced errors". So I think the Bills may have been on the Thursday end of the 2022 Sunday undiagnosed concussion - Thursday horrible looking concussion with involuntary arm and hand movements ------- I think McDaniel believed that between the "downgrade" to the Bills DBs by moving on from Dr Poyer and Mr Hyde and missing Taron Johnson, plus the inside gouge he doubtless got from Poyer, he didn't NEED to come up with something new. I think he believed they would tear us apart and parteeeee. Not to take away from the Bills secondary, but don't underestimate the impact of the pressure the Bills were able to put on Tua with their front 4, and part of that were the creative ways Babich seemed to be using that front 4. ------- Have you watched the OBD segment with Greg Cosell? If you give Maddy the benefit of the doubt (and she IS really trying), it's well worth a listen Cosell makes the point, if you just heard the Bills had only 45 offensive plays and possess the ball on offense for less than 24 minutes, you would have said "that's not really a recipe for victory". And yet, here we are, 31-10. The thing is, they really weren't keeping Hill and Waddle off the field. They had the opportunity to be on the field for more than 36 minutes. And yet. He was sacked by Ed Oliver and took a pretty good whallop on that as far as I could tell. Think he had a couple of hits after the ball was released - maybe one by Epenesa and one by Miller? Thing is it was nothing at all unusual for the QB in an NFL game

I looked. Most recent interview said his head still bothers him but he has had several surgeries and treatments and says he is overall doing much better. He's apparently getting out and about some now. There was a period of time where he admits he wanted to end his own life because his chronic pain was so bad it felt like someone was stabbing him in the head with icepicks constantly, even when he laid in a darkened room all the time (which, understandably, caused situationally appropriate depression). He didn't go into detail about what helped him that I found. But there's some stuff about usingVestibular physical therapy and vision therapy to help reduce post-concussion symptoms, and in fact, those espousing this say that the advice to lie in the dark and avoid using screens etc. is actually counterproductive and instead what is needed, in addition to lots of rest, is systematic re-introduction of stimuli. This kind of thing: https://www.cognitivefxusa.com/blog/post-concussion-syndrome-treatment-what-to-know

Running Back, Line Backer - what's the diff?

Ya think maybe Collins had 400 yds his rookie year because he had Davis Mills and Kyle Allen throwing passes to him and Pep Hamilton as his OC? Teams watch film. No one was being "taken off guard" by Collins after the 2nd week of the 2023 season when Stroud went off for 337 passing yards and Collins had 146 of them. The Texans weren't quite sure what they'd get back, and when, from Tank Dell who ended the season on IR with a serious fibula fracture. They are "all in" this season. Kudos to them for investing in their WR room, so sure, they think it's important to have another impact guy.

Eh, maybe. Lots of things can happen in the NFL. Collins looks like a beast, sometimes beasts get bit by the injury bug (see Pacheco, Isaiah; Bernard, Terrel) and then maybe Diggs will get put in a role productive of more yards. Collins was ripping off 100+ yard games (he had 5 of 'em and another that was close) last season when the 2nd receiver was Tank Dell (who missed 6 games I think) or Noah Brown. Which somewhat suggests to me that Collins 6'4" 220 lb ass can free itself up and be its own monster.

The story I heard (and this is from someone in the B'lo media) is that media kept asking for Diggs and the answer was that he refused availability (not that the team wasn't making him available) Second round pick is from the Vikes; reason I said I wasn't as hopeful about its value was watching them thump the 49ers I guess we'll see what they really got when they play Houston next week

The "place where that happened" was inside the Dolphins locker room in their exam room, so yeah, nobody got footage of that.

I'm no longer feeling as hopeful about that 2nd round pick as I was earlier today. Maybe it won't be as early as we hoped

My dear. For 33 yards. While his teammate Nico Collins racked up 8 targets, 6 catches, 117 yards Then tonight, 6 targets, 4 catches, 37 yards. While his teammate Nico Collins racked up 10 targets, 8 receptions, 135 yards and a game ball. Can Diggs play? Sure he can. Is he the same player as of 2 years ago when he was averaging 7 receptions a game for 89 yds a game? All I can say is through the first 2 games, that's not how the Texans are using him. If you didn't read the GQ article linked above (and who could blame you?) some quotes: So he's salty about the last 7 games in B'lo under Brady, when his usage dropped from an average of 10 targets and 87 ypg under Dorsey, to an average of 8 targets and 45 ypg. Can you do the math on how long he'll be happy if he keeps averaging 5 receptions 35 ypg? At that rate he'd have to play this season and 6 more for those 4,000 yds. Again, Diggs can still play - he had two receptions that were such special plays he drew Eberflaus into burning his challenges on them. He also had a play where he shucked where Stroud expected him to jive. And Collins looked like Truth out there, no reason to cut his target share.

Is that what made it so slick? Geesh, get some algicide on the thing

I laughed, but it’s more true than funny. Chicago’s OL was horrid for Fields and it hasn’t changed