Beck Water

Just a little note that in points (what wins games) Tennessee D is #9. The difference of course, is because Tennessee has 10 INT, so the D was defending a short field a lot. The Titans may hope that the Reindeer will fix that, but he's been known to throw a few picks in his time.

This is one of the best posts in the thread. You're asking the right questions. To answer your question, I had a look and didn't find a breakdown. I think he's given up some plays but guess what? So does almost every NFL safety. I can tell you he's like 22nd among safeties for completion % against so like mid-third? 3rd for tackles, and 3rd for missed tackle %. I think folks are upset that he's not an all-pro or all-star, and it's totally fair that we could use an upgrade, but I don't think he's the huge liability people are painting him to be. Poyer nor Hyde had that much speed, last 2 years. Fair, and I take your ponit. My point is that it's not just that McDermott won't start a guy based on mental reps; it seems to have something to do with the quality of those mental reps

What you say is true. And yet, after he had some pretty abysmal spot appearances as a rookie and a lot of mental reps, Bernard got McDermott's nod to start at MLB after he missed the preseason and most of TC with a hammy. So McDermott will start someone on mental reps, apparently. I think it's more that Hamlin looked pretty good during training camp, and Edwards may not have earned McDermott's confidence with his mental reps the way Bernard did. Hamlin has looked much closer to the 2022 guy who had improved markedly during the games he played for Hyde until that game. Which, as you note, is not to say he's an all-pro safety. But then, neither has Edwards been in his previous 5 seasons.

I agree that he's not a Tua or Purdy who understands the offense and runs it like a Swiss Watch. I don't agree with "Josh is what he is". Josh has played some amazing games where he was patient and played within structure and "took what the defense gave him". Several wins over KC; the "perfect game" vs. NE; etc. A number of guys who know ball and generally admire Josh as a QB have made similar comments from time to time (Kurt Warner being one, Chris Simms etc) about Josh bailing prematurely from the pocket and "making something happen" instead of taking the perfectly reasonable throw that was there. Cosell is legit. He's a gentleman and a football scholar and he's not going to go on OBL and trash a Bills player or the Bills org, but I think a condition of him being willing to come on OBL was that he be allowed to tell it like he sees it.

Considering that Mahomes got a year on the bench to learn the pro game while understuding a vet who had a career year, and that Rodgers got several on the bench behind a future HOF while Allen got thrown into the fray halfway through his first game as a raw rookie, this seems even more impressive.

One word (avert): Injuries Backups become starters pretty damned quick in this league. Beane knows that it's worthwhile to put quality depth at reasonable cost on the team. Not really. Hamlin knows the system, he takes to heart McDermott's coaching to "keep it in front of you". Edwards is an NFL-level player, I'm sure he's soaking in the system. If someone gets hurt (avert) there will be teething pains, but after a game or two we'll be glad he's there.

https://www.buffalobills.com/video/greg-cosell-amari-cooper-s-impact-titans-bills-in-depth-preview Thought this was a very interesting segment. Cosell is always very analytical and measured in what he says. But he verges on being critical of both the route structure of the Bills passing game AND of Josh Allen for bailing from the pocket "prematurely" and not playing within the structure of the pass game. He also leads off with some comments about the need for an actual X receiver in order to have a consistent passing game in the NFL and how the Bills have lacked that. Suggest you give it a listen and wondering if anyone would like to discuss.

Good Lord. Well, it's his body.

Thank you for the unequivocal discussion-stopper. Since no one on this planet can convince you that Hamlin is a better safety than Edwards in the Bills defensive scheme, that tells everyone not to bother to try.

Edwards did not start for the Chiefs until week 14, after he came in for injury week 13 when Bryan Cook went out. Edwards did start for Tampa in 2022, when they went 8-9 and lost in the WC round, but he did NOT start in 2020 when they won the Superbowl and Tampa let him walk in FA. He signed 1 year with the Chiefs, so his market wasn't hot. You can say "logically Edwards plays ahead of Hamlin", but that's actually not logic - that's your opinion, based on, well, whatever you based it on. The fact is, that while Edwards has shown he can play in the NFL and has started at FS, he was starting on a Superbowl team only due to injury. Logically, the coaches are playing the player they feel has earned it based on practice and what they see on film. Isn't it actually kind of a conspiracy theory to believe otherwise?

Aw, hell to the Noes on the "perfect", I had that .jpg handy because I've eaten my full fair share of "crow pie" over the seasons. I don't even want to get started on my Bad Takes, it'd take a while. I acknowledge I was a "wrong Josh"er in 2018, for example. I don't tend to get too absolute in my "real time" comments, though, like saying a rookie "sucks" one month into his rookie season. So there is that.

You were saying? Is it time for a little forkful?

Early in the season, I think ya gotta look at who the Titans have played a bit. Bears, Caleb Williams passed for 93 yds Jets, Rodgers flaking the rust off Dolphins starring Tyler Huntley Colts, starring Joe Flacco Packers, without Jordan Love, still put up 30 Statistics are fine, I love me some stats, but context matters. While we're stat'ing, before the season if anyone told you the Bills were 23rd in passing yards, what would you have thought about our W-L record?

No, Beane can not fire McDermott. Only Pegula could at the start, now with Pegula seeming to take a less active role and Kim out of the picture, it's possible that one of the high-up executives at OBD now has that power, unclear on that point.

FWIW, I seem to recall Tom Brady being asked how long it took him to get fully in sync with a new WR and he said something like "a month". That doesn't mean Cooper won't get used to some extent before that, but if one of the greatest to play the game says in effect "these things take time", then they probably take time.

Beane is not McDermott's boss. Both Beane and McDermott report, in parallel, to Pegula I agree with your overall point that it doesn't seem likely that McDermott "forced", or even lobbied hard, for Beane to trade Diggs. Likely Sure, we're already playing our backup outside LB and our MLB is playing with a torn pec, but let's cut a backup LB.

https://nflpa.com/press/joint-nfl-nflpa-statement-on-review-of-tua-tagovailoa-concussion-protocol Wanna explain what was done differently for Allen? The NFL/NFLPA in fact said that Tua WAS properly evaluated for concussion according to the protocol, but that ataxia wasn't, at that time, considered a "no go". So that changed afterwards

Well Hey

Given the compensation, I'm wondering if we were trying for Adams - but Adams and the Jets had a Rodgers reunion in mind

I believe that Allen was properly evaluated for a concussion according to the protocol. Whether the protocol evaluation is worthwhile depends somewhat upon the player. Remember it was determined that the proper protocol was followed with Tua in 2022. Agree to disagree on whether it could be determined independently that Allen was "not unconscious" and that the NFL/NFLPA have "no reason to lie"

Huh? The man has a PhD in Neuroscience from Boston University. He saw what he saw. Several of the rest of us saw the same. Where is the conflict of interest here? Do we seriously want Allen to get Tua'd if the Jets knock him out for a second time in a week?

He's not wrong

3 year, $24M with $15M guaranteed is similar to 3 year, $39M with $24M guaranteed? Okay.

We may have gained better run blocking for the running we want to do, with the change from Morse to McGovern at C. But we also lost something, and all that experience at diagnosing pressure looks and choosing the correct blocking schemes is likely to be one of the things we lost. It's probably worth considering that Diggs knows Allen's tendencies inside and out from years of practice and watching film together. He knows what Allen struggles with. So I'm sure he fed a lot of info to Houston's D about what to dial up that Allen would struggle with decoding.

Exactly. This would be the perfect compromise.