Beck Water

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-CRASH/WASHINGTONDC-AIRCRAFT/dwvkkwyzxvm/ Shows "Route 4" (the Class B clearance the helicopter received), the path of the helicopter, and the path of the airplane. The altitude clearance for Route 4 is "at or below 200 ft" in that area. Guardian article: On the helicopter track indicated on the map, it appears the copter deviated from Rt 4 towards the approach end of the runway. Caveat: it has been asserted that the helicopter was not broadcasting ADSB, which might contribute to the apparent "jagged" flight path and would certainly hinder both the controller and the pilot's ability to detect the confliction. I do not know the reliability of this assertion. ---------- This article details previous "near misses" from NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting Database, which is an anonymous reporting system maintained with the goal of improving safety: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/30/us/dca-plane-helicopter-crash-invs/index.html Chances are good that for every report, there are more incidents that were not reported. It's pretty clear that close encounters between military helicopters and civilian traffic landing at DCA are common enough that they have been "normalized" to ATC. The controllers rely upon the helicopter following the route they've been cleared to fly (below 200 ft, along the W bank of the Potomac) and following visual separation rules (paraphrase: "Do you see that plane?" "Traffic in sight" "Stay out of its way" "Roger") But basically, a helicopter flying its cleared route precisely has the potential to come within hundreds of feet of a landing passenger jet flying its cleared approach precisely. And especially at night, there is always the potential that the traffic the pilot confirms seeing is not the traffic the controller is pointing out. This blogger calls it IMHO: "We’ve basically seen the normalization of planes and helicopters flying hundreds of feet apart with visual separation, and sooner or later, that’s not going to end well, as it leaves virtually no margin." He points out: "It’s not like air traffic controllers can start restricting military helicopters and keeping them out of their airspace, without intervention on a higher level."

I think Beane's seat could be heated up a bit. I think it's probably more nuanced than "McD good, talent bad" I would say the aggregate talent level is above average - the Jimmies and Joes have to have something McD can work with. And above average is fine for defeating most teams. But there are two problems: 1) McD's defense depends upon everyone working together, and when you lose more than 1 starter, the interdependence that makes it work starts to break down 2) When we face the top teams, we need 1-2 "game wreckers", guys who can take over a game and change it. And we just don't have that on defense. We don't have a Chris Jones, or a TJ Watt, or a Maxx Crosby.

Yeah, it's just amazing how some people are hacked by someone who makes one craptastic post on one media platform then nothing else.

You are not wrong.

No

I'm concerned that the Bills "Tua'd" Benford - rushed him back from a concussion where he really should have had a week off. Ya gotta wonder if Elam had had the #1 reps in practice during the week and/or if the gameplan would have been built more around his strengths, would it have had a different result?

I thought that was a really tough catch for Kincaid at the end. But doesn't change your point. When the top receiver in the game for the Bills is Mack Hollins, we need help at receiver. In the big moment, our guys simply were not clutch.

Dude. The Bills D got 3 stops on the Chiefs - a fumble and 2 punts. The Chiefs D got 4 stops on the Bills - 2 punts and 2 TOD. One more stop. That's what it comes down to. It's hard to win championships if your defense can't get 4 stops.

Well he does like to push off

we need a middle finger emoji for you posting this @YoloinOhio. And you know I love ya. But in my dreams, it was holding on the KC Oline, so the Bills declined, and we're still going to the Superbowl

Or maybe he wasn't. As far as I'm concerned a visit to Chiefs Planet requires Level 4 Biosafety Precautions with observed and directed decontam. IIRC even our resident Chiefs fan visitors @Zerovoltz and @Billl steer clear of that cesspool

It sounds as though we can agree that Slovik may be a bit of a scapegoat for the Texans offensive woes to which WR and OL injuries contributed heavily (though I haven't listened to the Chris Simms video that was shared upthread so I could change my mind I guess) As far as him being overrated by the Bills fan base, I dunno about the Bills fan base as a whole but FRFR we got a segment here who seem to over-rate 1) any coach who is not named Sean McDermott. 2) especially if they have an offensive background and have coached an offense with 1 year of success

I think he understands it's a big game. But he doesn't have the weight of 3 playoff losses to KC in 4 years, including an AFCCG and 13 seconds on his shoulders.

When has McDermott ever used the word "optimistic" in regard to an injured player? He'll say "trending in the right direction" or "we'll see"

I think there's a good bit of revisionist history in that. Reid was doing what he thought (rightly or wrongly) was best for the team and himself first, and thinking of what was best for McDermott very much as an afterthought. I dunno about that phone call to Rivera and how much influence it had - "hey, I've got this great young subordinate, I'm firing his ass but I think he'd be a great hire for you" only goes so far as a job recommendation in any field. Be that as it may, Reid certainly didn't tell McDermott "you suck, you can't coach, I'm kicking you to the curb".

Well, Reid did fire McDermott. And then hire Juan Castillo, the offensive line coach, to replace him as DC (that went about as well as one might predict lol)

I could be wrong, but I think it's not uncommon for the C/Oline coach to handle protections for a young QB (rookie or 2nd year). Pretty sure McVay did it for Goff, which led to a fall-off as they transitioned to Goff taking it over. I actually think the Bills were unusual in that from the start, they expected Allen to do it - leading to an unnecessary number of sacks and QB hits his first couple years when he got it wrong. If I'm remembering correctly Allen said in an interview that he's embarrassed now to realize how little he "understood our protections" his first year. Anyway good find, Thanks! and I'll give it a listen!

Ha. Um, No. Interesting perspective. I'm interested if this is your theory or do you have some inside info and know this for fact?

Over the top, Not over the top...I dunno But I think it's worthwhile to look at the injury situation and results this season. As far as Rapp goes, he has missed most (3/4, 2/3) of two games: Bal L 10-35 Bal W 27-25 He has missed all of 3 games: Hou L 20-23 Det W 48-42 NWE W 24-21 I think it's worthwhile to look at the other players that were missing (and who was playing for them), putting the games in order: Bal L 10-35 Bernard (Spector), Milano (Williams), T. Johnson (C. Lewis) Hou L 20-23 Milano (Williams), T. Johnson (C. Lewis) Det W 48-42 Rasul Douglas (Elam), Damar Hamlin (C. Lewis) NWE W 24-21 Baylon Spector (Milano, Williams), Damar Hamlin (C. Lewis) Bal W 27-25 Let's be real: KC was going to pick on our safeties regardless, because safety has not been a strong point for the Bills all season. And Bishop in the 2nd half vs. Baltimore wasn't pretty. But I think it's important to remember that in previous games where Bishop was starting, there were multiple missing starters on D. The Bills, like a lot of defenses, historically have usually been able to field a competent D when missing 1 starter, but when missing 3, the quality drops off fast. People here like to dog Hamlin, but I think he's played competently for the Bills this season. I think it's possible that Bishop playing next to starter Hamlin and with starters in front of him, may play better than Bishop playing next to Cam Lewis and missing another starter besides. I would also like to say that I had considerable trepidation about Rapp as a starting safety because of his tendency towards "Friendly Fire". IIRC, he took out both Douglas AND Bernard on one play during the Pittsburgh playoff game last season, and cost us Bernard (and Douglas hampered). I've been pleasantly surprised all year that he was playing more "in control" and mentally sound this season, but his injury occured on another "friendly fire" episode where the Raven was already wrapped up by 2 Bills and Rapp arrived late to the party and took out Hamlin and Douglas. This year, the Bills are going into the offseason with the lowest-ranked defense they have had since 2020. I think a barrage of defensive injuries mid-season are partly responsible. Some people blame Babich. Whatever reason, it was definitely a reset year on D. The Chiefs are going to "get theirs" on offense. The key for the Bills will be to keep their poise, keep moving on offense, and limit the time KC gets the ball. I may be a minority view but I thought Bishop played OK against Baltimore. Hamlin was the one who made an error that resulted in a completion for a TD (going for the INT instead of "doing his job").

Didn't McDermott basically come out and say we won't see Hyde in a uniform?

I wouldn't. Nothing against Slowik, but I think that Shanahan-tree style offense is a total mismatch for Josh Allen.

That's true. Trentative Edwards vs. Ryan Fitzpatrick would be another example. But in the end, there is something with the Jimmies and Joes - they have to know where to go and when to get there, and make it happen. For most teams, losing 3 starting WR for most of the season would be fatal to this.

I'm not gonna go back and watch all the Texans games to make that judgement. You can't just watch the sacks; you have to watch all the passing attack and ask "where is he going or trying to go with the ball and why?" Stroud had an AY/A of 8.7 last season and an IAY/pass attempt of 9.0. The Texans offensive identity was clearly built on having a deep passing game and making teams pay if they tried too hard to clamp down on the run and the short/intermediate stuff. The Bills have a decent run game and they were still struggling earlier in the season (Balt and Hou games especially) when they had absolutely no outside threat that teams could respect. Can you adjust that to some extent during the season? To some extent, sure, but you need receivers who can beat man quickly in the short/int passing game and who will read the zone defense with the same eyes as the QB and find the soft spots. Were there any of those on the roster with so many receivers in the Body and Fender shop? Don't know.

They had time to do all their evaluations and interviews with players, then they turn to the staff. Maybe the evaluations and post-season interviews turned up some stuff Ryans wasn't aware of or wasn't certain were factual vs. impressions.

I don't watch enough Texans games to know if they actually ran Mixon on every first down on nearly every drive. I can look at stats and say their offense is not "super run heavy". It was predominantly a passing offense last year (57% pass) and the same this year.