vtnatefootball11

Appreciate all the work done here at TBD by the mods/admins. Question though, are "points" solely just based on the number of posts without reference to the substance of the posts? Any extra points for threads started vs. mere response? Not saying there is an easy way to objectively quantify that, just a curious question from a long time reader, but only very recent poster. Go Bills!

I'm not going to quote them all but there are 7-8 separate posts about not liking the trade or hoping for little more since the first page. Go read the thread. Also, look further down, people are still saying it...

For everyone saying Beane should have gotten more value for the trade, consider Shaq Lawson was just traded for a 6th... Johnson has some upside but he's not as good as Lawson. We would have had to cut him anyways, and teams know this, and we got the HIGHER of Carolina's two 6ths. Good trade getting something out of excess that would have been cut, now let's get a couple more in before cuts tomorrow!

Sorry but I don't really see it, I think its a reach. The Knicks are a storied franchise who only very recently had trouble recruiting star players, Buffalo has never been a destination market. The Bills went to the AFC Championship game, the Knicks made the playoffs in a league were even below average team make the playoffs. Yes, the Knicks are on the rise and I think they have set themselves up nice for the future, but they are without question on the outside looking in when you talk about contending for a championship. There are probably 7-8 other NBA teams that have a significantly better shot at winning it all these next few years. The Knicks lack elite star power. If you did a league wide franchise fantasy draft in the NFL, Allen goes 1 or 2 no question. The Knicks have a few really nice players but nobody that truly scares you. Just don't see much of a parallel, maybe besides fan loyalty during the drought.

I would love to see it as well. That's why I asked for help in the OP, I don't have the subscription!

Very curious to see where the Bills stand here if someone with and ESPN+ subscription can enlighten! Thanks in advance. https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31812492/nfl-future-power-rankings-2021-projections-all-32-teams-next-three-seasons

Wide right and music city forward lateral are hard to argue against. The one that sticks out to me though as epitomizing the entire the Bills fortunes as a franchise is that Terrance McGee kick return against the Saints. It was probably the most impressive return in NFL history, only to fall short of the goal line to end the half with all those blockers around. I just stared at the screen for 20 minutes after, couldn't even move or speak. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiU-raWgu3wAhVKQzABHSX2BqUQwqsBMAB6BAgEEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGlKJc_CLRpc&usg=AOvVaw3GhT9TfxQGS6f53RQb9DaA

Don't need him swoll, need him to shave off a tenth on his 40!!

Fair analysis. I went to Clemson so I am not neutral in this, but even still I am reluctant for Clemson players to end up in Buffalo now in fear they don't work out and it ends up a being a double disappoint for me. It's actually funny because among Clemson fans, nobody wants the top Clemson players to go to Buffalo. They consider Buffalo the place where good Clemson players go to die! Despite this, I would be beyond excited if the Bills were able to get Etienne at 30. Watched him play every game the last 4 years, he is a threat every time he touches the ball, could put our offense over the top. Jury is still out on a lot of Clemson's high draft picks, as many were in the last 2-3 years. You have to remember that they have been really good for 10 years or so but really just started recruiting and competing at an elite level in the last 5 years. A few names I haven't seen mentioned in this thread though; DeAndre Hopkins was a home run pick for Houston, so was Deshaun Watson prior to these shocking legal developments. Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins are doing well with NYG and Dolphins. Tee Higgins looked great for the Bengals last year. Vick Beasley had his moments in the league. McKensie Alexander has been a solid corner for a 2nd rounder, started a number of years in Minnesota. Jury is still out on first round picks AJ Terrell, Mike Williams, Isaiah Simmons, arguably Clelin Ferrel (although he was not worth the 4th pick in the draft). I'm still missing quite a few. There will be a lot more high round draft picks from Clemson in the next few years as well, particularly at QB, RB, WR and Dline.

If a deal gets done this offseason it's going to be much longer than 4 years. I would think Beane and co are shooting for something similar to the Mahomes deal, and would push for 7-10 years. It's the only way to get Allen his worth while spreading it out enough to create needed cap flexibility. The Cowboys deal with Dak looks absurd next to the team friendly/flexible deal the chiefs did with Mahomes. A 4 year deal would be terrible for the Bills from a cap/roster management perspective. I don't think Allen wants that either, he wants to play for the Bills for a long time and he wants them to be competitive roster wise.

Saw this post on the Raven's message board regarding scouting report of the Bills from Raven's fan perspective. Thought it was interesting and worth sharing. I could nitpick a couple things but overall his analysis is tough to disagree with. He made some great points, but hopefully JA transcends all and puts the Bills on his back again this week! "With Moss out the bad running game of the Bills is really bad. Singletary is really only effective when there are holes so job one is to plug those holes up. The Ravens have been very good at doing that this year. The biggest running threat is going to Josh Allen who is very dangerous especially in the red zone. Allen is 3rd on the team in rushing yards and has 8 rushing TDs. Without that other big rushing threat I would use a similar plan that we used against the Titans only keying on Allen as the rusher instead of Henry. This is how other teams have attacked Lamar this year and it works until Gus or Dobbins start going up the middle and blowing up those guys waiting on the edge. Singletary isn't Dobbins or Gus. They will be able to limit those bigs runs by Allen. The Bills are going to be respond by throwing the ball. Allen has 7 games this year with 40+ passing attempts. In 2019 he had just 1. Allen is very comfortable passing and will start throwing down field. The Ravens have the DBs to handle even when blitzing. The Bills in general use a layered system of Diggs and Brown deeper, Davis in the middle depth, Beasley and Knox underneath. Everyone of them can catch and they use the whole width of the field. I think we all saw Allen fit perfect balls on the sideline to Davis at the end of half last week. It was textbook. Don't focus on pushing Allen into tough throws. Instead focus on making the receivers make tough catches. Play tight and hit hard. Diggs had the best season in the league this side of Devante Adams. He's going to make some catches. Make him pay on every single one. 8 catches for under 80 yards would be a big win against Diggs. On the other side of the ball the Ravens just need to continue to do what they do. The Bills allowed 21 rushing touchdowns this year which is 27th in the NFL this year. They are 26th in yards allowed per attempt. Pound the ball in the red zone. They are middle of the road against the pass and rank 9th in both TDs and yards be attempt and 7th in getting interceptions. Running the ball just makes a ton of sense. Both the Ravens and Bills are +4 in turnover margin so both understand the importance of turnovers. Bass has been a really good Kicker in the clutch but no one is on the level of Justin Tucker. The Bills punter has a great leg. Kicking and punting will be about mistakes since both teams are really among the NFL elite in those areas. It should be a good game but I really like this matchup for the Ravens. As good as the Bills have been I really see this as favorable for the Ravens." https://forum.russellstreetreport.com/showthread.php?207004-Keys-to-beating-the-Bills&s=5e4430fa0dd03ad736b8d386a8da5aba

Congrats to you OSU fans. I have to admit I knew this type of outcome was possible but I was very confident Clemson would win in a close one. They beat the crap out of my tigers. Revenge factor was real. Fields was lights out, whole team put it together. Hard game to swallow for me, but I'm sure this won't be the last time these two teams square of. Go win it all and go Bills!

If you look at the actual context of that interview (not the paraphrasing in the tweet), it was in the context of a BIG team actually playing 9 games (8 regular season + conference championship) to the other conferences 11 (10 regular season + conference championship). 9 vs 11 isn't that big of deal, 9 is still substantially whole season. If all teams missed a lot of games (as who knew at that point)and it was only a game or two apart number wise that's okay too. That's what he was saying in context. Of course BIG foolishly started way later than necessary and left no bye weeks (asinine). What he is saying now after the games have been played and we see 6 games vs 9,10, or 11, that isn't fair and the disparity is too great. I don't fully agree with his argument, and agree he is stretching now that to advocate for his team, but don't try and act like he's doing a huge 180 and now he's a fraud or something. He's pissed (as you should be too) that BIG leadership was virtue signaling for political reasons and was recklessly foolish to start late and prevent their teams from getting a full season in. This has nothing to do with OSU, it's not like he's trying to avoid them, Clemson is 3-0 against them in recent years and he respects OSU and Day. It's about the inept BIG and PAC conference "leaders" who don't value football and were trying to make others look bad and almost ruined the college season in the process, which would have been the worse thing possible for these student athletes. Football matters, it impacts communities positively on and off the field (we know this as Bills fans!). Some people hate football and the power it holds and were salivating at the prospect of NFL/CFP being canceled. Sad but true.

Well it's very well documented that Dabo did not rank any BIG or PAC school in the top 10 out of principal. That's very specifically why OSU was #11. He has said repeatedly since the ranks came out when questioned (I believe 3 or 4 separate times) that Ohio State is one of the most talented teams in the country and can easily beat Clemson and win it all, the reason they weren't in his top 4 was PURELY because BIG started late and OSU only played 6 games, and so much can happen over the course of a season in terms of injuries/losing to a bad team, its not fair to the teams that played more games, etc. It's incredibly well documented all his comments on it. Is is subjective/arbitrary? Sure. But he's been consistent and it has nothing to do with how talented OSU is. Here is a quick excerpt from a recent 247 article, he said this December 10 and did not stray through all his rankings... "I think any time you step in between the lines, the game of football, there's a lot that can happen — a lot. I mean, heck — in 2017, we lost to a three-win or four-win Syracuse team and still went to the Playoffs. So anything can happen. Guys can get hurt.... I think the Big Ten had the same opportunity and they chose not to play, and I think the only reason they ended up playing is because of the leadership of the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12, and have demonstrated that we can do it and do it in a safe way. So it's been an unbelievably challenging season, that's for sure, but I think that the committee's going to have some tough, tough, tough questions to answer and things like that, regardless of what they do." Then after OSU got in: “Well, not surprised because that’s what the committee has demonstrated over the past few weeks," Swinney said. "That’s the decision the committee made. Hey, congratulations to those guys. We all know Ohio State is an incredibly talented team. We look forward to a great matchup. We had a heck of a game with them last year and I doubt it’ll be anything different this year. It’s going to be a great, competitive game. Both teams fighting, probably going to come down to a few plays and we’ll be looking forward to it in New Orleans.” https://247sports.com/college/ohio-state/Article/College-Football-Playoff-Ohio-State-Clemson-Ryan-Day-responds-Dabo-Swinney-coaches-poll-ranking-158132718/ With that said, I don't agree with this rankings. OSU is clearly one of the most talented teams, who cares if you have to bend a little for only 6 games to get them in. Why even give OSU a way to twist it into bulletin board material? Incredibly stupid on Dabo's part, but that's who he is, he won't back down from his principals. You can say what you want about his personality and lack of political correctness (admittedly if I wasn't a Clemson alumn it would rub me the wrong way) but he is 100% genuine. I'm sure you have heard the underdog story by now, this is a guy who grew up with nothing, and when he walked on at Bama his dad was in jail, mother had to live in his dorm room and sleep in his bed when because she was homeless, was almost out of coaching was selling real estate for a while before his miraculous rise as interim HC, etc. He's all real and will tell you exactly what he thinks, which is refreshing in a way. and the players and coaches who know him all validate that. Even rival coaches like Saban and Day. Regardless, this is going to be a great game and I hope they meet again in the years to come. All in good fun (and secondary to the Bills of course!) Spot the ball!

Brandon Streeter, the Qb Coach/Passing Game Coordinator will be primary play caller for Clemson (he has previous OC/playcalling experience). He has been waiting in the wings for this opportunity with Tony Elliot's departure long expected. Hate to see it, but this isn't the end of the world for Clemson. Elliot is an excellent coach but probably his biggest weakness (and main reason why he hasn't gotten a big time HC offer) is his playcalling. It has been questioned quite a bit over the years by analysts/non-homer fans. Certainly not a positive for Clemson right before the damn game, but have to wonder if Streeter's tendencies will actually add a few wrinkles that OSU may not have on film.

Yup, and a true playoff team also doesn't lose 31-0 😉. Spin it how you want for fun/bulletin board material, but Dabo didn't rate OSU 11th based on talent. Was merely a shot at the PAC 12 and BIG10 leadership's inept, politically-motivated decision to start late that put their student athletes at a huge disadvantage while trying to make other conferences look bad. How dumb they look now. Not OSU's players/coaches fault at all though, feel bad for them. Last year's game was quite fun to watch, expect nothing less this time around. Clemson looks better as of late but if OSU can put it together, who knows. Love all the fan chatter going into the game though. Both teams are recruiting at insane levels (particularly OSU), and aren't going anywhere. Should be an awesome, physical game.

Of course, but why not wait until the offseason and try? If no takers then fine cut him then.

How the heck did Washington not get anything for this guy??? I understand the he has sucked and has shown red flags off the field recently but you just release him for nothing after spending a first round pick on him not long ago?? I would be pissed if I was a Washington fan. He was a first round quarterback and has good arm talent, some team would take a flyer for late round pic. Did they not try and shop him around? Could they not get like a 5th or something for him? I'm at a loss for words.

Cannot believe the NFL is scheduling games for Saturday during conference championship week. Makes zero sense.

Seems like he meant is it a positive or negative trait that Josh does this. On the one hand, it gives a struggling receiver a chance to get their confidence back. On the other, it might piss off a guy like Diggs (or anyone else consistently catching the ball) to see Davis and Knox to get balls their way in a game where they not come down with multiple catchable balls. I worried about that with G. Davis last night, and found myself saying stop throwing his way. I felt a lot Knox's balls were tough catches. But Davis came down with the touchdown later after not competing well on balls that were catchable earlier so guess it worked out.

Yeah but he has poor speed for the position. He's a great complementary piece but not THE guy. To take our offense to the next level, we a primary back that can impact the game with only 10 carries, and be a threat to take it to the house every time they touch the ball and otherwise catch well.

I will agree with this. Our current running backs are fine as is, we are a pass first team now. However, neither Singletary or Moss has good speed and it does show. If we we had an RB with elite speed that could also catch that would scare the heck out of teams, and probably bring our O the next level. Travis Etienne out of Clemson would be a dream pick late first round.

It was never meant to PROVE anything! You clearly didn't read the entire bottom paragraph of the post which discussed this exact point, which is the impossibility of proving a negative. It doesn't mean there is structural racism, but it also doesn't prove there isn't some unconscious bias. Players of all race get cut early in their careers...

First of all, you don't "prove" propositions. And it wasn't a proposition/suggestion anyway, it was clearly my opinion. Why do I feel more GMs, and particularly coaches, should be black? It's simple, and a matter of common sense. Close to 70% of the NFL player population is black, yet less than 10% of coaches are black. When you have that few black coaches, it's less likely a black coach will be in the stepping stone position to be head coach. You don't have to play professionally to be qualified for HC, sure, but it's a pretty damn important qualification. The numbers don't add up. There are of course several other societal factors outside the bounds of NFL/football that may explain why less black men want to become coaches etc. and help explain the massive disparity, but even still, the numbers shouldn't be THAT far off. Now can I prove the reason more black coaches aren't hired is because they are black? Of course not! It's impossible to prove a negative. For example, RyanC883, can you prove you didn't murder or have someone arranged to be murdered last night? (I'm sure you didn't btw) but it would be impossible for you to PROVE that. Doesn't make it any less true. I don't think the NFL or people hiring are systematically excluding anyone, our even consciously racist, it's a matter of implicit bias, perceived notions, less of a pool, etc. That's why a little nudge to develop these black coaches at the lower levels can't hurt and hopefully provide a greater pool of black candidates. Mandating the hire of a minority as you suggested is idiotic and completely misses the boat on the initiative and what I said in my post (which was actually critical of the new rule). Giving two 3rd rounders to only the developing team is silly and will deter hiring (on merit!) of minority candidates from divisions or even amongst good teams. It will also be exploited without question. But your post misses the boat entirely, and adds nothing worthy to the conversation.

Yeah but that misses the root of the issue, that they aren't enough minorities in stepping stone positions to even be looked at as HC/GM candidates. That's what this initiative is aimed at. By awarding two 3rd rounders to teams that "develop" black candidates, the hope is teams will start hiring them more and more in the stepping stone positions (ie. coordinators and assistant GMs). That's why you can't just award the team that hires the coach, it would happen too infrequently and be ineffective. I agree the rule is idiotic the way it is by only awarding the development team though, as teams would then almost never hire a black gm/hc if it will give a division or conference rival two 3rd rounders. That's why I suggested one 3rd rounder to each team.