JohnNord

If what he said was correct, I would imagine that they met some time after last season for an off record conversation. I’m sure there’s a lot Dunne is leaving out. In the past he was denied media credentials. This season, he was credentials once mini camp started. I have to assume Derek Boyko was heavily involved here. I don’t think anything it was anything crazy. Just that they came to an understanding i.e. if he’s publishing a negative piece on the coach, to actually ask McDermott or current employees for comment, as opposed to relying on old accounts from former players and coaches.

What did he say?

You can be negative or positive but either way it won’t change the fact it’s the playoffs and the Bills season could be done. It’s going to be disappointing either way so IMO It’s better to look at things positively.

I listened to the press conference with McDermott. Kind of sounded confident that Cooper would be back but we’ll see.

I was watching him and didn’t think he played that great. He was ok at best, but they weren’t asking him to do a whole lot. There were multiple times when Watt went right around him but Burrow was getting the ball out so fast it didn’t matter. That’s the thing about Burrow, he’s used to playing with bad offensive lines and has leaves to get the ball out on time and to the right receiver.

The only similarity is that the Bills are playing at home against a lower seeded team. The 1996 Bills were 10-6, lost 3 of their 4 games and barely made the playoffs. Also their three best players on offense had seriously declined that season (QB, RB, WR). Tom Coughlin wasn’t really a veteran coach. Jacksonville was his first stop as NFL HC. Also that Jacksonville team was filled with veterans with playoff experience. So while it was their first first playoff appearance as a franchise, plenty of players already had experience. There’s not a lot of similarities other than is Denver wins, it will be a major upset. Didn’t Jeff Burris also return an INT for a TD that bailed them out temporarily? I remember feeling relieved when Todd Collins came into the came in at the end. Then he tried to take a deep shot and got hit as he threw. It was pathetic.

I really love this idea. Lou also knows Baltimore well:

Some of this might be correct. I do think that Lou was able to shine the brightest in the playoffs though. There’s an interesting stat that compares QB performance in the post season along with defensive support. Josh has mostly been great in the postseason but has gotten little support. Joe Burrow is the opposite. He’s been mediocre to good in the playoffs but has been supported by strong defensive support. I think this is a great to Lou’s defense and he always seemed to be a “big time” DC

I wasn’t really surprised. We all knew that he didn’t have great separation and that he’d need to work on his route running. I think an entire offseason will help. My bigger concern is when he’s had a chance to make plays, like last week’s insane throw and scramble from Josh that was wiped away by holding, he doesn’t always finish the catch. Granted these aren’t easy catches but if you’re not going to get separation and are known as a “50/50” guy, you need to make those catches. He probably had 2 of those situations yesterday. Keon is much better when facing zone defense in shorter areas. It does make you wonder whether he ultimately will be best used as a “power slot WR” as many draft analysts believed. Problem is - Buffalo already has a good slot WR that’s likely on the verge of re-signing

I think he did ok. I didn’t noticed any big plays but also didn’t notice any huge mistakes.

That is their dilemma. The rumor is that they might trade JJ. Minnesota loves Darnold and wants him back but also knows they have a rookie QB. Darnold won’t sign a bridge deal when he can be making way more money elsewhere

Hopefully not the Bills! Though I can see that game ending up a lot closer

Gonna play this game again? Miami had a relatively easy schedule down the stretch. They beat a Rams teams that was heavily injured and then lost to the only 2 playoffs teams above .500 before losing to the Jets. And they lost the two games WITH Tua. Miami’s record against winning teams over the past three seasons says it all. Not as glaring as their record versus winning football teams

This is pretty crazy… sounds like Tyreek wants out of Miami 🤣

Not a surprise. But he does deserve some credit for the job he did with Drake Maye Not so sure about that. Vrabel is a good head coach and he runs a good program. He’ll find players that will play hard for him. Plus he’s never really had a franchise QB. Its unknown how Johnson will be as a HC

The narrative of this class has changed. Allen and Jackson had the most question marks pre-draft and ended up as the best out of this class. Baker and Darnold have gone from franchise QB to a QB bust back to franchise QB. And then there’s Josh Rosen who most Bills fans wanted that was a complete and utter bust. Assuming that Darnold sticks in Minnesota, overall this was a really strong QB class

True… all three are top contenders

I know Lions were pissed about this but that is pretty awesome for Vikings fans. I remember hearing that Detroit was the one fan base that didn’t sell many tickets to away team fans

You can make the argument that Rodgers was the worst player on offense for the Jets last week vs. Buffalo

The Dough Boy has been a goner for weeks even if Mayo stayed. When your head coach publicly throws that OC under the bus, it’s never good - just ask Ken Dorsey

I don’t at all buy that Mayo was set up. If he was a temporary hire, they never would have selected a franchise QB at #4. Plus the media reported that Kraft has been supportive of Mayo for weeks. But the press release today was very revealing. The mistake that Bob made was legally making Mayo the successor to Belichick. It was a pretty stupid considering that Mayo not only had zero head coaching experience but also had a limited network for hiring assistants. This season went very poorly - not only on the field - but also in public. Mayo said something stupid every week and seemingly would throw others under the bus publicly. At some point, I think Bob realized he screwed up with this and wanted to cut his losses. I also think they feel the pressure to hire Vrabel or Ben Johnson and wanted an early start. Mayo had a really bad roster but I thinks that due more to incompetence of the front office than having the deck stacked against him.

I’m pretty sure the writing was on the wall and Mayo knew he was done so he wanted to try to go out with a win, especially knowing it was an FU to the owner Why would Saleh want to work for Vrabel? I’m guessing he’d rather be in a situation where he’s have complete control of the defense. San Fran fans are hoping he’ll be the new DC

They’ve won so few games this season that any victory is exciting.

I totally agree. There were people here that were certain Cincinnati were making the playoffs despite the probably firmly cemented at under 10%. Some were convinced that Andy Reid wouldn’t sit the starters due to the Christmas game and bye week - even though team reporters had said that was the plan. Then we we saw the lineup the same people were still concerned that a good Denver team couldn’t beat the Kansas City second team. Man… all that time and energy wasted on stressing about a flawed Bengals team. Now that energy has shifted to Denver after beating up on a team of 2nd and 3rd stringers talent 🤣

He was lucky to draft Maye. But look at the supporting cast he put around him. Easily the worst supporting cast on offense. There never was a plan for his development, he exceeded expectations. New England had a lot of cap space but added no significant players through free agency. Now take a look at the Patriots draft. It’s among one of the worst in the NFL. Everyone knew they needed WR’s. The players they drafted have 100 yards COMBINED this season. Wolf is trainwreck. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/2024_draft.htm Take a look at that roster and tell me he did a good job in a year when he had a lot cap space and resources.