Sierra Foothills

Is this according to "The Thigh Doctor?" Except the Bills didn't make the playoffs over that stretch whereas the Cowboys usually do.

My boss hasn't been laughing at my jokes lately... I know he was just demoted from OC but there's been persistent rumors that GM Aaron Rodgers will be hiring Nathaniel Hackett as the new Head Coach. Of the 8 Head Coaches that Jerry Jones has hired, he's only fired one during the season. If Jones no longer wants someone coaching his team he doesn't extend their contracts. McCarthy's contract expires after this season. He'll be replaced... this offseason.

I'm in the group that doesn't believe making officials full-time will improve officiating. I actually don't think the zebras are the problem with NFL officiating. Every NFL official is graded after every game. Good officials are rewarded with post-season assignments. Poor officials are terminated. There is accountability as it pertains to the actual zebras. To your first comment, I disagree with those that say it's the preponderance of cameras and social media scrutiny that makes it seem like officiating is poor. Officiating is poor and it's affecting the product and people's enjoyment of the product. Many people are talking about unwatchable games. Several posters in this topic have advocated for fewer cameras but as you know, it's not gonna happen. I think the NFL should double down and require pylon cams for every game (they only do some games). I also believe that a ball tracking chip, when synced with the video (to monitor forward progress) would be a useful way to determine whether the plane has been broken. I agree that there are some rules that should be simplified but I strongly disagree with the bolded. That would be great but unfortunately he's no longer with us here on earth. IMO most serious NFL fans believe that the officiating is broken and is adversely affecting the product. I agree with your post 100%. What happened to Burrow's facemask should not be roughing IMO. Also re the non-call on Gesicki 1) He's "The Boy that cried Wolf"... as usual he was complaining when he should have been playing 2) There were two defenders in press coverage in his face... there's zero chance he was going to get a free release and pre-snap, there was no way Burrow was even considering throwing him the ball. Again inconsequential to the play. The best major rule change the NFL could make is one that Bill Belichick made years ago: Everything should be challengable. That includes penalties which are currently not challengable.

If nothing else, with Virgil and Hamler dressing the Bills will have more speed at WR than they've had in a pretty long time.

There's a clear pattern of opinions on this topic (as in almost all the topics). So far Bishop's played 133 of 571 defensive snaps which is 23% but since his disastrous start in week 5 he's only played 4 defensive snaps in 4 weeks. The crux is how to get Bishop live game action to accelerate his development. Most everyone would like to see him get more snaps in the name of development and being game ready if an injury were to happen to one of the starters. The problem as everyone knows is trust from the coaching staff. Consider that even with a "comfortable lead" most teams will keep their starters in. Say that the Bills are leading by 15 points late in the 3rd quarter... is that an appropriate time to get some of the reserves more snaps? Probably not because if they make a mistake which costs the team a TD suddenly the opponent is down 8 points (technically a one score game) and has some momentum... they've gone from likely losing the game to feeling like they have a chance to win. As we saw again in the Bengals-Ravens, games swing on one play all the time. THIS is why it's hard to get Bishop (and others) more meaningful reps. Coaches are simply not willing to give young players PT if doing so increases the chances of losing a game.

The NFL instituted the "slide rule" in 1985 which protected QBs that were running. Jimbo played from 1986 till 1996 so that protection was already in place. Do I think Josh would run as much if he played during the Kelly era? Maybe not because QBs simply did not run the ball as much back then. It had not yet become part of the game. But if he did he would have been able to slide to avoid taking excessive hits. To your point about the difference in eras, the bigger rule change came in 2018 with the addition of the "body weight" provision to roughing the passer. That was Josh's first year so he has been the beneficiary of that rule change. Perhaps Jimbo's greatest asset was his toughness but IMO Josh takes a back seat to no QB in that category. Josh's best comparable in terms of size is Ben Roethlisberger who like Josh is 6'5" and 240 lbs. Big Ben played 17 years in the NFL. Interesting point and one that could be viewed a few different ways: Jimbo was 101-59 in the regular season for a 63.125% winning percentage. He was 9-8 in the playoffs (52.94%) and 110-67 combined (62.15%). Josh is 70-32 in the regular seasons for a 68.63% winning percentage. He is 5-5 in the playoffs (50.00%) and 75-37 combined (66.96%). So this is just another way of comparing the two.

Incorrect. I don't meaan to sharpshoot you but Edmunds doesn't turn 19 years old until May 2nd.

One big factor in the comparison that hasn't been mentioned is the caliber of players each QB was surrounded with. Jimbo played with HOFers Hull, Thurman, Reed, Lofton, Bruce... and many All-Pro and Pro Bowl caliber players. Josh on the other hand has not played with any HOF caliber players and many fewer All-Pro and Pro Bowl caliber players. So as far as supporting cast it's not even close... Jimbo was surrounded with WAY more talent.

This from The Athletic: "While the Bills offense may be a bit shorthanded, the defense will have to contend with a Colts offensive line that can win with physicality, and one of the most talented running backs in the league in Jonathan Taylor. The Colts have a talented offensive line that plays well together, and excellent left tackle Bernhard Raimann appears to be on track to play after missing last week with a concussion. As they failed to do last week at the line of scrimmage, the Bills defensive line has to win that battle far more often this week to deal with this collective group."

PFT: "The Patriots claimed Ngakoue on waivers, after he was waived by the Ravens. Baltimore signed him to the active roster on October 15, after signing him to the practice squad on September 23. Before that, he was free to sign with any team, at any time. If the Ravens had released Ngakoue before the trade deadline, he would have been a free agent all over again. After the trade deadline, all players who are cut — regardless of experience — must go through waivers. And they must go to the team that claims them (if they want to keep playing). It’s unclear why the Ravens didn’t cut him before the deadline. He would have been entitled to termination pay, if the Ravens had simply cut him. By waiving him, the Patriots assumed responsibility for the balance of his prorated contract for the veteran minimum of $1.21 million. The Patriots become Ngakoue’s seventh NFL team. The 2016 fourth-round pick played for the Jaguars, Vikings, Raiders, Colts, and Bears. He now has two stints in Baltimore."

Well let me ask you this then... if the Madubuike facemask was a penalty, was it a 5 yarder or a 15 yarder?

Even without Pittman the Colts have some interesting pieces in the passing game. Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, Mo Ali-Cox... Adonai Mitchell should see more playing time... Yes, it definitely is a trap game... (runs around the corner and hides)

The problem is that the NFL has a regular season MVP and a Super Bowl MVP BUT... they have no playoff MVP. In fact among the major North American sports leagues I think only the NHL (the Conn Smythe Trophy) has a playoff MVP. Related to that, the NHL does not have an exclusively Finals MVP whereas the other sports do. That's part of the problem in the NFL MVP debate. To the bolded, I don't agree. IMO the NFL has a problem deciding whether officiating is guided by the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. If you're officiating by the letter of the law then yes, the facemask on Burrow is an infraction. If you're officiating by the spirit of the law (personal foul, ensuring player safety, intent to injure) then it becomes a matter of degree and it might not be a foul. Also I think a fair case can be made that the Madubuike facemask was inadvertent and therefore not malicious... that there was no intent to injure. I believe the NFL's officiating crisis is actually pretty complex and involves discussions that are not usually found on message boards like this. For example, the whole debate about whether the NFL should enforce infractions away from the play is a pretty deep discussion. Then there's the related but slightly different discussion of infractions which have no effect on the outcome of the play.

This is just like those posts saying that Von Miller is washed and has no value to the Bills. Lots of people want to judge the person and the player as one and the same. Anyone who's watched Mixon play this year knows that he's still a tough, hard-nosed, dependable runner who gets the most out of a play. The Texans have leaned heavily on him this year with all their injuries at WR and Mixon's played very well for them... with 6 TDs and averaging almost 5 YPC. Like pretty much everything in America, "giving flowers" is a dumbed down bastardization of an earlier phrase "tossing bouquets." Regarding the NFL MVP, in 7 of the last 10 years the award has gone to the QB of the team with the most regular season wins. Twice it went to the QB with the second-most wins (Mahomes in 2018 and Rodgers in 2020). In 2016 it went to Matt Ryan who had the 4th most wins. IMO Josh was the most deserving player last year. Despite the turnovers his total touchdowns dwarfed everyone else's and he carried his team more than any other team... but the Bills had 11 wins to 13 for the Ravens. The voting should be very interesting this year.

Well that 2 game sample size tells a partial story. I'm not gonna bother crunching the numbers but I'm thinking the Colts rush D stats are better in the 4 games Buckner played than in the 5 that he didn't.

Your comments have zero to do with the Cinci-induced PTSD from the 2022 Divisional Round Game. When we lost to them in the playoffs, they ran the ball down our throats with Joe Mixon. That team doesn't exist anymore. Furthermore their defense isn't half as good as it was then (when their DC was being mentioned for Head Coaching positions). Finally we do really well against Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle... I'm not afraid that Cinci's gonna light us up through the air. In 2 career games against us, Chase hasn't done anything. I'd much rather face Cinci in the playoffs than the Ravens and that's what the discussion was about. People keep saying Cinci's a bad matchup for us... I fail to see that argument.

DeForest Buckner who is one of the best DTs in the league missed 5 straight games and has returned for the last two. I believe if you looked at the stats you would see that his return has made a big difference in their run defense. Just a guess.

I agree with you. Lots of posters here have more Cinci-induced PTSD than does Damar Hamlin. Cinci can't run the ball anymore and their best back is a finesse back. As we were reminded in week 5, Joe Mixon isn't with the Bengals anymore. They're a poor running team. AND, their defense isn't as good as it was when they beat us in 2022.

on 2nd down.

The play is not to score the TD.

It would be interesting if the Bengals ran out of time and lost due to Chase's elongated TD taunt.

As we've all seen many times, a turnover can completely change the course of a game but wow... it's like 2 different ball games.

Burrow's an excellent QB but he has zero physicality. Look how easily he's sacked. Both he and Lamar are finesse QBs. Yes Lamar was brilliant on that scramble but it's hard to believe that he couldn't simply push his way into the end zone on the back of his blocker. The 2 of them together can't generate half the force that Josh can with his left thigh.

To add to what @NewEra has said, of Hollins' 12 receptions, 10 of them have been for 1st downs. That includes a clutch catch for a 1st down at the end of the 1st half against Miami that ended in a field goal, and another clutch catch for a 1st down on the game-winning drive.

Careful, you might dislocate your tongue.