dave mcbride

That's a fair point. I was simply referring to his track record of success. Regarding Miami, they did have winning seasons the last two years, and they've occasionally made the playoffs in the last two decades. However, they're never upper echelon and haven't won a playoff game since 2000. Regarding expectations, I don't know. There aren't many Tua believers out there, which puts a damper on expectations.

He has turned things around everywhere he has gone: U of San Diego, Stanford (1-11 the year before he got there and 12-1 four years later), SF, and Michigan (5-7 the year before he got there, and he went 59-19 there not including the covid 2020 season when half the team didn't play). The track record is good.

Way too many people are forgetting what he did at Stanford. He took over a weak program and within 4 seasons got them to 12-1 and won a blowout in the Orange Bowl (against Tyrod Taylor, actually). He was an incredible coach at the University of San Diego (D2) as well, taking over a moribund program and going 11-1 in both of his final two years there. Finally, it’s as if people don’t realize he was good at Michigan. Excluding the covid season, he went 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 10-3, 9-4, and 12-2 (59-19 overall). Yes, he lost to Ohio State, but that was a function of talent. Ohio State has more than anyone else outside of Alabama.

Peter King interviews Sean Payton: ‘Situational football: Buffalo up three on Kansas City with 13 seconds left and kicking off “A lot of it depends on my kicker. If I’ve got a young kicker I’m not sure I can trust, I will not squib kick. You can’t risk the kick going out of bounds, or being recovered at the 40. I also don’t like trying a pop-up kick to land at the eight- or 10-yard line. I’m not asking a kicker to use a technique, seldom-used, to place a kick somewhere that might determine whether you go to the championship game. I’m probably just kicking the ball deep into the end zone and giving them the ball at the 25, like Buffalo did. “The crime that is committed comes after that. We are playing football still—you can’t be defending the sidelines at all costs, like Buffalo was. You see when Travis Kelce catches that long pass to put them in field-goal range, a cornerback is defending an area of the field near the sidelines he doesn’t need to defend. Kansas City’s got two timeouts left—they don’t need to get out of bounds. Everything about what Buffalo did defensively is flawed. We would play outside man technique with a three-man rush, funneling balls to the middle of the field and contesting outside technique.”’ https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/31/rams-bengals-super-bowl-nfl-fmia-peter-king/

He also "died well," as they say -- that comeback vs the Rams was pretty epic.

The Bills not being in the championship game has literally zero to do with YAC given the offensive performance the last couple of games. They should be in the game but choked on defense.

I've actually been thinking the same.

Home field in that game meant something -- the Texans weren't called for one penalty that wasn't pre-snap. And they held all game.

He's available given that he was a second rounder. Plus he's a Panther ... PS - He definitely played with White at LSU. He came out one year after him.

Disagree about Houston. Allen threw three passes that should have been easy picks but were dropped. He did not play well and the Bills were lucky to get to OT.

This is a great post. I agree that this defense needs that CB who can play press and coverage. Otherwise, when you're up against a team like KC, Mahomes and co. will bleed you to death on crossers and the like. Which is what happened. Not having Tre was huge, although of course losing Honey Badger was huge for KC. Their pass D was a sieve without him.

??? You have to subscribe to read it in the first place. I actually read it (a friend emailed me the full text) and it's pretty interesting. They talk to a lot of people at all levels about the three QBs.

Denver went out and got good corners this past offseason and their D gave KC a ton of trouble. I'm down with a CB at 25 IF of course it's a player they believe and have a high grade on. If they're tied at WR and CB in their evaluation for BPA, I'm taking CB.

They're all good. The thing about Herbert is that he was elite from the get-go. Burrow is really, really good too. It's nice to have four elite QBs in the AFC. One comment: Allen was shaky in year one, but his skill set was still visible. He was also a LOT better in year two than his qb rating shows. Herbert was great in year one. Mahomes was great from the first game he played (finale of his rookie season). And Burrow was very good in year one. With regard to last year's picks, I'd say that Lawrence was shaky but also that his skill set was very visible. He's going to be a good QB. Zach Wilson ... looks like he might not pan out. He had a couple of decent outings, but a lot of terrible ones. Davis Mills may end up being very good; he played extremely well down the stretch. Anyway, for the near-term future, I think those four (Allen, Burrow, Mahomes, and Herbert) will dominate, with Lamar Jackson being a wild card. I don't know what the future holds for Jackson, but he has obviously proven he can play at an elite level. This season was rough for him not just because of his own injuries, but because he was dealing with street FAs at the RB position all season. Under normal circumstances, I expect him to be good enough to compete regularly with Burrow. I also think Mayfield is better than what he showed this season because of the injury. That gives you basically six teams plus some combo of the Colts/Browns/Jags (because of Lawrence) fighting for the last spot in the playoffs. It's not clickbait if you have to pay for a subscription.

Always injured though. That's the sort of thing you can't account for.

I will say this, Zero -- if the Bills had won that game, a lot of critics would have targeted KC's terrible CB play in that game. The final TD to Davis was ridiculous -- no WR who is having that kind of game should be able to exploit a seam that's parted like the Red Sea in a must-pass and must-score situation. The CBs just about cost them that game. Mahomes, Hill, and Kelce baled them out.

From Draft Scout re: Hill: Data Scout Notes: 2015: AFCA-AP...4* Oklahoma State Transfer...Aug 2015-Pleaded Guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation...2014: 12-12-14 - Dismissed from Oklahoma State...12-11-14 - Off-Field/Charged with felony domestic abuse/DS #9 Jr WR/KR...ONewcomerOYC/2ndC-KR-AP/HMC-STPOY/1stM-AP...PNewcomerOYM/2014 4* JUCO/Top JUCO Speed ATH/PNewcomerOYM Hill had strangulation charges and was kicked out of Oklahoma State. There's a reason why teams shied away from him.

Goodwin is still in the league. In a reserve role with the Bears, he's still averaging 16 ypr (20 receptions this season). The same reason AB was a sixth round pick. Character questions. The concerns for both were valid.

Stevenson's 3-cone # is amazing. I look forward to watching him become a player. He looked absolutely blazing in college at WR.

I know I'll take heat from some, but I'll take my chances on an excellent interior lineman and an excellent WR being available in rounds 2-3. I am not confident a good CB will be there, and if there is a talented CB available who they believe in for their scheme, then that's the way I'd go.

Yes. The Bills are in good shape roster-wise. They need a corner upgrade, but the defensive roster is very good overall.

A general comment: yes, there is going to be some turnover on D, but the Bills defense was very, very good this season. And yes, they beat up on some bad teams, but all good teams beat up on bad teams. And their schedule wasn't inordinately easy either - of their 17 games, they played 9 teams with winning records. I mean, every good defense had some defensive clunkers this season. The Colts were torched by JACKSONVILLE in a must-win game. The Steelers were torched by Mahomes twice in a couple of weeks. The Broncos - which have an excellent D - were torched by Vegas, Pitt, and Philly. The Rams were torched multiple times (GB, AZ, SF). TB was torched by numerous teams too. The second ranked defense, the Pats, actually played a playoff game in which their opponent scored a TD on every drive! I could go on. Sometimes I think that people here don't actually watch other teams. Anyway, the Bills are in a good position on D and I'd be happy if Frazier remains.

Good, informative piece. You can convert it to bonus and spread it out. It's not hard.

The Chiefs have struggled in Super Bowls played on the opponent's home turf ... I think they may actually blow them out.

If Rodgers isn't in GB, that division is open for the taking. It's bad, although I'd say the Vikings would be a moderate favorite. Let's see what happens with Rodgers first.