dave mcbride

Not last season.

Ross is a bad owner. That explains it, I think.

Ha.

Wow.

The Bills’ D finished the season number one in points allowed - surpassing the Pats - by a little and in yards allowed by a LOT.

That was just inexcusable.

No. Just no. The weather was awful, and the opponent couldn’t handle it at all. Always factor in the broader context — that is, how the conditions affect the opponent too. The Bills had literally 8 times the number of yards as the Jets. Think about that.

Weather matters. The Jets had 5 pass passing yards total and 53 overall.

I honestly think Louis Riddick is the most insightful color guy on the air right now (in terms of breaking down plays). And he’s not as full of himself (to the point of doing nepotistic hires) as Collinsworth. Finally, he has a good delivery.

You’re banking a lot on the idea that football players make business decisions based on domes and weather. I find that implausible. Players want to win, they want to start, and they want to get paid. That’s pretty much it. Also, when it comes to free agency, no team is dumb enough to base payment decisions on raw stats. The Pats, Jets, Giants, Browns, and Packers have had no problem attracting and competing for free agents in recent years. I am pretty sure you have no evidence for this supposition, yet you bring it up a lot.

Wilkerson was awesome - right up until he got paid.

Between 2009 and 2019, the Jets spent five first round picks on d-linemen.

Absolutely terrible secondary. You can't win with that sort of secondary no matter how good the front seven. It's really the secondary. Opposing teams have a passer rating of 104.7 against them.

The thing is, Flutie played really well in 2000 (in the five games he started). For all of his flaws, they were an 11 win team with him in there. Johnson was horrible that season. Flutie's numbers were better than what it seems given that he put up bad numbers in the two Dolphins games after they were out of hand and he went in to replace Johnson, who had been sacked out of both games. Take away those two garbage time outings, and he had a rating of 92.8, which in 2000 was really good. RJ was sacked at a 13.8 percent rate that year (49 times on only 355 dropbacks!!), which is just unacceptable (Flutie was 4.1 percent). I do think the STs cost them too -- they were really that bad -- but if I had to pick one thing, I'd say it was the sack-taking by Johnson. It killed so many drives. Again, 49 times on 355 dropbacks. That was a nightmare to watch.

Their cooking section is incredible. The best around, and it ain't close.

As a close reader of the Times for decades, their sports section is both bad and very politically oriented (to be sure, they do have a couple of excellent writers like Tyler Kepner on baseball). For years, they led the “war on football” (they published the first concussion stories), but they seem to have given that up in the last couple of years given the sport’s continuing resounding popularity (i.e., they seem to know they lost the “war”). They also treat sports that very few in the US care about -- the premier league, the WNBA, etc. — as the equals of major US sports. They treat soccer in particular as somehow major, as if they possess the power to push Americans to embrace the world’s true global sport. It’s kind of laughable. It’s all quite political and fairly obvious too. That said, the paper’s reporting on politics, its international coverage (especially), its coverage of culture, the economy, etc. remains second to none when viewed as a totality.

Please take it over to PPP so I never have to look at this thread again!

I have subscribed to the NY Times and have for 30+ years. I would never subscribe to the Athletic. If this means I get free Athletic content, excellent.

Originally the Boston Patriots for the first 11 years. They left Harvard Stadium in 1970 for Foxborough ... I guess it's too far to be called Boston. It's actually closer to Providence.

I dunno, it seems kinda planned. The sideburns are slightly gray and the hair is the same as always (because of hair plugs and coloring). None of this is natural. But the sideburn grayness is definitely planned.

Well, he’s having one of the best seasons of his career statistically, so I’m not sure what you mean.

The end of college football as we know it is probably the best sports news in the last 20 years.

Brown has played hurt a LOT over the course of his career. Don’t assume Arians is some white knight here regardless of Brown’s history. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/05/antonio-brown-bruce-arians-pressured-me-to-play-while-injured/

Totally. KC is supremely battle tested in the playoffs.

Are the Jets going to tank? Obviously, they should, but whether they will or not is an open question. Jets: 4-12 Houston: 4-12 Giants: 4-12 Carolina: 5-11 Presently, the Jets are slated for 4th overall, but if they win and everyone else loses I think they drop to 6th. If they lose, they stay at 4 with the slight possibility of moving up (the Giants could conceivably beat Washington, who also should strive to lose). They already have the seventh pick (from Seattle). If I'm the Jets, I'm treating the 2022 draft as a bonanza and ensuring that the Giants aren't ahead in the draft order (the Giants currently have the #5 and #8 pick). I know, I know - coaches always try to win. But it's dumb in this instance. This season is a lost cause.