dave mcbride

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.

Note the attendance. I remember this game; the weather was absolutely brutal and the Bills benched their starters. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199512240buf.htm. Those are some dismal attendance numbers for a division winner 23 months removed from a SB appearance. It must have been down to 15,000 by the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Well, Diggs is on my fantasy team, so I have a rooting interest for him to get to 100 receptions.

One thing to factor in is the lack of deep ball success this season -- those plays where the QB hits someone over the top and they then run 40 yards for the score. Lots of overthrows this season, partly but not entirely due to weather. He hit more of those last season even though he still struggled with accuracy on those throws overall.

NFL records should be per-game based, with the total always being a full season. For instance, in no way shape or form should Eric Dickerson hold the season rushing record; OJ had 2,003 in 14 games and averaged nearly 150 ypg. With two more games, he would have reached close to 2,300. He certainly would have passed 2,105. Now if Watt gets, say, 5 sacks in the final game, then he deserves the records given that he'll have won on the per-game-basis measure. Diggs is genuinely underpaid relative to his production and positional importance, so I'm assuming Beane and McDermott are fine with him getting to 100.

Browns-Bills in 2007 was in Cleveland.

Yeah, he worked out so well in TN and Miami.

Do you actually know any Bears fans from Chicago? I do.

Yeah, when announcing he has mentioned a couple of times loving going to watch his brother play at Rich Stadium.

Yeah, true. I'm more unhappy about the Monday slot.

I was responding to your first post. You addressed it after it was pointed out that he had more experience than just being a scout. Regardless, I've got nothing against Riddick, and his brother was a solid Bill who spent his whole career with the team.

I'm talking about fan perceptions of team identity and glory eras. For the Bears, it's about defense literally going back to Papa Bear: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/1963.htm. You're thinking far too rationally about this. No really good Bears team in the past 75 years was good because of the offense. You'd have to go back to the Monsters of the Midway for that, and that team's defense was good too.

One of those home losses was to the Jets at the end of 2019 season, where Allen played three plays. If that game had mattered, they would have destroyed the Jets.

You literally said he was a scout and that's it. Now you're shifting the goal posts and avoiding addressing what I was actually responding to -- your statement that he was a scout and a scout alone. Just own up that you were wrong. it's OK. And anyway, I said he was average. 56-56 is the very definition of average. Also, what is "the lowest team scout"? Can you define that? Also, he was fired by the cretinous Vinny Cerrato in Washington, which is ... never a black mark in my book.

In my view, the Bills opted for a "hide our scheme diversity" approach to that game and played very, very vanilla all game. They figured they could win on talent alone. Allen tried to push it down the field all day and didn't take easy first down throws. The offensive line was a mess that day because Spencer Brown was out and Cody Ford came in. He was bad. So was Daryl Williams, who moved out to RT. And there were a dozen penalties. They clearly were looking past a team that hadn't won a game in nearly 20 tries.

You are misremembering: https://www.buffalobills.com/video/josh-allen-with-a-14-yard-touchdown-pass-to-gabriel-davis-bills-vs-patriots. He just bolts down unengaged the field and doesn't get called for it.

When the Bears have been good, it's never been about the offense. They were an elite team in 2018 because of their defense and lost in the playoffs on a doinked FG. In 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2012 -- all good-to-excellent seasons -- the D carried them. And obviously that goes for the period from 1984-1991, when their defense utterly dominated. Don't write off those 1980s years; those form the bedrock of Bears fandom now, much like the Kelly era in Buffalo. They are legendary among Bears fans to this day.

He was director of pro personnel for Washington from 2001-07. They made the playoffs twice in those years. He was director of pro personnel in Philly from 2010-2013. They made the playoffs twice in those four years. Four playoff appearances in 11 years isn't horrible. It's average given that 32 percent of teams made the playoffs in those years (and the Bills made it precisely zero times in this time frame). And it's a lot of experience. And I am responding to this comment from you: "What in the pickles tarnation does he know about being a GM? I mean, I guess he was a scout for a short time, like 10 years ago." That's not accurate.

I dunno ... Monday Night games just suck in general. I never make it past halftime at best unless the Bills are playing, and I always regret that. The whole idea of Monday night playoff football blows.

I can't imagine they'll slot Buffalo in a Monday night slot in the middle of January. The temp that night is supposed to be 17 degrees and moderately windy. That's just cruel to everyone involved.

He's a legit candidate based on his experience.

https://www.clnsmedia.com/lazar-patriots-currently-have-the-least-explosive-passing-attack-in-afc-playoffs/ It's projected right now that there will be a high of 27 on the 15th and 23 on the 16th, with cloudy skies and snow showers both days. The wind doesn't like it'll be awful, but that can change. Williams did the exact same thing in the first NE/Bills game and didn't get flagged for it; it was on the TD pass to Davis and a blatant illegal-man-downfield penalty. They were looking for it this time because I'm sure BB told them to look for it, and Williams gift-wrapped the penalty to them. All his fault. No excuses.

The call on Williams was the right call though. Can't say that was a bad call.

Allen played terribly in the Jags game, refusing easy passing plays all game long. It might have been his worst game as a Bill considering the competition. Yes, the line was bad, but that was partly because Allen was looking downfield all game.

Think about the Bears' fan base though: the Bears have for decades been a defense-first team, and a former excellent Bears player on one of the greatest defenses of all time who just DC'ed the number one yardage and #2 points allowed unit in the NFL (the 2021 Bills) would seem to me be a relatively easy sell. Interestingly, after a great 1985 season, his career ended because of a major knee suffered while returning a punt in that 46-10 rout of the Pats in the Super Bowl. He never played again.