dave mcbride

Well, Gronk was, and he was one of the best ever at it. But I get your point. Maybe BB and Ernie Adams thought they were exploiting a market inefficiency or something like that. Or maybe they were still scarred by David Tyree and those Jermaine Kearse catches in the Seattle Super Bowl. And maybe they remember Lee Evans failing to make the contested catch vs. Leigh Bodden in the 2011 AFC championship game.

The thing about Harry is that in terms of measurables, he was regarded as being the best catch-radius guy by far and the sort of player that wins jump balls. But the league is moving away from jump ball guys. The Bills have little interest in them and instead focus on guys who can get separation. The last jump ball investment the Bills made was in Kelvin Benjamin, and look at how that turned out.

Seems to me they actually expanded the option route menu in 2020. But don't take my word for it -- I'll let Beasley himself deliver the words: “It was an option route,” Beasley said. "We’ve worked on that. It was a new add this offseason. We worked on it a lot. I’m glad we finally hit one." https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/analysis-josh-allens-elite-arm-cole-beasleys-savvy-keyed-winning-drive/article_55b7f81e-011b-11eb-9295-9b393d487c9f.html And more, also from 2020: No quarterback’s gotten better faster than Allen. Two plays showed that Sunday. One: Mid-third-quarter, Buffalo ball, third-and-goal from the Rams’ 4-yard line. From Allen’s left, his go-to guy, Stefon Diggs, is singled by the Rams’ best corner, Jalen Ramsey. At the snap, Ramsey appears to gamble that the throw will be a typical throw in this part of the field, a “pylon” throw, to the front or back pylon, so he clings to Diggs. I thought Ramsey would have used the sideline to help him while cutting off the front side of the throw. But Diggs turned in and Allen, under extreme pressure, flicked his wrist, the ball landing right in Diggs’ gut. Allen had a split-second to see—for whatever reason—that Ramsey would be giving up the middle of the field, and Allen, about to get creamed, took it. “An option route, and Stefon won, and I gave him a ball where he could go get it,” Allen said. Bills, 28-3. Two: Late fourth. Rams have come all the way back to lead, 32-28. Third-and-22 at the Buffalo 31. You could feel it slipping away for the Bills, after a big Ram sack and an Allen incompletion. Next play: “Me and Cole [Beasley], we’ve talked about this route many a time,” Allen said. Beasley’s job: find a hole in the defense. https://sports.nbcsports.com/2020/09/28/two-plays-that-prove-josh-allen-has-become-a-great-nfl-qb/ And vs. SF this year, which discusses Beasley's option routes: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2020/12/10/22166642/all-22-analysis-how-the-buffalo-bills-offense-outschemed-the-san-francisco-49ers-josh-allen. And the capper, which isn't about option routes but about how much of a challenge the Bills' scheme presents to opponents: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/film-room/2021/film-room-buffalo-offense

That's why I said "I sort of agree." Regardless, the Cowboys are a way bigger draw than the Bills and it's a comeback game for Prescott. From a business perspective, the Cowboys make a lot more sense than the Bills. The Bills are of course the better team.

Smith had a terrific year in 2001. As did their #1 pick, Richard Seymour, who basically saved the Raiders game for them when he stuffed the Raiders on third down on the Raiders final possession in regulation. More broadly, the idea that the Patriots can't draft well is a massive myth. They have had bad drafts the last 4-5 seasons (we don't know about 2021 yet), but from 2001-2015, the number of good picks is very strong overall: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/draft.htm. As for 2000, his first year there, he drafted Brady. But just look at 2001-2004.

I sort of agree, but prior to Dak's injury last season the Cowboys were on pace to break some offensive records. Prescott was on a pace to throw for 6,000+ yards, which would have shattered the yardage record. They can score. More importantly, they're the Cowboys, the most popular team in the country.

The Bills offense is the opposite of simple. And Beasley runs a ton of option routes! There are articles about it and everything, including a paywalled one from The Athletic. Here’s one from Cover 1: https://www.cover1.net/cole-beasley-option-routes-josh-allens-development-buffalo-bills/. You may want to retract this particular opinion.

You didn’t respond to his post.

C’mon! He lived to be nearly 100. His death isn’t a tragedy. But ... I see why you might feel that way. Speaking for myself, I watched that playoff game when I was a kid and was rooting for the Pats because they were a great Cinderella story that year (the Bills were awful in 1976 — 2-12 — and were out of it early on). I remember the play!

Because of the Sugar Bear Hamilton call in 1976, Dreith wasn’t assigned any Patriots games for 11 years. https://thegruelingtruth.com/football/raiders-fans-tuck-rule-game/

Ben Dreith is responsible for one of the very worst calls in league history — the personal foul called on Sugar Bear Hamilton for a late hit on Stabler on fourth down vs. the Raiders in the 1976 playoffs vs. the Pats. If he doesn’t make that bad call, the Pats get the ball back with less than a minute go, and Grogan and the Pats would have advanced to the AFC championship game. As a close Pats fan friend of mine put it years ago, the tuck rule call vs. the Raiders was “Sugar Bear payback.” Karma is a b**ch.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/sorry-but-nfl-draft-grades-cant-tell-you-who-had-a-good-draft/

Another thing: they signed Sanders, who I expect will be good to very good this season. And literally every year now, the draft is LOADED with wide receiving talent. Next year will I’m sure feature a ton of Elijah Moores too. The passing game is not going to be the issue this season, so fix what needs fixing. There will always be good receivers to take given the nature of elite athlete sorting at the HS and college levels.

His cardinal sin was his coaching hire. Williams was terrible.

Josh Allen makes the 2018 draft an A+ regardless of what happens to the rest of the draftees. He's the most important pick since Kelly.

I certainly hope you're right. I just think Mayfield is better than average and is gradually evolving into the type of player who'll put up an elite season or two over the course of his career. His ceiling is Drew Brees and his floor is Andy Dalton (who has had a better career than many realize: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DaltAn00.htm). Where he ends up will be interesting to watch. Anyway, we shall see.

Aha. It was credited to Allen ...

Excellent points, although I’ll add that the Bills got to play the Jets twice! The Bills played badly in both games (ie, self-inflicted wounds) and were plagued by mistakes, but still won relatively easily. The Jets were that bad.

Wildly disingenuous? Mayfield was actually good last season. He is improving. He is not as good as Allen, but he is good (seriously, check out his advance metrics numbers from last season), and I think the Browns’s roster overall is probably more talented than the Bills. But it’s close, and coaching matters. Both coaches are good, but I’d take the Bills’ management over the Browns. Again, though, it’s tight. Stefanski did a great job last year.

Fisher was better than average. The problem was that when he went down in garbage time vs. the Bills, the house of cards that was the KC o-line collapsed. If he had been healthy for the SB, they would have likely been ok. They didn’t retain him for an obvious reason: his contract is up after this upcoming season, and he won’t be available because of the achilles tear. They didn’t cut him because of performance.

I get that, but the bad route running cost the Chiefs that SB as much as anything. It killed them in the first half.

Re watkins, he is a great, tough route runner, and it was notable to me that reid brought him in (despite the fact that he was injured) late in the SB after pringle and hardiman REPEATEDLY ran wrong routes. Mahomes was visibly furious about their lousy route-running in that game. Sammy at least could run the routes properly. He is a physical beast when healthy, but the leg injuries have really damaged his career. Still, he’s 20 times better than, say, Pringle when fully healthy. The AFC North was a more competitive division than the AFC East last season. They did get 4 games vs the NFC north, granted.

You have a jones for terrible Bills QBs who have the singular memorable comeback! I remember watching that game and yelling at the TV to Antowain Smith to take a knee at the one yard line at end the game. He ran it in for a TD instead, and Harbaugh almost brought them back (missing the 2p conversion). Where were you with EJ’s comeback vs Carolina in 2013 (the one where the Bills benefited from a very shaky PI call vs. Keuchly that put them inside the 10 yard line)? That was pretty clutch.

This is straight up homerism. Cleveland is very good and is a threat. They have had an excellent off season. Allen is better, but Mayfield is good enough to excel with a good team around him. And Cleveland right now is LOADED with talent on both sides of the ball. I expect them to win 11-12 games next year. I hated what the Steelers have done and expect them to be 8-8 next season. That division is going to be a Ravens-Browns dogfight. @Inigo Montoya’s OP is a good one.