dave mcbride

Except this isn't what happened to Bennett if you read the piece above. He's talking about a more general phenomenon.

Incidentally, here is some important context behind Bennett's twitter thread: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/the-second-career-of-martellus-bennett/617256/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

That upper left quadrant says "thank you, Gregg Williams!" More seriously, the Raiders offense was well above average in every category except turnovers (Carr himself had 11 fumbles, which is too many for a guy who only got sacked 4.8 percent of the time and doesn't run much), but their defense was AWFUL. Not only were they terrible in yards and points surrendered, they were 30th in forcing turnovers. They lost a lot of high-scoring games. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/rai/2020.htm People complain about Ed Oliver, but Clelin Ferrell was drafted 4th overall in that same draft as an edge player and his production is minimal.

Who are your three complete busts? Maybin, Manuel, and ... McKelvin? Leodis certainly wasn't worth the pick, but he lasted for a while and started for while. He was a good returner too. I wouldn't call him a complete bust, I guess. Spiller had one genuinely elite season, and Dareus was terrific while playing under his first contract (2011-14). Gilmore won a defensive MVP (not for us, of course), and Watkins remains a pretty good player (who we overpaid for). What you don't mention is that their defense has greatly improved. It was the best in the NFL this season.

Well, there is the matter of that missed kick vs. Philly. They should have won that game.

The Mack deal absolutely worked. He's been great, and in one of those seasons the Bears were one of the 3-4 best teams in the league--in no small part because of his play.

I'd take 5 straight 2-14 seasons if it meant the Bills winning the SB.

My closest friend is a lawyer, and after he finished law school he clerked for a federal judge in LA. One of the other clerks was a woman who swam at Stanford and made the Olympic trials. She got close but didn't make it, and then went to Stanford Law School. My friend told me that for her, everything after the high-level college competition she participated in and the serious attempt to make the Olympic team was uninteresting and a letdown. Again, after all of this she graduated from Stanford Law School and was clerking for a federal judge -- hardly someone who was just sitting around the house moping! It's hard to feel bad for someone like that, but my friend felt (and still feels) bad for her because in his view she'd basically concluded that the true high in her life had already happened and would never be replicated.

Interestingly, that two-year stretch was the worst two year run record-wise for the Dolphins over the course of Marino's entire career (14-18). The Dolphins went 9-10 over the course of that no-sack streak and he threw 33 interceptions in those 19 games. Maybe he should have taken some more sacks!

The entire Rex Ryan system hinged on his presence on the field.

You simply cannot compare qb stats from the 80s with stats today. Always look at the qb+ ratings in PFR, which measures like to like.

Their top pick last year was on a WR. Never, ever forget that.

Buffalo has played meaningful games in January once in the last 16 years (the last time was the Bills-Steelers game in 2004). And the weather in the Indy game was fine. Most Bills games are played in good to decent weather. Regardless, it's a problem given the accuracy his approach requires.

Agreed, but his issue as I see it on deep balls is simply never putting air under it. Look at Matt Barkley -- he throws lollipop deep balls, but if a guy has the defender beat, he's gonna catch it because he will have the time to adjust and track it down. There is no time to adjust to Allen's deep balls, so they have to be really accurate. I was watching some highlights of DeShaun Watson deep balls, and he simply launched it up high and expects his receiver to go get it. He gets a lot of TDs that way. One issue with Allen is that his arm is so goddamn strong that throwing a ball 50 yards with velocity on a low arc is basically effortless for him.

Good point, but yeah, I think you can say that about any running back. I remember when Lynch played for the Bills, there was a stat showing that in his final two seasons he was hit in the backfield or at the LOS at a higher rate than any RB in the league. His ypc suffered and Bills fans thought he wasn't that good, but obviously he was.

My point is that Flacco currently stinks. I know Barkley stinks too.

Well, Kelly did have two pretty massive seasons in the USFL, and there were a lot of good players in that league. He threw for 10,000 yards.

If Brady loses, Jim Kelly will no longer be the only QB with 4 SB losses. Go KC.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that we already have a decent backup on the team: Davis Webb. He has a year in our system too.

Barkley was 80.9 this year.

Flacco is absolutely terrible now and just collecting game checks.

The Bills first drive ended in a long fg and the drive should have ended in an easy interception. They also had to convert a 4th down along the way.

The Panthers couldn’t offer a pretty good qb as part of the deal. The Rams could. The Lions do actually need a decent qb for the 2021 season.

Goff is a MUCH better player than Bridgewater, who is backup-level. A decent backup, but a backup nonetheless.

The injury already had happened by that point. I’m sure the hit was painful, but it didn’t change anything. A torn rotator cuff is a torn rotator cuff. He couldn’t throw the ball 50 yards going into that game.