dave mcbride

Tell that to the refs who apply the PI rules.

Good thoughts. I agree with this thinking. Doubt it'll happen, however, for a simple reason - they are still a premier team and will have another chance next year. I can't imagine Payton is worried about the successor to Brees because he probably won't be that successor's coach by the time he's good enough to win it all (if that ever happens). Kamara is too important to that offense *next year* for them to start ditching proven talent for picks. Trent Murphy was a lot better this season than people give him credit for. He was very disruptive all season and had 4 sacks in the final two games (including the Houston game, in which he played EXTREMELY well). He is a lot better than a lot of the FA DE talent that'll be available, is a well liked process guy, and knows the system.

The league REALLY wants teams to NOT return kicks, but they can't eliminate the play entirely the way they revised the rules in 2018. If it's fielded outside the end zone and on the field of play, so be it, but the goal is to radically reduce the return rate. You seem to really want to litigate this and win on some sort of technicality, but there's a concept in law called the rule of reason, and even though it's specifically tied to antitrust law, it applies here. He had no intention of returning it, it was kicked deep in the end zone, he signaled that he wasn't going to return it, and he gave the ball to the ref. No one outside of the craziest of Buffalo fans thinks that the league screwed up here. The person who screwed up was the over-officious ref who didn't adhere to the spirit of the law. To illustrate my first point, there's this: "We're all concerned about the safety of the game,” said Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee. ... Murphy called the kickoff “by far the most dangerous play in the game.” The injury data shows, he said, that players are five times more likely to suffer a concussion on a kickoff than on a play from the line of scrimmage. According to McKay, there were 71 concussions suffered by players on kickoffs over the past three seasons. League leaders have said they will consider eliminating kickoffs from the sport if the play cannot be made safer. Murphy said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the proposed changes. Asked whether it’s possible to make the kickoff safe enough to avoid eliminating it, he said: “Time will tell. But I think so. You’ve got a lot of smart people here that coached a lot of football. I think they realize that this is a dangerous play.” But the changes must have an immediate effect, he said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2018/05/02/the-nfl-is-going-to-change-its-kickoff-rules-to-try-to-keep-the-play-in-the-game/ No link, of course. It's from memory. Man, you guys are laughably litigious about this.

2nd in points allowed, 5th in yards allowed, and 4th in turnovers forced in 2010; 7th in points allowed, 2nd in yards allowed, and 1st in turnovers forced in 2009.

No one did anything. That is, I saw a guy catch it, not take a knee, look at the official or some such, jog off, and then it was done.

Hughes had an absolutely phenomenal game. Any criticism of him for this game is completely unwarranted.

See #10, which is infamous in Philly: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/85694-the-10-worst-moments-in-philadelphia-eagles-history-since-1968. It’s the most famous alligator arm episode in NFL history. That’s not what duke did.

Yeah, should have caught it. It just wasn’t a stevie johnson “i praise you 24-7 and this is what i get?” situation..

Disagree. Wentz was awesome in 2017 and the best qb in the nfl the last 4 weeks. He is literally playing with street free agents and producing at a high level. Clowney deserved an ejection there. That was awful.

On a different topic, for the first time since 2004, none of the slew of great Probable-HOF qbs drafted between 2000-04 (brees, brady, manning, rivers, roethlisberger) have made the divisional round. A changing of the guard is happening.

they had their chances. The fumble by Brees on their second last possession was huge.

Houston was playing cover 2 on both of those and he was blanketed. Allen just threw it away both times because it wasn’t there and he needed to avoid the sack.

He got it. It was close, but officials tend to spot it on the hash line if it’s really close, especially if the clock is ticking and they don’t want to delay the game.

To be fair, two of those three were obvious throwaways and really shouldn’t be part of the talley.

The first down given to Beasley was unquestionably and obviously correct. In the NFL, if you go down, you can get back up and continue forward progress unless you are touched while down. His knee went down, and he went airborne before being touched. It was as clear as day to everyone who knows nfl rules except the two numbskulls announcing the game for ESPN.

Do you understand NFL rules? If you go down but are not touched, you are free to get back up and continue forward progress. His knee went down, and then he went airborne before he was touched. It is an open and shut case and the only people who didn’t understand this were the two morons announcing the game for ESPN.

Houston has been terrible against slot receivers all season. That is questionable game planning.

Huh? He clearly got the first down there.

Indeed, that was freaking obvious. It was as if they couldn’t apply the basic idea of a runner going down but getting up and running again because he was untouched to that particular situation.

Oh yeah — completely agree about home field.

That is a good question. I think the hands to the face rule called against Ford was terrible because it happens all of the time in the o-line/d-line scrum. It has to be a clear grab, head slap, or neck push. He did none of that. It cost the Bills a possession. PI rules are INCREDIBLY flexible. i just think the intent on this was so completely clear, and given the league’s stated intent to reduce kick returns given that they are by far and away the most dangerous plays in the game, you use your freaking brain and call that a touchback.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MikePereira/status/1213640136120053761

To be fair, the Bills failed. If Morse makes a block on the qb sweep, if they don’t play behind the sticks on 3rd and 18, if williams catches a perfectly thrown td pass ... they had their chances. I am just suspicious of the hype surrounding Watt and the annoucing love fest. Felt like an NBA game to me.

Hey, I am the one who started the thread about the suspicious officiating (no in-play penalties called on Houston in a five-quarter game), and I fully agree about the 3rd and 18 play. This call was just dumb, though. It’s clear as day that the league views that sort of situation as a touch back, and they don’t want returns anyway given how dangerous they are. That was touch back, plain and simple, and the ref screwed up. I mean christ, steratore, who is actually smart and knows the rules better than any of us clowns here, said that this sort of thing happens and that it should never been ruled a td for the bills.

Tannehill did it on the road against the best pass defense in the league. Houston’s is one of the worst. Not exploiting Beasley vs a team that can’t cover slot guys was a huge miss by Allen.