dave mcbride

Have you watched the Bucs over the last 4 games or so? If you had, you might be rethinking what you say above about Winston. That offense is a juggernaut right now. He is better than the naysayers suggest, and he has shown a lot of improvement over the course of the season. Basically, the dominant narrative around him is stale and not all that reflective of current reality. (Also, re: your argument about throwing to the wrong team, Mike Martz always thought that was overrated and didn't care if Kurt Warner threw a reasonably large number of INTs (short-ish punts, in his book).) I'm certainly not advocating INTs, but it is undeniable that the Bucs' offense has turned a corner. They have averaged 35 ppg over the last four games, and they are simply better than their record. They lost to Seattle in OT in a game they shouldn't have lost, and they lost to the Giants because their kicker missed a chip shot at the end of the game. I agree with you about Allen. He is still very young.

He throws more on-a-rope blazers on average than any QB I've ever watched. That's not a criticism! I love that aspect of his game. But they are going to be harder to catch. That's just basic common sense (or just ask Zay Jones).

Well, as far as I know, no one has ever been clocked at a higher velocity than his senior bowl number (66+ mph -- https://www.stack.com/a/josh-allen-threw-a-66-14-mph-pass-at-the-senior-bowl-no-qb-at-the-nfl-combine-has-ever-exceeded-60 ), and it's pretty obvious he lets it rip out there. I think that his first throw in the Pittsburgh game would have been a pick if thrown by virtually any other qb in the league. So, no metrics, but a healthy does of common sense combined with eyeball observations. A lot of his throws are blazing.

One thing re: the Bills drop rate that should be factored in is the velocity on his throws. It's simply higher than every other QB's, and it's going to result in some drops.

The Bills are gonna be nearly 100 million under the cap. Not sure we need to be worrying about how much individual players are making right now. The Bills can afford whatever they want.

The thing about McDermott is that he's managed to do it with sub-average QB play. That's genuinely hard to do.

Not in the last 4-5 games *at all*.

Knox's hands are a real problem. Not arguing with that.

I think we underestimate the do-your-job qualities of Murphy - he sets the edge well and never seems to either freelance or make glaring mistakes. I honestly think he's been a nice role player for us this year.

Yeah, true. I just think he takes a ton of criticism for the obvious stuff, but doesn't really get the credit he probably deserves for the massive production. I mean, 5,226 yards (what he's on pace for) would be fourth all time, and if gets 10 more yards beyond that, it'll be third all time. I know he's missing some receivers tonight, but Houston's pass D is *terrible* (near the bottom of every category) and Atlanta's pass D is almost as bad. It could well happen!

Hey, I don't like him either! But this is all Coughlin, and he was basically trying to replicate his crazily strict Jag regime of the 1990s. You can't go home again, though.

I'm glad we're discussing Winston, who I was going to bring up in a separate thread. He's one of the most interesting cases in the NFL right now. TB is third in both points and scoring, and they are an offensive machine. They should also by all rights be 8-6 (they missed a chip shot FG vs. the Giants that would have won the game), and they've won four in row. He is on pace to throw for over 5,200 yards, which even in this day and age is MASSIVE. Basically, their offense is unstoppable unless you intercept him (which happens a lot, I know). I guess my point is that with an even moderately improved defense and slightly improved ability to avoid INTs, we're looking at a team that no one would want to face. I don't know what's going to happen with him, but even with the INTs, he's mostly clicking on all cylinders now. When I watch them, they seem to move up and down the field at will.

Call me crazy, but I feel like Murphy has been quite disruptive and a real presence the last few weeks. He has 3 sacks, sure, but he also has 3 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, an INT, and a good number of pressures.

No, it's mostly because he's a d**k (trust me on this one, KD).

I'm not putting much into Saturday's game. BB eats young QBs for breakfast, and he's fielding his best pass defense ever and playing at home. I hope Allen plays well, but I won't be upset if he doesn't have a great game. Few do up there. Literally every team has multiple drops almost every game. As I said elsewhere, I watched the Niners/Atlanta game, and both teams had at least 3 drops. It's part of the game.

It sounds like you simply don't like Marrone and are ascribing sins to him that you don't have evidence for. My view is based on the fact that he never had a rep in Buffalo as a martinet (the team was pretty loose overall), and he was here for a couple of years. There are literally like a dozen sourced articles out there showing that this was all Coughlin.

Allen needs to become a lot better. It's not crazy to point that out. He's making progress, sure, but the offense overall is bad. It's of course not all on him, but he's at best an average NFL QB right now. As I've said with Allen, the two-player continuum that applies best to him is the Roethlisberger-Bortles one, and he needs to be getting closer to the left of that continuum if he's going to last. The decline in turnovers (13 on the season, which isn't bad) is a start, but there's a lot more that he has to do going forward. I think he can do it, but to assume it's a sure thing is a sign of homerism.

Not according to Albert Breer: https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/12/19/tom-coughlin-fired-jaguars-stephen-jones-cowboys-eagles-nfl-week-16-game-plan "Over the last three years in Jacksonville, in his role as executive vice president of football operations, Tom Coughlin did his best to be respectful of Doug Marrone, the Jaguars’ head coach. But Coughlin’s desire to do coach-like things sure did make for a bizarre dynamic in Jacksonville. And you don’t have to look far to find people who picked up on it. “Anyone would tell you they’d never seen anything like it,” one source said. “Look across the other 31 teams, there’s not another role like that,” said another. Indeed, Coughlin, in his golden years, was one of one; nowhere else was there an executive vice president who’s also a boots-on-the-ground minister of discipline. Nowhere else would simple mention of an EVP’s name elicit such a visceral response, well beyond the normal hard feelings of a tough contract negotiation or roster decision. Nowhere else would the head coach throw up his hands and openly concede a major football decision wasn’t his." The whole piece is worth reading.

The problem with people like Coughlin is that they're not very amenable to change, and when legally mandated change comes down the pike (i.e., in the form of a new CBA), they act like it doesn't exist because it doesn't conform with their priors about best practices. This was an implosion that was waiting to happen.

You just know that he’s going to be playing for himself in that game because he wants a record. Perfect opportunity to exploit holes in the resulting defense. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/12/18/jamal-adams-expects-to-return-this-week-break-db-sacks-record-this-season/

I counted an equal number of drops in the SF and Atlanta game by *both* teams (if not more). Point is, every team has drops every week and the Bills aren truly nothing special in that regard. The Steelers had I think 3 too. And that’s why you don’t start subtracting drops to goose your favored qb’s completion percentage. I’d avoid doing that. Drops are inevitable in almost all football games - “the friction of war,” to quote Clausewitz.

Um ... I don’t think Gerry is saying Parcells is the scam artist!,

Dont’a Hightower is a GREAT player. HoF caliber, in my opinion.

Um, his 10-sack years came playing across from a still-dominant Mario Williams and a pre-2nd contract Marcel Dareus. The 2014 Bills D was dominant, and the 2013 D was excellent as well, racking up a ton of sacks. Those were his two 10-sack seasons.

The Chargers were terrible in 2015 and 2016.