dave mcbride

He had a good career, with 3-4 genuinely elite seasons.

He does, but Gronkowski is just a better player. That strikes me as obvious. I'll go as far as to say that he's the most dominant TE in league history, and the competition isn't close. Also, re: Kelce, he's in a good situation with a thrower like Alex Smith, who doesn't challenger CBs down the field. He loves the outlet TE, and he was good to Vernon Davis in SF too.

True, but Gronk is hands-down a better player. Much better blocker, for one.

The defense improved from 27th to 15th in DVOA and the offense sank from 10th to 26th. That's kind of a wash, so what might explain the shift from 7-9/8-8 to 9-7 (I think they would have gone 8-8 last year if they didn't tank the final game)? ST went from 22nd in 2016 to 10th this year. Carpenter was basically zero wins above replacement last year, and Hauschka was one win above replacement. The Bills went from a 76 percent kicker to an 88 percent kicker, and the 88 percent guy also made a LOT of lower percentage long kicks. Huge improvement.

He was actually decent the next season (nearly 1000 yards rushing and 4.6 ypa), but the system was a terrible fit for him. I think he basically lost a half a step (lots of small injuries over the years to his legs/ankles), plus he was reportedly dumb. He apparently couldn't absorb the NO offense.

Um, he had over 1700 yards from scrimmage in 2012 and 1244 yards rushing. He definitely carried the load that year and was 6th in the league in yards from scrimmage. And again, his productivity per touch was off-the-charts good that season.

He was misused terribly by Hackett. Gailey was not a good head coach, but he knew how to use the offensive talent he had. Hackett treated him as an up-the-middle pounder.

I immediately thought of the 70-yard TD bomb Flacco threw to Jacoby Jones with 40 seconds left in the 2012 playoff game against Denver.

His 2012 season was one of the best offensive performances by a Bill this century: a staggering 6.0 ypc plus 10.7 yards per reception (extraordinarily high for a running back).

Watch them: they are good. Their defense is the best in the league, I think.

I think the Vikings would destroy the Bills.

Terrible game. The quarterbacks for both teams are awful. Really boring.

To be fair, I think Hurts stinks too, so who knows what will happen. Neither of these qbs will sniff starting roles in the nfl.

Enh .. he had a good game. He led OU to 38 points in regulation against an elite college defense that is LOADED with NFL talent.

I went into this game thinking that Alabama would blow Clemson out. That is what is currently happening, but we shall see. The Clemson qb is terrible (against real competition).

Good post, and I don’t disagree. But Brown can play a role in tnis defense. He literally played on 99 percent of the plays this year.

True, but he has been on the field more than any other Bills player (something crazy like 99 percent of plays). He’s not great but he understands the system at this point. Getting rid of him strikes me as more subtraction without any addition. The guy also seems injury proof, which is rare for a linebacker.

Dunkirk Don said he’s definitely a goner, so ...

Re Dareus, the mice thing about Kyle W is that I really think he’d agree with your take. Regardless, he has had 2-3 genuinely dominant seasons (2010, 2013, and 2014) and the best single game performance by a Bill in the last decade (in my opinion) — the 2010 “I praise you 24/7” game against Pitt (a SB team), in which he was in the backfield on nearly every play.

Let’s not forget the 40-yard PI call that got them down to the one, after which they punched it in. It doesn’t show up in his yardage stats, but he made a great throw there and exploited Tankersley.

Phenomenal -- thanks!!!!!!

That's awesome! Good find.

I suggest reading what I wrote and my second post in the thread. Or are we supposed to dispense with any analysis at all and simply shout down anyone who brings in some numbers? This isn't a celebratory instagram site. and I don't kvetch about "curses", so I don't know where you're coming from with that. ????

Not entirely fair. Every board needs a spam folder. This is it.

Blair Walsh (Hauschka's replacement) probably cost the Seahawks a full game too overall. He wasn't the full reason they lost yesterday, but he missed a go-ahead 48 yard FG with 30 seconds left yesterday. He was shaky all year -- 72.4 percent.