dave mcbride

The defense has been playing a LOT better since they fired the coordinator.

And Elam too for all of his flaws. He brings length and athleticism, and if can merely stay with guys like Jackson and Benford can, he WILL make plays that they can't. He's just a bigger, faster, and better athlete. He has certainly had his struggles, however. And he's still hurt.

Gotta admit, McD's comments from the last few days makes it sound like we're now in this territory: https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Strikes-Out-Piersall-Story/dp/0803287615.

I thought it was PI. Soft PI, but PI. The thing is he didn't need to get his around Peoples-Jones's waist AT ALL, but he did it anyway. That's kinda playing in fear, as in, if the balls goes farther than I think and I don't hold him, he's likely to score. He made it an easy call for the ref despite being in position and doing everything else right. But the fear implicit in the waist grab did him in.

Starting to be very frustrated with the Bills not going after a better skill player before the deadline. Watching SF last night, it occurred to me that they have 4 elite skill players: McCaffrey, Kittle, Samuel, and arguably Aiyuk, who I am liking more and more. Jeff Wilson and Elijah Mitchell are performing at elite levels too, and Trent Williams is a pleasure to watch given how damn good he is. McCaffrey is really freaking good. He might not have been right for this offense, but he is perfect for them. My just-past-midseason SB picks right now are KC vs. SF. Hopefully KC stumbles, but since their division is terrible, I doubt it. Quietly, SF now has arguably the best D in the league (1st in yards, 4th in points).

He caught a long TD pass against Minkah Fitzpatrick that was heavily contested, and the very nice TD he caught vs. MN was a contested catch as well. I don't think losing contested catches is his biggest issue at all. It's regularly dropping balls that aren't really contested, like on Sunday or on that sliding drop vs. the Jets that had huge ramifications. Plus he dropped the ball vs MN on their final regulation drive and it wasn't contested (he got lucky there). As for the Sauce Gardner play, that was a very tough one because he was interfered with. That said, Goerge Pickens catches that 7-8 times out of 10. Alvin Harper is a good comp.

Against some teams. But not the Jets. The Jets were fated to lose in the most Jets-y way possible. 14 straight now.

Who? Regardless, they have been great in tandem, but the issue has been that one or the other has been out or gone out early on in most games recently. It’s no coincidence that the Bills’ D collapsed vs MN when Edmunds went down. When they’re both healthy and on, the Bills D is far more formidable.

This is correct. The IR rules have completely changed, but I don’t think a lot of fans are aware of it.

None of allen’s 6 ints in the prior three games were passes intended for Diggs.

The Pats would have simply kicked the FG. It wasn’t important. Totally!

He had two td passes dropped on one first half series (one admittedly a lot harder catch than the other) and a te who couldn’t toe-tap before falling down on a good pass. The game is a lot different if people catch the ball, although i suppose you could say the same about gabe davis’s drop early on. Brisset played well.

Totally agree. The thing is, they were there on plays. They just lose every contest. They're too small -- not long enough. And not strong enough either.

Ot game with the quinn early botched trick play in ot right? TD then got a score to end it. People were all over dan henning for that one. edit: i remember this game very well for some reason: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199710260buf.htm

I don’t have anything figured out. My point is that none of us do and that all of our speculation is basically idle. I don’t pretend to have any idea. As for McDermott, he is so vague and generic about injuries it’s hard to impute any specific meaning to what he says.

McDermott is preternaturally averse to giving put ANY info about the nature of injuries, so I wouldn’t read too much into that. He is your classic paranoid NFL coach to a tee, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

This is a good post. That said, I don’t begrudge anyone smarts!

Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree. My larger point is that he is 11 months out from surgery and no one on this site has the remotest of clues of what the knee situation is really like. People think that they do (based on nothing), but they don’t. He’ll return eventually and hopefully he’ll remain healthy for a long time. As for him considering opting out, the funny thing is that he didn’t.

Didn’t address my point. His qbs were TERRIBLE. You’re too smart to buy into the cult of the OC. That’s how guys like Adam Gase get head coaching jobs when all he did was ride the coattails of Manning. Do OCs make a difference at the margins? Sure. But if the qbs suck, you are f**ked — no two ways about it. And whether you are 32nd or 29th is immaterial — you’re going to be horrible when you’re rolling out the likes of Brady Quinn (for two teams!), Seneca Wallace, a rookie Colt McCoy, Chad Henne, Derek Anderson, Matt Moore, and a broken down Matt Cassel.

Read what I wrote. Jeez. Not what I said at all. I want him for the LONG TERM, not a guy hobbling through injuries in 2023 who gets cut in training camp in summer 2024. Hence I projected forward.

It has been 11 months since his surgery, which occurred on Dec 14, 2022. I literally didn’t say that. Like, at all. C’mon, NoSaint. I was discussing coming back to early. Maybe he’s fine by mid-December, which would be great. But I have no idea when he’ll be ready.

He wasn’t pathetic in three prior stops and his first season in Buffalo; he had absolutely horrible QBs. QBs make or break OC reputations. If Allen doesn’t throw those stupid picks vs the Jets and Vikes, no one here would be talking about Dorsey. Holmgren was a terrible offensive coach when he had bad qbs too.

Players talk and have access to data. Coming back too soon from an acl tear can really lead to problems with your other leg because you’re favoring one side. One of my closest friends is an elite marathoner and a minor calf injury on one side that she “played through” created a chronic hip injury on the other side. Her orthopedist walked her through how this happens and it’s basically science. If he’s not ready, he’s not ready. I want him starting for us at a high level in 2024 and 2025 rather than dealing with a chronic and debilitating injuries in his other leg because he came back too early. This is a real thing and the science is out there. He’s not one to dog it.

Disagree to an extent about Yankees' radio announcers. While John and Susan are even worse than you convey here, not everyone is a senior citizen who listens to them. Driving around mid-day on weekends, you have no choice but to suffer their rank incompetence. And a lot of people drive.

That wasn't really catchable -- the DB hit the ball before it even hit Knox's hands. Whoever wrote that doesn't really know what they're talking about. It was also damn good coverage. They let players play in crunch time unless it's blatant, and that wasn't blatant -- just two guys fighting for position. The DB had already batted it away. It wasn't a drop.