Bill from NYC

No doubt, but that seems to matter less these days. Look, Clemson is great. Absolutely stacked. I make no excuses for Alabama losing to them. Still, the truth is that they waltz into the playoffs year after year because they don't play anybody. As an OSU Fan, you know this. After a brutal game with Michigan, both teams are banged up and nursing injuries and OSU plays several good teams. Alabama had to play Georgia twice one season. They play LSU and Auburn every year. Saban says that it is practically impossible to get out of conference teams to play them and they STILL have a 10x rougher schedule than Clemson. My point to all of this is that it seems easier these days to waltz into the playoffs having played nobody who is any good. How was ND's schedule last year, and what would their record have been in the Big 10 or the SEC?

I don't know how good Miss. State is this season but they play them too, and they end the season with Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher. I am NOT saying that they won't make the playoffs. I am merely saying that imo, the schedule is horrible.

They look strong but have you seen their schedule? It is absolutely brutal.

The above is EXTREMELY important imo. It is easier in almost every case for an offensive linemen to run block than pass block. Blockers know the count and on running plays they can fire out and punish defenders. On passing downs blockers are often backing up and getting hit by genetic mutants. And if an all world lineman like Bruce Smith gets you off balance even for a fraction of a second, your quarterback is toast. I was lucky enough to met and had a 20 -30 minute conversation with Jumbo Elliot and he told me this. He wasn't physically afraid of Bruce. He had no reason to be. He coached Jason Peters briefly and when I mentioned how strong Jason was, he implied that he was stronger. Maybe he was. But he did say that he was afraid of Bruce wiping out his qb if he had even the slightest chance to do so. So yes, imo a running attack is still vital and might grow in importance with defenses getting smaller. I hope that this works FOR the Bills.

He is a very complex man. He admits that he isn't able to enjoy things as much or as long as others are able to. In his unauthorized autobiography, it says that he has to eat the exact same dinner every Thursday night. The author wonders what he would have accomplished if he had chosen a career outside of football with his work ethic and organizational skills. As great as his Alabama football teams are, a case could be made that Saban played a HUGE part in the last 2 championships the team has won (the on-sides kick and putting in Tua at half time down 10 points). Your comparison to Belichick is 100% accurate. They are indeed close friends and they both happen to be of Croatian descent. Oh, and if both lines come together (and it looks like they will), The Crimson Tide are going to be tough to stop this season.

Alabama Georgia Ohio State Clemson Alabama - Georgia for the title.

Steroids?

Along with a 4th rounder.

I was down there twice.....once in March/April for 5 weeks and once in September for 2 weeks. In March there were crazy rain storms and scattered tornados. In April it started to get extremely hot. In September, it was blazing hot to the point where I couldn't sit outside even at night because the heat was just that extreme. I am not going to badmouth Little Rock but let me say it was different than any place I have ever visited, and I didn't care so much for the weather.

The trade itself (sans the new contract) was good no doubt CB, but I don't know if am willing to say that Kiko sucks, as easy as it is to dislike him.

I don't deny the above but even at that, he threw a ton of money at McCoy unnecessarily. Did these moves push the team to the next level? And as far as Kiko and McCoy, I don't know how much McCoy has left in the tank, do you? Maybe a tad less than Kiko.....who knows? I am one who thinks that the trade for Sammy was utterly ridiculous and said this from day 1. To use that many picks on a wide receiver while having no quarterback is impossible to defend but this is jmo.

How is Texas on defense? Hurts should be pretty good at Oklahoma because they really don't play anybody good, or so it seems. I have seen good defenses handle Hurts at times.

What Whaley lacked was discipline ODB. He gave away the store in trades and gave out inflated contracts time after time. Imo, this is a good part of the reason why he couldn't get another job. The good GMs need to be patient, shrewd people. I can't imagine a GM doing a good job without these qualities.

John, some players are decent or even "good," but they were bad draft choices. MaGahee, Whitner, and a slew of other Bills draft selections come to mind.

That is not completely true Doc.

Why do you think the situation you describe exists?

Did you read 3rdning's post at the end of the previous page?

Liberals don't care; they even applaud this. Many on the left despise Israel AND Jews.

What makes you say that?

Tell that to Netanyahu. They are naming streets after President Trump. Barack Hussein Obama dropped off all of that money to Iran, their sworn enemy. You know all of this. Why not just tell the truth. And tell us about how you personally feel about Israel and Jews.

Maybe they like President Trump because he would rather not have babies in their 9th month aborted and celebrate a "victory" like this by lighting up the Empire State Building in pink with taxpayer dollars. If you support things like this and attacking Israel you should be against our President. If not, point me to a democrat running in the primary who is on the conservative side of these two issues. I'll wait.....;) Absolutely disgusting, evil, and insane.

My daughter lives in Herndon. Summers are really rough down there. It just seems to be MUCH hotter down there, even when it's only a few degrees different than In NY/Long Island.

Here we go....."really something in the open field." Tell me, how many players are bad in the open field? "Space" was the word that was frequently used here. Spiller was said to be "good in space." In reality, the people who drafted him at #9 were in outer space. And as far as pure game speed, really? The fastest ever? There are dozens who were faster and thousands who were better players. He was not going to be at or near the "top" at anything except the unspeakably horrid waste of a draft pick list but of course, this is jmo.

Lets also remember Derrick Henry and his 238 yard/4TD game. This game was against the Jags and he was knocking them down like bowling pins and shaking off tacklers. I am not saying that he did this every week but I do speculate that he would come close to it if defenses were not addressing him. A power running game (and of course blocking) takes untold pressure off of a QB, especially a young one. I hope that we have one this season. PS: Imagine how a healthy Derrick Henry would do on the Bills!!!

I am not feeling the above in this thread. Nobody said that run stuffing LBs are more important that pass defending LBs. Even in college the pass defending LB is more important. The problem is that those guys tend to be smaller and this can make life easier for big, strong backs. Other teams have started to notice this. This btw can actually help the Bills. Gore is very strong and Yelden has some power as well. The Bills can't always be on the losing end of the power game and be successful in Buffalo imo, and it seems that they recognize this.