Dr. Who

I've been discounting Shorter as unlikely to be a significant add. I hope you're right.

Until the playoffs. And also, while it was an impressive run to overcome devastating injuries and Dorsey as OC, I don't think white-knuckle must win games the second half of the season ought to be the norm for the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen at qb. There's no way to know before the fact, but I remain unimpressed with the WR room. I don't think it's been managed well. Those who are satisfied find it convenient to use second half Diggs and disappointing Davis as the standard for comparison. I don't grant that. The proper measure ought to be what a truly superior WR room would look like. By a more objective criteria, the top of our WR room is not good. With apologies to my pal @NewEra, I just don't think the possibility (and that's all it can be at this point), that the bottom half of the room is better than in past years makes up for the obvious lack of proven excellence at the top. Maybe Brady schemes guys open and TE and RB take up the slack. Maybe we are so diversified, the offense is difficult to plan for. Great, none of that answers to the inadequacies of the WR room. Having a genuine WR1 doesn't make the new strategy obsolete, it just gives you more firepower to work with, and the benefit of a plus level talent that demands attention, and can make those elite plays that only the very few "freakazoid" types can accomplish. Maybe Coleman progresses faster than I suppose, and I hope he does. I don't think he is a replacement for Diggs. He is an upgrade for Davis. They don't have a replacement for what Diggs was when he was actually contributing to the offense. I agree that getting rid of his toxic character that manifest last year is a plus, and not forcing balls to a player that was not playing up to his past performance is also an opportunity for Josh Allen to make more mature and intelligent selections. He hasn't always done that, for whatever reason. In sum, thriving is still a very rosy best case projection. No one who is a Bills' fan doesn't want that to occur, but if it happens this year, a lot of low probability bets have to work out well.

I'll be shocked if that happens, but obviously it would be great for that to materialize. A trade ten days from now for DK Metcalf would also be great. I don't think either is likely to occur.

Watch your back, Trubisky.

I agree with this about 90%, maybe more. Where I suspect I give a marginally better assessment is that I do think he brought in good depth at positions of need. That doesn't disappear, even if he botches the WR room, but I do agree it would objectively result in a lower grade of his quality as a GM.

Yes, I was not really returning to his particular statements. I was attempting to explain the very traditional notion of pride as one of the seven deadly sins.

Higgins is the optimistic projection. A few folks have brought him up in threads. Let's hope it happens.

Alright. You are very sure of your metaphysical conclusions. I am doubtful you have an air-tight argument for atheism. There is no metaphysics that doesn't depend on some radical belief. Proof doesn't reach down to ultimacy, though I recognize dialectic isn't going to convince you, nor do I have any interest in attempting to do so. Sin is a religious concept dependent on an understanding of well-being and perfection with theological roots. Naturally, if you deny God, the holy will be a surd concept, and apart from that, sin is meaningless. In the end, reality is not a product of our willing or subjective fantasy, nor can anyone's judgment replace our unique responsibilities to pursue truth to the best of our capacities. At the same time, words have specific meaning, even shades of meaning. Part of responsible communication is noting what they mean in the context of a particular community, or even idiosyncratic usage by an individual. Traditionally, pride is "sinful" because it results in a habit of thinking and acting that lacks receptivity towards the fullness of Being, whether that be in nature or the divine.

I'm not here to defend every aspect of the fella's speech. I think he could have been more careful in his speech, and I say that as someone who is largely sympathetic to traditional Catholic beliefs. Technically, all sin is "deadly" in the sense that it is alienation from the source of Being. And no one properly understands the command to avoid sin as somehow facilitating heinous sins like murdering folk because of their sexual proclivities.

The NFL like the rest of the corporate world is very much driven by fear of offending those who hold dominant power in the political bureaucratic class, academe, Hollywood, the fourth estate, and social media. If you are marginal to that power, you are subject to ostracization and canceling. Inside, it's a free pass on misdemeanors and often felonies. That's why they fawn upon ideological attachments that much of their viewership disagrees with. They don't care. The brand is not a function of moral courage, but craven obeisance to idols of the day.

Sure, it's just a pond, but we're the monarchs of that pond. Life is short. Take the win.

I think it's unlikely at this point. I'm not convinced Beane values the position in the manner you and I would prefer. I'll be happy if you are right, and I'm still holding out a glimmer of hope.

I still think it's an irresponsible bet on Beane's part, even if Josh Allen and Brady end up pulling it off. Some folks are tired of those of us who are not convinced by the plan. They are free to mock, but a concern doesn't go away just because time passes. And what else is one to do if threads proliferate about a subject where the quality of receiver or the nature of the receiver room or whether modern WRs are a dime a dozen or not is the topic? Just shut up and get with the program? It's a funny age. The squares from the sixties are today's rebels. I used to be called a homer here, and now I'm a whiner.

If KC cuts him, we should pick him up.

Having been bereft of a team to truly root for, I am left to the poor leavings of schadenfreude, gleefully contemplating the demise of the Leafs and Bruins. I will take that treat, even if bad for you as a steady diet. I cannot like the Rags, and there are ex-Sabres playing for the Panthers. I sort of like Vancouver, though when I think they are the team that came into the league with us, I have an impish and malign impulse to deny them ultimate victory, because somehow that sheds more light on the prolonged ineptitude of the team I love.

Yes, he read the room perfectly. He wasn't talking to a pluralist or progressive room. He wasn't talking to this board. The reason students go to a college like that is because their beliefs and ethical sensibility are counter-cultural to the dominant ideology. The polemical edge in the speech was more in the nature of affirming the convictions of the students as they prepare to deal with a society largely indifferent or hostile to their beliefs. And the reaction here is proof of the correctness of that assessment.

I think the OP is speculative. I like Shaw. He writes a good prose, and is a very decent fella. Maybe he's correct. The college game is producing WRs, just as it is not producing finished product offensive linemen for the most part. All that said, I don't think it is inevitable that the WR position will see a glut of supply over demand where the smart buy is good, rather than great. It's an economic argument, I suppose, but as Ron Jaworski often proclaimed, "QB is a dependent position." It doesn't matter how great your franchise QB is, he can't go around catching his own passes. Folks here are invested in Josh Allen elevating mediocre talent, because that is largely the MO of this front office. Anyway, I still think there are elite talents that matter. It will always matter at QB and Edge. In a different era, the RB was king. If the QB is king today, that means the WR is guaranteed an importance unlikely to succumb to the kind of economic calculation Shaw surmises. The RB was reduced to replaceable mercenary because the game changed significantly. I don't really see a similar shift happening now, even if tactical strategies for some teams emphasize other positions. It is usually because of deficiencies in the WR room, or the particular proclivities of a QB like Lamar.

Motherhood, and raising children, especially in this era, but always really, is an extremely demanding vocation. Socrates understood, as did the Athenians who condemned him, that those who teach children and instill particular values and ways of acting and modes of perception are the rudder that ultimately determines where the ship of state goes. The domestic space shapes the political, unless the political can somehow displace it. And much of the culture war is because of that tension. So, behind the obvious polemical intent of Butker's speech, there's a serious contest of values involved beyond what many here righteously proclaim a ridiculously atavistic prejudice. Benedictine College is a traditional Catholic school. Folks want to call that medieval, go right ahead. Medievals gave us the universities. What we're doing with that legacy is something else.

My pal @NewEra thinks folks are forgetting or discounting the crippling injuries on D. I'm not. We came close to beating KC with a decimated defense, but it wouldn't really have been close without a very fortuitous goal line fumble, which was preceded by a desperate and bonehead gamble on a fake punt. Once you hit the division round, with the exception of games against the Ravens, our D folds. Maybe McD evolves. I like him, actually, but there's no denying he is super tight, even in the off-season. Admirable character, dogged, a wrestler, not a genius strategic coach. Maybe he's good, but so far, out-classed in the post-season. I don't see how that is arguable. What we have never really tried is seeing what would happen if you gave your extraordinary franchise qb truly excellent weapons. Folks want to argue about that, that's their prerogative. It appears Brady has a plan to spread the targets around so that no one can focus on WR1, because there isn't one. I think that is mind games to rationalize a step back from what was a mediocre WR room to begin with. Makes it harder for the offense to overperform. Have to hope Kincaid makes a leap from a good rookie year, that the run game becomes a consistent weapon, and that Coleman has a strong initial impact despite being a raw talent. And then better pray there aren't any significant injuries at the top of the bottom third in the league WR room (it's worse than that, probably). I think that's playing for an inside straight. Folks talk about a reset and the salary cap. Trading Diggs and not replacing him, taking on a massive cap hit, letting Davis walk (good), a lot of that was chosen by Beane, and what wasn't is a product of the way he handled the WR room in previous years. He's a hero if it works, but I don't buy extenuating circumstances if it doesn't.

Maybe Beane ends up looking like a genius, but I just hate the way they've handled the WR position.

I know. I was hoping they would entice him to come back with a promise of taking over in a year or two, but that's not the way they roll.

This meme is just always so useful. Maybe, but probably not, hiring one of their own changes the zebra attitude. Perhaps Mr. Parry lets us in on the secret handshake, where to drop the payoff, etc., and we end up having to challenge less, because not so often in the NFL lower right quadrant.

I wanted Peca to be the coach ready to take over.

I understand. Maybe that is so, or perhaps Beane is a sly dog, and has another plan he isn't saying. It might be boring literalism. I'm still hoping he's playing poker, because I don't like the WR room, even though I am high on Kincaid, and was one of the few on this board who championed him well before the draft. There were like 3 of us, we lit metaphorical cigars afterwards to celebrate our success. I tried the same thing this year hoping to get McConkey drafted, but I guess it was a one-time magic. I saw your latest response to Badol. Fantastic if you are correct. Seems overly optimistic to me.

The plan is intriguing, but it only works if all the parts are reasonably dangerous. I'd feel better if they added an established WR of the caliber of DK Metcalf. @BADOLBILZ suggested as much, and it seems an excellent idea to me. I think, but I may be misremembering, that you are one of those who cautions that there isn't money for that. I think after 6/1, they could find a way to manage it.