Reed83HOF

We actually look to have a decent team where there will be actual competition for starting jobs instead of in the past like 18 years. This team seems to have some mojo to them and I am sure they will use this for bulletin board material and feel disrespected - as they should. We haven't won a playoff game in 24 years and went 7 years without even being in one. Players seem to want to come here now - I would think this will help amp them up and focus them on proving we aren't a bad team.

Yes you can, we have had like 17 years of it. Very Jeff Fisher like

I assume this contract was debated at the time we signed him, frankly I don't recall the exact reasons. To replace Dareus, McD presumably wanted someone he knew to continue to change the culture of the team, he wanted the leadership, the accountability and someone who also bought into the process. Additionally they needed to fill a hole: After trading Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars last October, the Bills allowed a league-high 18 rushing touchdowns and an AFC-worst 1,487 rush yards, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Of those yards, 1,105 were inside the tackles, and opponents' 4.8 yards per rush inside the tackles was tied for worst in the NFL. 2016 third-round pick Adolphus Washington filled in for Dareus and was ranked 113th among NFL defensive tackles by Pro Football Focus. The Panthers ranked third in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game (88.1) last season. If Lotulelei did not perform well, Carolina's run defense did not suffer because of it. Moreover, Bills coach Sean McDermott should have a strong idea of how Lotulelei fits into his defensive system after coaching him for four seasons (2013-16) as Panthers defensive coordinator You also have to look at the state of the team. In the 2017 offseason, after we hired McD, fired the FO, passed over Mahomes, traded Watkins, lost woods, overpaid Tolbert, traded darues during the season and got lucky by making the playoffs and over acheived that year. In 2018 new GM, traded TT, Signed AJ, traded Glenn, drafted a not widely loved QB in the draft, John brown wouldn't sign here, etc; the HC declared Nate the starter, Vontae quit at half time, yadda yadda yadda. Not exactly a model of stability. We overpaid to bring a guy the HC trusted to help with the transition and fill a self-made hole (yes Dareus was an ####### and needed to go). It sure wasn't a great contract for performance, but that was not the entire reason he came in here IMO. The presence he brought into the locker room I assume accounted for a couple million and this year, we had no problem signing FAs. If he played any role in helping turn the tide in terms of stability and getting players to trust the process, he was worth it. That being said, going forward, we should not be handing out awful contracts, which we did not do this offseason when we signed like 879,321 players. JMO

In fairness to Kiper, he was right about those players

I don't know how we can really include last year as to hell well he performed. He was the other player from last year's line who is in any discussion to start. Losing Richie and Wood weakened the line tremendously, it was a dumpster fire.

It felt very hollywood-esque with people who should have been killed, but yet survived when someone else comes in just in the nick of time to save them. Kinda like watching an Avengers movie or even James Bond, when the situation is dire, someone swoops in to save them. This transition started as the show began to deviate from the books, the writers became comfortable with the actors and with their success and kept them going forward when the source material dried up. Stealing from another board "I think it’s a combination of getting past the deaths mandated by the books and also a symptom of the show getting older. This happened on "The Walking Dead," too. The longer the characters have been around, the harder it is for the writers to kill them off." The WW & NK simply became a way to get Danny & Jon together and unite them to go after Cersei. The problem was that there was still this fantastical element throughout the series that they are now unable or unwilling to or didn't care to develop to interweave back into the ending, with the build up throughout it was just dropped it in a manner that left some us very empty. The Night King turned out to be a boring villain because he does't talk and his motivation appears to be simple death and destruction. This series has this history of rich, complex villains, and this part of the series was underdeveloped; it feels like the writers wanted to end there. Over the past few seasons, a lot of story telling was done to make the White Walker threat more important than the fight for the throne and episode 3 is really jarring from that standpoint. It doesn't feel like it fits within the series. When you look at the GRRM characters, there were lots of layers and depth to them, the deaths were meaningful, impactful and left you wondering sometime, but then it became more evident why those characters had to die and when they died you felt it. I'm stealing this from another board: "It feels like the writers just wanted to dispense with Azor Ahai the way they wanted to dispense with the Night King. The fact that Arya killed him would make it seem like she is the Prince(ss) Who Was Promised, but she doesn't really seem to fit the bill. If the prophecy ends up affecting who is on the throne, maybe they'll mess with it so it's still Jon or Dany." It just feels like they want to quickly pivot from this onto the person who has become the traditional hollywood villain, Cersei. To be honest is Cersei really that compelling any more from a villain standpoint? The hate for her is for what happened in the past, I've kinda moved on from her. Meh

A straight copy and paste of the link. Also someone did a Night King Crying Jordan pic

Wrong https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/29/18522808/game-of-thrones-got-season-8-hbo-final-night-king-fire-dragon-targaryen-theory The Night King was created by the Children of the Forest as a weapon in their war against the First Men, the original race of humans that came to Westeros (later followed by the Andals and the Rhoynar). This took place roughly 6,000 to 8,000 years before the Targaryen conquest of Westeros after the downfall of Valyria, around 300 years before the series started. The Night King, on the other hand, (at least in the show) has been around so long that he was not only deployed by the Children of the Forest against the First Men, but the plan backfired. He became such a threat that the Children and mankind eventually allied against him. George R.R. Martin notes that — in his books, at least — the Targaryen family possesses no such powers. “Targaryens are not immune to fire!” Martin said in a 1999 interview. “The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wondrous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.”

Targaryn's weren't even around back then...Night King was on of the first men The only thing that could kill the NK was a valerian steel blade in the same place the dragon glass. One of the D&D guys mentioned that today I think

EJ just needs more time

and the population counter in Utica

IIRC, Rob was tossed in a river somewhere and there are only Ned's bones. I was hoping for Leanna personally...

Possibly at the end there is something that ties it all together, but for all of it's build up throughout all of the seasons...it felt like this

and others...

And that's why the end was a let down.

LOl Yup. I'm done with it too

In every scene with the NK & Jon, the NK could easily wipe him out every time and never does (this was like the 4th time). There is always this look he gives Jon, raises his hands and Jon escapes. I get the series is most likely about Jon (Fire & Ice), but still there is this whole arc that just wasn't used at all besides as a vehicle to get Jon and Dany together. It really feels like there needs to be more depth to flesh it out a bit Pretty much...

You can tell when they shifted from the books and when they drifted on their own. How long have they hyped "winter is coming", NK and WW teaser posters, etc. the magic was a big part of this show and is what separates it from The Tudors and other period pieces. Even last week with the symbol and the umber kid on the wall - all of that as of now appears to be used for nothing. This entire arc was simply used as a vehicle to bring Jon and Dany together and unite the remaining forces against Cersei. I get that the show is highly tied to the War of the Roses, but it should have been so much more focused on the dead for another episode. Next week will be -reassessing the who is left, allegiances and going south. The following week will be fighting in Kings Landing and the last will be finally killing Cersei and the final move for the throne. The mysticism of this arc is what kept me going and involved in the series. NOw it feels like simply another, fight for power in the 1400s type show. Meh.. Others mentioned it hear, the dragon fight scenes were somewhat underwhelming. And seeing the Night King turn into Nathan Peterman with that spear throw kinda stunk. I am probably being over critical, but it felt like the night king should have "won" the battle, ala The Empire Strikes Back, only to have the remaining people be able to regroup and take him down; possibly with wildfire in Kings Landing (which I am sure we will see Cersei wield this again). Yeah we all knew the only way to beat them was killing the NK and that there would be piles of bodies, the ending and how all that went down just fell flat for me. I am sure there will be one last twist or 2, but just like that the WWs are all gone after 1000s of years? Maybe Bran or Arya become the new night king and queen since they've been touched by the NK. Meh.. I agree with your last few lines. The pivot is going to be quick and fast. Danny and Jon issues, Tyrion and Jamie dealing with Bron (or how that goes down), does Jamie fight for Danny? Did Tyrion sell out Danny in Season 6? Etc. FIFY

Bran was the target, he was coming for him.What was the point of Bran being marked? Why was he the target? He also knew Arya would kill the night king, he gave her the dagger in the same spot she killed him. What about the Prince that was promised? The Night King always let's Jon live? What was the point of that? The point of Craster and the baby scrifices? Absolutely everything they put into the army of the dead and the night king, the nuance, the mystery was wasted. All of last season - the army of the dead is coming, winter is coming we have to team up to stop them. It's been the second leading build up besides Cersei's cunning power grab. He was just another zombie; the fan theories are way better than what the show writers gave us. It's not Seinfeld ending bad, but it doesn't sit well when you think it thorough. It feels like a mechanism to get people together to go after Cersei. They could have done much more with the whole white walker and NK arc. The army of the dead might have well been the Frays.

There needed to be more with him and Bran, the fan theories were infinitely better. It was like his whole arc of the Night King and the army of the dead, this entire build up, just a quick stab and he's dead. Just Hollywood shock and awe, there was no depth; the night king was a basic zombie. I'm not a writer, but there was no depth or overall purpose for this fight or why he wanted Bran given. Perhaps that will be gone over later, but he was defeated way to easily and basically only seemed like a way to unite characters to go fight Cersei now. Now that the suspense and everything has faded a way, it feels like a Michael Bay movie

So, it was a good episode, tons of action and such but it fell flat. Think of The Force Awakens and Snoke, the whole movie he is like this huge badass. The Last Jedi he is pulling the strings and then unceremoniously killed like an unnamed storm trooper. No nothing. That's how I feel now. What you can kill the leader of the army of the dead and then spend 3 damn episodes on Cersi? Meh, such a wasted opportunity. Why are people behind epic shows like this and movies afraid the make big choices that could create something really special and lasting and then fall flat like that

@Lurker That is how it's done

No problem! Thought it would be fun for every to see. This was a real cool pic he has up on twitter as well: https://twitter.com/DS5_/status/1119979779518795776

LOL. The last thing I wanted to do was start another, but it would be buried everywhere else. I wasn't even for looking for a critique of him as a player; since those threads already exist. It's just refreshing again to see a player: 1.) Want to play for the Bills 2.) Put some effort in as small as this is

We need to get some views and have this stand out for a bit - Fan favorite right here