Rubes

Mark Gaughan's article would argue pretty nicely against this perspective, as have other articles.

Agreed. Like others have said, I don't see grabbing receivers as a problem in college ball. I don't buy the argument that it's a lot tougher to do in college because receivers are faster, or whatever. If it made sense to grab or interfere with receivers to save the long ball, you'd better believe college coaches would be doing it. Someone mentioned the Myles Jack play on Shady in the Wild Card game. Sure, but how many times do you actually see that happening in an NFL game? How different would that play have been if we got 15 yards instead of a spot foul? My guess is that the grab occurred right around 15 yards downfield. I still like the idea of making it a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down, and when it's inside 2:00 of each half, it becomes an untimed down and the time is put back on the clock. That will certainly dissuade defenses from just grabbing guys at the end of games.

Nothing, of course. But on one hand, the game can't end on a defensive penalty, so the offense gets another shot. And keeps getting shots until the defense stops doing it. On the other hand, another idea would be to make defensive PI a spot foul when it's inside 2:00 of each half. (I still don't like that, but it would hekp somewhat.)

I know this has certainly come up in the past, but I'm old as !@#$ and I can't remember any of the arguments for or against it. But watching these last few weeks of games got me thinking about this again, as several critical defensive PI calls have come up that dramatically swung the tide in favor of the offense. I hate that defensive PI is a spot foul—obviously when it happens when the Bills are on defense, but also even when the Bills get a call like that on offense, because it just seems like such a cheap way to get a ton of yards. Especially when it happens in the end zone and the ball is placed at the 1. I really despise that. And I don't like that this has actually become part of offensive strategy, to throw it up and look for that possibility. Any time there is a defensive penalty like unnecessary roughness that comes with 15 yards and an automatic first down, it's pretty great if you're on offense and hurts bad if you're on defense, no matter where the ball is or the situation. Enough with the spot foul on defensive PI. Make it 15 yards and an automatic first down. That's painful enough for a defense. Hell, offensive PI is only 10 yards.

Is it really that surprising, given the situations and outcomes? I get that people think it's worse because it was a bad call by the refs that should never have been allowed, but let's be serious: if Wycheck throws that ball a microscopic amount backwards, the outcome of the play is the same. The Bills !@#$ed up the coverage and blew it.

Possibly, but there has never been a walk-off TD in an NFL playoff game before.

Sorry, I meant "offensive receiver", not "defensive receiver".

Sullivan called it "the first-ever walkoff TD in the fourth quarter of an NFL playoff game," which technically would make it ever-so-slightly-worse than Homerun Throw-Forward, which actually left 0:03 on the clock. (I didn't realize that at first, I thought I remembered the game being over, but I guess there was another kickoff. I'm either blacking it out, or I was comatose and never saw it.) The Saints loss is also worse than the Ravens loss a couple of weeks ago. Pretty similar in that Cincy got the most unlikely TD on a long throw on 4th down, but there were still 40+ seconds left for the Ravens to respond, so there was still some tension left after the TD. Some may say the Bills loss was worse because all they had to do was stop a kickoff return, but all the Saints had to do is either stop the pass from being completed, or just tackle the guy in bounds and the game would end. Both are heartbreaking, but I wonder if this one will go down at least as bad as Homerun Throw-Forward and be remembered equally for its collapse.

Sounds reasonable. In the end, what really matters is having a QB who can read the defense, find the right receiver, and put it in exactly the right spot.

Beane's insistence that you need a franchise QB to succeed in this league. He gets it, I have no doubt about that. Like I said in another thread, if the Bills want a franchise QB, this is the year to do it, and the reason is because they have the draft capital to do it. That QB can come from the draft, from FA, or through trade, although I highly doubt the latter. They may trade for Smith, but nobody (especially Beane) is under the illusion that Smith is a franchise QB. He would just be a caretaker. That leaves FA or the draft. My sense is that Cousins is the only real franchise-level QB available in FA, and I would bet that Beane doesn't want to blow the cap on one guy when they have so many other holes to fill. But, given the amount of draft capital they have, it could be an option. That leaves the draft, and with all the picks they have, this is the opportunity to get the person they want. Ideally the guy would fall to us at #21, but I don't see them wanting to risk that. They want a franchise QB, and they are going to do what it takes to get one. They have the picks to get what they want.

Is Bevell the one who called the pass on the goal line that the Pats*** intercepted to win the Super Bowl? If so, I don't think that choice would go over so well right now.

Dilly dilly!

Here's the thing. If you really want a franchise QB, now's the time to do it. Smith has proven he isn't a franchise QB, so trading for him isn't the long-term answer. You either grab one in FA (Cousins is about as close as you can get to that), or you grab one in the draft. If you're not sold on Cousins, then this is your opportunity to draft one. Not next year, this year. Why? Because this is the year you have the draft capital to grab the guy you want. If all goes as planned, they won't be anywhere near the top of the draft next year, and they won't have the same draft capital to move up. So unless Cousins is the man, then it's time to draft a franchise QB. The real question is: do you think a guy will be there at #21 who can fill that role, or do you need to move up to get him? To me, it's now or never.

Smith is uninspiring, but he’s a hell of a lot more productive than Tyrod. I’d take a QB with those stats any day over what I’ve had to watch the past three seasons. We haven’t had a QB come anywhere near 4000 yards, and he turns the ball over as little as TT. He may not win you a Super Bowl, but he’s not nearly as painful to watch.

Done!

I was in a crowded restaurant in Chicago waiting for our table. I didn’t know what to do. I thought about yelling, but chose not to.

Thanks Ice!

Damn, Karlos really let us down. Dude could have been an awesome #2.

Nothing loads on the front page for me...

Sorry, missed this. Mormonism.

I can't disagree, but our offensive line has been looking pretty bad lately, too. Ducasse and Mills? Oy. Even Wood hasn't looked good the past couple of games.

It wasn't even the play calls at that point. It was the fact that McCoy came out, and we put DiMarco and Tolbert in. Ugh. I'm sure every single one of us knew they should just kick the FG on first down.

I think this perfectly sums it up for me as well. Couldn't have said it better.