mannc

I’m absolutely amazed that on a Bills board, OJ Simpson is left off anyone’s list. In his prime, which admittedly was too short, there was never anyone better, before or since. (OK, I never saw Jim Brown play.). OJ had it all—sprinter’s speed on a 215 pound frame, incredible balance and vision, and he was an excellent receiver, too. He made it all look effortless. It’s too bad his first three years in Buffalo were wasted playing for coaches who were too stupid to know what they had. Next to OJ, Barry Sanders was just a gadget back—fun to watch, but that’s it. And of course he never won squat.

I never saw Brown play, but my dad grew up in Cleveland and said exactly what you just said—and that he might also have been one of the greatest athletes of all time.

Ok, I’ll admit I was influenced by that video someone posted of all the drops by Bills receivers last season...Foster had some really bad ones, as did Zay.

I agree. I think maybe we need to stop comparing Josh Allen to other QBs and saying he can succeed only if he masters the short-medium passing game, like Brady, Brees, etc. Allen has enormous physical talent, is smart, and has a great work ethic. With more experience, he's going to get better at being an NFL quarterback, but not necessarily by becoming more like other successful QBs. I believe his talent is unique and that he's going to win games his own way...maybe that means he's going to win football games by throwing the ball deep down the field and busting off big runs 4 or 5 times per game, without ever becoming great at throwing touch passes to running backs and slot receivers. I'm not saying that's definitely the case, but we need to be open to the idea that Allen can become a franchise QB without becoming like other franchise QBs or without having a completion percentage of over 60 percent.

Agreed. Foster had a great second half of the season, but he drops a LOT of balls. I do not think the Bills can afford to stand pat after signing Beasley and Brown.

Yep, that was more egregious than the recent NFC championship game non-call. This rule change is long overdue. These are game-changing calls that are regularly botched in the field. My only complaint is that they did not include replay for unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer penalties.

Good Lord, I hope Beane does not believe this. McCoy was absolutely awful in 2018. I'm sure he'll get a chance to prove otherwise this year, but it looks to me like he is done. I can't foresee any circumstance in which he's on the roster in 2020.

The team has gone too long without drafting a RB. IIRC, the last RB taken was Jonathan Williams. I can almost guarantee Beane will draft at least one this year.

Don't forget Zay Jones...although there was some improvement from his rookie year, we was still a drop factory in 2018.

I don't think there's a lot of moral outrage. It's more that it makes Kraft look like a pathetic old creep. The idea of a 77-year old billionaire having to get his jollies at a low-rent rub joint makes the guy a laughing stock, more than anything. That's the part of this incident that Kraft can never live down, whether he beats the rap in court or not.

I had forgotten about Fitzgerald’s playoff run, which was pretty amazing. To be fair, Gore had a few good playoff games for the 49ers. The problem is, he was never a top 3 back in the league. Fitzgerald was at least in that neighborhood for a long time.

Larry Fitzgerald is a terrible comparison. He’s had 4 seasons with over 1400 yards receiving, 5 seasons with over 100 catches and 8 seasons with 90 or more catches. He was also selected first team all pro 4 times and second team twice. Gore was selected second team all-pro one time, in 2006. Case closed. Not sure why you keep referring to baseball players.

Football is not baseball and Gore is far from automatic; in fact, I’d say he’s a long shot. He’s never led the league in rushing, he’s never been much of a receiver, he has zero postseason accomplishments, and, most importantly, he’s never been one of the three best in the league at his position, which should be a minimum requirement for HoF enshrinement.

Gore has been a very good back for a long time. That's worth something, but it should not be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. He's really only had one outstanding year--his second year in the league. Other than that year, he's (arguably) never been a top-three back in the league. His career numbers are based on his longevity as a good, solid back, rather than brilliance. No way was he a better back than Edgerrin James, for example. And his teams have never won squat. A marginally better case can be made for McCoy, I think, because during his best couple years he was probably one of the top two or three backs in the league. I wouldn't vote for him, though.

I hope you’re right, but I’m not at all convinced. Belichick is incredibly adaptable and we saw that last year with their transition to the top running offense in the league. He always seems to be a step ahead of the rest of the league, and several steps ahead of the Bills. I expect the Pats to acquire a QB in the draft and start the transition. And I’m pretty sure there won’t be any “rebuilding years” in Foxborough.

Not to mention the fact that if Frank Gore is inducted into the Hall of Fame, then the honor will have lost all meaning. Shady as a Hall of Famer is also highly debatable.

Well, last year Beane traded up for a LB immediately after getting our QB...so much for that theory...

The bad news is the Pats got weaker at QB this past year but compensated for it by becoming the best running team in the league. It’s a never-ending nightmare...

Sweat will most likely be available at 9. Bosa is the only guy I think Beane would trade up from 9 for, but IMO the price would be too high.

Excellent post. But of course, anyone who actually watched the Pats play the past 9 seasons already knows that Gronk was easily the non-QB MVP on that team. With regard to many positions, that's true. I just don't think it's true in this case, just as it's not true with regard to head coaches...

How were Barry's postseason stats?

A statement that is impossible to prove, and which is directly refuted by (1) the endless winning that took place during the nine years that he played for the Pats, and (2) the fact that he made huge catch after huge catch to help them win actual games. That happened; I saw it.

That’s funny...I could have sworn I’ve seen Gronkowski make a ton of huge catches that won (or helped win) games for the Pats. I don’t doubt that they will win plenty of games next year without him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t great.

This is the guy we got from LA in the Sammy trade, right? Can’t keep all these rotating DBs straight....

The Patriots have had a lot of great players over the past 18 years. The fact that none of them measures up to Gronkowski is hardly a mark against him. And I’m not sure why you are comparing Gronk to Moss and Rice. Those guys were not TEs and never threw a block in their lives. Come to think of it, same is true of Gonzalez, really. And the word is dominant, not dominate. ?