JohnC

The regime excruciatingly put themselves in a position that they wanted to be in. They wanted to rework the roster and the cap structure. The issue comes down to could they have accomplished what they set out to do with a more incremental and less dismantling approach? As demonstrated by their actions they clearly devised a full throttle strategy to take their hits up front in order to establish a more clean slate divorced from the past. As you noted what they do this offseason with the position they are in will determine whether that strategy will have worked. Now that they have the wherewithal will they use it wisely to address many of the holes that they themselves have created? There are many who are in a panic how this season has materialized. I'm not. It shouldn't have been a surprise. Because of the plain view of shedding of players and salaries every credible analyst predicted how this season would unfold for this rebuilding franchise. My question to the frantic fans who are in a state of frenzy is when an organization makes a decision to rebuild what did you expect? Smooth sailing and immediate results? Let's get serious and deal with the real world. Fantasy is not the harsh reality of this gruesome process. If you want to seriously judge then wait for the offseason and next draft and see how the roster is being bolstered or not. And wait at least until next year to make a decision as to whether Josh Allen is capable of being a franchise qb.

It looks like his Micky Mouse hat is on sideways.

What I like about Josh is that he (as are the other highly drafted qbs this year) is a hard worker who is going to use the offseason to diligently prepare. As I stated in other posts it is up to this staff to put him in a good position to succeed. The best way to do that is to upgrade the OL and the receiver corps. We have the cap capital and draft picks to address those areas. The model I am looking at is what the Rams did to help Goff's advancement. After his rookie year they brought in two offensive linemen and completely revamped their receiving unit through free agency and the draft. With the excellent coaching of McVay Goff made a quantum leap forward. Now playing in his second year he is considered one of the better qbs in the league. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. I'm not saying that Allen is as good as Goff who is certainly a more prolific passer. But my point is that if you smartly address your stark deficiencies on offense you will increase the odds that the qb you invested in will more likely succeed. As you astutely noted this season isn't about wins and losses. It is more about developing Josh Allen. How this offseason is handled will be critical to that issue.

Simple solution: Wear thicker socks. Sometimes having memory a lapse can have a useful purpose.

I'm surprised that someone who can exhibit such warmth and kind-spirit can deep in his soul be such a stone cold hater. I guess no one can know what is in one's heart.

I respectfully but strenuously disagree with you that Allen's injury was detrimental to his development. In a perverse sense the injury was the best thing that could happen to him. It gave the qb who was being overwhelmed a hiatus and allowed him to stand back and assess what is going on. I'm not happy that he got hurt but I think that he needed a pause and more study work to get a better grasp of how to play. In the long-run playing this season certainly will accelerate his development and better prepare him for the next offseason and season. But when you are drowning in the pool you need to be pulled out of it to catch your breath and clear your water logged lungs. As mediocre a qb Anderson is watching him play and prepare is beneficial for the rookie. .

If you review the roster for Syracuse they have a lot of young players. And if you check out the recruits you will notice that the recruiting has been from a wide range of locations. Instead of looking back to the prior Marrone era whose tenure was never going to be for the long-haul give credit to the current coach who has done a terrific job in a very challenging environment for a program that was mostly down for a long time. I don't know if other programs are interested in Dino Babers but without question he would be an attractive coach for a big program that is now floundering. I hope he stays a while and gets the program fully established. Appreciate what you got and don't dwell on the past. I'm also hoping that the UB coach stays with the program and builds on the foundation that he has established. As I said before I would love to see each of the programs be successful and become in-state rivals.

The problem was not starting a turnaround so much as sustaining it. In the past there were short intervals that appeared to be the start of something good. But nothing further materialized. Marrone was not going to be a long term solution because he was always looking to move up the ranks. I'm not criticizing him for his ambitions but I am saying that under him the program's upward trajectory wasn't a serious change of direction. My sense is the current coach is moving the program forward.

If you exhibited the same aggression towards DircTV as you do towards my hockey takes I'm confident that your monthly bill would be heavily discounted.

Self-congratulations and promotions are gauche. However, prompting others to sing your praise is acceptable if done discreetly. Good call Bandito.

Where Syracuse is ranked doesn't alter the fact how quickly this coach has turned around a moribund program into a relevant program. In addition, Syracuse is also an entertaining team to watch. This program was for so long stuck in the graveyard of middling programs. It would sometimes bump up a little but for the most part it was a dead program not only to the college ranks but also to its own community. For what this program has accomplished I say good for them. And I'm also happy that UB is becoming a relevant program. I would love to see these in-state teams play one another and make it a regular tradition.

Did you call DirecTV? They should be able to help you or at least know what the problem is? Whether it is the recorder or whatever issue? I'm sure others have had the same problem. I had the hockey package last year. I stopped watching the games. Couldn't stomach the garbage. This year, this team plays like a serious hockey team and is fun to watch. I like you usually DVR the game just in case that I can't watch them So far I haven't had an issue that you are subjected to. Just a suggestion but you might want to ask for a credit because of the intermittent working of your DVR. They are pretty accommodating to their customers.

How many people on this board were saying that Goff was a bust because of his first year travails? How many people thought that Mahomes was not going to succeed because of his poor foot work? What I can guarantee you if this organization doesn't dramatically increase the talent on the OL and receiver corps units you will be setting up our current rookie qb to fail. What the Rams did in Goff's first offseason is bring in two free agent starters on the line and remake the receiving unit. With our good cap situation and draft assets there is no good reason to not address those deficiencies.

When a store is known to be an easy pigeon it will get repeatedly hit. When a store is known to prosecute thieves then the prospective thieves move on to easier pigeons. Target is known for its top shelf surveillance system and their willingness to pursue cases. They are also more aggressive than most stores in following up on credit card fraud. You are never going to fully stop the theft but you sure can slow it down because when you get a full time lifter you are not resolving a single case but you are onto the series of cases that they are involved in.

It's apparent that we are going to be drafting from a high position. We should be able to get a good prospect in the second round. In addition, we should be able to get some solid #2 receivers from the market. The one receiver I have been watching is Marquise Brown from Oklahoma. He is a little small but he is fast and can get open. He would be a good addition assuming that he can gain a little more weight. My point is that we should be able to upgrade the unit.

They didn't have to respond right away. Home Depot could have made an phone complaint with it given an official complaint #. The follow-up could have been the next day or later. The information at hand was not going to change. The complaint could have been made the next day if that would have been a better time for the authorities. What I know for sure is these type of establishments know how to file police complaints because shop lifting is something they deal with all the time. They have protocols regarding retrieving surveillance tapes and making reports. So this shouldn't have been an unusual situation for them. I had a case where someone stole my credit cards out of my locked locker at a public pool. The lazy ass pool manager didn't want to get involved. So I took the initiative to make the complaint. My complaint was given to an officer over the phone. The follow up was done to an assigned detective who diligently went to the stores where the card was used and reviewed their footage of those involved using the credit cards. This case turned out to be a multi-jurisdictional investigation with search warrants and house raids. It went from a lower court to a higher court as the case developed. Time went by and the case kept getting bigger. After two years of legal wrangling the thieving priiick finally plead guilty the day the trial was supposed to start. If you want to visit him you need to go to the prison he is currently residing in. A thief is a thief. The degenerate you dealt with probably has a record and is on some sort of probation. If that is the case all the police need to do is notify his probation officer where his probation will be pulled and then sent to jail.

Why do you think the police wouldn't have acted? Home Depot needed to call the police and file a complaint. They certainly have a tape of the individual in the premises pocketing the items and then walking out. The alarms sounded and the staff witnessed the individual/s walking out when the alarms went off for non-payment of items. You took a picture of the vehicle and the individuals and I assume the license plate. This is a ready made case for the police after the complaint was made. They will run the tag numbers and come up with the person who owned the vehicle. You and the other witnesses could then be asked if the person who owned the vehicle was the same person who was driving. If not then the owner of the vehicle would have to tell the police who was driving the car seen at the Home Depot. On top of that the vehicle should be easy to identify because the windshield is shattered. Is this a big case? No. But it certainly is a case that should be easy to solve. The police departments don't like to waste their team with nuisance cases. But this is a case that can be solved and resulting in a good stat for them. The police like good stats. In addition, I don't know how much in value these brazen thieves took but it doesn't take much to rise to a felony level. And that would be a good stat for the police.

This is an offseason where McBeane have to use their assets to upgrade the offense. Our OL has to be dramatically remade to function at a pro level and give our young qb a chance to succeed. I do believe that both the units on offense can be addressed this offseason with out good cap situation.

I'm certainly not against using our draft assets to pick up a receiver but I think a player who has lost much of the speed and quickness he had is not what we need. Although he can catch and is crafty and runs good routes we need receivers who are quicker and who can get open. Garcon can still be productive with a good qb. It wouldn't be very productive with the situation we are in.

An interesting question is whether it is going to be easier to pick-up some credible offensive linemen than credible receivers from the free agent market. The Bills have the wherewithal to pay more for the players they are interested in. They need to diligently scout the league rosters and come up with some decent targets to pursue. Whaley had his faults but he was good at coming up with mid-tier free agents who proved to be productive.

The Bills are not an appealing team for a quality market receiver but they are in a good position to pay an above market rates for a good #2 caliber receiver. That in itself would be a major upgrade. If you also consider the option of the Bills using maybe a second round pick to get a quality prospect, and then add a market pickup that would be a dramatic change from the invisible receivers that are currently getting playing time.

It's not inconceivable that Tage is a Sage. ? Tage has a good shoot and he for a big man he is a smooth skater. I see him getting PP time. With him the issue is whether it is better for his development to play fewer minutes with the big club or play a lot in the AHL. My bias is to get him a lot more playing time with Rochester. He has obvious offensive skills. As with Chara (not saying he is as talented) it takes very tall and lanky players more time for the bodies to fill out and their skill set to smooth out. I like him a lot as a prospect and believe that he is not too far away from being a full time NHL player.

Whether a player can be compelled to go to a team he might not want to play for do you want to bring in that player when you already know how he feels?

Buffalo dealing for him would be a predictable disaster. He's the type of personality who is volatile and can't contain his emotions when things are not going right for him. If he played for the Bills how long do you think it would take for him to act out after our qbs couldn't get the ball to him enough to suit him? I'm not suggesting he's a bad guy. Without question he's a dynamic player whose mere presence has an effect on the defense. It's just that for this team and city when his emotions get roiled he becomes a lingering distraction where the only satisfactory solution is to deal him off. It's an easy call: Just pass on him if he is available.

The most captivating playing in this game was Panarin. He's a sharp shooter who quickly gets his shot off. There is little messing around with the puck when he is in a good shooting situation. Quite an impressive player. He's a player the opposition always has to account for. I thought Ulmark who was often left exposed by the Sabres played a good game. Overall, he has played well. The issue for me is whether it is better to play him every third game or so or split the games with Hutton? I'm not sure at this point if he is a heavy load goalie? I trust Housley's judgment on this issue.