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His athleticism is what allowed the play to happen. For 15 million dollars this team will not find a player that will make as big of an impact as Cook will. If you don't agree with that statement I get it. That's how these things go. I think he's a 12 million dollar guy and not 15. But I keep getting stuck on reflecting on my own financial situations over time. A lot of the time 10% would have secured my highest motivation as it showed a belief in me. I have gotten it at times and not in others. In the end the cost to the employer was a very dedicated high performing employee over a fraction of what the likely replacement and training costs would be. I see the gap from 10 to 15 million with Cook as a fairly similar situation which is where I really wonder just how much more we would get with 5 million dollars?

Just a small point for general information. Our AWACS capability would not require anything to be in Iranian airspace. That includes Air Force and Navy. Both services have AWACS that would be well away from that airspace and be fully capable of doing their thing.

There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear There's a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware

What is it about that play that distinctly James Cook? It's a great football play, but I don't think there's any particularly unique skill that he has that enabled him to do that. It's not like it's a signature move. Could I see Singletary or Moss making that play? Absolutely. I could see Ty Johnson making it too. Derick Henry? Probably not. He'd just run straight through the guy instead. There are a lot of ways RBs can add value above replacement without having to replicate a given play, too. Maybe Barkley scores on 1st down, so you don't even need to have a hero pitch. If you look at the top 15 backs int he league, there's a ton of talent there. I don't think Cook does anything terribly special to stand atop most os them. There's also a new crop of rookies that will likely insert themselves in that group too. As for what I'd do with the money, I'd spend it on basically any other position but RB or special teams. We'll likely need to make a serious investment at safety next year, whether that's in the 1st/2nd round or FA. The same goes for EDGE, and possibly WR. Maybe Elijah Moore resurrects his career and we want to keep him? The only way I'm giving a RB $15M a year is if he can carry the entire team on his back with Trubisky under center.

As far as how the Bills would fare without Josh, well you first have to define your terms. Is it if Josh got injured early and we had to play Trubisky all year? Or is it because Josh left Buffalo or was injured in the offseason and Beane had either, or both, free agency and the draft to replace him? The OP set the terms at average QB play. Well, last year, the most average QBs were Matthew Stafford and C.J. Stroud. Player Total Yards rank TDs rank INTs rank Stafford 17th 16th 16th most INTs Stroud 16th 17th 8th most INTs So, how would the Bills fare with average QB play? Well Stafford and Stroud both led their teams to 10 wins last year. No question, the Bills currently have a better RB room, TE room, and offensive line than the Texans or Rams. While the Texans and Rams have the better WR rooms (provided they stay healthy). The Texans and Rams defenses both gave up more points than the Bills defense (and that was a down year for Buffalo). So, I see no reason why either of those two QBs couldn't still have at least 10 wins with this Bills roster. And if you think Stafford and Stroud were only average last year due to their WR injuries, well the next few guys on the list (ranking ~18-22, which would be slightly below average) and their 2024 records were: Jayden Daniels (12 wins), Caleb Williams (5 wins), Kirk Cousins (7 wins), Jordan Love (11 wins), and Jalen Hurts (14 wins). I still think most of those guys could get us to at least 9 wins. Last year, the Bills defense was 12th in points allowed. It was definitely a down year for the defense, but we should be much improved this season (imo). But, of the 7 QBs noted above, only 3 of their teams allowed fewer points than the Bills. So, our defense is stronger than most of those teams...meaning that would actually help at least 4 of those QBs to fare better in Buffalo---or at least it would even out if you think their WRs or whatever are better). But how many of those teams are overall more talented than the Bills, position-by-position? Philly and ...who? Plus McDermott took a much, much less-talented team with Tyrod Taylor as the QB (who I wouldn't even say was average) to 9 wins. Yes, it was an easier schedule than 2025 will be, but he was a first year head coach at the time and just look at the difference in overall talent between the 2017 team and the 2025 team. Our top receiver that year was Charles Clay with 558 yards. The receiving leaders in order of yards were: Clay, LeSean McCoy, Deonte Thompson, Nick O'Leary, Zay Jones, Jordan Matthews, Kelvin Benjamin, and Andre Holmes. I don't know about you, but Shakir, Palmer, Coleman, Moore, Samuel, Kincaid, Knox, Cook, Davis, Johnson, etc. looks a hell of a lot better than that 2017 mess. Yes, we had Shady, but our #2 RB was Mike Tolbert. How about Jordan Mills vs. Spencer Brown? Etc. Etc. Even on defense, a lot of the good players (Tre, Milano, Hyde, Poyer, Alexander) were rookies or in their first year with the Bills. And it was a new defense (and offense) for everyone. All new coaches, a new GM, no culture established yet, supposed star players jettisoned (Watkins, Dareus), etc. If he could make 9 wins with that mess, what's to say he couldn't do the same with a significantly better roster? Let's face it guys. The Bills are a very talented team beyond just Josh Allen. A quick look at a few 2025 O-line rankings had Bills as S-tier (elite), #2, #4, #8. Our RB room is top 5-7 in the league. Our TEs are above-average. In my opinion, this is easy a 9+ win team with or without Josh (as long as the QB play is at least league average). Now if you say we had to run the year with Trubisky...well, it would depend on if he played at league average or not. If he did, again, probably a 9- or 10-win team. If he stunk up the joint, yeah, we'd probably have a below .500 record, but that wouldn't be based on team talent, but on poor QB play. But, if the defense improves to a normal McDermott standard, even with poor-quarterbacking (provided it's not Peterman-esque 5 INTs/game) we would still at least be competitive in more than half of our games. And as others have said, what team that has a generational, future-HOF QB wouldn't see a drop-off if he were out. You can only really compare the situation to a Mahomes-, or Rodgers-type of player in their prime. The drop-off from many QBs to their backup will never be as significant as the drop-off from a HOF-type QB to his backup. And seriously, the Patriots with Matt Cassell is the exception to the rule, not the norm by any means. Cassel had 10 wins and 5 losses. He also had Belichick as his coach, with Randy Moss and Wes Welker as his top receivers, with a defense that allowed the 8th fewest points that year, on a team coming off an 18-1 year and a Super Bowl appearance (losing by 3 points to the Giants in the SB). So, looking at it that way, yes, the team still had 11 wins total in 2008 (Brady got 1 before being injured), but the drop-off from the previous year was still 7 or 8 games. A significant drop-off, despite 11-wins still being a decent season.

I was keeping it to football, but, yes, I agree that Kelly is better at a lot of things than Josh - surviving cancer, judging wet t-shirt contests in Daytona, etc. The OP to which I replied made a statement which I believed was factually inaccurate: something along of lines, "there is not one thing that Kelly is better at than Josh in football." I found one think Kelly did better in football - getting to the Superbowl. I was not saying Kelly was more fortunate, or that Kelly was solely responsible for getting the Bills to the Superbowl. I'm just saying he was better than Josh at getting to Superbowls. That is indisputable. I made no assertions as to the reason why he got to Superbowls. Look, to be the QB of ANY team that makes the Superbowl, luck or fortune is a component. Luck has played a part for Mahomes, Brady, etc. So far, luck hasn't been kind to Josh in terms of advancing to the Superbowl. Coaching, defense, injuries, refs, quarterback ability as well as a myriad of other factors all play a role in advancing a team to the Superbowl. It's not just the Quarterback. We've had 59 Superbowls and I'll bet less than 70 total quarterbacks have started in the game (as many have started in multiple SBs). Josh isn't one of them. Does this mean Josh is a worse QB than Trent Dilfer or Tony Eason? No. But, like it or not, Josh will be judged on his lack of Superbowl appearances and Superbowl wins. Charles Barkely, Allen Iverson, Barry Bonds never won rings, but they all at least made it to the finals. Josh has yet to do that.

If the Iranian Regime Falls, What Will Follow? David Strom A sudden collapse of the Iranian regime looks like a real possibility. As far as I know, the Israelis have no plans to take out Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, but they are systematically dismantling the pillars of state power underneath him. The Ayatollahs are on the run, and the generation that put them into power doesn't have a ton of support from average Iranians. Persia in the 1960s and 1970s was a rapidly developing and Westernizing country. It was the regional power, balancing the less Western-friendly Arab states. The women were treated with dignity and enjoyed the same freedoms as Western women--videos of Iranians living their daily life were not very dissimilar to those from a European Mediterranean city. But the regime was toppled by Islamists who were very unhappy with the trend toward Westernization. An unholy alliance between communists and Islamists systematically undermined the regime, and when Jimmy Carter withdrew US support for the Shah due to his repression of the opposition, the regime fell. The Shah was right and Carter was wrong. We have been in a low-medium level conflict with Iran for over four decades, and millions died in the Iran-Iraq war because of Carter's foolishness. The Middle East was destabilized, and progress was set back decades. Still, the fall of the Ayatollahs and the reinstatement of a constitutional monarchy — a somewhat likely outcome — does not guarantee an Iran that returns to relative stability. Just as the fall of Gaddafi in Libya led to chaos, that is one possible outcome. The mechanisms of state power are being destroyed, and Iran's economy has been devastated by sanctions and now war. https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/06/16/if-the-iranian-regime-falls-what-will-follow-n3803857

Libs: ”Haha. See. He’s …… um…..wait…….what are we rooting for again?”

Anytime you are paying a guy that type of money, he is going to have to carry a bigger load, that's the reality of the NFL these days.

There have been something like 85,000 videos from the Ukraine War. You’re not looking hard enough

They need a distraction.

So should have Wuhan virus on January 20, 2021. Guess what? Campaign promises don't always come true/immediately.

You just have never seen McD out coach him in a playoff game.