GaryPinC

Surreal connection for me, Dr. Spock died in 1998 and Dr. Robert Needlman edits/writes and oversees new editions of Spock's books. Only reason this matters is Dr. Needlman works at my hospital and I took my son to see him a few times. One of his residents mentioned the connection, I thought it was cool. 😎 I never did ask him how he got the gig though! https://www.metrohealth.org/physician/robert-needlman-105577 https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Robert-Needlman/18496734

I think the next three possible games will be pretty evenly matched. Coaching, and some luck are needed. McDermott's done many, many things right and for me he needs to more creative and intelligently aggressive in the playoffs. And I think he's starting to realize this. D line did a good job, we didn't retreat into a pure prevent defense and we stayed aggressive late in the game to keep momentum. Keeping momentum is key. Someone on Denver's D mentioned the Bills O did a great job of confusing them because of changing their zone blocking schemes frequently. Great stuff, and what I want to hear. McD in his PC mentioned making defensive adjustments at halftime but before halftime whenever possible. As long as he keeps coaching this way I think he gets at least another year before considering a change.

Honestly, I felt like they purposefully did that against the Broncos and will do it throughout the playoffs to protect their D. Eat up the clock on offense, they're good enough and Josh is smart enough. If a team get us out of that, I'll know it's trouble.

This seems most likely, based on body language and Josh. I can't see a ref going over to simply warn/scold Josh about his behavior, body language would be different. Josh didn't want to fully discuss the exchange because he's too intelligent and classy, he only took accountability for his failures. The ref coming over to say "hey, we did miss the call but you can't treat us like that again" seems most likely. Maybe an apology but I doubt it because none was needed. It's part of the game.

Yes, but this is a re-tear several months later. I am not a doctor but I've got to believe the 4-6 month window will be significantly longer. That's also assuming Watson will want to work hard to get back ASAP.

It is brutal, Bills fans have nothing to complain about by comparison. I've lived in Cleveland since the early 90's and it's crazy what they've had to endure. Start with the team leaving and that being known since the beginning of their last season. Then repeated cycles of ineptitude punctuated by the Hue Jackson years: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/05/cleveland-browns-fans-finally-get-a-parade-only-one-they-never-hoped-for Then you could see the talent coming together. 2020 they were getting close to having a winning culture and Haslam mucked it all up a year later. Nothing compares to our teams from the Superbowl years but in 2020 the Browns were akin to the 87 or 88 Bills. Imagine if Ralph decided to get rid of Kelly and invest heavily in a tainted QB. Closest thing I can come up with. That and CLE never had anything akin to the Fitzmagic years to ease the suffering. My heart definitely goes out to them. They aren't much different than Bills fans.

I'm ok with the 12, despite some lopsided games. There's always going to be subjectivity in the rankings and finally, FINALlY they just play it out. No more excuses about how a team lost because they were too beat up by their superior conference coming in. Shut up and go home! I think the non-playoff bowl games will grow because they'll still be money makers and I predict the bottom or bottom two seeds will eventually become early bowl play-in games.

Don't put it on the players for that stupid game plan. Congrats to the Bucks. I think they just won the toughest game they'll play this playoffs. Love their crazy good goal line D!

I think Caleb Downs would look a lot better.

It's a good theory but I don't agree. Josh is singularly dedicated to doing what it takes to win. No matter what his background, if his accuracy was struggling in the NFL he would have taken the same thing to fix. To illustrate my point, look how much Josh has changed from hero ball downfield to reading the D and spreading it around. The last time he tried hero ball was in the Houston game against Diggs. That style was ingrained in him and got him to Wyoming but he transformed himself.

It's really obvious our overall safety play is a weak point of this defense. The coaches know it too, that they still had Cine on PS and willingly let him go says it all.

I wish so many here wouldn't think of it as McD needs to win this or win that... What I want to see from McDermott is that he improves and tweaks his processes for the playoffs. That he realizes what is good enough for the regular season isn't good enough for the playoffs and getting creative when needed as well as anticipating situations better. For me, he is too stuck in his systems at times and tends to tighten up more under pressure and fall back on them. Have better, more aggressive plans on how to vary your schemes to keep the best coaches in the league guessing. D-line HAS to get pressure on the QB, better have stunts and contingency plans if they are not. This defense has had flaws all season, have multiple plans in the playoffs to account for that. He did a great job against KC this year staying aggressive with the defense instead of prevent. Definite growth. LA Rams was 2 fails, the last minute (HC needs to be thinking ahead and dictating there). His other one was not recognizing that McVey took away the run and bet that Josh wouldn't revert to hero Josh enough so he didn't spy him. Took until late in the game when McD should have realized it sooner, instead he lamented after the game he would have liked to run it more. Sure coach. But go with what they are giving you a little sooner in the second half. Modify your plans. Let's hope firing the ST coach after the season isn't too late. Playoff victories can come down to luck and a lot of other things as teams are more evenly matched. I'm looking more at his decision making, creativity and decisiveness. That's what's really needed to get us over the hump.

Congratulations. Anecdotally I have known one person who died of covid and several who suffer intermittent fibrotic lesions on their lungs compromising respiration and making them susceptible to pneumonia. Their doctors say they see it a lot with former long Covid patients. My worst viral sicknesses seemed to involve RSV over both the flu or Covid. I count myself very lucky I don't have to suffer long term effects of Covid. Anecdotally I've never known anyone suffering long term effects of the flu. Then there's the easily proven and understandable truth that worn masks reduce exposure of respiratory viruses to those around you whilst ######s like Bongino do their best to pervert this truth. Congratulations on not being able to understand science.

Thanks for the targeting explanation, your buddy needs to hone his judgment. The tipped ball isn't pertinent to the rule. https://athlonsports.com/college/arizona-state-sun-devils/former-nfl-referee-breaks-silence-controversial-arizona-state-texas-targeting-call He led with his helmet and did lower his head at the moment of contact as the picture in the article shows. This rule is subject to interpretation, so I get what your friend is saying and I would say this was an ill timed tackle event that ended up targeting a still defenseless receiver. It simply happened far too quickly to the catch attempt. It should have been a targeting penalty with a flag but no disqualification. The intent of the rule is to prohibit forcible contact to the head and protect the defenseless player from injury. The defender had a sizeable runup and did not have good timing and technique for clearly avoidable helmet to helmet contact. The receiver was still in the act of completing the catch despite starting to turn upfield. So defender stays in the game because of the intent indicators but still a foul. He needed to learn from this. As a PSU fan, they have a good path to the championship but until Franklin learns to make big boy decisions under pressure it seems academic at best. At least PSU has a chance against Texas!😜

Even the rules expert right away said clear case of targeting. There had to be a betting interest at play, had to be. Not a big Ohio State fan but glad Chip Kelly removed his head from his ass and properly ran that offense. They really came to play on both sides of the ball.

I'm no expert, but the arena seems pretty standard in terms of seating and view. First couple bend sections are ok, I'm not a fan of being on the ends but that's just me.

Not much sadly, my workplace has some kind of discount for March 30th so I could let you know about that if I'm not interested? They play the Clippers at 3:30. Beyond that, If you target a date well in advance and really watch tickets something decent could turn up. But right now, below upper deck on the straightaways are $200+. Took my son for Xmas present and got 2 for $105 each 2nd row upper deck middle vs the Bucks.

Yeah with the 82 games you get some stinkers. Went to the Cavs/Wizards over a month ago and CLE held a 10 point or more lead the entire game so they kept the pace pretty sedate as much as they could. Some athletic plays but a boring game.

Thanks for posting this, definitely a great approach by BB. This is the kind of thing McDermott should be doing if he's not already. He's established the culture now perfect and plan details. For exame, does he have a better plan to defend the hail Mary?

He'll definitely get there. But then you have Jokic who's crazy good but the gorky, neanderthal white guy maybe isn't the best face for the league.😂 I think the NBA is in transition. The old positional roles of center, point guard, etc are being heavily blurred as more teams expect their starters to develop their dribbling, passing, and shooting no matter their position. Set offensive plays are becoming minimal. The focus is becoming playing fast when getting the ball, whether transition of half court offense. Each player being able to pass and shoot it in from anywhere in the half court. Best example of this is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Same roster the last two years. JB Bickerstaff was and is an excellent coach but very traditional on offense, starters rule the minutes, have their role on offense and a lot of times it was a one or two man offense with little passing and people standing around. Contrast to this year with Atkinson who maximizes each player's ability on offense and isn't afraid to go with the most effective lineup late in the fourth. Plenty of passing and ball movement. The Golden State philosophy, ball and people movement to break down the defense for open looks. I feel like this will only grow as more and younger coaches realize it's the most effective way to play basketball. But I enjoy watching 7 footers make crazy threes and think the execution of the game has never been higher. The one thing I think really hurts the NBA is TV accessibility in the home markets, actually both the NBA and MLB. It seems harder and more expensive to tap into the FanDuel network (old Fox Sports), here in Cleveland even if you have the channel you have to specifically pay extra to the channel to see the all Cavs games. Many of the announcers are also as exciting as drying paint and equally knowledgeable. The NFL seems to understand that you can't limit the home market viewing ability too much. This would help marketing the marquee players. But I agree with others that the NBA has been keeping on with LeBron and Curry too long and really needs to push the kids more. Talent and level of play are not the problem, IMO. Look at the best teams like Boston and even past Golden State. Just crazy good teams top to bottom and dangerous anywhere, anytime.

I think that was true for Josh last season, especially after Brady took over.

He's still making some mistakes but his game is improving, most notably his reaction time. Some players may develop in a linear sloped fashion but many are more parabolic in nature. And Cole may be at the edge of that parabolic swing, we just don't know. The fact remains he is one of our top backups and we may have no choice in using him during the playoffs. This snap time is also invaluable for getting him ready for next year. NFL game pace and decision making aren't easily simulated in the practice environment. Agree about your biggest concern, but I'll trust the coaches. Just keep developing our best (game-changing) talent ASAP. Every year is a Superbowl year with Josh Allen.

You were right though in his early years. That's how Lamar played. Just like Josh was ignoring the short routes to stick it down the field. That's why McDermott was able to stymie Jackson with our defense. Last year was a definite uh-oh with Lamar's development. Coaches and he agreed to forego scrambling, they designed most plays that as the pass rush closed in, his back or TE would release just upfield at the same time and Jackson would track that and lob it there. Then they built on that. This year I feel like as a play wore on to start the year Lamar would look to pass over scrambling in the first half, scramble over passing in the second. At this point he's pretty complete. Just like Josh. Both QBs relinquished their scrambling for a short time to learn how to better decision make and play the game. Kudos to both and their respective coaching staffs. I prefer to meet KC over Baltimore in the playoffs if possible. Travis Henry pushes me that way. Baltimore will be the toughest out for us.

Lamar's damn good too. Josh would probably win but not unanimous, I think it would be a close split.

Some on here would be fine with him getting kicked to the bench. McD felt his game improved noticeably and deserved more snaps. At least he sees this, he could have paraphrased "well, he did some things good and some bad but he'll get more chances".