GaryPinC

Speaking as a soccer referee who has interacted with football referees, you're on the right track but I feel your perspective is incorrect. The majority of the job is picking out what looks wrong about a play. Yes, knowing how competent teams are playing does bias you to a small degree coming in, but ultimately it's what unfolds in front of your eyes. Yes, you have to anticipate where the play is going, but it's far from the " majority" of your job. The very best games to ref are when two excellent teams play each other. They play smooth and fast, any infractions are unusual and stick out like sore thumbs, making calls easy. But with an excellent team vs a sloppy one, the sloppy team is usually half a step or more behind the good one, tends to get frustrated because they are out of position, and so more fouls tend to be committed. This sloppy play tends to start a pattern of fouls, thus drawing more of the ref's focus. So yeah the more disciplined team can often get away with some because of this. For the Patriots, factor in that Belichick probably knows the rulebook better than most of the officials so there's an intimidation factor also.

Nice little facet of Rooney's statement: “Additionally, having asked numerous ex-White House Counsels and well-known government attorneys, there can be no “obstruction of Congress (or of justice)” while the person refusing to comply is relying on a claim of executive privilege. Only after losing in court, and still refusing to comply with a subpoena, would a claimant be obstructing." Reasoned, well thought out statement by Rooney, worth reading if you haven't. And it's fairly brief!

Why does the record matter much? McD got this turned around with culture and attention to detail. Certainly also some talent courtesy of Beane. I feel like A Lynn is a good coach but doubt he would have taken McD's approach and so no way would I switch McD out for any other coach. Contrast to the Browns. There's a talented mess with an immature coach. No veterans and zero winning culture. How about the Steelers? Great winning culture until last year when LB and AB exploded that locker room. Now the locker room's reset, Tomlin's getting it done with a scrub QB. Best of all, McD is a constant improvement kind of guy. Hopefully that means he changes his approach and offense conservatism if needed. I already think he has compared to 2 years ago. WRT Mahomes, he threw the ball like a pitcher in college, it was a bad look for a "system" QB and so there was definitely room for doubt. As with Tom Brady, which everybody missed on. In my mind the only two quarterbacks considered "can't miss" since the 80's were Elway and Luck. Drafting a QB is still a crapshoot and it's pretty low class arrogant to use hindsight and hold it over newly minted coach/GM, especially since they ended up drafting Allen.

And let's not forget Josh Allen. He's very much a work in progress anticipating open receivers and manipulating the defense but we've run no huddle this year and they've allowed him to audible. I do believe as Allen and the offense develop McDermott will be less conservative and trust them more to make plays. One of McDermott's most under-appreciated facets is that despite his process and control he very much has an appreciation that emotions play a big role in the game and allows, even encourages the players to express them intelligently. Just another reason why I think McDermott will eventually be even less conservative.

McDermott's still learning as a coach IMO. To me, this season, he's seemed much more willing to take chances on fourth downs during games to try and grab momentum. I will never be a fan of sitting on 1 score leads to allow an opponent opportunity to capture momentum but can live with it knowing that McDermott's willing to press his luck in the right situation. Dick Jauron never would. FG was the right call at PGH. Build a small momentum instead of squandering it. That's critical in tight slugfest games.

Always amazes me how many of these $15 people and the UBI supporters fail to recognize that markets are fluid systems and one change begats others.

I hear ya 100%. If it's the Cheatriots there'll be other occurrences

Also check if they applied for press passes at other games they were scouting.

Great topic! One of the biggest problems I see underlying any real change is information flow thanks to technology. You want congress critters to work together? Fine, but your own party's competition can now easily search these instances and use them against you come election time. The days of backroom deals seem gone because of it. Let alone if activists and constituents don't like something about you they can blow up social media for starters. Principled judgement seems lost these days, and I have no idea how we get it back right now. For me it's a critical part of the solution though.

It would seem to me the NFL could check if NE got press credentials for videographers at other games involving future oponnents. The actual film and other oponnents inquiry should seal the deal.

Oh my God, Russia and the Ukraine are interfering in our 2020 election already! Just a feeble attempt to sway it for Trump!

I think it can certainly play in to a lack of QB development, but look at us. JP Losman, Trent Edwards, Cardale Jones, and EJ Manuel all got chances with other teams, often more than one team. New system and coaches didn't matter. I would think a poorly or mis-developed QB would then develop with new coaching/systems but don't see many examples of it. Anyone got some?

?No. No we don't. If someone served a you a large turd with a frosted Bills logo and Josh Allen's picture in the middle, would you still eat it? That's all this is, a giant musical turd, you fixate on the Bills theme, or the token girl. Go ahead and munch away happily. Enjoy!

Yeah, Brooks has an obvious point but his article is kind of useless. For me, seeing Russel Wilson at Wisconsin be successful in the NFL started me thinking. The factor Brooks misses is assessing how well a quarterback makes quick, intelligent decisions under fire. That's the key factor along with leadership abilities. Mahomes was easy to see this, as was Baker. Lamar was surprising for me because his game was one dimensional but when I watched his film it was obvious to see him reading the defense and receivers when needed. So despite his flaws throwing I felt like he could make it in the NFL. Of course, then you've got a guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick who comes so close until his inaccuracy comes back to stifle him. Crap shoot, indeed.

Thanks for posting this. Bruce talking about the home crowd and getting a home playoff game was amazing. Loved the hip check segment also, hilarious!

Was the OIG report delayed by the Republicans or by democratic efforts? Okay, one or two trials. Can the Democrats keep it to inconsequential underlings? What if Horowitz's evidence doesn't fundamentally transform the narrative? Certainly the MSM is going to fight that tooth and nail. Again, my bigger point is the GOP needs to do better handling this situation. familiarity breeds comfort. But, I certainly hope you're right Good to hear, thanks. I think the one universal truth is we are all tired of this.

Yep, I understand all that. But my points remain. How many Americans have taken a deep look at the facts in these cases? Obviously that has happened in our little PPP bubble but how many nationwide have? For those people, they see 2 truths being yelled, both sides equally emotional and imo immature. Which side will they fall on when the MSM stays on point with their approach?

And how likely is it that happens before the elections? How overdue is that IG report again?

I don't disagree with your thinking, but that's in a purely intelligent rational world. I would say people are intellectually and emotionally tired of the entire situation, are definitely tuning out, but will track the media blurbs from a distance. And that will favor the Democrats UNLESS a vast majority of the country agrees with you about MSM credibility. And that's a hell of a risk to take. Which is why I say Repubs need to get their heads our of their asses and realize they need to plan this very carefully, respectfully, and not just assume the facts will seal the deal.

The democrats aren't in trouble. They have the upper hand. From the minute they stopped humming and hawing and Pelosi decided to proceed this was going to be the end result. Turn it over to the republican Senate and politicize the hell out of it with help from the media of course. How hard will it be for the media to proclaim bias and a corrupt process when Lindsey Graham says and does things like this? https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/469992-lindsey-graham-basks-in-the-impeachment-spotlight “I’m not going to read these transcripts. The whole process is a joke,” Graham declared in an impromptu hallway press conference. So, conservatives decry how if GOP were doing the things Schiff and dems did during impeachment there would be a media uproar? Well, it'll happen for sure in the Senate if the GOP isn't intelligent and careful about how they do this. They need to be more respectful of the process and carefully plan the trial as the media will be working against them. If GOP senators had brains they would have the media believe they would be willing to impeach. Graham or some other GOP sen already declared a few weeks ago that if it gets to the Senate Trump won't be convicted. Those on here who enjoy how much Trump gets the media and far left riled up? Well, don't look now but Pelosi and Schiff are doing the same to the GOP. Big difference will be the media coverage. Repubs better grow up real fast, realize what's at stake and very carefully plan this to undermine the propaganda. They need to play the game far better, they are getting beaten badly. The endgame is very simple here: lack of impeachment the fault of the Senate GOP (see inflammatory quotes from Graham et al), give Dems control of government in 2020. You can even leverage all Trump's judicial appointments to that end. IG report and Barr? Well if they can water down the IG report enough, they can and will demonize Barr's work as biased and politically motivated. Things have been delayed so much already, if Dems can stretch it to the elections and win, then it all goes away, just 4 years later. Ah, that darned government red tape!

Excellent post, I agree with your conclusions but from a different angle. The game shouldn't have to hang on Josh's arm (or legs) save a handful of times each game. And that's been a big part of his problem as he has tended to play that way. IMO, he is definitely improving. I went to the Cleveland game and while he did a great job pre-snap, he was very inconsistent with his reads and understanding the design of the play post-snap. I thought he improved that a lot against Dallas, that late 3rd/4th quarter down-your -throat drive has been lacking all year. Odds are he fails the Baltimore test but I'm not convinced anymore. Definitely going to watch!

I'm staying over-optimistic and hoping we can win the East. If Houston upsets NE that would be huge. If we could find a way to beat Baltimore, it becomes entirely possible we beat NE. If we win out we should take the East because an NFC loss to Philly vs hopeful NE loss to Houston. I'd rather see Cleveland beat Pgh because Stillers may throw in the towel. Josh Allen took a step forward reading the D against Dallas and that also fuels my optimism

Maybe more people just tuned in to see what our team is really about? We do get stigmatized, this team and town. Despite articles talking about how we "crushed" the cowboys, they were moving the ball on us all game and it was an entertaining game until late.

Nice. The point is that this team continue to develop. Gaining playoff experience is important development. How far has this team advanced game 16 compared to earlier losses? I was at the Buf/Cleveland game. Allen seems to do decently reading the defense pre-snap but was very inconsistent going through his reads and understanding the design of the playcall (who would be open where). All that he's working on. What if he turns the corner last game of the season? What if the importance of the playoffs help him turn the corner, even in a loss? Our Bills are a solid team, but not elite. I'd rather have us lose to elite in the playoffs then sit at home watching someone else.

You have to give McDermott credit for realizing his team was being over-coached to not make mistakes and correcting that emphasis. No matter what level you coach, mistakes happen because human beings play the game. I've definitely found that the harder your players play, the more chances of mistakes. The more you just fixate on their mistakes the less harder they play. But, if you coach on what they're trying to do and reward and tweak that behavior while challenging all of them to cover each other's mistakes, well, try it and watch your team's winning culture develop. ?