Thurman#1

Van was spectacular, Murph was very good, and Brown is really solid. IMO.

It isn't every year, even though it does seem like it. We've had I believe two years with far below the usual numbers, one or so that was about average, and three of the last five higher than usual. The problem is that these numbers are always wildly variable, even on teams with great training and conditioning staffs. The largest amount of NFL injuries are unpredictable and unavoidable. Again, even teams with great preparation have years when they're over the average and years when they're under and average. It's when things start to be more unvarying that you can see you have a problem. And this staff is very new, so it's hard to know what's up with them yet. Having said that, a bad staff can make a big difference. It isn't clear these guys are bad. If / when it becomes clear, I hope they do something about it immediately. I'm sure they will.

Great idea. Get rid of Ed Oliver, Josh Allen, James Cook and Spencer Brown. That will make us feel that we're all macho and that we're doing something.

The problem isn't never winning a playoff road game. The problem is Kansas City. Let's not kid ourselves. Since they became a good enough team, in 2020 to win playoff games, they've only had three away games, all losses to Kansas City. And the problem wasn't being away. They lost their home playoff game to Kansas City as well. The problem is Kansas City.

Josh's completion percentage is higher than it's been since 2020. And shorter passes will tend to do that.

Palmer and Shakir are separating WRs. Kincaid is a separating TE. And where were all the separating WRs last year when the passing offense looked a lot better than it has the past two or three games? People want to pretend it's really simple. It's not. Even if you watch all-22. There's a lot of things not looking quite as good, including Josh missing throws and not being confident of his footwork. A lot of valuables at play, including game planning, play design, etc. An extra upgrade at WR would help. It would likely not eliminate all the problems. Some, though. But if it's costs a bunch of resources, it would require downgrades elsewhere, now or later, that would cut team performance. This really is a balancing act more than people want to admit. The goal here isn't to have a great WR room. It's to have a great team that performs well together.

Yeah, I still can't figure why Ty Johnson doesn't seem to be quite the same guy this year. I think that explains why we don't seem him as much. The first few games he had chances and wasn't as good. IMO we've got to start throwing more to the TEs and RBs as well. Haven't seen that as much lately.

What does Mahomes have at the WR position that would be considered elite ... also NOTHING!!! Out of the three teams you mentioned with good WRs, two are not very good teams. Spending so many resources on WRs has not helped them get as close as the Bills have on a consistent basis. Philly is a good team, but Smith is not "elite," he just isn't. And it's arguable that the reason they spent so much is because their QB really isn't that good as a passer compared to guys like Mahomes, Burrow and Josh, and needs support in that specific place. And the Chiefs are the best of the bunch on offense, without anyone elite, though they do have two solid guys, one of whom is probably a #1, though not a "true" #1. For several years now, though, they've done well without a #1. Not that I would mind if we could get someone else. But we're not getting guys who keep getting mentioned like Garrett Wilson and Waddle and A.J. Brown. Olave seems unlikely now, but he and Shaheed are likely the high end of the possible. And the tape really does show that Josh has had a relatively bad last two or three games, and that with Palmer, Shakir and Kincaid Josh has weapons in the pass game enough to be successful.

Good breakdowns with a ton of video. Mentioned early are Ogunjobi, Walker, Poyer's calming effect having a positive impact on Cole Bishop, and how the run fits were a lot better.

Interesting. Thanks for posting it. Worth noting that DVOA, which also adjusts for strength of opponent, has the Bills at #9 right now.

I just wish that reporters wouldn't say things like she does in this article like, "Hutchinson’s average annual salary of $45 million makes him the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, trailing only Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons, who earns $46.5 million per year after being traded from the Dallas Cowboys and signing an extension before the season." Neither of them has an average annual salary of $45M or $46.5M. Those are the average of the extension only, NOT of what the team will have to pay if they keep them until the end of the extensions. Hutchinson's extension starts in 2027 and ends after 2030, but he actually got $15M yesterday. From this year through 2030, he'll cost about $210.8M over 6 years, which comes to about $35M per year. Parsons' deal starts next year so the actual figures are closes to the value of the extension, but still quite a bit less over the course of the whole five years, which is the correct way to look at it, unless you are Parsons' agent. Hutchinson's terrific, and it's a good deal for the Lions. Nonsense. You can overpay anyone. It's harder to overpay great ones, but very far from impossible. Just a quick example is that Stefon Diggs was great when we signed his extension. Then stuff happened. Aiyuk was great, till he hasn't been. Quenton Nelson was great, till he hasn't been. Things change, guys get injured, stuff happens. And Beane's been very good and continues to be so. Not perfect, or close, but nobody is.

Nah, we`ve already got a shot this year, a good one. And the question was whether those teams' WRs in total were better or worse, not whether other teams had one guy who was better. None of those teams are obviously better as a group, though for 2 or 3 of them it's an easy argument to make. It's not objective, it's just not. It's subjective, an opinion is what it is. And for the millionth time, the objective in football is not to have the best WR room. It's to have the best team.

30.9% slot snaps last year and 1027 yards. 50% for his career, but the last two years much less and he's still been productive.

Thanks very much for collecting these, Happy Days. Great stuff, very promising.

Overall pessimistic? No, not really. But I wasn't quite as optimistic as many over the first few weeks. I think they've got a very legit shot at it, still. As usual. And that one of these years, we will absolutely get there. Possibly this year. I'm right in the middle. It's really tough, really really tough to win a Super Bowl, especially with Mahomes playing for Reid in your conference. But they have a real chance, I think. I do hate to see New England rising. I hated seeing them hire Vrabel. He knows how to put together a football team.