Thurman#1

He didn't fail in the playoffs. The Buffalo Bills did. Anyone calling for his head is clinically nuts. Clinically. He and Beane are the reason for this team's ascendancy. Why? Because he and the GM he brought in traded far up and picked that quarterback despite a ton of concern around the league that Allen would never be accurate. Yes, he has the best QB in the league. He gets a ton of the credit for that, and for Allen's improvement because he put the systems around Allen that have helped and maximized his improvement.

Perhaps if he died. Also if he became a heroin addict.

I believe that was Eric Wood. Whose example was a play that was easy that was actually a mistake by a rookie which on film looked just like a mistake by a rookie. It was pretty funny, his best example was a play that he explained was actually just what it looked like. Every NFL team pays them for their data. If they sucked at their job, nobody would pay. Now, if Lewan is correct, it would be indefensible. But he didn't appear to have any proof.

Please. If it were really that tough, we'd have no idea whether any player was any good. It's just not that difficult to tell what most players were supposed to do on most plays, once you can look at the film. There are plays where you can't be sure occasionally, but in most cases it's pretty clear. When it's ambiguous, PFF doesn't try to guess.

Be interesting to see what PFF says. I doubt it, myself, as it would be a stupid business move, killing the goose for the golden egg. My guess is it's a rumor, but we'll see.

Interesting. I'll have to try to figure out at some point why things are converted to dead money. And yes, practice squad salaries go up every year. In 2030, it'll be $16,750 a week.

Yes, the practice squad counts to the cap. Last year, according to Spotrac, our practice squad totalled $1,289,600 against the cap, 0.68% of the cap. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/2021/ It's about 2/3rds of the way down the page. Weekly PS salary minimum last year was $9.2K and it goes up this year to $11.5K, so we will be spending about 22% more, roughly. More if they decide on a guy or two with more experience. And as of right now, for the 2023 season we are already about $12.5M OVER the cap. Things will change, and we certainly will get under the cap, but this is a big concern going forwards.

It takes time. If only they were ready when we needed them rather than when they reach their own individual tipping points. The rule is generally you can't call someone a bust for three years. There's good reason it's three years. Some get there earlier, but some don't. You can't cook an omelette and say, well, I can't wait as long as the recipe says, so I'll just cook it at three times the temperature for a third of the time. It won't work out well. Myself, I have faith we'll see real improvement from some of these guys and that this is a roster that looks legit ready for Super Bowl competitiveness.

I'd bet they're all but done. Very little cap is left to play with, this year or next, and that's a major concern. I'd expect small moves still but not a lot beyond that.

I'd argue that the FAs who have not signed with other teams, like Sanders and Zimmer shouldn't be listed as "left." You never know what will happen. They just haven't been re-signed yet. Good summary. I'd argue you're a bit overoptimistic on the receivers and LBs (IMO Klein will be missed and while I'm really hopeful on Bernard, he won't be as good this year as Klein was), but are basically very reasonable.

Where would she have plugged herself in?

Trent wasn't their type in one respect. They have at various times signed many people who for various reasons were not their type in one or more respects. Elam is an example, as the Bills have a strong tendency to pick only CBs who are excellent tacklers, and Elam has some issues there. They are willing to break tendencies when the overall package makes it worthwhile. So yeah, in terms of arm length, McDuffie was not their type. They may very well have been very interested in signing him regardless.

I'm with him on this. There's racism in the league, particularly in terms of coaches and GMs, but perhaps also among backup QBs. But Kaepernick is being blackballed not so much because he's black as because he's bad publicity and has been perceived (unfairly, but for many that is the perception) of being anti-anthem.

He does have a weak arm, but there was bad luck too. If I remember correctly, he had two plays where he hit the WR who then promptly volleyball-set the football up to be intercepted. It certainly wasn't good, but it also wasn't as bad as some wanted and continue to want to make it out to be.

Yeah, they coped pretty well, but with Tre in this is a much tougher team for offenses to deal with.

Oh, my God, that's funny. Too long, Marv, but I appreciate the time and effort.

Fair enough. But of course, there is also a real chance that he absolutely does dress and play every game. Dunno which is more likely. We'll have to see. My guess is it's somewhere between those two.

Sure, yeah, guesses can be considered reality if you're not really sure what reality is.

Don't expect that from Phillips. You'll be disappointed. He got very lucky that year. He ran through holes untouched on a very large percentage of his sacks. His pressure percentage was fairly unimpressive. He just got sacks on a historically excellent percentage of his pressures. Like a better than Von Miller kind of a percentage. He got lucky. But he was still a pretty solid player even when he wasn't getting lucky. That's what they are looking forward to. The statisticians all told us it was a fluke and while he was a good player he wouldn't get that kind of a year for sacks again. He didn't. Both before and since that year he got a pretty normal percentage of sacks per pressure.

Schobel totalled 78 sacks. Jerry 58. Now, I'm no Blaise Pascal, but that doesn't seem to subtract down to 55. Just sayin'. But Schobel really was good.

And I'm saying 9/11 was an American government plot. and that the moon is made of green cheese. Stuff happens. He might retire, there were rumors he was considering it this off-season. He also might get a contract somewhere. As usual, we'll have to see.

Yes. And yet Phil Hansen was no better than Hughes. Hansen also had zero All-Pros and zero Pro Bowls. My guess is that Hughes is close but not quite good enough. But the same is true of Hansen, IMO. The two were pretty close in sacks, but there wasn't any Bruce Smith on the other side drawing attention away from Jerry. Nor a Cornelius Bennett rushing from outside Hughes. Hansen was a better run defender Denmark it down that he could be back from them Netherlands in Texas. Myself, I think it ain't a bit Faroe. Islands of civilization are hard to find in Texas.

Not at all. He'd lost a step but was still very impactful. I wish him the absolute best of luck. A great Bill and a fine person.

I could be wrong, but I believe that when he said Whaley and Brandon were the main reason we sucked for 20 years, he was being sarcastic. GM is absolutely part of the mix in terms of culture. He brings in the kind of players that the coach wants. And if that includes culture guys, process guys, the GM can either succeed or botch bringing in the right kind of guys. Beane has killed it. Whaley was OK but his big shot was Sammy Watkins, who kind of looked OK for a while but very much did not prove a process guy.

Most of the fine players who were on those Whaley teams were actually brought in during Nix's term as GM. The offense wasn't that good, but the defense really was ... almost every one of those defensive guys were brought in under Nix. And the salary cap really was a disaster for a team that produced no playoff seasons. Agreed that the Rex decision appears to have been the consensus. But IMO the Pegulas would have listened if Whaley had said, "Look, I can't work with this guy. He puts on a great show but I don't see substance there," or something along those lines. He didn't.