Thurman#1

Edmunds No, I do know that Edmunds was the 1st alternate, as does anyone willing to spend about a thousandth of a calorie typing the search into google. Just 'cause your ass is apparently too lazy to do so doesn't mean everyone is. "Edmunds was a first alternate in his second NFL season." https://www.buffalobills.com/news/tremaine-edmunds-named-to-first-pro-bowl "According toa league source, nine Bills were named as altrenates to the Pro Bowl. Tremaine Edmunds and Andre Roberts are first alternates, Mitch Morse is a second alternate, Josh Allen is a third alternate, ..." https://www.wkbw.com/sports/buffalo-bills/bills-cb-tredavious-white-selected-to-his-first-pro-bowl In case the technology is too much for you, you go to google.com and you type into the box, "Tre Edmunds pro bowl first alternate." I personally got 980K results from that search. Your results should be similar. Darius Leonard was the starter, Dont'a Hightower was the reserve, and Tremaine Edmunds was the first alternate. Tyrod As for Tyrod, his Pro Bowl was the all-time classic in terms of players fleeing in droves. "The game was already a sham, but the diaspora at certain glamour positions make it even more so now. Five of the six quarterbacks originally picked are out, as are five of the six initial picks at outside linebacker. All three free safeties have been replaced as well, along with three cornerbacks and three wide receivers. "So have fun with that, and enjoy this list (which we’ll update with the inevitable future replacements): "2016 Pro Bowlers "QUARTERBACKS (6) "Tom Brady, New England (replaced by Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay) "Cam Newton, Carolina (replaced by Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo) "Carson Palmer, Arizona (replaced by Teddy Bridgewater, Minnesota) "Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay (replaced by Derek Carr, Oakland) "Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh (replaced by Eli Manning, New York Giants) "Russell Wilson, Seattle" https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/01/26/welcome-to-the-largely-replacement-pro-bowl/ Again, the title of that article is "Welcome to the (largely replacement) Pro Bowl." Here's another one to fill out the picture that year: "That has forced the league to push far down its list of alternates to fill some positions. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston, named Monday as a replacement, was the eighth player at his position to be either invited or announced in addition to the six quarterbacks voted in. The Cincinnati Bengals' Adam Jones, named Tuesday, was the seventh alternate at cornerback. "The quarterback position has been especially hard hit. The Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson is the only player voted in who remains on the roster. Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is playing in Super Bowl 50, but the New England Patriots' Tom Brady, the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger and the Arizona Cardinals' Carson Palmer have all backed out. "Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, the first alternate, couldn't play because of a thumb injury that caused him to miss the playoffs. The San Diego Chargers' Philip Rivers declined an alternate invitation and the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees is presumed to have done the same." That left this collection of quarterbacks for the game: Wilson, the Oakland Raiders' Derek Carr, the New York Giants' Eli Manning, the Buffalo Bills' Tyrod Taylor, the Minnesota Vikings' Teddy Bridgewater and Winston." https://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/197015/2016-nfl-pro-bowl-most-declined-invitation-in-history Again, the QBs in that game were Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Eli Manning and Tyrod.

A while, I'd say. I love the fact that they have to address this. "The only thing we've earned at this point is all that noise," he said. "And we've got to block that out, honestly." - McDermott https://www.buffalobills.com/news/the-only-thing-we-ve-earned-is-the-noise-bills-coaches-discuss-handling-rising-e "There's a lot more football left and we're chasing bigger goals as far as getting back, getting to work and getting everybody's back. He said, 'dogs on three.' It really shows you the mindset that these guys have and everybody around. We're starving for more. We want more. We expect more from ourselves." - Stefon Diggs. https://www.buffalobills.com/news/the-only-thing-we-ve-earned-is-the-noise-bills-coaches-discuss-handling-rising-e "We haven't done anything yet. We still got to win the East. Still in 3rd place, so not much has really changed for us, so ... all our goals still haven't been met." - Jon Feliciano https://www.buffalobills.com/video/jon-feliciano-expectation-hasn-t-changed-for-us "Promise me you'll stay humble." - McDermott in his post-game speech https://www.buffalobills.com/news/the-only-thing-we-ve-earned-is-the-noise-bills-coaches-discuss-handling-rising-e These are a function of having won such a big game and seeing the national opinion of the team drastically improve. Love to see that they didn't wait for a let-down to maybe happen, they're addressing the fact being a national pick now as a contender doesn't mean they can let their foot off the pedal. They haven't gotten this much love and respect nationally in a while, and it can throw off the mindset. They are on top of that. Not a huge deal at all, but I love to see it.

Or college elsewhere. 39 catches total. They just didn't throw to the TE much there.

Eight games is hardly "hardly played." 424 snaps. That's more than half the snaps we've gotten from Diggs, our WR snaps leader. IMO you're underestimating how easy it will be to replace him. Davis is good but he doesn't threaten deep nearly as much as Brown does. But yeah, we're going to have to make some painful moves. Or not be able to do some moves we'd like. Or both.

$50 M is very very optimistic, and would leave us with holes to fill to replace Smith and Butler. IMO if they get an extra $20M to work with, they won't be kicking all that many cans down the road as you're suggesting. We'll see, I guess. If they did get that much, I'd pretty much agree with your moves, though I think Milano would be prioritized higher. I keep hearing variations on this from a Daniel Kaplan article on The Athletic, "The league and NFL Players Association agreed in August, given the pandemic-driven plunge in local revenues, to a minimum 2021 cap of $175 million. Sources have said, barring the unexpected, that is likely to be the 2021 figure. The cap is based in part on the previous year’s local revenues, which this season have been practically nonexistent, causing at the very least a $4 billion reduction in league proceeds. Without the minimum floor, the cap certainly would have fallen far more." https://theathletic.com/2242868/2020/12/07/nfl-reduced-salary-cap-2021/ Sometimes the unexpected happens, but for obvious reasons expecting the unexpected isn't generally the path to follow. They're already essentially underwriting a large portion of that $175M with revenues from future years. If they do raise it a bit, that would help us out, no question.

Fair enough, mon. We all make them, me more than most.

You might consider maybe reading what I'm saying more carefully.

In any case, spending much money on higher-priced FAs this offseason simply isn't likely, not with our cap the way it is. Expect them to prioritize their own FAs as they have consistently said they would, and bring in some lower-priced guys to fill holes with the money they have left. Not to mention that Kim Pegula is active and concerned on women's issues. And that she's shown this does impact her decision-making.

Doesn't matter. If she did, he should have walked away. There's always a reason. Never a good one, though, short of self-defense and there's certainly no evidence Kareem Hunt was in any danger from this woman. EDIT: I see now that Hapless already said all this far better than I managed.

IMO you're slightly overthinking this. Process isn't something the Bills or the Sixers invented. It's a common term in leadership studies, in religion, in self-improvement, in business, as well as sports and it has been for decades. It's generally used to point out that people need to focus on the process of getting better rather than the rewards that come when you improve, because the rewards will come intermittently and inconsistently whereas the process will be there every day. Focusing on the process makes your training reliable, it focuses you correctly and focuses you on the things that will make better more consistently and dependably. If you're a salesman you shouldn't focus on how many sales you make because to a large extent that's luck-dependent. Instead you focus on making a large number of calls, on improving your tactics for finding better customers, on making better pitches, on becoming more trustworthy, on improving your customer service, on re-contacting old customers, on getting more referrals. You don't focus on outcome. You focus on the improvement process itself. In sports this goes back to John Wooden and even further. You don't focus on the Super Bowl or even on winning one game. Some days you will meet better opposition and the ball won't bounce your way. You focus on maxizing improvement. One of the byproducts will be winning more but that's not where your focus goes. I do love the values and the culture McDermott and Beane have brought here.

You're right that you don't need a stud MLB to be successful in any defense. However, McDermott has made it as plain as can be that with his defense you really do need a stud MLB, and that he has one right now, one who plays very well when healthy. MLBs don't generally get drafted very high these days. Certainly your example Preston Brown didn't. Yet in McDermott Ds, they've gone very far out of their way to draft MLBs very high indeed, at #9 in Carolina and at #16 here. The Brown example does indeed prove that a Schwartz defense doesn't need a great player there. Equally clearly, though, a McDermott defense does. Oh, and great point that you can't pay an MLB much. That's why they never gave Kuechly a big contract when McDermott was there. Oh, wait ... And before the dumb argument comes back from somebody, no, I'm not saying Edmunds is a good as Kuechly. But he is good enough to be paid a lot, and he plays a position McDermott feels is very important to his scheme, which is why his history shows he is willing to spend a lot of draft capital and a lot of money there.

That's correct. In other words, he was considered the 3rd best ILB in the AFC. In his second year. Tyrod, on the other hand was, what? A fifth or sixth replacement? The Pro Bowl QBs that year after many guys turned them down were Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Eli Manning and Tyrod.

I'm sure Kim Pegula would be totally fine with this explanation. Why don't you call her and try it on her? She'd definitely have plenty of time for you.

Yes, true. But the idea that Ford is bad is a stupid one. You're right there are a lot of bad OG/OTs out there. None of them are as good as Ford may well be. His problem is that he was playing the wrong position for a long time, that he had to switch not just position but also side and do so without a real training camp, and that he is now injured. He's extremely early in his career as a G.

Our RBs are both fine. Exceptional? No. But the problems with our run game fall as much or more on the OL.

Right, if he did, that would work. But he doesn't.

This. I'm past worrying about making the playoffs. Much more concerned with matchups and seeds.

Would much rather have seen a Ravens loss. Don't want to play them, and now we easily might, even on wild card weekend.

With the extension and our cap situation, it's not zero, but it's very close.

They discussed Prescott? Fair enough. Nothing wrong with discussion.

"Almost beating" isn't beating. Yeah, the Chargers "almost beat the Chiefs this season," yeah. The Chargers have almost beaten a lot of teams this year. They just didn't actually beat any that weren't the Jets, Jags and Falcons. Yes, the Chargers beating the Chiefs really is improbable. Not impossible, but very improbable.

Good post, but as for Taron Johnson not coming off the field when healthy, the numbers don't show that. Week by week, he's been out there 48, 57, 60, 54, 37, 63, 48, 49, 44, 73, 76, 60 percent of the snaps before last week. He appears to be a guy who is almost never out there 100%, but is closer to 80% consistently. Little to no doubt about it. He'll see roughly the same number of snaps he saw the last few years. They went up and down a bit, but in run situations he'll be out there a lot.

IMO Milano's not being out there so much has more to do with them gradually easing him back into the lineup after injury than it does with situations. Could be wrong about that, obviously. We'll see, but that's what most commentators (Buscaglia, Parrino, the News, etc.) predicted, and it made sense to me before the game that his snaps would be up but he wouldn't be full-time yet. Good post. Interesting.

No, but again, that's a dumb argument. If that's the way he felt, here's what he should have said, "The guy is a warrior. Tough. Just the guy I want to go into battle with." Or "He gives 110% effort 110% of the time. Tre is freaky." Or "This kid has an awesome future ahead of him." I'm sure any of us could come up with 100 of these generic, "I want him in an alley fight with me" cliches. That's what he'd have said. But what actually happened is that he went out of his way to be specific about the fact that he's a true Mike, even though he wasn't asked about which position he should play. The reason he did that is real, real, real simple. It's what he thinks. The whole "I know what he's thinking, he actually means the opposite of what he's saying because you can't say what you actually think" argument is complete crap. Of course you can't throw your guy under the bus. But you can throw out the Crash Davisisms, the locker room cliches, by the bucketload and by the hour. Those are what you hear when a guy doesn't want to say what he thinks. If a guy's praise is wildly general, it's possible he's not saying what he means. Extremely specific praise means he's saying what he means. Pretending that extremely specific praise can't be avoided is pure horsecrap.

Yup. He got healthy. The rest of the D did too and they started working together ... and he's playing extremely well again. Golly, who could have predicted this? Outside anyone with a lick of sense.