thurst44

That's the point though. You're not relying on him. You've got Tre and Norman and Wallace and Neal and Taron Johnson.

I was born in NYC -- the famous "Headless Body Found In Topless Bar" banner headline came a few days before my 10th birthday. The NY Post's rep for bad reporting goes way beyond its politics.

It is true for the current situation, but if he has said so, then we'll see. Beane says a lot of things but actions speak louder than words. Maybe going forward they will be, but as you said yourself it's just not possible right now, and that's a sensible move. We're not very far apart here. I should have probably not been so emphatic and clarified I meant in the current situation, so that's on me.

The conspiracy could just be the existence of comp picks in the first place. I don't think it was a conspiracy, but more of a miscalculation. They were intended to be an equalizer for bad teams, but as it turns out, it's the building teams that by their very nature need to sign new players and often an array of medium-to-good ones as that's what's in free agency, while it's the established, good teams who can afford to shed the most players. Good teams are also more likely to have the 3rd round level players b/c that's part of why they were a good team. As Bills fans, for now, we need to abandon the idea of comp picks, b/c that is just not this administration's philosophy, and I get it (not saying if it's right or wrong). They'd rather pick up a bunch of players in a hope that many succeed b/c they probably have a better hit ratio (as they are established players in the NFL) than late 3rd and 4th round players.

Not really. I like their plan. Last year the idea was to get one borderline pro bowler in Morse to anchor the line, keep Dawkins b/c you know how hard it is to find a reliable LT and then bring in as many bargain guys with upside as you can and a big-time prospect in Ford. The plan accounts for growing pains -- both Ford figuring out the NFL (definitely work-in-progress) and the guys getting into a groove as a unit. They got lucky in having few injuries -- now the 2020 plan is to let the unit grow together. There's incredible value to an O-Line that knows each other and plays together naturally.. So, I aggressively don't want them to focus on bringing in new O-Lineman -- if a major o-lineman drops into the mid-to-late 2nd round, I'd be game, but I think the line-up of Dawkins-Feliciano-Morse-Spain-Ford with Nsehke and Long as the primary backups for the second season in a row is a pretty solid line-up and while they may never be an elite line a la Cowboys or Colts, they could be a strength of the team.

Do they have a second round pick this year and next? That could be a start. Ooooh, and throw in Aaron Donald. /sarcasm(andbadsarcasmatthat)

Pats still have their top 3 defense mostly intact. Miami still has a ton of holes and the two offensive lineman they picked up are a guy who got run out of New York and then had half a solid season in Washington and a meh center from New England (whose weakest point has often been the o-line) and will be playing with Fitz and/or a rookie QB. I don't see it. Some of their moves have been good (love the Jones signing) and they have a ton of draft capital, but it's harder to get from 5 to 10 wins than from 0 to 5.

It's not exactly "quiet." I'd say their moves, if anything, are being regarded too "loudly" Also, at this point, I would say the Bills are better than last season too and still have an absurd amount of money to spend.

They're Redskins-ing. Jones is a legit good pickup (but considering they subtracted two pro bowl CBs, including one who is probably better, it's less impressive), I didn't want to lose Lawson, but he's been hit or miss over the years and is certainly not a gamechanger. Van Noy is a solid contributor but nothing special, Ogbah's name is usually better than his play. It could improve them, but they are still nowhere near our D.

Vikings have been 39-24-1 with him the last four seasons and we have a better roster, so I guess he's more like a 10-6/11-5 type roster starter (if that construct meant anything). Also they still have an absurd amount of money to spend on FA and still have the ability to sign their own guys.

Yes, I figured that first part out and I get that :). My point was about the timing (and i even couched it in 'fwiw') -- that I looked at the page earlier and it wasn't there and then later, when there's a lot of hints he might be back, it appeared. Again, it's possible that I misremember and it was always there, but if it was just put on there, then the timing would seem to be significant.

FWIW, I don't think the caption on his Twitter with the airplane between the two codes was there earlier today, but I could be wrong...

I'd argue it's beyond a stretch to say that Star Lotuleilei has flatly not worked out. They have had the number three defense the two years he's been here. One of the reasons given for signing him was that QBs could step up and get easy yardage with short passes to the tight end. The Bills have been one of the best, if not the best, team against tight ends since he's arrived. It's certainly not an unmitigated success, but I would say lumping him in with KB is not fair.

The Peloton bike is familiar with McDermott's system!

If he's a liability on the field, he probably won't be on the field.

The weirdest thing is PFF LOVED Tre his rookie year. He was their DROY. Still a bit baffled how they can argue that a guy who led the league in interceptions, was second in QBR against, and who did not allow a single TD in a season is regressing and not even a top 10 cornerback. If your metric does not put a guy like that even in your top 100 players, it's probably your metric that's wrong. Also, have they ever talked about Sean McDermott, because given he's one of four teams that don't even have one top 101 player, he's got his team solidly in the playoffs. They must believe he's the second coming of Lombardi (or at least the love child of Belichick and Reid).

Nah, I think it's 50/50. It's just that both sides are pretty vocal and dug in and whichever side gets their first will dominate the argument. As a little kid, I watched the hail mary game live, so between that excitement and the fact I never thought he got a fair shake for his size from draft day on, he was my favorite non-Bill, so when he signed with the Bills, I was ecstatic.

I will never, ever get the Flutie hate. He was a fun QB to watch and exceeded his expectations and the team won when he was the QB -- a lot. That same team had a far different energy when RJ was under center, and he could never figure out how not to get sacked (doesn't he have the highest sack per dropback rate?). Also, if memory serves, there was a lot of talk about Buffalo moving that quieted down when Flutie went on his run. As for the playoff game, he was AWFUL in that game and if you're going to make the game manager atgument, it's just as logical to say Flutie might have had them ahead by a large enough margin that the forward lateral would never have happened. You don't have to be a fan, but why hate?! My choice would have to ultimately be Incognito, having been bullied a lot of my childhood, but even then, I was able to rationalize rooting for him when he was on the team. Did not love RJ or JP at the time, but in retrospect, have nothing really against them, and the latter seemed like a nice enough guy (or at least wanted to do some good things for Buffalo). John Fina almost knocked me down when I was at Kelly's club and afterwards gave me a dirty look, so I wasn't fond of him for a long time, but later he (and a couple other players) had a deal with the record store where I worked and he would come in and we would talk music for hours and he was engagingly friendly. Yeah, BJH is a good point. Forgot about that point, but was pretty redfaced about him at the time. What QB does not learn the playbook?!?!

I'm just watching the replay this morning, but he started and so far has "played" most of the game. Surprised no one has mentioned it -- guess it's just how reviled this game is -- but even in this no defense game, Tre White defended two passes on the first drive. I'm not in on the pile on on the Pro Bowl -- it is what it is (and it's fun to have one last chance to see a couple of the players). However, the coverage does not do anything for the game. The one thing that's interesting about it (or could be interesting about it) would be the selection and pageantry, and they didn't bother to even announce the players.

It's kind of a push for me. Watson, at his best, is one of the greatest in the game and he's further along in his progress. However, even at this point, he's much more inconsistent than Allen (who has been putting up mostly 2 td/0 int games), who has just two fewer 4th quarter comebacks in far fewer games. Watson is one of the few quarterbacks I wanted the Bills to draft in the past few years, but Allen won me over pretty quickly post draft, and based on how he has done in the clutch, I'm giddy to see how he reacts to his first playoffs.

I agree on both parts. As for the first part, I'd love to see them break the Patriots hold over us in the biggest way possible, but also kind of want the idea of Pats matching the Bills four SB appearances in a row quashed by Sunday night. Also, I've wanted the Bills to play the Chiefs all year -- just feel we match up oddly well with them this year.

After 2 and 3 seasons, can you honestly answer? Allen's numbers since Game 5 (17 td, 3 int, 6 rushing tds) and he's about to go to the playoffs. Pat Mahomes in last 11 games (18 td, 4 int, 2 rushing tds) and also about to go to the playoffs. I'm not saying they are equal yet, and Mahomes had perhaps the greatest second year ever, so hard for Allen to get close to that (but Allen's was not shabby), but the jury is still out on Allen and we don't seem to appreciate just how well he has been playing since he got a full's year worth of games under his belt. If they are both QBs in the top ten for the next decade, but if we also got one of the best players at STOPPING the opponent's QBs (right now, he's second in the league at opponent QBR and tops in allowing TDs at, um, zero -- and who got the only TD against the number one QBR -- Josh Allen), can you really truly say we lost the deal.

In his eyes, it may not be so "meaningless." I suspect he values going into the playoffs on a strong win (as opposed to a painful loss) is worth taking a chance on injuries. The philosophy -- at least my stab at a guess at it -- is that they'll have two more weeks to get to the point where they can potentially beat a Ravens and Patriots on the road. It's a long shot, but sometimes talented teams get hot at the right time. I've lived in NYC area since college and have seen the Giants pull that trick off twice. I like the move, but, yes, if Allen is hurt in this game, it will be hard to defend in retrospect.

Fan voting never turns out to be that much of the voting. There's been a couple times in the past where Bills have been leading and did not make the team.

My guess would be Tre'Davious debuts high (like 20s or 30s) -- we're starting to hear his name regularly as in the convo with Stephon for best CB in NFL. Tremaine Edmunds is starting to get a rep, but probably not there yet. I could definitely see Hyde. Poyer is a long shot as a surprise. Ed Oliver is probably already pretty close and it's hard to tell what Allen's rep is with his peers, but there's probably still enough stubborn people who will still think he's "trash" until he's absolutely dominant, but his numbers and win-loss total really give him an argument.