Utah John

Darnold and Allen have been friends for years. They actually shared a house at one point when they both were working with a QB coach, Jordan Palmer, in the offseason. I wouldn't be surprised if he already has one, or eventually gets one.

Waller had retired and was away from the NFL last year. Why couldn't Miami just sign him without giving compensation to the Giants? The Buccaneers didn't give the Pats any compensation for Tom Brady.

The Dolphins are turning into the Sabres of the NFL.

I think the salary cap helped drive this trade. The Dolphins unload a very good player (Ramsey) who nevertheless costs more than he's worth, and an expensive yet mediocre tight end (Smith), and get a single player back who's better and cheaper than the players they let go. Apparently the Steelers have the salary cap cash to pay for these additions along with Aaron Rodgers. Just wondering if the Bills could have made a similar move, trading, say, Benford plus a JAG to get Fitzpatrick. I think the Bills would not be interested in this. Benford is a quiet assassin and fits the Bills' scheme. Fitzpatrick is a wild man and might not thrive in a more structured system like what the Bills do. Anyway that's just a random thought, not something we would have considered.

Glad to see him retire. He always seemed to play tough against the Bills, better than you'd think based on how little attention he got week to week (although he did get some post-season recognition, which I thought was justified but surprising). There was an early season game a couple of years ago where the underdog Jets were beating the Bills in the first half, but then Mosley got hurt, and suddenly the Bills offense looked a lot better leading to a Bills win.

Happy to see Moulds, Reed, and Byrd added. Maybe there isn't room but Sestak was soooo good I would like him here too.

The Cowboys seem to think that by drafting pretty good players and then paying them elite money, will entice the gods of football to transform those players into elite superstars. It doesn't work. Also the Cowboys seem to think the way to win is to have as many stars as possible, regardless of the holes that leaves in other areas of the roster. Finally there doesn't seem to be any long-range planning, something Beane is very good at doing, so every year there's uncertainty and drama about who's gonna show up. Don't get me wrong, I hate the Cowboys, and if they want to continue shooting themselves in the foot, that's fine with me.

So am I. So are you.

And he does! The challenge for him is adding the muscle and bulk his position demands, without losing the attributes you mentioned.

I've seen some videos of the Bills playing at WMS where the field was in terrible shape, but for this game it looked great. It's amazing that the Bills cruised to a second straight championship without Cookie (traded before the season), Dubenion (injured in this game) and Bass (injured the following week). The key was the defense, which unfortunately got very little attention in this video.

Several points. First I posted a few days ago that Beane was relying on Josh, a great O line, and good RBs to make the offense productive. This is exactly what he's been doing this offseason. He's putting his money on a repeat performance, maybe with an upgrade with Palmer replacing Hollins although I really liked Hollins. Everyone else on offense is a year better, also a year older but none of them are past their expiration dates. Second, the reason he had to make such a drastic haul of D players really comes down to past failures in drafting D linemen. In general Beane has done a very good job but the return on investment from our D line players is not good. A lot of the problem could come down to coaching and scheming, but except for Rousseau there isn't a lot of talent there. Oliver is a pretty average player, not what they thought they'd get drafting at 8. Epenesa is a JAG. The moon shot getting Von Miller came about because the drafted players couldn't get to the passer, and it might have worked if his old knees hadn't broken down, but it ended up a terrible waste of cap space. Now they're trying again with Bosa. So here come a herd of large men, and McBeane are hoping a couple of them can really play. So, third, if the Bills had found their great D linemen already, there'd be more draft slots available for another WR. But Beane isn't looking back, he's looking forward, with a clear evaluation of what's worked and what hasn't worked.

It's looking like this is Beane's approach -- Josh is so good he can win with rentals and retreads at WR. It's not ideal but with the salary cap and the Bills' ongoing struggles to draft/develop/coach/scheme D linemen, maybe this is the necessary way to go. But no more 3rd rounders for aging guys. Rentals should come cheaper.

Let's see how he does at UNC without Tom Brady. We always guessed whether the Pats success was due more to Belichick or Brady, but after Brady left the Pats the answer became clear. Coach Belichick suffered from having an incompetent GM, who made bad decisions and ran the roster into the ground. That GM of course was Bill Belichick. At UNC as at most colleges, the head coach is also the de facto GM, leading the scouting and selection process, but now he'll be scouting high school athletes and not college or pro players. His track record in this regard doesn't suggest success is forthcoming.

It sounds to me like this is Ed Oliver's eventual replacement, which OK I get that, but where's the monster 1-technique we need next to these guys? Where's the 340 pound mountain? The Bills love to have their D linemen moving around which tends toward lighter guys, but that's no help when the other guys are gashing the D for chunk plays by overpowering the DTs. It sounds to me like this is Ed Oliver's eventual replacement, which OK I get that, but where's the monster 1-technique we need next to these guys? Where's the 340 pound mountain? The Bills love to have their D linemen moving around which tends toward lighter guys, but that's no help when the other guys are gashing the D for chunk plays by overpowering the DTs.

The NHL playoffs are too long, and there are too many games for viewers to keep track of. But for the teams involved, of course the tournament is a grueling demonstration of toughness and stamina. I just can't watch that much hockey when the weather is so nice (here in Memphis).