Utah John

The Bills dumped a lot of veterans who had the mindset of loserdom. Yeah, it's the Bills, show up on time, put in a little effort, go 7-9, the fans still love you. The biggest difference pre-McD and post-McD is that the team is now looking ahead to winning. The lazy guys are gone. Players who want to work harder are here. Does Suh fit? I think he does. Put him into a losing situation and he'll be a cancer. Put him into a winning situation and he'll play to win. He's not a leader but he's a potential force. Don't overpay. If the cost is too high let him be someone else's guy. For the right price he could help a lot.

So the Vikes are all in for this year. There's no way they can keep all the FAs with so much cash tied up with Cousins. And good for them. Championships don't go to the faint-hearted. BUT, is Cousins really that good? I read the Washington Post web site a lot and the fans there were pretty lukewarm about him. I think the Vikes will put a team around Cousins that's very strong (for now) and with GB's roster depleted due to all the money Rogers gets, and the Bears and Lions being the Bears and Lions, the Vikings have a good shot at winning their division. So they'll be in the top four or five teams, just a little above where they were last year.

So it sounds to me that Jackson is combination of Tyrod Taylor and a QB. That could be a really good combination. Taylor's running last year was held down by the OC and that was a shame. There were a lot of first downs there for the taking but TT had been coached not to run for them, and ended up not completing a pass instead. In 2016, he took those runs and kept drives alive. But, regardless of his running, he just couldn't throw receivers open. Last year he didn't have any good receivers but in 2016 he had Watson and Woods so no excuses there. If you can take Taylor's running skills and add the things an NFL QB is supposed to do, you've got something special. This is how I read Lamar Jackson. He could be the guy we need, particularly if we don't need to sell the farm to get him.

It's too bad he didn't have that surgery much earlier in the season so he could have recovered enough to be evaluated accurately. He was really good in Philly before he got hurt and it's a crap shoot as to whether he'll ever recover fully. A lot of people here are saying he isn't very good but we never got a chance to see what he can really do. Also, of course, TT.

Are we really sure Triplette wasn't retired last year, and just showing up so he'd have a good view of the games? I'm pretty sure it was Triplette who called the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Von Miller for his psych hand-help to Tyrod Taylor. I was happy with the way that turned out but that was really bogus.

I think this is exactly the right way to look at it.

You shouldn't compare Darby in Philly with Darby who would be leaving Buffalo as a FA. Darby saw how Gilmore cashed in and that looked good to him. McBeane got some value for Darby instead of another year of service plus nothing in the future. It turned out the value he got wasn't that good, but Matthews had been great in Philly and was injured a lot here so it's hard to criticize that trade. Benjamin was playing hurt last year. He's going to be much better this year. Check back in a year or two and see if you still don't think he was worth the cost. Dareus was another addition by subtraction. He was a cancer in the locker room and would have been cut for lack of production. McBeane made the best possible deal.

If we were getting the Chris Ivory who was with the Jets, I'd be delighted. He was always one of my favorite non-Bills. Hard runner, great effort. Reminded me of Fred Jackson. His production fell sharply after he left the Jets. Not sure if it was a scheme problem, a personnel problem, or something else. Let's hope he has a lot left in the tank.

I had forgotten about Centers. According to Wikipedia: Centers's 827 receptions are currently the most by any running back and the most by any non-wide receiver in NFL history, until tight end Tony Gonzalez surpassed this mark in 2008.

Patriots players see their teammates cut or traded a lot, usually when they're still playing well. The Pats make it a priority to get rid of players too soon rather than too late. This keeps everyone focused and working hard, but not many of them stick around for very long. They're mostly temp employees brought in to fill a particular role in a scheme, and when that scheme is discarded, players who aren't the best fit for the new scheme go away. It's tough but players all want to get that ring so they put up with a lot to get a chance. All that said, I try to keep in mind that this is fundamentally a game. People who lose sight of that and get too far into the business end forget why they started playing in the first place.

As long as we're making stuff up, let's give the Colts a chance to give the Pats a little payback. The Pats knew they couldn't afford Garrapolo and they didn't want to dump Brady to afford Garrapolo (though apparently it was considered). So they traded him out of the division, and out of the conference. So figure out a way for Indy to screw the Pats by getting Garrapolo traded to the Bills. You guys are better at the tactics than I am. I'm thinking more strategically. Go for it -- figure something out. Maybe make this a four way trade.

It's one thing for the Eagles with all their great offensive weapons to be aggressive. When the Bills wanted to take a fourth down shot last year, the D knew they could stop Shady, keep TT in the pocket, and get the offense ready to go back on the field. You have to play the cards you've got. McD generally made good calls to put the players he had in a position to win. Can we just stop for a second and appreciate the season? My two favorite teams did great, exceeding expectations. The Bills made the playoffs, and the team playing the Pats won the Super Bowl. Let that sink in. Now look ahead to the Pats losing both coordinators, Brady turning 52 or 68 or whatever and finally showing his age, and the Pats players revolting at least a little over the way Malcolm Butler was screwed.

The only Eagle I'd take in exchange for Shady is Carson Wentz.

Worst move in franchise history? OMG you must have started following the Bills 10 minutes ago. Given a few minutes I could probably list 100 moves that were worse than taking a shutdown corner in the first round after getting another team's first rounder the next year.

If teams could evade cap hits due to medical retirements, there'd be a lot of medical retirements. Except for kickers, every guy who's played in the NFL for a few years has something or other wrong, that could be used as an excuse. The salary cap would become much less restrictive than it is now.

If they draft the right QB, the odds are very good he'll be here longer than McDermott. It's always easier to find a new HC than a great QB. Not that I'm predicting bad things, but there are always ups and downs, and sometimes a coach just wears out his welcome. For the record, I think McDermott is doing a great job. He had a few mistakes but he has the team on the right track. He's the anti-Wrecks, a serious competent guy who has the team working together and believing in itself. Still, the half life for HC tenures in the NFL is probably 3 or 4. So the team's organization needs to have a voice in this selection, not just the HC. People stood back and watched as Wrecks decimated the great defense that Jim Schwartz had put together, because Wrecks was a 3-4 guy and had his own scheme. So out went great players and in came new guys like Ragland who didn't fit when McDermott and Beane came in. So now they're rebuilding the D line and LBs almost from scratch. Hey, I have no red flags, I'm a senior (62 years young) and what a character. Also very good grades in college, back in the day. Coach, if you're reading this, please send a private message.

I think he looks like that Joel whatever, the creepy TV evangelist.

Taylor is living proof of what Mark Twain said: There's lies, damn lies, and quarterback rating statistics.

The return games were not very productive. A good return for us was one where we didn't have any penalties, and where we returned kickoffs at least to the 20. Usually if we brought it out of the end zone, we didn't get to the 25. Part of the problem might have been the lack of talent of the returners, but most of the time our guys were running into solid walls of defenders or didn't have time to do much on punt returns. Why did other teams have more opportunities? The coverage units, and the punter and kicker, all played well for the most part.

As I recall, when he was with the Bills, Hackett's nickname was "can't". Looks like he still can't hack it.

The Jags could actually make it to the SB. I think they have a better chance to beat the Pats than the Steelers would have. The Jags have a tall safety who can slow down Gronk, a great D line, fast LBs to take away the quick throws Brady likes, and great DBs. They have some offensive weapons, particularly Fournette. If Bortles plays well, they have a reasonable chance. But probably will lose anyway -- Pats at NE in the playoffs is usually all she wrote. Seems like they have a pretty young team, too, so maybe the Jags can keep it going. I don't have any bitterness toward Marrone, I just think he handled his departure wrong. Just like Dareus, he took the money when it was available. Anyone remember Jarius Byrd? Planter fascitus my foot, or his foot -- he just cashed in and walked away. And in today's NFL, where players are cut so quickly when replacements are available, it's kind of good to see employees (players and coaches) working the systems.

Most great offensive plays wouldn't happen if defenders just do their jobs. The HRTB may or may not have been legal, but it wouldn't have mattered if the Bills ST players had stayed in their lanes. The Cinci miracle finish that put the Bills in the playoffs wouldn't have happened if the Ravens DBs had played their positions right. The Minnesota miracle depended on a spectacularly bad play by the Saints DB. I guess this is why you try those plays. Usually they don't work but when they do it's a special event.

As I recall, Ralph Wilson demanded that Walt Coleman never be assigned to ref a Bills game again. Of course the league refused. There isn't more to be said about those two critical calls at the end of the game. The Bills got hosed, completely. I don't know if it was incompetence on the part of the refs, or something more nefarious, but the Bills deserved to win that game. More history: The Bills made the playoffs that year, as the fifth seed. They had the same record (10-6) as the fourth seed, Miami, but were seeded lower due to a tie breaker. If they had been awarded the victory over the Pats that they earned, they would have been the fourth seed, and had home field advantage in the playoff game. But the game instead was in Miami, and the fish won by a touchdown. Miami went on to get crushed by the Broncos, who were pretty dominant and went on to win the Super Bowl that year. Would Buffalo have done better against Denver than Miami did? Probably, but they were probably not going to beat Denver in Denver anyway.

I thought Daboll had a chance a couple of years ago, not sure who was HC at the time, but I remember he was under consideration. My read of his record is that he does great when he has a good QB. Show me an OC who doesn't, please.

There were two really bad calls I saw against the Titans, one a phantom OPI and the other the one where the D lineman shifted and was called for a neutral zone infraction, giving the Pats a first down. Torbert didn't make either of those calls. And it wasn't his regular crew working -- in the playoffs, the put together the top-ranked guys from each ref position and make sort of all-star crews. So don't blame Torbert for those calls. Still this stinks. There shouldn't be any perception of bias.