cage

Dorian is going to be a good player! Very fast... he made some mistakes last year at times, but he'll grow and be much improved next season

I'd figure out how to run it with Dawson Knox and keep Allen out of it. It's a pretty basic play that doesn't have to be handled by Allen. Then we can put someone bigger behind him to up the conversion rate.

...there's no way this could happen otherwise, I retract my comments in other threads defending how that is not possible based on macro-level idealized outcomes

I think OP is looking to highlight the biggest wins under McD as a positive.... but when you see the list and struggle to get much past four and some of them are not even playoff games and you realize what is on the flip side of the Losses version of this list, it further crystalizes the limitations of this coach

that's the problem...

That is actually pretty weak sauce for signature wins. I would replace Denver game w/ Ravens playoff win. It makes me madder to think what should be on this list: 1. Allen and Gabe Davis destroy Chiefs in playoff shootout to get to AFCCG. Winning TD with just 13 seconds left 2. Bills right the season with critical win against Eagles on the road defeating weather, referees and hostile stadium 3. After allowing Cardinals back in the game, Allen hits Diggs with 30 seconds left for winning TD

Nonsense... Allen is the Madden cover, he's in commercials for the league. I haven't seen Stroud in anything yet. "Poster boy" means face that is seen all the time

The refereeing was terrible throughout the game and especially in the first half. However, the league being fixed doesn't make a lot of sense based on this game. What would be the goal of the fix? To keep the league as competitive as possible to rack up more $$$$. Secondly, according to many, its to help big-market teams. That would best have been accomplished in this game by having the Bills win. The Eagles are 9-1 and playing a non-conference game. This is one that they could easily have afforded to lose without hurting big markets. The Bills on the other hand needed the victory badly in an exciting AFC playoff race. The league already has the Bills scheduled in prime time essentially through the rest of the season. Upcoming games @KC and @Miami would become much bigger marquee match-ups if the Bills win. Allen has become the NFL poster boy. He played a great game and having him heroically beat Philly on he road, would have had more buzz than any other outcome. Any "fix" should have favored the Bills.

Clearly many of us will happily eat crow if they win the SB. I am one of those who would like to see us move beyond McD (not Beane). The primary reason is that I don't think he has the game day "magic" that SB winning coaches seem to have. What that specifically is has been debated on this board since 13 seconds. If he wins SB, then he'll have proven us wrong and I'll be happy about that!

....all that and there's never been a 1st round pick selected on the basis of the "word" of one scout. Beane traded up a few slots for him, didn't he.... as he was the last player on the board left with a first round grade

I'm glad it's not just me.... everyone here seems as confused as I am.

I'm really liking Floyd!

Imagine him being hired by some 3-14 team to turn them around. Think of the epic sideline tantrums that could follow. He'd create a new standard for meme-worthy that would be practically Brady-esqe.

I haven't been complaining about Dorsey.... but I'm not a fan of McD. When has his coaching moves helped the team over the hump in a big, difficult game?

Have to wonder if that's just a Tyrod Taylor hangover?? People in Buffalo would have said that if they went with Lamar, why not just keep Tyrod and use all that draft capital to strengthen the team around him?

Sonny Weaver Jr says "Baker Mayfield, no matter what"... but then the Jets would just have taken Allen at #2. Honestly, that would be worse

A guy from the Browns team shown on the left side of the page, "Dub" Jones is still alive. He's 98 and is the father of Bert Jones, who was a pretty good Colts QB back in the '70s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dub_Jones_(American_football)

Great post! So many interesting items listed on the page: The Browns are 14 to 17 point favorites. I guess there were point spreads on games already back then, not just betting on the win The heaviest player between the two teams weighs 255 lbs 2/3 of each roster appear to be linemen with no WRs listed. Just halfbacks and fullbacks 32-year-old FB Lou Tomasetti enjoyed his best season as a pro, rushing for 716 and 213 more receiving. Don't they know not to have RBs older than 30 on the roster? Brown's coach in response to next season says "I don't know. Next season is pretty far off, and right now I'm thinking about a vacation in Florida."... practically the equivalent of, "I'm going to Disney World" For their efforts The Browns players took home $594.18 apiece, while the Bills earned $386.22 per man. They were paid a percentage of the paid attendance. Winners share is equivalent to $7,617.21 today This was the last season of the AAFC. The following year the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts and San Francisco 49ers joined the NFL. The AAFC also wanted the Buffalo Bills to join, but the NFL wouldn't take them at the that time due to the smaller size of the city and concerns about the climate. The remaining franchises folded at that point.

I think it should be. The Bills have lots of A players and the coaching in big games never rises to that level. I won't dismiss him out of hand, he's done a lot of good building up the team, but is consistently outcoached in big situations. I think of him similar to the complaints that swirled around Tremaine Edmunds... good player, but no splash plays... nothing that puts us over the top. To win a Super Bowl the coach has to be a differentiator in big situations and I can't think of when he's done that. I don't know whether that's fair or not, but it's how I see him.

I have no idea what happened to Galloway w/ NYG, but that guy was a total stud on Lions

I don't really want to read all the multiple pages of responses so I'll make my criticism succinctly: McD is a good coach and the Bills are a good team. The problem we're facing now is that the team and fans are desperate to WIN a Super Bowl. We not only have the best QB that the franchise has ever had, but he's also a top 3 QB in the entire league. Here's the issue and I'll put it on its own line: This coaching staff, led by McD NEVER gives us a competitive advantage to put the team over the top in a big game. Think of every Super Bowl winner and the coaching on that team was a difference maker. Belechick with Brady, Tomlin when Big Ben in his prime, Sean Payton (onside kick to start 2nd half + rest of game), Doug Pederson (Philly Special + rest of game),... and the list goes on. The coaching provided a difference in the game result. And going back to Kelly SB years, Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcels and Jimmy Johnson all out-coached Levy+staff to win those SB games. There's nothing we can point to with McD as a difference-maker in the playoffs. That's what people are bitching about.

On a separate, but aligned note on this topic. As the situation was unfolding on MNF and the teams had left the field, I started switching around to various channels to see if they were covering it. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all had moved from their regular programs to cover the situation. At this time on Monday night Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow are on, who are their highest drawing shows respectively. On the NFL Network.... replay of the Chiefs game from Sunday was playing. There was a chyron scrolling across the bottom, but no specialty studio coverage

"when", not "if"

I'm not sure why they didn't try 3 DTs when the Jets were backed up on their own 4 in the last quarter. They should have been expecting heavy run and not trusting Wilson. Settle+Jones+Phillips+Lawson may been a better shot at shutting them down deep in their own territory

There's a crazy article on The Athletic detailing the wildness of the World Football League, which was in operation from 1974-5. Lost a ton of money, but crazy stories. Sorry its behind paywall: https://theathletic.com/3668558/2022/10/25/world-football-league-history/ Anyhow, one part of the narrative is as follows and details what might be the first Pro Football table dive and, of course, it was a former Bills player! " Mike McBath, the former Bills lineman with the booming voice, looked at his buddy, linebacker Billy Hobbs from Texas. What they were about to do was impossibly stupid, and had McBath been in the right frame of mind, he would have realized it too. But by that point in the night, McBath had consumed enough alcohol that the idea he and Hobbs had originated seemed ingenious. Now they just had to execute. This night, like many nights, McBath and his Florida Blazers teammates were at Rosie O’Grady’s, one of the most popular bars in Orlando, where sawdust covered the floor, a Dixieland band blasted tunes and singing bartenders served flaming hurricanes in souvenir glasses. “We had a lot of drinks and a good time,” McBath said. “That was our motto.” On the second floor, McBath and Hobbs stared over the balcony at the packed crowd. One teammate said McBath was a “wild man,” but Billy Hobbs was a “wild, wild, wild man.” This was to be their crowning act as a tandem. The pair jumped over the railing, their huge bodies falling through the air like pro wrestlers, until their chests smashed a table, flattening it on impact. Mission complete, they stood up, brushed themselves off and stumbled away in search of another beer. These were the moments of camaraderie that kept McBath and his teammates going after their pay stopped. "