BADOLBILZ

Yanks lousy bats wasted "Nestor Sunday" 12 K's in 5 scoreless innings..........including an immaculate inning.

"The United By Football........A Season in the USFL" episode one featured an exchange with former Orchard Park, NY HS and Tarleton State QB.......the USFL #4 overall pick........Ben Holmes and his NJ General teammate where he was asked if he was a Bills fan.......and he said he wasn't a sports fan of any kind and didn't watch sports except for some golf occasionally. @Doc would be incredulous to hear that an aspiring pro football player......from Orchard Park no less........didn't follow pro football.

I know that if I accused the team of playing the lesser player in Sanders only because he was making more money than the better player Davis..........you would ask me for a link/proof. So we have to make the assumption that he actually wasn't outplaying Sanders..........whether that be because of the recurring foot/ankle issues or just not practicing well or because of distractions caused by having different vax protocols...........whatever it was.........he wasn't getting it done in practice and subsequently was not getting the snaps. As for the 6 "really great" games..........you have a really low bar for "really great". He only has two 100 yard games in 32 regular season contests.........and those were relative outliers..........and "barely" 100.........105 versus the Jets this year and the other one was 107 yards in the blowout finale against Miami in 2020. For perspective.........Robert Foster had three 100 yards games AND a 94 yard game in 2018 for the Bills. Foster's 4th highest total that season.......94 yards.........would be Davis' 3rd highest career regular season game total. And in the playoffs Davis has his great game against KC and in the other 4 games he averaged.........wait for it........35 yards. So he has one 200+ yard game.........and the other 36 games of his NFL career he's averaged 35 yards per game. So while I think he's shown a lot of promise and I didn't say he was a 1-game wonder...........you put those words in my mouth..........he actually kinda' is a 1 game wonder statistically.

My concern with Dane Jackson isn't how he'll play........he should play fine. My concern is him being healthy..........like Spencer Brown he missed some time with injuries as a rookie. That said........they need depth at both corner and tackle. Personally I am hoping for a veteran CB like Haden and also hoping they sign Jason Peters for cheap as the swing tackle to address both positions with veterans.

I don't know how you compute that Stafford and Ramsey weren't each worth 2 first round picks and a day 3 pick? Only about 50% of 1st round picks get their options picked up.........which is the minimum indication that the players weren't failed picks. Then there is the level of 1st rounders like Tremaine Edmunds who didn't earn the option being picked up but because the decision had to be made after year 3 the team takes a chance and is stuck hoping for them to raise their play to be worth it. The Broncos are paying Bradley Chubb his guaranteed 5th year option coming off a 0 sack 2021 season. So, basically, first rounders actually playing like first rounders is a less than a 50/50 proposition. So knowing this.........what are the odds of getting a stud QB like Stafford and an elite CB like Ramsey with that haul of 4 #1 picks and a couple day 3's? Yeah.......HIGHLY unlikely. He increased his chances of success with those picks tremendously.

I hope he steps up and seizes the #2 role.......he could have done that last season too.........instead he had a sophomore slump. A lot of fans are just taking it for granted that he is going to be great because of that KC game..........they forget the foot/ankle injuries that recurred again in 2021........and the loss clinching drop at the end of the Jax game...........or his 3 catches on 13 targets game...........and his missing the biggest regular season game of the year in NE because he refused to get vaxxed.........it's certainly no sure thing that he becomes a star just because he had one big game.

Of course any WR that they draft at #25 should have the potential to be an NFL WR1 by his second season. And the reality is that Gabe Davis has only been a 35 yard per game receiver over his first 2 regular seasons and McKenzie and Crowder combined for just over 600 yards receiving last season. Statistically that's not a proven successful group.........that's one of the worst 2-3-4 combo's in the league based on 2021 production. We can make assumptions that Davis is ready to break out but Jake Kumerow is the top backup X and Z receiver on this team.........Crowder and McKenzie are just slot receivers...........that is razor thin depth at X and Z because Kumerow STINKS. But they shouldn't just draft a WR in round 1 to address a need............that pick should be the best player at a premium position. Assuming they won't draft a QB........WR1/PassRusher1/LT1 are the other premium positions in the Bills O and D............CB1 is such a position in some defenses......but not inherently so in the Bills zone defense. A 3rd-4th round CB could easily end up a rookie starter on a #1 ranked defense in the Bills scheme and likely be a significant athletic upgrade to Levi Wallace. Not saying they won't draft another CB in round 1 to play opposite Tre White...........but the difference between a lot of first round CB's and guys that they could find on day 2 or day 3 are often traits that aren't put to much use in the Bills D. There is a misguided notion that drafting a big CB who runs a 4.4 is going to allow them to play man defense and throw a blanket on WR's like Tyreek Hill..........they aren't doing that and that 4.4 CB ain't covering a Tyreek Hill in man even if they did.

The strength of Beane isn't personnel work.........he's done well in his few trades..........but he's been pretty lousy at free agency and his drafts haven't yielded nearly enough difference makers. I don't think he belongs near the top at all for the scope of his personnel work...........but his work stewarding the franchise in other areas has been superb. The two ENORMOUS......FRANCHISE ALTERING........ things Beane has done are: 1A) Draft Josh Allen.......first time the Bills franchise had drafted a QB with their first 1st round pick since 1960 and it's panned out wonderfully. 1B) Get the Pegula's to agree to turn over full control to he and McDermott ......first time in franchise history a meddling owner isn't undermining the team. As Belichick once said.........you gotta' be making bad decisions all the time to stay bad in the NFL. And prior to McBeane's arrival that's ultimately what was happening. So while Beane has done some really stupid things.......like giving a guy like Star Lotulelei a 5 year $50M deal when his market was like 1 year $4M............it hasn't blown up on them because he and McDermott have been in sync. There is no push and pull between them and they run the whole show. That might not seem like much but when you have a franchise QB there is A LOT of room for error............you really just have to not f*ck it up to be a contender...........and that has proven harder than it sounds in many places. If Beane actually starts getting better at drafting and evaluating free agents and handling the cap.........which is certainly possible with experience.........they could become a special franchise.

You do realize Snead has gotten the Rams to 2 Super Bowls with 2 different QB's in the period of time that McBeane have reached none? Credit is most certainly due. The original roster Sean McDermott inherited in January of 2017 was better than the one McVay did..........the 2016 Bills at Rams game was a physical mismatch and the Rams were a laughingstock at that point while the Bills were just an underachieving team with 10-12 win talent. The Rams just went for SB contention right out of the gate in 2017 and McVay really coached up a middling young QB..........while the Bills opted to get rid of all of their prime age core players and slow play their way into a title contender.........which took until 2020. People don't give Snead enough credit for realizing that he was bad at making first round picks...........he wasn't getting anywhere by exercising his first round picks..........it's easy to forget that the Rams were perennial top 10 drafters spinning their wheels prior to Snead hiring McVay. They could have clung to picks and easily still be like the Jaguars.......who have drafted in the top ten of round 1 in 14 of the last 15 years! Snead's strength has been day 2 and day 3 drafting..........it's remarkable the turnover they have been able to withstand in great part because of their excellent drafting. So the mortgaging the future stuff is nonsense.

Best part of the story is the emphasis on how it killed the Dolphins early 70's dynasty.

No, QB is an exception and offensive skill positions are tougher to develop at. It's mostly lineman and defensive players. But there are A LOT of them. The list of "just picked it up and now I'm an MLB player" is NOBODY. You can't outmuscle anyone in baseball and you can't steal first base so athleticism takes a very far backseat behind refined skill. But to that point..........it's not that uncommon at all for players to fail at pro baseball and jump right back into QB'ing and get on an NFL roster in a very short period of time........Drew Henson, Josh Booty, Chad Hutchinson, Brandon Weeden just to name a few..........the list of big talented QB's who found out they couldn't hit professional pitching or get pro baseball players out despite seeming like can't miss MLB prospects is long. Henson and Booty were the top HS baseball players in the nation. Baseball drafting makes the NFL draft look like an exact science which is why Kyler being drafted #9 overall in MLB means very little.

Dodged a bullet. Further proof he shouldn't draft a CB early.

Yes he had a rep as a selfish/bonehead decision maker. It is very possible that this is seen as a limiting factor to his draft stock. I was very impressed with him working himself back into playing shape and getting back on the field late to help Georgia win the NC. But we are talking about Sammy Watkins in another thread.........Sammy was maybe the best freshman WR in NCAA history to that date and looked like an absolute warrior on the field.........I will never forget him single handedly destroying Ohio State's defense in that bowl game. That was nuts. But in the pro's his inferior intellect has really undermined his game immensely. These are admittedly things we can't know from just watching his games. If it was just immaturity then maybe it's not a big issue........if he thinks the earth is flat and dinosaurs didn't exist then maybe he's not smart enough to help himself.

Whaley was a talent collector but the main issue with those Nix/Whaley Bills was that they weren't in sync with their coaching staff and didn't understand the locker room dynamics well enough. They drafted talented players but then they put them on a rudderless ship of bad coaching and a dearth of leadership. Watkins was a prime example........he was put in a WR room with no veteran leadership AT ALL. Not having anyone to show him how to be a pro was a disaster for both him and the organization. You can go back to Marv and Brandon as GM's and every year they were picking guys like Marshawn Lynch and Donte Whitner and Aaron Maybin........immature 20 year olds........and just throwing them into a bad situation. On pure scouting acumen it's not even fair to compare Whaley and Beane........Beane isn't a scout..........he NEEDS that expensive, deep staff of personnel men because that's not his thing. But as I said at the time.......Whaley HAD TO GO.......the Bills needed an executive GM not a "specialist" scout GM like Whaley. An organization like Pittsburgh can have road scouts as GM's because the Rooney's can handle every other aspect of team management and Dan Rooney really was a football guy as well. The Pegula's were lost in pro sports...........and really remain that way in hockey where they haven't quite turned over the reigns to a powerful Beane/McDermott type leadership dynamic yet. They needed an executive like Beane that would put an end to the rudderless dynamic between coach/gm/owner that had each faction making moves that made the other look bad. Marrone playing who he wanted instead of who Whaley intended........Whaley making personnel moves that Marrone vehemently disagreed with.........and then Pegula's sticking their nose in periodically like giving Dareus that absurd contract(No way Overdorf approves a contract that size without morality clauses for a repeat offender like that). They were all over the f*cking place organizationally.

Excellent...........the good luck run of franchise stability continues. It started when Ted Rogers passed away before Ralph..........continued when the franchise availability coincided with Terry Pegula being at a then all time relative net worth high in a market where his property was liquid enough to make a quick buy..........and then Mahomes and Allen both somehow being available to the Bills and them getting one..........and now THIS. Took a good deal of things to align for this to work out in favor of Bills fans the way it has.

Gilmore got man coverage money........because that's what he can do.........if you play man defense in the secondary you almost HAVE to build around the CB position to be a top defense. Bills defense doesn't require or even give their CB's that much island time so Gilmore was an unlikely fit..........he can probably play fine in zone but you gotta' pay him like a man corner which doesn't make sense. The CB situation in Buffalo is a lot like the RB situation...........a very vocal group of fans doesn't understand that you just need ordinary athletes at those spots who otherwise do a lot of other things well to succeed in the Bills O and D. Neither of those types are hard to find. The Bills offense needs to revolve around the great QB and the Bills defense revolves around DL play and assignment sound back 7. The area where they need to get better production is MLB..........an instinctive MLB should star in this defense.......it's impressive how well they've played defense despite having a guy who should be a 3-4 OLB or hand-in-dirt DE by now playing in the middle..........what's not impressive is that they expended 1st and 2nd round picks to get a pretty average MLB 4 years into his career.

Nah. It takes a lot more repetition and skill to play major league baseball than it does to play in the NFL............there is little chance he could go back to baseball and get to the majors that quick. Look at all the foreigners who just start playing football and a year or two later they are playing big time NCAA football.........it's become commonplace.......that's not even a remote possibility in baseball. I really doubt Oakland would even give him that bonus money back after he's gotten his sh*t turnt inside out playing NFL football for a few season...........and his bonus is important because minor leaguers make like $15,000 per year in actual salary. And if he ever did make it to MLB then he would have to wait 6 years to reach free agency. And since MLB has a MUCH stricter PED policy........most players careers are ending in their early 30's..........which is about where he would be going into free agency in like 2030. Kyler Murray going back to baseball is a pretty absurd notion, IMO.

There is a Buffalo themed restaurant "Buffalo Chips" in downtown Bonita Springs on old 41. https://www.buffalochipsrestaurant.tv

Yeah.........but, of course, the play was to just sit still and draft Aaron Donald. And that really shouldn't have come down to hindsight. That should be a lesson to all the people who are prioritizing need over BPA..........the best player at a need position can end up miles short of the BPA.

Cole needs to learn that he can't just groove one anymore just because he throws 99. Batters are used to seeing that......he needs to be a better pitcher......he was lucky to get away with just 3 runs they hit him very hard for the first 2+ innings. The Gleyber Tortoise bobble/fail on the routine DP changed the tenor of the game. He's Gary Sanchez at 2nd base........a gifted batter but too dumb to correct the problems that make him just a league average hitter, a lousy fielder and a liability on the bases. They have chosen to become a pitching and defense team.......and yet the failure to handle routine plays has cost them repeatedly already. Cashman clings to players with losing qualities for too long. Good middle infielders aren't that hard to find that they should be running out IGB(infield ground ball) and Tortoise. They don't hit enough or run well enough to be worth the 19 errors they each committed last year.

As teams are now increasingly practicing my long prescribed model of only drafting "premium positions" in round 1.......I can't remember the term "premium positions" even in use 15+ years ago.......it wouldn't surprise me entirely if they picked Willis if he were somehow available at 25. My other long held belief is that you can pick the best QB on your board in round 1 every year and the math will ultimately come out in your favor. That one is much less likely to catch on because so many coaches and GM's in the top half of round 1, where the best QB's typically go, are on a short leash and not yet in lock step with ownership. Has to be a process from ownership on down. It's never been more evident that if you don't have a franchise QB your situation is borderline hopeless. Obviously a dynamic reserve QB could prove invaluable if forced into action and Allen plays a very violent brand of QB. And if they trust Willis will turn into a franchise type after 4 years.......then you only need to look at the trade returns from Carson Wentz to know that even a QB who has flashed some ability is worth what a first team All Pro is in trade at just about any other position.

I agree that it's less simple and at the same time not more complicated. But I actually think it's making GM's jobs easier by making it easier to make sound decisions..........so long as they embrace the information. A significant part of the evaluations/decisions are being done by the math.

Sometimes 5 star mega recruits like Andrew Booth who every scout has been penciling in as 1st rounders for 3-4 years can suffer from "prospect fatigue" and lose some luster compared to late bloomers but unless the medicals are considerably more concerning than that it's hard to see him falling into round 2. Clemson took a step back as a program this past season but I thought Booth kept getting better and the stats seem to support that. He doesn't have any real negatives on his resume other than a punch he threw in a game vs Louisville as a freshman and my understanding that was it. Seems like a safe pick. I will say that I believe that the CB position took a reputation hit in the playoffs..........Jalen Ramsey getting scorched for numerous big plays may have caused something of a "if he can't be shut down then maybe nobody can" mentality that fed this WR market frenzy. The UFA CB market has been noticeably cold and the salaries have stagnated so it stands to reason that feeling could spill over to the draft...........but McDuffie/Elam/Gordon before Booth wouldn't be right, IMO.

Hill would definitely be one of those "we just can't help ourselves, we are a defense-first team" kinda' selections.