BADOLBILZ

I haven't given up. I think they can catch Ottawa and get in the top 5. https://www.tankathon.com/nhl

Here's the thing........nobody had any idea in their draft years that Watt and Jones had ceilings anywhere near what they developed into. Both were seen as stiff, unathletic guys. Watt was modestly productive(your standard 11 sack Wisconsin OLB) and Jones had been a big disappointment at Mississippi State. They tested well at the combine and boosted their stocks UP to where they were picked.......which wasn't early in either case. Below is Mayock talking Jones down as he runs the 40. NSFW.

Priority list 1. Make your super-elite top 3 talented QB look as good as he can. 2. Everything else in much less specific order. I think people get so focused on how the Patriots and later the Chiefs have done something.......and how to do THAT........that they lose sight of the obvious. Once you've put a couple of Lombardi's in the trophy case and you've decided that your HC is a genius in his own right(and the owner's appetite for paying superstar wages has diminished) well THEN you play the games that the Chiefs have successfully for the past 2 years. One of the common traits of champions who go on runs like NE and KC is that they take advantage of teams who build "not to lose" to them. That's the "hole patching" mentality that Brandon Beane has cultivated. The smarter teams........the one's who break thru against them.........lean into their strengths with the intention of BEATING them. One of my favorite goofy Bills fan takes is complaining that the Bills never sack Mahomes in a playoff game............while ignoring that the Chiefs don't sack Josh Allen either. Think about it.

A first round pick is that rare a chance to get a talent at a premium position that would normally cost in the $20M-$30M aav range if they play to expectations. Using that kind of chip on a safety is just not logical. They are just too easy to find. The free agent market is usually loaded with them..........because like RB's........teams know they can be easily replaced so they don't want to pay them. This year's free agent class is no different. Loaded and there will be solid one's available cheap enough even for the Bills.

Yeah the reality is that Carter probably should be in prison right now. Not saying a murder 1 sentence necessarily.........but it was literally just a year ago.........he should have gotten at least a year or more for his role in the deaths that occurred. I have a hard time generating any sympathy for him when people bring it up and hurt his feelings. You do something incredibly stupid and people get killed you have live with public opinion on your actions. Carter fell in the draft because he's of suspect character and intelligence. Trying to re-direct scorn for what he did on other players isn't the way to make people forget that.

Pooph makes a skunk odor spray that breaks down the oil. Probably good to have around if you let your dogs run free.

2 years of Patrick Mahomes winning SB's that Josh Allen *could* have won instead if perhaps he wasn't too busy with things like GF drama and perfecting his golf game to instead elevate his QB game as a competitor/decision maker to the highest level. Yeah, sure he's awesome to watch and they aren't even competitive without him and a lot of other things could have been better...........but all anyone will remember long term is that when he needed to carry the day against Cinci and then KC he didn't get the job done. Hopefully two straight home playoff losses to his chief rivals as the top QB in the league has finally convinced him he has more to give and that his new talk about more training and eating better etc.. means no more wayyyyyyyysted tiiiiiiime. And hopefully Beane keeps the roster strong so it's not a moot point. I went with this extra annoying cover version with this turtlenecked Euro-dude because this season was so especially annoying to watch........as wasted talent so often is.

They definitely earned it but @FireChans is correct in noting that Mahomes/Allen/Burrow are in a different class of playoff QB than Lamar and Purdy. Not to detract from the 49ers effort because they played their assiz of.........but they ran into a pretty flat KC team and STILL lost. Having seen the 49ers get whipped at home by both Cinci and Baltimore this season I think that the AFC side had the most talented team.

As statistically amazing as the season that Purdy had was in so many ways..........it's easy to envision Shanahan having a new QB in a couple years.

Yeah he's raised his passing game in the last two Chiefs playoff games.........the problem is that he hasn't been consistent enough to make his team the best team in the AFC in the regular season in any of the 3 seasons since he broke out in 2020. I know people will point to the Chiefs winning the SB from the #3 seed this year but they've been the #1 seed 4 of the last 6 seasons and reached the SB the last 3 times they had that #1 seed. The regular season matters.........especially when you are trying to break thru for the first time.

Yeah I don't think it needs to be a perfect world for Allen to get back to where he was as a pocket passer in 2020. He hasn't really been close to that age 24 seasons as a passer. I think it just *feels* like he has to run the ball 9.2 times per game(as he did under Brady) because of a combination of lack of offensive weapons and a lack of focus by him on the finer points of his own game. If he gets back to that 105 PR 37 TD pass 10 INT QB from the 92 QB 29 TD pass 18 INT QB(that he's become) then he can operate from the pocket and win running the ball 4-6 times per game(which is what they have been wanting). That's not far off from Mahomes rush attempts(4.7 this past season). I totally get why they had to pull the emergency lever on this season and turn him into young Cam Newton again...........I just don't buy that Allen doesn't have it in him to evolve. That feeling is a coping mechanism to deal with his stalled career, IMO.

After the 3rd or 4th time you prove @4merper4mer points incorrect in a given thread you realize there's no convincing him and he's probably just trolling.

I haven't done a deep dive on Dorlus because he just never popped in the games I watched. I get Boogie Basham vibes from him. Got some pass rush but doesn't finish well. Tweener DE/DT size, over-aged, underproductive.

Josh is a tremendous QB and the most fun player in the league to watch, IMO. He got ever-so-close to Mahomes level for that brief moment in the 13 seconds game. But Allen went into the offseason thinking he'd made it because he left the field winning against Mahomes and the defending champs. But as it turns out, that wasn't actually a great version of Mahomes or the Chiefs. They choked and he played careless, gunslinging football in defeat to Cinci the following week. Mahomes went into that offseason knowing that he needed to change and be a better situational QB/leader. That's where he regained his separation on JA. We hate Mahomes but the guy has had his professional priorities and personal life more in order than JA.

I'd break up the difference between the Chiefs and Bills into 2 subsets: Roster.........the difference is that the Chiefs have a true game changer(Chris Jones) on defense and the Bills do not. Von Miller might have finally been that guy in 2022. They need a WR2 to do it the right way.........but if they are willing to use Allen like a battering ram they could have reached a SB without that this year. Leadership.......Yes Reid and his staff are better than McDermott and his........but even more importantly,IMO is that Josh Allen is significantly behind Patrick Mahomes in terms of knowing what it takes to win and prioritizing winning over everything else. Mahomes has gotten there. Josh has not. Josh f#cked off last offseason......came out the gate with a dreadful performance in NY and did his part with sloppy mechanics and decision making to get his OC fired on their way to a 6-6 start. He booted and rallied under Brady from there on out running the ball 10 times per game to get them within a couple minutes of beating the Chiefs in the playoffs. But on that 2nd and 9 play Mahomes takes the short throw to Diggs..........Allen instead took the glory shot to Shakir and failed. This is the biggest difference between these 2 players now and it's enough to decide their playoff games. The Bills would be nowhere without Allen but they are also hamstrung some by where he is at as a leader/winner. Allen is close enough to get there in one offseason........but he has to level up. He needs to get back in the lab(as he says) like it's 2020 again and the Bills need to roster-prioritize making him look good like that again even when he is being asked to stay in the pocket for 3/4 of the regular season. Hopefully Beane can re-tool the roster enough to not take a step back and these teams can meet again but that's not a given.

The point is to put your analysis in a broader perspective, not to criticize your research on WR picks. It's right that sometimes later WR picks turn out better than 1st rounders........but people could easily misconstrue that same isolated data to justify not taking a WR early and instead drafting for immediate need. The reality is that the X and Z WR positions are among the premium "edge/island" positions where great individual talent is hard for an opponent to suppress and prevent from changing games. And subsequently those are the ones that are hardest to address with quality.........they rarely show up in free agency unless they are old(see Von Miller to Bills) or injured/washed. That's why you take swings at those positions early in drafts.

BUT.........that analysis goes about the same for all of the truly "elite" positions outside of QB. Pass rusher, LT and WR are traditionally among the lowest(if not the 3 lowest) "Pro Bowl" hit rate positions with first round picks. Generally 70% of pro bowlers at those positions come from picks after round 1...........last I saw over 40% of first round safeties turn into pro bowlers which was the highest. Does that mean that a team should just pick safeties/guards and centers early because those are the highest "pro bowl" level player hit rates? Absolutely not. Because those positions aren't nearly as important wrt winning championships. Every offseason fans forget that the purpose of the early rounds is to find the future cornerstones of your franchise at premium positions..........those positions where you don't often see high quality players in their prime change teams in free agency. Instead they focus on filling holes with their mock drafts. You gotta' draft and develop those elite position players......and while the "big hit" rate isn't as high as some lesser positions........it still beats the odds of finding those MUST HAVE players later. Personally, I'm not looking too hard at safeties and 1 techs in the first 2 rounds. Those are "free agency" value positions and one's that I hope to draft and develop replacements for later.

Yeah the mid-season malaise has been a pretty regular thing under McDermott since the first one in 2017. That one was a doozy where they had arguably the worst 3 game defensive stretch in team history prior to breaking out of it with an upset win in KC. Your point is right on, IMO. These swoons have resulted in them never having the #1 seed. More importantly than home field, IMO, it has meant that they've never had the bye to rest and recover and instead are often playing de facto playoff games as early as November due to starting with 6-5 and 6-6 records etc. And that has taken it's toll on their health in the playoffs. It's not the only reason, obviously....but they haven't had that #1 seed that KC had in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and 2022. This season was the first in which they reached the SB without that #1 seed/bye.

I think Friggin' Lonnie bit his own tongue on this one. The GOAT of TSW whipping boys.

For as good as the Bills secondary was statistically I think it was probably understood around the league that the Bills biggest fundamental weakness come playoff time was their inability to really excel at man coverage in situations when they needed to be able to at least mix it up a lot better against high octane playoff opponents. They've been fish in a barrel in the secondary in their exit game each of the past 4 seasons. That reflects on Butler directly.......not so much on Babich or Washington. I think McD actually might be seen as less culpable by some because he tried to integrate a true man cover CB by signing off on the Elam selection. You'd presume Butler would find good work but after the run of speedboat jobs against his secondary you wonder what the appetite is for a guy whose game might not be seen as fully adaptable. Williams is moving to LB. And I wouldn't be surprised if he ran like a 4.7 or something at the combine. He plays slow. Violent but not fast. He isn't a starting NFL safety, IMO and drafting safeties early is like drafting RB's........they'd BETTER be very good or you wasted a pick.

Yeah I think we figured that out when you expressed how much you hoped he got put in a better situation. Like anyone is really personally invested in that trust fund baby if they don't want him on their team. 😂 But let me warn you.........Buffalo is apparently no place to try to develop a young QB.........the general consensus is that Patrick Mahomes would have never made it in Buffalo! And I'd also add that there shouldn't be a 3rd QB on the 53 man roster. So backup or bust for Wilson. Need that extra spot for depth at other positions given that there is likely to be a bit less quality depth due to cap constraints.

I liked the part where Johnson said that it was unacceptable that they weren't better with all that talent on offense. Bad OL, 1 WR and no QB...........but yeah.......ALL THAT talent. 😂 Woody should have reviewed Saleh's receipts and fired him after the 2022 season............but I'm glad he didn't.

You were one post too late. But substance abusers unite! Not fair you guys getting lumped with other types of abusers.

And to the contrary..... I was pretty confident he'd just be an "ok" starting QB that would keep his team in QB purgatory..........which is what he's become. I don't particularly like him.........his underdog story is offset by his assh*le dog stories(which people now forget)..........and don't really care that he's doing well but do hope he gets a nice fat contract from Tampa so another team gets themselves in cap hell and maybe we can take advantage of that.