dpberr

He's a great athlete that has little in the way of football instincts. Playing time can help with that. Part of the problem in Buffalo is he barely played. I didn't fault him for his play in the championship game. I put that one on management.

Did anyone's telecast switch to Spanish?

I don't think Texas had any idea what was coming or from where with OSU's defense. Matt Patricia had the entire offseason to plan for this game, and being a new DC in the college ranks, there wasn't any film on his strategies. Texas got punched in the face, and never recovered.

I don't think his UNC stint will go all that well. Just like Deion is showing in Colorado, "star" coaching talent doesn't equal busloads of 5-star recruits. I think Belichick's motivation for doing this is all wrong (to prove he's still great after being rejected by NFL front offices), and he's made the mistake of filling out his coaching staff with his kids, Mike Lombardi's kid, and two ex-Browns assistants, one of whom hasn't worked in football for three years (Priefer) and one who's terrible at his job (OC Kitchens). You don't have a lot of great schematic genius there to overcome the gaps in talent.

I was a little surprised Dustin Hopkins was cut for a kicker who's rarely kicked outdoors. Had a rough 2024 (66.7%) but was 90% plus in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and is 84% overall for his career. Maybe that injury changed things. Szymt has done most of his kicking in domes in Syracuse and St. Louis (with the Battlehawks).

His job security is at 99.9%. A down season? Who cares. It won't be because of him. The only way he gets fired in the next three years is if there is a change in ownership. I'd put the chance of change in majority ownership higher than McDermott being fired by the Bills. The ownership situation is uncomfortably fragile.

You could try a soil drench. This particular product was my go-to when battling lanternflies a few years ago.

It's not important but he played for Doug Pederson too. He benched Hurts in the last game of the 2020 season that was likely the final straw that got Pederson fired.

I'd rank Mahomes #1, Hurts #2. Say what you want about Hurts but he gets the job done in the big moments. He's got two SB appearances in his five seasons of play with two different coaching staffs, and he played lights out in both of those games. I think Hurts being able to perform at a high level under two different head coaches and *multiple* offensive coordinators has him in the conversation for being the best quarterback in the NFL.

Heat. Michael Mann's Opus - A perfect movie IMO. Die Hard With a Vengeance. Best movie in the Die Hard series. To Live and Die in LA. Casting unknowns at the time added to the suspense, excellent story and movie making. Aliens. Best movie in the Aliens series, and expanded the Aliens universe. 2010. The more watchable of the two films in the series. Honorable Mention: Hard Target. It's stupid but every single actor in it chews the scenery. If there's such thing as peak Lance Henriksen, this is his movie.

What a delightful case study on the consequences of arrogance. Steelers can't tank a season and accept a lousy season, clear some bad contracts via trades, get some promising players some game time, and get into position to draft a franchise QB. Aaron Rodgers can't accept both his love of the game and his body announced their retirements after the conclusion of the 2023 season.

If he doesn't report to training camp on time, I suspect there goes the remote chance the Bills offer him another contract. IMO, I don't think the Bills have a desire to offer *any* running back a second multi-year "big" contract. I just don't think that's in their business model of allocating $$$ to positions, regardless of how good the running back is as a player.

I'd vote Bengals. They will regret paying both Chase and Higgins and tying up so much money in one unit, they have the unresolved Trey Hendrickson story, Sam Hubbard retired, had a mediocre draft, and no observable plan to improve the defense.

Linebacker. It's their most fragile unit on the team, and the Bills defense relies on this unit a lot. You have to assume one or more of the top three backers - Bernard, Milano, Williams - will be dinged up coming out of training camp. It's a unit that's never 100% strength for very long it seems. While Williams filled in great for Milano, the Bills don't have that Plan 1B yet for Bernard.

Dream scenario is that the FO doesn't get cute or try to outsmart the draft. Pick BPA on defense at #30 or trade up for a blue chip talent. Don't care if it's a DT, CB or S. I don't want to hear about trading back or trading out of the 1st round. That's nerd talk.

Edge to Travis Hunter. He can perform in pretty much any offense, or defense for that matter. Carter has more "good, but not great" potential between the two IMO. He could be Micah Parsons, but equally could also be Hasson Reddick in his early years with the Cardinals. Star linebackers in college need a great fit in scheme to excel in the NFL.

I think they will have an ok, but uneven year. Got to win that bowl game.

Trading out of the 1st round for any reason.

Gymnastics. Reflecting, my parents were: Thinking this is really a creative assassination attempt. High.

Whichever team selects Sanders should take a patient approach: let him sit, observe for a year, absorb the game, and tune out the noise coming from Pops. He's talented but the CU approach to generating offense (a billion passes every game, let's not run the football...at all) isn't a winner in the NFL.

He's going to be 36. I'd prefer the Bills give that roster spot to a younger player. I understand why he wants to keep playing. He's not that far from Top 20 all time in sacks, and theoretically, Top 10, with a fantastic year. (Per Pro Football Reference)

I like a whole lot of Gene Hackman movies. It'd be challenging to pick a Top 10. A movie of his that always comes to mind is the Quick and the Dead. He hammed it up as the bad guy in that movie and had some great lines.

Don't have to ban it but I'd make offenses declare that's the play, so the defense can design plays to stop it. I don't think it's fair that the defense can't commit to stopping the play because it's got to try to stop multiple possible plays. I'd also allow the defense to push players towards the pile. (I'm not sure if the defense can do that or not.)

I see fault in two places. One, employees need to understand it hasn't been cool to sexually harass in the American workplace since the 70s. It can get you fired and your employer sued. Two, it's on the employer to provide the mandatorily attended, annual class on what sexual harassment is, and its consequences, so you can discipline anyone who doesn't get the message going forward.

The pro is that we no longer have to fly slow, noisy props like the Beechcraft 1900s. Hated the prop planes.