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hondo in seattle

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Posts posted by hondo in seattle

  1. I'm with Special K:  Elijah Moore and Cole Bishop.  

     

    I think Moore fills an important niche and will be one of our top 2 or 3 leading receivers.  

     

    I'm not confident Bishop will be a stud, but I do think he'll crack the starting lineup this year.  


    And I'll mention a position group: DL.  They've been mediocre for a while. While I'm not predicting great things from them this year, I do think greatness (or, at least, very goodness) is a possibility.  

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  2. I'm not sure his post is entirely accurate.  For example, was he really 14th string?  We would have needed 42 wideouts in camp to man 14 strings.  

     

    If he exaggerated on that point, maybe he did on some others too?

     

    Though it was still good to read the positive comments and sense the growth in maturity.  

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  3. I lot of fans agree that the Bills skill position groups (minus QB) deserve to be ranked in the 20s.  

    I wonder if these are the same folks who want to fire McD for not getting to the SB despite our shortcomings at WR, TE, and RB (and elsewhere).

     

    And if they're the same people who don't want to fire Beane despite some of the challenges he's had with roster-building.  

    I'm not pointing fingers or blaming anyone.  Just curious.  Despite some poor decisions over the years, I personally find it hard to blame McD for not winning us a Lombardi when he's never been given a Lombardi caliber roster.  

  4. 1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

    I've always heard that phrase the other way around - perfect is the enemy of good, meaning at some point the right thing to do is accept the good and move on.  

     

    But it's also used the way you've used it. 

     

    I wasn't suggesting that anyone should settle for as much as the Bills have accomplished and no more.  I really was commenting on the fact that the Bills have an outstanding football team - it isn't easy to build a consensus top-three team, and that's what the Bills have done. 

     

    And now, let's close the deal. 

     

    I agree, Shaw.  The Bills have built something that's difficult to do: a team that's in the hunt perennially.  I appreciate that.  

     

    Still, when I'm lying on my deathbed many years from now (or maybe tomorrow, who knows?), I don't want to think of the 1990s and 2020s as the two periods in my long fandom that we had a good team that was never quite good enough.  

     

    But with Beane, McD, and Josh, I think we'll be contenders for years to come so I still light incense to the Gods of the Gridiron in a hopeful spirit.  Maybe this is finally the year...

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  5. 16 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

    There's nothing to talk about. We've had all of the conversations about receivers, about Cook, about the defense, about not winning the Super Bowl, about just about everything.

     

    Since there's nothing left to talk about, I find myself thinking about how amazingly good this football team has gotten.  I say it often; when McDermott and Beane got here, they said they were going to build a team that keeps getting better and better, and that is what they've done. 

     

    I've been thinking since I saw the thread about the Bills being the favorite, at least clearly in the top three, to make it to the Super Bowl. We can argue about whether we agree or not, but the reality is that among the bookmakers and bettors, there is a clear consensus that the Bills are at the very top of the league. And it's a bigger consensus than it was a year ago and two years ago.  Granted, everyone thought the Bills would have a down season last year, but their success last season has convinced many people outside of western New York that the Bills were genuinely good last season and only got better in the off-season. 

     

    And it's not simply because the Bills have Allen and because he's just that good. Put aside that Beane did a masterful job identifying Allen as the talent he is and then managing the draft to be able to get him; people around the country are recognizing that the other 21 starters, and the bench, make this a seriously good football team

     

    And the Bills are set up to get better in the 2026 season, with the QB under contract, the salary cap getting back in order, and the opportunity to add more young talent in the draft. 

     

    Everyone is looking at the Bills as a model franchise. Everyone thinks it's when, not if, the Bills win the Lombardi.

     

    Hats off to McDermott and Beane. Now, '25, '26  '27, is the time complete the climb to the top. 

     

    I agree with every word of this and I'm grateful for Beane and McD.  And yet, we still don't have a Lombardi.  

     

    As Shaw66 says, this is a seriously good football team.  And that's both a joy and a problem.  Good is the enemy of great, as they say, and we're not great.  We've never begun a season as the best team in the NFL, or even the AFC.  There are always concerning injuries and/or roster holes, not to mention some questions about the coaching staff. 


    So what do you do with a GM/HC who win lots of games but no trophies?  Say thank you and hope for next year?  Replace them with guys who - odds are - wouldn't be as good?  It's a conundrum.  

     

    I'll say this... Every year with Beane and McD, we have a legit chance.  For 17 prior years, we had no chance at all.  I like having a chance, so I'll roll with them.  But I do wish each of them was just a little bit better. 

  6. I love the OP's confidence.  His realistic prediction is we get to the SB.  His optimistic prediction is we win it.

     

    My optimistic hope is we win but my realistic prediction is that we sadly bow out in the playoffs again.  I'm not convinced were the best team in the AFC though I do think this team's roster may prove better than last year's.  We'll see.  

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  7. I wouldn't want to see OJ's face anywhere anymore, but I'll mention he did kick returns his rookie year and bit afterwards, finishing his career with an impressive 30 yards per return average.  

     

    And I think Pete Gogolak deserves a mention just because he's the guy who popularized soccer style kicking in the NFL.  After playing for the Bills, he went to the Giants and remains to this day their leading all-time scorer.  For the youngsters in the cheap seats, before Gogolak NFL kickers would approach the ball straight on.  

     

    But I agree with the OP, Tasker, Pike, and Moorman are all obvious choices.  I'm not sure who I'd add after that.  Bobby April is a good option if we're considering coaches too.  

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  8. 9 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

    Unless you're a perennial All pro.. I think the line between good and great is squarely the scheme and the people around you 

     

    If we put the right people around ed he will be great..

     

    When we get thin and he's forced to play the one technique he gets banged up and he's not as effective 

     

    Somebody like Kyle Williams could be good to great depending on his scheme and the people around him throughout the course of his career.. but he had some help... Marcus Stroud was a former pro bowler, Marcel Dareus was all pro... Mario Williams was collapsing the pocket 

     

    When the line was just Kyle Williams he's not as effective tho he was still the same guy

     

    Ed needs a true 1T to take pressure off of him.. because if he doesn't he's forced to play it.. because he's a beast.. but he's not big enough to withstand that punishment throughout a whole NFL season

     

     

     

    DL is one of the position groups I'll watch most in preseason (along with the WR group) because I'm excited for it, but anxious and uncertain too.  

     

    I get the Kyle analogy and hope this season proves you right about Ed.  

  9. 3 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

    Rankings are subjective and purely opinion 

     

    But Oliver is a damn fine football player... And so is Greg..  and so is hoecht and bosa

     

    Not to mention our potential guys in relief 

     

    I'm not putting an arbitrary number on it but watch hoecht become a fan favorite very quickly

     

    For me both Oliver and Rousseau are at the good-not-great level.  After that things get interesting.

     

    Bosa could return to his former glory.  Or he could spend the season on IR.  Who knows?


    I never watched Hoecht very much, but I know that he's a very smart and versatile player who can play DE, DT, and LB.  That means when he's on the field, the offense doesn't necessarily know what defensive alignment we're in, assuming we switch him around.  He could be an interesting X factor.

     

    Ogunjobi seems like he could be a good depth piece though PFF only graded him a 49.4 last season.

     

    And then there's the rookies.

     

    If everyone is as good as we hope, this will be the best DL we've had in a while.  But if our fears materialize (Bosa is hurt, the rookies play like rookies, Hoecht's versatility is misused, Ogunjobi deserves his 40s PFF score, etc.), then our entire defense will struggle.  I'm hoping for the best but right now it all feels iffy to me.  

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  10. 6 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

    Thats a rank list. Texans #4??? They might have the worst pair of starting dtackles in football. They have great edge rushers, sure, but they are awful inside.

     

    Similarly the Lions... sure they have Hutch. The DTs are serviceable starters but nothing more at this stage and Davenport isn't even that. 

     

    And the Bills have two proven good players and two question marks. 

     

    Bad list.

     

    And no great players, unless they're weirdly looking at Bosa as a 17-game player in the prime of his career?    

  11. 4 hours ago, Ned Flanders said:

    Bills did win a wildcard game in 1981 at the Jets.

     

    Oops.  I'm drawing a blank and embarrassed to say that I don't remember that game.  

     

    Mostly what I remember from the late 60s until Kelly is a lot of losing. OJ's gridiron brilliance was the big bright spot for me - I loved watching that man run - but of course that was unredeemably tarnished by his later behavior.  

  12. 10 hours ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

    Bills made the playoffs in 66, 74,80,81

     

    I know.  But still, the long period after our brief AFL glory was mostly characterized by misery.  

     

    From 1967 to 1987, we went something like 118-196-3 (.377) and were 0-3 in the playoffs.  Despite a few moderately good years, I think it's fair to call that extended period of time the Bills Dark Ages.  Kelly and company were the Rennaissance and that was an exciting time.    

     

     

  13. 1 hour ago, RangerDave said:

    I won $100,000 once.  I spent half of it on booze and women.  The rest, I just wasted....

     

    When I was a broke college kid, a friend won $17,000 in an injury lawsuit and wanted to buy me something.  I refused to accept his generosity at first.  It just seemed wrong that I should benefit from his injury. 

     

    But he explained, "You know I'm going to blow this money on stupid sh*t in less than a week, anyway.  You might as well have something to show for it because I won't." 

     

    I let him buy me a genuine Wilson NFL football.  

     

    I hope the 100k bought you some good memories but with the booze, maybe it didn't.  

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  14. 48 minutes ago, balln said:

    I find this interesting actually 

     

    beanes an emotional dude. It is what it is. Starting to come through more and more as time goes on. In the beginning it’s endearing and welcomed change of vigor

     

    but with each passing year of not getting it done (beating chiefs or getting to a Super Bowl) he’s starting to be too emotional

     

    and that’s my biggest gripe with this org. They’re too culture centrric. Everybody believes. And loves each other. It affects their draft picks and priorities in offseason. And it affects their contracts. 

     

    Delta Force is culture-centric.  It doesn't seem to affect their selection process or priorities in any kind of negative way.  Being culture-centric isn't a problem; it's a strength.  

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  15. The old timers will appreciate this game more than the youngsters because we lived through some rough years before this game.


    The Bills won the AFL championship in 1964 and 1965 and then sucked for the next 20+ years.  We didn't win comebacks.  We let other teams win them.

     

    Then this happened.  It was like a sign from God: this was a different Bills team.  This team was going to the Super Bowl.  

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  16. Every weekend, I run/hike with the puppy anywhere from 9 to 18 miles in the mountains of Northern California.  And every time I do, something hurts, whether it's my feet, ankles, knees, quads, or whatever. 

     

    If I were a professional athlete, they'd call my pains "injuries."  I'd get examined, treated, and put on a recovery plan.  But since I'm just an old nobody, I keep running without labeling or treating them.  


    This is my way of saying, I think Max will be fine.

     

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  17. 5 hours ago, FireChans said:

    At some point, this pipeline has to age out of the league. It's been almost 10 years!

     

    I get the joke but...

     

    A lot of players, especially the marginal ones who get signed in the spring, bounce from team to team.  So while the Panthers only account for roughly 3% of the players in the NFL at any given time, the number of players who once were on Carolina's roster is roughly (I'm guessing) 10% of the league.  With a spring roster of 90 guys, we should expect about 9 ex-Panthers on the Bills at this time of year.    

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