hondo in seattle

Yolo, I agree. Thanks for the post.

Seattle has 8: Costco, Microsoft, Amazon, Paccar, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Expediters International, Weyerhauser. Boeing was started here and still has a huge presence though the corporate HQ was moved to Chicago some years ago. Eddie Bauer, REI, T-Mobile, Nintendo, msnbc, and - oddly enough - Alaska Air all also call the Seattle metro area home. Together these companies have a huge, generally positive, influence on the local economy. New construction and new jobs are the consequences of their presence. And skyrocketing home prices - my town is over-flowing with Microsoft employees who have helped drive up the average home price to 700k.

Marquis has had the two longest jumps of 2016: After taking a three-year break from track and field, Buffalo Bills wide receiver/kick returner Marquise Goodwin returned to long jumping in 2015. Heading into the Rio Olympics this summer, Goodwin has recorded the two longest jumps anyone has made in 2016. In England on Sunday, Goodwin jumped 8.42 meters, three centimeters shy of the 8.45 mark he recorded in May. Both jumps were long enough to have won the gold medal at the 2012 games. Marquis seems like a good guy and I wish him well in the Olympics. http://247sports.com/Bolt/Marquise-Goodwin-now-owns-2016s-two-longest-jumps-45662448

I respectfully disagree. I hope we go 14-1 and lock up home field advantage, and EJ gets the start in the meaningless finale against the Jets.

"I dominated in college with the shoulder hurt. Coming back 100% will be the best thing that happened to me."

Belichick only produced 1 winning season in 5 years with Cleveland. At the time, a minority thought the roster was more to blame than the coach. The majority lost patience and Belichick was fired. Belichick authored yet another losing season in 2000, his first year with the Pats. He's never suffered another losing season since. Pete Carroll achieved losing records his first two years with Seattle and now has the Hawks in the playoffs every year. Sometimes patience is the key. Head coaches need time to build their staff and implement their systems. General Managers need time to acquire the right kinds of players for the offensive and defensive systems of their coaches. I never bought the story of an ultimatum. What business purpose would it serve? If you need to issue ultimatums to your GM or HC to motivate them, you've hired the wrong people. Ultimatums, in fact, tend to be counterproductive. Who, in fact, does their best work when faced with threats and knowing they lack the confidence of their leaders?

Goodell is a NFL guy, not a team guy. When he talks about 'competitiveness, he's talking about the NFL competing for disposable dollars with other sports and entertainment options. Obviously, at the club level, winning sells seats and attracts TV viewers. But to Goodell, Buffalo's win-loss record is irrelevant. The NFL's win-loss record will be 256-256 each year. He's looking at the NFL as a collective product. Imagine the extremes: A NFL with 32 beautiful state-of-the-art billion dollar stadiums versus a NFL with 32 rock piles. Which is better for the NFL brand? Soccer, MMA, lacrosse, motor sports, and other sports are attracting more and more fans. To avoid the erosion of attendance and viewership, the NFL does have to find ways to remain competitive. Improving the game day experience with better stadiums is part of the plan.

JW ~ thanks for an accurate account of what happened. As I shared with you in another thread, I take national reporting with a grain of salt. Big Cat ~ thanks for sharing the tweets. Media spats can be entertaining.

I have experience in the restaurant industry. And there the franchisor is continually putting pressure on the franchisees to update their physical assets. It's the same thing. The NFL is interested in top line dollars and image. The franchise is interested in those but more interested in bottom line profit. Goodell is just doing his job to protect the NFL brand.

The Bills No-Huddle with Levy/Marchibroda/Kelly running it was bad news for a lot of teams. A Bradley/Olson/Bortles No-Huddle is unproven and hard to guess. A good No Huddle takes more than talent. It takes conditioning and quick decision-making as well as a solid scheme. And when I say 'conditioning,' I mean for the D too because they might very well end up back on the field in a hurry.

I just bookmarked his site. When I watch a game live, I don't pay a ton of attention to the chess-match of X's and O's. Mostly, like a lot of fans, I watch the ball the enjoy the athleticism of the players most involved in the play and the drama of the unfolding contest. It's good to go back and examine what's really happening tactically. Erik does a nice job with this.

I don't hold grudges against anyone. I find life happier when I let resentment, disappointment, and all that heavy luggage go. If I met Jon somewhere, I'd be nice to him. That being said, I wouldn't ever pay money to see him perform. I choose not to be a fan of someone who chooses not to be a fan of Buffalo. I never cared much for his music anyway.

For those who pine for Jim Schwartz, a few thoughts... He's worked 14 years in the NFL as a HC or DC. In half of those years, his D ranked in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed. His best showing? His #4 finish with the Bills. On the other hand, his defenses finished dead last in the NFL twice: in 2006 with the Titans and again in 2009 with Detroit. In 2014, everything went right for Schwartz with the Bills. By dumb luck, he inherited a defensive roster that was brilliantly suited for his scheme. And the roster remained remarkably healthy. This had the obvious advantage of allowing Schwartz to field his best players every week. But there were other benefits too. The level of cohesion, and the quality of the communication, were strong because the starting 11 largely stayed together and they didn't much have to integrate back-ups and FAs signed to plug injury holes. It's not all the DC. Circumstances matter. Rex's D finished 19th last year despite (1) a roster that was not terribly well-suited for his scheme, (2) key injuries, (3) Rex only having one year with the team, (4) a disgruntled star barely even trying, and (5) Rex admittedly making some schematic mistakes. I'm also wondering what prompted Rex to make some coaching changes after the 2015 season. Obviously, he thinks the staff he has now will better support his vision. Can he finish top 10 this year? Top 5? Idk.

I agree Belichick is a defensive genius. My point is that you can't entirely judge a coach by his rankings. Circumstances (roster, injuries, etc.) matter. My other, related, point is that even the best coaches have ups and downs in their metrics/rankings as the circumstances fluctuate. Rex has shown that he can run a great defense when circumstances are right. He's shown he can run a poor defense when they're not. So the question is: Are circumstances right for him this year? Did Rex drop linemen into coverage too often last season? Maybe so. But is he a moron doomed to repeating the same mistakes year after year? Maybe not. We can criticize Rex for 2015 all we want. And he deserves it. But given his history, I'm willing to wait and see if he can turn things around in 2016 before giving up on the season.

Erik, this is very nice work!

I'm a NFL head coach. I'm a college grad and have an above average IQ. More importantly, I have 20+ successful years coaching in the NFL. I've been promoted multiple times until I got the HC gig because I excelled at my previous positions. I attend coaching seminars in the off-season to perfect my craft. I break-down game tape all year long, not just to understand my opponents, but to learn what the best OCs and DCs are doing schematically. This is my profession and I'm dedicated to mastering it. And now I have a DC opening and - gosh wolly gee whiz! - I'm going to hire Rob Ryan because he's Rex's brother and Buddy's son so he must be good! Right? C'mon folks. NFL coaches aren't like the characters in Dumb and Dumber. They don't hire DC's because of their last names.

I'd like to know how well Rob performed with the roster he had. Yardage totals by themselves tell us little and I don't know these squads well enough to judge if he maximized their potential. As a fan without inside knowledge, I look at like this: Rob doesn't have a great track record as a DC so I wouldn't want him as our DC. Yet he keeps getting DC gigs so the insiders who hire him must see something good in him. So I hope Rex finds a way to put his brother's strengths to productive work while avoiding his weaknesses.

TG, I'll repeat: you make some solid arguments. I fear you might be right. Then again, very few defensive leaders have records of consistent success. Schwartz had some bad years. Belichick had some bad years. Pete Carroll and Wade Phillips have had bad years. Roster, health of the roster, quality of the competition... even home life can all have an influence on a coach's metrics and lead to some ups and downs. Rex was bad last year. The questions are: How much did he learn from the experience? Did he make the right changes to the coaching staff? Did he and DW make the right changes to the roster? Will he go back to the old 'multiple' Rex scheme but update it for 2016? What will those updates look like? Rex is a blowhard but he's an intelligent blowhard and he's got some smart/experienced guys on his staff - what will they put together for 2016? I'm just not ready yet to give up on this season. I first want to see what he'll do different before condemning the man entirely.

Agree 100%. Since when is a human being required to publicly address his/her history? We have no innate right to Shady's side of the story. And I think it's smart of him to move on.

Let me tell the story of a NFL head coach who first made his name years ago when he was a DC and helped lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. That victory earned him a chance to become a NFL HC and he's been labeled a "defensive guru" ever since. But do the facts support the reputation? 4 times in the past 6 years, this supposed defensive guru's defense finished in the bottom half of the NFL! Clearly the game has passed Bill Belichick by. Because a good defensive coach will get his team in the top 5 each and every year, regardless of the circumstances.

I wasn't swayed by TaskersGhost original post. And his subsequent posts were not always written in the friendliest manner. But in there amongst the vitriol, he does make some valid points. But as a Bills homer who's always looking for reasons to be optimistic, let me present a different POV. TG suggests that as Rex removes the last vestiges of Schwartz's D from Buffalo, we'll see linemen dropping back into coverage even more often and the Bills defensive metrics drop in the rankings even further. But I don't think Rex is saying his D struggled last year because the holdover elements from Schwartz's D held him back. I think he's saying that his attempt to marry Schwartz concepts to his own failed. I think Rex would probably agree that it's better to either go all Schwartz or all Rex - just don't combine the schemes because the combo doesn't work (at least the way Rex attempted to do it). Rex was a good DC with Baltimore. He was the architect of a good defense his first few years with the Jets. Several successful ex-players have a lot of faith in his abilities. Then again, his defenses at the end of his tenure with the Jets were not good. His experiment with the Bills last season failed. TG praises Schwartz yet Schwartz's own track record has similar ups and downs. Schwartz certainly has not been successful every year either. Both Schwartz and Rex have proven they can truly suck at times. Both have proven they can succeed in the right circumstances. Let's wait and see if DW and Rex have created the right circumstances this year.

One of Buffalo's first NFL superstars was Ockie Anderson who played both QB and RB. He was second in the NFL in scoring in the inaugural 1920 season. In 1921, the year of the Staley Swindle, he led the NFL in TDs. Anderson's head coach at Buffalo in 1920 and 1921, Tommy Hughitt, was also his teammate and fellow superstar. Hughitt played QB, RB, WR, punter, and place kicker and was also one of the league's leading scorers in those early years. Led by the dynamic duo of Hughitt and Anderson, the Buffalo All-Americans were virtually unstoppable: In 1920, Buffalo went 9-1-1. In 1921, Buffalo finished 8-0-1, 9-1-2 if you count their 1-1 record in exhibition games. The NFL, at the urging of George Halas, counted the exhibition games. In both years, Buffalo was the highest scoring team in the NFL and had the biggest margin of victory. Both years, NFL leadership chose the champion and chose a different team amid controversy. Neither Hughitt nor Anderson were elected to the HOF. The curse of Buffalo goes back to the earliest days of football. History at its best.

Reading the articles about Corey, I'm not inspired to crack jokes. I'm just inspired. I really hope the Bills give the kid a shot. Incredible passion. How can you not root for this kid?

I was an archaeology major in college. I like to know the beginnings of things. But Ken Crippen knows 100x more than I do.

More Bills trivia: The Buffalo Bills played in the All American Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. We even played in - and lost - the AAFC Chamnpionship game in 1948. In 1950 the Cleveland Browns (AAFC Champs) played against the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL Champs) in the "World Series of Football" - a precursor to the Super Bowl. The Eagles were a great team and everyone considered the NFL to be the far stronger league. But the Browns won in a shocking upset, 35-10. But that was the last gasp of the AAFC as it had run out of money. The NFL agreed to accept three clubs from the AAFC into the NFL. Both the Browns and the 49ers were obvious choices. The Bills should have probably been the third choice. They had a fair team, did extremely well in ticket sales, and Buffalo was a big market in those days. The problem was that George Halas - who screwed the Bills with the Staley Swindle - still hated Buffalo and got some other owners on his side. The vote was 9-4 in favor of accepting the Bills but the vote needed to be unanimous. Baltimore - a smaller market back then with a less successful team - entered the NFL instead. The Bills ceased to exist until Ralph started a new Bills franchise in 1960.