hondo in seattle

A freakish Brit rugby player, a pro lacrosse player (former MVP), and a former gold medal wrestler. I love it!

Elam's been taking boxing classes with the great Joe Messi. And he said something about it that I thought was interesting: "My number one thing is becoming a better me every single day. I think boxing has definitely helped me become that from a physical aspect, but now mental aspect as well, to allow me to stay calm, relaxed and able to execute details and fundamentals without getting stressed out or tense." Is he saying that he's had a problem with getting stressed or tense in football games? Has his struggle been more mental/psychological than physical? ww.wkbw.com/sports/buffalo-bills/i-love-it-buffalo-bills-cornerback-kaiir-elam-using-boxing-to-improve-mental-and-physical-health

Thanks, Alpha. This actually makes me feel better. While I wasn't sad in the slightest when Dorsey was canned, I didn't jump on the Brady train either. As a fan, it felt like the O didn't get any better overall when Brady took the reins and the passing game actually got worse. I may not have been considering the strength of the defenses Brady faced. And part of my feeling of disappointment may have simply been me hoping for more. Over the past few years, we've had some beautiful streaks of consecutive 30+ point games. I wanted Brady to give me that. I still do.

I never played beyond the HS level so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. But it seems to me that you have to be athletically gifted to be good at press/man coverage which Elam is. Playing zone requires less athleticism. You do need some quickness as one guy leaves your zone and another enters it - or as you read the play differently as it develops. And you do need smarts to understand what's going on around you. Elam seems to possess both adequate quickness and smarts. So it's puzzling to me why he still struggles. It seems like he's had more than enough time to figure out how to play effectively in McD's defense. Intellectually, it's not that hard. While Butler was a talented DB coach, maybe having a new position coach will be good for Elam. I hope so because (1) he seems like a good, hard-working kid, and (2) we could use another quality CB.

Wholeheartedly agree. Allen has a talent for running and we'd be dumb not to use it. But we'd be dumb to overuse it when it (presumably) heightens the risk of injury. It felt like the passing game underperformed most of last year. There were games when Josh looked a little off - either throwing to the wrong guy or just off with his placement. And there were games where we weren't seeing a lot of open receivers. And while the OL was better than previous seasons, there were days when Josh made a struggling OL look good by rolling around and avoiding the rush. We can't fix all of that. But I hope Brady schemes a better offense than what we saw last year. If he does, we won't have to rely on Josh's legs very often.

Brady said... “I think the guys last year — obviously it wasn’t exactly how we wanted, and didn’t end how we wanted it to end. But the guys kind of played together and it’s kind of, hey, in this offense, everyone is going to eat. And they’ve got to have the mindset that it’s not just about one person — no one’s bigger than the offense. But, in order for someone else to have success, I’ve got to do my job so they have success and then vice versa. So that’s the biggest thing that we’re preaching right now.” The biggest thing Brady's preaching is that everyone needs to do their job - even if it's not time for them to eat. In other words, teamwork and high effort on every play. If that's his biggest thing to preach this year, is it because he didn't believe we had that going on last year? That's what I think. As he said, "The guys kind of played together" last season.

If anything, I pay more attention to the Bills. It's the extra incentive you mentioned. Since McD and Beane arrived, I feel like every season we have a chance to win a Super Bowl. A slim chance maybe but it's not 1,000 to 1. Maybe 10 to 1 and that's enough to grab hold of my hope and blow it up. So I watch the team closely to see if maybe this is finally the year.

Agreed. The narrative on him has been that he's good at press coverage and man-to-man but the Bills primarily employ zone which he doesn't excel at. How does size impact your ability to play zone? Zone requires smarts and quickness, and Elam doesn't seem to lack either. He may be a bad fit for the Bills but not because of his size. The whole thing is puzzling, and I feel like we're not getting the whole story.

I don't think Brady is saying he won't do this. I think he's saying he's building his offense around the skills of the players on the roster. And that starts with Josh. I'm sure Brady has the desire to scheme guys open but it remains to be seen if he has the ability.

I don't think the do-nothing camp looks defeatist at all. While I don't necessarily agree, I think they're just being prudent. I suppose it partly depends on how you evaluate the current squad and whether or not it has glaring needs. Apparently, you see WR as a glaring need. Orlovsky and others seem to think differently.

When I got in trouble as a kid, my mom would slowly call out my full name: first name... middle name... last name... If I had Davis's name, I'd be out the door before she got to Jamar: "Re'Mahn Walter Zhamar Jamar Davis, where do you think you're going?!?!"

I just want to mention the obvious... When I think of the leaders of this defense over the past few years, I first think of Matt Milano. As far as the identity - McD isn't going to change his scheme very much when it's mostly worked. While it's broken down in the playoffs, I'm guessing that he doesn't see that as a schematic problem as much as a roster & injury problem. So I think this will look a lot like previous years maybe with a few tweaks as he adapts to different personnel. McD philosophically prefers to pressure with the front four. But if that doesn't work, he's not afraid to blitz. So maybe we'll blitz more than what's been the norm. Overall, it'll be a solid, well-coaching defense with excellent teamwork. But it won't be an elite, stifling D because there's just isn't enough individual talent. I wonder what wrinkles, if any, Bobby Babich will bring. When I see him at pressers, he looks like he's in his late twenties, so I think he won't have much to offer. But the guy is actually 40, with 18 years of coaching experience. About half of his time in the NFL has been with McD so I think he's probably a McD protege & disciple. It'll be good that the two will understand each other and work together well. But I wonder how much he'll be able to challenge McD with divergent opinions?

I love the Zhamar Jamar part!

I agree. I didn't register any negativity about the Bills. He's just doing what he's supposed to be doing: talking up his new team. The truth, of course, may be a little different. He's made it clear in the past that he's a mercenary and will play for the highest bidder. I assume that's the true reason why he chose the 9ers.

Another tidbit... His first name isn't actually Ray. His full name is: Re’Mahn Walter Zhamar Jamar Davis.

I was ignoring that and looking at how much each team spends on their current wideouts. Sadly, we spend more on a receiver who plays for another team than all the receivers in Bills unis combined.

Great way of saying it. The NFL is a hard mistress. Ty was a star in college (3rd most all-purpose yards in Maryland history) and now he's fighting just for a roster spot. Despite his success in college, he wasn't invited to the combine. And yet he reportedly benched 27 reps at 225 lbs - more than any of the backs who were invited to the combine that year. And one scout timed him at 4.26 in the 40 - also better than any of the backs at the combine. Other scouts had him between 4.3 and 4.4. The guy is an elite athlete by many measures, yet barely good enough for the NFL and has already been released by two NFL teams.

I think in the past Beane has underspent on the OL. And this year, he's underspending on the WR group (5th lowest in the NFL?). But I like his approach toward the RB room. With our offense revolving around Josh, he's trying to man the RB position with low-cost draft picks on rookie contracts. Cook is already a bargain and Davis looks to be one. Johnson has a modest cap number of about 1.1m. You can't spend everywhere so Beane has decided not to spend heavily on the backfield. But he's getting us some talent there regardless.

It's good to see a former NFL QB being even more optimistic about our receivers than a homer Bill fan like me. But it's easier to get open when you have a good OC scheming up good plays and calling them at the right time. I don't know yet if Brady is that guy.

Agreed. I think the waters will be a little clearer next year, allowing Beane to make some focused additions. While there's some uncertainty on the OL, I'm thinking especially of the WR room. Who will step up? Who won't? Do we actually need another starting caliber wideout? And this will be the first year to truly see Brady's offense in action. That might also help clarify 2025 needs.

I read somewhere that we have the 5th cheapest WR room in the NFL. I have to admit, that's concerning. When you have a great QB, wouldn't you want to give him great folks to throw to? But a bunch of these guys have upside. And I think there's enough talent here that Brady - if he's good at his job - can scheme guys open.

I think Claypool, MVS, Hollins, and even Coleman to certain extent, all get side-eyed by a certain segment of the mafia because of Diggs's departure. "What? This guy is supposed to replace Diggs?" I don't expect any of them to replace Diggs. I do hope they play up to their potential and become important role players.

As a homer optimist, I'm projecting 6.

I've heard Kurt Warner and others suggest that Josh gets frustrated by 2 high shells and other defensive schemes that take away the long ball. According to the narrative, Josh doesn't like to dink and dunk down the field. Yet, we didn't hear this story a lot when Beasley was with the team. Maybe folks are right and Allen will throw to a covered deep guy before an open short guy just because he likes to air it out - film certainly shows instances of that. But maybe Josh doesn't trust his recent short threats the way he once trusted Bease. I'm not sure what's going on but whatever it is, it needs to be fixed because teams are frequently using 2 high shells to slow down QBs like Allen, Mahomes, etc. Our offense needs to become proficient at moving the ball, regardless of the defensive scheme. And Brady has talked about making defenses 'defend every blade of grass.' We need to get better at that. The encouraging thing is Brady was adept at using short crossers at Carolina. But guys open short won't matter if Allen inappropriately chooses the guy running the intermediate or deep pattern. Schematically, Brady needs to find ways to get guys open at all levels of the defense. But he also needs to persuade Josh to choose the guy with the greatest separation, even if that guy is James Cook or Dalton Kincaid, only 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Thanks for the recommendation. My wife was underwhelmed in Clarence, but I've convinced her we need to give East Aurora a try next. I think I recall going somewhere on Genesee with a friend. Don't recall the name. Or a char pit - so maybe not. I'll add Macy's to the list. You guys are making me hungry! I currently live south of San Jose, CA. There are some fantastic Latin and Asian restaurants around here representing all sorts of regional cuisines. But I have yet to find good pizza. And I'd love to be proven wrong when I say that the world has caught up to Buffalo's wings.