hondo in seattle

When he was in college, I hoped he'd have a good career just because I liked his name. Amon and Ra are both Egyptian gods. But 'Saint' is a Christian concept. His parents seem ecumenical... or very confused. His brothers are named "Osiris" and "Equanimeous." Fun family.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think having Knox and Kincaid as our two 'ends' is a winning formula. Not enough speed to threaten defenses vertically. And what if one gets hurt? TEs are nice. But a team needs a diversity of weapons to challenge a good NFL defense. Let me daydream for a moment. Imagine we had our current TEs and wideouts and added Eric Moulds and Lee Evans to the mix. That would make for a dynamic aerial attack. We need to move more in that direction.

Pro Football News rates him a bit better... "Kneeland grades out as a fringe top-100 prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. He could sneak into Day 2 or be a priority prospect on Day 3. Either way, he’s a quality addition in the middle rounds, with an intriguing mix of high-floor and high-ceiling tools."

My bad... I was looking at his playoff records. Feel somewhat better now.

Yeah, that quote was a nothing burger if we're using it to try to predict the draft. Every HC and OC wants receivers who present matchup problems. The comment told us nothing about the future, but it might have told us something about the past. I'm guessing McD didn't think we gave opponents enough matchup problems last year. I saw some analytics that showed both Davis and Diggs were below the NFL average in separation. I'm 65 but can still catch a football. If there were teams that didn't care about matchup problems and my 6-minute 40 time, I'd have a shot!

I love coaching people in my day job. And, as a former combat leader, I love strategy and tactics. If I had 10 lives to live, I'd spend on of them as a football coach.

I don’t think our opening day roster will be as good as last season’s. But I think McD is a solid coach and Josh is an exceptional QB. Brady is my biggest worry. But if we’re healthy at the end of the season, we can make a run.

These guys are all either fast-but-small or big-but-slow. Not encouraging. Then again, Steve Largent was neither big nor fast and still did okay in the NFL.

Generally speaking, you're right. But it doesn't mean Beane is lying. Clearly, he's not going to share his board with the media. But it seems like he's decided there's no harm in talking about generalities in regard to his draft philosophy this year. He was sufficiently vague that he didn't give any other teams an advantage. We were left with some hints about what he won't do but very few about what he will do. He gave enough clues to get the mafia's cerebral juices flowing without giving away anything definitive. And my cerebral juices tell me Alpha is right and Beane's not moving into the top 10. If that's right, it's not a surprise given our lack of trade capital.

35% of UDFAs don't make the Pro Bowl - not even close - so it sounds like scouts are doing a good job.

Also, I think OJ's less famous lawyer, Barry Sheck, convinced the juror that a lot of the forensic evidence wasn't credible. And while some might dispute Sheck's forensic competency, let's remember he was performing for a juror that did not think police officers or forensic experts were particularly credible in the first place.

The draft pool may be more shallow this year but solid starters will come out of every round. Good GMs and scouts will find them. Hopefully Beane and his guys are looking at the right things.

Obviously, I'm interested in seeing who the Bills do and don't draft. But I think Brady is the biggest wildcard when it comes to the production of our wideouts. If it turns out he's good at scheming guys open, something he did not prove last year, we'll be fine. If he's not, even drafting one of the better rookie's won't optimize Josh's potential.

Absolutely agree. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts..." That's exactly how I see McD's defense. I don't think he gets enough credit for our excellent regular season defensive performance over the years. He creates elite defenses with a paucity of elite players. That - and injuries - is why we don't excel in the playoffs. McD's magic fails when we lose too many one-on-one battles against elite players in the playoffs. Somebody mentioned Poyer and Hyde as a freakazoid combo. I agree. I don't know if either was individually elite but, man, they played well together. I think a number of things contributed to that: their communication and teamwork, the fact they were interchangeable, their football IQ, and McD's defensive scheme. Tre was freakazoid but drafted right before Beane came onboard as I recall. But Beane is trying. Diggs was a freak but expensive and possibly a distraction. Von should have been a freak but he was also expensive, and injuries have limited his impact. We can't keep paying top dollar for game-changing players. We need to draft some. Beane did draft Allen but that was in 2018. I want Beane to be good enough to draft one freak each year. That would get us to the Super Bowl.

100% agree. And I think that's been Beane's problem thus far. He did pick Josh. And he builds good rosters with solid depth. But Josh is the only elite player on the roster. Beane needs to get us more game-changers in the draft because he hasn't left himself enough cap money to do it any other way.

Good catch. The Bills drafted just 1 of the 10 players they visited most with last season. The chart doesn't seem to be much of a clue.

If he was innocent, which I sincerely doubt, it's a shame he was never exonerated. If he was guilty, it's a shame he was never appropriately punished. I've seen lists of the NFL's top all-time RBs that didn't include OJ in the top five. At first blush, that's insane. But I get that his post-career crimes will always taint his career achievements - and rightly so. But I also remember the divinely gifted athlete he was before his devilish acts. OJ played in the Golden Age of Running Backs when America's best athletes wanted to tote the ball and defenses were focused on stopping them. Yet in 1973, OJ rushed for 2,003 yards when the next best Golden Era RB only produced 1144 yards. OJ nearly doubled the back who would have worn the rushing crown that year if not for OJ. Tom Brady, the Golden Boy of the Passing Era, never achieved that kind of relative production. Not even close. If not for his crimes, OJ would be in the GOAT conversation. Instead, he's a chapter of NFL history most would like to ignore and forget. It's sad for me because he was my first, and last, football idol.

I already acknowledged that Diggs is the more skilled player. But the poll question asks, "Who is the real #14?" The first #14 to imprint on my memory was Reich. Diggs gave me more good memories, but Reich gave me my greatest one.

Doc, let me explain my love for Reich. (1) He was a great guy and teammate. (2) The win against Houston was so unexpected. We couldn't beat the Oilers the week before with Thurman and Kelly (partially) in the game. In fact, they destroyed us. We certainly weren't going to beat them with our stars out after spotting them a 32-point lead in that playoff game. And then something miraculous happens. Reich, the perennial backup, starts playing like he's a football god who came down from Gridiron Olympus, throwing TD passes all over the place. And that improbable win helped get us to the Super Bowl. I watched a lot of great Bills moments over the decades including OJ breaking 2000 but The Comeback remains my favorite Bills game of all time and Reich was its principal author.

People define "best" differently. Best (i.e. most talented) player... best teammate... best Bill to root for... produced the best memories... and so on. I appreciate your effort to promote logic on a fan board. But my vote remains with Reich.

For those too young to remember the context. We were playing well in 1992 but still needed to win the last game against Houston to win the AFCE. Instead, the Oilers dismantled us, 27-3. We were embarrassed in all phases of the critically important game. And as luck would have it, we had to play Houston again in the WC round. Our chances didn't seem good. Kelly got hurt the week before and, if I remember correctly, Thurman got hurt in the first quarter. And Houston looked like the better team, clearly outplaying us for 6 consecutive quarters. We found ourselves down 35-3. Kelly was out. Thurman was out. Life looked bleak. And then Reich caught fire...

Stefon will be remembered in NFL history as the best, most-productive player of this group. But for me, #14 belongs to Reich. A great team-player who authored the greatest, most-unlikely comeback in NFL history.

The offseason should be a combination of preparation and relaxation. I don't know how any of us can gauge if Josh is getting the ratio right.

I'm a Purdue alum so I watched a bunch of March Madness games this year and enjoyed Purdue's run. And for me the answer is still an emphatic no. Even if the Boilermakers had won the championship last night, it wouldn't have moved me nearly as much as a SB win. My rooting energy is divided something like this: Purdue football: 1%; Purdue basketball: 1%; Buffalo Sabres: 1%; Buffalo Bills: 97%. After the game last night, I've accepted that I'm just not destined to ever experience a championship. The Bills lost in four championship game attempts. The Sabres had two tries and came up short both times. This will probably be Purdue's only national championship game in either football or basketball in my lifetime and they failed. I'm 0-7 in championship games/series.

I'm not bemoaning the trade. I'm convinced that it would be a mistake to keep Diggs for four more years on a cap-killing contract. I also tend to think that there's more behind-the-scenes going on with Diggs and his attitude than we know. On the other hand, Diggs counts something like $30 million against our cap this year - and he'll be playing for an opponent. It's screwed up - not Beane's best moment.