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I'm glad he's doing well but I was never enamored with him when he was here. I have to say, though, he was hard to evaluate. On the one hand, our run-blocking sucked. Holes were rare when runs were expected. Then again, runs weren't often expected as we were a pass-first-and-second team. The fact that defenses were focused on Josh and Diggs helped explain Motor's and Moss's good YPC. I did like Moss's effort, though. He usually didn't go down easily. But he was slow and with running lanes closing quickly in Buffalo (if they ever opened at all), that was a problem.

If you don't want to read the whole thesis, Urschel provided a short summary: "This thesis considers four independent topics within linear algebra: determinantal point processes, extremal problems in spectral graph theory, force-directed layouts, and eigenvalue algorithms. For determinantal point processes (DPPs), we consider the classes of symmetric and signed DPPs, respectively, and in both cases connect the problem of learning the parameters of a DPP to a related matrix recovery problem. Next, we consider two conjectures in spectral graph theory regarding the spread of a graph, and resolve both. For force-directed layouts of graphs, we connect the layout of the boundary of a Tutte spring embedding to trace theorems from the theory of elliptic PDEs, and we provide a rigorous theoretical analysis of the popular Kamada-Kawai objective, proving hardness of approximation and structural results regarding optimal layouts, and providing a polynomial time randomized approximation scheme for low diameter graphs. Finally, we consider the Lanczos method for computing extremal eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix and produce new error estimates for this algorithm." Typical locker room jock talk.

Urschel grew up in Buffalo, graduated from Canisius, became a Baltimore Raven, and just got a job as a math professor at MIT. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on "Graphs, Principal Minors, and Eigenvalue Problems" and has published over a dozen peer-reviewed papers. All by the age of 32. Makes me feel like I haven't tried hard enough.

As a Purdue alum, I was rooting for Orton throughout his NFL career. Then the slide happened.

We finished 13-3 last year. We didn't lay many eggs. Also, we often relied on Josh's heroics to win games. It was almost as if Beane said, "We don't need no friggin' offensive line or running attack. We have a freak for a QB!" This year, so far (disregarding the Jets game), Josh has been protected well and the running attack has been good. It's starting to look like an offense that can sustain its success. Josh just needs to be good, and he's very good. He doesn't need to be superhuman.

I think they'll have a decibel meter at the new stadium that's built to retain the sound better. I can't remember who has the record now - KC or Seattle - but we'll break it.

Bills leading the league in EPA (expected points average) when looking at the combo of offense and defense... rbsdm.com/stats/stats/

Agreed. I'll just add that Allen's cold streaks weren't because he suddenly lost his arm talent. His cold streaks come when he was under duress and running for his life in games, often low-scoring, close contests, where he pressed too hard to make a play. If this OL protects him better, and if he can stay patient when things aren't going our way, the cold streaks should be minimized if not eliminated.

I was really happy with Beane this offseason. I thought he might have successfully upgraded our OL from bad to average. And I was excited about that. I never imagined seeing something like this.

Whatever it turns out to be, with $50 million guaranteed, the opportunity cost was substantial. We could have signed a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, for example.

Sure, passer rating does measure something meaningful. But most human evaluators of QBs wouldn't put Jimmy Garoppolo ahead of Tom Brady, for example. Because of the methodological flaws posters have noted, the passer rating top twenty is only a rough approximation of the "real" top twenty.

I was a bit critical of the Von signing when it happened. It seemed like a lot of money for a DE on the backside of his career. I felt there were better ways to use our limited cap dollars. Then again, he's still a tremendous player & a team guy, and DE was certainly a position of need. At this point, I guess, it's money under the bridge and I think it'll be fun to see what he adds to this already talented, productive group. Especially with Tre out, it's nice to have guys who can get after a QB.

At the time, I thought it was a great signing in the sense that it addressed a notable need. But I did wonder if it was the wisest way to spend $120 million.

According to Neil Paine's Meta-Power Ratings, the Bills are the best team in the NFL... neilpaine.substack.com/p/2023-nfl-elo-ratings-and-win-projections

This brings up a question other than the Frazier one... Did we need to spend $120 million on Von when we can pressure the QB without him? I love Von. But I'd love a top-five OL, too. $120MM could have bought a lot of beefy bodyguards for Josh.

I don't like either passer rating or QBR. As for passer rating, as I understand it, it's about efficiency and not about productivity. For example, imagine a QB plays an entire game and goes 3 of 5 for 50 yards. The reason he doesn't throw much is because he sucks so the OC doesn't call many passing plays. But because the D is entirely focused on the run, the QB was able to complete 3 of his 5 attempts. Imagine a different QB completes 30 of 50 passes for 500 yards. Statistically, it's the same game: 60% completion rate, 10 y/a, and all that. But this QB was an unstoppable force, throwing on nearly every play and racking up the yards. Passer rating doesn't measure productivity, only efficiency. It would rate the two performances equally. That's like saying a RB with 2 carries for 12 yards had as good a game as a RB who had 30 carries for 180 yards. Both averaged 6 ypc. But one back influenced the outcome of the game in a meaningful way, the other didn't.

Really happy you had a great time and got to witness Bills fandom at two lopsided victories. And I'm glad you got to see all the Buffalonians decked out in Bills colors. I've been to 30 of the NFL's 32 cities and can honestly say that I see more people with hometown gear in Buffalo than anywhere else. Tim Horton's, by the way, was started by a hockey player who played for the Buffalo Sabres for a while. Though the chain is now owned by a Brazilian conglomerate. Vamos los BILLS!

I admit, during the Jets game I was asking myself, "Is this really the best game plan and play calls Dorsey can come up with?" Totally unimpressed. But since then, the Bills have been scoring like Wilt Chamberlain (and I don't mean in the bedroom!).

This is true. But our D made some big plays: 4th down stops and key takeaways. In other words, their O had some critical failures that our O didn't commit.

Josh Allen is his own worst enemy. It's never a matter of arm talent. His bad games are the result of mental errors. Josh can do amazing things under pressure, and often does. But when he faces pressure in a close, lower-scoring game, he tries too hard to make something happen. If Josh's brain was more clinical, surgical, and - I hate to say it - Brady-like, he'd easily be the best QB in the league.

Weirdly, the Fins had almost as many yards as we did (393 versus our 414). But I agree, after the first quarter, it didn't look like a close game. It looked like total domination.

Saw this mentioned on a Fins fan site - Bills were more physical. Awesome to watch! One sequence that impressed me in a weird way... When Tre dropped that pick, even though we had a lead at the time, I thought that games often hinge on missed opportunities like this. Then we recovered a fumble on the very next play. And then I thought, 'This isn't one of those games.' Both our O and D were making too many plays - the Fins had no chance.

I thought we signed Rapp primarily as a backup with Hyde and Poyer maybe getting more injury-prone as they aged. But I also thought Big Nickel could be a thing. In any case, Rapp was a very good signing and I'm very glad we had him yesterday.

My first - and only - game at Rich was the MNF game where OJ got hurt and, shockingly, we won anyway.

I wasn't far off. Floyd and the rest of the DL did effectively disrupt That's rhythm and it was a joy to watch!