cwater10

Yep, he definitely brought it. To be young again:

Agreed! Leonard was probably my favorite on that defense. Intense was an understatement. I still picture him standing on the bench, facing the crowd and whipping them into a frenzy.

Hopefully this is not redundant. Just stumbled upon this great clip of Daryl and Leonard Smith being interviewed while at the car wash. Great memories. Seeing Leonard Smith all these years later makes me feel ... Well never mind, but great clip!

Is it though? In addition to talent and strategy, focus and preparation are essential to winning. They can often be the edge the gives you the win. In a extraordinarily long season, particularly after a watershed win on national TV that has the football universe telling you that you are the greatest thing since bread came sliced, it isn't hard to see the possibility of a team losing that edge for at least a few days, days that are critical to focus and prep for your next opponent. There is no way on God's green earth that I see McDermott not using every tool that he has to ensure that focus and preparation remain top priority. If you were him, during this week with all the world singing your team's praises, with that objective, would you remind your team that they are preparing to face the team that handed them their worst defeat in recent memory? No way they say it publicly. But I believe it's there all week, and it'll be there on the field Monday.

Is '85 Bears already taken? Let's ask Leslie.

I don't know... I think that he means it more in a we, or a societal context, as in the way we have all been through covid as a societal experience. It has impacted everything and we have all been through it, whether we had the virus individually or not, it has certainly impacted us all. In speaking of the prep for last season in particular when the impact was far greater, this would make a great deal of sense.

One of my favorite terms to grow out of this era of Bills football is "The Josh Allen Experience". It is a full adventure with plenty of highs and a few bumps. We all kind of look and tilt our heads and try to decide what it is we are seeing. He's a bit of a Rorschach test in that way. We all probably see something a little different in his game. And generally, amongst Bills fans, it totals out as all good. I think that the national media has also often seen exactly what they expect to see, particularly early on. They are coming around. A winner? There is no hardware yet, but I do believe it is coming. I sit in the gray area on the "winner" issue. I do see Josh as a winner right now. He is a class act, a good person, highly accomplished at a very young age and a pleasure to root for. I do also see that, in a football sense, he has some unfinished business to fully earn that mantle in full football context. The 90 Bulls comparison seems spot on. I hope I still see it that way in 4 months. Great Thread!

Depends... How big are Mahomes' hands?

Groot rising. The trend continues.

Thanks for a great topic KZ Mike. Given his path to prominence, and as appreciation for Josh grows, it is a fascinating journey to examine how his reputation as a QB has evolved and where it will go from here. I continue to try to understand the specific nature of what you are trying to convey. And I keep hitting my head on a couple of conceptual brick walls. One key point that we do not share is the idea that the word efficient would be the most common word used to describe Brady, Montana, Young, Brees and Manning. The term "efficient" is defined as achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. Those legends may indeed have all been efficient, but to me that is far from what made them memorable. To me Trent Dilfer, Matt Hasslebeck, or currently Ryan Tannehill is what I think of as an efficient QB. They are all effective, yet unremarkable in any way other that their result. The legends are more... way more. Brady and Montana were absolute killers, cool and poised beyond all measure with the arm talent, charisma and intellect to power incredible leadership and achievement. Steve Young was an athletic marvel. Think of his famous highlight where he runs all of the field, sideline to sideline for what seems like a full minute before stumbling into the end zone. Brees and Manning both had ridiculous arm talent and understanding of X's and O's to take you down. I agree with you that efficient is not a word commonly associated with Josh, and I am more than good with that. I do think that as he has matured, he has calmed himself considerably and nurtured that killer nature of Brady and Montana. We seen that flash. Interestingly the two most "killer" moments I can think of involve Tyler Kroft. One was the playoff clincher TD pass against the Steelers in 2019 and again last year to complete the last second comeback against the Rams. And I do not think of either of those plays, drives or performances as efficient. Were they winner moments? Yes, obviously. But when you compare "winner" with "efficient", I think that you are comparing apples and oranges. One is a result (winner) and the other is a manner in achieving that result (efficient). I do agree with you that Josh is not a "normal" QB. I think that the word "Freak" was used earlier in this thread by BrownBear. I agree with that. His is a rare combination of attributes, both cerebrally and physically. He's our unicorn! And I think that you may be underselling the national dialogue regarding Josh right now. I believe that early in the season, some remaining skeptics were moved to step forward and say we told you so. Recent weeks have revealed that skepticism as garbage, and now we are starting to see that reflected. Josh is now the favorite in the MVP odds. Buffalo is the odds favorite to win the Super Bowl. Those are both evidence that the narrative is changing right in front of our eyes and ears. You will always have your Nick Wrights. Just like you always had your "Frank Reich should start" crowd. Let them be. Thanks again for a tremendous topic. It's fun to think about these things. I don't miss the days of Captain Checkdown threads. Speaking of Trent, as I write this, I am cracking a smile as "efficient" is the word I remember used to describe Trent when he was playing well early on. Peace...

Alexa must be passing on my data. I received a letter today from the FCC suggesting that I should be fined for my behavior after the Mitch Morse holding penalty.

True, but I do think the dam is breaking and acknowledgement is starting to flow his way. Some people will never give proper due, others will delay until it's just so obvious it cannot be denied. I remember thinking that Reggie Jackson and Terry Bradshaw sucked when I was a teenager. A few short years later I was arguing for their place as the all time greats that they were. I remember thinking that Michael Jordan was just an over rated ball hog. Lol... It takes time. This body of work is still forming. I have to believe that Josh will get his due praise in time.

Agree that Josh is a winner. I also believe that he is the most dynamic QB talent that we may have seen to date, and that this ride is just getting started. For a quick description, I cannot limit myself to just one word. In the moment, 3 words that jump out are competitor, talent and driven. He is by no means a finished work, and that is seriously such a great thing to ponder. But there have been moments where the possible has flashed. And they are breathtaking as a football fan. I think of the original hurdle in 2018 when we all watched slack jawed, including the Vikings, saying WTH did we just see? I think of the Miami game in week 2 of last year, when it looked like everything had just slowed down for Josh. In that game, it was the first time that I looked and saw in Allen, a player toying with the opposition. He flashed that a few more times throughout last year and then on this past Sunday night, there it was again. Josh was in full ownership of the Chiefs in that game. They knew it every bit as much as Josh did. You could even see it reflected in Mahomes face from the bench in the 4th quarter. They had no answer for him. In those moments, all of those traits, the competitor, the talent, the driven individual and teammate come together to create one hell of a problem for a defense. I think that we will see those moments become more consistent and frequent. I joked during the weather delay during the game the other night that if felt like we still couldn't have nice things, even when we have nice things. But it appears that we can. I think that we just might have a steady stream of nice things coming our way as a fan base. Players now WANT to come here. This is going to be nuts for a few years. Get ready!

NFL, you're trying way too hard.

Very thoughtful, good neighbor, midwest family values on display again. I always wished that someone would have shown such a kindness to me in my last years prior to retirement...

Maslow likes this!

Tasker was on air for several days last week. He appeared remotely from Alaska and sounded like he was on the way back from a pretty good cold, flu or something. He was not on the show yesterday and they acknowledged that he was absent as he was traveling back from Alaska. No idea what he was doing in Alaska... But he seems otherwise fine and very Steve Tasker.

Yes. Yes. And oh F*** yes. I lost my best friend to leukemia back in 2013. And it ripped a piece of my soul away. Whenever the Jets visit the Bills, I always think of him in a bittersweet painful memory. The Jets played in Buffalo the Sunday after he had passed on a Friday night. I spent the day watching the game with his wife and helping her rip out some carpet and replace with hardwood. We were both so lost, we couldn't think of anything other than to just dig into some project to keep us occupied. The Bills, although not very good, tore up the Jets that day. So there were a few smiles mixed in. A couple of years prior, I had taken his wife to her first game. It was the New England game in 2011... Yeah, the one that Buffalo won. My late friend was not able to be there as he was at home enduring the after effects of chemo. We had him on speaker phone for huge chunks of the second half and as we walked out of the stadium so he got to feel the euphoria and the insanity. I watched every game for more than 20 years with that man and miss him dearly. I smile now during every now every game and think of how much he would be loving this team. And for me, he is in fact very much a part of it still. So please hang in there Renko. You will smile again. A quick aside, ironically I just spoke with my late friend's widow last night and am planning a visit back to Buffalo to visit her next week. We have both moved on to different and happy places in our lives and the just plain fantastically good memories remain, and they do get celebrated. Be well Renko. Your journey is yours, but you are definitely not alone.

Just don't let him anywhere near the Caesar's Palace fountains...

This was so impressive. How great was it to see The Bills on the delivering end of one of those answers? The look on Mahomes face from the sideline revealed so much about the moment.

So my subconscious had a wrong Josh nightmare, the prequel? The drought was tougher on me than I thought.

Do I remember Josh Freeman as a Bill for something like 1 game or was that a just a very strange bad dream to have?

Aside from the content, which had all of the flavor of a low budget arm chair Nick Wright essay contest, that thing looks like it was coded in 1997 and published with a pirated, out of support copy of Front Page. Things like this give me further appreciation for the quality of TBD, and the TBD community as a whole. These truly are good days.

You had one job...