Mango

"Is he" is the title. But I think "Will he be" is more the intent as the conversation evolves. Sure, look at the odds, he's waaaay back. Then the thread is over. If the Bills play their way back into the division title (or close to it) Stafford will be the only one who could possibly take it over Allen. If the Bills continue to look clunky, and lose to NE/Philly, it's over, he won't be close.

Curious how much the control of the 53 has shifted since self proclaimed President of Hockey Operations, Terrance Pegula said "I consider myself a football man". I hadn't quite thought of that until your post and you stated "previously". Worth noting that Lindy has more than hinted twice in the last week or so about his lack of control of his roster. This is full tin foil hat theory/conjecture at the moment. But worth noting since they have the same owner. My take on Pegulas success with the Bills v Sabres has always been that it's been McDermott and Beane vs Terry and that keeps Terry from ruining everything. If McBeane are struggling and Terry is weighing in we could see a lot more turbulance.

It is crazy to me that a huge part of the problem is that people have no forking idea what their assignments are. Like the biggest value Shaq and Poyer seem to have are getting guys lined up properly.... Bernard, Milano, Rapp, etc. have been here a decent amount of time and it's like the wheels fall off when they're on charge of setting up the defense this year. It's really wild.

The Tre hate is unreal. Like it's not actually based on anybody who watching coverages. He's been a decent CB2 on the outside this season.

Show a doctor a video of a player slamming his head into the ground with high velocity and force. Then show a doctor a video of that player doing it again and grabbing his head. Then ask that doctor if that player should keep hitting his head for the rest of the afternoon. Edit: oh, and make sure to tell the doctor that the same dude had a diagnosed concussion 2 weeks prior. The answer is a resounding "NO"

Common opponents and I believe that Falcons/Texans bite us in the arse. Unfortunately the best way to turn that in our favor is for NE to lose 2 of their next 3. But at that point we'd already have won more games anyways. Out of pocket at the moment, but I believe that's the case.

My B.

Oh yeah, that super scary schedule where they play the... Checks notes....Broncos, Jaguars, Steelers and Rams... ...Hope they don't lay awake trembling in fear....

Here's a crazy thought, we probably want Miami to keep winning games so that week 18 game has some meaning for them. If NE loses to Buffalo and Baltimore Miami is our best hope at stealing the division.

Meh, some people want to deal in absolutes. I like Benford. He's a very good player for us. Criticizing your best players for playing bad when you need them to be your best players is fair game. Benford was very bad to start the season. That's not a hot take.

It's a semantics argument from the league. They need to stop answering "could they go back in?" And start answering "should they go in?" It's a resounding no.

This is part of the problem. The continuing to play a dangerous sport with a concussion is part of the problem. But when you start going down the road of ignoring it you can't really go back and say "maybe he shouldnt play, he has a concussion and we know it".

After he grabbed his helmet after bonking his head off the ground a second time I was hoping they'd take him to the hospital and make sure he wasn't seriously scrambled.

That's sort of the head scratcher for me. Slay just isn't an upgrade for Benford, Tre, or Hairston at this point. They've invested a ton into Ingram who is a better athlete right now and can do a little bit of everything on the back end. For Slay to have a major positive impact at this point in his career and the calendar we'd have to have a lot of things go wrong (injuries) and he'd have to start suddenly playing at a high level this year. Otherwise Ingram is the better roster fit.

Worth noting that I think this has also been Poyers value add. It's remarkable how low the football IQ seems to be in their replacements at safety and LB.