TPS

It’s not a knock on long so much, rather if you’re going to put together a list of possible cap casualty/savings, long makes more sense than Sweeney.

Yeah, take Sweeney off and add Long.

The Rams had the "unstoppable " offense last year and scored 3 points. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out this year...? Should be a great game.

It looks like Denver's KO return man was the top returner. He was very discerning about when to return (about 27% of returnable kicks), and when he did, he average almost 5 yards past the 25.

Most important is the policy reversal of the FED which allows the expansion to continue. Yeah faith, one of these days those deficits...?

There really is no other comparative period for this. The reason I predicted (back in January 2018) a recession in 2020 was because I thought the stimulus from the tax cuts and spending increases would cause the economy to accelerate, leading to inflationary pressures, causing the FED to raise interest rates faster than planned (the FED raising its short term rate is the cause of the inverted yield curve that has preceded the last 5-6 recessions). However, the relationship that I (and the FED) relied on has changed....AGAIN. The relationship between unemployment and inflation (the Phillips Curve) has changed. The FED uses the concept of NAIRU, the rate of unemployment it believes will trigger inflationary pressures from wage gains) to guide its interest rate policy. In the mid 1990s, NAIRU was believed to be about 6%, and Greenspan argued it had decreased due to technology, so the FED held steady on rates and allowed the economy to expand, not raising them until mid 1999--hence the long Clinton expansion. Based on that experience, they adopted a new estimate for NAIRU of 4.5%. The FED started raising rates when unemployment hit 5% back in December of 2015 because it thought inflationary pressures would start to build. However, inflation remained subdued, even as unemployment dipped below 4% in early 2018. The FED was struggling to explain things, and some of the doves were starting to argue they should hold steady on rates until inflationary pressure could actually be observed. Then Trump's trade war started impacting manufacturing last year, so they started to lower rates again. So currently no one at the FED really knows what the value of NAIRU is, so they have taken a wait and see approach. As I've stated several times, employment growth under Trump hasn't been much different than the previous several years under Obama. I've posted these before, the average monthly job gains by year for the past 6 years: 2014 251K 2015 227K 2016 193K 2017 179K 2018 223K 2019 177K Trump's job gains have not been extraordinary, and neither has RGDP growth. The real issue is why hasn't the low unemployment rate of 3.5% caused an acceleration in wages leading to higher inflationary pressures? I'm in the camp that believes workers' bargaining power is non-existent because of things like globalization, the decline in unionization, non-compete clauses, and economic concentration (monopolies) which give large corporations "monopsony" power in bargaining with workers. While we have seen some uptick in wage gains, they are not enough to cause inflation to exceed the FED's 2% target. Eventually, one would think, we would have to see a trigger point, with businesses having to raise wages to attract even moderately skilled workers. Interesting times. Prognosticating, economic growth for 2019 is back to Obama era levels--it will come in somewhere around 2.3% +/- 0.2 (i'm basing this on the average monthly growth in jobs above, with 2019 much lower than 2018). If the economy continues to grow at this rate, it puts things in a sweet spot, where employment grows without putting upward pressure on wages, and it the economy will probably muddle along the entire year like that. If Trump and China come to a more significant agreement and manufacturing recovers, then growth will be higher and it could set the FED back on its interest rate increase path, which is ultimately the cause of recessions. For market players, that's what you want to watch out for--at the first whiff the FED will reverse course (raise rates again) is when you should get defensive. Cheers.

Yikes! Just saw this. Thanks.

Thanks. I'm sure Beane (and McD) know, so we'll see if they go after him. Personally, it would be great to get an upgrade then move Ford to G.

It wasn't their grade that worried me, rather it stated he gave up 12 sacks. If that is true, that is worrisome...

I was for going after him until I saw this ... https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/daryl-williams/9535

Yeah, Oliver's play is the reason I no longer think they should sign Phillips, unless he came cheap, which he won't. Oliver needs to get 60-70% of the defensive snaps next year at 3T. Find a cheap vet or draft someone to back him up. Let that dog loose next year!

Yes, yes, it isn't Q ....and doesn't fit the narrative of Trump's 3D maneuverings....

I would think the way Bills Mafia travels and kicks up sales in other markets is another reason...?

Naw, most libertarians have integrity and consistency in their views, and most importantly adhere to the constitution....

Former Reaganism David Stockman’s take... https://www.unz.com/article/the-donalds-assassination-of-general-soleimani-as-stupid-as-it-gets/

Doesn't sound like Trump sent the A Team to congress...

Definitely option 2. I was in favor of signing both Shaq and Phillips, but I'm now leaning toward Shaq only. Shaq has outperformed Trent, who is over-paid for his production. Also, his clueless play against the Titans, collapsing in on a fake, was not the first time he's done that. Go with Shaq and Daryl Johnson at LDE, and Jerry/Yannick at RDE. Hughes played 64% of snaps this year, and it's most likely time for him to throttle down to 50%. As for Phillips, 2020 is the year of the horse, Ed Oliver. Get him over 60% of the snaps, then both add a 3-tech vet and draft someone.

I have a narrower view of the deep state, somewhere stated in the first 10 pages...and it's a narrative that hasn't changed.

Didn't you read the first 300 pages of this thread?

Agree mostly. A couple corrections. Harrison is the back up to Star, so they’d need someone to back up Ed if JPhillips goes, and it sounded to me like he won’t be back. I think you mean Daryl Johnson, the DE. If they bring Shaw back, then Trent is most likely gone, especially if they like Daryl.

Hopefully Sweeney will have a bigger role next year. He's one of those guys that seems to know how to get open.

Because they're idiots...

And Iraq had WMDs.... Administrations will say whatever is necessary to justify the endless wars. This suggests to me @Deranged Rhino that the Deep State has won. The plan all along was to take down those countries that are simultaneously enemies of Israel and not under the thumb of US influence. Trump is no different than his predecessors in this respect....

Rand Paul has a good take on things... https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/01/06/rand-paul-iran-trump-bolton-vpx.cnn

Thanks. It took Oliver 4-5 seconds to get him up, too! I don’t believe they scored on that TO too.