Last Guy on the Bench

With Byrd back in the fold, the starting D now has 8 out of 11 guys selected in the first or second round. 5 first rounders (Mario, Dareus, Lawson, McKelvin, Gilmore 3 second rounders (Byrd, A. Williams, Kiko) 1 third (Carrington) 1 fourth (Bradham) 1 fifth (K. Williams) The first rounders are high ones too. Overall - Mario (1), Dareus (3), Gilmore (10), Leodis (11), Lawson (22). The lowest guy, the fifth rounder, might be the best defensive player on the team. I know some of those guys haven't lived up to their draft billing. And I know it doesn't really mean anything once the ball is snapped, but in terms of raw athletic talent it says something. Hope Pettine can put it all together.

Down the road, I could get behind the Pettine Zoo. But I agree it's too early. Right now, the nickname I favor is the "Don't SH#!T the Bed" defense. That would be a step in the right direction.

He definitely had the same old Fred rhythm and moves, but he looks quite a bit slower to me than I remember him.

Really interesting and encouraging article. I'm intrigued to see where this evolution of the NFL goes and glad the Bills seem likely to be one of the teams playing a leading role.

Awesome, as always, Astro. Love these. Thanks. Minor note: Kolb's 7 for 11 is 64% not 77%. Cheers.

Absolutely. In addition to Bill's always engaging take on things, one of the reason's his AFTATGINPO posts get so much traffic is that they consistently generate good discussion and debate. They rarely devolve into pissing contests (although of course there is always a little pissing going on in any internet message board thread). I really enjoy them, and often learn something.

Ah. That's a pain. Nothing is ever blocked here in SA, so that's good. Bandwidth is expensive, though. I used to just use the shady links, but between the lack of quality, the irritating ads, and the way they disappear in the middle of the game, I was more than happy to go legit, once I had the option.

Why is Game Pass a pain for you? I live in Cape Town and feel like I've died and gone to heaven with Game Pass. I watch all the Bills games live and watch tons of others either live or later in the week with the condensed version. Love it. It's the easiest $200 I spend all year. I would assume Bangkok would have better bandwidth etc. than Cape Town but maybe not? Anyway, hats off to you since you have to watch the games even later than I do.

I don't know. I don't think "Kolb is terrible" is the company line. That's certainly not what Marrone is saying. And the national guys coming through this week - whom the Bills have no control over - are pretty much saying the same thing as Murph.

Interesting story about the Eagles using the same technology. It explains the benefits more clearly than the video. http://mmqb.si.com/2013/07/24/chip-kellys-mystery-man/

I agree. As heartbreaking as that was, that was still one of the most enjoyable games I've been to. And it was insanely loud. My father couldn't hear right for six months after that game. Makes me wonder what people would list for their favorite games that the Bills lost. I know, I know - that's kind of an oxymoron, but for me some losses are definitely better than others in terms of how the team played, what kind of heart they showed, what kind of growth potential they hinted at. That Dallas MNF game would make my list for sure. The Leodis fumble game against the Pats in 2009 was very fun until that ending.

Ditto on all of the above. I see the same thing. I really enjoyed watching him in Hard Knocks. If he were the Bills' coach, I bet most people here would love him.

Terrific article. For once there is some real, sustained legwork behind it. It's not just from press conferences and press releases. It paints a very interesting picture of Marrone. I was fine with the hire, but not overly enthusiastic from what I've seen of him in press conferences, etc. (Not super critical, mind you, just not overly enthusiastic.) Well, after this article I am feeling MUCH more charged about Marrone as our head coach. He seems quite impressive in a number of ways. Definitely his own guy. Not just another robo-coach. You never know how things will turn out, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him do a great job here. I'd be rooting for anyone the Bills hired, since I have the incurable medical condition of being an unreasonable Bills fan. But I'll be pulling for this guy extra hard. Would love for him to turn out to be "the one."

Well said. If a white guy said/did everything that Geno has said/done, he'd be taking all sorts of crap, but I seriously doubt anyone would be calling him a "thug." It's not "PC" to point that out; it's logic. Doesn't mean the OP is racist, but his comment definitely comes off that way, and you don't have to be hyper-sensitive to think so.

Yep. You can feel whatever you want. And I would agree with you on this one.

Nice work, people. This needs to turn into a poll. My votes from what has already been suggested (based purely on entertainment value): 1) Wide Starboard 2) The Wreck of the Ryan Fitzgerald 3) This Boat'll Have a New Captain in Three Years 4) Ashton YouBoaty How about: Home Run Rowback

Rhubarb . Now that's actually funny. It's all good. I'm a big admirer of Marv, so this thread has gotten me worked up a bit. I just don't understand the narrow (and in my opinion unrealistic) views on coaching that equate quality with how things turn out in a handful of games rather than looking at the body of work as a whole.

Yes what someone chooses to eat is an excellent reason not to like them. Well done. Besides, the point was that Marv wasn't being hypocritical in the pork chop way that Jim implied. Otherwise, I would agree with Jim that people who criticize hunting while happily chowing down on packaged meat don't have much of a leg to stand on. Hunting your meat is much more honest, in my opinion. Full disclosure: I am a vegetarian. Feel free not to like me either. Marv and I can console ourselves over a nice plate of Tofurkey.

Marv is a vegetarian.

I'd forgotten that. Good recall. Those teams did play like crap on occasion, but they never played scared. People can question any number of individual decisions Marv made, but I don't think he made any out of fear.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Great post. Super Bowl fever makes people insane. Winning the Super Bowl is a huge crapshoot. So many things have to go right. A few plays go differently and Brady and Belichick have won zero. Or five. (I think they are both all-timers, BTW.) The way to judge a coach or team is consistency in terms of being in the hunt. Marv and the gang couldn't win the big game because they lost 4 Super Bowls (3 against superior and/or extremely hot teams)? Really? Those conference championship games weren't big? Those other playoff games? Those comebacks? Those division clinchers? Those games against arch rivals like the Dolphins who had been pounding the Bills for years? Those Monday nighters? Marv's Bills won a donkey load of big games. They were competitive and entertaining and resilient for a decade. They were a joy to watch. But sure, Marv had nothing to do with it.

Good point. This past decade, the drafts, the player signings, the coaching/admin changes, and the press conferences surrounding them have been the most exciting moments for this franchise. Sadly I've gotten used to it and now seem to confuse those things with football itself. I would love to have my brain re-washed by actual football highlights. Here's hoping Whaley and Marrone are the guys to make that happen.

That's for sure. It was stunning. I never thought someone could make Russ Brandon look like a paragon of authenticity. Never heard such dense corporate-speak in my life. Not saying either guy is inauthentic as a human - from all accounts they are both good guys. I'm just talking about their approaches to public communication. I hope Whaley does well, and I'm sure he is as hard working and likable as everyone says. But press conferences are going to be painful. From that respect, I miss Buddy already.

Didn't hear this, so don't know the context. But are you sure that rather than taking a dig at Wannstedt, he didn't simply mean the other team had to game plan around Mario (i.e., implying Mario was good, from that respect)? I can't see Buddy taking a cheap (even though true) shot at Wannstedt. I can see him defending Mario's overall play by highlighting the respect that opposing teams had for him.

Exactly. Any metric that equates a FOOT in the broad jump with one bench rep is absurd. Say there are two guys with the same vertical jump. On the bench, Player A does 25 reps, player B 22. But Player A has a 9' broad jump and player B has an 11' broad jump. Player A will have the higher "explosion" number. Nonsensical. If we are just looking at explosive athleticism, I'll take the guy with the massive TWO FOOT advantage in the broad jump over the guy with the very slightly stronger upper body. Even if he got the weighting right, though, it's still too reductive to mean much. Too many other athletic factors in play.