TheElectricCompany

There is a Buffalo type/mindset...it's easy to see when you leave town, but hard to put into words. That's for another conversation. Josh is showing improvement, and I think this will be best season yet. I want to see him square off against Mahomes or Jackson in January

We don't need to tear down Lamar's game to prop up Josh's.

I don't know if Cleveland is really where talent goes to die, or if he's just disinterested, but when this dude was playing at his peak, he was unreal. I hope he gets back to that level.

People bring that up all the time about Lamar, that's hogwash to say that "nobody seems to care". Jackson is a cheat code when he runs. His speed and elusiveness allow him to avoid many of those big hits. He'll always be a threat to run, but as he becomes a better passer, he'll do it less. It's a natural progression.

When you're the MVP, you get some slack.

Gregg Williams defenses are always very aggressive - screens are the perfect counter!

Great point Shaw - Josh is very slippery in the pocket, all while keeping his eyes downfield. There was some sloppiness, but directionally, I love what this team showed. We saw the top notch defensive play we'd expect, but the offense clearly has taken a step forward, thanks to some creative play design, JAs improvement and adding a new playmaker in Diggs. We let the Jets hang around too long, and "Bad Josh" did show up on a few plays, but I chalk some of this up to Week 1 jitters. We have the tools to win our division.

Bills and Jags are great recent examples of teams that had massive dead cap hits or payrolls, but no sustained success. If you're contending for championships, like the Saints, owners will continue to sign big checks and trust the GM to figure it out.

Between Frank Clark, Chris Jones and Mathieu, they've got some big contracts on defense. At the least, their defense is "good enough", and in a few games, much more than that.

Good point - manipulation isn't exactly correct. I would say its a mix of 1.) resigning stars 2.) shedding bad deals 3.) restructuring existing contracts and 4.) expecting the cap to continue to rise. The Saints and Eagles are going to be interesting to me. They are $65 million over for 2021, per Overthecap.

Remember when the Chiefs had like $180 in cap space, and THEN signed Mahomes, Chris Jones and Travis Kelce? There is an art to manipulating the cap, and many championship contenders are doing it. When we've got to pay our guys, we'll figure it out too.

I'm over the whole "DoNt PaY a RB" argument. Smart teams clearly value stars at that position. Kamara has shown he is a 1500+ yard, 10+ TD player. Who cares if he's getting $15M? A WR with those numbers will demand $20M+ Someday, the bill will come due for these teams, but they clearly don't give a damn.

If any of you want to take a deeper dive into fires, I highly recommend reading "The Big Burn" and "Smokejumper". Both are excellent. Anyway, the scale of these fires in CA, OR and WA is harrowing. These are 350,000+ acre complex fires (for reference, Rocky Mtn NP is about 260K acres, Grand Teton is about 300K) with massive active lines. La Nina winter needs to kick in pronto.

Selective thinning is very, very expensive and would be a drop in the bucket.

Like all things, there are many factors. The big three are climate change, population growth in WUIs and forest mismanagement. Creating defensive space near development is absolutely necessary, but there are millions upon millions of acres of big woods in each western state that will never see a chainsaw or controlled burn. The terrain is simply too rough, remote or locked up in wilderness areas, and I don't think the timber companies are lining up to take down beetle kill pine or juniper in the first place. The forests will come back in time (see Yellowstone in 1988), even when it seems they have burned catastrophically (some species, like lodgepole pine, always go BIG when they burn). What is happening in CA, OR and WA with entire towns getting destroyed is reminiscent of the Big Burn of 1910.

Rex came off as disorganized loudmouth. Also, he introduced Donald Trump at a rally, so.... McD had me scared during the Peterman experiment, but has rebounded nicely and developed a quality core. We don't have many elite players, but we have a ton of good + great players that play hard and smart.

I'll throw a wildcard in here...Matt Nagy by week 7.

Nor do I - I was replying directly to Shaw's notion that Bills players will take below market deals due to our culture. I don't think that's the case at all - we've made some fair and reasonable deals based on each players ability and trajectory. You could make a case that Dion is overpaid, but "good enough" left tackles have been paid $13+ million annually for years. Tre is an elite player, and elite players get to set the market, even if its temporary. I guess I don't get why we're putting Beane on a pedestal for signing two young players to second contracts.

It's great in theory, but I just don't see it as plausible. It's not reasonable to expect elite players to sign discounted deals for their second contracts. Late stage veterans? Different conversation. Tre is as selfless as they come on and off the field, but that doesn't mean he should take a lowball offer, especially for a team with no cap issues.

We're acting like we signed Tre for $42M over 4 years...THAT is what a discount looks like. Most contracts look like a bargain over time, and I expect TWs and Ramseys to age well.

So he reset the annual & guaranteed $$$ for a cornerback AND took a discount? These are mutually exclusive - lets pick one and roll with it.

We haven't won a playoff game yet, but you think this organization has the clout to ask their star players for discounts? I'm not buying it. If this was the case, I think you'd hear some rumblings from agents about the Bills being cheap.

I think you're reaching here. Tre set the salary and guaranteed $$$ bar, there was no discount. Did Aaron Donald also take a discount before the Khalil Mack signing? Not at all. What other franchises, beside the Patriots, have multiple elite players taking below market contracts? The Chiefs, Seahawks, Eagles, Saints, etc. aren't exactly pinching pennies.

Absolutely - I like the direction we're heading and am excited to see this team make some noise in the playoffs. Rams have their QB (I'm high on Goff and think he'll bounce back to 2017 & 2018 numbers), pass rusher, cornerback and two excellent playmakers at WR. Tough division, but I think they've got something sustainable there.