oldmanfan

I remember the Winston/Mariotta draft; at least one person talked about trading an entire draft for Winston. And now look at them. Live and learn

It seems odd they just promoted the one guy and now he's gone.

Just read Terry and Kim fired three execs including the COO and the marketing director. Any clue what's going on with that? Wonder if it's more sexual misconduct stuff.

Spend smartly, not wastefully.

Patience is a virtue. Not only are there FAs on the market but you're starting to see teams release guys for cap or other reasons. Beane has money to shop with; he'll be selective and not just spend to spend.

I think Beane and McD have a pretty well defined strategy. They want to build using the draft as their primary tool and use FA to get solid contributors. The guy from the Jets is a prime example, James if they get him from the Steelers. Solid reliable pickups that aren't big money but represent upgrades.

The fundamental issue you have to answer related to this question is what is the role of the federal government in society? If you want a society where the people want a lot of government programs like universal heath care, etc, then you have to set tax rates at a point to provide the resources for such. If you don't want that, then you set them lower. I think federal tax rates should be low because I think the federal government should only do things that a federal government can do that local and state governments cannot. The federal government should do things like national defense, interstate commerce, etc. So set a low tax rate, and eliminate every single deduction such that people actually pay what they should to support those essential federal programs. I would then follow it down through both state and local levels; i.e. the state does what the state can only do vs local government, and so on. With again no deductions available. To me, for example, I would eliminate things like the Department of Education on a federal level; that is a state and really more local responsibility. I would rely on volunteer organizations like churches, etc. to help offset some of the perceived losses from limiting programs and resources. Should you not tax at all? No. Government has essential roles to play in society, and as citizens we have to pay for those.

When you have to put the ball on an exact spot for a receiver to catch it vs a DB, it's not a game of yards. Words of wisdom from one who understands statistics. Enough though. When a diagram of throwing something shows you in black and white the difference between terms and you refuse to accept it then you just choose to be ignorant on the subject. Can't change that I guess

I don't think so. Regrettably I believe there are a few folks would would rather the team not succeed so they can brag about being right on a message board, or wallow in some kind of self-pity about the team. We all are critical from time to time but there are those who insist on only being negative. I don't get that, maybe you do. We clearly don't agree, I won't change your mind nor vice versa.

Well if he is he shouldn't. I do think though there are some who would rather brag about being right about a guy like Allen not being the guy vs. being wrong and having the team succeed with him.

I think in general it's OK for fans of a team to feel good about the players of their team. With Allen he showed some good stuff. Why not feel better than when he was drafted?

Yes at the draft but as he watched him play he came around. It is OK for folks to change opinions when given more information is it not?

Interesting thought. I bet transplant may have that in his data. He does have work to do on touch I think.

I appreciate the input. Ultimately as I said above it comes down to your definitions of accuracy and that will be a subjective call. I would agree he needs more accuracy in his short throws. But I'm thinking this may have as much if not more to do with his pre-snap reads and protection than his mechanics. When he set up in the pocket and got good protection, when I watched closely he was very accurate and precise on many throws especially more downfield. But we all saw him miss some short ones by a relative mile and my impression was that he rushed those throws because of pressure and because he made late decisions. I don't think there is anyone out there who doesn't see a need for improvement.

That's the thing I've tried to emphasize here. In any judgment of accuracy, you have to define what you consider accurate vs. not. Again accuracy is defined as how close a value is to a given value, or using the dartboard explanation - how close your dart throw comes to the bulls eye. Not whether you hit the bulls eye, but how close. Two people could have different definitions, for example one could say anything within the triple score ring, some might say it has to be just a hair off the bulls eye. The latter is more a measure of precision, the ability to hit a specific spot repeatedly. Measuring how accurate a throw with an NFL QB is more complex than a dartboard in that you don't really know what the QBs true target is when he throws the ball and because the target is not stationary. The latter brings into the equation how a receiver ran his route. So when reading different accounts of whether a guy is accurate or not you have to take those things into account, and you have to define your terms. Transplant does it as catchable vs. not. I think his is too broad for accuracy measurement (when I did this for the last couple games I used catch radius as best as I could tell from film) but the key is that transplant used the same grading system for several different QBs. That would tend to decrease bias. It would still be best to have a second observer repeat the measures using his same criteria to see if there is agreement, but I give the guy credit for doing a lot of work. The differences he gets with other published stuff is likely due to different definitions of accuracy. I have tried to explain the difference might also be - Confusion of what accuracy is vs. precision and I think when some say Allen is inaccurate they really mean he is imprecise. Some point to dictionary definitions using the two words as synonyms, but when looking at things through a statistical glass that is simply wrong, as shown by the classic dartboard example. Precision is hitting the same spot with a pass consistently. So one can be very precise throwing a football, but if you consistently throw it two feet below where you're aiming you're precise but not accurate. And you don't have much of an NFL future. Conversely if you throw the ball where it's on the border of a guy's catch radius all the time, you're accurate but not really precise, and the issue there comes down to whether you give a receiver the ability to make a catch vs. make a catch in a position where you can make significant YAC. And again you may not have a bright NFL future. What you really want in your QB is both high accuracy and high precision. When announcers talk about putting a ball where only a receiver could cart him it, or about fitting a ball into a tight window, that's really being both very accurate and precise. If you want to equate the terms fine, but the only way to really do that is to restrict your definition of accuracy down to such a narrow window that you're really measuring precision. I think Allen needs to be more precise overall, and on shorter throws he needs more of both.

Some folks lose their spouse after years of marriage and they just can't handle it, and react in weird ways.

Not a bad idea.

Would be an upgrade. I see Beane using FAs to upgrade positions with solid guys, and look for his stars in the draft.

Well, you are of course wrong as shown by the dartboard analogy, which is throwing an object at a target, just as is throwing a football. But your ego won't allow you to admit that so you can wallow in ignorance, I suppose.

My advice is to get over yourself

The Bills? Hyde, Poyer, White, Edmunds, Milano, Hauschka, Allen, McCoy. The Sabres? Eichel, Skinner, Daboll, Reinhardt, Mittlestad (young guy getting there) Of course both teams are trying to improve. They each have young GMs and young HCs that are putting their stamps on their teams. They have an owner who made some questionable choices early on but now seems to get that you have to give your maagementvteams some time, that continuity is important. We all want success, we can all be critical at times. But your slamming them, and the folks that support them, as you do is completely over the top. I'll root for my hometown teams if it's all the same to you. I'll proudly wear my stuff anywhere, anytime. You don't want to fine. But don't insult those who do.

Who the hell do you think you are, daring to say that no one cares about those AFL championships? I got news for you son, there are many of us around who sat in the Rockpile and cheered for those teams and remember to this day those teams. Your arrogance is nauseating. Andre Reed is a HOF WR. Brown isn't yet and we'll see if he is. Your statement was that both teams are "devoid of talent" and you now don't have the guts to stand up for your own words.

Andre Reed is in the HOF but Brown would be our best receiver ever? You claim we've never won anything and ignore the AFL championships which many of us here celebrated. You claim neither the Bills nor Sabres have any talent and ignore guys like Tradavious and Eichel just to name a couple. You also lump every team together as if they have never had changes in management and coaching. They have been in a prolonged dry spell, true. That is to me when the true fan hangs in there. Can one be critical and still do that? Yes. You however take it way farther than that.

Show me their definition of on and off target. The article you cite says nothing about that.

He wasn't for Allen. Why for Rosen?