Logic

I don't really see how he ends up anywhere other than Miami. As I understand it, he's from that area, and has stated the Dolphins and Bills as his two preferred destinations. Meanwhile, the Dolphins could use an upgrade at RB (Achane, Wilson, Mostert are fine, but could be upgraded) and have the money to sign Cook. I bet he's a Dolphin by Monday at the latest.

Respectfully, that's a rookie scouting report. In the 7 years that have elapsed since, Floyd has become a pretty good run stopper. There's a great 12 minute breakdown on Cover 1 right now if anyone cares to watch, but...Floyd is certainly not a liability in this department, as far as I can tell.

The only thing it "says" to me is that OTHER teams have franchise QBs and good rosters, too. You say the best way to punch your ticket to the SB is to have a franchise QB. That's true. But sometimes all seven teams in the AFC playoff field have franchise QBs. So what's the "deeper meaning" for the six that don't win? Is it always a larger systemic failure? Or is it just a system where, in each game, two teams face off and only one can win? If two teams face off in an exciting duel and one barely outlasts the other, is it always a complete referendum on the losing team? Or did one of the two teams just happen to have the ball last? Your hypothesis of "they have a franchise QB and yet they haven't won it all, so something must be wrong in the bigger picture" just seems overly simplistic to me, that's all. Only one team out of 32 gets to win the championship. Can improvements to coaching, scheme, personnel, and execution be made? Of course! But that doesn't necessarily mean there's some larger, deeper thing that is structurally wrong with the team. It's hard to win the Super Bowl.

Other teams have franchise QBs, too. Having a franchise QB is not a "definitely win the Super Bowl" ticket. The Josh Allen Bills have been stopped in the playoffs so far by Watson, Mahomes, and Burrow. Franchise QBs, all. If you don't believe in McDermott and you want a coaching change, that's fine. But if you think that changing out coaches is automatically gonna punch the Bills' ticket to the Super Bowl, I say.....be careful what you wish for.

Pretty cool. Even for those that don't play Madden or care about the game at all, Allen being chosen as the cover athlete cements what we all know: Josh is a superstar, the Bills are a relevant team, and their days as an NFL laughingstock are in the past as long as #17 is under center.

Exactly.

You don't presume to speak for other people, do you? If the notion of Damar Hamlin getting hurt again makes YOU uncomfortable, just say so.

I tried to find the article I read where the notion of every stadium seatback having a handheld betting device to place live bets was discussed. I could not. Perhaps it was nothing more than a fanciful notion that has no chance of ever coming to fruition. The NFL DID, however, vote to approve sportsbooks opening in NFL stadiums in states where sports betting is legal. https://www.playusa.com/nfl-stadium-sportsbooks-now-accepting-gameday-bets/

The NFL is walking a funny, fine little line right now. On the one hand, getting fully into bed with legal sports betting, promoting it three times per commercial break, adding handheld betting machines to stadium seatbacks, etc....all while telling players "gambling is bad!". And I'm not talking about gambling on other NFL games. If I understand it correctly, the NFL will discipline players for gambling any amount, on any sport. Ridiculous.

This is my number one concern about Dorsey: Making proper usage of his offensive personnel in the way that best highlights their skillset. And the disconnect you mentioned between Beane and Dorsey was startling. All offseason we heard about the desire for a pass-catching back. Beane spent premium draft capital on one and then traded for another. Dorsey then completely failed to use Cook meaningfully in that role, and completely failed to use Hines AT ALL. For a team that desperately needed more production in the short passing game and more explosiveness and offensive variety, to underuse/misuse both players -- Hines, in particular -- was head-scratching and infuriating. He was a rookie play-caller, so I'll give him a pass for now. I hope, for the Bills' sake, that his personnel deployment improves greatly, and that his apparent disconnect with Beane got hashed out in the offseason.

The devil is ALWAYS in the details. Again and again, people form kneejerk reactions to the first contract terms announced, and those ALWAYS come from the agent and are phrased in the way that seems most impressive for their client. Now that we see the details of this particular contract, it makes a great deal more sense for the Bills than it may first have appeared. Well structured, and not particularly limiting -- certainly not crippling -- in any future years, should they decide to move on. Well done, Beane, Overdorf, and crew.

You wouldn’t be too positive either if your girlfriend was racking up sacks.

Pffff. Deposits?! I got a deposit for ya right here!

Yep. There's video of the Grateful Dead performing on Playboy After Dark, and it seems like a pretty gross/shady atmosphere (surprise, surprise). The story goes that the Dead slipped acid into the drinks of the entire film crew and into Hefner's drink, as well, leading to a pretty, um...spaced out episode of the show. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-grateful-dead-playboy-after-dark/

One of the smartest things the Bills organization ever did was build their current training facility. Obviously, having a franchise QB and a team with a legitimate chance at winning it all every year helps lure quality players, but don't underestimate the role of the training facility in luring these players, as well. Buffalo simply can't offer what other NFL cities can offer in terms of entertainment, attractions, nightlife, tax breaks, etc....So building a state of the art facility that players look at and know that it can help keep them healthy, prolong the career, and continue to produce at a high level -- not to mention a space that leads players to actually want to spend time at the team facilities and, thus, building comradery with teammates -- was ingenious. Impressive to see how thoroughly the culture and reputation of this team have rebounded from toxic pre-Beane/McDermott years.

"Buffalo style" pizza....ain't it.

I bet she could.

This has probably already been said a time or two in the past 33 pages -- I haven't read all of them. This extension is a calculated gamble. It seems clear to me that Beane saw the recent deals that DTs were getting, knew that Quinnen Williams and other youngsters would likely be getting massive extensions any day now, and decided to try to lock Oliver in before he got any more expensive. They seem to be betting that between his having Jones and Ford -- two very solid 1Ts -- next to him to allow him to play 3T full time, his hopefully remaining healthy (I know, I know), his level of play still ascending (he's just 25), and perhaps a change in his usage with McDermott as defensive play caller, that his best days are ahead of him. If they're right, this deal will very quickly look like a big bargain. If they're wrong, they've probably overpaid. As always, the devil will be in the details. Specifically, in how easy or not easy this deal would be to get out of in a couple years' time if Ed's play doesn't warrant the pay he's receiving. Until such time as those details are known, I will reserve judgement. At first blush, the extension seems like odd timing. On the other hand, his being just the 17th highest paid DT in the league doesn't seem too far out of whack. Let's see what the specifics are.

I was out doing stuff all day, so by the time I got this news and came into this thread, it was already 28 pages long. Let me just say….it has NOT disappointed so far! 🤣

Haven't read the OP or the thread, but... Based solely on the thread title, this thing could go in SO many different directions. As a creative writing prompt, it's hard to beat "someone came to look at my deck this morning and a funny thing happened...". I'm gonna choose to NOT read it, actually. The reality can't possibly be better than what I'm imagining.

If the state HADN'T given them money for the stadium and the team left for greener pastures, those same people would have been complaining about lost revenue for the state. Some people just like to complain and will always find a way to do so, no matter the circumstances.

Amazing to think of how far this team has come in the past decade. Thinking back to 2014, the Bills were in the middle of a historic playoff drought, their image and culture were in the dumpster, and Ralph Wilson's passing -- followed by the looming bids from entities like Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump -- meant that the team staying in Buffalo at all was no sure thing. Fast forward to June 2nd, 2023. The Bills have quality ownership, a state-of-the-art training facility, a top 10 GM and head coach, excellent team culture, an elite franchise QB, and a perennial Super Bowl contending roster coming off a string of division titles. The Bills are now a team that players accept less money to play for, due to the team culture and the very real chance at a Lombardi. And best of all? They're three days away from breaking ground on a new stadium that will keep them here for at least the next quarter century. Amazing.

Some players seem to have an exact niche into which they fit perfectly, and they're not really suited for anything else. McKenzie, to me, perfectly fills that "gadget role" niche. Jet sweeps, motion, eye candy, bubble screens. Sure, he'll have the occasional big play or big game as a traditional receiver (remember him going off against the Pats?), but by and large, that's just not what he is. Remember: Several times the Bills were happy to let McKenzie walk, and several times McKenzie tested the free agent market and never really had any suitors. He always wound up coming back to the Bills for relatively low pay. He CLAIMS that he was turning down more money from other teams because he preferred Buffalo, but who knows if that's true. Maybe it's the mental aspect of the game. Maybe it's imprecise route running. Maybe it's so-so hands in big moments. Maybe he didn't have the trust of his QB for a combination of the reasons mentioned here. Whatever it is, McKenzie is very good at the role to which he is suited. He is average to below average as a traditional receiver. I had hoped that, as the season went on, Dorsey would realize this and use McKenzie the way that Daboll had. Daboll seemed to know EXACTLY how to use and how not to use McKenzie. Anyway...I'll be interested to see how he does with the Colts.

In college, Oliver was very good at stopping the run and plugging gaps, but had only decent pass rush production. In the pros, he's been basically the same. A generally good run stopper who shows flashes of quality pass rush but is simply not someone to be feared in the pass rushing department. The Bills figured, based on his physical skillset and his being miscast as a nose tackle in college, that they could harness his quickness and athleticism as a 3T and unlock the pass rushing facet of his game. It hasn't quite worked out that way. When you use Beane's "draft elite physical specimens who haven't reached their potential and entrust the coaching staff to help them reach that potential" model, sometimes it works out (Josh Allen, Matt Milano), and sometimes it doesn't (Ed Oliver, Tremaine Edmunds). Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you.