Logic

I thought the offensive staff did a good job of utilizing both McKenzie and Beasley today. McKenzie was mostly pre-snap eye candy for the defense, but at least he was on the field. Beasley made some clutch catches in zone and for first downs. The more puzzling one to me was that just a week after he was SO GOOD at being patient and hitting his checkdowns, Hero Ball Josh made his return today. He’s GOT TO play smarter if they have any hope of going on a playoff run.

Words can’t express how tired I am of seeing people whine about a dome stadium.

In 1980 he threw 31 touchdowns. That’s a hell of a feat for that era of offensive football! He actually had 30+ TDs in 1980 AND 1981. Pretty good.

The funny thing about this thread is that it’s titled “always the debate”, but there ISN’T a debate in this case. Basically everyone in the world agrees that the development of Josh Allen is one of the best ever player development jobs in league history and was a rare feat. There’s no debate.

Steve Bartkowski was underrated. There. I said it.

Do yourself a favor: go back and watch Josh Allen’s 2018 NFL snaps. Josh was incredibly raw. His mechanics, his processing, basically everything about him needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. He was also drafted to a team that was in the early stages of a complete rebuild and which needed to rip off a financial band-aid and get the cap right. As such, his supporting cast on offense was historically bad, limiting what could be done on offense. Lastly, the comparisons to Murray are anything but apples to apples. Murray had excellent college coaching, far and above what Allen had, and didn’t have NEARLY the level of mechanical deficiency. Put simply: Allen was very raw, was drafted to a team with a barren offensive roster, and was brought along perfectly. The results speak for themselves. Watching 2018 Josh vs 2021 Josh is night and day. The mere notion that anyone would question the method of development of Allen is ludicrous to me. It was one of the finest jobs any staff has done in league history developing a prospect (with a ton of credit going to Josh himself). Comparisons to Murray don’t have much merit, because they’re vastly different players and were vastly different prospects. Strange thread.

A thread on a Bills message board discussing the deal or lack of deal to build a new stadium for the Bills is….somehow inappropriate? I didn’t insinuate anything, I simply pointed out a couple of facts — everyone agreed a deal should be reached by the end of the year, a deal was not reached — and then posed a question. If the topic makes you uncomfortable, that’s your problem, not mine. Another overreaction to a simple question. The “Austin, here we come” responses seem to me like overly defensive dismissals of a topic that makes people feel insecure or uncomfortable.

In light of PSE Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia’s quote “if we reach January and there’s not a deal in place, you should be really worried” and the fact that, well, tomorrow is January…should we be concerned?

I agree with wanting to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday to take some stress off of the Jets game. However, if the last week of the season is effectively for the division title, I doubt the Bills would rest anybody.

If Sanders has nagging injuries, I say sit him until the playoffs and let him get fully healthy. Diggs/Davis/Beasley/McKenzie is a more than capable WR corps against the next two weeks' opponents. Come playoff time, a fully healthy and rested Sanders could be a real asset.

I was surprised to hear this. I went and took a peak at their COVID situation on the NPR Covid tracker website. Looks like they're at 137 cases per 100,000, with a several thousand percent increase in positive cases over the past couple weeks. May not sound like much, but for an island whose population is only 4,100 and whose health care system is not spectacular, I suppose it's enough to warrant special protocols. Anyway...when the world gets a little more "normal" (if that ever happens), put St John at the top of your list. You won't regret it.

The likely reasons for his release, in approximate order of likelihood: 5. Was neither humble nor hungry 4. Was no longer comprised of iron, and thus unable to sharpen other iron 3. Did not display a growth mindset 2. Was not doing his one eleventh 1. Did not respect the process

Do ANY of us exist? Or are all apparent forms and faces merely the temporary, impermanent, spontaneous, ecstatic, undulating dance of of the eternal one? The cosmic play and constant change of the changeless one, empty of any self-essence or inherent reality. Are you really who you think you are? Is it possible that form, sensation, perception, cognition, and mental formations are illusory? Are you anything more than one locust of awareness representing a single, infinitesimal portion of a vast, formless suchness that pervades -- nay, comprises -- all that is? Are you wave, particle, both, or neither? But yes, AJ Epenesa does need to get better.

Paging Bobby Babich...

Yeah. Strange. I wonder if there's some behavioral or work ethic thing behind it. Doesn't "fit the process" or something. Talent wise, and at a position without a dynamo on the depth chart, it's an odd release.

Bills fan favorite Antonio Williams has been cut from the practice squad. Interesting.

Not sure if the U.S. Virgin Islands would work for you, since you said the wife hates heat. I used to live on the tiny island of St John, and greater beauty you have never seen. It stays pretty temperate (for the tropics) in the Winter, with an average in the upper 70s and the trade winds blowing. Since it's a U.S. territory, you don't need a passport to go there. It's just the same as flying into any other U.S. state. Just fly into St Thomas and take the ferry over, and you're in. I'd check the state of things there with regard to COVID before buying tickets, but assuming they're not out of control, it's a lovely place for a vacation.

Agreed. The only thing is that there has been a bit of a learning curve with the pour-over method. It's really easy to make a decent cup of coffee, but it takes a little finesse to make a GREAT cup of coffee. Now that I've learned some tips and tricks, there's no better method in the world for making a perfect cup.

1-2 cups of black coffee every morning, preferably freshly ground and made via french press or pour-over method.

The certainty of pass can be mitigated by the lack of depth most teams have defensively. In other words, is your 4th or 5th corner going to be able to cover his man effectively? 5-wide can also be effective if you have a QB who can run the way Allen does. I'm not saying it should be used all the time or anything, and obviously it hasn't been our most effective offense this year. It can be highly effective in small doses, though, imo.

With Beasley and Davis back in the lineup this weekend, it will be interesting to see how the snaps are divided up amongst the receivers. First things first: Davis should be WR2 and should out-snap Sanders. That much is clear to me. In the slot, things are a little more interesting. McKenzie seems to be the clearly superior option in terms of gaining separation in man coverage. Beasley is still the go-to guy in terms of finding soft spots in zone. Perhaps the degree to which each guy is used can and should be determined by the way that the opposing defense is playing us in a given week. If they're gonna go man-free, let McKenzie eat. If it's the two-high zone that teams were hammering us with, put Beasley in. Meanwhile, Sanders is another interesting option to take snaps in the slot. He might be the best of both worlds, with regard to his ability to beat both man and zone coverage. Obviously, having too many WRs and having to figure out how to feed them all is a good problem to have.

I was quite surprised by this statistic and wanted to share it with all of you. And to think, some were ready to move on from coach McDermott earlier this season.

I feel like a more simple way to say this is that as long as the Bills win one of their two remaining games, there's a 97% chance they make the playoffs, according to fivethirtyeight.com playoff caluclator. So yes, technically they could miss the playoffs if they lose one of the next two. It would, however, be extremely statistically unlikely.

Actually, I was wondering something different about the play. I saw that Diggs basically didn't even try to block the corner that was defending him. He did, however, turn around and make himself available for a shovel pass. Seeing the 11 yard pass that Allen DID complete to Diggs on 3rd down in this game as well as the rollout shovel pass to Knox that sealed the game, it made me wonder if the play design was not only for Josh to roll out left, but for Diggs to be available as a "break glass in case of emergency" outlet receiver for the shovel pass. Hmmm...

I see some fear of the Colts in this thread, and I just wanted to say that I am fully NOT on that train. It's not that I think they're bad or that I lack respect for them. Obviously they whooped our butts this season. HOWEVER... I do not think they'd whoop our butts again. I think this Bills roster would be supremely motivated to go out and avenge that awful showing. I also think our team is playing a COMPLETELY different level of football than they were at that time. I'd rank my preferred playoff opponents thusly (from easiest to most difficult): 1. Raiders 2. Dolphins 3. Ravens 4. Chargers 5. Colts 6. Patriots (Belichick in the playoffs is never something I actively WANT to see) 7. Bengals 8. Titans 9. Chiefs