Logic

I was coming in here to make a joke about how it wouldn't be long before her articles were met with toxic masculinity and jokes about her appearance, and she was reduced to a mere sex object (because how ELSE should we respond to a female writing about sports?)....but I didn't get here fast enough, and all of those things already happened. Sheesh.

Doesn’t work if you’re primarily an online player.

Haven't read through the thread. This is what you meant, right?

I had my fingers crossed that the Bills would take a flier on Malik Hooker. He had immense talent coming out and it's only injuries that have derailed his career. He seemed like the PERFECT low cost, low risk, high reward signing to be coach McDermott's latest safety reclamation project. Alas, he is signing with Dallas. I wish him all the best. Injuries alone should never be the reason that a player doesn't succeed.

Gilliam is what I call a "glue player". You've got your star players, your great players, your very good players....the names you know. The guys you see on highlights. The guys whose jerseys you see being worn by fans in the stands. But working alongside all of those guys, setting them up for glory, often working in anonymity...are the glue guys. They may not be fancy or exciting, they may not have trading cards or make the Sportscenter top 10 Plays, but they're important. Oftentimes, without their contributions, the splash plays wouldn't happen. ONE solid special teams play where a guy stays in his lane and prevents a kick return score and the team wins by 4 points. ONE solidly fundamental block on a blitzing defender and the QB is kept upright long enough to throw a 40 yard bomb for six. Glue guys. They matter. Reggie "Glue" Gilliam. Can't live without 'em.

I don't know, but I'll tell ya one thing: the salary cap isn't real.

Courtney did it.

Thanks for taking the time to share those. I don't have ESPN Insider and wouldn't otherwise have been able to read them.

Huh. Maybe it depends on what country you use through your VPN. I have used the Netherlands as my country of choice for NFL Gamepass all these years, and I have never NOT been able to watch any game live. Not once. Strange.

I don’t know the reasoning or mechanics of it, but the EU version of Gamepass absolutely allows you to view all games live, as they happen.

Wow. Totally forgot about that until you just mentioned it. Meachem, Johnson…total footnotes in NFL history, neither ever producing more than 750 yards in a season, and Bills fans were hoping against hope that we could somehow lure them here. Really makes you have new appreciation for our current WR corps, and for this new era of Bills football in general.

I’ve done the same thing every year for 7 years running: 1. Subscribe to a legitimate VPN. I use ExpressVPN, $60 for a year subscription. 2. Turn on your VPN and Set your location to an EU country. Go to NFL.com and buy Gamepass for $100. With Gamepass, you get every NFL game, you can watch them live or after the fact. You can watch the “game in 40”, where they cut out all commercials and between-play nonsense and just show every play back to back. You get the All-22 footage from every game. You get NFL Network. You get an archive of every Super Bowl ever played. I just use an HDMI cable to hook my computer to my TV and voila, HD NFL football, purchased through the NFL itself, for a grand total of $160 a year.

There is no better illustration of the desperation of Bills fans during the drought years than the "Bryant Johnson watch" threads. Dozens of pages tracking news and rumors and even flight plans, all for.....BRYANT JOHNSON?!?! Sheesh.

I was walking around during the whole 2020 playoff run singing “Talkin Proud” and doing the goofy dance that goes with it. My wife thought I was nuts until I showed her the video. Catchy little number…

Here's what seems to me to have happened with the Zach Ertz discussion amongst Bills fans: When it was first announced that the Bills might acquire him, way back when, some fans got overly excited and misunderstood who he was/is as a player. Seeing his past statistical output, some assumed he was a Kelce/Gronkowski type player who would completely change the offense. This, of course, is not true. He's more of a "find the soft spot on the zone and make a crucial 3rd down catch" type TE, not the "Sportscenter Top 10 Plays" type tight end. As a pushback to this over-excitement and misunderstanding, some fans ( folks like @4merper4mer, though he's certainly not the only one ) went too far in the OTHER direction, saying he's useless, he blows, he's awful, he has nothing to offer. This ALSO is not true. While Zach Ertz would not completely change the Bills offense, and while he is not a Kelce or Gronk or Waller type, he absolutely DOES have something to offer. He was and IS a good player. While those who thought he was a game-wrecker were wrong, so are those who say he has nothing to offer. And the folks who say he's completely washed up just because he had one bad season? The height of over-reaction, recency bias, and hyperbole. What Ertz isn't: Travis Kelce. What Ertz IS: A savvy veteran tight end who would bring championship experience to the position, teach the youngsters in the room a thing or two, and provide an effective possession receiving and third down outlet for Josh Allen. A definite upgrade over Tyler Kroft and Lee Smith and Reggie Gilliam and Jacob Hollister and Tommy Sweeney. An insurance policy in case Dawson Knox doesn't take the step we all hope he'll take. If the compensation is right and a reasonable deal can be worked out, I think he'd improve the Bills offense. I think and hope that Knox will break out and become the long term answer at the tight end position, but "hope" is not a strategy.

Zach Ertz is 30. Not 36 or 37, but 30. He had ONE bad year, during which he played through injuries, horrendous QB play, and team dysfunction. Prior to that, he had 900, 1100, and 800 yard seasons. Comparing him to a retired player doesn’t add any credibility to your argument. One down year doesn’t mean the guy “blows”.

This line takes away any credibility your opinion on this matter might have. Ertz is a three time Pro Bowler who averages over 800 yards per season and once set the all time single season receptions record fi or a tight end with 116. He would instantly be the best tight end the Bills have ever had. If you don’t want him on the Bills, fine, but saying he “blows” is just silly. It’s a silly take. And that’s putting it mildly.

If only Beane had foreseen the market for good offensive tackles skyrocketing and planned ahead by drafting a couple athletic marvels at the position...

Right. Who needs a multiple time Pro Bowl tight end who averages 800+ yards per year over his career and has a Super Bowl ring, when you have guys like Tommy Sweeney and Jacob Hollister to scare opposing defenses?!

Here's what I don't get: Zach Ertz has had consistently excellent production his entire career. From 2014 to 2019, in order, he posted the following yardage totals: 702 853 816 824 1163 (Also set the all time single season receptions record for a TE with 116) 916 Last year, he had a bad year, yes. HOWEVER, he played through injuries, not to mention team dysfunction, coaching turmoil, and the complete collapse of Carson Wentz. So now, because he had ONE down year, he's toast? He's not worth a darn?! He's 30 years old! Not 35 or 36, but 30. Guys like Greg Olsen and Tony Gonzales played well into their late 30s. Travis Kelce is 31, and I'm sure nobody would say HE'S finished. I just don't get it. Why do so many people think Ertz is shot? Why would so many people NOT want a guy who's last five seasons (not counting 2020) would be the most statistically productive five seasons by a Bills tight end EVER? If you're just all-in on Knox, or you somehow don't think a guy who averages over 800 yards receiving a year and has a Super Bowl ring can add anything to our team, then fine. I don't really get it, but fine. But if your reasoning is that he's somehow "finished" or in serious decline because he had one down year? I think you're crazy.

The thing that, as a Bills fan, makes me happy about Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa: Neither seem to be the type to go win you a game by themselves. Both seem to lack the "off-script, off platform improvisation" element that the upper echelon of QBs in the 2021 NFL have. Both seem to be guys that can win you a lot of games so long as your surround them with a stout defense and great skill players -- both of them DID win a lot of games at 'Bama by doing just this. But whereas Jones and Tagovailoa were protected by five star o-linemen and throwing to future first round WRs at 'Bama, Josh Allen was running for his life and throwing to nobodies at Wyoming. That "make something out of nothing, carry the team to victory at any costs" mentality was necessary to win games at Wyoming, and it forged in Allen the ability to thrive off structure and the killer mentality to rise to the moment in crunch time. Jones and Tagovailoa may have that mentality, too, that "clutch gene", but they don't have -- until proven otherwise -- the improvisatory ability, mobility, or overall physical prowess to pair with it to form an elite QB. Now, obviously Tom Brady has showed us for two decades that you can thrive without upper echelon physical talent and improvisatory ability. But I think the NFL is changing. I think the Allens and Mahomes of the world have an edge over the Jones and Tagovailoas. The next few years of NFL football will be fascinating to watch, to see whether the more old school, stand-in-the-pocket, play withinin structure guys can still be elite in a league that seems to be trending towards mobility and improvisation. Ultimately, when I look over the quarterbacks in the AFC East and ask myself "let's suppose all four teams are built well and have a good roster -- Which team's quarterback will elevate his squad past the others by power of will and sheer physical talent?"...to me, the answer is unquestionably Josh Allen. Zach WIlson MAY prove to be contender in this regard, but I don't think he has nearly the heart/will/competitiveness that Allen has. We'll see. At quarterback, the most important position in sports, the Bills -- for the first time in 26 years or so -- appear to have the best one in their division for the forseeable future. 'Bout damned time. Been a long quarter century.

It feels humid as hell to me. The air feels much thicker than in, say, Arizona or Texas. And yes, sitting inside in the A/C is the plan. Normally, I spend hot days swimming at the river or coast, but it’s too hot for that to seem like much fun right now. Gonna see a movie later and go bowling tomorrow. Anything with good A/C! Anything hotter than 90 is too much, in my book.

Likewise. Ditto.

Sitting here in Portland, it’s 106 degrees at the moment. The next two days have a forecast high of 113 degrees. If that happens, it’ll easily set the all-time record for hottest day in Oregon’s history. It’s June. This is nuts. Luckily, our friend let us borrow her mobile A/C unit, otherwise I would be roast Logic.

Calling anyone who wasn't okay with seeing a black man murdered by an armed agent of the state for no good reason a "Marxist"? Really?! 1950 called, it wants its overly simplistic, sensationalist, inaccurate, ignorant insult back.