Logic

Colin Cowherd is still miles away from touching his first boob.

This.

The look of relief on Beane's face when the Lions pick Hockenson is awesome. I also wonder what it is about Greg Little that caused the Panthers to prefer him over Cody Ford. Oh, and I LOL'd when the Bears offered NEXT YEAR'S 4th round pick to move up to our spot in the third round. Get real. Beane's expression said the same.

I know. I loved reading that. It puts my heart at ease. Tape > measurables. Nah. He says a lot more about Singletary. I just didn't want to post a lot of it because I want people to sign up for The Athletic because those guys deserve the clicks and the subscription dollars. I only highlighted that quote in particular to point out that Beane gives more credence to tape than he does to measurables, which is a good thing. Beane ALSO talks about Singletary's heart and drive, and how there are no combine measurables for those things. He speaks more glowingly of Singletary than probably any of the seven other guys he picked.

I also lol'd at Gabriel saying that Oliver is sort of "lackadaisical", with "inconsistent effort". Literally everything I've read and seen shows the opposite. Beane and McDermott themselves both directly SAID the opposite, stating that Oliver goes 100mph all the time. Greg Gabriel is unemployed for a reason.

For those with a subscription to the Athletic, this article is absolutely worth the time it takes to read it. For those without a subscription, well, get with the times. This is the best Bills coverage out there right now. I'll post a few snippets that I liked about each player, with some bits that I really like in bold. There's more, though, and I encourage everyone to get a free trial and check this site out. All quotes below are from Brandon Beane. https://theathletic.com/959262/2019/05/02/the-film-is-the-most-important-thing-bills-gm-breaks-down-the-scouting-process-behind-every-draft-pick/ Regarding Ed Oliver: “Quick twitch, quick hands, power,” Beane said. “He had all of that the way he went in and out of the back with tight turns. He was explosive. Once he got his hips flipped and went, he’s rolling. You see him on tape and he’s running at linebacker-speed chasing guys. You don’t see that from bigger nose-tackle types. This guy is running the way Tremaine (Edmunds) is going to run or Matt (Milano) is going to run to the ball. The effort and compete, the way he plays with an edge, that all showed up on tape.” Regarding Cody Ford: “You see an excellent run-game player,” Beane said. “This guy can get to the second level. Once he gets his hands on you, school’s out. He was the best finisher of any lineman I saw in this draft. When you grade many linemen, a lot of them are locking their guys in and they’re peeking over their shoulder to see where the quarterback is. I never saw Cody peek. The next time he peeks will be the first time I saw him peek. He looks at it like if the whistle hasn’t blown and I knock my guy down, I’m either going to really finish him or I’m going to look for more work. That’s already in him. Some guys you have to kick in the butt. If anything, you have to pull him back.” Regarding Devin Singletary: “We’re still playing football. If I’m going to miss on a guy, I want to miss on a guy that I saw being a really good football player versus a guy who I questioned his football ability but he was a really good tester. We’re all going to miss on players. I would rather miss on a guy like this.” Regarding trading up for Dawson Knox: "I think it’s where you’re at in your build. It’s not my philosophy to only trade up. There were opportunities we were looking at to trade down. Part of it is, going back to Cody and Tremaine, we had them up there and they were sticking out. If a guy is sticking out and you’ve done all this work and it’s not forfeiting a crazy amount of stuff, if you felt that good to give him that grade, go get him! How excited are you to have another player with that value? Now it’s important we value them right. If we were right on our value, it’s a no-brainer to take that chance....In time we’ll be able to be a little bit more patient with the board, but any year I am here if there’s a guy sticking out and it’s a position of need, I’m not going to hesitate." Regarding Vosean Joseph: “He has the DNA to play on special teams. If he shows he has what it takes, he’s not going to start at linebacker, but he can get a jersey by being a guy on special teams. I think he’ll be in the mix with that.” Regarding Jaquan Johnson: “I think he fell because he didn’t test well, but if I didn’t see those numbers and just saw the tape, I see a good football player,” Regarding Darryl Johnson Jr: “They felt this guy was someone with high upside, raw but had good testing numbers. A lot of things that we saw in the seventh round, let’s take a shot on this guy. If he makes it, it may be because he tested really well and he fell because he’s still on the come-up. Some other guys may make it because they didn’t test well, but they are good football players and they are going to figure it out.” Regarding Tommy Sweeney: “He knows how to play the game. He’s tough and edgy,” Beane said. “He’s not a throwaway in the passing game, but that’s not his first skill. He makes it because he’s a smart blocker. He knows how to use angles if he’s getting outsized or out-muscled. He just finds a way.”

Greg Gabriel's a moron. Full stop.

There's just no way to know this. Panicking and picking the next best running back just because a team before us took a running back doesn't sound super Beane-like. Also, Beane mentioned that Singletary was "the most fun player to watch of all the guys he scouted all year". Furthermore, Singletary's similarities to LeSean McCoy would presumably be a viewed as an attractive component to, well...the team that currently employs an aging LeSean McCoy. In the end, we'll always be left wondering. There's just no way to know for sure.

If it happens on private property owned by the Bills, it absolutely IS the business of the Pegulas. If someone dies in the Bills parking lot, does any part of you doubt that the family will be bringing a lawsuit against the Pegulas?

I've been to many, many Bills games. I've literally never seen this happen. I'm sure it DOES happen, but I would venture to guess that the frequency of it is far, FAR less than the frequency with which one sees vast over-indulgence of substances, fights, and destruction of property. To get hammered drunk on a Sunday morning and jump through a table? K. It's funny. I go to the games to watch football happen. Guess I'm a weirdo.

I've been around and around with fans on this board about this, but I'm not a big fan of the fact that when you mention Bills fans to people, the first thing that comes to mind is drunkards jumping through tables. I like the notion of the fan base being recognized for loyalty to the team, persistence through bad weather conditions, etc..The fact that, instead, people just immediately equate Bills fans with drunken and destructive behavior is, to me, an embarrassment. This is where everyone jumps in and says I'm a kill-joy, that people are entitled to enjoy themselves however they want, blah blah blah. That's fine. My position stands. The gameday experience for many has become more about over-indulgence and "look at me" shenanigans than about football. It's just not my scene. To each their own, but I'm not fan of that aspect of the #BillsMafia experience.

Tough spot for the Bills. Tailgating is obviously a big part of the gameday experience. On the other hand, it has become a complete circus out there. Dangerously inebreiated people jumping through flaming tables, puking everywhere, getting into fights. It's out of hand. I condone and understand any efforts the team takes to curb the ridiculous over-indulgence that takes place in the lots.

I believe Dawkins will be fine. He got the wake-up call he needed. I also believe Ford will win the RT job. Dawkins Spain Morse Feiciano Ford Backups: Waddle, Nsekhe, Long

Thanks for taking the time to annotate this. Very much appreciated!

Probably the same reason he last until the end of the second round: He's nothing special.

I'm sorry to hear that you feel that opinions contrary to your own all represent "incessant" whining. Here I thought we were in a discussion forum, meant to discuss. How silly of me to have an opinion critical of the show and to express it in a thread dedicated to discussing said show and our opinions of it. If my opinion represents "incessant whining", yours represents an inability to tolerate criticism of your favorite pop culture thing. It's okay for people to have different opinions, you know.

Just a quick break in the action here to ask the following: You're all already aware that Wun-Wun is named after Phil Simms, yes? I just learned this today. Cracked me up.

Actually, I agree with the first line. It is specifically the lack of follow-up on some of the nuance and subtleties of storytelling that have occurred over the years that directly LEAD to some of my disappointment. I didn't HATE it or anything, I just felt they missed some opportunities. Ever since the show surpassed the books, it has gradually lost some of its magic. That's to be expected. Benioff/Weiss are not George RR Martin. Some of what makes his early storytelling so great, though, is missing in these later seasons, as they have (by necessity) sped toward a conclusion.

It's pretty simple. If you want people to believe that this is the biggest, baddest battle thats ever been fought in the GOT universe -- and clearly they wanted people to believe that, as it was the longest battle scene ever in TV or film and they spent an insane amount of money, time, and buildup on it -- then you need to have some serious human collateral. Jorah and Theon and Dondarion died, fine. You mean to tell me the episode wouldn't have been more memorable and taken more of an emotional toll if one or two more key people hadn't died? You mean to tell me you wouldn't have felt a greater payoff at Arya killing a thousands-of-years-old being if it had taken a bit more sacrifice to get to that point? You mean to tell me you're fine with the plot armor that all the main characters were wrapped in? When we last see Jaime, Brienne, Sam, they're all COVERED in un-dead soldiers, seemingly SECONDS away from death...and then like 30 minutes of the episode later...NK is killed and they're all fine? The way they portrayed that battle and the near-invincibility of the army of the dead and the wights, and it's unreasonable for me to think that a guy like Sam should have probably died? Or freaking Podrick? Or GREY WORM, post "We'll be happy on the beach together!" speech?! I mean...shoot. Like I said, we can all have our opinions. But to think its unreasonable to expect a bit more death in the supposed "biggest, baddest" battle ever fought? I don't see how that's so surprising. People needn't take the fact that some people were underwhelmed with the episode as an attack on them personally. I like Game of Thrones a lot. I will continue to watch it. I'm not trying to take the piss out of people's favorite pop culture thing. I just thought last night's episode had a lot of missed opportunities and was, overall, underwhelming.

Yeah. How dare people have their own opinions about a television show. The nerve.

Would've at least been nice to see him swing his sword a bit, no? For a dude that's been waiting thousands of years for this moment, he kind of went out like a b i t c h

Gosh, I hope so. There's so much opportunity there.

Lots of others. There's a pretty large contingent of dissatisfied/disappointed people out there in Game of Thrones internet land today...

That's cool. We can agree to disagree. I know the episode was divisive. I liked parts of it. Theon, li'l miss sassy Mormont the Giant Killer, Arya being the one to kill the Night King. All of that was great. As for the Whitewalkers and the Night King? Yeah, I wanted more. The first scene of the show features them. The press for the show, the famous slogan "Winter is coming", all of it...is about them. We've been led to believe for 8 seasons that they are the be-all, end-all threat in the GOT universe. Like someone else said, they spent most of last season getting everyone to come together to fight this great threat. And all for what? Sure, it was a big, grisly battle. But even then, we really lost no main characters of consequence other than Theon. At least if they had parted with some of the Briennes and Samwells of the world, the victory at the end would have felt more well earned. As it stands, there were really no emotional losses felt by the viewer other than Theon. As a whole, with how beautifully the previous episode portrayed what should have been some beautiful farewells, there just weren't enough important casualties to make this battle seem as important as we were all led to believe it would be...especially for THIS show, in THIS universe, where they have typically not been afraid to kill off main characters. And again: Yes, I feel the viewers want/deserve more explanation of the Night King, his motivations (other than "Kill human! Human bad!"), his connection with Bran, etc.. Instead, they let him be a generic bad guy with generic motivations, they wasted all the buildup of Bran's story arc, they didn't properly/adequately flesh out the importance or emotional/storytelling weight of ANY of it. Like I said, I will still watch the end of this thing eagerly. I just feel massively let down by the decisions that Benioff and Weiss have made. They really wasted some quality nuance and buildup and storytelling because, well...why? I'm not really sure. A shame. EDIT: And again...what the ***** was Bran doing Warging into a raven and just flying around all battle long? What was the point of that? Just silly.

Last night's episode was my least favorite of the season by a mile. It wasn't even the best battle episode the show has ever done. - Not enough main character deaths, rendering the episode much less emotionally impactful than it could've been and making the payoff (death of Night King) seem less well earned. When did the show that kills everyone off become afraid to kill people off. There are only three episodes left, do we really still need to have Brienne and Samwell around? - I guess they're just NOT going to explain any more about the Night King's origin, motivations, connection with Bran, or about Bran's time traveling, what his whole purpose as a character is, etc? Where was Bran while he was warging during battle? Just hanging out in a raven/crow, flying around watching the battle? Why? What's the point? The showmakers seem ashamed of or uninterested in the fantasy aspects of the show. Disappointing. - The entire buildup of the show, from the very first scene, has been about the Whitewalkers and "winter is coming". And then THAT episode happens and it's over in one night? And now we just move on to the battle with Cersei? I'm sorry, but after all the buildup and mythology and the way the framed the importance of the Whitewalkers and the Night King and Bran and his journey, I really hoped there would be a more satisfying, thorough payoff. At least some explanation. Instead, it's starting to feel like the last few episodes of Lost, where you realize they're just never gonna explain so many of the things that need explaining. I'll still look eagerly forward to the remaining episodes, but I found last night's episode to be vastly underwhelming, disappointing, and I felt it really missed the mark.