Logic

I suppose I'm projecting into the future. I think 18 games plus two bye weeks is a foregone conclusion, hence my week 20 comment. Mike Florio and other national analysts actually think TWENTY games is the eventual outcome, and gosh I hope the NFLPA never agrees to that. As much as I love football, that's just way too much.

Hi. It's me. I'm "NFL is gonna jump the shark with their greed and start losing fans at some point" guy. The NFL owners ARE brazen. They are wildly greedy. They ONLY care about maximizing profit, and they care nothing about fan experience, loyalty, "the integrity of the game", player safety, or anything along those lines. Their sole concern is making the most money they possibly can, no matter how much it waters down the product, endangers the players, or alienates the fans. I firmly believe that one day, like Icarus, they will fly too close to the sun and their wings will burn. Until then...enjoy subscribing to five different streaming platforms, paying for PSLs and also paying $250 for a ticket, funding stadiums, and watching two backup QBs square off in a meaningless week 20 game.

I haven't been this excited since I traded my Kiko Alonso jersey to a nice gal in the tailgate lot a few years back!

I agree that Thomas was the last of their Tier 1 or 1.5 guys, and the rest were all grouped together and they were happy with any of them. I also agree that they didn't want to give up any draft picks this year, and that's why they didn't trade up for Thomas. It's a shame, in my opinion, because I view Thomas as being on another level in terms of ceiling and superstar potential, and the idea of a bona fide, field-stretching WR1 would've been worth giving up an extra draft pick, particularly if a 2025 pick could've gotten the deal done.

Thomas is gonna be a star and would've been a bona fide WR1 here. I would've been fine with giving up an extra pick for him. Instead, in my opinion, we got a potential long term WR2, and will still be WR1 shopping next year.

Worthy. I don't necessarily think that would be the answer if he had been drafted to just any team. But playing for Andy Reid -- who has proven to be able to get high level production from guys like Worthy (think DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Tyreek Hill) -- and with Mahomes as his QB? I think he'll be a Pro Bowler and a star in this league. I'm still irritated that the Bills chose Coleman over him. The name of the game in the 2024 NFL seems to be speed and separation. Big-bodied guys who create less separation but "win at the catch point" seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs. And yet...

So I've thought about it a little bit longer. ...You Googled "sarsaparilla" to make sure you spelled it right, didn't you? There's no way you just nailed that one on your own.

By gum, you really know your onions. I was thinking you were just trying to wake snakes or tell a thumper, but I was probably just acting too high for my nut. Your thread title really is the cat's pajamas, so I've come to bury the hatchet. Here's hoping this thread is a really lally-cooler from here on out. And how!

I agree. People will likely not be rational at the notion of anyone predicting a Bills loss, but this is a young Bills team that will need some time to jell and find its identity. I predict a week 1 Cardinals upset, something like 20-17 Cards after two missed Tyler Bass field goals. I foresee the usual plot with this team playing out again this year: hovering around .500 at midseason, only to see them reel off a string of late season victories -- as they seem to do every single year -- and claim a Wild Card spot or division crown, looking dangerous as they head into the playoffs.

I honestly think you just wanted to say "sarsaparilla".

When I see a guy who made plays like Bernard did in college, who was a film junkie AS A MIDDLE SCHOOLER, who has always been a "first in the building, last to leave", natural leader of men, I think.... How on earth did he last until the third round? I know, I know. Size. He was considered small or slight for a linebacker. But...man oh man did he look like a star out there at times last year. I think it speaks VOLUMES that he was made the sole captain of the defense. In just his second year starting, no less. Very, very impressive. Can't wait to see this kid play this year. Here's hoping Dorian Williams follows suit...

On the one hand, I agree with what you're saying. On the other hand, a discussion about why Mack Hollins being listed as a starting WR on your depth chart actually isn't a bad thing is not a discussion I was hoping to have to have four days before kickoff in the year of our lord, two-thousand-twenty-four.

Mack Hollins -- week one starting receiver for the Buffalo Bills in the year 2024. What a world.

Their current uniforms are perfect as-is and they should stick with them for a long time to come. The only thing they need, as others have said, is to roll out the 90s throwbacks twice a year. If they wanted, I believe they could even feature both home and away throwbacks. The fact that they have not yet done so continues to be baffling. It would be an absolute printing press of money. But I guess the Bills...don't need extra money?

I was called silly, unreasonable, and all sorts of other things when I said that the Bills would likely start the season with Mack Hollins as one of their two starting outside receivers. And here we are. Yes, I realize they'll rotate heavily. Still. They released a depth chart indicating the starting player at each position, and at one of the outside receiver spots, they have Mack freakin Hollins listed. In 2024. For Josh Allen in his prime. Fun. This is fun. I'm having fun.

By preference, I'm a stander. I understand and empathize with those that sit. If you have, say, knee or back problems, or just generally aren't physically up to the task of standing the whole time. I get it. But for me? It's a gladiator sport. It's spectacle. It's exciting and loud and fast and violent. I want to stand. Standing feels right. Like Hunter S Thompson (who was a big 49ers fan) used to say to those that got mad at him for standing and being audibly raucous at football games: "THIS IS FOOTBALL!!! GO TO THE ***** OPERA IF YOU WANNA SIT AND BE QUIET!!" That said, if I'm in a section where everyone sits for much of the game, I will be courteous and sit, too. EXCEPT for during the exciting parts. Kickoffs, 3rd downs, red zone, big plays. I'm damned sure standing and cheering for those parts. If you don't like it, go to the opera.

Sometimes I think the mental and emotional toll a receiver takes on a quarterback can outweigh the on-field production he gives that quarterback. In other words, the constant little voice in the back of Josh's head going "I need to keep Stef happy. I need to get #14 the ball". That's gone now. The need to massage the ego -- and let's be honest here, as hard of a worker as he may have been and as good of a leader as he may have been at times, Diggs has a massive ego that constantly needs massaging -- is gone. Sometimes, when the little (loud, insistent, toxic) voice in a quarterback's ear vanishes, the quarterback suddenly plays a freer, more pure brand of football, where he's solely looking at who's open and making the right reads on a play, and not having to worry about keeping a certain personality happy. That's what I think his going to happen here. I think Diggs' on-field contributions are great, and that he's still a great player. But I also think his intangible toxicity grew to outweigh his on-field contributions. I think that Josh -- and by extension, the Bills offense -- will be better off without him. Healthier. More diverse. And Digg's playoff disappearing acts? I won't miss those either. Josh and the Bills just got out of a toxic relationship. That's what happened.

Here's what I'll never understand: Diggs seemingly had everything a player could want. He was handsomely paid, he received a ton of targets, he put up gaudy statistics, he played for a top five quarterback, he played for a winning team that is perennially in the playoffs, he was beloved by the fan base, he was a national star. What more -- literally, WHAT MORE -- could he possibly want? One could say that it was his waning involvement in the offense that soured him, but we can all see that things had changed prior to that. That Diggs' demeanor and interest in being a Buffalo Bill had changed. So the question is -- why? How could a player have everything I just listed above, and still want out? Still think the grass is greener elsewhere? There simply MUST be something that happened behind the scenes that we're all not aware of, because none of it makes any sense. He seemingly had everything, and he still wanted out. I'll never understand it. Oh, and one more thing: seeing how free and light and fun the atmosphere around the team seems to be right now, compared to what it was last year...it's hard to conclude anything other than that Diggs's presence was a huge negative influence on team mood and chemistry, and that his ouster is gonna pay huge dividends for this team (and this quarterback) mentally.

The pearl clutching and denunciations that take place within Taylor Swift discussions in relation to the NFL always lead me to the same conclusion: The fragility of some people's egos is absolutely astounding. If the 47 Applebee's commercials, military flyovers, endless gambling promotion, gross commercialism, and potentially life-altering risk of brain injury that take place on NFL Sundays don't offend you, but seeing a pop star for two collective minutes out of a three and a half hour broadcast DOES -- and to the extent that you'd threaten to stop watching altogether -- I don't know what to tell ya. If you're that bothered by it, then I would politely suggest that this probably isn't just about Taylor Swift, and that perhaps you have some deeper-seated issues that merit closer examination. As for her drawing up plays: Good. Let her. She can't be worse at it than Arthur Smith or Nathaniel Hackett 🤷‍♂️

The league SOMETIMES, but not ALWAYS, places players accused of domestic violence on the commissioner's exempt list. Their decision not to do so in Von's case does not mean that this is not true.

I understand and, to some extent, agree with what you're both saying. The issue here is "precedent". The NFL tends to have a "way of doing things" when it comes to legal run-ins. If they just say "to hell with letting the legal process play out, we're just gonna suspend him now", then they risk Rice and his lawyers crying foul, appealing the league's decision, and creating a mess on top of a mess. Again, I'm not defending the league's actions here. It's pretty clear Rice is guilty, and it's pretty clear he should face some discipline. I believe he will. But if the league rushes into it, they risk creating a headache that may undermine their eventual and overall efforts to mete out justice.

It's simple. The NFL tends to let the legal process play out before imposing discipline. The ONLY exception is domestic violence charges, which is what they got Zay Jones in. In these instances, the league tends to come down more harshly (ever since the Ray Rice incident gave the league such a black eye), and even when it doesn't outright suspend players, it often places them on the commissioner's exempt list while the league "investigates" the incident. Rashee Rice's incident did not involve domestic violence, and it is unlikely to be resolved legally during this calendar year. As such, he avoids the commissioner's exempt list, and any discipline he faces from the league will likely not come until next season. I'm not defending any of it, I'm just giving you the answer to your question and explaining the league's process.

To answer your question: I can't speak for others, but I'm not giving McDermott a pass. I called for him to be fired last year. The way the team rallied around him, and some specific ways in which I saw him improve as a coach over the course of the season, caused me to call off the dogs for now. But if the same old "getting whooped in the divisional round" song and dance continues, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be calling for a change again. *Edit: As for Mike McDaniel: I'm sticking with what I said. I think he's an excellent play designer and play caller, but I DON'T think he's a quality head coach. I don't think he's a natural speaker or a natural leader. He gives convoluted word salad answers. I don't find him to be authentic. I find him to be awkward and much of his schtick to be contrived. I'm just not a believer. I fully understand why the Dolphins extended him. They should. What else could they do? I just don't trust him to be anything more than the Rex Ryan of offense. Entertaining, full of bluster, and coordinates a cutting edge scheme. Once the league catches up to the cutting edge scheme and the innovations stop, all that's left is the schtick and the bluster.

I'll grant you that the Bills continually fold in the playoffs, but they're actually incredibly good in November and December. I don't have their November/December record from the past four years in front of me, but it's elite. Josh Allen is also one of the best 4th quarter and crunch time QBs in the game by any metric. Meanwhile, here's an article about how the Dolphins fold late in games and late in seasons. I get what you're saying, but the Bills and Dolphins are not the same. Tua and Josh are not the same. https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/5/24026177/dolphins-bills-tua-tagovailoa-future-nfl-playoffs-afc-east *edit: whoops. I had included the wrong article before. Fixed now.