Logic

Same. Refs rule it one way, then some guys in black run on the field and talk to them, then suddenly the call is changed. Ridiculous.

I was at that game in Houston. I remember watching Duke play in real time and thinking "this is it. All the times we've ever envisioned the offseason darling underdog WR actually stepping up in a big moment and making memorable plays for the Bills!". It was like...the biggest/best chance a guy like this was ever gonna get. And......he blew it. Damn shame. One of the more painful and Billsy losses I can ever remember, and it may have turned out completely different if Duke catches that ball. Then again, it might have turned out completely different if the refs hadn't decided on the fly that a Texans' player's intention was good enough to substitute for following an actual NFL rule.

OMG. How did I forget all time Bills offseason legend Duke Williams?!?! Thank you for the reminder!

Chase Claypool taking the early lead in the 25th annual "Buffalo Bills offseason darling wide receiver" series. Like with Drew Hadaad, Da'Rick Rodgers, Naaman Roosevelt, and Andy Isabella before him, I'm predicting 75 catches for 1,100 yards and 10 TDs.

For what it's worth, Ray Davis had 12 receiving TDs in college to Cook's 6 (granted, Davis played an extra year). Davis had 7 receiving TDs just last season, which was the most receiving touchdowns by an SEC running back in 25 years. Pretty impressive. That's another reason I think Davis can eat into Cook's playing time and maybe seize the starting job from him: He's just as capable -- and arguably more so -- as a receiver.

I'll throw a wrench into the discussion and say that I think Ray Davis has a chance to take real playing time away from James Cook. As it is, there were times last season where the staff seemed to want to move him to more of a change of pace role and give more snaps to Latavius Murray, but Murray was looking long in the tooth by that point in the season and wasn't up to the task. I think James Cook's best role -- based on his college career, his size, his skillset, etc -- is as a change of pace, timeshare, 1B kind of guy. I think the way you get the most out of him is to have him split reps evenly with another guy, or even to outright be the change of pace guy while someone else is the starter. I also think that James Cook is a below average pass blocker. I'm not sure how Ray Davis is in that department, but IF he's a better pass blocker than Cook, that'll be his first ticket to eating into Cook's reps. Beyond that, and just generally speaking, I can see Davis doing more of the 1st and 2nd down dirty work, short yardage and goal line stuff, and Cook being more of the 3rd down back, splash plays guy, and being more involved as a receiver. I don't think this will happen immediately, by any means. But by, say, week 10, I can see Ray Davis being the de facto starter at running back for the Buffalo Bills.

I think the other interesting nugget, if it came from Beane, as it seems to have, is that Beane feels Coleman has "rare ability to bend" (like a pass rusher) and "the redirection skills of a much smaller receiver". Nice little writeup. Wouldn't have expected that to come from Fox Sports, who I wasn't even aware did written sports journalism of any kind. Thanks for sharing. Like I said in a different thread yesterday: Coleman may not have been my first choice, but I will be rooting like hell for him to succeed now that he's a Buffalo Bill. Super likable guy. I hope he becomes a dominant WR1 and makes me look like a total idiot (not hard).

I have no more way of knowing what McDermott would be without Josh than you do. It's almost a meaningless question, because it didn't happen and we'll never know. Actually, that's not entirely true. McDermott had one season without Josh Allen. He took a team in the very first year of a from-the-ground-up rebuild to a winning record and a playoff berth. Jauron had one winning season out of TEN as a head coach. He made the playoffs ONCE out of TEN tries. Josh Allen-less McDermott, meanwhile, made the playoffs in his lone Allen-less season. One for one. Besides, as I responded to another poster: Having a great QB does not equal automatic playoffs. Justin Herbert doesn't make the playoffs every year. Philip Rivers made the playoffs 7 out of 16 seasons. It takes good coaching, too. I'm sorry, but I think automatically attributing all Bills success to Josh Allen and pretending the coach doesn't have anything to do with it is dumb. I think the "without Josh, McDermott would be Jauron" argument is dumb. He's not Curly Lambeau or Don Shula, but he's a good NFL head coach. The proof is in the pudding. You don't have six winning seasons out of seven and the winning percentage he does without being a good coach. It's nonsense.

I totally agree. But what an objectively hilarious sentence to post in a discussion in which you're trying to prove that Sean McDermott is a bad coach. Sean McDermott, who boasts a great career winning percentage, has made the playoffs six out of seven seasons, and won four straight division titles, and whose ONLY bugaboo so far is lack of a Super Bowl victory. By your own standard, which you just summed up so eloquently, you must agree that Sean McDermott is a high caliber coach. Yes?

The burden of proof is on the accuser. Thus far, I've at least provided career win percentage statistics. You've provided nothing of substance to back up your claim. I'd love to hear what, specifically, makes Sean McDermott just like Jauron. Please enlighten us.

Shanahan is really the only one you have any argument with. How many rings as Bill "Greatest of all time" Belichick won as a head coach without Brady? The exact same amount as Sean McDermott, that's how many. Having sustained success without a high quality quarterback is more the exception than the rule. And on the flip side, there are instances of great QBs who lose year after year and DON'T regularly make the playoffs. Why? Because their coaches stink. How many times has Justin Herbert made the playoffs in his career?

How many head coaches consistently have winning records without good quarterbacks? On the flip side, surely all very good QBs in the NFL make the playoffs every year, and coaching has nothing to do with it. I assume Justin Herbert makes the playoffs every year, right? What was McDermott's record the year he DIDN'T have Josh as head coach? What did his team look like, and did it make the playoffs? Is it honestly your contention that if you gave Jauron Josh Allen as his QB, that he'd be just as good of a head coach as Sean McDermott? It's absolutely wild to me that people are legitimately comparing the head coach with the highest winning percentage in franchise history to Jauron, or are claiming that Allen is the only reason McDermott has won so many football games. Again...I'm not a huge McDermott lover. I've been frustrated with him a lot lately, and I'm not sure he's the man for the job long term. But comparing him to Jauron is just nonsense. I would love -- absolutely LOVE -- to hear what makes Sean McDermott "just like Jauron". What makes them similar, specifically? Please enlighten me.

Bad/lazy take. Jauron was 60-82 as a head coach. McDermott is 73-41 as a head coach. Jauron had a .42 win percentage as a head coach. McDermott has a .64 win percentage as a head coach, which is best all time for the Buffalo Bills, and just below Andy Reid and Bill Belichick's career win percentages. Dick Jauron had one playoff season in 10 seasons as head coach. He was 0-1 in the playoffs. Sean McDermott has had six playoff seasons out of seven seasons as head coach. He is 5-6 in the playoffs. I'm no McDermott apologist, and I'm not sure he's the man for the job long term, but to compare him to Jauron is simply unreasonable and unrealistic.

Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty key difference. The statement "never once in seven seasons have we BEATEN a comparable or stronger team in the playoffs" is mostly accurate. "Taken it to" usually means "put up a really good fight". and the Bills have done that multiple times. In fact, I'd say there have only been two playoff games in which the Bills really didn't have a chance. The Chiefs AFCCG in 2020, in which the Chiefs were clearly the superior team, and the Bengals game in the 2022 playoffs, in which the Bills got blown off the field. Other than those two instances, I'd say the Bills pretty much ALWAYS take it to all their opponents in the playoffs. It's that pesky "winning the game" thing that they've failed to do on too many occasions.

I would just like to say, after a few weeks of seeing how much personality and character Keon has, how smart and how hard of a worker he seems to be, etc... I will be rooting incredibly hard for this kid to succeed and make me look like a bozo. I've been very vocal about not liking the pick and not being wild about the prospect. That said, I'm not one of those "hope to see the player fail in order to confirm my take and make me look smart" kind of people. I'd waaaay rather be proven wrong, the way I was with Josh Allen. Few players are as likable as Keon Coleman. Few have endeared themselves to Bills fans as quickly as he has. He is clearly a very physically talented player, and he's clearly a good and funny and likable dude. His succeeding will help the Bills succeed. I will be rooting hard for him for his sake, for the Bills' sake, and for the sake of getting to continue to see his comedic gifts and seemingly great character on display for years to come. Go Keon! Go Bills!

That's simply not true. In both this season's Chiefs playoff game and the 13 seconds game, we "took it to" the Chiefs. We also "took it to", and beat, the Ravens with Lamar in 2020 (and yes, I realize he exited the game with injury, but he played the majority of it). I agree that McDermott hasn't been what he needs to be in the playoffs, and as I just stated above, if he doesn't fix that, then the Bills will never win a title. But to say the bills have "not once" "take it to" a comparable or stronger team is simply not true.

I was calling for McDermott's head midway through last season. From the point at which the Dunne article was published onward, I thought he actually showed a lot of improvement. His calls got gutsier. He showed more trust in both his offense and his defense. There were times when he got so bold in his decision making -- particularly going for it on 4th down on the Bills' own side of the field -- that even I was like "now wait a second coach...". I'll give McDermott this: I feel he has shown consistent improvement from the time he became head coach of the Buffalo Bills until now. It's gotten to the point where the Bills are routinely at the top of the "how often teams go for it on 4th down when they should" lists, neutral situation passing rate lists, and a bunch of other things that analytics tell us add up to generally good decision making. I would argue that his coaching in the playoff hasn't improved at the same rate that his regular season coaching has improved. I do still think he tightens up in the biggest moments, and it costs the Bills football games. Think of the fake punt in the Chiefs game, or the way the Bills handled the end of the game coming out of the two minute warning. If he can just figure out how to loosen up and fix his playoff foibles the way he's fixed his regular season foibles, then I think he can have an Andy Reid like second act of his career. People forget that Reid used to be routinely pilloried for his bad decision making and playoff failures -- until he wasn't. All in all, I expect McDermott to continue to be a better than average regular season coach who routinely gets his teams 10+ wins and a playoff ticket. It's his performance in the "second season" that needs to improve if the Bills are to ever win a title.

On that matter, we'll have to agree to disagree. The best way to provide homefield advantage for our team is to build an imposing, loud, exciting atmosphere. Everyone on their feet on 3rd down, making as much noise as humanly possible, the whole crowd rising to a fever pitch of excitement and creating a deafening roar and a visible united front of enthusiasm and engagement. Affecting and intimidating the opponent. Feeling the excitement of 70,000 people cheering in unison. Having an actual effect on the outcome of a game. THAT, to me, is what seeing football games live is all about. To me, standing for critical junctures feels like part of that. I understand if others disagree, and I understand that some folks have physical impairments that may make it impossible. But if it's 3rd and 8 in the 4th quarter and the Bills defense needs a big stop, I'm absolutely gonna be on my feet, whooping and hollering, and I'm absolutely gonna ignore anyone behind me saying "down in front!". Again -- not all game. That, I agree, is a bit much. But in the big moments? I'm up.

Greatest center who ever lived. Might've set the all time world record for most broken noses, too. Nothing could be cooler than A guy named Otto wearing 00. RIP to the legend.

To be clear, I didn't say standing all game, I just said standing. I think standing for kickoffs, big 3rd downs, and close-in red zone plays, or jumping up out of my seat in excitement at a big play, are all reasonable things to do. Football is exciting. I'd argue that those that sit all game and get bent out of shape when people stand for the exciting parts are just as obnoxious.

I wish people would still go their whole lives without getting a hug from their father, crying in public, or telling platonic friends "I love you", the way God intended!

Disagree.

The Bills clearly like AJ and Groot, hence their re-signing the former and picking up the 5th year option on the latter. I think they're counting on Von looking more like Von this season. Assuming that happens -- and I realize that's a big assumption -- that's a solid "starting" three right there. I think Soloman, Smoot, Toohill, and Kingsley Jonathan battle it out for the remaining two spots. At the end of the day, I think it winds up being AJ, Groot, Von, Soloman, and Smoot. (Side note, we'd have a Groot and a Smoot. That's fun). Honestly, at this point, I'd rather use the post June 1st money on a dependable outside corner than an edge.

That I fully agree with. I saw a petition online for the Chiefs to cut him because of this speech, which I think is just ridiculous. They won't, for what it's worth. There are select times when I feel one's words or actions rise to the level of potentially meriting dismissal from one's job. This is definitely not one of those times. If anyone on the Chiefs is gonna lose his job, it ought to be the guy that drove a car 100mph and nearly killed someone, then (allegedly) assaulted a photographer in a nightclub just weeks later...but that's a different story for a different thread.

Seriously? Not explaining the intricacies of the way I feel about Butker's speech -- though I feel I did a good enough job in my first few points -- isn't about "not abiding by free speech". Your insinuation that it does, followed by an accusation of "signaling" and an exasperated "lol, this place" is eyeroll-inducing. Let me make it clearer for you: This is a football message board. It has a light hearted "off topic" section and a "politics" section. In order not to derail the thread -- which was posted in the former section -- so that it winds up getting mired in endless bickering and moved to the latter section, I didn't go into nuanced detail about my opinions. It had nothing to do with free speech, and everything to do with trying to follow the rules of the message board. That help? Great. Have a lovely day. Bless your heart! Lol. This place.