Logic

Just to be clear, all the griping in this thread is directed toward Bishop, who returned to practice today and practiced in full, right?

Meh. Miss me with any "he's a crybaby" or "he paints his nails" talk.

"Below average run blocker" is another feather in the "reasons not to pay a running back big money" cap.

Yeah. WR bubble screens are the only thing they've been able to execute from a screen perspective in the past couple seasons. With the movement skills of some of our o-linemen and Cook's ability in space, RB screens should be a lethal part of our offense.

I absolutely think the Bills could be using Cook more creatively in multiple respects. Their ongoing inability to execute an effective screen game is one of the most maddening and befuddling mysteries I've ever witnessed.

I do think Dion will be okay. Just a guess.

Back when I lived in Ithaca, NY as a younger fella, I used to drive up for Bills games on certain Sundays. I'd have to leave pretty darn early, pretty much at the crack of dawn, to get there. The morning the Fitzpatrick led Bills beat the Pats for the first time in a million years (was it 2011?), I was driving up on a beautiful, quiet, sunny morning. The song "Don't Stop Believin'" came on the radio, and about a minute into, I spotted a very rare sight in a meadow off to the side of the road: an albino white deer, just standing there, staring at me. I took the omen of that song and that rare sighting to mean that the Bills would beat the Pats that day. And they did! Superstitions are weird, eh?

Caleb Williams was playing in an abhorrent offense. He now has, presumably, an improved offensive line, improved weaponry, and will be playing in a competent offensive system. We'll get a much truer read of his abilities this year. All of that said...I think I'd rather have Drake Maye, and I of course would DEFINITELY rather have Jayden Daniels. It's possible the Bears, with their pick of the litter at QB in that draft, picked the third best guy. Time will tell.

Sure. James Cook is not particularly a threat in the passing game. He's pretty good there, but he's not great. Case in point: He is not the team's 3rd down back. Running backs that are true threats in the passing game don't tend to get taken off the field on 3rd downs. If a running back isn't a bellcow and doesn't have major pass catching chops, I prefer not to pay them big money. I don't particularly care to relitigate the issue any further than that, as I've said my piece plenty over the past few months on this forum. Go Bills.

1) James Cook is a good football player, adds an explosive element to the Bills offense, and makes life easier for Josh Allen. 2) As a matter of team building philosophy, I don't love giving second contracts to running backs that have not consistently displayed bellcow ability and pass catching chops. 3) Giving Cook the most guaranteed money that a running back has gotten in five years is...significant. 4) I believe what likely happened is that the Bills said "look, we can't reach the $15million number you're asking for. But we can up the guarantees". It was a way to meet the agent in the middle, make the player happy, and end the drama. 5) Brandon Beane likely did not want to go into such a critical season -- with the Bills once again on the doorstep of reaching a Super Bowl -- with a disgruntled player on offense and any kind of funkiness in the locker room. His desire for stability and harmony likely contributed to his doing what, for him, is an atypical thing at the running back position. All in all, while the guarantees are high and the move itself goes against my preferred roster building strategy, I'm happy the drama is over, happy for James Cook (players should always get the bag when they can!), and happy that the offensive core is essentially locked in for the next three seasons. Super Bowl contention should continue annually (health permitting), and that's a win for Beane and the Bills.

Listen, as an ice cream lover of the highest order, I don't say this lightly: Pittsford Dairy is my favorite ice cream place in the world. It's got lots of great baked goods, packaged yum-yums, and is a generally well organized and lovely (if overpriced) place. But the ice cream? Oh man. It's good. I particularly love the soft serve peanut butter cup sundae. In my opinion, it's worth the trip and worth the weight. Elite ice cream.

Any particular reason why not, you lunatic?

I have no doubt. Exactly why I'm not touching the stuff. I don't have the financial liquidity to weather that storm.

I absolutely think that there will be a reduction in 6OL this year, with Hawes replacing the 6th O-lineman on those plays, and presenting at least the threat/possibility of being a pass catcher. I also think Kincaid and Knox are primarily pass catchers and that it just didn't make sense to have their third TE be primarily a pass catcher as well (a la Quintin Morris). If your top two guys aren't excellent blockers and you like to roster 3 TEs, it just makes sense for your TE3 to be a hoss in the blocking game.

There are no words adequate to express how crucial John Facenda was in getting me hooked on football. Watching those old "NFL Yearbook" highlight reels on ESPN classic -- with the dramatic orchestral music, slow motion video, and Facenda's dramatic narration -- made the NFL seem like the most exciting, high stakes, dramatic spectacle imaginable. NFL Films had an ENORMOUS impact on me, and I'm not sure I'd be the football fan I am today without it.

Lee Smith 2.0 85 is the perfect jersey number.

Cocaine. Not because I had any moral superiority about it or anything. Just because I feared I would like it, and then I'd have an expensive and self-destructive habit on my hands. So I just...never touched it.

I've read through but a small fraction of this thread and others on the board, but... The definitive statements, certain conclusions and overreactions based on ONE preseason game -- the FIRST preseason game, mind you -- are amusing, though not unexpected.

Thanks for those numbers. If there's a third "should've won" game, that's definitely it. So either 2 or 3 games the Bills probably should have won. 2 or 3 times they may have made it to the Super Bowl. If you asked even the most ardent Josh Allen hater how many Lombardis he'd have on his resume if he'd been to 3 Super Bowls, I bet even the harshest critics would say "at least one".

The issue to me isn't just losing playoff games. It's the WAY the Bills keep losing playoff games. It's the fact that it's groundhog's day every single year. Stop me if you've heard this one before: Josh Allen has an All-World year, but the Bills choke away a couple winnable in-season games and narrowly miss out on the 1-seed. They travel to Kansas City, Josh and the offense play well, but the defense is a MASH unit and can't stop a nosebleed. A key starter (or two or three) are out and their replacements are picked on by Mahomes over and over again. In the last minutes of a very winnable shootout, the Bills commit some sort of brain fart or coaching blunder or fail to make the needed play, and ultimately wind up losing by one score. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's not just the fact that they keep losing in the playoffs. It's the WAY they keep doing so. It's the very repetitive nature of these losses that is so vexing. I'll admit that McDermott has grown in lots of ways as a coach. But when it gets to the biggest moment of the year, it's deja vu all over again.

I'm curious: How many Bills playoff losses do most Bills fans think the Bills "should have" won? For me, I think it's two. The 13 seconds game and the 2024 AFCCG. Every other playoff exit was justified, in my opinion. Meaning I feel the Bills simply weren't as good as the other team and/or didn't "deserve" to win. But that's at least one, and potentially two Super Bowl appearances right there. Fumbling away one or two Super Bowl opportunities is a serious issue. Is two the consensus for number of playoff losses the Bills should've won?

Nick Wright's comments really hit me this morning. He showed a list of the 30 QBs in NFL history with 6+ playoff wins. 29 of them have appeared in a Super Bowl. 1 has not, and it's Josh Allen. He also showed the list of head coaches with 6+ playoff wins to never make a Super Bowl. It's just McDermott and Chuck Knox. That's it. I have to be honest...it gave me pause. It made me think. I'm not sure how many more "lose to the Chiefs by 3 points in a divisional round or AFCCG" game I can take. At some point, as hard as it is to contemplate, a head coach change would have to be considered. The problem, as I see it, is I'm not so sure I have faith in Pegula and co to pick an upgrade at head coach, let alone one that gets along as synergetically with Brandon Beane. I'm firmly somewhere in between "one or two more years of playoff exits in KC should mean the axe for McD" and "Be careful what you wish for, look at the Sabres". Ugh.

I understand what you're saying and respect your opinion, but... Curtis Samuel had 253 yards and 1 TD in the regular season last year. Yes, you can argue that that was because of health, but the best ability is availability. He had games of 9 yards and 4 yards receiving in the playoffs (and yes, a good game against Denver). He has posted more than 600 yards receiving ONCE, and it was in 2020. I think his name and the IDEA of what he "could" do is more enticing to people than what his actual production -- both as a Bill and in the years preceding it -- have shown. I agree that game production should mean more than camp production, but currently, Shavers is showing major camp production while Samuel is once again on the sidelines with an injury. What if Shavers shows out in the preseason and Samuel is sidelined? Ultimately, it's likely a moot point, because Samuel's dead cap number this year would be large if cut, and his contract is structured for 2026 to be the more likely "out". He'll most likely be making the roster.

Honestly, at this point, I'd rather roster Shavers than Samuel. Samuel just cannot seem to stay healthy. That said, I haven't heard a peep about Elijah Moore since his injury, and I can't help but wonder if he's not the roster lock people seem to think he is. Coleman Palmer Shakir Shavers Samuel Moore Would seem to be the six, if they keep six. In any case, McDermott's comment about Shavers sure doesn't make it seem like he's a player they're about to cut. You can only sneak a guy like him onto the practice squad so many times before he gets scooped off waivers.