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I learned years ago never to discount the Pats as long as #12 and the Hoodie are still there. There have been seasons where we've looked at their talent on both sides of the ball and said, "Yep, this is the year they finally fizzle out," but they always find a way. Even if Brady and Belechick aren't on the best terms, they still have the same goal and the same insane competitive fire to win, so that's probably what they're gonna do. And to the argument that Brady wouldn't be Brady on any other team... eh, he's a phenomenal player but one reason I've felt he's had such sustained success is how the Pats play offense. They don't subscribe to one certain style, they adjust it weekly depending on who they're facing. Put Brady on a team that sticks to a specific offensive style as opposed to adjusting it week by week, then maybe he doesn't have the career he's had. But he's great, always been great, probably won't see anyone come close to his level in this lifetime.

Most guys keep up with the exercise and eating plan they get from the team trainers, but yes, I'll concede that some players get injured because of their lack of preparation. But, generally, since they changed the number of padded practices that can happen during OTAs, minicamps and training camps, coaches have lamented that because they feel the amount of padded practices isn't adequate to prepare their players for live action.

1. They will win some games. 2. They will lose some games. 3. This board will absolutely implode with "I told you all!/They screwed up again!/Not a franchise guy!/This organization is doomed!/Fire McBeane!/They failed again at picking a QB!" the millisecond Josh Allen has a negative play. I can see it now... Play by Play guy: "And now here's Josh Allen entering the game... and... he sneezed!" Some people on this board: "RRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Can't wait!! But if I'm taking the topic seriously, I'll say... AJ McCarron wins the job out of the gate but Allen will end up the starter sometime before the bye. Second, Tremaine Edmunds wins Defensive Rookie of the Year, heck with it, I'mma shoot for the stars on that one. With McDermott's coaching and Edmunds' incredible athleticism and ever-expanding skill-set, why not, right? If it ain't him, it'll probably be Chubb... actually, unless Chubb gets injured, it's him for DROY. I know I just contradicted myself but I just now remembered that teams have to deal with Von Miller when facing Denver which should open up all kinds of opportunities for Chubb... and dang, how stacked are the edges in the AFC West? Broncos have Miller/Chubb, Chargers have Bosa/Ingram, Raiders have Mack and they drafted Arden Key who can be really good if they can reach him the right way, then the Chiefs have Houston/Ford. Pretty solid. I'm way off track, maybe that's a topic on it's own. Last prediction for the Bills 208 season, ummm.... the defense will finish top 10 in most categories.

This definitely has the possibility of being a media sh*tstorm but that's TO.... I'm in the crowd that agrees he should've been first ballot, the stats are there and when it comes to HoF voting, they emphasize personal achievements above all else. They consider playoffs/championships, but at the end of the day, it's about the singular player. A while back, Peter King wrote on why TO wasn't being voted in... and then proceeded to completely contradict himself by saying Darren Sharper had a HoF career and should be considered for the Hall, and this was at the height of Sharper's hideous legal issues. King's point was that the voting is based on on the field efforts, not how the player was in the locker room or how the player interacted with the media. "On the field efforts" was his defense for saying Sharper was Hall-worthy. But then, those same voters turn around and keep TO out for several years with their justification being his off the field BS... so which is it? They can't have it both ways, and in TO's case, that's what they tried to do, sit there and say, "The stats are there, BUT... remember when he did that one thing?" So if this is TO trying to stick it to them, then by all means, go for it.

It's kind of a double-edged sword, right? Dudes go down with ACL injuries on non-contact plays or without pads all the time, yet they limit padded practices which opens up the margin for injuries caused by tackling, either because guys didn't get enough practice time in pads or the time they did get in pads didn't completely prepare them for real game action. The next CBA renewal is gonna be a disaster.

I'm fairly certain they were fined for this a few seasons back. Same reasons too, running padded practices when it was just supposed to be OTA stuff.

Haha, deja vu from the last 17 seasons, really. It's funny that these media types always think the Bills will end up with 2, 3 or 4 wins when they haven't had that crappy of a season in 8 years now. They've been stuck in mediocrity for ages and you'd think last season would work as a catalyst to them stringing along some winning seasons and I certainly hope that happens but the offense is definitely a big question mark right now. I probably have more confidence in the defense than a lot of people but I think they'll be fine.

LOL, you realize these guys are being asked these things, right? It's not like they're running around going, "Hey everyone listen to how good of a season I plan on having!" See? ^^This person gets it.

I didn't interpret your initial comment as snarky at all. And I can see how you linked it to the Brandon thing with how recent that is and also Whaley, who we know took a little heat for passing around inappropriate emails when he was with the Steelers. There are reports out there of male ESPN employees openly watching porn and other inappropriate videos while at work with like, zero awareness or respect for others in the workplace. Some guys were also reprimanded for keeping a "hot list" consisting of female coworkers. I can buy that, too, considering all the sweeping changes and exits made at ESPN over the last year, year and a half. Hell, Chris Berman recently found himself in hot water for sending a threatening email to Jemele Hill. So, knowing that, it makes the crap I saw about Tim a while back plausible because it seems like when he was there, ESPN had a much different atmosphere. And the social media interactions these guys do, ugh, but some of them are genuinely good guys to talk to. Joe B, Matt Fairburn, Sal C, those guys are generally pretty responsive over social media. For a time, I was considering starting a football blog of my own so I reached out to a number of local sportswriters in Buffalo. Joe B actually offered to meet with me and after a few schedule changes, we sat down and talked football/media/writing for about an hour. I received detailed responses to my questions from Fairburn (extremely nice and exceptionally hardworking cat), Sal C (also incredibly nice and hardworking, really does his homework to make sure what he shares is based in fact), heck, even got a response from Sal M, who reminds me a bit of a grumpy uncle, but honestly, he came off very nice and shared solid advice. People give him crap a lot, but IMO, the guy is nearly 30+ years into his career, I think he's just feeling burnout and at times his writing will reflect that. But some other media personalities choose to act entitled and arrogant and come off as if they're the only link between the fans and the team, which is definitely not the case anymore.

You're right, he started ESPN in '08, left in '11. It's possible they chose not to renew his contract. Either way, all this parading around trying to be some kinda "voice for justice" or whatever is crap. Nobody's perfect, everyone has red flags in some regard. It'd be nice if people just worried about themselves and what they can do to be better person or what they can do to provide more value to society. Pointing out every little thing they find offensive or trying to defend people/cultures that aren't asking you to defend them isn't really helping things in this current social climate. And this is just a general statement, has nothing to do with what Timmy thinks of Vic getting a photo with butthole Biscuit.

Defense doesn't take as long to gel as an offense. How many starters are returning? Hughes, Williams, Lawson, Alexander, Milano, White, Poyer, Hyde... that's eight. Newcomers are Lotulelei, Murphy, Davis and Edmunds. Murphy and Hughes have both been in the top ten in terms of QB pressures the last few seasons. Last season, Bills lacked a presence in the middle that could eat up space/occupy multiple blockers to free up DEs and LBs. Lotulelei is exactly that, a space-eater that has no issue doing the dirty work in the trenches to free up teammates. Edmunds is in a good place having Alexander to work with him. Davis is a veteran who shouldn't have much trouble picking things up and winning the other starting CB slot. Hyde and Poyer should only get better after having a full year of playing together. Sure, LB can be seen as a question mark, as well as nickel CB but overall, I think they'll be alright. I especially think they'll be better up front with a better crop of players to rotate on the DL.

To PromoTheRobot: I do not have a link. I googled around and came up empty. This happened a couple years ago on Twitter. Tim was doing a little Q&A, someone that knows him or knows of the situation was tweeting at him about how he lost his job at ESPN and evidently, it was because of inappropriate comments made around female staff and/or engaging in spreading offensive emails meant as jokes. I think he was technically asked to resign. Either way, Tim kinda scrambled to cover up whatever this dude was saying. I don't recall him ever really denying it and I think it was kept on the low. Tim left ESPN in 2008, I believe, and back then things were still kept quiet when it came to stuff like this. I can't say I have any proof, and I couldn't find any links about it. But you can check my post history if you want. I'm not one to make sh*t up or start rumors. I watched the whole thing unfold on Twitter and the way Tim reacted to it definitely indicated to me that there was some level of truth to what this dude was saying. Tim claimed he had to block him or report him to Twitter to "protect his family" or something but like I said, his reaction to it said he was blindsided by it and that the guy posting about it probably did have some legitimate knowledge of Tim's exit from ESPN. I respect Tim as a writer. I think he puts together some very good pieces. Where I waver on my respect for him is how he engages people on social media. He doesn't pop up on my feed as often anymore because I don't read or interact much with what he tweets but he always seemed to be engaging with trolls and people he surely felt superior to and typically ignored anyone with a decent question or counterargument to one of his articles. Seems like a fair number of sports journalists do this, though. I dunno if it's a ego thing or whatever but it gets old after a while.

Pretty sure Tim lost his job at ESPN for passing around offensive emails and making inappropriate jokes/comments around female coworkers so....

I read about this last week. I wonder if there's still some animosity from certain players stemming from Belichick's decision to sit Malcolm Butler for the Super Bowl. In past years, Brady has always went to every voluntary OTA and always preached about how important it is for him and other players to be there. Then this year he, as well as Gronk, were nowhere near the OTAs this season. And we know Belechick stepped on Brady's toes by telling his personal trainer to take a hike. Are some dents starting to appear in the Iron Hoodie? Haha.

Aren't all draft picks a bet? No matter how good they were in college, there's never a guarantee that they're going to translate that to the NFL (see: Richardson, Trent). I mean, maybe they're gambling a bit more because Allen and Edmunds are both "raw" or whatever but this front office isn't drafting players who aren't ready to come in and work. Half the time when a prospect fizzles out, it's because his work ethic is poop. Allen, Edmunds and the whole 2018 group are workers, which has become a staple of a McBeane prospect/player.

I think he has a legitimate chance to get in someday. As long as he stays healthy and can knock out another couple of seasons like his last two, he'll be within the top 10 in a lot of rushing categories. And I don't think playoffs and championships should weigh too heavily on it. Plenty of guys have made the Hall of Fame without a championship or playoff wins.

I wouldn't say they've ignored it. They've drafted and signed OL regularly over the last decade. Drafted solid players like Wood, Glenn, and Dawkins, signed Incognito, those three helped the team lead the league in rushing in '15/'16. They've added other pieces along the way and have tried to sign other high tier FAs like Rick Wagner last year and Bryan Bulaga a couple years before that. I think a lot of fans are nervous that the OL is gonna have a rough year because of all the losses but that's business in the NFL. Might take some time but I think they'll be alright.

I think if the dude could win game surrounded by one-star recruits, he can probably win games surrounded by NFL talent. Granted, the OL and WRs aren't elite NFL talents but they're certainly better than the teams he played on in Wyoming. Sal C said yesterday that the kid was inconsistent during practice. He made a point to say he wasn't "wildly" inconsistent (that phrase seemed to apply to EJ a lot) but said he would be 100% on the money with some throws and off on others that he should probably make. What I like about Allen is the fact that there isn't a throw he fears. There's no throw that makes him pause and think, "I don't think I can make that." No matter where the ball is going, he has the mindset of "I can hit that" and that's what you want in your QB. On the flip side, you take someone like EJ who seemed to think, "I could probably hit that route but maybe I can't so I better take off and run." Can't remember who wrote it but a scouting report on EJ back in 2013 said it pretty well about how EJ perceives the game. The person EJ trusts the most on the field is himself. For whatever reason, he's too hesitant or not confident enough to make tough throws and give his receivers a chance to make a play. Obviously, it didn't help to have Marrone and Hackett telling him to run any time his first or second read wasn't open. But even before that, you watch Florida State tape with him and he would leave clean pockets or drop his eyes and start tap dancing in the pocket which threw off his timing as he wouldn't see receivers break open or he wouldn't see windows he could throw to that would throw the receivers open. From what I can gather, Allen doesn't have that mentality. Allen is going to trust his teammates to be where they're supposed to be. He's going to take that shot into a tight window to try and throw a guy open. And when it comes to improvising, he clearly has the arm talent to make big time throws on the run or off base. There are some ridiculous throws on his college tape. Throws where he's running toward the right sideline and throws across his body 40 yards down the field to the opposite side. There aren't many guys that have the ability to do that. Could be wishful thinking or whatever, too optimistic, etc. who knows. But I think the dude has the right mindset to be successful. And I think he has a better feel for the game than other "raw/developmental" prospects. I think it'll take some time but with Daboll preparing to do the New England thing and adjust his offense from week to week, that does nothing but provide a wide range of experience in different types of systems which, you would hope, can only help a player like Allen reach his full potential. In time, hopefully he'll be able to adjust on the fly and have full command of the offense with a solid understanding of what the defense is giving him. In time, I said. Or he could be the next Jeff George, who knows.

I think this season may play out a little bit like last season in that they'll probably win some games everyone thinks they should lose and then they'll turn around and lose a couple to teams they should be beating. Truthfully, I think the defense has a great chance to take a big step forward this season. Last season, everyone assumed the secondary would be the weak link but it ended up being the DL. They went out and addressed that by bringing in Lotulelei and Murphy, and then drafting Phillips. Then they land Edmunds, who has a chance to be a truly special player, and he has an excellent mentor to learn from in Lorax. Combine that with the secondary and I think they could be a solid group. Offensively, I expect some growing pains. Especially if Allen starts playing early on. Aside from that, the OL is gonna take some time to come together. Overall, the team is still going to try to win with the run game and a strong defense. I think the defense will keep them in a fair number of games. It'll be up to the offense and whoever is at QB to pull out a few close wins down the line if they wanna get back to the playoffs again.

You're a wizard, Harry!

Yeah, I read up on the guy a little bit. Certainly an intriguing prospect at the least. Practice squad definitely seems possible. He has that athletic versatility that McBeane loves, so, that's already one foot in the door haha. I was going to say Foster as well, but if I recall correctly, de Beer was the first UDFA they signed and from what I read, they went after him pretty early, so, they must see something there they can develop.

Maybe that de Beer kid... just because it seems fitting to have a dude with the last name "Beer" on the Bills.

I can agree with most of what you're saying. It's not uncommon for a lot of first-time head coaches to struggle with game/clock management. As a coordinator, that wasn't part of his job. I'm sure he's picked up plenty of knowledge from the head coaches he's worked under but applying that knowledge in real time is a challenge he'll continue to work at, I'm sure.

What I never really cared for was the influence these guys (Bucky, Sully) had on their fellow writers and journalists. Jonah Javad is one example. He was generally pretty positive and upbeat but then he was assigned to work the Sports Talk Sunday show with a rotating cast of TBN guys. Gradually, Javad started sounding like a carbon copy of those dudes. Jay Skurski is another dude whose writing I've seen start to reflect that of his counterparts, and usually not in a positive way. And I don't care if they wanna hammer on about negative aspects, that's part of the gig. It was the enthusiasm with which these guys discussed negative points. I remember watching a bit of the show last season before the KC game. Bucky very blandly provided his reasons why the Bills could win. And then he provided the reasons why they could lose and holy crap, he was like a kid on Christmas. "If Kansas City gets that run game going, WATCH OUT! It'll be over before it starts. If they can't stop the run, this team is dead in the water and KC will destroy them!!" It was like they just couldn't wait for the Bills to get their asses handed to them so they could flip open their laptops and start writing a self-congratulatory "I told you so" type of article. **** like that just gets old real fast. Same can be said for Sully. It was as if these guys had an extreme reluctance to provide any sort of praise to these teams. And Sully goes to the Super Bowl that one year and makes a complete idiot of himself with what I'm sure he felt were "hard hitting" questions but instead it was picked up nationally and people were like, "This dude is a buffoon." It was also kind of hilarious to see a number of them get their tighty whities in a bunch when McBeane put forth a concerted effort to shut down the leaks. Obviously, inside sources are a major part of being a journalist but it seemed the Pegulas and co. really were just done with the leaks and that really seemed to upset those guys. It felt like a degree of entitlement on their end. Like, "Hey, you owe it to us to provide inside info and news! We're the connection between the team and the fans for information!" That was another thing that irritated me, when these guys would be telling people on social media that "without me you get no insight on your favorite teams!" It's sweet that they find themselves to be that important but with so many media outlets and ways to stay connected, their role as a connection to inside info became minimal. They combined that self-importance with a lot of arrogance, constantly engaging with trolls or people with the most moronic takes ever and avoiding anyone with a decent question or counter-argument.

Right you are on Miller. They had him ranked near the bottom for his rookie year but lauded his performance in 2016. They are reliable to a degree. They certainly are not the be-all end-all on statistics and analysis. They've gained popularity for the different types of analysis and measuring they've created but I've always taken their stuff with a grain of salt. They can watch all the film they want and identify what they may label a negative play but they have no idea what assignments each player has on any given play. I don't recall exactly which season it was, but it wasn't too long ago. Aaron Rodgers caught fire in the second half of a game to lead GB to a comeback win. It was agreed by many that Rodgers was the primary reason the Packers won that game. The next day, PFF slapped a negative grade on Rodgers' performance and tried to justify it with a lengthy blog post. To me, it really just came off as them trying to be different for the sake of being different, which really is what a lot of sites/bloggers/analysts/writers do in order to generate interest and clicks. "What's the census opinion here? OK, lemme express the polar opposite of that opinion and call myself an expert." Granted, it's fine to have opposing viewpoints but come up with a better reason for having those viewpoints other than being the guy with the "controversial" take. Also, this thread title is misleading... my bones are not chilled at all.