blacklabel

They call him ol' Greg Van Rotarooter.

That guy’s a real weenie.

A buddy of mine married a girl from Johnson City. That whole area of NY out near Albany feels like it stopped in 1978 or something. Everything felt so outdated when I went out there for their engagement party.

Beane has to feel pretty good that Von approached them. Not only does he get to add a future HoF guy but he adds such a huge presence in that DE room. Beane and McDermott are big on that stuff. They'll bring in a mostly average on the field vet to be the experienced guy in whichever position group he's in. That's why they brought in guys like Chris Ivory, Frank Gore, AJ Klein, Josh Norman, etc. Not gonna light it up on the field but serviceable when their number is called and their influence in the meeting rooms and on the practice field becomes just as important.

I remember thinking when Tyrod took over something like, “Sheesh, if they combined Fitz’s intelligence and tenacity with Tyrod’s athletic ability and arm talent they’d have a franchise guy.” Tyrod had the arm but he was so hesitant to consistently push it down the field. He’d hit a beautiful deep shot every other game or so but just never did it consistently enough. On the other hand, Fitz had the gunslinger mentality with more of an average arm. He always wanted to sling it but he didn’t always have the arm talent to zip it into tight windows. Right now I can picture a number of deep balls he threw that fell way short and got picked. I could never blame the guy for trying, not after watching Trent Edwards for those couple years. If you’re going down, go down swinging. And now here they are with Josh who is everything Fitz tried to be and what Tyrod might’ve been and more.

While he's definitely gotten a lot better at knowing when to check down, you can see he's always hanging in there until the last possible second for someone to come open down field. This also kinda reminded me about how there were some gripes about the Bills ranking near the bottom of the pile in yards after catch. I guess I don't see it as that big of a deal when your offense is built on longer routes and your QB launches rockets and makes YAC kind of negligible since he's hitting his guys in the numbers from 30 yards out. Air yards!

Barry was my guy growing up. He definitely would've had the rushing record had he kept playing but he was just sick of losing with the Lions. He also felt like the front office never did enough to build a talented roster and after nine years of that he said aiet I'm out. I wonder what the number would be on his overall rush yards if the negative plays were taken away. As awesome as he was, he's also the all time leader in negative rushing yards.

The only way he'd ever end up doing that is if he really, really wanted to. And even then he'd probably only do some guest appearances/matches as opposed to becoming a full time guy. He'd be making way less money with a much higher margin for injury and a shitload of even more wear and tear on the body. The biggest names in wrestling combined probably don't even make what he does in a year playing ball. I won't be surprised if in the near future here the trend will be retiring early. Some of these dudes, once they get that bag and fulfill that contract and then bounce or get the bag and then a title and bounce. I just think this new generation coming up won't have as many guys who play for ten or more seasons. I mean, who could blame anyone if they can step away from football not only with their health but also a pile of money and a championship ring all at the ripe old age of 30 or 31? That's probably the dream for some of these guys. Get in, get paid, get a ring, get out.

Anything is possible, but unlike his first two seasons I think this season they're gonna feature Gabe quite a bit and he won't be one of the first to go out when they wanna get some plays for say, Crowder, McKenzie, Howard, and Cook, as you suggested. Someone else will be rotating out as I expect his snap count to increase quite a bit. I've also read several times that with Dorsey's offense we might see even more pass attempts from Josh. I think they'll be doing that whole "extension of the run game" thing with screens, swings, wheel routes and throws to the flats in addition to a traditional zone running scheme as McDermott emphasizes the importance of a solid run game. I hope everyone on the team has 97 catches for 1900 yards and 16 TDs this season.

I expect his regular season stats will probably double. His first two seasons are almost identical. 2020: 35 rec. 599 yds 7 TDs 2021: 35 rec. 549 yds 6TDs As the #2 this year he should probably be up around 70 catches for 1100 yards and 12 TDs.

I feel like one guy we don't see mentioned enough on these top WR lists is Mike Evans. He averages 75 receptions for 1100 yards and 9 TDs a season. He's also racked up 1000 receiving yards in each of his first eight seasons and I think he's the only player that's ever done that. He's been steady and consistent despite inconsistent QB play.

Tyreek lie like a fly wit a booger in his eye. Noodlearm Tuna can chuck it 90 yards upside down underwater, I don't care. Josh Allen is gonna slap Tua's books out of his hands, take his lunch money, yank his tighty whiteys right up over his dumb head and shove him in a locker.

Schmeh. I dunno, I guess it's kind of weird to me that fans spend time going over this stuff. I won't say they obsess over it because that'll just bring a defensive "it's not obsessed!" or whatever. Seems like guys come back from tough injuries better than ever these days. I'm certain they've drawn up a rehab plan that makes use of the most advanced and modern techniques used today. Might he struggle some right off his return? Sure. But we got some folks on here talking about moving him to free safety lol. The kid is an elite athlete getting the absolute best treatment in sports medicine, and on top of that he's a highly determined and confident person. He's gonna be driven to get back to the level he feels he can perform at. I think he'll be alright.

Really is pretty peculiar this dude fell to the 5th with how much praise he gets. His profile reads that he's super versatile and good at just about everything but not quite elite at anything. With all the hype he's gotten since the pick you would've thought he was a second round pick, or a late third rounder at worst. And then the only other knock I really saw about him was some scouts didn't think he always played up to his testing numbers. But there was really nothing in his skill set that'd drive teams away. IMO a lot of less talented receivers were picked before him. Maybe some teams feel like he's already reached his ceiling and there isn't a lot of upside to work with? I dunno. I feel like he's gonna be a pretty good player. I don't expect him to light it up in his first two seasons as the Bills will work him in slowly like they've done with Gabe. But man, how rad for Beane to find two stud WRs in the middle rounds.

Good stuff as always, Shaw. McDermott has probably read Jackson's book. He's known to be a guy that studies not just coaching strategies but overall leadership and team building philosophies from all sorts of different industries. I definitely agree that he believes a team plays better when they're closer as people on and off the field. When asked how they got to four straight those 90s Bills guys still say it today, they played for each other and they truly felt like a family. McDermott has been trying to build that since day one. McDermott and Beane also have the same boxes to check when it comes to what type of players they want on the team. Team first guys who wanna win and excel at what they do. The Bills have some stars but overall they always put forward a huge team effort and you never know who might have a standout game. AJ Klein had his flaws but he put a smackdown on the Seahawks in 2020. Gabe Davis had only 35 catches all season and then went apeschnitt in the playoffs. It feels like they've filled out the team so that the big plays can come from anywhere. I read about this awhile back but I'd assume McDermott follows these philosophies as well. What I read was about coaches being confused when they'd bring in these guys who had awesome film but then suddenly it wasn't being applied at the next level. All the talent was right there, they just couldn't figure out how to unlock it. That's when one of the coaches on the team realized the whole "my way or the highway" stuff couldn't apply to every facet of coaching, especially when it came to teaching the X's and O's. They figured out that each player learns differently. Some can study and apply, others need to be hands on, some you toss right in the deep end and they figure it out, it all just depends on what type of learning the players understand the best. I think McDermott takes the time to figure out how to best reach his team. Overall it's been great to watch these last five seasons. Hasn't all been perfect but it never is and what's important is they've built the team to keep coming back and not just have a flash in the pan type season every two or three years. Consistency and competency, it eluded the franchise for nearly two decades but we've got it now. It's weird to see teams following the Bills model when for years it was the Bills model that told teams "so this is what ya don't do." Go Bills.

Seventeen years. Seventeen lowly, lame, crappy, miserable years. In those 17 years: -Seven different head coaches -Five different general managers -Fifteen different starting quarterbacks -Two winning seasons (barely, 9-7 in 2004 and 2014) -Zero playoff appearances The McBeane Era -Five total seasons -One head coach -One GM -Four different starting quarterbacks, but only one starting QB from Week 12 of 2018, and he's the franchise guy the other seven coaches and five GMs could never find. -Four winning seasons -Four playoff appearances -Three playoff victories -Have built one of, if not the best overall roster in the league. To answer the poll: no, there's no situation where I'd find any reason to move on from McBeane after this season. The Pegulas giving each guy a five (or was it six?) year contract extension tells me they feel the same. Go Bills.

Dawkins was still shaking off the ‘Rona virus at the time too. I remember a few “sHoULd wE Be cOncErNeD wiTh daWkiNS?!” posts early on. He got better as the season went on.

Haha, this could get spicy. That’d be funny. I’ve always taken PFF not that seriously. They come up with all the metrics, they created their own grading system and they can sit there and fiddle with the numbers until they spit out whatever they want. They just create these metrics with such small areas where it’s like, oh when Player A has Cheerios at 8 AM on gameday he picks up .09264 extra yards per carry. But on game days where he ate Frosty Flakes his extra YPC was a paltry .71263 therefore we must conclude that the science says this kid is a bust. The whole thing has always just seemed like a buncha arbitrary BS they could skew however they want. There might be some usefulness to it in some areas as teams have picked up on it but yeah overall I’d be wary of it if I was a GM or something. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if what has some truth to it. How long before PFF starts saying their analytics are for entertainment only or some crap lol.

He left to go buy a new lunch pail and hasn’t been back since.

I really wonder how Tua would do as a righty and not the lefty his whackadoodle father forced him to be.

How the heck do I keep forgetting that this team has Von Miller?! Awesome.

My favorites are the 75 yarder to Foster in 2018. I still don’t know how he was able to throw that with half the DL hanging off of him. And I can’t believe Robert Foster didn’t amount to anything after that standout rookie year. I mean, not even a WR4 or 5 anywhere. Weird. The other throw I love is the absolute laser to Kumerow against the Broncos in 2020. Jake clamped down on that thing and the ball still moved and nearly went through his hands. That thing was like 30 yards on a frozen rope. I’ve said it before, after 17 years of the drought and all that it’s so weird to be on the other side now.

I kinda always felt bad for Marcell. Growing up he literally lost everyone that was close to him and anyone that could be considered family. Even his high school coach who took him in passed away. He had the talent he just never had any real guidance. I know he had plenty of chances and always seemed to shoot himself in the foot. I know Kyle Williams worked a lot with him but even Kyle eventually said there’s only so much he could do. I genuinely hope Marcell is in a good place and that he can revive his career.

Rich is good people. He was the guy they trusted to carry the NFL Network when it debuted and he’s always nailed whatever he’s done. I dig his show and I like how he brings in guests from all walks of life. He’s been pretty optimistic ever since they hired McDermott and Beane, and he’s been pretty high on Allen from the jump. I think it was after the Broncos game in 2020, he talked at length about how impressive Josh had been that season and how as Bills fans we can finally sit back and say, “finally, we’ve got our guy.” I think Cook gets the “sneaky” tag because until his final year at Georgia he kinda flew under the radar there and didn’t have a real big role in the offense. But, he must’ve done something right because the dude he played behind, Zamir White, who was seen as the bell cow didn’t go until the fourth (pick 122 overall by Raiders). I’m eager to see how things shake out with the running backs. Based on Beane’s recent comments they’re still in on Zack Moss. Beane mentioned that Moss had ankle surgery before the ‘21 season and couldn’t cut off his left side as effectively as usual. I thought Moss was gonna be the guy based on his play early in the season. He had like four TDs and was starting, had that gnarly goal line TD against Miami where he absorbed a monster hit and then ran over the defender for the score. But then he fizzled, and as the season went on it was clear that Singletary was more effective. I wonder if they keep the three of them and have Singletary and Moss handle a bulk of the carries while having plays drawn up for Cook where they can get him in space.

I recall looking at reports on Shakir a week or two before the draft. There are a ton of things to like about him. As I’m reading the list of his positive traits I’m like, how the hell is this dude not rated higher? The only real knocks on him seem to be he’s got short arms, he has a focus drop now and then, and he doesn’t always seem to play up the speed he tested at. He seems to make up for the short arms by having insane body control and solid hands. The play speed thing can be corrected with coaching. Oh and it said he has some flaws at the top of his routes. I imagine maybe less than stellar competition and not so great QB play may have been some other factors that played into him ranking lower than other guys. I know that was the case with Diggs, that and he dealt with some injuries in college. Lot of draft nerds seem to love Shakir, though, he’s an exciting pick. In a draft that didn’t have any real elite prospects it seems like Beane and his crew did a heck of a job filtering through everything and finding their kind of players, guys they can work with and coach up and help them elevate their game.