transplantbillsfan

Objectively... do you think it's fair to say you're underplaying your public view of Allen not just in 2018 but also in 2019?

Can you acknowledge that you're pretty clearly not objective, either? Now... correct me if I'm wrong... but weren't you one of the more vocal "Allen doubters" on this message board? Sorry, I may be confusing you with someone else or conflating your ridiculously-negative-clinging-to-a-past-long-gone-username with your recent opinions of Allen, but I generally get the sense you're one of those vocal ones here still with one foot in the boat. NO ONE IS SAYING DESHAUN WATSON ISN'T GREAT!!!

That was the first Syracuse game I watched all season. Fun watching them come from behind like that, but it was also against mediocre competition. What does everyone think our odds are of making the tournament?

I love the show, but I am 2 1/2 decades removed from my comic reading/collecting days so I am missing probably 99% of the Easter Eggs. The actors are great, but I'm a little wigged out by the fact that she's an Olsen sister. I think I'm most looking forward to the Loki show. Falcon and Winter Soldier looks like it'll be a more traditional, action packed Marvel "movie," although I will say I am a little disappointed in the character they initially appear to favor in that show because the other is probably one of my favorite Marvel characters and I think he was cast well. Notice I'm trying not to give any spoilers.

Lucky you!

I might be a homer, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. What you should probably do is ignore me if these are the best arguments you bring to discussion involving me. By the way, did I say Watson had a bad year? In fact, didn't I say he was really good this year? All I said was that his year is being blown out of proportion and provided evidence as to why. And also that in this "Allen vs Watson" discussion--ya know, the original purpose of this discussion--Allen is better than Watson and you do NOT make that player for player trade.

Way to completely twist what I said.

Murray????? Seriously???? I strongly disagree.

Yes, he played great amidst the worst of circumstances, but if you are objectively framing his season, there's NO REASON to push 2020 as Watson's best season or anything close to it. It's not just the 7 TDs he scored in blowout losses/garbage time. It's also the 9 TDs he scored in 3 of his 4 wins against the 2 worst defenses in the league of Detroit and Jacksonville. That's 16 of his 36 TDs. Good year for Watson. Bravo for doing what he could with that team... but can we please stop presenting it as some kind of magical year that's a notch on his belt towards the HOF? Read what I wrote. That's not what I said even though it's clearly what you're hoping I said.

Watson helped keep his team in a lot of those games, absolutely. But it's also true that a good chunk of his production came in garbage time or blowout losses like against Chicago or Green Bay. 7 of his 36 TDs were in garbage time/blowout losses. If you're really being objective here then I think it's fine to acknowledge that Watson is an Elite QB, but 2020 was NOT his best year in the NFL as everyone seems to be arguing. And much of that was absolutely no fault of his own.

I like your list and agree completely with the top 5. I'd put Watson at 6 just behind Wilson, though. And yeah, I think Wilson is better than Watson. And I think everyone behind them falls off a cliff, including Jackson who I just don't think will ever "get over the hump" and become what he needs to become. I love looking at that list right now, actually. It shows me that there are a LOT of teams in the NFL right now with potential QB issues and we are no longer one of them.

I think you're trying to be much too objective here and it's slanting reality. Yeah, you're right that Watson is a great QB. I 100% agree. However, there has been so much raving publicly about the season he just had without acknowledging the very real and warranted caveat that so much of his statistically great season was garbage time. It's been something talked about with every single Bills QB since Kelly when a QB plays well towards the ends of games when they're out of reach... it's completely fair to bring it up with Watson. who threw 23 TDs when trailing in games this season and more TDs in the 4th quarter (13) than any other quarter. Watson's great, but I think it's misguided to look at the season he just had as some kind of validation of his greatness.

This. I live in Hawai'i and i can count on one hand the amount of locals who were born and bred here in Hawai'i who are longtime Bills fans. Over the last few months as I've been going out in public with my Bills shirts and/or Bills mask on I've had numerous random strangers strike up conversations about how good our quarterback--and thus our team--is now. More than once I've gotten people who have just said "I love your Quarterback." Let's just pray Allen doesn't get any serious injuries, because he's here to stay if he can stay healthy.

Television itself is dying and live sports is one of the primary things keeping network stations alive along with the "sister news stations" the networks have. Yeah there was a dip in ratings last year, yet the NFL was still by far the dominant motivation for people to get in front of their TVs. The NFL was smart a few years ago when they started putting games on Amazon Prime, too. They'll have to keep moving in this hybrid direction.

Cosmic Bandidos is such an awesome book and a wild ride! Enjoy!

Haven't read that, yet. A Tale of Two Cities is one of my all time favorites. Mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I very much prefer hard copy books. In fact, I have NEVER read an E book. Seems harder on the eyes. As a teacher, when I'm done with the books I just bring them to my classroom library for students to read.

Don't worry I completely agree! I spent college with Shakespeare and postmodernism... which I loved... along with plenty I trudged through like Jane Austen. And then I continued my education into my profession with Moby Dick (I very strongly dislike that book for a LOT of unnecessary whaling stuff tangential to the plot) and Ayn Rand (strong feelings of her works.... but they aren't boring) and so, frankly... I am at the point where I want "easy" and "mindless," since my day job involves the opposite. That said, give me a challenge that really piques my interests and I'm stoked. That's why I loved Surfing With Sartre so much.

Oh I completely forgot to mention him, but I like Dan Brown books a lot, too. Again, it's total "fluff" reading, but thought-provoking nonetheless and the writing is action-packed enough to keep you consistently turning the pages. All the Robert Langdon books are good, but Davinci Code, Origin, and Inferno are the best among them... probably in that order. His 2 books outside of the Robert Langdon series (Deception Point and Digital Fortress) are also good. He writes good mystery books and the Langdon books (a few of which are now Tom Hanks movies) focus on a Professor of "Symbology," so you can kinda guess where they go. I would call them fun Summer reads.

Ya know... I'm "only" 39 and considered a Millennial... but I really get annoyed by the shorthanded-emoji-filled social media speak that's become ubiquitous these days.

Is September here, yet?

I'll have to read it. I loved The Longest Day. Have you read that? Any similarities in style?

Okay I will go out on a limb to make 2 book suggestions for you: Cosmic Bandidos & In Search of Captain Zero by Alan Weisbecker. Cosmic Bandidos especially is a trip and a half. Just started looking at Quammen's books... looks super interesting! Do you have a suggestion on which book to start with?

The Stand was my favorite experience reading a book so far, honestly. I started reading it on a 10 hour plane ride from Hawaii to NY and couldn't put it down. And as I read I kept laughing in my head because this was the book I chose to read couped up on a plane with a few hundred people. I will say that my 2 or 3 favorite characters were the slightly unconventional protagonists and I wasn't happy with what happened to them, but oh well. I haven't watched either the 90s or most recent series, though I admit I'm curious about them.

Oh man I LOVED Catch-22! One of the few books I've ever read where I was cracking up out loud as I read. Just a great book overall.

I teach The Alchemist to my Seniors 4th quarter. They love it for exactly the reason you bring up. That's on my "to-read" list and has actually just been sitting in my Amazon cart. I just haven't pulled the trigger yet.