Rochesterfan

Agreed - if they are going to make that change then I think you have to make a bunch of other changes around the goal line. People need to be down in the end zone rather than just break the plain. There are several times guys just barely break the plain and are not down and then fumble because they carelessly reach out the ball. The end end zone has always had different rules for many things than the middle of the field and the turnover aspect of OOB plays is one of them.

The current rule is consistent - if you fumble OOB of your end zone - it s a safety and the defensive team gets the ball. If you fumble OOB in the other end zone - again the defense gets the ball. The rules are actually consistent if the offense fumbles OOB in either end zone they turn the ball over to the defense. The rule is fine for the limited number of times either occur.

I like the current rule - fumbles everywhere else through 90% of the game do not move back to the spot. I think it makes sense to greatly penalize a team for a fumble in the most important area - especially with how the goal line changes other rules for the offense. So the team that fumbled the ball get the ball in the middle of the end Zone? A fumble out of bounds is marked where it goes out of bounds not where the fumble occurs. If they are going to change the rule near the end zone then the rule needs to be updated across the field with all fumbles being moved back to the spot and not advancement - so for example the Zay Jones Fumble into the end zone recovered by Buffalo for a TD gets moved back to the 3 yard line.

The inactive thing as has been stated multiple times in this thread was to balance out rosters on game day and allow injured players to sit without losing them. For example if all 53 men were active for the last game - the Bills had multiple players Ivory, McCoy, Lewis, etc that were hurt and could not play; therefore if Detroit had no injuries and the Bills had 4 or 5 injuries - Detroit could theoretically use 53 Guys, while the Bills would have been more limited to 48 guys. The League and players association decided that 46 for both teams would be the active roster allowing 7 players to sit so that injuries did not unbalance the playing field before the game starts. Both teams can draw on the same number of players. It is smart and makes a ton of sense to allow guys with muscle pulls and strains or a 1 week shoulder injury to miss a game without having to use IR and have teams stash players so they can try to get talent from other teams once their season is over.

Exactly and the 46 active and 53 total is part of player safety- it maintains balance - same number active on each team - while allowing injured and semi-injured players to sit for the week. If the entire 53 man roster was active then a guy like Ivory probably ends up back in the game because others were hurt. I may be in the minority, but I do not care if they expand the rosters - there is too much specialization that goes on as it is. 3rd down LBs, special teams only (gunner) and pass catching backs - eliminate that and have a balanced roster and you would be fine. There are some changes I would be fine with - I do not mind if they up the PS and make some 2 way players and adjust short term IR rules, but it has to be very limited to prevent stashing players and teams taking advantage of the rules. You also would still need inactives or the ability to have 3 or so people inactive due to injuries and have a balanced number of active players on the roster. If you are going to up the roster size - I would also make changes to how teams deal with in game injury. If a player is hurt and trainers come out onto the field - I think they should be required to sit out a specific amount of time or number of plays making sure staff can evaluate them and then stop the players just pretending to be hurt to slow plays down. I would love to see players have to sit out a quarter or 15 plays from their side of the ball rather than just one play. My Opinion.

Exactly. I think it also points to the ownership and leadership of the Bills and the Sabers - Josh is out in front as this was his guy, but that kind of coordination means the entirety of both organizations was on board and willing to help out. I think this points directly to the Pegula family and how they are working to rebuild and rebrand Buffalo - everything from the “One Buffalo” to working and sharing resources to advance both teams screams family and I think this is just a part of that. I also love how it counters the other growing feeling of how scummy the NFL has become filled with abusive players - 99% of the league is filled with great men and women that fly under the radar and the 1% get the coverage - this and the cleats piece show the underlying good these guys do for no recognition or reward - just to give back.

Amazing story! This I believe is what McDermott and Beane meant when they said Josh is Buffalo. Many people thought they were referring to arm strength and weather, but it seems obvious they are building a family and he has heart and character oozing out of him. He was a leader of men - he is becoming a leader of the entire organization. Great job and great video.

Excellent - could not have said it better myself. I think that confidence is born internally and the humility is a result of believing in himself, but having others always doubt him. From HS through Junior College to getting to Wyoming- every step he had others doubt him and I think it does wonders for the type of person he has become. Kudos!

Not to disagree to much, but you were probably closer with the 60 picks than 35-40. Cleveland is mid round and NE will be 15 picks or so later. So 5th to 6th is 32 picks plus 5th round comps (5 or so). Then the rest of the 6th and those Comp picks ( another 5 or so). So if Cleveland is 15 and NE ends up 27th you would have 32 picks + 5 (end of rd 5) + 15 (rd 7) + comp picks - about 55 - 70 picks or so. I do not think it is a loss other than the fact they have counted on him being there and now he is gone. They could have made a different move and maybe had not given up a pick and had someone for the rest of the season. It ends up being low risk and very low reward for them.

I don’t disagree they won’t bring either of those guys in, but I don’t think it is about them not being squeaky clean. It is that those players have shown themselves to be more concerned about “me” rather than “we”. The issue is exactly how good can they be? Many coaches call it different things, but have the same idea - team first and you are one of eleven. Frank Reich in Indy after this game talked about the importance of team and these guys really buying into playing for each other - same idea. Belichek In NE brings in a bunch of these guys, but they are forced to adjust or he moves on from them - even if they are talented. Just listen to the Gronk interviews from last season about why he could not celebrate TDs - the coach forbade individual celebrations. The biggest issue I had is you somehow lump Mayfield in for some reason when we have no idea what the staff really thought of him - with the assumption that because he is not squeaky clean - this staff would not touch him. I think they would look at his leadership and how he plays for his teammates and they would of had no issue with him, but it is only an opinion.

I really hate this lazy (and terrible) opinion about this staff - especially as it has been shown to be wrong repeatedly. We have no idea how they felt about Mayfield as he was the #1 pick and the Bills never had a chance to pick him, but considering they seem to like guys that want to play and give it their all - I do not think Mayfield would have been an issue. Rosen on the other hand makes so much more sense now that you see him playing in Arizona and he flashes immaturity and does not seem to be the natural leader and have the natural charisma of Allen. They have picked up and signed a ton of non-squeaky clean guys. Phillips was essentially kicked off Miami for arguments with the coaching staff, we have also picked up guys with suspensions like Murphy and the new kid Bolden along with guys during the off season. Just because what what they are looking for in players does not always match what you are looking for does not mean they only sign goody two shoes players. They do not Mind having players that are nasty or bad ass - see Teller, Phillips, and Incognito - as long as you do not have a me first attitude that permeates your play - see Dareus and Watkins. It is not the squeaky image, but team first play and thoughts that matter. This squeaky clean image garbage is just as bad as the take that they would cut people because they are not religious enough or that was the reason a guy like Peterman made the roster. It also is nearly as bad as the opinion that this front office only picks up former Carolina players - when it has been patently proven that on the current Bills roster there are now only 2 former Carolina players and one - Anderson - has not been active and is only here in a mentor role right now, but people still say - well they only pick guys up if they have been on Carolina’s roster.

Go and find any of a ton of threads on this. The NFL allowed dual ownership as long as they were in the same market or another market without an NFL team. The Pegulas were fine and never an issue. It would have been an issue if the owners of Delaware North would have tried to buy the Bills because he is a part owner of the Boston Bruins. The change is to allow guys in specific situations to dual own even if the market is shared with an NFL team. The Rams owner is also a partial owner of the Colorado avalanche. This is to allow him to consolidate so no one forces him out over a control issue.

Agreed - saw the combine time and thought “what the” - does not seem to match games speed at all. If he hit a legit 22.5 MPH in a game in pads - he can fly.

I have no issue with this - I think they are happy with what McKenzie is giving them in the offense - so find a guy to replace him and Murphy on special teams. Plus another young kid to mold into this group. His combine 40 time did not look elite fast and I saw he had a NFL suspension to start his career - anyone got any info on that? Looked like a banned PED that he took full responsibility for - just wondering if anyone saw or heard more - probably just a legit mistake, but always makes me nervous with such a young group.

Nice to see the variations with McKenzie. I love to see now that that they have some consistency in the WRs with Foster, McKenzie, and Jones - how they are starting to build different concepts. It had to be so hard earlier in the season with these guys with no experience or with KB with no speed and not being able to build and stack play types. It really bodes well for the future if you can take this experience and use it to plan for the next 2 weeks and then the entire off season.

I don’t think he was told to throw first and keep the running down - I believe that is what the Lions defense dictated. The Lions were running their version of the NE/NYJ defense used against Tyrod - slow rush from the edges - pressure the middle - keep a LB/safety near the middle to spy. It was designed to try and minimize escape lanes and prevent him from running and make him beat you from the pocket. The difference is Allen did just that - he made the plays with his arm from the pocket to win. A little help from his own receivers or a PI call for Zay when he tried coming back for the ball and his numbers look better and they force the defense to react - maybe opening those lanes back up.

Don’t think the o-line was all that good - the Lions defense played a lot of spy coverage and did not come after Allen much at all. It was similar to what the Pats and Jets used to do to Tyrod - rush/contain the QB and have a guy ready to spy and try to force him to beat you from the pocket. The difference was Allen completed some passes including the long TD to win.

I tend to disagree - I tend to think McDermott talked to him and Woods really wanted to head to the west coast. McDermott has made mention a few times I believe that Woods was someone he liked, but he wanted to be closer to family. McDermott especially in year one was looking for guys that really wanted to be here and I don’t think they gave Woods an offer because of how clear he made it he was leaving to get closer to family and I believe McDermott respects that. In addition - if you remember even before that season ended and media was talking with Woods - he made it sound like a done deal he was planning on heading out even before locker clean out day. Now with all that said - Woods would have been the perfect WR for this team with this HC and QB combo and if both were in place and established before Woods became a FA maybe he changes his mind and the team is family enough, but those last 3 years he was here - the Bills were not a family - they were a collection of individuals only.

Love this!! Combine this with what you hear Frank Reich saying in Indy. Guys playing for their teammates and essentially character and team matters. I know McDermott is not perfect, but give me that type of leader all day long over a Rex Ryan it is all about me coach.

I agree and thought they had squibbed one prior to the injury or at least short kicked it.

Has this been confirmed - I was under the assumption the squib kick was because of the weather and the fact that the NYJ return game had been gouging them all game. I never heard hem say the injury was the reason.

Overall - I guess I just do not care that much about this. We watch replay after replay and the vast majority of times they get the calls right. The biggest issue is that there are so many border line plays that even on a board like this we do not get a consensus - was it a fumble or was his knee down? Was it a catch or dropped/knocked away? Was it PI or not. We get 3 angles and one angle looks like pass interference, one angle looks like he does not touch him early and one is totally inconclusive. Holding is the same way - they have set it up so holding in the tackle box is very rarely called (which is why Hughes gets so few calls). The Bills end up with McCoy or Allen breaking out of the pocket and get the holding call on the change in direction. Can they improve - yes of course - everything can be improved, but to assume a guy off the field can watch multiple replays of every play and not slow the game down or create issues especially in hurry-up situations. Or that 2 challenges will work when right now with a team like NO ran out with 3 earlier in the year and that did not include penalties. I think younger officials and more transparent grading would be great, but I think adding technology will create new issues - just as adding replay and all of the slow motion replays have created more controversy rather than fixing things.

This is insane - there is just as good of a list going the other way. Every individual person has to be viewed in their own light. What we do know is that siblings and children of pro athletes have great genetics and typically a better understanding of what it takes to succeed. Sometimes that leads to them being better and sometimes they never live up to the hype, but the older brother/parent being better is not a valid point.

I just do not think Barkley was worth the investment and I certainly do not see them getting 8 years of playoff hunt out of Barkley. Everything they have won is on his back and he is piling up touches - nearly 300 so far, but when you look at top rushing backs - all are under 4 years in the league. By the time the Giants replace Eli (maybe 2019 draft) and you get the competent play from the young QB - Barkley will be 3 or 4 years in and will already at or past his peak. The case may be open on the QBs, but top QBs right now are playing 15+ years in the current NFL. Barkley should be easily one of the top offensive as RBs come into the league more ready to play (see UDFA - Lindsey in Denver), but top RBs start to decline after 4 or 5 years and are out of the league by 7 or 8 years. I would always take a chance on a top QB over a RB just based on worth in the league, what they do for a franchise, and how long they are valuable in the league.

I stayed with Chubb - to me this is easier because they picked up a QB in Case to get them through a couple of years because they still have an elitish defense. I think Vance Joseph is just a terrible coach for that team and that hurts the team. Allen would be the QB I would choose there, but I think they are happy with what they got.