Success

Mac will never have a better coach in his career than BB, and it's likely his O-line will never again be as good as it is now. Both are keys to how well he's playing right now. We'll see how long he has both. I think it's more possible that he regresses in the years ahead than it is that he improves.

That sounds promising, at least.

I mean, him doing this, Pats fans hyping him to the moon, the media anointing him the best from the draft - this is all going to make a hilarious 30 for 30 years down the line. "What if I told you that a rookie QB tried to step into the shoes of the greatest of all time...."

Getting Star back is huge, especially heading into a game against NE, who focus on the run. He changes our D against the run. I'm not sure if we would have beaten the Colts with him (probably not that day), but it wouldn't have been that kind of day if he was in there.

McGinist was a great player - but he's a pure homer. Bruschi is the same. Those guys should watch former players like Aikman & Simms - I can watch them commentate on games w/ their former teams & I'd never know they played for those teams.

I totally forgot how good the patty melt was until this thread. Thank you. It will be my next diner order, without hesitation.

I wish that "Backstreet Boys" tune wasn't in a prominent commercial. I find myself singing it subconsciously all day.

And you may be lucky again w/ Mac. Gotta say - it's envious, but I don't really envy it for the younger fans. Something to be said for paying a few dues and having hard luck before you break through. The older Pats fans assuredly get that, especially if they're fans of other Boston sports as well.

Wow - I just read a "Mac Jones" thread on one of the Pats boards. Has anyone done that? I get that every fan, deep down, is kind of a homer - but man, what an eye opener. It was like the "Da Bears" guys from SNL. Don't even play the games - just give the guy 6 rings already!

It would be kind of funny amidst all of the Jones hype if he wilted in cold/bad weather.

This really helps to balance out the loss of Tre (not that anything really could). These are BIG additions for us. We're not deep - at all - on O-line, and no one really replaces Star. Those are 2 areas where we just need guys to be healthy in order for the Bills to play like a contender.

I loved all 4 of these updates. I smiled at the 1st one, and smiled more w/ each successive update. I love the Jackson comment in particular. I lean homer, but I think he's going to be a really pleasant surprise.

I went through my mid-life crisis. The Bills were an alarmingly large part of it.

I'm guessing Stevenson. I thought he did really well (the muff was kind of a 1st game jitters thing, imo). He did some good tough running out there.

I don't care about the hype. I actually kind of like that the Pats are now being hyped to the moon, while the Bills are barely being mentioned. What I meant by "I'm glad I'm not a Pats fan" is that right now, I'd prefer to be a fan of a team that is still starting their journey. Not to generalize, but Pats fans have out-Yankeed Yankees fans in terms of being spoiled & having a sense of entitlement. Those aren't enviable qualities. Not all of course - but many.

Cripes...our "little one season of success." I'm so glad I'm not a Pats fan. Teams can actually win too much for their fanbase's good.

You're right. And the drought did instill that mentality, at least w/ me. I catch myself sometimes not enjoying wins or our new competitiveness as much these days. Belichick is like this weird dark cloud that just sort of looms over the game, especially when the Pats are getting this much hype.

I hope Star can play.

I spend too much time looking at Pats boards & listening to Bill Simmons' podcasts, but the bolded is definitely an understatement. Most of them think they have a Montana/Young situation, and are setting up for another long run w/ 6 more Lombardi's. It's already a given that he's clearly the best QB from that class.

He can also fix a sandwich in the pocket he has, while Allen is under duress immediately.

I haven't read through all of the responses, but I think Belichick makes it a wash. They're good enough where I'd call the teams even w/ the coaching advantage. And that's no criticism of McD. I think he's one of the best of that next tier of coaches. But Belichick's teams are more disciplined, and they rarely beat themselves. I can't say that about the Bills.

I haven't really seen that much improvement, so we'll have to disagree there. But he was playing well from the start. His game this past Sunday wasn't that different from earlier games. Since the Bills weren't playing, I was checking out one of the Pats boards during that game - at halftime, a pretty fair # of fans were dismayed w/ how Mac was playing. Over the course of the game, he threw what should have been 3 easy picks, including an easy pick 6 in the red zone that the defender just dropped (which would have changed the dynamics of that game). He rebounded in the 2nd half, but his biggest play was the 10-yarder to a wide open Bourne, that Bourne made a spectacular TD run out of. He's a good QB. As I keep saying, right now, he's playing like the scouts predicted: most pro-ready and ready to start on day 1, but lowest ceiling. I've seen comparisons to Garropolo, Dalton & Alex Smith, which I think are all fairly accurate to this point. He's a game manager.

It's a good question. The 1st thing I thought was, we need all 3 to really have the line we want. As far as most important, I'd have to go w/ Dawkins - some of his play has been a mystery to me. There were times against the Saints when he didn't seem to be trying (but I can't say I watch him closely during the game). We need him to be that franchise LT that he was signed to be.

I read it that way at 1st too, but I don't think that's how he meant it. He's saying after 2 years of that class, and what it was generally considered (not his own opinion). Classes like that - and like the current one - can't really be judged for at least 2-3 years, imo. Sometimes longer. QB's end up in a variety of situations, and so many are projects. Lance could end up the best from this class for all we know.

They might say the same about Mac's class in a few years. I think Jones is so hyped right now that it's much more likely he'll end up disappointing to an extent. But maybe not. Who knows.