Shaw66

I'm basing it on the fact that I saw him, over and over, as a Bill and then as an Eagle, leave games for plays or for quarters. He didn't play hurt. He was predictable that way. Great player, in the same way Mario was a great player.

Just to end this, will you please confirm that I've now said for the third time that I'm not arguing about his contract or about his forcing the trade. I'm talking about the fact that he was often injured and he often took plays off, and I don't like that. That's all I've ever said, and you keep arguing about whether he deserved a new contract or not. I agree, the Bills mismanaged it. I said that. I also agree that he was one of the best left tackles I've seen in decades. A sure-fire Hall of Famer. I didn't like his attitude. I didn't take Mario Williams, for the same reason. And I took Fred over Lynch, for the same reason.

There is no such thing, so far as I know, as a "right tackle contract" and a "left tackle contract." He signed a contract to play for the Bills, and the fact that his position changed didn't give him any additional rights. He was just like any other player who signed a contract and then got better. If he'd believed in himself and how much better he was going to get, he wouldn't have signed the contract. Oh, and I'm not arguing about whether the Bills did the right thing. I agree, Beane would never have let it get to the point where he demanded a trade. But I wasn't talking about any of that - you somehow assumed I was. All I'm talking about is whether he is one of the three players I would want. My answer to that was no, because I didn't like his character. And I'm talking just about his time with the Bills. In 17 years he started 16 games only five times (Kyle Williams was 8 for 13). And what I thought was worse was how often he took himself out of the game. Sometimes he acted like he broke his leg, then he'd be back the next series. Sometimes in the middle of a big drive, he'd limp off for a play or two, then come back. I hated it. As I said, I'm a total McDermott disciple, and I want guys whose heart is in it.

I'm completely bought into the McDermott ethic. Jason Peters took himself off the field altogether too much for my liking. All through his career. Off the field for plays and for games. He just didn't have the heart that I've come to appreciate so much. Kyle Williams didn't do that. Fred Jackson didn't do that. Great player, when he played. And he played most of the time. But you couldn't depend on him being on the field when you needed him. His contract problem in Buffalo wasn't completely on the Bills. If I recall correctly, he began backing way from the deal he did sign within a year of signing it. I didn't like that. And that was a sign that the game was more about him than the team, which was the problem with his staying on the field. It was always about Jason, first. But I don't begrudge him his money or his wanting to leave. That's up to him, and he made his decision.

He ranks among all time favorite Bills, but he wasn't a great player.

Couple of thoughts: Put all those guys together and you have a good team. Except no QB. It's a measure of much I think of Fred that I'd take him over Lynch. Fred fits the team better and was nearly as good in short yardage. Singletary is a Fred wannabe. Attitude is important. No Darrus - we already know McD doesn't want him. No Mario despite his talent. For me, no Peters. Reuben Brown. Positional fit. Someone said Pat Williams. I think he's my third. Incredible fit on this d line. Moulds is my honorable mention. I love Kyle, and I can't argue with that pick, but his position isnt a need. Plus, if I have Fred, I dont need Kyle's leadership. I'm leaving a couple of great corners off my list. And Moorman didn't have the distance of modern punters, so despite his other strengths, no.

Twenty bucks for the stadium tour is worth it. They offered a tour to season ticket holders several years ago, and I took it. Best part was the locker room. And the weight room. I don't know if this $20 tour takes you there. Whatever, walking around inside, where the players go, is a completely different look at the team.

I never knew what LAMP stood for. Looked it up. Guilty as charged. I'm proud that I saw it so clearly back then. What amazes me is that back then it sounded too good to be true and yet, here we are. Of course, it ain't over until the fat lady sings, so Mrs. Pegula bet get herself to Ted's and start bulking up.

This is a great explanation of what McDermott said he would do, and what he continues to do. Especially the leader in every room. I'm glad you explained that. Von Miller, too.

Yeah. I'm afraid to look at some of the others. I probably wrote the same thing in 2012!

On Memorial Day, three years ago, I posted the following essay on The Stadium Wall. I'm still pinching myself to be sure I'm not dreaming. “The Hopeless Optimist” I know I’m probably heading for a big crash, but I can’t help it: I think the golden age of the Buffalo Bills is upon us. I think we are about to witness the greatest run of excellence in the history of the franchise, and one of the greatest of all time in the NFL. Maybe it’s just because I’ve lived a long life and been fortunate to have had a lot of good things happen around me. About the only good thing that hasn’t happened is true greatness for my football team. I was there for the AFL championships and the Super Bowls. Now it’s time to go all the way. Whatever the reason, I can’t talk myself out of believing the Bills are about to take off. It’s not that I expect the 2019 Bills to be great – someplace in the 9-7 to 7-9 range once again this year; what I expect is that the 2020 Bills will be a solid playoff team and a regular preseason Super Bowl contender after that. It could come a year earlier or a year later, but it’s coming. “WHAT??!!! You can’t be serious,” readers scream. I’m serious. I’m serious for the combination of several reasons. 1. The Process I keep listening to McDermott and Beane, learning about what they are doing. If I understand it, I think it will work to build a team that is a powerhouse for many seasons. It’s about continuous improvement, getting better at your job. McDermott says it over and over. Get better every day. That’s why they want rookies. They want the benefit of a football player for ten years, getting better year after after year. Part of the genius of that system is that new guys get pulled up to level of the rest of the team pretty quickly. When the team is playing at a good level, rookies come in and learn quickly to play at the good level. When the team is great, rookies come in and learn to play at the great level. McDermott saw Andy Reid do it, and he’s watched Bill Belichick do it. Everyone is challenged to get better, game after game, season after season. Players are challenged. Coaches are challenged, too. McDermott is expected to improve. Daboll is expected to improve. Frazier. Everyone. If you aren’t working to improve, you aren’t part of the process. No player is guaranteed a job, and every player knows that he will sit or worse as soon as someone comes along who does it better. And the players are happy with that, because they understand they are part of a bigger process. If they’ve worked hard and made the team better, they will share in the team’s future success, because they were part of building the platform from which it all took off. I guarantee that when McDermott wins a Super Bowl in Buffalo, Kyle Williams will know that he owns a part of that trophy. Continuous improvement. 2. The Coach My apologies to the lifelong atheists in the crowd, but there’s no way to describe McDermott except in religious terms. He’s organizing a cult, with avid followers who get high on the Word. It’s his personal version of The 300, with everyone doing his job, doing anything, for the benefit of everyone else, with a little of Andy of Mayberry wholesome goodness thrown it. He practices what he preaches. He’s about doing the right thing all the time, preparing, learning, communicating. He lives in a world where everyone earns what he gets, and everyone understands why they sometimes don’t get what they tried to earn. He expects a Lombardi Trophy and nothing less, and he understands that if he doesn’t get it, someone else better will get the job. And he’s okay with that. He imposes that world on his players, and he expects them to be okay with it, so he must be okay with it, too. He cares about everyone in his organization, and he wants everyone in the organization to care, too. Was there an element of commercialism in how McDermott and the Bills adopted PanchoBilla in his final weeks? Sure. But there was genuine caring and concern, too, and there was genuine grief at the end. Is McDermott perfect? No. Does he make mistakes? Plenty. But it’s about continuous improvement, learning and getting better very day. He WILL get better, because he won’t accept less from himself. And don’t forget, he took his first head coaching job at about the same age as Bill Belichick, and Belichick made mistakes for years before he hit his stride. McDermott is growing into greatness. McDermott does it right, and by doing it right, those around him do it right, too. 3. The GM I just love Beane. I love his calculating approach to his job. Analyze, make a decision, evaluate, move on. Analyze, make a decision, evaluate, move one. No wasted motion. Beane’s the Chief Operating Officer of the cult. His primary job is to keep a fresh supply of qualified devotees on hand for them to study at the feet of the master. He believes in the process, and he believes in McDermott. He believes that if he continues to deliver the right players, McDermott will deliver the Lombardi. Beane’s fearless. He’s willing to make a decision and accept the consequences. He doesn’t fret over the mistakes; he just moves on to the next decision. He’s willing to make the bold move. 4. The QB It’s completely obvious that Beane and McDermott are selecting players the way they said they would: they want players who are intense and non-stop competitors, players who always want to get better, players who are driven to work at their craft every day. They want disciples. Others need not apply. The latest example is Jerry Hughes, who has evolved from an occasionally flashy, occasionally frustrating athlete to superior all-around football player and leader. It didn’t seem possible three years ago. Hughes’s contract extension says two things – that he’s matured into the kind of player and leader that McDermott wants to win with, and that Hughes can see that the Bills are the kind of organization that make him a better and more successful player. Hughes wants to be part of the success that McDermott and Beane are building; he is a disciple. And he isn’t the only one. What does that have to do with the quarterback? Just this: the quarterback is the most important player on the field, and therefore the quarterback has to be the lead disciple. In Josh Allen, Beane and McDermott found their guy. He loves to compete. He loves to learn – you can see it and hear it in his interviews. He’s so much more mature, he has so much more understanding of the game, than we saw a year ago. He handles his duties in press conferences almost flawlessly, giving thoughtful answers, deftly avoiding difficult issues, rarely being flustered. He desperately wants to do it right, on the field and off, and McDermott thrives on that attitude. Belichick got his ideal disciple in Brady. McDermott got his in Allen. And, by the way, McDermott also got 6’5”, 240 pounds, speed, mobility and a rocket arm. I think Allen is destined for greatness, because he has all the tools, mental, physical and emotional, and he has the perfect mentor. A match made, if you believe in that sort of stuff, in heaven. 5. The Owners How perfect is it that leading this whole effort is a pair of owners who are true believers in the process? They’ve lived the process, they’ve reaped the financial and personal benefits of doing it right, and now they’ve found a coach and a GM who preach the process. They’re believers in continuity. They know being great takes time, because it took them time, and they’re willing to give Beane and McDermott time to reach the goal. They’re the big donors in the cult. When the GM says he needs new facilities to attract and train the kind of disciples who will win football games, the owners say yes. When McDermott says he needs another coach, they back him. And they’re good people, just like McDermott and Beane and Kyle and Jerry and Josh. It’s like they’re all from Mayberry. The NFL is a club, and the club members already are proud to have colleagues like Kim and Terry. Colleagues who can be counted on to have one eye on the bottom line and the other on their moral compass. Bills fans can be proud, too. There it is. Something approaching the perfect combination of ownership, leadership and players committed to a process that will work. We’ve waited a long time for this. It’s going to be special. Count me in the cult. GO BILLS!!! The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

For a couple of decades, Bills fans threw up AFTER every game.

Thanks. I needed that touch of reality. What was I thinking? Still, he looked slim to me. In the 60s, some of these guys would put 30 pounds on in the off season, then spend weeks at camp sweating it off again. Those days are gone. These guys super fit when they show up for OTAs. That's interesting. Two DEs and Von on the field at one time. And sometimes, Rousseau will drop back into the shallow zones. Versatility, boys, that's what they're after.

I find I keep coming back to this post, because it's so good. It captures the complexity and the fluidity of contract issues. And there are judgments to be made along the way. As I said in an earlier post, the fundamental objective is in the current year, and in your planning for future years, not to be taking cap hits on talent that isn't worth the hit. You don't want cap hits for players who aren't on your roster any longer, and you don't want cap hits in large dollar amounts for players on your roster who play well below the value of the cap hit. You don't want to write a big contract to Mario Williams and then find out that he just was no longer going to play at a Mario Williams level. Von Miller was a great signing - he's worth the dollars, and Beane is willing to work around the cap restrictions the Miller contract may bring for a couple of years. Unless, of course, Miller retires on the job - he shows up and goes through the motions and isn't the guy you want on the field on third and nine with six minutes left in a playoff game. If you have plenty of cap room, like the Patriots often did, the question is "why didn't you bring in more talent?" If you have the room, why don't you make the team better. I never understood why Belichick would do that. I'd rather find the right guy and add him to the roster. But as you do that, you shrink your cap room, and that of course is a risk, because you never can be sure what the future will bring. Injuries, guys retire early, they don't pan out, all sorts of things happen, and if you're tight on cap space, you're less able to respond. It is, as you say, a balancing act. But there's practically no one here saying the Bills should have passed on Miller so that they would be in a more comfortable cap situation. I have a good deal of confidence that Beane has enough flexibility in future seasons (with restructures, increases in the cap, trades, etc.) that he is confident that he will have sufficient room to maneuver and make the moves to keep the team competitive from a talent point of view.

And it's not only occasional stories about stars. I heard JJ Redick talking about his NBA career. Coming out of Duke, he didn't expect to be drafted, but he was. He didn't expect to make a team as a rookie, but he did. As the season was nearing it's end, he asked a veteran what he had to do to stay in the league. The guy told him to take a few weeks off, then start working intensely to make some aspect of his game better, to learn to do something he doesn't do know. Reddick said that every year for ten years, every summer, he added a skill or refined a skill. Every year. I wrote about the Phil Jackson book. In it he said Kobe did the same thing - every fall, Kobe came back to the team able to do something he didn't do before. Some old-time will remember the name of the Bills' placekicker who carried portable goal posts in his car and would stop at open spaces, set up the goal posts, and practice. Ime Udoka, the Celtics coach, played five or six years in minor leagues before he made it to the NBA. It wasn't as though all those years he was good enough for the NBA and no one noticed. Kevin Ollie from UConn did the same thing, working year after year after year, getting a little better every year before he finally made it to the NBA. Although I've never heard anyone say it, I think there's an unwritten rule that good GMs follow - it's better to give up on young talent too late than too early. (And it's also better to give up on old talent to early than too late - you'd rather have Jerry Hughes have a good year or two in Houston than have him Buffalo not dressing for games.) Compare, as everyone does, Wyatt Teller and Bates. Gave up on one too early, kept working with another for what seemed to be too long, but now he looks like a starter. Levi Wallace started in Buffalo because the Bills didn't give up on him. . Players get better. Especially players on the Bills, because McBeane only want players who are personally committed to getting better. Not that I have any insider info, but you have to wonder how much longer Poyer is going to be a Bill. I gather he's not at OTAs, and apparently that's because he's not happy with his contract. The Bills say all the right stuff, it's business, etc., but there's business and there's football, and McD certainly doesn't like business getting in the way of football. I'm sure that McD is planning for life after Poyer, not because he's already decided to get rid of Poyer, but because things change. Why am I talking about Poyer? Because I think Poyer's replacement is on the roster today. I don't know who it is, but it's some guy who can grow into that role. Names I would suggest as possible safeties: Hamlin and Johnson, of course, but maybe Tre White, and maybe Taron Johnson, and maybe Terrel Bernard, and maybe I don't know who else. Someone is going to grow into Poyer's job, be given an opportunity, and show that he can do it, someone who right now, or a year ago, wasn't capable of doing that. Belichick lived for twenty years promoting home-grown starters.

Thurm, this is so true. Over and over, we hear stories about how this athlete turned a corner when this thing happened, or when someone told him that. It may not even have been the first time the thing happened or was said; for whatever reason, it clicked, and then performance changed. Best story I ever heard about that was Sandy Koufax. Several people in the Dodgers organization had had more or less given up on him, because despite his brilliant fastball and breaking ball, he had no command. The story is that Koufax was out on the mound in a spring training game, and he was throwing the ball everywhere except over the plate. Pitching coach went to the mound and said something like, "Sandy, will you please, please stop throwing the ball so hard. Just relax and just throw it to the catcher. Don't throw fastballs hard, just throw fastballs. Don't throw the curveball hard. Just throw it." Literally, from that point on, Koufax was the pitcher that we remember. His ERA went from the high 3s and 4s to the low 2s and high 1s. Practically overnight. Plenty of guys labor overseas and in the G league for years, and then become serious contributors in the NBA. Players improve in all kinds of ways. Maybe Bates is one of those. I have to say, I just watched Baldy's video, and Bates's technique is pretty impressive.

I had a similar reaction. He's not very big. But some of that impression is that several of the shots of Miller had him standing next to Oliver and Rousseau. Rousseau is SO long; if he can learn how to attack from Miller, he'll be a terror. I'm not expecting that - if he evolves into a great player, he'll be great because of who he is more than because of what Miller might teach him. But maybe I'm wrong. More important to me is how lean these guys are. McDermott wants athletes who are difficult to keep up with because of their mobility, rather than athletes who are difficult to move because of their size.

I wonder who has the all-time attendance records here? Most consecutive days coming here, all-time. Longest active consecutive day streak. Most days coming here. Most words posted (I might make the top 10 on that list). Most consecutive days posting, all-time. Longest active consecutive-days posting streak. Those are the measures of a truly legendary personal illness.

There's never a day that I don't at least look to see if anything is happening here.

I hear you, but it's not a matter of "just being a playoff team every year and nothing more." It's a carefully determined strategy that is based on the belief that the highest probability of winning the Super Bowl in the next ten years comes from being in the playoffs most or all of the time, as compared to planning on, and focusing all of your resources on, WINNING the Super Bowl in one year. As I've said, it's obviously not either/or, but I think the strategy that gets you to the playoffs every year is a better way to win Super Bowls. To win the Super Bowl you have to win four straight games (three if you get the bye). The McBeane strategy, as I understand it, is that if we're in the playoffs a lot, we have a lot of chances to win four straight. If we're only in two or three times over ten years, even if our team is better, we don't get many chances to win four straight. I mean, I don't know. But isn't about being satisfied with making the playoffs. It's about the fact that every time you're in the playoffs, you have a chance to win it all.

Thanks. I, too, like the discussion after the initial post. But that has little to with me or what I wrote. Anyone here who starts threads with some interesting ideas (more than "Bills need depth at guard. Discuss.") finds people with good ideas coming to the thread to talk in depth about those things. Thank you to all of you who have such nice things. I wasn't looking for all that. I just wanted to put people on notice so they'd be used to the idea and not looking for the Review every week. And thank you to all of the others who listened to their mothers when they said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"! And thank you to the merry pranksters for dropping by to visit from whatever universe they usually inhabit.

Good point. Packers in II must have been the preseason favorite.

You won't hear it from me! I've never been the breaking news guy around here. But you made me laugh!

On the other hand, I seriously doubt you're right about this. I think McDermott has everyone sold on his long-term view, including the Pegulas. The Pegulas probably already agreed with his approach when they hired him. I don't think the Pegulas are drawing any lines in the sand. Why not? Because the Pegulas understand exactly what you said about the Bills not being a lock (in my words). They know that all kinds of things can happen to keep you from winning. They understand that you only can win the championship if your team is in the playoffs, and teams that make the playoffs all the time have a better chance of winning a Lombardi. McDermott and Beane look like they have a team that will be in the playoffs for a long time. And the Pegulas understand that the team is good because the Bills have some really good players, and some satisfactory players, but they have Bills are good because they have a full team of players handpicked to be McDermott's disciples. McDermott is the ultimate key to the functioning of the team, because he is the conductor of the orchestra. The Pegulas know that.

The bold is really the truth. We're all sitting here talking ourselves into the total superiority of this team, when the reality is as it's always been in the NFL - it's really, really hard to win a Super Bowl. All those favorites who didn't? They had really sad or surprising stories play out - key injuries, offense or defense unexpectedly goes south, coach allows team to lose focus. I mean, anything can and does keep teams from the top. And that's the measure of Belichick's genius - the Pats often were picked to be the best, and one way or another they often turned out to be the best. There are going to be ugly losses along the way. There were last season, there are almost every season for almost every team that either makes it to the top, or doesn't. There are no guarantees, nothing even close to guarantee. There are no locks. Except where, for whatever combination of reasons, the favorite does, in fact, win it all, and then in hindsight we say, "it was obvious at the beginning of the season that no one could beat them." We used to complain about the power rankings and how stupid they were, because the Bills were at 24 instead of 18. Now, we don't complain. You know what? We were right back then. The power rankings are meaningless. They were then, and they are now.