Shaw66

No, I didn't read the article or the complaint. Suing Tre for tortious interference is nonsense. It's an overly aggressive lawyer trying to put as much pressure on the situation as possible. Unless Tre actually forces a closing to occur, simply signing a contract to buy the house is not tortious interference with anyone. If Tre doesn't try to close, he hasn't interfered with the other buyer's right to performance of the other buyer's contract. Tre's got no exposure here, even if he knew the other contract existed.

It's really nice to see these guys relaxed and not just giving canned answers. We got the canned answer to start - are you and MVP? "I'm just trying to help my team." It's true, but it's so predictable we don't learn anything about the guy. Interesting watching him try manage the political nuances. Which QB would be the worst farmer. You can see Josh searching for a safe answer; something interesting but that won't get him trouble with anyone. Finally he settles on Darnold, because he knows Darnold won't take it seriously. And, yes, the insights about Daboll were interesting. Nice. Thanks. Yeah, right, we don't learn a lot of football in this interview, but we see Josh just hanging out and relaxed. We get a better sense of who he is. For example, I thought it was interesting to see him kind of speechless when Patrick asks him about Josh's nuts. That was cool.

I agree with your take on this. The rational thing to do here if you're second to the party is to get your deposit back and walk away. Particularly in Tre's case, because he has plenty of dough. Why would he want to be in the middle of this mess for a year or more? What I was pointing out is that the litigious person in Tre's position could make the claim - it's a really solid claim, written contract for the sale of real estate, it's pretty black letter law - and the seller's lawyer is going to tell the seller that the best thing to do is to pay Tre to make him go away. It's probably worth $50,000 or more if someone in Tre's position wanted to put up with the headache.

This is some good news. Activate Wallace, activate Feliciano. There's two guys who will help the lineup. Whether Wallace starts or not, can't have too many good corners. If he's healthy, I think he will start. Norman is his competition, not Dane Jackson. Whatever, it's good to get some guys back. Brown would be nice, too.

A signature win isn't just against a good opponent. It's a win that signifies that you've arrived, that you are one of the elite. It's a win over a team that already is there at the top. It's a win that says you've joined the club.

If the seller signed a contract with the first buyer, if the first buyer satisfied the conditions necessary to close, and if the seller signed a contract with White, the seller has a real problem. Each of the two buyers can compel the seller to sell to him - each of the two buyers is entitled to specific performance, because of the two buyers as an enforceable contract for the transfer of real estate. At least theoretically, if the seller closes with either one of them, the other then can compel the seller to buy it back and then sell it to the second. The price of the buy back is completely up to whoever just closed. So Tre pays $750,000 or whatever at the first closing, the other buyer can sue the seller, and the seller will have to buy the house back from Tre at whatever price Tre demands. Then the seller will have to sell to the other buyer at whatever the contract price was. Chances are good that if there are two signed contracts, this will cost the seller some dough, like $100,000, to settle.

Without going back and looking, I think what gives his perception are the records. A lot of teams with few losses, and a lot of teams with a lot of losses, without a lot of .500 teams. I don't think the records are indicative of the range of teams. I think in other few weeks it will be clear that there are a few really good teams, a couple of really bad teams, and a bunch heading for 6-10 to 10-6, just like always. Give it a few more weeks.

Right. Those lost opportunities just happen sometime. They make the game closer than they should have been. And, in fact, those lost opportunities mixed with a mistake or two, and that game could have been a loss. It's just in the nature of the game - sometimes games are much closer than you'd expect based on relative talent. Especially Division games. Every team has games like that.

Frankly, what I've always said is that I've wanted to see a guy in control and under control. A guy who was making plays and winning games. That's what I wanted, and I guess I'd say it's pretty hard NOT to be that if you're 4000/30.

That's an interesting perspective. But the other perspective is that if you're kicker goes .750 on the season, you're not happy. Interesting how one's perspective changes the perception of the performance. Plus, I'd say when you watch that 3-for-4 game, you still would have been unhappy about the miss.

And, I would add, that even the best QBs have haves or games where they just don't play well. Michael Jordan wasn't the same player every night - there were nights, or at least halves, where he was positively human. Guys who hit .333 on the season don't go 1 for 3 every game. It's no different for QBs. Like Allen's fumble. He holds on to the ball longer than other QBs. Why? Because he escapes from pressure better than most QBs, and part of his value is that he makes plays when most other QBs would be on their backs. So he holds the ball, and because of that he's going to have more fumbles. It's just something that goes with his style of play. I looked at the Jets game and saw a QB who was really in control, who was making a lot of his throws, who was making plays. Given him one of the touchdowns, and his stats for the day would look great. Yes, everyone wants him to be better, including Allen, but expecting him to be perfect is foolish. No one's perfect. So saying one thing or another happened, including something Allen wishes he hadn't done, isn't making excuses for him.

teef's been practicing onliine psychiatry here for years. a genuinely happy trainwreck!

Interesting question. First, let me say that I agree; there has been no signature win yet. The signature win is a win against a premier team in a game with major implications, like home field in the playoffs. It's a win that people can foreshadow being a Conference championship game or a Super Bowl. If the Bills had won the Chiefs game, if the full-fledged two-fourth-quarter-TDs- scenario had played out, with the Bills winning that game, that would have been the signature win. The signature win is probably on the road, but it could be at home. I'm not expecting a signature win this season. I think the Bills have too many weaknesses to get that kind of win, but I admit I could be wrong. McDermott's process is to keep building and to have a powerful team in December. He may already see how to get there - I don't know. I don't see the signature win coming this season. The schedule doesn't help - last three games of the season are almost certainly not signature-win games if won (unless somehow we come down to a Bills-Pats for the AFCE title). 49ers could be a signature win. Or the Steelers. There's a scenario where it's the Cards, but not likely. Completely aside from that, I've been avoiding until now looking at the schedule. Bills are coming into a brutal stretch. Going 1-5 isn't impossible. 4-2 is possible, I'd take it. I can live with 3-3, but if the Bills only go 3-3, that's one more reason we won't see the signature win this season.

Right. Good comment about Jackson. As for the TDs, the game felt like Allen had a good game and just didn't happen to get any TDs. Maybe he failed to see an opportunity here or there, but QBs often have games where they miss one or two. He sure didn't miss Davis. Another thing about the lack of TDs is that the score kind of dictated that the QB be conservative and avoid rookie mistakes. Of course, you'd always rather have the TD than the FG, but think about this: When the score was 10-9 and the Bills are driving, a veteran QB makes sure that he gets the go-ahead score. A TD is nice, but getting lead is essential. Then, when it's 12-9, a veteran QB doesn't risk losing the FG, because extending the lead with a field goal requires the opponent to get a TD. (We all would have been screaming, for example, if Allen had taken a sack that knocked the Bills out of field goal range. "ROOKIE MISTAKE!!!"). Then at 15-9, same thing - make sure you get the field goal to make it an 8-point game. In every case, a TD would have been better, but if it isn't there, the smart QB settles for the FG. Plus, there were a collection of drive-killing penalties. I'm just not too concerned about the lack of TDs.

Nice write-up, Virg. I was interested to see your take on Bass. I think it helped bring me back to reality a bit. The truth is that 6 out of 8 is okay, not the disaster it felt like to me. He IS a rookie and almost any rookie has to settle into his role in a much bigger - in the sense of high stakes - game than he saw in college. He could have melted down yesterday, and he didn't. He wasn't exactly the epitome of cool - truth is he could easily have gone 8 for 8, but for a rookie, it was an encouraging out. The thing that troubles me a lot about Bass is that many of his kicks hook left, and hook pretty sharply. I find watching the best kickers, they've cured the hook. They kick straight, pretty much all the time. If they miss, they miss because it started out right and stayed right, or started left and stayed left. The ball moves a bit, sure, but it doesn't move like many of Bass's hooks. Sometimes Bass looks like an amateur golfer who's in love with those long drives he can pound out there. Big swing and awesome distance, but sometimes that big swing delivers these huge duck hooks that send the ball onto the next fairway. Length is great, but accuracy wins. Watching yesterday, I had the sense that later in the game, his last kick and maybe his second last kick, he took something off the kick, and it flew straight. He may just have to learn to focus on driving the ball through his target, rather than focusing on pounding the ball as hard as he can. He has the leg to carry the ball, so taking something off may be the answer. I heard story about Sandy Koufax. When he was in the minors with the Dodgers, he had an incredible fastball and an incredible curve ball, but he was horribly wild. He walked a lot of hitters, and he threw some fat, hanging curve balls that got crushed. The Dodgers apparently were approaching giving up on him. One day in the middle of an ugly inning, the pitching coach went to the mound and said "Sandy, will you please, just for a few pitches, stop throwing the ball so hard. Just relax. Don't try to throw the very best fastball or the very best curve ball. Just relax and throw it." Somehow, Koufax got the message that day, and he became unhittable. The other example I'll give is Josh Allen. Allen has an arm like Bass's leg. Allen already has gotten good at taking something off. He's not trying to throw the biggest fastball on every throw. He's taking advantage of his arm strength to reduce his throwing motion, and as he reduces his throwing motion, his accuracy increases. I think Bass has to do the same thing, and his outing yesterday gave me some hope.

One other thing that I thought about off and on during the game was that Epenesa made some plays against the Jets. He had three tackles, one for a loss, and half a sack. HIs snap counts have been up and down all season, and that's really good production for being on the field for only 9 plays. His snap count was low in part because the Jets ran so few plays. For rookies in general and especially for McDermott rookies, it's difficult to break into the lineup from day one. I think it's a serious step up from college for most guys, even if they have the raw physical talent. Players have to get used to the speed and strength of the guys they're playing against. Also, if you play for McDermott, you have to play with real discipline. You have to understand the defenses you're asked to execute and understand your role in each. You have to learn to apply your talents to the tasks that McDermott needs you to execute. Most guys need time to grow into playing in a demanding system like that. I'm encouraged that Epenesa has is fighting his way up the learning curve. I expect we will start to see him on the field more as he learns his roles. That would be one more player with talent on the field, and that should help the defense improve.

The problem is getting TDs in the red zone. When they have a long field, the defense protects against the long ball, which is how Allen gets all those underneath completions. Inside the red zone, that open space isn't there. Film study, scheming, play design are needed.

I think this is backward. The Bills are undersized, and they can't win consistently one on one at the point of attack. They have to win by scheme. They need to complicate the running game, not simplify it. Bills need to execute complex game plans.

I was reminded last week of the reality of the Buffalo Bills in the early 1990s. I tend to remember big plays, big scores, Hall of Fame performers, but that was only part of the reality. There were plenty of losses in those years, and plenty of other games where the Bills gutted out close wins against mediocre competition. I was reminded of all those less-than-dominant performances as I thought about the losses to the Titans and the Chiefs, and I felt better about how the 2020 season is going. The goals in the regular season are (1) make the playoffs, (2) win the division, and (3) get home field throughout the playoffs. There are no style points. Losses, of course, don’t help with any of those goals, but there always will be some losses. Ugly wins against less talented opponents are wins, and nothing else. Yes, sure, if you can’t play well against the Jets, there are reasons to worry, but it’s one more win toward the goals. The Bills are 5-2, and only the most elite of elite teams would be unhappy with five wins after seven games. The Bills are a work in progress and a work in process. Sean McDermott is far from done building his 2020 Buffalo Bills. They know a lot about how to pass. They’re learning how to run. They know about how to stop the pass, and they’re learning how to stop the run. Whether they will learn enough as the season goes on is open question. The process is how they progress. They play a game, they learn something new in practice. They play another game, they learn something else new in practice. It’s a process. At the end of the season, they should know how to do a lot of things. At least that’s the theory. The Bills started the game ugly against the Jets. So ugly that even when the Bills took over the game in the third quarter, it still looked ugly. The only time it didn’t look ugly was when Allen took a knee to end the game, and after the game, when we looked at the stat sheet. In fact, the Bills did a lot of things right against the Jets. One thing was play defense. When the Jets scored with three and half minutes left in the second quarter, it was the last time the Jets got close to scoring. Actually, after that touchdown, the Jets gained 25 net yards through the rest of the game! One more first-half possession and all of the second half, the Bills allowed 25 yards. Sam Darnold, who looked like a world beater early, could do nothing about it. The Jets dominated time of possession early in the game, but the Bills finished the game comfortably on top in TOP. The Bills outgained the Jets 422 to 190, and they ran 72 plays to the Jets’ 51. All this after a woeful start, with a missed field goal on the first possession and a lost fumble on the second. Everything has to be qualified by the fact that this is the Jets, but good football is good football. The Jets came to play; Darnold wanted to beat his buddy, Frank Gore wanted to play well against his old team, the whole team was tired of losing and saw the Bills (with two straight losses and a long injury list) as the team they could beat. The Bills said “no” to all of that. Poyer and Boettger and Hughes and Oliver and Beasley and Moss came to play, too. If anyone expected a magical turnaround where the Bills put up 600 yards and 49 points while shutting out the Jets, they were dreaming. The Bills have serious shortcomings exposed during the past two weeks, and those shortcomings couldn’t be fixed in a short week of preparation for the Jets. The Bills still couldn’t throw deep, they still couldn’t run the ball effectively. They still were beaten by attacks on the edge. Early in the game they had trouble getting off the field. Tremaine Edmunds still got pushed around, and the Bills still were getting penalized big-time for unnecessary roughness. But the Bills showed progress. They improved their possession passing game, going repeatedly to Beasley and Diggs and Kroft underneath. Allen was in charge of an offense that effectively and repeatedly marched down the field – one fumble and eight field goal attempts. They played ball control with their passing attack, just like the Chiefs do. The Chiefs, of course, also have a running game, and the Bills should study Chiefs’ game film, 49er game film, Ravens’ game film, and continue to add wrinkles to their own run game. Moss and Singletary aren’t burners, and they need good creases to make their gains. They can get those creases as the passing game continues to move the ball effectively and to challenge defenses deep. It’s all a package, and the Bills are working on it. The Bills couldn’t find the end zone, and their place kicking leaves everyone shaking their head. Some things to work on. The good news is that they have the right guy handling the ball. Josh Allen had his usual collection of mistakes against the Jets, but he continues to dazzle nevertheless. His most impressive talent - other than his arm - is his ability to manage the pocket. He stands firm when unthreatened, and he moves and eludes tacklers while staying in the pocket. He handles the blitz reasonably well. When he scrambles, he’s as dangerous as Mahomes. He makes good decisions, most of the time. He’s throwing the ball away when he should. He’s been getting better for two and a half years now, and he will continue to get better. Milano’s back, with luck Brown will be back next week. Getting Norman back on the field will help. Feliciano will help. Learning and improving will be key. The upcoming game is big. 6-2 at the halfway point would be an excellent first half. More importantly, the Bills beating the Pats would be the symbol the league and football fans everywhere have been waiting for – someone to bury the Pats deep in the standings. It won’t be easy. Belichick doesn’t like losing, and he’ll do a better job game planning against the Bills than the Jets did. It’s a process. 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.

It's also about scheme and coaching. The Chiefs offensive line knew how to attack gaps - it wasn't strictly overpowering the guy across the line. Part of the process, over the course of the season, is to learn how to play several different styles. They learn to do that by playing against different styles and adapting. If teams run on the Bills for the next two months the way the Chiefs ran on them, then the coaches will have failed. I think we'll see run-stopping improve.

It's funny to me that people think I defend the coach, whoever he is. I don't think I do that. Whoever the coach, he IS the coach, and what I try to talk about is why he's doing what he's doing. Whether it's the right approach, time will tell. In the meantime, I'm just trying to figure out what he's trying. And it IS the process. He has a management system and a philosophy, and his strategy is to get a team full of highly motivated, committed athletes to play together. The philosophy is that he can out play everyone by having the most efficient team. I keep mentioning Belichick because that is his philosophy. Good athletes, learning every week, getting more effective. The biggest potential flaw in McDermott's process is that it requires brilliant coaching. It requires great Xs and Os analysis and creative game planning. It is based on always being so well prepared mentally that one-on-one physical mismatches don't wreck your game; somehow, you manage them. So the question always has been whether McDermott has the intelligence and creativity to lead such an operation. At the end of the day, Belichick is Belichick because of his exceptional command of the Xs and Os. My view on McDermott is that he's still young, that it takes time for that total creativity to blossom. McDermott's in a process, too. I think it's a very interesting coaching style to observe.

Figgy, I'm a true believer in this point of view. However, if you're inclined to worry if the Bills are pursing the right formula, you have to at least ask if they have right kind of physical talent. Do they need a more physically aggressive middle linebacker? Do they need more speed at running back? Do they need a couple of nastier defensive linemen? Stouter? You can have the right mental makeup for the team, but still be beaten physically on the field. I think it's too early to have that discussion. I want to see how the team develops over the next 4-6 weeks. I always come back to Belchick. If you look at his lines, he didn't have big maulers (except for a Wilfork or an occasional other stud). He had medium sized guys, guys you might even have thought were under-sized, but they fought every play, and they executed the defense as called. I think McDermott's model is similar - great, motivated athletes who aren't necessarily individual stars but are just really good at their jobs. Certainly, when you look at the players on the Dline, the kind of players McDermott wanted, that's the kind of guy you find there. Oliver is the one shot they have at being a real stud. The others are all supposed to be excellent role players. They aren't right now, and that's on McDermott and Frazier - they have the kind of guys they want, and they're supposed to be able to make that kind of talent win. That's not to say that McDermott and Frazier are failing. They expect to build their defense throughout the season, to be playing their best defense a month from now. It may have looked bad for a few weeks, but the question is what will it look like in a month. They understand that it's a yearly challenge to put players like the Bills have into a championship caliber unit. We will see if McDermott and Frazier can make their system succeed.

I would have been thrilled. Good teams don't win every game, but good teams often find ways to win game they shouldn't. I sort of think that winning games in the fourth quarter trumps just about every other measure of a good team. When it gets down to 9 minutes to go, down 13, if you can find a way to win that game against ANY competition in the NFL, let alone the Chiefs, you're a good team. So, yeah, TD drive, recover the fumble, TD drive, game over, I'm thrilled.

Yes, I agree with all of this. Including the balance of this season. As I said, beating the Jets is important, then they're 5-2 and should be headed for 10-11 wins. If the team develops over the next couple months, and McDermott's teams generally do, they should be better than last season, despite the current issues. Bottom line is that it's way to early to fret over. Three quarters of the league would like to be where the Bills are today.

That's really interesting. I kept wrestling with it in my head, and then I realized that what's going on here is cherry picking the data. It all depends what period you pick. Go back to the year the Kelly teams first want to the AFC championship. Start with that year, and I'm sure the Bills are ABOVE average for championship game appearances. How about Super Bowl appearances in the last 30 years? Way above average. Yes, we're still some on a pretty bad streak. But we're stuck in it because all of the Bills' successful years came in a tight bunch.