Shaw66

Good question. I'm planning on driving two or three hours into the broadcast area and renting a motel room. Gotta be a better way than that.

All the medical data will be shared, including testing data. Even with delays, teams will go after the talent they need.

I don't think you can assume teams will be less active poaching. They also will have plenty of practice squad space and therefore flexibility. Any veteran on the PS will be a target.

Threads get better when you use the ignore feature.

Lynch and Sherman had ego problems real early.

Excellent. This captures what is about.

Well, some phrases are necessary to the culture. McDermott has a system, a process, and he needs everyone to learn the system and follow it. His formula for success is to have everyone follow the process all the time. He has to communicate the system to 100 people and get them to buy into it. In the process, he, like any leader, finds words that work to convey the message, and other words that don't work so well. He repeats the words that work. They become sort of a mantra. Your point is, I think, that no particular words that are necessary. I agree with that. But the only way to teach what he wants to teach is to have some mantras of one sort or another that connect with the team. Do your job, where would you rather be, etc. They're all intended to create a particular frame of mind, to get everyone on the same page. Just win, baby, is a losing mantra in modern football. It says "just go out there and play your game." No professional sport team (except baseball, which doesn't depend on teamwork) succeeds with that approach in this era.

I think Pete Carroll's true genius as coach was that he could maintain a winning culture with egos like Richard Sherman and Beast-Mode. I didn't realiize Thomas was one, too, but it just emphasizes the point.

You're right. Some people ignore how important "team" is to success, and increasingly the best organizations in the world (not just football teams) are building team cultures. Team cultures keep everyone on the team better focused on goals and more willing to cooperate to achieve the goal. I was in an amazing McDonald's yesterday. It was lunch time, and they were busy. There were eight or ten people working, a couple at the drive-through window, several in the back making sandwiches, a couple in front manning the registers, getting drinks, etc. What was amazing was the speed at which they were working, and what was obvious was that they all were focused on the same goal - serving the customers, serving them quickly and accurately. And they were working together, calling to each other about what they needed, with others responding that they had them covered. I could see the satisfaction in their faces. They knew they were killing it. I watched them maybe ten minutes, and they never stopped. As I watched, I wondered how they got that way, and the answer was obvious - they had leadership who had sold them on the importance of service and on the fact that by working together they could deliver service better than by doing it separately. While they worked, each was trying to be the best version of themselves as part of the team. McDermott's objective is to have an entire organization, and not just the players, humming like that McDonald's was humming. So far, he seems to be succeeding. A

I've never done that before. It's an interesting way to look at the team.

Maybe I just haven't any coffee yet, but this post is a wakeup call. At first I thought it was an absurd response to someone's rose-colored-glasses view. Then I read it again. I suppose you could argue about it, but you're probably right. Examine the Bills by position groups, and QB may be the weakest. Actually, I'd say second weakest, behind the tight ends. Without spending a whole lot of time on it, here's a ranking of position groups and a wild-ass, off-the-top-of-my-head league ranking. I won't defend it, because it's pretty hard to know for sure and it's open to a lot of debate: Defensive backs - top 5 Wideouts - top 5 Defensive line -top 10 Offensive line - top 15 Linebackers - top 15 Running backs - top 20 Quarterbacks - top 20 Tight ends - top 25 That's why we keep saying the season hangs on Allen's progress.

Now this is one creative idea. That would be an all-time great memory of games at the Stadium.

Hadn't thought of those ideas. In that case, sign me up!

That's what I think. How do you keep people in their assigned seats. Are they going to have a cop at every section?

That's a good list. Thanks. I don't know, but I bet McBeane would rank Barkley Tier 3 or Tier 4. My only evidence is that if Beane thinks Barkley is Tier 5, he would have gotten someone else. Everything else is just quibbles. Mariota might be Tier 1. Flacco is unique - I wouldn't call him a game manager and he isn't young with promise, but he's probably in the right group. McCarron is, I think, no better than Barkley. RG III is unique, maybe useless on the wrong team, a great spark on another. Thanks.

Thanks for responding. I agree. I'd love to have Hoyer, who started out as one of his young guys, too. Actually, I think Fromm is similar to what you call "high ceiling" guys, although I wouldn't argue, either then or now, that his ceiling is as high. Still, I'm guessing Fromm will have a long career in the NFL. He'll be a Hoyer. Also, when Brady was young and they were winning Super Bowls, Belichick went three or four years with Rohan Davey and then took Matt Cassell in the 7th round. He hasn't always gone the high ceiling route. I don't say any of that to argue with you. I don't disagree that the Bills would be better off with a true high ceiling guy rather than Fromm, or with a Flacco or Fitz if you could get them.

Gunner As you can tell, I take a lot of cues from Belichick. What you say about a veteran quality backup makes sense. It's interesting that that hasn't been Belichick's approach.

Well, maybe I'm wrong about Flscco. Had forgotten he went to the Jets.

Well, I know it only takes one, but very few of those guys are signing with a team with an established starter. Keenum and Hoyer, probably. I'd guess that if Flacco cant start he will retire pretty quickly, for example.

I will go back to find your post. I don't know how likely it is to get a quality former starter. These guys have made so much money; I dont think as many of them will sign up for that role as once did. There aren't many Earl Morrals out there any more.

Good points. Who would you suggest?

As I said, I'm not a Winston fan. Backup quarterback is a seven-day a week job, and it's different from being a starter. Winston's shortcomings are characteristics that are most important in the backup role. I hear you. I'm not troubled by the backups the Bills have. I think Fromm is likely to be the backup, because he's a quick study and he's physically better than Barkley. This will be Barkley's last season in Buffalo.

Well, sure, if I'm a GM and I need a starter, I want Winston all day long. But that isn't the job I'm trying to fill. I'm looking for a guy who isn't going be a problem for the three or four weeks that I need him. I want a guy who understands the offense, who isn't a loose cannon, who will study and do what he's told every day, including for the eight or ten or seventeen weeks that he isn't playing. Winston isn't starting anywhere for a variety of reasons, but among them is that he doesn't fit that last sentence. He's in New Orleans because the Saints are shopping for a new starter, and Winston is a project who with the proper training could be the guy the Saints need. If I were Payton, I'd be thrilled that I got him. McDermott isn't looking for a starter; he's looking for a pure backup. As I said, the Bills want Allen to be a game manager with talent, and so far he's shown plenty of evidence that he can be that. When you're building your offense to be run by a game manager, you don't need a backup who has failed as a starter precisely because he wasn't a game manager. I'm not a Winston fan. I mean, he does amazing things sometimes, but you don't what you're going to get when he steps on the field. That's not the backup I want. Biscuit - McDermott and Beane know Newton very well, and they know Barkley very well. I seriously doubt that choosing Barkley over Newton was stupid. Of course, Newton probably wasn't an option, because Newton probably understood that he had slim chance and none to start in Buffalo.

There is no way in the world I'm taking Winston over Barkley as the backup. No way. The guy is an interception machine - was in college and is in the pros. My backup has to play within the system and minimize mistakes. Barkley's career numbers are worse, but that isn't who he is now. Now he is a system quarterback, a game manager. And I don't think the Bills should go looking for competition for Allen, not this year. Next year, maybe. Gunner says there were better veteran choices out there than Barkley. Maybe, but not many. And particularly this year, when the backup is going to be getting more or less no quality reps in camp and none in preseason games, having the same backup the Bills had last season is a big advantage. Plus, I think Fromm will be the backup.

Yeah. Put another way, only about 15 teams have a guy starting at QB whom fans like and think is ready to win. If half the teams don't have a quality starter, why would anyone think that there are quality backups to be had? People here have said Fitz would be a great backup. Sure. He'd be such a good backup he's a starter. Does anyone think Chad Henne or Matt Moore is running the Chiefs' offense in any way that even remotely resembles how Mahomes runs it? How about CJ Beathard and Nick Mullens backing up Garoppolo? If I'm a Saints fan, I don't even get a lot of comfort out Taysom Hill and Jameis Winston. As Big Hands points out, this is a message board problem, not a real world problem.