Shaw66

Sad news. Always enjoyed his posts.

Some stats are performance stats. They tell how productive a player is. Total yards, passer rating, etc. Some stats are analytic stats. They may relate to productivity, and they help coaches figure out how to make players more productive, but in and of themselves they don't tell us how good a player is. However mich separation the Bills receivers have been getting, they've been productive lately.

Exactly. Definitely a good showing, but let's not overstate it. When they made noise, Seahawk fans were MUCH louder than Bills fans. The reality is that the Bills let all the air out of the stadium with their opening drive. Seattle fans never got their energy back after that. They got quieter, and the Bills fans could compete with that quieter Seahawks crowd.

That's when the defender is in you back pocket. Sure it does. Separation is important, and stas like this are important to coaches when they're trying to improve performance. However, when you're one of the beat passi g teams in the league, it isn't cause for concern. EVERY team has some negative stays on one category or another. KC is about 20th in passer rating.

No way. 20%, tops.

Guy was a stud for the Bills. And for Damar.

This is one of those cherry-pucked stats. Yes, it would be nice have more separation, but Bills are 4th in passer rating. That's fine me and much better than 4th in separation and last in passer rating. Last season everyone complained about YAC. Cherry-picked stats don't mean a lot.

$14.00 to Stef's foundation. I'm in. https://www.givesignup.org/DonationWebsite/TheStefonDiggsFoundation/Donate

True. There always are visiting team fans around me in Orchard Park, and they celebrate wins there just like we do on the road.

Many Seahawks jerseys are same color blue. There were more blue Hawks jerseys than Bills jerseys. A lot of the blue jerseys are 12th man jerseys with the number 12. I kept thinking they were Kelly jerseys. No. There also were more than a few Kelly 12 jerseys.

I think the 5th year option is valuable if you don't want to extend him, like Edmunds. If you want to extend, it will get done in the 4th year either way.

I agree about the vision, at least as compared to Cook. But he attacks holes with a good burst and some power. He is an effective runner but less of a break-away threat.

And Atlanta.

I thought the same thing. Cook accelerates better - instant speed

Yes! OJ always wore short sleeves. He said he could feel tacklers better that way, even before contact.

I think someone pulled him aside and showed him how easy it would be to get injured doing that. Contract time is coming, and an injury could cost him millions.

I was noticing yesterday how patient Cook has become. He gets behind the line and waits. And waits. When he sees the opening, he has a remarkable burst of speed and takes off to the hole. That burst, together with his ability to change direction quickly, has made him really effective running between the tackles. His speed at the edge is obvious. He has also been impressive getting the last yard or two in his runs. He is by no means a power back, but he keeps working th extra yard, especially around the goal line. For most of his rookie season, he couldn't win the starting job, but the Bills knew what they had.

In his press conference after the game, Geno Smith gave credit to the Bills fans in the stadium. He said sometimes it sounded like he was playing on the road. I was sitting pretty far up in the lower bowl on the Seahawk sideline, and there was a lot of noise coming from all the Bills fans from goal line to goal line on the Bills sideline. Great job.

I heard it exactly the other way around. I went to those games, but I certainly was no expert in defensive line play (then or now), so I can't say one way or the other. Either way, that defense was stifling.

Actually, I heard it said that Dunaway was the best player on that defense and that Sestak was able to make the plays he did - which were great - because Dunaway drew double teams on almost every play. Not worth arguing about. Jacobs was outstanding, and Tracey and Stratton were very good. Edgerson and Byrd were an outstanding pair at cornerback, and I loved Saimes. The Bills had trouble controlling McDole's weight. There was story that one year he came to camp substantially overweight, and the Bills put him on a strict diet. After a couple of weeks of dieting, McDole hadn't lost a pound. The Bills were baffled. They decided to put his room under surveillance. That's when they discovered that McDole was sneaking out of room late at night and going to a nearby McDonald's, where he pounded down multiple double cheeseburgers. He was a character.

Yes, maybe Fitzgerald was better than Cooper. The fact that he may be top five in one separate category of skills is really irrelevant. I just took a look back, and I think Cooper has been in the top 10 in receiving yards three times since he came into the league in 2015. As I've said, I think he's a good fit for the Bills. He's better, clearly better than any receiver on the roster (only Coleman has the talent to even hope to become what Cooper has been). He's a good fit because he fits what the Bills are trying to do generally, which is to have a collection of receivers who can run the entire route tree from many different formations. He's made a career of doing that. And he's important because in critical situations, the defense takes a big risk if they don't double him. That's exactly what the Bills need, because Shakir, Coleman, and Kincaid all are good enough to take advantage when the defense is focusing on Cooper.

I think you seriously misunderstand Beane, McDermott, and the Bills. Yes, Beane may think that this team isn't as talented as next year's team may be, but McBeane think they are competing for a Lombardi this season. They've thought that since the Bills lost to the Chiefs in the playoffs, and they've thought that whether they got Cooper or not. They know, and I think most Bills fans know, that with McDermott and Allen, the Bills are in the hunt every season.

Top 50 may be harsh, but I basically agree with you. I wasn't dissing Cooper, or didn't intend to. I agree that he's top 15 (or thereabouts), and that's great for the Bills. Cooper isn't Lamb, isn't Jefferson, isn't even Mike Evans. I'd compare him to Larry Fitzgerald - a guy whom I wouldn't call explosive, but I guy I definitely want on my team. What I like about him, and what I liked about Fitzgerald, is that he knows his role and he does his job, and he's able to do it at a very high level. As I said in my earlier post, he's a perfect guy for McDermott - and unless Cooper hits a wall this season, I fully expect that he'll be back next season.

I hate to say this, but I think Cooper may be the prototypical Bills player - the kind of guy McDermott loves. He has talent and he does his job, and he doesn't let anything else get in the way. Put another way, his play isn't animated by burning passion; instead, it's animated by excellence at his position. That means he's a guy who is very productive but isn't a big-play star. He isn't Justin Jefferson or Chris Jones. He's like Rousseau - really talented, good size, does his job. It's why the Bills took Coleman instead of Worthy. If I'm right about that, then he's a perfect guy to drop into this receiver group: all-round excellent receiver, better than anyone else in the room, will make everyone around him better. Just the kind of guy McDermott loves. Cooper will make the Bills better, game in, game out, but he isn't necessarily going to make the big play that a guy like DHop does. I "hate to say" it because I think every really successful team needs at least one truly outstanding guy at a key position. Cooper isn't that guy, at least I don't think so.

I will be at the game.