Shaw66

Great video! The speed and power of those athletes is amazing. And as someone said, Lofton running with them. Great stuff.

The old timers remember Lionel Taylor. Dead at 89. Awesome receiver for the Broncos in the AFL. First receiver in history with 100 receptions in a season, a number that was almost inconceivable in that era. He was as close to unstoppable as you can get. There was a story about him that may or may not be true, but at the time he was about the only receiver in pro football who could have done it. Story was that in one AFL game, on each play when he came to the line of scrimmage, he told the DB across from him what route he was running. Caught something like 11 passes in the game! He just abused defenders. RIP

Elway, for sure. Toughness, running ability, arm strength, accuracy, and a gamer. Favre was a loose cannon. Allen already has gotten his game more under control. Allen will be like Ben later in his career, when Allen stops running. Newton isn't on the same planet. Bert Jones? Really? Allen's a top 10 all-time QB and he hasn't peaked. There are not 10 QBs I would take ahead of him if I were building a team. Allen has it all, and there aren't many like him.

Sorry - I've read only the first page of this thread, so I don't if others have talked about what I say here. We've had an ongoing discussion, years, about how the Bills need a a true playmaker or two, someone in addition to Josh, most likely on defense. They need a Chris Jones or a great edge, or a really special DB or linebacker, a guy who is the highest paid guy at his position, like the Cowboys linebacker wants to be. And we're frustrated, because the Bills rarely go after those guys. I've been saying that McDermott's view of the team is that he wants great all-round athletes, buys who are superb competitors and who have really good physical skills. Good speed, good strength, a good collection of skills - all purpose guys. Spencer Brown can pass protect and run block and get downfield and use power. He's not the best in the league at any of those things, but he's really good at all of them. So, when the time comes to talk contract, two interesting things happen. First, if the guy is what I described - really talented and is a great contributor to how the team wants to play, the Bills extend him. That's what we saw this off-season. Second, if he is good but less likely to be a core player for the future, the guy goes to the free agent market. Those guys are rarely big successes on their next teams, because they aren't big-success kinds of guys. Spencer Brown is great for how the Bills play, but if he went to another team, it's not likely he'd ever become a true All-Pro kind of star because, well, the Bills aren't looking for All-pro kinds of guys (other than QB, and they got one of those). (And for those of who want to argue that Spencer Brown may in fact turn out to be a true All-Pro, I won't argue. But if a guy they like has that potential, that's just another reason why the Bills extended him.) And that is why free agents who leave Buffalo don't become stars someplace else. The process, yes, the process the Bills have in place to manage football personnel is very, very good. The roster keeps getting better and better. There's plenty of discussion to be had about how the Bills draft, but I don't have any complaints at all about how they manage free agents, coming in or going out.

Allen to Kincaid for another TD

Well, I hope the can get together. I don't think Cook is worth what what he wants. He's a back who has to be in the right situation to be productive, and Buffalo is the right situation. If someone gives him a big contract and he underperforms on a team less successful than the Bills, one day he'll be sitting at home counting his money and wishing he'd played for a winner. It's his choice, and I'm sure that's what Beane is telling him.

All true. OJ always played in short sleeves. Someone asked him why, and he said that somehow the skin on his arms could "feel" the presence of tacklers nearby. Sounds, improbably, but that "innate sense" you talk about was real, and there must be some explanation for it. Barry Sanders had it, too.

He was just spectacular.

Yeah, Happy. These threads are great; it's like reading play by play. Thanks to everyone who contributes this stuff.

You know what's great about the Bills these days is how many guys the Bills have who could be believably described as "the best player on the field." Think about skill players. Who might be called that? White, Johnson, Rapp, Bishop, Benford, Bernard, Milano, a half dozen dlinemen. That's a lot of good football players. And on offense, the same thing. Is anyone surprised when any of the wideout has a good day in practice? I'm not. It's almost a matter of who's turn it is to make some plays. Running backs? Good players. O line? Quality players across the line. The Bills have a really solid lineup.

Yes. Total no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. Experience starts, youth works its way into more snaps as the season progresses. He does it that way all the time. The objective for McDermott's players is to execute the play as called 100% of the time - that means go in the right direction, go to the right place, react to what the offense is doing in the right way. If White does that 100% of the time and Hairston is at 95%, White will play even if on Hairston's 95% he's a half-step faster. McDermott does it that way he abhors having 5% of plays where a player has left a hole in what is truly a team defense. The result is that the younger players sit until they can execute more or less flawlessly. Bishop sat, Bernard sat. It wasn't so true in the earlier years, because no one knew the defense as well as McDermott wanted, so Edmunds and Milano played a lot, even though they were making mistakes. Now, it's different. The only way Hairston starts in September is if (1) he's a really quick learner or (2) White has nothing left and Hairston has learned at least enough to make him better than Jackson and Lewis.

I have no stats whatsoever, but I think that there are a few guys who are accurate on the deep ball - no more than a half dozen - and Josh isn't in that group, but he's in whatever the next group is. Ten or 12 starting quarterbacks don't have the arm strength to get the ball deep with any accuracy at all. Josh's arm strength alone puts him above all of those, and his accuracy is in fact decent, as we've seen often enough. Most QBs, including Josh, are going deep only once or twice a game, if that. It simply isn't a big part of the game. So, I don't get worrying about him being mediocre on a play that most QBs are mediocre or worse and that only happens once or twice a game. If I could be a fly on the wall when Brady and McDermott are discussing the passing game, I seriously doubt that discussions about Josh's deep-ball accuracy would come up very often, if at all.

A lot of downtown hotels are booked for Saturday night. You may want to start looking.

Yeah, and frankly slightly below average is what I would have guessed.

Actually, on the first page Old Coot said this: I don't know where he got his data, but if he is correct then 75% of second rounders play out their full rookie contract with their teams.

Thanks. Amazing how difficult it is to draft well. Teams should be better than that.

I know you didn't say it was bad. Interesting that you think 50% is better than average. I don't know at all, but I'd like to get starters on more than 50% of second rounders.

Do you know the league average for guys getting the second contract? And actually, it's 3/6, since Cook is certainly second contract worthy. The question with Cook isn't whether he should be kept; the question is whether he and the Bills can agree on a price. I'd think a 50% yield on second rounders is not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Thank you all. Great information. I passed it on to my friend. Go Bills!

Hmm. I was sure we'd get some responses to this. Is Hammer's closed or something?

I have a friend who's planning a trip with some guys to see the Bengals game, of 4:25 start. He's heard that Hammer'slot is a good place to hang out pregame. He has some questions: Can he park an RV there? Can he stay overnight there? What time should he arrive to get in, or can he get a reservation? Thanks!

I didn't say any of that, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. I expressly said the season doesn't depend on Jackson.

As I said, I agree with your conclusion - pass rush is the paramount problem. That's not overstated. You overstate the importance of Reid/Mahomes. The Chiefs are far from the only threat. Building to beat the Chiefs is a mistake. The Bills have to be able to beat the Ravens, beat the Eagles, beat the Rams, and beat whichever other teams emerge. You overstate when you say Josh guarantees 30 points against the Chiefs. You overstate that it's paramount that Jackson outdo Epenesa's numbers. Jackson is not the only possible answer to enhanced pass rush. That's all overstated.

I think you overstate a lot here, but the basic point is correct: The Bills' most consistently problematic area has been pass rush. Better performance there could have meant a Lombardi or two. I don't think it's a crisis, but the Bills need be better getting after the QB.

I don't have a player for either category. What I know is that McDermott's mantra is continuous improvement, so his players do not regress. Each season, they're better than the previous season - UNTIL their bodies start to regress. There's nothing to be done about that. So, whoever said Milano could be right - last year we may have seen the beginning of his physical regression. White is another one.