Shaw66

I wasn't defending Beane. I was responding to someone who was.

Well, I agree with you, but as with any tough job, there are a lot of different aspects to it. Just because Beane may be good at trolling for PS players and training camp help doesn't mean he gets a pass on other stuff. I'm not a big believer in one-year rental of stars just to make a Super Bowl run, but others are, and it's a fair criticism to complain that Beane hasn't been stellar in that department. And I'm not sure I agree, but it's a fair criticism to say that his first- and second-round draft yields haven't been as good as they should be. It's all stuff to talk about while we wait for the games to begin.

I haven't looked here for a few days, and this morning you guys are making me nervous. I'm planning a family trip to the game, Scotland, and Ireland. I don't have plane tickets but I don't expect to have a lot of trouble with that. Flying through Dublin to London, back home from Dublin. Planning on arriving Saturday morning, spend the day recovering from the trip, go to the game Sunday, train on Monday to Edinburgh. We're not planning to do anything in London by way of sightseeing, shopping, whatever. Some of us have been there, others aren't interested. Given our travel plans, none of the package deals make sense for us. My season ticket representative assures me the Bills will have tickets, but as of ten days ago she didn't know how many they're getting or when they will be available. I have two season tickets but will need four tickets to the game. I hope (1) I can get tickets through the Bills and (2) that I can get four. My plan always has been to go to the ticket services if I need to, and you guys are making me nervous now about what prices will be like. I'd love some good advice about hotels and transportation to the game. I'm assuming we'll take the train/tube/subway (whatever it's called). I never leave games early, and I assume we'll hang in the stadium for ten or fifteen minutes before making our way to the station. Does that make sense? Will there be a long wait at the station, or does the crowd thin out by a half hour after the game? As for hotels, I have four considerations: (1) Easy access to the station for the train to game. (2) Reasonable price (for London). (3) Bills fan activity within walking distance. (4) Close to Kings Cross station for getaway to Edinburgh. I know (1) and (4) might be mutually exclusive (currently I don't know where anything is - all I know is that everything is about 3000 miles east of where I live). I'd appreciate any suggestions from you guys on the ground there. Thanks.

You're correct, but so is the big play pont. A more aggressive defense should generally yield fewer yards per play. But ot also will force more mistakes. The trick is to be more aggressive without giving up more explosive plays.

Most of the off season I've thought 2023 is on Dorsey. It still is, but Josh needs to become elite, and that's about not just being good with some spectacular plays thrown in; it's about being a high-performance technician - getting his decisions and his throws right, play after play after play.

That whiny look Tatum has on his face every time something doesn't go his way says something about his mental toughness. He looks like a suburban kid whose parents didn't take him for ice cream after the game. And Brown just doesn't show up consistently. Both of them, when the game is flowing their way, are spectacular. When the game's on the line, they don't show up consistently. Horford and Smart are dogs, but the two guys who are supposed to lead the team don't do it consistently. And it says something about the team that they can't win at home. The crowd was nuts in the first half last night, and the team couldn't match the crowd's intensity. Coach? You're right there. Miami shut down the Celtics offense with their zone defense in multiple games, and by game seven they should have had an answer. They didn't. That's on the coach. Nice team, and I enjoy watching them, but they don't look like a team that wins alley fights. Back to the Bills. I agree with whoever said Beane had a good off-season. I think he collected players who should help. Someone said a day or two ago that he has solid depth on the offensive line, and that probably will be important. They have a good collection of receivers, good enough that if they don't land Hopkins, it's okay. Hopkins is icing. I think the defensive backfield is stellar, with only the cover capabilities of the middle linebacker a question mark. D line is solid. I was excited when they signed Harris, and doubly excited when they signed Murray. I expect Murray will bringing smiles to a lot of faces in December.

I've gotten beyond optimism and pessimism. Winning a Super Bowl is difficult. The Bills have enough on offense and defense to do it. They either will do it, and people's optimism will be justified, or they won't, and people's pessimism will be justified. I watched the Celtics lose last night, and kept thinking that they are a team that just doesn't have the toughness, including the winner's attitude, to win the championship. As I watched, I worried that that could describe the Bills, too. It would break McDermott's heart to admit that his team isn't tough enough to win, and it's up to him to prove that they are.

That's not what I intended. Of course, a big play can come anytime in the season, but short-term acquisitions of talent are always done with the late season in mind, not October. Its easier to win In October, and if you need Hopkins to win there are other things wrong with your team. Happy said the point is not production, which is a season-long thing. The Hail Murray was great, but when the season came to an end, the Bills were the team to beat, not the Cards.

That's excellent. I didn't need the list of drops, because the fundamental point is obvious. The Bills don't have a lot of guys to catch a Hail Murray. Diggs maybe. Davis occasionally. DHop is definitely one of those guys. So, that makes the question a little bit different. I agree, I guess, that adding him would be about adding a playmaker just so that you have him when you need him to make a play, at the end of the season and in the playoffs. It's similar to, but not exactly the same as, signing Miller last year. Regular season production is nice, but the Bills were clear that they brought him to make crucial fourth quarter plays, particularly in January. He's nice to have on the field at other times, and he contributes, but that's not what he's here for. Miller's different because everything indicated that he had more miles left, that he could be that guy for three years or more. So, he filled both a longer-term need and a win-now need. Clearly, I don't know, but Hopkins feels more like a one-and-done guy, which is not McBeane's style. If he projects as a three-year contributor, and if the chemistry works, then he would be a more important acquisition.

I agree. I mean, I like the idea of Hopkins, but the truth is that if Dorsey does his job and Allen does his job, the Bills already have enough fire power.

Well, I don't think I've entered into the DHop discussion substantively in any part of what's gone on in this and the other thread, so I'll take a minor stab at it and stop thinking about the guy. Here are a few impressions, based on a little research, casual observation of the guy over the years, and review of a few posts here. 1. No one knows the extent to which DHop would be a contributor on the Bills in 2023, and therefore no one knows the true extent of the gamble it would be to spend a lot of money on him. And, of course, no one knows how much it would cost to get him. So, I don't get the passion that so many people seem to bring to arguing one side or the other of those questions. 2. What we do know is that, at his best, DHop was a great receiver. We also know that he hasn't been as great in the past few years. We all scratched our heads when Houston let him go for very little, but then he went to Arizona and wasn't the truly dominant force that we expected him to be. Maybe Houston wasn't as naive about his future as we thought. Still, we've seen him make some great plays since leaving Houston, including one highlight reel play against Buffalo. Bottom line, we don't know how much he has left. 3. There's not been much, so far as I know, documented about his being a problem or a borderline locker room cancer, but there has been a visible edge about him for several years. In fact, he's always seemed to me to be similar to Diggs - fierce competitor, wants the ball, and unnecessarily strident on those subjects. Having two wideouts like that, both demanding the ball and from time to time making teammates, uncomfortable could be more disruptive than the combo might produce. 4. Still, there is no denying that a productive Diggs and a productive Hopkins on the field together could be an all-time great wideout combination. Both demand double coverage, both run exquisite routes, both are outstanding ball catchers. Both are nightmares in the slot. If Kincaid turns out to be as advertised, a receiving corps with all those guys could be unstoppable. 5. On the other hand, there is a limit to how much more productive he can make the offense. How many more yards and how many more TDs is the offense going to get with DHop than without? Last season the Bills were second to KC in yards per game and points per game (397 and 28), and as much as our video-game selves can imagine an offense putting up 600 yards per game and 50 points, that simply is not going to happen. The athletes in the NFL are too good, and the Bills still wouldn't have an offensive line that dominates the defense. Yes, yes, I know, with that great passing attack, running the ball would get easier and blocking would get easier, and blah, blah, blah. I've played that mind game plenty of times, but when you watch the actual games, it's clear that it never takes the league very long to figure out how to slow down any offensive juggernaut. So, at the end of the season, what will DHop have added? 30 yards a game, maybe? What's he going to do, catch two more balls per game than Davis, at 15 yards a catch? Probably something like that. Will he also draw attention from Diggs and the tight ends, and therefore get some incremental additional yards for other receivers? Yes, maybe, but if the Bills are throwing the ball that much more to take advantage of the best of DHop, they're also running less, and the total yards will be affected by that. Where does that leave me? I'd like to see him in a Bills uniform. I've never wanted OBJ, but as I said, I think Hopkins is an outstanding technician like Diggs, and Diggs is a really special weapon. The two of them in the huddle, with any third wideout already on the roster, are a major, major problem. Either one of them in the slot is a threat way beyond what we saw from Beasley on his best days. I come to the same conclusion that I often do: I don't know, and I doubt any of us knows. I do know this, however, which is what I say all the time: McBeane know way better than any of us how much he has left in the tank, how much of a problem, if at all, he is in the locker room, whether he would clash with Diggs, how much he is likely to add to the productivity of the offense, and how much it would cost to add him. Their understanding of those issues is way beyond mine, and they've already decided how hotly they want to pursue him, if at all. They already have an opinion, based on better information than we have, as to how likely it is that DHop can deliver what we see in our dreams. We'll know what McBeane think soon enough, because they apparently could find the money to get him if they really want him.

Sign between their heads says internet airlines, which is out of business and operated in Mexico, so far as I can tell

I'm not making a pick. I have no idea about these guys. But like you, I think Kincaid and Torrence will contribute more or less right away, and Williams and Shorter are the two guys who I hope will be pleasant surprises. I see that Williams already is getting reps at middle linebacker, and frankly I think it's probably easier to pick up the mlb duties than we think. McDermott was perfectly happy to play Edmunds as a rookie, and he had less experience at the position than Williams. Plus, the Bills obviously were willing to live with Edmunds's mistakes in his rookie and second seasons, when he often failed to attack his run gaps properly. Williams should be a better blitzer from the get-go, something Edmunds never did well, and maybe a more natural run-stopper. The nuances of the passing game are what could be a problem. Anyway, I'm hoping, because I like his speed and tenacity. And I'm hoping Shorter will show the talent that made him such a highly recruited guy and begin to make his presence felt. If he can make the team as a special teams player, he'll get occasional playing time as receiver, and it would be be such a plus if he could add an explosive play here or there when he gets those opportunities.

Bengals got their after the Bills absolutely exhausted the Chiefs the week before.

Staley LaFleur Taylor do t have a Super Bowl. Their QBs are excellent, so those coaches must be horrible too.

Vrabel had the best running back in the last 20 years and a handcrafted line to go with him. And responding to others, I actually never have thought the Bills had a great roster. They have two great safeties BECAUSE of McDermott. They had agreat pass defense with Levi Wallace as the #2 corner. They have an underproductive d line today, and it was worse three years ago. They haven't had a star running back, and we all know about the o line. This team wins because of McDermott, and that's why 22 is ridiculous.

First, I want to quote this because you had me with "He made the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor." How does the 22nd best coach make the playoffs with the 22nd best quarterback? How does the 22nd best coach have a regular season W-L percentage that is 3rd, 7th, 2nd, 8th, 22nd, and 11th in the league in his six seasons as a head coach. So, his very worst season as a head coach is what ranks him as a head coach? Brian Daboll is 8th? Come on. That is nothing but a prediction of the future. Mike Vrabel is 13th? McDermott has a better regular season winning percentage and a better playoff winning percentage, so why exactly is Vrabel ahead of McDermott? Mike McDaniel is 14th? Worse career winning percentage and winless in the playoffs? Kevin O'Connell is 15th? Winless in the playoffs? , Dan Campbell is 16th? 17-28 career coaching record, hasn't sniffed the playoffs. It's just such a stupid list. It's evidence of how journalism has abandoned all standards. No self-respecting editor would allow such stuff to be published. Instead of exercising journalistic standards, the editors want content, no matter how bad, so long as the words are spelled correctly and the content generates clicks. Horrid.

He ran out. I will give him a couple of mine. ??????????

Well, it makes some sense, I suppose. They don't know what teams are playing well, for sure, until the schedule is finalized. I suppose the league could get the schedule done earlier, but maybe not. They have a draft to run, for example. Once the schedule is done, they have to finalize the ticketing arrangements with Ticketmaster Europe and with the stadium where the game will be. And I'm sure there are plenty of other details. Could they do it earlier? Sure, but it gets more and more complicated the earlier they do it.

Yes, tickets are going to be offered to season ticket holders first. The Bills don't know yet how many tickets they will get, or when. I'm sure the Bills have some plans about how they will allocate tickets to season ticket holders, but they aren't saying yet.

Yup. That was a waste of a good hour of sleep time.

Yeah, Brady too. Brady would have been really good it only he could have remembered that stuff without the needing the wrist band. My understanding is that the wrist band doesn't have plays on it; it has formations. I think it's a cheat sheet that tells the QB what formation to put the team in depending on what play has been called. Maybe somebody here knows more about what information is on the wrist band.

I have a friend who worked in the sports industry for a long time. He and Nantz became close friends. My friend says the same thing about the bolded part. I've had the opportunity to meet Nantz a couple of times, in the broadcast booth on game days, and he's just so remarkably pleasant. When he's talking to you, there's nothing more important to him than what you have to say. Super guy.

Maybe McBeane have gotten the o line right now. We'll see. Their philosophy is to get their talent in the draft, and fill holes with free agency. They haven't drafted well, or enough in the early rounds. But I think the problem is different. I think they want jackknives at every position, other than their premier players (Allen, Diggs, Miller, White aren't required to be jackknives). They want guys who can play multiple positions, and at each position they want guys who can play different styles. So, they draft a guy like Brown, who simply is not a traditional offensive tackle, because they thing he can be better than average in pass pro, better than average in the run game, have better than average mobility. They draft Cody Ford, not sure what he can do, but he must be a guard or a tackle, right? Torrence looks to me like they've gone away from the jackknife approach and said to themselves, "Let's just get a good offensive guard. He may not be versatile; he just will be good."

They don't miss much. They know what needs to be done, and they do it. And the fans! Bills fans were the only fans to reach out. Great stuff.