thenorthremembers

Keith McKeller and Nate Odomes at the Thurman Thomas show, must have been 1991? Stood in line with my Dad for an autograph, got the autograph but they left me hanging for a hand shake because they were too busy talking to the blondes behind me. I was 8. Marcvus Patton spoke at a men's breakfast for the local group of churches in WNY around 1994. He signed after the breakfast and seemed pretty open with conversation and time. Marv Levy had a book signing when I worked at Walden Books in the Eastern Hills mall around 2004. We ushered him through the back door and I couldnt get over how tan he was. I thought he looked exactly like Mike Wallace from 60 minutes. Literally the most genuine and kind person I've ever met from the Bills organization. His wife had to encourage him to move the line along because he was spending so much time with every fan. Tom Donahoe walked into the same bookstore right before closing around Christmas 2005. Dude looked completely defeated and had the jowls of Droopy the Dog. I told him I was a big fan of the team, he said thank you but wasnt looking for a conversation. A month or so later he was fired. Hope he enjoyed the books. Jim Kelly- My oldest son usually goes to Kelly camp. Jim and his family are always walking around. One day when I was walking around waiting for the kid to get done Jim came by in a golf cart and stopped to talk for a second with a big "Hey Buddy!" Doesnt know me from Adam, but stopped to ask how my kid was liking the camp. Seemed like a nice enough guy, but you can tell he has a bit of the old school "dude" in him. That said, guy has been through hell and come out on top. Not a player, but at Kelly Camp a few years ago one of the other Dad's and I had kid's in the same drills daily so we would just end up talking at length almost everyday. Talked a lot about Brady and the Patriots (when he was still there) and how hard it is to find a good QB, this is the summer of Josh Allen's rookie year. Anyways, during the week he asked me what I did for a living and I told him. Then I asked him, and he said he works here, the kids were at the fieldhouse at the time. I had been talking to the Bills Director of Football Operations the entire week without knowing it. Seems like a really cool guy got along famously.

He asked for a trade and then was released when they couldnt find someone to trade for him. I also dont think he was discussing a "health issue" he was discussing his rights as a human not to seek proactive medical treatment. He was the one facing backlash online and in the stadium for not allowing public opinion to sway his beliefs. Personally I feel like that backlash was ignorant, misguided, and carried out by people who want you to fall in line with popular opinion regardless of facts. Ironically, its generally those same people who spout off about temperance and acceptance of personal beliefs (as long as they share those same beliefs, otherwise here comes the pitchforks) A football team is made of people from all races, religions, and political beliefs, if the culture was bad enough to allow Cole's beliefs to alter the way they played football then the problem wasn't on Cole. He wasnt out getting arrested, he just wasnt following public opinion, and given the way the NFL has totally backed off of the restrictions they placed on their players, he also wasnt wrong. Bottom line is the guy was a fantastic player for the team. He didnt divide the team. He was let go because he asked to be let go and his decline as an athlete coupled with a more restrictive salary cap made that decision a lot easier for the Bills.

Doesn't want pigs to suffer but has no problem pressing charges against actual humans after he has consequences for his actions......yeah this seems aligned with society at the moment. Nothing shocking here at all.

And this is why I hardly leave my house. Entitlement and self importance is running rampant.

He alluded to a few things but I wouldnt classify it as a bunch of crap. It was mostly around the COVID Protocols and the front office not having his back more. Good player for us, and will never forget the guy playing on a broken leg. Despite the COVID stuff, it was obvious his skills were starting to diminish. Glad he gets to spend time with his wife and kids. Never a bad thing to be a 33 year old retired multimillionaire.

I understand Josh's runs inflate the rush yards, but so do Lamar's in Baltimore. The adjusted line yards stat is exactly the type of stat I am talking about. You could pull stats like this all day to form a narrative but at the end of the day the Bills are a successful offense, adjusted line yards or not. Its like the Buddy Nix thing, "Dont tell me about the labor pains, just show me the baby." I dont care how the Bills win, i just care that they win. The depth of analytics has very little to do with the teams overall record and more to do with bored fans and pundits who have an overwhelming need for content from Monday-Saturday.

Feel bad for his kids. No matter how much sadness he has brought to my football life, you never want to see this happen to a family.

Serious question, how do they pull out metrics on things like pass and run blocking when the assignments are scheme specific? Seems like it would be subjective based on the reviewer. I am not arguing that the Bills are good at running the ball, but they are ranked 12th in the league in yards per game, which is above average. Just having a hard time with all the negativity when the Bills have the 3rd ranked offense in the league and the best point differential by 12 points. Feel like there is a ton of nitpicking. Sick of hearing "The Bills just may be doomed and the Defensive Win Rate by a Player in the 3rd game of their 5th season stat backs it up!"

Agreed. He was getting what you'd expect out of the Wisconsin program. That said, the close loss to Washington State and the blowout loss to Illinois probably sealed his fate. Go to the younger guy with NFL experience and maybe you get a bump in recruiting. I just see them a lot like I see Iowa, can win 65-75% of their games, can have a boom year every 5-10 years, but you'd honestly be better off to get a respectable man as your coach and let him hang around for 20 years or so. Doesnt make sense to waste money paying dead contracts to coaches when you arent a realistic national champion contender anyways.

This is the one that made me lose my mind yesterday. They were holding like crazy but they were mugging on this play.

Defense is ranked 2nd in the NFL, Offense is ranked 3rd. Id say they both are playing really well and its a full team game. That said, if you take the defense away and Josh Allen is still your QB your record is probably still decent. If you take Josh Allen away and keep the defense its probably not quite as good.

I was thinking this throughout the entire game. The Bills need a #2 WR and a running back

He had a huge talk with my kid the last three years at Kelly Camp.

Gonna say what I always do when he comes up. Is he entitled, probably. Has he made some really dumb mistakes, yes. But he has also done a lot of good for kids through Kelly Camp and works with the ARC of Erie and Niagara Counties. Gotta give him credit for some of the good too. Everyone has their stuff. His is just a lot more public.

I like how Al tried to play it off as everything but a head injury. Same way Joe Flacco's hands tensed up when Kiko Alonso hit him a few years back. Guy should have never been on the field.

So broken nose then?

#1 seed you get an extra week to get your players healthy plus you have home field advantage throughout the remainder of the playoffs.

Maybe not 15 years ago but given today's climate I'd be amazed if both weren't required to take sensitivity training and write a formal apology to one another in the media wherein they would have to address the other in their proper pronouns as to not inflict further harm or cause PTSD.

In other news it feels like Justin Houston has been playing football since 1978. I had no clue he was only 33.

Who do you suggest we get? The Bills have about $2 million dollars in cap space, and are way up against it next year.

I was having the same thought typing my original message. Football is football, but my hope is we cant be snakebitten all year,

This is why people need to tune out Sports Media from March-August. And then maybe again from September-February. People literally thought the Bills would go undefeated this year and at the first sign of trouble its Chicken Little City.

Ben played 18 seasons: In 8 of those seasons the Steelers were in the top 15 in the league in rushing, 10 of those seasons they were not. When you look at his average wins in the seasons where the Steelers were in top half of the league, vs where they were in the bottom half, the average wins are almost identical. To say he "rarely" had an ineffective run game is inaccurate. If you actually look at the stats, he had an average or below average run game for over half his career. The mistake we make when looking back at Ben's career is we tend to recall the early Super Bowl appearances where he was green, and they won by running the ball, that was 2006. What people fail to remember is the period from 2014-2018 where they were airing the ball out, averaging over 300 passing yards a game and still winning a ton of games. The point Cowherd was making is that the Bills are going to wear Josh down like Cam and Big Ben. Cam was an anomaly, he had an AC joint injury that rendered his incredible arm talent useless. He injured that making a tackle on an interception tackle, not running the ball. If Cowherd wants to be hyperbolic let him, but dont let the facts be dismissed, Big Ben was an elite Quarterback until age 36. And even when he was spent for the last two years of his career he was 21-10 as a starting QB, despite having the 32nd and 30th ranked rushing game in the league.

Better to have it early in the year than late. White will be back in two weeks, and hopefully they get Dane Jackson back soon as well.

For the you have to run the ball guys. Last three Super Bowl Winners and their season rank for yards rushing the year they won. Rams: 25th TB: 28th KC: 23rd You can do the same thing with short quick passes as you can running the ball. The bottom line is you have to outscore your opponents, you dont do that with ground and pound.