SoTier
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Posts posted by SoTier
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57 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:
Ed Oliver is a solid DT and provides much needed pass rush ability in the interior. I don’t get the hate he receives. He is one of the main reasons this is a perennial top 10 defense. Ask Joe Burrow what it’s like to have to win shootouts every week.
Some people need a scapegoat.
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52 minutes ago, balln said:
ESPN doing insider top player top 10 by positions
no Ed Oliver , not even honorable mention
pretty interesting that every other DT drafted in his class is in top 10
imo this is beanes biggest blunder. Can’t miss on top 10 picks. Ed is an ok player. If he was a second rounder I feel his production and impact match that
If Oliver is Beane's "biggest blunder", Beane must be pretty good. Teams have much bigger "misses" on Top Ten picks every single draft, including 2019:
2018: #10 Josh Rosen
2019: #6 Daniel Jones
2020 :#2 Chase Young
2021 : #4 Kyle Pitts
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13 hours ago, PonyBoy said:
You have to be in it to win it...
But the Eagles would have abused the Bills if they made the SB last year.
The Eagles front 4 was brutal, the Bills drafted to address this for sure. Hopefully they hit sooner than later.
Not fair to put this pressure on a rookie draft, it's a start 🤞
The Super Bowl was a "perfect storm" for the Eagles where they caught a team with a struggling OL, a future first ballot HOF HC fooled by their offensive game plan, and a KC team that got rattled early and never recovered its poise until the Eagles were on their 2nd and 3rd stringers. That's a prescription for a blow-out.
I think that Allen behind the Bills OL would have made significantly more positive plays and fewer TOs than Mahomes which would have slowed down the Philly steam roller. I don't think the Bills would have beat the Eagles, but the score would have been much closer.
9 hours ago, Mikie2times said:We weren’t exactly juggernauts vs the better defenses. Denver held us to 13 until the end of the 3rd quarter when Allen connected with Johnson on the improbable 4th down. We scored 10 against Baltimore the first game and 6 in the 2nd half of the playoff game. Cooper was basically invisible in the playoffs. What other top 10 EPA defenses did we play last year? Houston? That didn’t go well. Detroit? (The same Detroit that allowed Washington to drop 50?).
Offense has turtled in big games before. We can virtually guarantee the Eagles would drop 35 on us. But absolutely no guarantee Buffalo can produce against the higher end playoff squads in that moment. Philly was considerably better than everybody else and we couldn’t even get past the team they blew out of the building.
What is surprising about good offensive teams struggling against good defensive teams? Moreover, it's unlikely that the Bills would have given the Eagles as many chances to score as the Chiefs did in the first half. Aside from 2 TOs, including a pick six, the Chiefs had a bunch of 3-and-outs early on.
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45 minutes ago, Gregg said:
Any realistic candidates not named Belichick or Shanahan would be the OC's/DC's that are the hot candidates of a HC job that come up every single year. Who that is right now I have no idea. Or the Bills could have the option of looking at coaches in college football as well.
That's exactly my point. I'm a retired computer programmer, so I'm not fixing what's not broke unless the fix is a significant improvement over what's working now.
Many, if not most first time HCs, aren't nearly as brilliant in their first stints as HCs as they were coordinators. McDermott is one of the few who managed to take a previous year's non-playoff team to the playoffs in his first year without adding a top notch QB that season.
College football coaches have failed miserably in their first stints as NFL HCs. Nick Saban lasted 2 seasons in Miami. Chip Kelly lasted 2+ seasons in Philadelphia. Urban Meyer lasted 13 games. The only college HCs who have had success in the NFL in the last 25 years had previously been NFL HCs: Peter Carroll and Jim Harbaugh.
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19 minutes ago, Gregg said:
He has been here what 8 or 9 years. The playoffs are like ground hog day with McDermott. He is a good coach. I think most would admit that. He along with Beane get a ton of credit for turning the organization around from a loser to a winning one. However, it is also fair that he takes his share of the blame for the playoff failures. After all this time I could understand if some Bills fans (me included) want to move on from him. I don't know if he is the right coach to bring a Lombardi to WNY.
I haven't reached the point of wanting to move on from McDermott, especially since 99% of the critics don't offer up any realistic candidates as a replacement, ie a proven HC who is available and not named Belichick or Shanahan.
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2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:
I don't think "realistic" for Denver is pipping KC to the division title. I think that is a potential optimistic scenario, sure. But realistically KC is still the class of that division.
I actually think KC are stronger this year than last but wait for my bold predictions thread for more....
There seems to be a lot of hype about Denver winning the AFCW this season, but I don't buy it. It seems a lot like the annual predictions that some other AFCE team was going to unseat the Patriots. It never happened until the Bills took over the AFCE in 2020. Between 2003 and 2019 (Pats' 2nd Super Bowl to Brady's last season), the only time the Patriots didn't win the AFCE was 2008, when they lost Brady for the year in their season opener. They still finished 2nd in the division.
I'll believe the Chiefs have come back to the pack in the AFCW when they actually do. If it happens this season, it's probably because Mahomes get hurt.
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11 hours ago, Gregg said:
Why am I not surprised that Doug Whaley would blame for the Bills struggles against KC in the playoffs on Sean McDermott?
10 hours ago, FireChans said:It's not me trying to be black and white, it's just a question to establish common ground.
First of all, McDermott's record without Allen is actually 10-11. Which is .477.
But the point is, do you think McD is as good or better of a coach than BB?
I don't. I don't even think he's close. I think BB is the greatest coach of all time. I think his mastery of the defensive side of the ball, and his ability to be tactically nuanced (see 2019 SB, among others), as well as strategically (transitioning from a vertical offense to twin TE sets to an offense featuring the slot to a power running team over a 12 year span based on his personnel) is all-time.
Now if you don't think BB is the greatest coach ever and you think McDermott could be, that's fine. I disagree.
If you think BB is the greatest coach ever and you don't think McDermott is, then I would ask if a MUCH BETTER coach has a basically mediocre record without his incredible QB, why do you think a MUCH WORSE (relatively) coach wouldn't? What does McDermott do to make you think he's a .600+ coach without Josh?
Your answer can be "I don't know because we don't know." That's fine.
My answer is "McDermott is probably not better than the greatest HC of all time and thus would also probably have a mediocre W/L or worse without his franchise QB."
And the reason I make this diversion is because the point I am trying to prove is that "the head coach doesn't matter as much as the QB." It never has. It hasn't with the greatest coach ever, which you agreed with. Brady was the engine for excellence in NE. The second he left, it dried up. When he went to the Bucs, BAM, they are back in the playoffs every year competing for Super Bowls.
Peyton missed a season in Indy and they went from a double digit win team to picking first overall. When he went to Denver, they went from a fringe WC team at .500 to winning the division every season.
I'm not sure you can find a top 3ish QB whose HC got fired and the franchise crumbled. To my knowledge, its never happened, at least in the modern era.
There are lots of examples of teams knocking on the door of contending for Super Bowls who fired their HC or coordinators and that got them over the hump.
So in conclusion, I think the odds of firing McD and AT LEAST being in the same stratosphere as we are today is VERY VERY high. I think the odds we win a SB are better than they are now. I think the odds of firing McD and going back to the drought is effectively 0.
"Lots of examples"? I think that there might be just two in the last 25 years: the 2002 Tampa Bay Bucs and maybe the 2016 Denver Broncos. What other ones? Most of the Super Bowl winners had coaches who had been successful for a season or more before they won a Super Bowl. A few of the Super Bowl winners had failed to make the playoffs for a season or more before winning the SB.
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3 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:
Even if he were the Bills are not hiring Belichick.
I think the catch for most NFL teams with Belichick is that he would want control of personnel, and NE's slow decline when he was in charge of personnel proved that he's not very good at the long-term building and managing of a championship roster. He is a master strategist, a genius at adjusting to unexpected situations, and a motivator, but he's not a particularly good gm type. He didn't build the great rosters that the Patriots fielded early on in NE's domination alone; he had a couple of GMs who did a lot of the leg work on selecting players, managing the cap etc. For that reason, I wouldn't want him as the Bills HC.
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32 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:
Like going on a Great date with the same woman over and over and over and always ending up with Rosie palm at the end of the night.
I get the sentiment. I get that many feel this way.
I wonder how it will feel to have had Josh and not get there. I assume it will suck worse than four SB losses.
We are hitting the point of no return with Josh’s career if we are going to switch.It doesn’t need to be a rebuild, just a“ Get us over the hump”
McD hasn’t and it’s not like we are close, in terms of him bridging the gap, in terms of the schooling he gets every years playoff.
The Bills are hardly at "the point of no return with Josh's career". In case you hadn't noticed, good/great modern day QBs who take care of their bodies play at a high level into their late 30s/early 40 these days.
What would be worse than the Bills not winning a Super Bowl with Josh Allen and Sean McDermott? How about firing McDermott and hiring one or more HCs who fail to even make the playoffs frequently much less win much for the rest of Allen's career ... while McDermott takes some other team to the Super Bowl and wins?
Nothing is guaranteed.
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12 hours ago, FireChans said:
I was really simplifying it because it’s not like there’s an elite franchise guy in Cleveland.
I still stand by it though. to make the playoffs multiple times, with different QBs, with that horrific franchise, in that division, is just as impressive as anything McD has done.
to take it one step further, if the Bills were in a division with the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals, we would have much less overall team success and McD would have probably been fired by now.
There isn't a franchise guy in Cleveland because Stefanski wanted Baker gone. If the Browns had kept Baker, with their defense and running game, they likely make the playoffs 4 or 5 times under Stefanski.
5 hours ago, FireChans said:Yes?
The Dolphins went 2-2 in their last 4 games, including losing an AWFUL game to the Titans. Otherwise, they would have been resting their starters week 18 as they would have locked up the division.
Those same Titans (a 6 win team by the way) also played spoiler to the Jags week 18.
If the Titans lost to the Jags and the Dolphins, the Bills miss the playoffs regardless if they win week 18 or not.
Furthermore, the Bills trailed by 7 until
the 4th quarter when we got an extremely lucky punt return.
The Bills also needed a 5 game winning streak to have a chance to get in because they were .500 and in disarray in November lolI pointed it out first. When I said “Stefanski making the playoffs with a bad QB is as impressive as anything McDermott’s done.” Do you think I wasn’t talking about McDermott ALSO doing that lol
Incredible!
Imagine this take to defend a dude who is incapable of beating the Chiefs or the Bengals and can’t get past the conference finals lol
Your hatred of McDermott is what is incredible.
McDermott has beaten the Chiefs 4 out of 5 in the regular season.
McDermott has lost to the Chiefs 3 times in the playoffs.
McDermott is 1-2 against the Bengals in the regular season.
McDermott is 0-1 against the Bengals in the playoffs.
There is nothing to "defend" about McDermott; his record speaks for itself. If it's not good enough for you, go worship on the alter of Andy Reid.
13 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:We don’t HAVE to wait and see….. Pegula chooses to and a bunch of you are cool with it.
Yeah, I'm cool with it. As a Bills fan since 1963, I'll take the current Bills under McDermott because winning is a whole lot more fun than losing, which the Bills have done way too much during their history. I guarantee that winning 11 or 13 games in the regular season, making the playoffs, and winning playoff games, even if not the Super Bowl, is a thousand times better than suffering through 1 or 2 win seasons or a 17 year playoff drought.
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21 hours ago, ALLEN1QB said:
Ramsey tired of getting torched by Josh twice a year
So, now Ramsey will get torched by Lamar twice a year.
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2 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:
True, but I don’t remember an instance when a sport actually partnered up w/ gambling companies. Was there ? I can’t recall..
Yes, it’s completely ruining the integrity.
Horse racing in North America would not exist as a sport without on track pari-mutual betting, which has been legal since at least the 1930s in states like California, Florida, and New York. In the 1970s, New York State legalized off-track betting run by state approved regional betting companies. More recently, casinos, like Presque Isle Casino in Erie, PA, have partnered with horse racing tracks -- or have their own race tracks.
Actually, fixing horse races is very rare despite lots more races run than football games played. Most of the integrity issues involving racing -- usually trying to sneak performance enhancing drugs into horses -- results from individuals trying to get their own horses to win races rather than conspiring with gambling interests to get a specific horse to win in a specific race.
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4 hours ago, Ramza86 said:
13 seconds. If a fat idiot like myself sitting on a couch is screaming at the TV to not give that much space to the WRs he has no excuse to botch that.
Says the fat idiot who never made a mistake.
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13 hours ago, FireChans said:
Curtis Samuel was the 4th highest paid WR that free agency period.
Him and Mack Hollins were signed weeks before Diggs was even traded.
So really this is completely misleading and revisionist history.
Seems like they knew they were determined to send Diggs packing -- maybe even working on possible trades -- when they signed both Samuel and Hollins. In what universe does proactively dealing with a disruptive player constitute "revisionist history"?
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12 hours ago, BillsFooteball said:
Well the suspense is killing me! Who is #32 and the only coach in the NFL you rank McDermott ahead of?!
Andy Reid, of course.
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7 hours ago, FireChans said:
I mean, can you imagine if we win 10+ games every year and don't win a Super Bowl? What a waste.
Having a HOF caliber QB guarantees nothing. Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl despite playing for 17 seasons under 2 HOF coaches, Don Shula and Jimmie Johnson, both of whom won Lombardis with other QBs. In his 10 playoff seasons, Marino only played in one SB (after the 1984 season). He lost in the AFC Conference Championship twice, the last loss (1992 season) to the Bills. He also lost twice more in the playoffs to the Bills before his retirement.
5 hours ago, Gregg said:Obviously, the author of that op-ed piece could only find 4 NFL HCs on the proverbial "hot seat", so he scoured fan sites and discovered TSW's McDermott haters.
1 hour ago, Buffalo Boy said:You are reading too many threads with rose colored glasses brother Bill.
😉
Sammy Sunshine strikes again.
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1 hour ago, OldNMBillsFan said:
This clown lists John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens #4, yet he continues to fall far shorter than McDermott in the playoffs while having a 3-time MVP quarterback. Lamar Jackson is consistently ranked as a better QB than Allen at PFF and many other sites (although many of us Bills fans would disagree). McDermott is 2-0 against Harbaugh and Jackson in the playoffs. Harbaughs has a dismal record of 3-5 in the playoffs since Jacksons arrival compared to McDermotts 7-6 with Josh Allen, yet he lists McDermott as 11th with the only reason being his playoff record, mainly losing to the Chiefs. How can he justify ranking Harbaugh as 4th when he can't get past either the Bills or the Chiefs in the playoffs and put McDermott is 11th when Mcdermott has clearly has out coached Harbough with a lesser ranked QB (according to PFF)?
While this article is from PFF, it really is simply just another subjective listing based on opinion not any kind of data, and for this particular author -- and others -- winning a Super Bowl even more than a decade ago automatically elevates that coach to any "best HCs" list. It's stupid, but it's the way it is. IMO, Payton and Tomlin are also in this group of HCs living off past glory rather than recent performance, especially in the playoffs.
1 hour ago, FireChans said:Do you consider Lamar better than Josh?
I like Lamar a lot, and I think he’s a force, but I think he’s got some real Achilles heel type stuff that holds him back compared to Josh.
so I don’t personally think the Ravens have ever played the bills in the playoffs with a QB advantage. I think the opposite. Don’t you?
In 2024, Lamar was much closer to Allen and Mahomes as a complete QB than ever, but he was backed up by a much better supporting cast than either. The Baltimore roster was clearly superior to the Bills roster outside of QB in 2024, which is why Allen won the MVP despite Lamar having significantly better statistics.
Football is a team sport, and Harbaugh has consistently had excellent rosters that he doesn't seem to get the most out of, especially in the playoffs, in recent years.
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7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:
He won on the road in Kansas City and Atlanta. Both playoff teams.
Don't confuse revisionist historians with facts. It's mean.
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5 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:
Payton's ahead of him because of getting a rookie QB to the playoffs or whatever. But he was absolutely outcoached in the playoffs against buffalo to an almost embarassing degree. That was the popular "Upset alert" and they promptly got stomped.
To me - PFF is supposed to be the "analytics" group, and this article didn't offer much of anything to back it up.
I totally agree. This article reminded me of the articles/lists that PFF would put out in its early days where its "analytics" would "prove" that some mediocre QB who was only starting because the team didn't have anybody better on the roster was actually a top five QB. I don't know what magical "analytics" the statboys are using but it smells a lot more like subjective opinion than numbers to me.
5 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:Do you believe that Sean McDermott is a better head coach than Sean Payton? If so, we STRONGLY disagree. Payton has a Super Bowl and would have 2 without the worst call in NFL History. He changed the momentum of the Super Bowl with a surprise onside kick. He went to Denver with a bottom 10 roster and went to the playoffs. Sean Payton is a way better coach than Sean McDermott.
Career-wise, Payton has certainly gotten good mileage out of his single SB appearance, but this is 2025 not 2009, and the NFL is a different league today than it was. Certainly McDermott was the better coach than Payton in last year's playoffs.
3 hours ago, BigAl2526 said:People keep giving Stefanski a pass for the train wreck that is Cleveland. Yeah, they have and idiot GM, but without evidence on the field you can't justify ranking Stephanski with the best coaches in the league. I question Tomlin's ranking as well. Yes, he's had success over a long tenure, but the last several years, the Steelers have tended toward mediocrity. I don't like the Jim Harbaugh selection either. Yeah, he's a good coach with some history before he fled the NFL for Michigan, but PFF seems to buy into the Harbaugh mystique and bluster instead of looking at recent history, because he has precious little.
I fail to see the relevancy of Tomlin's 2008 SB win, Payton's 2009 SB win or John Harbaugh's 2012 SB win to these coaches' ability in 2025.
2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:I think he allows Josh Allen to be exciting though. Justin Herbert for all his flaws used to be exciting. Harbaugh turned him into one of the most boring QBs in football. The Bills are a fun watch. The Chargers made me want to rake my eyes out.
But if your point is so far McDermott has proved himself a turn around specialist not a championship winner, of course that is true.
I think Herbert is doomed with Harbaugh as HC and Greg Roman as OC.
2 hours ago, FireChans said:The 2017 Bills were just as boring if not moreso imo.
As far as allowing Josh Allen to be exciting, McD has been very clear that his ideal offense is taking the ball out of Josh’s hands much more than we have previously seen.
In fairness to Harbaugh, he has Roman who has always struggled with building a modern passing offense, and absolutely dreadful WRs outside of Ladd.
They went back to the WR well again this year and we’ll see if that makes any difference.
I also think there’s an argument to turn around a team in the modern NFL, you need buy-in equity. The chargers winning ugly into the playoffs probably went a long way in that locker room, not dissimilar to how McD was viewed after 17. He has now cemented it as his team imo.
The negative Nancy’s lol.
if McD wins a Super Bowl, him and Beane can stay until they die for all I care.
Harbaugh had Roman as his OC in San Francisco before he departed for Michigan. Now he's hired him again.
2 hours ago, HappyDays said:Last year's offensive scheme was about making Allen's play more boring, no? I don't mean that in a bad way. Raising the floor was an admirable goal and the results spoke for themselves. I think Justin Herbert's problem is Justin Herbert. He is missing that spark of pure will that defines the top 4 QBs. That mentality in critical moments that he will make it happen all on his own if he has to. I don't think Harbaugh took that spark out of him, he just never had it to begin with. What Harbaugh did last year is make the best out of a horrid group of skill players and a QB that isn't uniquely talented enough to overcome it.
I disagree about Herbert. I think he's been the victim of crappy coaching his entire career, and it's only gotten worse with the new regime. I think what Roman wants him to do doesn't fit his skill set or his temperament. Harbaugh hardly made "the best out of a horrid group of skill players and a QB that isn't uniquely talented enough to overcome it"; he created the situation by forcing Herbert into his system rather than modifying his system to fit his QB.
BTW, if you think I dislike Harbaugh and Roman, I plead no contest.
2 hours ago, FireChans said:What good QBs has he taken the ball out of their hands though?
Herbert is the only one, and seeing as Herby is addicted to playoff meltdowns, it doesn’t seem like a bad strategy.
Roman was the OC in Baltimore from 2019 through 2022. He failed to develop Lamar Jackson as a passer. In 2 seasons under Todd Monken, Lamar has become an infinitely better QB as demonstrated by his superlative stats in 2024.
1 hour ago, sunshynman said:You are so sure he can't. But it's just that he hasn't yet. How long did it take Reid?
Teacher! 🖐️ Teacher! 🖐️ I know!!! 🖐️ I know!!! 🖐️ It took Andy Reid only 6 seasons to make the Super Bowl, 14 more seasons to actually win a SB!
1 hour ago, billsfan714 said:Thats exactly it right there. Im not willing to waste Josh on a coach that can't get it done, that would be a tragedy.
Are you buying the Bills? I didn't realize they were for sale.
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2 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:
At least 75% posters on here don’t seem to get this.
No Josh Allen = .500-.600 coaching record for McDYour assumption is bull manure because you are simply projecting your opinion onto the entire TSW comunity.
Secondly, you have no idea who the Bills would have at QB if they didn't have Allen. You are assuming that the Bills would have some dud, but with Beane as GM, I think that's unlikely. What if in 2018, Beane stayed at #12, drafted Lamar rather than trading up to get Allen, and used the draft capital he'd accumulated to draft more supporting players -- like WRs or DLers etc?
1 hour ago, Einstein said:I agree. And that is part of the reason why I have been a staunch supporter of keeping McD. It’s also why I stated (in the post you quoted) that my argument is not against McD, but rather against the argument that 2017 proves anything. Marrone and Mularkey both led us to 9-7 records - they just weren’t lucky enough to do so in a year where 9-7 meant a playoff berth.
From another perspective: Rex Ryan went 8-8 with the same roster that McD went 9-7.
Actually, Mularkey wasn't unlucky. He failed to have his team prepared for the Steelers who came into the season finale with nothing to play for -- just like the Bills in last season's finale. An UDFA rookie named Willie Parker ran for 100+ yards against the Bills starters. The final score didn't reflect how badly the Bills got smacked around by Pitt's second and third stringers.
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8 hours ago, Einstein said:
I remember.
I remember going to the playoffs with the same record that we missed out on the playoffs twice during the drought.I remember only having that record because we played the easiest schedule ever, facing Josh McCown, David Fales, Trevor Siemian, Jameis Winston, Jacoby Brissett, Derek Carr, Alex Smith, Matt Ryan, and Jay Cutler.
I remember needing Andy Dalton to save us.
This is nothing against McD… just saying that year proves nothing imo.
These days lots of newly-hired HCs talk about "culture" and changing losing culture, but not many actually accomplish it in their first season. McDermott did so ... and he did it before he had an all-world QB.
7 hours ago, uticaclub said:If the Jets draft Allen, McDermott is a defensive coordinator
If the Jests draft Allen, Allen is just another first round QB bust.
7 hours ago, Mikie2times said:He was 41-55 as a HC before Brady arrived. Andy Reid was 11-13 in the playoffs before Mahomes arrived, McD has a losing record in games Josh Allen doesn't start in. If a coach isn't capable of approaching a similar status as they did with said HOF QB, is it not a reasonable conclusion to say the QB is likely driving more of the outcome than the HC?
Plenty of examples exist of HOF QB's with multiple HC's. How many HOF coaches without HOF QB's? It is possible to look at performance separately and draw some conclusions. All of which really don't support what you're saying.
These stats prove that stats can be cherry-picked to seemingly prove anything. You should look at the regular season records, playoff records, and win-loss records in games without their future HOF QBs for all three coaches to have a valid comparison.
6 hours ago, uticaclub said:The roster he made the playoffs with were 9-7, 8-8 & 7-9 the three prior years, he didn't take over a bottom feeder
ROTFLMAO. You obviously don't remember the Drought Era accurately. The Bills back then were marked by mediocrity. They had 3 or 4 seasons with really bad records, and 2 or so with 9-7 seasons, but mostly they managed to win 6-8 games. What they did was find new ways to miss the playoffs, including losing the final game of the 2004 season when they lost to the Stillers' backups at home.
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RIP, Luigi.
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10 hours ago, Draconator said:
Think back to the 90s. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, all players who juiced, and most of us were on the edge of our seats waiting for the bomb into the stands (or McCovey Cove) that was about to happen.
What if baseball allowed players to juice legally? There would be homerun battles year after year. Imagine Ohtani and Judge hitting 70 plus HR's a year, or more! Think baseball fans wouldn't go nuts over that?
Something to at least have some fun discussing.
I don't think that baseball making steroids "legal" would do much to make baseball more "relevant". I think it would raise all kinds of issues that could make things worse, especially giving the sport a deserved rap for rewarding players for taking potentially dangerous drugs with long-term health consequences.
I think the best way for MLB to regain "relevance" is to institute some kind of salary cap to increase competition as the NFL did. Wealthier owners/teams can buy their way to pennants and world championships because they can outbid less wealthy teams for FAs while teams without the ability or willingness to spend tons of money to bring in big time talent frequently become virtual farm teams for the big money teams: they find and develop young players but lose them when they become stars in their own right. Giving teams like the Brewers or Pirates or Padres real shots at winning the WS every once in a while because they have a similar talent level as the Dodgers or Yankees would really fuel interest in local teams and in MLB in general. Everybody loves a winner, and bandwagon fans are better than no fans.
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18 hours ago, Mister Defense said:
I thought it was really funny how several had Lamar Jackson ahead of Patrick Mahomes!
And I wondered: if they had to pick a quarterback to lead their own NFL team, would they actually make that awful move and pick what is clearly a much lesser QB over Mahomes?
Makes zero sense--choosing a QB who seems to be THE reason his team does not make it to the Super Bowl over a QB who seems to be a seminal reason his team has--and why they have won three of them.
I think some did that because they resent Mahomes for his success against the Bills in the playoffs, but I cannot imagine many sentient adults thinking Lamar Jackson is a better quarterback than Mahomes.
I think you are being unfair to Jackson, especially the last two years under Baltimore OC Monkon (sorry for the misspelling). The NFL playoff format adds a lot of factors into playoff success than simply QB play. Baltimore lost to the Bills in the Divisional round this past season because a great TE who is the epitome of reliability dropped a perfect pass in the EZ on a two point conversion. Manure happens.
IMO, Allen, Jackson,and Mahomes (in alpha order) could be put ranked 1-2-3 in any order based on posters' preferences. All three are elite passers and runners (for QBs) with great leadership and a willingness to do anything and everything to win games. All three have consistently demonstrated the ability to make lemonade out of whatever lemons they're handed. I think that the difference between Mahomes and Allen and Jackson in the playoffs comes down to the talent around them, coaching, and simple luck (as in a coin toss) which count for more against good teams in single elimination playoffs than simply the differences among the three QBs.
I rate Burrow a shade below the top three because he hasn't shown that he can raise the level of his teammates high enough to consistently win enough football games to make the playoffs. Because he's not as mobile as Allen, Jackson, and Mahomes, he's less likely to escape pass rushers, and that's led to significant injuries, especially since the Bengals haven't had a great OL in front of him.
PFF OL Rankings
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
In the Jauron era, the Bills didn't even have an OL, simply future HOFer LT Jason Peters and 4 big, slow dudes no other teams wanted. Then Russ Brandon traded away Peters because he (Brandon) refused to renegotiate Peters' very unfair contract.