SoTier

Did anybody really think that Brady would be playing for any team other than the Patriots in 2020 when the possibility was first raised last year? Would Houston ownership actually approve trading Watson? He/she/they not only fired the previous GM and named BOB the new GM but then approved trading Hopkins for next to nothing, so why wouldn't he/she/they approve trading Watson for next to nothing plus 1? Nothing that's transpired since BOB was named GM suggests that the Houston owner(s) are competent to decide what he/she/they want for dinner much less have any idea of how an NFL football team is supposed to run.

If anybody would be stupid enough to trade away a proven franchise QB still on his rookie deal, it would be O'Brien. Of course, with O'Brien sending so many key players off to other teams for the equivalent of well used athletic equipment, maybe Watson has informed the team that he wants out, too, although Watson doesn't strike me as that kind of player. He seems to be a "team guy" but then, even "team guys" can reach their limits.

I started watching "The Plot Against America" on Spectrum Originals. I didn't realize it was one of those "alternative history" tales until episode 2 when somehow Lindbergh, portrayed as openly pro-Nazi, traded on his image as a hero to not only be the Republican presidential candidate in 1940 but actually winning the election over FDR by running on the platform of "Lindbergh or war" while Roosevelt acted "statesman like" and several southern states voted Republican. The absurdity of that scenario just killed it for me. Everything about that is just so implausible in terms what the American political scene was like in 1940 -- the only things that were true was that there was a war in Europe and that there was a strong isolationist sentiment (but not necessarily pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic) -- that it's ludicrous. Apparently, this series is based on a novel that was published in 2004. I'll not be watching the rest of this series. PS. FDR won the 1940 election over Wendell Wilkie by carrying 38 of 48 states, 449 of 531 electoral votes, and nearly 55% of the popular vote.

I can't stress enough the need for the Bills to significantly upgrade the bottom of their roster if they are serious about becoming a bonafide SB contender. There were too many street FA caliber players on the team last season, especially on offense. Both SB teams last season were loaded with talent beyond their starters, so that when one guy got hurt, they could fill his slot with another decent NFL caliber player, not a guy who ought to have been bagging groceries or selling insurance.

Even Derrick Henry needs a breather, and any RB can get hurt. Two starting RBs is better than 1, and the Bills can afford somebody like Carlos Hyde. The combo of Kamara and Ingram in NO in 2018 propelled the Saints into the playoffs by allowing them to be the best ball control team in the fouth quarter. They lost Ingram and weren't nearly as effective late in games in 2019. The Bills lack of a better RB than Frank Goe to spell Singletary certainly made it harder to run the ball effectively late in games, including in the playoff loss to Houston.

If Allen does not show significant improvement in his general QBing skills, then he should be on a short leash going forward, just like Trubisky in Chicago will be in 2020 and Mariota in Tennessee was in 2019. Trubisky showed great promise, too, in 2018, but he failed to take the next step in his third year. There always seemed to be an excuse for why Mariota could never get that Titans team rolling, so the Titans brought in Tannehill in 2019. QBs continue to improve as they gain experience until they reach their ceiling, and after that they don't get much better, and that usually takes 2 or 3 years of being a starter to achieve. A team with a QB who's been a starter for three seasons and is still not playing well enough for a team to seriously consider giving him a big pay raise in the form of an extension should seriously be considering a Plan B. A GOAT QB falling into team's lap in FA doesn't happen every day.

I think that Allen has to improve his decision making. There is probably no more important trait that separates great QBs from mediocre ones than learning what to do ... when and when not to do it. A lot of a QB's decision making ability stems from how fast he can process what he sees in front of him and acting accordingly. when the game "slows down" for a QB and he starts understanding what he sees, his decision making should improve. Allen started doing that last season. He should become better this season with more experience as well as having more options. We need to see less "hero ball".

Actually Pennington was not a bust. He was an excellent QB until an arm/shoulder injury short circuited his career. I think he led the Jets to the playoffs in 2002, 2004, and 2006 and then led the Fins to the playoffs in 2008 after they went 1-15 the season before.

Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Ryan Tannehill were all far better than "average" or "above average" in 2019. Cousins has been a very good QB for most of his career. Tannehill had a career year in 2019. Garoppolo, in his first full year as a starter, played excellently although he wasn't asked to carry the team very often and failed in his biggest test.

I don't think that "average or above average" is good enough in today's NFL. At one time, a stout defense and a strong run game could hide a lot of QB deficiencies, but not any more. A team has to have an "excellent or elite" QB to compete with today's offensive juggernauts in the playoffs, because they all seem to have good defenses, too. The aim to "be a contender" doesn't say much. The Bills were playoff contenders in 2014, 2017, 2019 -- and actually made the playoffs in 2017 and 2019 -- but they were never serious Super Bowl contenders. Maybe you're satisfied with 9 or 10 wins a season and quick one and done playoff appearances but that's not good enough for me. Allen hasn't earned an extension at this point. He showed he was a competent NFL QB in 2019 but his passing and some of his decision making weren't good enough. Improvements on the offense should help him, but he's got to take advantage of the better weapons he'll have in 2020. It's entirely possible that he improves only incrementally in his third year -- or like Trubisky, doesn't improve at all. At this point he's played well enough for the Bills to consider picking up his fifth year option but they've got to see considerably more improvement before they decide to give him a pricey extension. He's not a $25-30 million a year QB at this point.

The Bills still need to add a few more pieces either through FA or through the draft. This draft is unlikely to yield as many rookie contributors as previous years simply because the team is better, doesn't have a first round pick, and is drafting later in each round. Moreover, the Bills are getting to the point that the modest type FAs they signed last season would be mostly only backups or STers going forward. They still need to upgrade some starting positions. Passing on a quality FA like a younger, better edge rusher than they currently have (think Clowney) or a starting caliber RB to run with Singletary (think Hyde) simply because Beane wants to keep a large "emergency fund" or have $$$ to roll forward into next year isn't wise, and it's unlikely to result in long term team success. It's nice to have general parameters for what to spend or what to look for but a team also has to be able to jump at opportunities. Sometimes rare opportunities arise -- like TB12 becoming a FA -- and a team has to be prepared to seize it. There are no prizes for having the most cap space at the end of the season, only trophies for winning the most important games ... and the Bills still aren't there yet.

This is my view. As long as they realize their mistake with Allen and do something about it, then I'm good with them. If they keep holding on to a sub-par QB just because he was a #1 pick and is still on a rookie contract without coming up with a "Plan B", then they need to go. This thread isn't about whether Allen is likely to succeed or fail. It's about how fans would feel about Beane and McDermott if Allen were to fail -- and it's certainly not an unrealistic or a pessimistic question. Look at Chicago. In 2018, the Bears went 12-4 with Mitch Trubisky looking good -- better than Allen looked in his second season -- but Trubisky failed to continue to improve in his third year and actually regressed (probably because DCs have "figured him out"), and the Bears went down the toilet. This year the Bears traded for Nick Foles rather than leaving all their eggs in the basket with Trubisky.

I would be willing to give them more time depending on how they handled the situation of having a first round QB who obviously isn't "the guy". I think that they've built a good enough team to win at least 9-10 games a season and compete for the playoffs even with only modest QB play. Do they do stand pat with that -- a QB not good enough to make them real contenders -- or do they do something about that to get better? Two teams that were also "a QB short" of a playoff powerhouse within the last decade give some possible responses ... Minnesota drafted a first round bust in 2011 -- Christian Ponder -- who lasted only 4 years in the league. They then drafted Teddy Bridgewater at the end of the first round in 2014 who was very promising until his terrible knee injury came close to ending his career. Finally, they went "all in" on Kirk Cousins. Tennessee was in that situation with Mariota when Vrabel became HC. They decided to bring in a better QB in 2019 and then decided to play him when Mariota failed to move the team early in the season. Chicago seems to be following Tennessee's example by bringing in Nick Foles just in case Trubisky can't be effective. These aren't the only two solutions, but they are examples of teams being proactive about their QB situation, and that's what I'd like to see Beane and McDermott be as well.

I think if Ford can't beat out Nsekhe in TC, then it seems like he should be moved to guard to see if he works there. If they get a better RT than Ford, then it's not "the same result". A lot of evaluators thought Ford would be a better pro guard than tackle, so a kid with physical skills better suited to playing pro OT might very well be worth grabbing. That's simply untrue when discussing OTs taken in the first or second rounds. Prospects taken that high generally need to get stronger and to hone their skills but most are perfectly capable of playing respectably as rookies. Cordy Glenn was a competent LT as a rookie. So was Dion Dawkins. Dawkins struggled in his sophomore season but rebounded last season when the Bills had NFL caliber OLers beside him rather just bodies wearing OL numbers as in 2018. If the Bills acquired a "stud left tackle" in the draft -- highly unlikely in the bottom third of the second round since the best ones go in the first round -- I think Dawkins moving to LG might be better. It's hard for OLers to switch sides because everything is reversed, and not every OT can play well that way. Also, LTs tend to be quicker and lighter than RTs while RTs tend to be more powerful.

That sounds a lot like the Jamestown area. We have no COVID-19 cases in the area but we had little or no TP, no bread, no bottle water etc at most stores until yesterday -- and those in limited amounts.

Since the Bills aren't up against the cap, why do the Bills need to cut Murphy, a DE, and Smith, a TE, in order to sign Gurly, a RB? They will still need a DE and a TE. Moreover, Gurley is not going to get the kind of contract from his new team that he got from LA since the top of the RB has dropped significantly. I would love the Bills to sign Gurley. It's entirely doable from a cap perspective but it might not be the right fit from either the Bills' or Gurley's perspective. ? Apparently some fans have enjoyed the past twenty years of the Bills sacrificing wins for profits a whole more than you or me.

I think that Clowney's injury history is what is keeping teams from considering him at present. They aren't going to make a deal with him unless they can have their own doctors give him a physical -- and that's not going to change for some time to come.

Exactly. I get really tired of this "penny wise, dollar foolish" attitude that so many Bills fans espouse, which is undoubtedly a product of 2i0+ years of being brain washed by Ralph Wilson and his minions that the Bills can't "afford" to build a winning team. Other teams figure out how to put together winning teams -- sometimes for only a couple of seasons but others almost continuously -- while paying really expensive players like QBs and DEs that the Bills simply don't have on their roster at present (I think last season, Morris might have been the most expensive Bills player). This is the year for the Bills to go for broke to take over the AFCE while NE is transitioning away from Brady, Miami is still collecting puzzle pieces, and the Jets are simply the Jets. Murphy seemed to get his act together last season, McDermott knows what he can do, the Bills aren't in need of cap space, and the Bills aren't likely to sign Clowney, so what's the point of cutting him??? They don't have a young stud waiting to take over for him already on the roster, they aren't going to actually save $8 million since they will have to add a replacement. Even an UDFA rookie is going to cost something just in $$$ and maybe in wins, too.

Foles is an entirely different kettle of fish. He's a QB, a much more important -- and thus valuable -- position than RB. More importantly, the Bears need a QB behind Trubisky who 1) can step in and save their season if Trubisky fails and 2) won't disrupt the team if Trubisky improves. Nick Foles is that guy.

Good OLers can be found beyond rounds 1 and 2, especially if the team doesn't expect them to step right in and gives them time to get stronger and improve their techniques. I will never say no to a stud OLer in the first or second, but I really think that the Bills should go BPA in rounds 2-5. Lots of outstanding OLers come from late in the draft/UDFA.

This has been my perception of Hopkins as well.

That would lead me to reconsider. When I went to PT several years ago, it was a big room but there never was more than 2 patients and 3 or so staff.

IMO, this isn't a good strategy. Guys in the 2nd and 3rd are simply much more likely to bust than guys taken in the first round. A trade up might be justified to get a pick in the first ten picks of round 2 but since the Bills will be drafting in the bottom third of both rounds, the chances of moving up to the top of second round seems likely to cost too much. I don't think trading up in the third round is a good idea at all. The Bills are in a position at this point to improve their backups and ST with guys from the third, fourth, and fifth round, some of whom may eventually develop into really good players if given the opportunity. The Bills 2019 had too many UDFAs, PS refugees, and 6th and 7th rounders once you got beyond the starters. They need to improve the bottom of their roster as well as the top, and the place to find those guys is rounds 3-5.

There isn't a "magic" age delimiter. I think your health condition is much more important, especially your heart, respiratory, and immune systems health. I'm 70 and in better health, especially with those systems, than many people a decade or more younger than me, so I would go. I'm assuming that your appointment is private and not a group situation.

If this is a pleasure trip, you might want to reconsider because virtually all entertainment venues in New York are currently closed down, not just in NYC but throughout the state by the governor's order. Restaurants are only open for take out or delivery. Movie theaters are also closed. All "non essential" businesses have been ordered to be closed to the public between 8 PM and 6 AM. Museums and zoos are all closed. Catholic dioceses have canceled all church activities, including Masses. Public schools have been closed statewide, and most colleges have extended spring break or closed so that they can transition to on-line classes. Parks are open, though, if you want to go for a walk.