SoTier

My school district had an indoor swimming pool -- a very rare thing for schools in Catt County back then -- and all kids in grades 5-8 had to take swimming. I learned to swim, not just doggy paddle, but do the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, etc. It's a skill you never lose even if you don't swim regularly because you become comfortable in deep water. I learned writing skills from my ninth grade English teacher, Miss Anderson. I learned that sentences are complete thoughts not just a bunch of words strung together and ended with a period. I also learned the use of the correct homonyms (like there, they're, their) and why and when to use apostrophes. I learned how to make three point turns in driver ed, a skill which comes in handy since I've never met a back road I didn't want to explore. Math taught me how to think logically, a pretty necessary skill for a computer programmer.

Only about half of first round picks become top quality NFL starters, and some of those don't blossom into top players for several years. "Colossal" implies something that's really spectacular or rare. A late first round pick who doesn't become a full-time starter on his original team is neither. A top five pick who fails to become a Pro Bowl quality starter on his original team might be a considered a "colossal bust". Mike Williams, OT, taken at #4 by the Bills in 2002, was a "colossal bust" because he never developed into a quality starter -- for the Bills or for any other team. Furthermore, Elam's career isn't over yet. If he fits in better in the Cowboys' defense, he may very well blossom -- just as Jerry Hughes did when he came to Buffalo.

Get real. A #23 pick can't be a "colossal bust".

RIP, Chuck.

Those were the days I don't EVER want to EVER return. The 2025 Bills have first world problems compared to those sorry Bills squads.

I don't think that I would hold up the Arizona FO and coaching staff or the pre-McDermott/Beane Bills FO and coaches as organizations to copy. In fact, doing just opposite -- giving draft picks, especially high draft picks, time to develop -- is a hallmark of good organizations.

Dude, you don't know what "extremely poor day 1 drafting" looks like. Check out 2000 DE Erik Flowers, 2002 OT Mike Williams, 2004 QB JP Losman, 2008 DB Leodis McKelvin, 2009 DE Aaron Maybin, 2011 DT Marcell Dareus, 2013 QB EJ Manuel, 2016 DE Shaq Lawson ... from the drafts before the McDermott/Beane regime. These were all bust or near bust first round picks for the Bills in the first 17 drafts of the 2000s. That's nearly half of the Bills first rounders in those drafts ... and most of these players were taken in the top half of the first round. McKelvin and Maybin were top ten picks. Williams and Dareus were top five picks.

What if a school doesn't have a booster group? My guess is that Bridgewater found out last season that his school didn't have a booster group or an active one, so he paid for the things his players needed. This year, he tried to get donations, and that probably triggered the investigation that led to his suspension. Moreover, not all booster groups are equal. Schools in wealthy areas, whether public or private, have almost infinite ability to support their schools' sports programs, whether through school taxes and/or booster clubs compared to schools in poverty areas whether those schools are public or private. Poor communities simply don't have the economic resources to raise extra money like wealthy communities do. I think that your quote might be more accurate like this: "if everyone can't have nice things, kids like YOU can't have nice things." Poor kids know that some kids -- stereotypically white "rich" kids -- can and do have nice things. Poor kids learn this lesson early on, and it makes it much harder for adolescents to have some real hope of escaping poverty that they need to avoid self-destructive behaviors that tempt all young people but especially youngsters in poor communities.. FYI - I taught in inner city schools in Buffalo for nearly 10 years many years ago.

Bridgewater paid for transportation, pre-game meals, and "recovery services", which I think might be for things like physical therapy. That's certainly not "giving money to unrelated minors". Tens of thousands of teachers in schools in poor areas across the country frequently use their own money to help out their students who otherwise would lack supplies, lunches, etc. Should they be suspended, too? My guess is that Bridgewater is the victim of his success.

A lot of people considering moving closer to their children and grandchildren in retirement don't realize how frequently today's younger people move ... or that grandchildren grow up a lot faster than they expect and too soon become too busy or disinterested in visiting grandma and/or grandpa frequently. Many people also miss the long-time friends they left behind. Another thing to keep in mind for people considering moving after retirement is that people are living much longer than ever after they retire. I believe the life expectancy for people once they reach 60 is about 30 more years. Places that seem ideal today may change drastically in 20+ years. I've had a couple of friends who moved to places in Florida that were small town backwaters years ago that have been overwhelmed by development, so they moved back to WNY.

Isn't that the definition of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"? The Bills OL is excellent but what makes it even better is making its job easier (QB) and philosophy (running the ball). If you exchanged Allen for Tua and the Bills philosophy for Miami's, the OL would not perform nearly as well.

I'm not one to predict the imminent demise of the Chiefs, but I'm also not expecting their OL play to improve significantly, especially early in the season. Simmons is a rookie, and LT is a tough position to learn. They also lost All Pro guard Joe Thuney which might be a much bigger problem because they will likely have a rookie (Simmons) and a rookie/JAG guard on the left side of the line. Maybe the Chiefs are confident that they have an adequate replacement for Thuney, but they have not demonstrated the same kind of expertise finding/developing OLers as they have with other units. Their OL has been their weakest link for the last three seasons.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Why am I not surprised that Doug Whaley would blame for the Bills struggles against KC in the playoffs on Sean McDermott? "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.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

So, now Ramsey will get torched by Lamar twice a year.

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.

Says the fat idiot who never made a mistake.

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"?