SoTier

I think you have put the proverbial horse before the proverbial cart in regards to the Ravens and Lamar. The Ravens have pretty much been a team with a good/great defense and strong running game for most of their history. They have never been a team with a great QB. Flacco was an excellent starting QB but he was never considered an "elite" QB. When the Ravens realized that Lamar was so good, they made moves to make him a dual threat, including bringing in Greg Roman who had had success with Kaepernick on the Giants. Lamar has always stressed that he was a passer first, even as a rookie, but Roman's offense had him running the ball to the point that he was getting really beat up. It's only been the last couple of seasons since the Ravens changed OCs in 2023 to Todd Monken that Lamar has really developed as a NFL passer. It's only been recently that they also improved their WR group. Essentially, for the first five years of Lamar's career, the Ravens FO and Harbaugh actually impeded Lamar's development rather than "catered" to him.

Because "white European American" is the dominant culture in the US. Most Americans of European ethnicity lose most of their ethnic subculture after about 3 generations, unless they happen to live in tight knit communities that keep the culture alive, frequently based on religion. I think 2 examples are Hasidic Jews and the Amish. I think that at least part of the Ravens' problems in really important games is their HC. It seems to me that in playoff games/important games (like Week 1 and Week 3), the Ravens play "tight" like they're so worried about making a mistake that they actually make one or more. Derrick Henry has fumbled, especially in critical situations, more in his 2 years as a Raven than he had in his entire career.

The Bills' evil genius who ran the team to maximize profits, Russ Brandon, was fired shortly after the 2018 draft, and Pegula turned the team over to Brandon Beane. IMO, that action enabled the Bills to develop Allen into a great QB because then Beane had the power to change the team's focus from maximizing profits to winning football games. Ryan Fitzpatrick was sent packing in 2017 because Brandon didn't want to pay him. Tyrod Taylor was sent packing because the Bills' plan was always to eventually have Allen start some time in his rookie season. I thought that another veteran QB, maybe AJ McCarron, was in the 2018 training camp, but I think he got hurt and was eventually cut. I think that "the plan" for Allen was always to start JA some time in his rookie season, but Peterman was so bad that it was probably much sooner than the Bills intended. Later in 2018, the Bills added Derek Anderson and Matt Barkley as backups. Immediately after the 2018 season, the entire offensive staff except for OC Brian Daboll, was fired. Among the new offensive coaches was Ken Dorsey, the first "QB coach" the Bills ever had who had experience developing an NFL QB (Cam Newton). In 2019, the Bills kept Matt Barkley as backup QB, added veteran WRs Cole Beasley and John Brown as well as veteran C Mitch Morse. They also drafted TE Dawson Knox in the 2019 draft. IOW, the Bills brought in real mentors for Allen, they gave him better targets, and they improved his protection. They did, in fact, intentionally help Allen develop his talents, JA was dedicated enough to work tirelessly at his craft, and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Did somebody pee in your cornflakes or are you just one of those people who can never see the positive in anything, but especially in the Bills? It's like the better the Bills play, the more negativity about the team you spew.

In the past, those old Western PA coal and steel towns produced great athletes in lots of sports because athletics was a major pathway out of the mines and mills.

I agree with this, but it doesn't bother me at all. Top class WRs (ie, those with speed, size, and good hands) tend to be mercurial, ie, unpredictable, if not outright head cases. It seems that the most consistent WRs come from lower in the draft, which means that they usually lack one or more of the physical attributes of the top guys.

Scott Pioli was the Pats' VP of Player Personnel for the first 8 years of Belichick's tenure. Pioli and Belichick built the foundation of the Pats dynasty with good drafts and judicious trades. After Pioli left in 2009, Belichick ran the FO and the quality of the Pats' drafting declined significantly, and even though they kept winning, I don't think that their FO was considered top class in the last decade of Belichick's tenure. By the time he left, the Pats were larger devoid of young talent because of poor drafting. I think that the Ravens FO has been outstanding for their entire existence under Ozzie Newsome (1996-2018) and his hand-picked successor, Eric DeCosta (2019-present). They have made the playoffs 16 times in 30 years, won 2 SBs, and in Newsome's last draft, found Lamar. DeCosta's tenure has seen the Ravens make the playoffs 5 of 6 years while building one of the most talented rosters in the NFL. I agree that the Ravens' recent playoff failures can be traced to coaching, too, which I suppose is also part of the FO's responsibility. I'm not a fan of Harbaugh's handling of Lamar, especially early in his career, and I think that he's not nearly as good a HC as his record would suggest. The talent the Ravens have hides many of his flaws. The trade wouldn't have mattered much to the Rams if Sheila Ford Harp hadn't taken over control of the Lions from her mother in 2020. She hired Brad Holmes as GM in 2021 who hired Dan Campbell as HC and traded Stafford. If Mrs Ford was still in charge, the Lions would have probably not even considered trading Stafford.

The Bengals have played several years without Burrow because of the stupidity of their FO and the philosophy of their owner, who is more interested in filling his stadium and selling merchandise than in building a team that wins consistently. They are wasting Burrow's prime because they've made the playoffs only twice in Burrow's first five years -- and will miss the playoffs in his sixth year. Their OL sucks, they have no running game, and their defense was historically bad last year and unlikely to improve much. They are dollars against the salary cap, however, and that's the problem. If the salary cap doesn't increase significantly, Philly will be in deep doodoo in a few years.

Is Gardner-Johnson the problem or is he the canary in the mine? The Texans are 0-3 because they've sucked on offense, scoring only 4 TDs in 3 games.

Pretty much. Justin Herbert has been in more commercial since the Chargers made the playoffs last season for the same reasons that Allen is all over the media these days. I agree. Wise move. Ever notice how many tv commercial senior citizens or people suffering from chronic illnesses or accident survivors all look so good???

I think that Baker has put himself into the conversation as one of the top QBs in the league. I wouldn't leave him out of my top 5. He's clutch, and he elevates the players around him. He should probably be in any early MVP conversations, too. Herbert has a lot of passing yards, so this early, he's going to get lots of MVP hype. The Niners have been suffering from significant numbers of serious injuries to key players almost every year that Shanahan has been HC. In Shanahan's 8 full seasons as HC, the team has missed the playoffs 4 times, and at least 3 of those times (2018, 2020 and 2024) were because of injuries. Plus they've had numerous significant injuries even when they have made the playoffs, just maybe not quite so much to critical personnel. In their last SB appearance, they lost Greenlaw to a non-contact injury very early in the game. 2025 looks to be another year of bad year for injuries for them. Is Shanahan just unlucky or is there something that he or the organization does that results in so many injuries?

I won't disagree, but I don't have any numbers on it. It might be Allen not being accurate. It might be that the Bills don't have good enough receivers. It could also be that the Bills don't throw long as often as some other teams. I would be shocked if the Bills trade for a WR before the deadline unless there is a significant injury to one of the WRs currently on the roster, and if they did make a trade, I can't see them using a first or second pick.

IMO, the Colts were a good team in need of a QB. They have a pretty good defense, a really good OL, decent receiving options, and a great runner in Taylor. Jones, so far this season, has given them good QB play.

Since I was arguing that turnovers are important, I wanted correlation not causation. Did Henry's fumble in the Bills games "cause" the Bills to win? No, but it was a significant factor in the Bills winning, just as Henry's fumble last night contributed to the Lions' win.

The discussion wasn't about SB winning QBs, so don't try to derail the discussion because your opinion isn't supported by the facts confirmed by AI. The discussion was about Dorsey as OC, and how the Bills' TOs have dropped since Brady replaced him.

Facts are pesky critters.

Your thesis doesn't stand up to scrutiny. I Googled: does winning the turnover battle correlate to winning more games in the NFL? AI response: All QBs suffer a drop off in accuracy when they throw long (ie, how long the ball is in the air). It's one of the reasons that the great passing QBs of the 1960s and 1970s had such low completion percentages compared to today's QBs. Darryl Lamonica wasn't called "the Mad Bomber" because he threw 20 yards downfield and a WR added 40 YAC. It's more like Lamonica would heave it 50 yards through the air and the WR added 10 YAC.

If people think that the Bills have a "problem" with the passing game, then they can't exempt Allen from being part of the "problem" because he's been frequently throwing to check-down targets even when there were open options downfield. For myself, I don't think the Bills have a passing "problem" at all. On offense, they are the kind of team they want to be: efficient, methodical, conservative. They aren't going to sling the ball around just because they can. A team that rolls up 250+ passing yards in a single quarter against a defense as strong as Baltimore's doesn't have a "passing problem"; they simply choose not to do so except when they feel they need to do so.

What makes you think that somebody whose HC thinks doesn't work hard enough is somebody the Bills would be interested in?

Prescient.

The Jests just block a FG and returned it for a TD to take the lead!!!!!

BRowns WIN!!!!!!

They've played better than "mediocre". Didn't Maye throw an INT and fumble the ball?

Actually Jones and Darnold have played better than Lawrence and Tua this season.

Browns score a TD!!!!!!