Richard Noggin

Will be next year; just finalized 2 seats in lower 300s (oxymoron: lower upper deck) around the 30. I've typically made it to about 2-3 games/year since I returned to WNY in 2012. Silly story time (stop reading now if you hate football and/or fun): Was at the last playoff win with a friend in '95 as high school seniors (hell of a day...minimalist underage tailgate in the snow, crazy offensive output (especially the Canadian Missile), friend had just had wisdom teeth removed so we had Vicodin, et cetera...). Often had privileged access to the team as a server at Tempo during the Chan/Rex/Marrone/McD tenures. Watched the 2013 season opener against the Patriots FROM the Patriots box (had waited on them the night before). It was super corporate tame and lame so the two of us COMPLETELY drained their suite fridge of all booze by halftime and then met up with friends in the Rockpile for the 2nd half (the Bills had made the game close and then even went ahead before losing late). EJ looked like he might be something based on that game and then the next against Carolina. How times have changed...

*said in almost Vontae Davis voice*

https://images.app.goo.gl/gicr2pEmYc7gMcE97 (I suck at the internet. *Fails to insert Billy Madison gif of Farley saying "but you can imagine what it would be like if they did"*)

Trojan is the brand.

Not a brand. A size. Revealing confusion, eh?

And really, more than anything, just keep running to the damned ball when it's thrown to you. He does this maddening slow down and jump when he tracks passes lofted over his shoulder. Just effing run under it, my dude! Keep running!

Cool.

Thanks for linking this piece. It's not super detailed on the weight/physique front, as I'd like, but it's more than I previously had. I'll bet Epenesa got by in college on size and power (apparently at the request of his coaches), and because it worked, probably never sought to refine or otherwise maximize his athletic traits. The weight (and diet and training) component of this reminds me a little of Bruce Smith's transformation. He was like 305 (or even 310) as a rookie, with unrefined diet and training habits. Couple dedicated offseasons, with the help of Rusty Jones (the Bills S&C coach) and, allegedly, recreational appetite suppressants, and Smith played the majority of his career down in the 260s. I remember a summer, maybe training camp, TV report on Bruce that featured his purchase of a stairmaster for his home, which might have been somewhat unorthodox or progressive at the time. We've since learned more about his reliance on low-impact stair climbers for keeping the weight down and the cardio up. NOT suggesting the two players are similar in any other ways. Truly. Just curious what Epenesa's career will look like as he transforms and maximizes his body?

Where can I hear/read this stuff? What they're looking to do with Epenesa is fascinating to me: take a productive college DT/DE tweener with elite length and strength but below average (or worse) athleticism (natural fit for 3-4 DE/5-technique), and completely tear him down and rebuild him in the mold of a long 4-3 DE. Hope it works.

At some point today on WGR (OBL, I'm pretty sure), the Colts radio guy mentioned the Colts using Moore (CB) as their shutdown/shadow cover guy in crunch time recently. Like as an adjustment they had Moore follow some primary receiver on every play for an important 4th quarter drive, and it worked. Wish I could call up more specific details about this point. Anyone else hear it? Did you see it, OP, in your game reviews?

I'm replying to a post from page 3 without reading ahead, so if this has been addressed already, je m'excuse. It makes plenty of sense that defenses were behind offenses early on because, while in the offseason offensive players (anywhere from just the QB and one receiver, to an entire 11-man unit) can get together on their own and practice plays against air, defenses can't meaningfully do the same. Practicing defense requires an offense to defend. Alignments, checks, gap fits, pursuit, tackling, route recognition, combination coverages, passing off routes in zone, etc., can only be refined against NFL-caliber players and plays. The defense is dependent upon an opponent to get real work in. Much more so than the offense. Makes sense, right? I think the numbers, and I KNOW the player interviews (look at some Bills guys on D coming out of the bye) back this up.

Allen would have been 2 years old during Young's last full season in the NFL (1998). Young started three more games the next year, and that was it.

Young was mostly before JA was BORN.

I haven't heard that. Weird that he'd have a QB role model who he was too young to watch play.

Much more arm talent than Young. Not quite as pinpoint accurate (although he's getting there). Much larger and faster, but probably not quite as shifty. Not the best comparison, really.

L'il Dirty as Rocket Raccoon is priceless.

Cheesecake Factory.

I agree insofar as the defense needs to keep up with what they've been doing early in games, which is to hold the opponent's scoring down while the Bills offense sorts things out; then, in the second half, they need to tee off and get that ball. So, basically, what they've been up to the last month or so.

Hope the players use it as motivation.

NFL success involves too many variables to make sweeping judgments on just about anyone, especially coaches, with only 32 games to evaluate (15-17). I generally agree that CEO-type college taskmasters (is that an oxymoron?) don't necessarily translate well to the pros, but 2 years with one middling franchise fielding meh at the QB position isn't a definitive data set.

You're zooming in on one little data point in a more qualitative discussion.

I mostly agree with you. I was trying to summarize fan perception, and what my own stubborn BBFS whispers into my ears in moments of weakness. If an opponent can bottle up Buffalo's offense (good luck) AND sustain a productive ground game...that seems to be the recipe to beat the Bills. And the Ravens are built for that kind of game, theoretically.

But it is reductive and dismissive.

It's probably the very different ways the Bills and the Ravens defeat their opponents that has fans apprehensive. Bills are a finesse team (which I don't use as a pejorative, necessarily) and the Ravens are a physical team (which I don't use as a superlative, necessarily). The way the Bills defense opened against NE suggests they can still be gashed on the ground at times. Of course, the Bills offense has become the remedy for that ailment, scoring points in bunches and making their opponents one-dimensional.

Come on, MAN. I read "Got 2 seats" and immediately my brain told me they were for sale. Choose your phrasing wisely. Or not, and get idiots like me all frothed up...