Richard Noggin

Mekhi Becton, at 6'7" 363 lbs, is NOT an obviously innate fit for the Shanahan-based stretch/outside zone running scheme the Jets will be implementing under OC LaFleur. I've heard a Jets radio guy recently suggest he's too massive, at first glance, to regularly "pull" off the stretch responsibilities that lighter, rangier LTs are asked to perform in a San Fran or LA Ram zone blocking scheme. Although, to be fair, his draft profile RAS and early NFL performances suggests Becton is probably, actually athletic enough to transcend his elite size (which alone leads many lazy pundits to declare him a better fit for power/man blocking schemes), and be a beast in the new. movement-based offensive blocking system. So, in short: you're not wrong. Even the rebuilding NY Jets field a leveled-up boss at LT. There is some discussion about his ideal "fit" in the new blocking scheme, but I don't think I'd discount his capacity to dominate in any system. It might not happen immediately and consistently, on the field, of course. Zone schemes require synchronicity.

As usual, my fellow Bills fans in this thread present really sharp, evidence-based perspectives on considerations I often treat with less...diligence. Nevertheless I think many of us agree on the broad strokes: that we'd like it if the Bills decide to hold onto a few (or even just a couple) more young players with developmental (or more immediate) potential at the expense of older guys on expiring deals. McD loves himself some veteran leadership, but hopefully the team's young core of locked-up guys is ready to lead with a few less vets there to help.

I appreciate your response. But I don't agree. Addison and Jones represent poor value WRT to the cap, the depth chart, and continuing roster development. Daryl Johnson is important to STs, and can probably produce more efficiently at DE commensurate with his salary (compared to Addison's, who has no ST value, and is a million years old, and not super productive). Don't pay Addison for past production (with a previous team) if it means cutting a more valuable, younger, cheaper guy who you've been developing. Taiwan Jones has ZERO positional value, and he's also getting old. (He did have that one improbable first down...was it a catch and run?...in his first stint with the team that got the sideline all juiced up. But he's...limited.) The Bills must have other gunner candidates who offer enough positional depth or developmental value to warrant cutting a one-dimensional guy who covers punts for a team that didn't exactly punt a lot last season. Maybe the drafted WR, Stevenson, can cover punts? He's got upside worth investing in, for example. Maybe Wildgoose? You see my point (even if you don't agree). I'd like to see the roster filled out with more promising offensive and defensive depth while ALSO not ignoring STs. It's what they'll need to do once the QB is locked up long term for a big chunk of the cap. Best get a jump on it now and bring those youngins along. Plus, it's MUCH more fun for us keyboard/fantasy/Madden GMs who were trained for so long to look forward to the offseason roster building more than the regular season mediocrity. Basically, don't trade away Wyatt Teller and keep Vlad Ducasse. (I have not deeply vetted this analogy, but in spirit it captures my thesis: younger, less proven players will be VITAL to the team's sustained success moving forward.) Addison and Jones are dead-end, overpriced roster spots you'll have to replace soon anyways. Get on with it.

Please, McBeane, just say NO to Taiwan Jones. And NO to Jake Fromm. And NO to several other fringe guys who could be replaced by promising young talent. I'd like to see Mario Addison OFF the roster, for example. Daryl Johnson has much more value, or maybe one of the lesser known DTs. Or some other position entirely. Someone with upside. It's time to turn it over to drafted players (or otherwise acquired younger talent) at several positions. Let's see Antonio Williams over Taiwan Jones. Whatever. Get crazy. Cut the cords with "safer" players at positions where there is younger talent to develop. Let's not have another Wyatt Teller situation, if we can avoid it. That undrafted TE looks intriguing. The drafted WR has traits our WR room is otherwise lacking. Et cetera.

I mean, WRs...am I right?

Can a twitter-savvy poster quickly decode what transpired here? I'll venture an obvious guess: was Allen actually intending to use a burner account to throw mock-shade at himself in the spirit of all the social media skeptics who incorrectly doomed him for his alleged, incurable accuracy issues? And then, recognizing his error, he IMMEDIATELY retweeted himself with a genuine, self-deprecating mea culpa? Seems to fit with his overall ethos: publicly humble and good-humored BUT privately more confident and competitive than you are. Capable of holding onto grudges and slights for competitive fuel, a la [insert great, and notably petty, competitors here]. You know the previous examples. At least our guy is somehow able to be likable in spite of his competitive drive.

But Hodgins was flashing at the beginning of last training camp as well, before the injury sidelined him. He was possibly ahead of Davis at the time. I'm hoping these reports (from the last two offseasons) is simply who he is: a young boundary WR with size (one of today's blurbs emphasized his outside skillset), like Gabriel Davis, who the coaches can't keep off the field.

Point of emphasis for the offense this season, according to a report or two last week. Something they want to add/refine to evolve the passing attack (and hopefully stay ahead of defensive coordinators using playoff tape to parrot how the Ravens and Chiefs effectively "contained" Allen and his WRs in those games).

Tell that to Kent Hull. Not sure if I have another example off the top of my head of a guy who needed a redshirt season to substantially bulk up. There are many more examples of guys shedding weight dramatically, like our own Lorenzo Alexander. Athletes in their 20s (and then, unfortunately, later in their 30s) can experience all kinds of physical growth and/or especially metabolic, body composition changes (some might lean out, others might continue to fill out, and still others might not change much). I don't know if the data supports your sweeping claim, or if it's much more nuanced than that. My hunch is the latter.

You know that baby got upset and started wailing; could see it in its face and from the fact they cut it so abruptly! Which is important: to impress upon it our legacy of suffering.

Sincerely without looking up anything, I completely agree with this guess. He set the single-season OR career receptions record, I think...

He squared up the shoulder, crouched...and then completely forgot to bring his feet along, failing to drive through the tackle as the QB was able to get the pass off. I give it a 2/10. Terrible finish; no explosion.

What a game. Difficult to watch that highlight reel (I know, I know...highlights aren't film) and NOT draft Josh Allen. You saw all his traits on display in that game from five football seasons ago. You can see why the more mixed results his next and final college year didn't sink him in the eyes of some evaluators...luckily including ours.

His throwing motion has looked like this to me for years now; a stiff, hitchy, shot-puttin' mess. Yeah, his wrist still has snap in it, so he spins the ball well, but he's otherwise just shovin' that thing down field like a medicine ball.

He felt something during the second-to-last rep in his left hammy. Plain to see afterwards as he curled his left leg slightly several times. Maybe no big deal, as he kept going, but scary. When I watch him run his routes I'm continuously flinching on behalf of his hammies and groin(s). He's just so sudden and severe with his feints and breaks. When I'm looking for something to worry about unnecessarily I wonder how much longer he can move like that without injury. It's remarkable.

Any and all references to this very well televised moment, the play(s) that caused it, and all ancillary contexts shall heretofore be celebrated by me ad infinitum.

Do we KNOW that, though, from watching this short clip of a player wearing somewhat baggy layers? Claiming he's lost "a lot of weight" (emphasis mine) seems like a leap. I'll admit he looks trim for the over-simplified/possibly outdated role Bills fans envision for him, which is as a celestial body whose gravitational field incapacitates 1-3 blockers per running play. (Truly, though, he does look kinda lean. But do I accurately remember his training physique prior to last season? I don't know.)

Is it possible, @Thurman#1, that citing the NFL's most one-dimensional offense's plan for attacking the Bills D, is not a super convincing line of argument? Is it possible that if a one-dimensional offense like Baltimore's decided to focus their attack on Edmunds, then maybe they viewed Edmunds as a liability they could exploit? And while the Bills D played well in that game, isn't it also possible that the one-dimensional quality of the Ravens offense might have allowed Edmunds to be more decisive and therefore effective? It's become a playoff theme (diminishing returns) for Baltimore with Jackson at QB, hasn't it? I mean, how good did our MLB look against Indy and KC in contrast? Playing against teams with the very real threat of offensive balance might be better indicators of an MLB's real value. I don't hate Edmunds at all, but I do see an elite athlete potentially playing out of position with respect to pre-snap processing and post-snap impact plays. I did NOT yet listen to the podcast referencing Baltimore's offensive approach to playing the Bills D, for the record.

Trade who in the offseason? Hughes or Obada? Aren't they both UFAs after this season?

If I may, I'm reminded of Hard Knocks with the Rams back when Fisher was still the head coach (and our own Rob Boras was heading the offensive play-calling?)...anyways, who was that DE who believed in Mermaids but NOT dinosaurs? I'll never forget his "logic" about it: the impressive volume of unearthed evidence of dinosaurs (you know, their actual remnants/fossils) was actually suspicious to him, whereas the complete LACK of evidence of mermaids (save for dubious anecdotal accounts) was a sign to him of something suspicious, like a coverup or conspiracy. His logic was entirely inverted. I think alternative medicines and treatments sometimes lead people down a similar path, where distrust in the mainstream healthcare machine (which undoubtedly gets things wrong sometimes) becomes belief. Some of it must be the demonstrable efficacy of belief/placebo effect, as you point out. Players find alternative treatments and therapies and medicines that help them more than the standard accepted practices. They both reap the rewards AND feel smarter or more resourceful for circumventing accepted best practice. Anyways, it's a compelling storyline for this team and for others. I'll do my best to stick to football-related angles on it.

Without getting too deep down the fraught path of vaccine discourse, I must agree with your posts here on a strictly football-related basis. Many/most NFL players probably voluntarily ingest substances (orally and through syringes) FAR more dangerous or at least FAR less tested than a vaccine like this one. They do this to stay on the field and to be more productive (which are intrinsically linked ends), and ultimately to maximize their contracts. One could easily argue that choosing not to get vaccinated logically runs counter to all the work they put in and all the stuff they allow into their bodies otherwise, because they're choosing a path of more likely (and more severe) infection and thus, of unpredictable time OFF the field. Again, this is thinking about it purely in terms of football availability. It's a bizarre choice with respect to the myriad other choices made in the name of availability and productivity. And this says nothing of a broader responsibility to the team (if you care about such virtues in a cold-hearted business) and its prospects this season. Also, I really do wonder if the roster's vaccination rate could be a factor in Star's absence to date. Of course, other d-line vets are also absent, so who knows?

While this is off-topic, I recall a quick nugget or two from OTAs this week about in-breaking routes being a new wrinkle/focus for the passing game. Apparently something we've not featured much or at least excelled at yet? Not sure about the veracity of that. Anyways, it's one way to stay ahead of defensive adjustments: continually evolve the offense so opposing DCs can't simply "catch up." Sure seemed like defenses in the playoffs had a decent grasp on what the Bills were trying to do on offense (that. and banged up WRs of course).

This video was posted a little while back. Not sure what it means, other than Star is in fact training, and looks fairly lean. Whether and when he, who opted out last season due to COVID concerns (ostensibly), wants to report to the facility of a team whose roster is mostly unvaccinated (allegedly), remains to be seen.

"We aaalll see it."

But I see no highlights in this thread? I came here for highlights. I was promised highlights.