Richard Noggin

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about "the trolls."

Being fans should have nothing to do with our capacity to interpret statistics. Even the Super Bowl favorite each year is statistically unlikely to win it all, compared to the field. Weren't the Bills THE betting line favorite last offseason, but still only ~8% likely to actually do it? So even Bills fans, and maybe especially Bills fans, can appreciate how statistically UNlikely a Super Bowl win is for ANY team in a given season, no matter how successful they've been and project to be. Nothing is guaranteed. Nothing given. Neither Dan Fouts nor Dan Marino ever won a Super Bowl, despite how awesome they were. Thus, voting against any championships in Buffalo is actually smart.

Looking at the bolded, let's take it even further: Josh Allen functions as a kind of multiplier for resources invested in offensive skill positions. WRs, for sure, have been having career years here lately. Imagine the returns on another (after Diggs) 1st round investment? Maybe even more significant: resources invested in the offensive line function as a kind of multiplier for Josh Allen. That starts to get exponential. Go get some blue chip linemen.

I REALLY hope the Bills DON'T pay Edmunds a top market value deal, no matter what happens next. Maybe a Milano-ish discount would be worth considering, but I prefer totally reallocating the cap space to the offensive side of the ledger. That being said, IF instead that 5-year, 1st-round asset they traded UP to select leaves in FA without compensation AND the Bills then spend 1st or 2nd day draft capital on a replacement (the year AFTER spending a 3rd round pick on Bernard) for a D that overwhelmingly fields only 2 LBs...I'll probably be difficult to console. So I hope you are wrong.

Love this sequence, gents.

Totally agree that Al-Shaair looks poised to break out from what I saw of San Fran in 2022...but then when I look him up I am surprised to see that his snap count and production were actually both cut in half in 2022, after a big jump in 2021. I'm guessing injuries/availability of Warner and Greenlaw are inversely correlated with Al-Shaair's opportunities and production. So maybe that drop-off helps to dampen his pending FA value? I'd argue that Milano's presence was more predictive of defensive success than was Edmunds's.

It would make more sense under different cap circumstances, but I guess we don't exactly know what Beane is willing and able to do to manipulate those circumstances.

We get taught that being a sore loser is bad form. But I'd argue that being a sore winner is much worse. Guys like Brady and Jordan, for example, are rightly considered GOATs, but WOW do they have some toxic chips on their shoulders. JuJu, of course, uses TikTok and Twitter to amplify his own brand of self-absorption, where social media engagement supersedes any duty to teammates, tradition, or employer. The NFL is just a vehicle for driving his online influence. Which is his prerogative, as long as teams will tolerate it.

Here's a cool top-10 WR prospect workup that frankly makes it seem like there could be potential difference makers available on late Day 1 or early Day 2 (Wilson out of Stanford is favorably comped with Davante Adams, for example, and given a 2nd round grade, along with an interesting mix of smaller-ish guys with some speed): This would suggest some boom-or-bust (overdrafted) prospects available late in Rd 1, with some possible value in early Rd 2. Some team will snag a stud WR in that 25-35 range, and some team will pick a guy who doesn't progress. Who the heck will be the Bills WR Coach? That will have an impact on selection and especially on development.

Guessing I'm not at all the first to point out that the first round this year doesn't line up favorably for picking a WR at 27. So that elite prospect would require some dealing.

Allen's historic production in the two playoff games really skewed the collective memory of what last season's offense actually looked like. They were 7-6 after a thumping by the Colts in the cold rain, and then an embarrassing first half deficit against Tampa Bay that a remarkable 2nd half offensive rebirth couldn't quite surmount. That offense was inconsistent, and didn't seem to sustain balanced production until late in the season around when Rick Bates took over the LG spot for good. And even then, they sputtered for quarters. Gabe Davis was out of synch for stretches. They couldn't or didn't run the ball well in their losses. Sound familiar? In 2021 they peaked in the playoffs. In 2022 they didn't.

Is this sarcasm? Reads like it. If so, I'd suggest not letting the imperialist conquerors do their own marketing. If not, then cheers.

I'll respond ignorantly without googling Ben Johnson. I can only assume he's a more paternalistic presence, like Dabs was. I did NOT love Daboll's baldly deliberate gameplans that were slow to adjust in-game and rarely leveraged a synced up run and pass action to keep defensive players on their heels, but I'd be a fool to ignore what his presumably hard coaching did for Allen. We watched Dabs chew out a young Josh Allen on more than one occasion. And one of Allen's defining traits has been his coachability, or ability to absorb and improve upon legitimate criticism. Seemed like that kind of humility and accountability was missing at times this season. Replays reveal a QB who overlooked or didn't find quickly enough the short and intermediate solutions to various coverage and pressure outcomes. There is the Ravens game, which was not a pretty passing day, but really it started in the 2nd half against Green Bay. We started to see mistakes that didn't make sense. We saw demonstrable regression. We saw our elite playmaker unwilling to play small-ball. Suddenly the red zone (which had been an historically-efficacious area for Allen) was a mine field. Defenses were attacking Josh Allen and he wasn't solving those riddles with humility.

This is so true. By necessity, because they were losing, the Bills let it ALL hang out. And it worked, sort of. It certainly exploited some of what Spags does, and challenged Reid to counter (either with ball control/clock maintenance OR with the spread-out, on-field options that let Kelce identify and exploit an inexplicable coverage blind spot). And one could argue that not a lot of split-out TEs would have been able to dictate that rapid solution. So it could have been more talent than coaching, on the offensive side, when all is said and done. But whatever. The Bills wilted. They called timeouts and STILL didn't field PROGRESSIVE-minded, forward-leaning solutions. They fell back onto the WORST cliches of last-ditch prevent defense.

I'll go ahead and disagree here. Daboll is absolutely a great coach. He has become a great leader of coaches and players alike with his interpersonal authenticity and professional diligence. Dudes love Dabs. That's important, especially early on. However, Daboll has ONLY had ANY offensive success calling plays with Josh Allen as his QB. He didn't call plays this season with the New Jersey Football Giants. So I see Daboll as someone who is meant for the Head Coaching job. He's a hell of a teacher, a uniter, an organizer, but he had some serious trouble marrying the run and the pass games while in Buffalo, despite the offensive success we enjoyed. So defensive players had some advantages, leaning into the pass rush, feasting on some meh players in predictable pass and run situations. What Daboll DID do VERY effectively was get stompin' mad at Allen when he refused to take what the defense was giving him. THAT was the missing ingredient this year, even as the offense starting stringing together a run game. Allen was being an impatient, sophomoric, myopic stallion too often in 2022. His greatest successes had come from ELITE patience, precision, and zen, and then of course that KC playoff explosion that effed up all our expectations...

You can't micromanage superstars. You shouldn't even micromanage GOOD talent. Those who need constant management and reinforcement benefit more when it comes from their colleagues, anyways. Horizontal buy-in. Marv Levy knew what he had in his (kinda dooshy) team back in the day (they were probably just too ungovernable). Andy Reid understands who he's dealing with. Et cetera. Success is the best team-builder. Tomlin is pretty good at it, given some of the WRs he's had to "govern" since the real winning subsided.

Jordan Phillips is obviously not on the level of Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, and Hyde. He is talented, but he's streaky AF. We need more guys who don't ever wilt. More guys who are kinda unwilling to take losing in stride. More guys who won't accept stagnation.

Taking pride in ignorance is folly. There were several legitimate reasons for a Bills fan and for a football fan in general to know who Chad Hall is. 1 is the performance of Bills WRs since his arrival. 2 is the infectious energy that guy brings to the sideline. Watch him as guys come off the field. He's good with his group. 3 is the league's perception of him, which I'll gamble on and guess that after a year or two in Pederson's offense, we'll see Hall shooting up the offensive coaching ranks. There was positive chatter prior to 2022. Reason 4 is (and remember, these are simply reasons a Bills fan for sure or a football fan in general should know who Chad Hall is) that he looks a little too much like Mathew Stafford's wife, who we've seen much more of in recent years...

You wouldn't include Hyde?

Different? Definitely. Totally different? Well I guess I hope not (on the field). Andre was a bigger, more physical, more Alpha type (I don't like that term, but it really was/is such a defining characteristic of Reed's game on and off the field) than Shakir can ever be. I'd argue that Khalil Shakir is a better athletic prospect than many realize, but that Andre Reed is probably just a different dude.

Get just one or two more guys with Diggs's determination (and/or keep em healthy...Hyde and Miller) and I don't think the team deflates quite like that. Although, to be fair, it really did feel like the Cinci game was an unavoidable reckoning. They looked ready to romp the Bills the first time around (I know, I know, it was early in the game), and then absolutely dismantled the Bills in the divisional round. Nonetheless, more Diggs and less mediocrity. That's the winning formula.

You might like Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I seek the most evidence-based truths I can find. Untruths about the overall frequency of non-profit malfeasance do NOT line up with reality. There is inefficiency and bloat in some non-profits, just like some/many for-profit corps, but the majority are small, threadbare, noble organizations. I'm no fan of Russel Wilson the player. I don't know Russel Wilson the person, but I presume we wouldn't exactly hit it off.

That's an insane claim. Of course it's criminal when fraudsters use charitable causes to enrich themselves. But not even remotely true that "most any non profit is shady like this."

Only THREE replies in 3 pages claim to be younger than me. Eff that. No way. @NoHuddleKelly12even claims to be the SAME age. Imagine that: OTHER people?! I don't believe any of it. This thread is a violation of basic internet forum decorum. Some of our fellow posters have been living double lives for SO long...it's impolite to call anyone out IRL.

Do you live in Piemonte? Valle d'Aosta? What is the viticultural focus of your region. THAT's a way to get to know someone