Richard Noggin

This is an intriguing question entering 2022: who are the returner candidates, exactly? We know Hyde is the guy for when McD's backside gets a bit clenched in the bad weather or the big moments after someone else muffs it. He's the steady, no drama punt "catcher." But who are the ACTUAL candidates? Obviously Stevenson will get a look, although we can mostly agree his rookie audition was rough. McKenzie IS a dangerous returner, no doubt, but he's a bit dangerous for BOTH teams, unfortunately. Could take one to the house (if it isn't called back), and could just as likely throw up all over himself. Does more experience, more time refining his craft even-out some of those unforced errors? Who are the less obvious candidates? Hasn't Shakir seen some action as a returner? That seems right, and probably ideal if he can contribute there early on. Do Cook or Elam have any return experience? I like to pose questions to which I do NOT have the answers, by the way. I know some of you still awake have some answers or at least ideas.

Sweet satire.

Achilles running braces? 👀

https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/2022/05/19/julian-edelman-tells-an-epic-story-of-bill-belichick-roasting-players-during-film-session/ One of my most hated players, ever, earns some points here. Although the real highlight is just learning how Belichick savages his players. I feel dirty.

I will likely NEVER get to test it out, unfortunately. It exists almost exclusively in my imagination, although I practice the motion and release on almost any handsize spherical object I encounter.

I don't think a single player in any other sport is more pivotal than an elite NFL QB. Trevor Bauer, in particular, was a decent top of the rotation SP when healthy, but had a somewhat uneven career prior to his current disruptions. So I disagree with your claim on several levels. He did a youtube video a few years back that taught me how to throw a knuckle curve, for what it's worth.

I've heard professional athletes, namely Takeo Spikes, admit that he knew it was coming. Was battling through the precursors, kept pushing, and then *pop*... Every time I get back into training, especially running, I have to navigate achilles and calf tightness/soreness/straining for a few weeks. Started in my senior year of high school after soccer season ended; I stopped continuously (and properly) training for much of the winter and then experienced enough setbacks at the beginning of track season (with coaches who simply didn't want to hear it) that I just walked (or limped) away from the team. Then in college I took up rugby, and despite loving it, was hindered enough by lower leg strains that I couldn't finish that season either. This was 25 years ago. First 5k I trained for had me convinced I'd pop an achilles during the first few weeks of running. But at that point, in my 30s, I had the wherewithal to slow down, take precautions, and push through. Some years later I ran a fairly solid Boilermaker 15k (for an almost-40 yr old, 200+ lb guy who really isn't built for endurance sports). But then I had a kid, started working way too much, and now I'm petrified of running. Seems inevitable that I'll feel that dreaded *pop* someday.

The diversity of answers in this thread likely indicates, as most of us would agree, that the AFC is stacked with so many high-end QBs and dangerous teams in general that it's difficult to predict which will weather the regular season intraconference gauntlet healthy enough and clicking when it matters most. It also suggests that putting any single AFC team, including the Bills, on a predictive pedestal is unwise. Even the odds-on favorite to win it all has a roughly 15% probability at best, which might even be generous. The sheer volume of variables baked into a grueling 17-game NFL season, followed by a 14-team, single-elimination tournament, is calculus that laughs at predictions. No other sport is quite like this. Add to all the uncertainty the seemingly unprecedented offseason player movement of impactful guys, and it's a puzzle.

I rarely research the points I'm making on here before hitting "Submit Reply." It's fun to see if my thinking is sound or stupid based on responses from more informed posters. Just so happens I DID check out Taron Johnson's Spotrac page a week or three ago so the surprising fact that he's signed through 2024 is still fresh in my mind.

That defensive stops stat is indicative of exactly why Taron Johnson GOT PAID ALREADY. He's such a perfect fit for the Bills defense as a tenacious, aggressive player near the LOS who also happens to have developed a knack for playmaking in coverage as well. He'll be here for at least two more seasons as his extension is only now kicking in for the next three seasons (team could get out of the deal after 2023 with minor dead cap).

Could be an oddly good fit if it goes well early, or a predictably terrible fit if it goes badly early. I'll allow it lol

🤔

Crowder doesn't offer special teams value like McKenzie (and Kumerow), and future promise like Shakir or possibly Stevenson (or maybe Hodgins?). There ARE possibilities for keeping only 6 and Crowder not being one of them. I don't actually think that will happen, but to disregard it out of hand seems like a leap.

If we look at the two games last season when weather WASN'T historically disruptive, do we see a Patriots team that matches up well against the Bills? I know we've trounced the Dolphins overall, but I've watched that Dolphins D give us fits for entire halves only to be letdown by their offense and ultimately outmatched by Josh Allen (and Tre White that one game). They feel like a team closer to truly competing with us IF they take large strides offensively. Which is a BIG if. And of course the Jets are drafting well, so they would project to improve considerably. The Pats seem like an organization circling the drain, more than one poised to take a step forward.

Great use of white space, gents. Sometimes it's the notes you don't play.

Is that something that can really happen after two grand juries were already convened? Or are you just spitballing?

Right. It's all CIVIL now. The grand juries declined to criminally indict. Luckily, the NFL is not beholden to criminal rulings.

Hasn't the criminal prosecution ship already sailed? (Forgive the maritime metaphor whilst the suspect in question enjoys an island getaway.)

I think the only somewhat appropriate action at this point is the exempt list for 2022, and then some kind of concrete punishment for the 2023 season. Anything short of that is just gross.

I'd simply argue that if there was an issue with him being overhyped at home, he sure seemed to figure it out when it mattered most. So hopefully that's just yet another flaw he has corrected in his relentless pursuit of becoming the best player in football.

Ostensibly the NFL already knows how ugly it gets, no (based on their investigation)? And we're just finding out now via public leaks? Or are these depositions still ongoing? I don't make an effort to follow the Watson developments beyond this forum.

Your definition of "lock" is expansive. Basically anyone you think will make the team? There is NO scenario in which AJE isn't on the roster? NO scenario where Crowder, on a one-year deal, at a position of relative strength (and potentially less usage under Dorsey), doesn't make it? Quessenberry was the worst OT in the league last season in surrendering sacks, no? "He had better well be" a lock? Come on. Slow down and consider alternate realities where things go differently than your very confident predictions.

I think the well-hashed debate of Edmunds moving to what amounts to an EDGE position (4-3 under SAM LB is ON the LOS) typically concludes that the player in question is NOT a fit for that role based on his demonstrated inability to blitz/attack downhill. He does not get off blocks well. We know this. Therefore, deliberately pitting him against the offensive line/TEs on a play-by-play basis seems...UNWISE.

He's a piece of wood on the broadcast. He's terrible. Too much of an aspiring politician to say anything interesting, ever. TV is a bad fit for him.

Actually, you're wrong about Kaep's progression of protest. He originally sat down on the bench, yes. But he started KNEELING based upon his consultations with a former special ops vet teammate, Nate Boyer, who suggested kneeling as a more noble/respectful gesture. The kneeling was intentionally meant to be effing respectful, because taking a knee IS IN FACT A RESPECTFUL GESTURE. The cultural outrage over this gesture is objectively NOT genuine. To be fair, though, positing a parallel between Nate Peterman signing for some minimum backup/camp arm deal in 2022 and Colin Kaepernick NOT signing suddenly, 5 years removed from playing, for something more akin to definite team TOP 2 QB depth chart money/opportunity is not exactly free of pre-existing agenda. I hate how Kaep became a pariah for his intentionally respectful and ultimately widespread method of protest, but I can't ignore his own initial reluctance to accept a significantly reduced-market value contract once things went south. It's not fair that he was so significantly downgraded so swiftly, but it's part of the complicated equation. I'm guessing he wouldn't allow himself to be lumped in with the Nate Petersons of the NFL landscape, and that prevented him from getting a foot in the door.