The Red King

I think he's still undecided, but I think this game means everything. If Allen does well, there is no way they start Peterman, or frenzied fans with torches and pitchforks will show up at the stadium. I think it's pretty clear. This is Allen's final exam. If he shows the right stuff and doesn't crumble under pressure, I think he wins the QB battle right then and there. I also think McD didn't expect it. Start with 3rd string, start with 2nd string...I think the original plan was expecting Allen to falter at some point. He hasn't. So, this is it. The big one.

Excellent. Would be the Chargers then. That first bolded statement made the difference. The Titans would make it and the process would immediately restart without completing the step (and eliminating the Chargers). Thanks, was driving me nuts!

Earlier, I posted on a thread the tie-breaker formula that led to Buffalo making it in. But in doing so, thought of another scenario that stumped me. What if Baltimore finished 8-8? Say, if they lost to Indy as well in Week 16? That would have resulted in the Titans, Bills and Chargers tying for the Wild Card spots. If that happened, the Titans would still have been the 5th seed, but would the Bills or Chargers have made it? Three-way tie, first tie-breaker would be head to head, but that only applies if a team beat or lost to all the teams they're tied with. Didn't happen, so next up is conference record, and here is where it gets tricky. The Titans had one more conference win then Buffalo, who had one more then the Chargers. The Titans had the best conference record, and so would have locked the 5th seed. But...at the same time, the Chargers had the worst. In the same step, the Titans would nab a spot, and the Chargers eliminated, leaving the Bills the Wild Card. But...when a team is locked in or eliminated, the process is supposed to start over with the remaining teams. If the process restarted immediately after the Titans were locked in, then the Chargers would have gotten the sixth spot, since they beat the Bills head-to-head. So, I guess it comes down to just when does the process restart? Would it restart immediately after the Titans locked up #5? Or would the whole conference record tiebreaker play out simultaneously, resulting in the Titans getting #5 and the Chargers getting knocked out at the same time, leaving Buffalo in #6?

You need to look at the intangibles. For example, Brady would crap himself if the Bills signed Mack. ?

Average/consistant/baseline play is Tyrod's MO. It's why they wanted him.

Oh, I get you. Wasn't saying you were wrong, just that it was ironic that the two Cleveland wins/strength of victory came back to bite the Ravens in the rear. ?

There were four teams tied for two Wild Card spots. The Titans had the best conference record, and so got the top Wild Card spot. The Chargers had the worst, and were eliminated. That left Buffalo and Baltimore tied at 9-7 with identical conference records. Next tiebreaker was strength of victory. Basically add together the final win totals of all nine teams beaten. Higher total gets in. Two of the Ravens victories were against the Browns, so two of the nine wins contributed nothing to the Ravens' tiebreaker. The fact that two of the Ravens' wins were against Cleveland helped propel the Bills into that playoff spot.

Ironically, this is exactly why Buffalo edged out Baltimore for that Wild Card spot last season.

It makes sense. Look, you normally get three points for being the home team. So, really, the odds are just saying the Ravens are three points better. Now, both teams finished 9-7 last year, with Buffalo edging them out of the playoff spot based on strength of victory tiebreaker. Since then, Buffalo lost talent on the offensive line. Worse, our starting QB is either going to be a second-year player who threw five picks in a half, or a rookie that hasn't played a regular-season game yet. Considering all that, I think it's fair that the Ravens are six-point favorites. Don't get me wrong, I think Buffalo is actually the better team and might just win it...but from a neutral standpoint setting odds, it's really not that outrageous a line.

A fiend that leads the Bills to 9-7 and best season in the 21st century, ending a seventeen year playoff drought? Truly the worst. ?

Let me start a poll..."Which rookie QB has gotten the most media exposure and praise?" ...well, what do you know...same outcome... ? People who do not actually watch the QBs, and instead rely on the media to tell them who's doing good or bad are going to vote the way we see above. Mayfield winning that poll is no more important then winning Class President in grade school.

It looked, in a way, like Brady and NE. Take what the D gives you, nickel and dime your way down the field, and when the D finally cracks and a reciever is open deep, torch them. We've been on the receiving end of that way too many years now.

Just hope by the time Allen comes in we're not 0-3 and end up missing the playoffs by a game. I understand the idea of letting him sit, but he's farther ahead then anyone thought, and Peterman's arm strength (or lack thereof) is going to be an issue. Aggressive secondaries are going to start jumping his routes during the regular season like they were in a bounce house. He's a solid backup, but I'm not ready to write-off this season (or a good chunk of it) just to sit Allen. Not anymore, not after what the kid's shown. I trust the process, but if Peterman starts it's going to be real tough to swallow. And if he does poorly, fans will be screaming for blood (and Allen).

What others? Seriously, watch the clip posted earlier and tell me what other throws were bad.

Peterman is a far cry from Bledsoe and Farve.

The CFL allows penalties to be reviewable. After watching that terrible call, I think it's time the NFL adopt it. Good lord, first time I've seen that involving a QB not called Brady...

"You went full analytics. Never go full analytics!" ?

Technically, Buffalo is the only NY team, but I digress. ? There is a good point there, part of the narritive is that the Bills, long-time losers, drafted him. A hard-luck team uses a high pick on a kid who looks like a statistical mess. Sounds like a Cleveland move, and so the media spins it that way. Had NE drafted Allen the narrative would be completely different, as Bellie gets the next possible GOAT with raw talent and just a small handful of flaws that a brilliant coach like him could fix. The narrative of each preseason game would be how amazing Allen is, and how quickly Bellie is molding him into a god. Also remember, the media is looking for clicks. With all these QBs drafted, they need to strongly differentiate between them. Otherwise they risk looking like they're copy/pasting. Allen is on the Bills, and got the storyline "High-risk, likely bust", to separate him from the others.

It's about culture. The Browns are 1-31, coming off 0-16. Tyrod will not make the big plays to win games, but will not make the mistakes. As with us, TT will keep the Browns in a number of games. The Browns need that consistancy right now. They need to win a few games, get the monkey off their back, then they can bring Mayfield in. Look at it this way, if Cleveland crash and burns with TT against a tough schedule, he is a sacrificial lamb. Mayfield is then brought in against easier teams and the fans forgive all. If Mayfield starts and the Browns struggle, talk will persist about the Browns still being losers, and Mayfield will come under fire. This gets even worse if other QBs taken in this draft are doing well. All kinds of way too early talk about if Mayfield is a bust, if Cleveland took the wrong QB, etc. Makes sense to start Tyrod, believe it or not...

I think the plan has been, see what the kid can do. Put him out with the 3rd string, played well enough for a shot with the 2nd team...played well enough for a shot with the 1s. Peterman is, at this point, a known commodity. I don't think Allen is a lock for week 1 starter yet, but I think he starts vs Cinci, as a bit of a final exam...and his chance to win the week one start. McD has been watching and waiting for him to stumble, for him to be overwhelmed, for him to show he isn't ready. Instead, he's shown poise and game presence I'm stunned to see in a rookie. I know it's preseason, but just compare Allen in the two-minute drill compared to what we had last season. Allen is further ahead then planned, exceeding expectations. I think he gets the start vs. Cinci, with a chance to win the regular season starting job.

The question now is...would starting Allen constitute a signifigant drop-off? If the competition is even remotely close, start the kid and get him his experience.

I like the throw. We know he can make the throw. But what impressed me was the *poise* there. Didn't look like a rook...

Allen in making a strong case here...

Stuck with radio...which just cut out. But damn, sounds like Allen's got some poise to go with that cannon!

To hide that this was once a completely different thread. Four pages in the OP completely changed the title and original post in an effort to hide/bury it.