Beck Water

I agree, Pitts. cut him loose quickly. It was a rather strange decision for a team that has been patient. I think there was (and is) a strong element of win-now-itis in Steeltown. Their defense is still good, but the core of their DL and other key players are getting long in the tooth. Greats TJ Watt and Cameron Heyward are well past 30. Fitzpatrick is 28. They had several other older starters (Ogunjobi, Roberts) who left in FA. Smith came in and believed he could rescusitate Russel Wilson and Get 'Er Done. Now he hopes he can get 'er done with .....Rodgers? Maybe? It's the model Denver rode to one Superbowl victory with the Ghost of Peyton Manning, after all, and fizzled on doing again with Wilson. Anyway, it's my impression that it may not have been "on" Pickett that a normally patient organization cut him loose. I could be wrong. But the same NFL teams that give chance after chance to veteran has-beens, will surely look hard at Pickett if he's cut and signed to a PS

That's a goood question. Much better question than you may realize. Once upon a time, meaning a couple years ago, you could go on buffalobills.com and find, if not everybody who worked for the Bills, certainly all the heads. Player engagement? Head trainer? Assistant trainers? Strength and conditioning coach? Assistant S&C coaches? Ticket sales? Maintenance? All right there on buffalobills.com, some under "coaches" some under "front office" Last year (may have been earlier, but I noticed it last year) only the coaches and position assistant coaches were listed, and for the "Front Office" it's just the Pegulas, Beane, McDermott and EVP/COO Pete Guelli. Not saying it's a bad thing, not saying it's a good thing, but it's definitely a thing.

Yeah, it kind of reads like "I've Heard of Him" or "PFF graded him well" Greenlaw played 34 snaps last season. It's not just Greenlaw - Okereke missed 5 games. Edgerrin Cooper didn't just miss games with a hammy, he didn't take over as the starter until the last 3-ish games. They acknowledge TJ Edwards wasn't so good last year and they included him based on previous history. Pace only played 10 games. Mosely is a FA, which kind of says how NFL GMs see him (eg not as a top 32 LB) TUNE OUT THE NOISE...TUNE OUT THE NOISE Indeed. There is a reason Bernard won the starting MLB gig over Bernard, and that the Bills moved on from Dodson. I see no lies

Heh. Flacco is "fools gold" as a QB at this point, IMO. He can still master the playbook and he knows where to go with each throw, so he looks great wearing a red jersey. But put him on the field with young fire-eaters coming full-speed-ahead for his liver and lungs, and it all falls apart. I could be wrong, but I don't think a team will manage to keep Pickett on the practice squad. Guy had a winning record, completed 63% of his passes, and threw more TDs than INT (though only slightly) in 2 years at Pittsburgh. If Cleveland wants to keep him as an option, they'll need to find a roster spot for him. Edit: Pittsburgh has a pretty storied history of good personnel decisions, but I have to wonder if Pickett isn't going to prove to be their Geno Smith.

Here's an observation. Kincaid was #3 among TE for YAC per reception - 6.2 Y/R after the catch. Only Tucker Kraft of GNB (9.1) and George Kittle (6.7) had more. But he's tackled upon first contact. Huh.

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/911-call-highlights-tensions-in-tyreek-hill-domestic-dispute-im-so-scared/ He should be suspended 6 games

Actually... weren't there a couple years when we did that here? In 2013 with EJM, Tuel, and Lewis IIRC, maybe 2015 as well. Might differ in that it wasn't ESPN, but rather the local media tracking every throw that occurred during the portion of the practice open to media.

I thought that clip was a setup where the guys were primed beforehand with the answer to prank Diggs. But it had an edge underneath it. Back in (I think) 2017 when it was filmed, Diggs had just had a daughter with one woman. But another woman went public that she was also pregnant and Diggs forced her to have an abortion. Taking it with a grain of salt because exactly what did he do, hire goons to frog march her to the clinic? it was pretty sordid. Def. wouldn't want my sister around that. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPx9dGfD8VI/?hl=en

To be fair to Pats fans, while I agree with almost everything you say here: during the championship years, the Pats did have a pattern of "washed" players coming to NE and finding a "second wind". No doubt due to clean living, avocado ice cream. and whatever Alex Guerrero told them to do.

Hear me out They have some good content on One Bills Live...notably regular features from Eric Wood, Dan Orlovsky, and Greg Cosell. They aren't going to say anything harshly critical of the Bills but when needed, it's there if you read between the lines. And these guys know their stuff.

You are correct, McConkey played primarily from the slot.

I'm not challenging the truth. I'm asking for the data which establish what IS the truth If it's truth, you should have no problem providing the source of the data which establish that. You started out talking about 3rd and long. Now you're talking about 3rd down conversions in general Where are the data about 3rd and long? How do you define 3rd and long (since you reference your eyes watching the games), and how do the data about 3rd and long define it? Last, since you mentioned what a "casual observer" would be able to tell, I asked what a casual observer tells you about the Chiefs 3rd down defense results?

Hmmm. Wondering if there's a free source for these data? Also how you define "3rd and long"? What does a casual observer tell you about the Chiefs 3rd down results? I want to respect you, but I'm struggling to respect someone who puts lemon ginger kombucha in their cup. Do you drink it after you put it there?

I disagree on the "not a huge one". Morris is 6'2". I think the Bills hope was that he'd develop as an in-line blocker, but he never did. So the problem became, with Morris in the game there were a limited number of plays the Bills might run, and defenses had enough film to decode that. Rookies are almost never NFL quality blockers out of the gate, but Hawes has pretty glowing reviews as a blocker. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/jackson-hawes/32004841-5706-0991-3db0-4aa9a5a35e4b https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Jackson-Hawes-TE-Yale

Q was a converted WR. So he actually had release moves off the line - just not the suddenness and speed to compete as a WR in the NFL. And while he stayed on the team as a core STer, he never became a good enough blocker to see more than cameo appearances. But he could run a route and had good ball tracking and hands. I remember watching a OBL segment with Greg Cosell where Q ran a route and caught a TD in the end zone and Cosell was like "who is that tight end?" clearly impressed by the quality of the route, and Tasker told him he was a converted WR and he was "oh, that would explain it." That would apply if he'd attended Harvard.

Yeah, I think it's pretty inevitable. They used a 5th round pick on a TE who looked comfortable in rookie minicamp, Knox Kincaid and Hawes are gonna be their 3 TE. Question is gonna be how Hawes does on ST It's the TBD version of <EOM>

I honestly don't think so. I do think he manipulates teams to move on, but I don't think it's coldly calculated to add bank. I think he starts out great in each new situation. Then he starts to feel unhappy about this and that, and instead of working it out or letting it go, it builds to a big grievance in his mind, while his own behavior is never under an internal microscope and he never feels he has to apologize or make amends for a thing. So then the grievance has one solution: GOT TO MOVE ON. I think he misplayed his hand a bit with Houston. He accepted a 1 year deal because he was so certain he'd have a magnificent, 2020-like year with Stroud then be able to "make bank" this year with a final big contract. Well, thanks to the Patriots, he did get a big contract, but looking at the details, it's not what he would have gotten had he had a big year. It's basically like a 1 year, $16.8 M contract with a team option to keep him 2 more years. Don't get me wrong, it's still great money for a 31 yr old WR coming off an ACL injury. It puts him 25th overall as an "average salary", so he's still being paid as a #1 WR. But he was expecting, I think, to be paid as a top-10, maybe top-5, WR again.

That's basically what Dion said, and what Dion said about how Josh would feel about it: "I would never make my QB that uncomfortable" Dion said in the video, the guy's legs are too small and his stomach is too small and he could never protect Josh Allen

Well, we disagree and it sounds as though we're gonna stay disagreeing. It's not a matter of "devalue" and "trash" it's a matter of Cold Hard Football Facts. Cook has had 66 and 63 ypg the last two seasons. That puts him 18th in the NFL for Y/G rushing in '24 and 11th in the NFL for Y/G rushing in '23. Cook simply hasn't come close to the same offensive production numbers as Henry, or as Saquan Barkley for that matter. You seem to want to look at Cook's age vs. Henry's, and his agent's asking price as the only relevant numbers, but teams negotiating contracts are going to look at his performance on the field. I don't doubt that some team will pay - there's always a team that over-pays. But Cook is under contract to the Bills for next season, with the potential for being franchise tagged for lower $ than he wants in a contract right now. Unless he wants to play on a 1 year contract (he might), he and his agent need to come up with more than "pay me $17M per year because I'm talented and younger than Henry".

On the one hand, I agree, Diggs will be trying to show he's a great teammate and a veteran leader. On the other hand, I think Diggs can't help being a problem

Nah. I think he's stump-simple. He's a narcissist with a big ego. He legit thought he "made" Josh as a QB and that he was right and Josh was wrong on every miscue. Diggs was going to play with Stroud and put up just as big or bigger numbers, while Josh with a rag-tag receiver corps and a new OC would falter. That's behind his "You sure?" response to a tweet about Josh not needing Diggs Now that Josh won League MVP and the answer to "You sure?" was unambiguously "Yep" while injured Diggs missed half the season, it's in Digg's self interest to promote his successful years with Josh to say "hey, I played with the guy who was last year's league MVP and put up big numbers year after year, Pick Me!"

Nice narrative, but people on this board who do have some sources say that the 2022 season problems started well before the Hamlin game. If you search, you can find here. Things that have been heard are: -Stef would go after Josh for his perceived mistakes after practices and games to the point where it made the rest of the WR room uncomfortable, and Josh finally had enough and stopped taking it. At one point during that fall, Josh and Diggs relationship was so bad they were reportedly barely talking to one another. -Keep in mind that Josh tore his UCL in the '22 Week 9 Jets game and the initial assessment going around was that he would miss at least as many games as he missed his rookie season (4). Palmer said after the season that it was a worse tear than 2018 where Josh missed 4 games. There's a Marino podcast talking about how it impacted the Bills passing game. Josh was listed as "limited" in a number of practices and there are reports he was limited in throwing (or not throwing) for weeks. -It was said that Diggs was late for meetings and the team gave him a parking spot by the entrance and other special handling to try to keep him in line -Also said that Diggs pulled some stunts that "hurt the team". As far as "Josh played poorly" vs Cinncinnati, please keep in mind that the whole team played poorly - starting with our defense, which looked as though they were on skates. Specifically, Diggs was targeted 10 times and had 4 receptions for 35 yds. While some of were off-target, others of them looked to be catchable balls. There were also balls where it was pretty clear Allen and Diggs weren't on the same page.

If he wants to play like a WR then he needs to work on his freakin' release moves because he can't release like a WR

Did it? Henry contributed 124+ ypg for Baltimore last year - 113 Y/G rushing and another 11.4 receiving yards. Almost half those yards were after contact. Played 17 games and....only 57% of the snaps!!!! Add in 270 yds in the playoffs He's a beast, and stopping him must have kept DCs up at night. Bills called it good, to limit him to 84 yds in the playoffs. I don't mean to dunk on Cook. He's a fine player. But apparently part of his team's argument for why he should become one of the highest paid backs in the NFL is that he's capable of being a 3-down player, but the Bills are limiting his touches to <50% of the snaps, causing him to only rush for 63 ypg vs what he could theoretically contribute if he were allowed to be the 3 down player he's capable of being. When you look at Henry's contributions almost 2x the yards with only ~15% more snaps, that argument kind of gets shredded...like the defenses Henry runs over

"Coming in Hot" is an apt description. Wow. Beane very defensive about the WR room.