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Long Suffering Fan

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Posts posted by Long Suffering Fan

  1. This is behind a pay wall.  Joe B watched every snap from Miller last year.  It is a very long article which goes so far as analyzing some reps frame by frame to point to Miller's ability.

     

    https://theathletic.com/3224175/2022/04/05/von-miller-buffalo-bills-film-review/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

     

    Some conclusions from the article:

     

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    Even into his 30s, he does just about everything, which makes him a well-rounded rusher offensive linemen have difficulty preparing for every week. But his rare movement skills put him over the top.

     

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    He does some unique things as a pass rusher, which we’ll get into, but it all comes back to his unbelievable balance. Miller is in complete control on every snap, and the only time he goes to the ground is when he is trying to sprawl out for a tackle attempt. Offensive linemen rarely force him back onto one leg after his momentum stops. Good luck finding a rep on which an offensive lineman pancakes Miller to the ground on a pass rush attempt. It just doesn’t happen.

     

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    His calling card is his zero-gravity bend on wide rushing attempts. It’s extraordinary to witness because it defies normal body logic, even for most NFL pass rushers. With how well he can bend under the outstretched arms of an offensive tackle, it looks like the vast majority of other humans would fall over if they tried the move. 

     

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    Miller is the rare complete defensive end, which is likely why the Bills felt comfortable giving him such a lucrative multiyear contract in his age-33 season.

     

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    It’s pretty clear the Bills are getting an incredible and nuanced pass rusher even at Miller’s age, though it’s fair to wonder how that projects into the highly lucrative second and third years of his contract. The element I expected to see more of in his film was explosiveness and bend around the edge. There were still some examples during the 2021 season, but he wasn’t dependent upon that in any way. My primary concern in projecting his future would have been if he was overly reliant on that speed element, but that was far from the case. He has settled into his 30s as a pass rusher nicely, using excellent intelligence, play strength, violent hands and ankle flexibility to create multiple pressures per game. The closing speed might wane over the next three years, but Miller should continue to demand the offense’s attention for as long as the Bills have him.

     

    There is much, much more...some interesting stuff about him rushing from the left and how he fits, etc.  Miller will have an impact, not only on his rushes, but his presence will help all of his teammates through the extra attention that he receives, stunts, and forcing the QB up into the pocket.  I think most of us were happy with the Von Miller signing, but we were all wary of his age and the length of his contract.  As strange as this may sound, after reading the article, I went from being really excited about the signing to wondering if this is actually much better than I thought.

     

    Not to be blasphemous, but did we just add Bruce Smith?  Obviously, no.  No one was as good as Bruce, but did we just add something close?  I have that weird, excited feeling that the Bills fan in me tamps down with thoughts like - don't be a homer, don't get carried away - but there is a chance this could be really good.

     

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  2. 14 minutes ago, SCBills said:

    I don’t think Tre’s return time affects any of this.  We need 2 more corners regardless.  I’d venture to guess that their view of Dane Jackson affects what we do at cornerback far more.  

     

    My guess would be that the Bills want to get better at the corner position as compared to last year.  I base that on the fact that Wallace left for $4M/year.  Despite any nice words coming out of OBD, I think that says that Wallace was merely okay at the position (in their opinion).  The only other reason for letting him walk like that would be if they thought Dane Jackson was better, but Wallace was definitely ahead of Jackson on the depth chart.

     

    To me, that all screams they will draft a corner on day 1 or 2.

  3. 58 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

    Will there be a follow up “13 reasons”?

     

    Arrrrgggghhhh.....I need a pain emoji...or a you shot me in the heart emoji.  I thought I was getting over it and then I read that comment and I realized I wasn't.

     

    What's in the box?....................Pain.

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  4. 8 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

    He's John Wick.  babayaga

     

    Actually, I'm thinking that Josh Allen is a cross between Joe Montana and Jack Reacher (not the Cruise one, the Amazon Prime series).  

     

    - He's a student of the game.

    - He is sold out and dedicated to constantly improve.

    - He is smarter than many realize (highest Wonderlick of his QB class by far - an imperfect measure I realize).

    - He has deceptive speed and can run away from LBs, which isn't supposed to happen.

    - He can stiff arm and throw people down.

    - He can jump over you if you go low on him.

    - He can absolutely break a DBs ankles like he did in NE.

    - He has a ridiculous arm.  Seemingly once a game he makes a throw that few QBs could make.

    - He has incredible escape-ability within the pocket and almost never goes down to the first guy.

     

    There have been QBs that had some of these attributes, but never all of them.  He really could end up as the greatest ever.

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  5. 15 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

    I think Allen channels this into next year and just starts destroying all the other "Mr. Anderson's" on other teams with purpose and ease...

     

    Not to be pedantic, but HE is Mr. Anderson and he is destroying all the Agent Smiths.  Or maybe you are saying that he will destroy all the other QBs that are pretened Mr. Andersons.  That's fine.  As long as he doesn't destroy himself.

     

    I do agree with the premise, however.  He could end up being the best QB of all time.  In 15 years we could be talking that way.  He cold be The One.

     

     

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  6. I'm good with zero Allen designed runs against the Jets, but have him run as much as you need to in the playoffs.

     

    It is not that I am worried about him in any particular game, but why not save some wear and tear, if possible.  I do think Allen is very different than Cam Newton.  I remember Cam getting absolutely SHELLACKED sometimes.  That only rarely happens to Allen.  Part of that is the rule changes.  I remember Cam getting a lot of lowered helmet on helmet hits and that has been greatly reduced in the game.  The other part is that Allen seems to have a way of turning what could have been devastating blows into normal hard tackles.

  7. I was at that game in the upper deck, about 10 rows from the top.  My family kind of made fun of me for going.  That is too strong.  It was more like - why?

     

    It turned out to be a good time...although I don't remember it being so crowded.

     

    We hated Dallas back then....I mean, I don't like them now, but it is nothing like I felt toward them in the 80s-90s.  Perhaps my Patriots feelings have taken the edge off.

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  8. 56 minutes ago, LeviF said:

    Goodell was just being vindictive after Brady destroyed the cell phone and gave the commiss ***** in the media after everything the shield had done for NE during spygate.

     

    This.

     

    We are on the outside and will never know what really happened, but I really think you have to consider spygate when you talk about the NFL reaction to deflategate.  Remember also that Goodell is often the personification of the owners.  I'm sure there were a ton of owners who kept it quiet, but were furious at Kraft and the Patriots over spygate.  They bit their tongues a little because, if it is bad for the shield, then it actually is bad for them.  Proof that the Pats cheated in Superbowls would definitely hurt the shield.  So, the tape evidence is destroyed on the spot and the owners go along....but they must have been seething.  Especially the ones that felt that their team may have been robbed by the Pats cheating.

     

    Then, deflategate comes (more Pats cheating) and they are in no mood to be forgiving.  I bet Goodell had no choice but to come down hard.

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  9. 1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

    Amazing effort on that play by both of those Diggs. Thanks for the video clip, I must have missed that. My TV was not on..

     

    I'm having the DTs from lack of football, so I watched about half of it out of desperation.

     

    If you watched the above clip, you saw all that needed to see.  

     

    Although.....I found the number of interceptions interesting.  I think all six QBs had one (?) despite the fact that the defense was giving 50% effort most of the time.  I'm not sure if that is common in Pro Bowls.  Supposedly above average QBs throwing to the best WRs and there were a lot of picks.  It's an illustration of how important being on the same page with your receivers and scheme have on the position.

  10. While the Pro Bowl can be so tragically disappointing, there were a couple of moments with our favorite receiver that are worth sharing.  The Diggs brothers went 1 on 1 a few times.

     

    It is a little over a minute long.  Stef plays some D and covers his brother a couple of times and then Stef scores on his brother and points at him as he falls to the ground.  Stef definitely came out on top.

     

     

     

     

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  11. 14 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

    It doesn't work that way.

     

    There isn't necessarily a correlation between draft order and draft quality.

     

    It actually does work that way.  Drafting at the top is an advantage.  Of course, that does not make your team instantly good....or ever good.  As you mention, see the Sabres.

     

    If you draft bad, you can fritter away your draft position, but there is a reason that teams trade up.

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  12. Aside from the fact that it is way too early to really tell the impact of this rookie class, this was the headline of the article:

     

    Bills 2021 rookie class does not fare well in ESPN ranking

     

    And they ranked them 27th.  Considering the Bills picked 30th, wouldn't that make them slightly above average?  That article is saying that the Bills outperformed their draft position, but then also says they did not fare well.  😕

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  13. This content is a week old, but I did the site search and couldn't find it.  If this is buried in another thread, mods feel free to merge...

     

    I ran across this by accident.  It is 15 minutes of Warner breaking down some Allen plays in the KC game.  There are some really good details in it pointing out what they were trying to accomplish, why Gabe was open, what Beas was doing, Diggs probably not knowing the play call on the two point conversion he caught, how the Bills ended up attacking the absence of Mathieu on some key plays, etc.

     

     

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  14. Thanks for posting.  I like that jumbo play that Thomas scored a few times on throughout the clip.  They line up heavy, motion 2 guys out to the left, quick snap, those two run clear out routes, and Thomas catches an easy swing underneath.

     

    20 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

    Kenny Davis had more runs to the house than Thurman had (as I remember it) because he was that much faster.

     

    Davis was faster.  Plus, Thomas had a patient running style - it would bug me when people would talk about the patience of Leveon Bell a few years back as if he was the only one in the history of the NFL to ever run that way - then he would decisively hit a hole, be able to make a guy miss in the hole.  Sometimes that would allow a defense to rally to prevent a breakaway run.  Thomas was the king of the 7-8 yard run (at least in my memory).  Then Davis would come in when a defense was tired and kind of used to Thurm's running style and he would get up field fast and hit some big runs.

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  15. 30 minutes ago, John Gianelli said:
    58 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

    Seemed like morning to me....lol

    That was Rocketship 7 in the morning, right?

     

    That's what I remember.  We had a small TV (well, small for its time) that sat on our kitchen table that I would turn on while eating rice krispies.

     

    Star Blazers was after school....although I'm pretty sure that was when I was older.

  16. 40 minutes ago, Evian said:

    Is there racial disparity in players. African Americans are 13% of population but 70% of players. Isn't that racist. Maybe we should force teams to play more asians, hispanics, and whites on defense because currently defenses are 90% black. 

     

    The NFL is the ultimate meritocracy (sports usually is).  The best players get the jobs and no one cares about skin color.  We don't love Josh because he is white or Diggs because he is black.  We love Josh because HE IS FREAKING JOSH!  BTW, this is great for the country as a whole because fans will identify with the players on their favorite team, regardless of color.

     

    And don't you feel the same way about coaches?  I do.  I can't believe for a moment that McD would pass over a qualified candidate because of skin color.  He wants to win.  The Rooney Rule is only needed for the odd idiot out there (which I am sure there are some).

     

    So, what accounts for the disparity in black coaches?  Don't stone me, but I think there really isn't any.  People point to the percentage of black players in the league, but I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.  Some of the best coaches in the game were not good enough to play in the NFL - Bellichick, McVay, etc.  The fact that they weren't good enough athletically gave them only one option if they wanted to stay with the game they love - coaching.   Many took unpaid internships right out of college and worked their way up.  So, when you compare that guy who has 10 years of coaching experience in their early 30s to the ex-player who had a good 10 year career, the one looks ahead of the other (as far as coaching goes).  What gives the non-player the advantage?  The very fact that they were not good enough to play at the NFL level, or college level for that matter.

     

    I think that reason more than any is why the percentage of coaches actually is more representative of the general population and not the NFL population.

     

     

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  17. One way that helps me deal with difficult situations is humor.  (I know, first world problems, the most difficult thing I have had to deal with in the last week was the heart-breaking loss of my football team, but still.)  A little gallows humor is not a bad thing.  So, I thought a poem would be in order and, let's face it, this is not a haiku day.  No, only a limerick fits how I feel.  Here was my first pass:

     

    There once was a team named the Bills

    Who seemingly scored at their wills

    They played Kansas City

    The result wasn't pretty

    Now all of their fans have the ills

     

    Ehhhh...weak...not terrible for 2 minutes of work, but the middle is soooo generic and doesn't capture my true feeling.  This has led to my next iteration:

     

    There once was a team named the Bills

    Who seemingly scored at their wills

    With 13 remaining

    Our defensive coordinator lost his freaking mind and made possibly the two worst and most non-sensical defensive calls in the history of football

    Now all of their fans have the ills

     

    This captures my feeling a lot better, but I have a vague feeling that I might be forcing it to fit just a little.

     

     

  18. 13 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

    After the game I called my 89 year old mother to make sure she was OK.  She was crying.

    She asked me "Why can't the Bills win one?  The other one's (Chiefs) already have one".

    I didn't have an answer for her.

     

    Her empathy for Josh Allen was so touching I teared up.  After the call I turned off my phone.

     

    I spoke at my grandmother's funeral years ago and one of the things I said was about how the Sabres let her down.  She loved the Sabres more than any other human being.  I would come back to Buffalo just to take her to games.

     

    I hope your mom gets to see her first championship next year and hopefully, many, many more after that....for all of our sakes.

     

    Your last line is making me tear up.  It was so like my grandmother to care about the players in difficult moments like that.  Tell her that I think she is the best.

     

    18 minutes ago, Billl said:

    If you can stomach it, there’s a thread on the Chiefs board titled f*** Josh Allen that actually gives some perspective on just how good KC fans think he is.  This is the new Brady/Manning.  I just hope they can both stay health for another 20 years or so.

     

    https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=342062

     

    I went and checked and there are some level headed people over there.  There also is a shocking amount of hate for Allen and Buffalo. What?  What have we done to provoke that hate?  Why do they think Allen was a douche last year?  I was a little surprised (I mean, not really, but still).

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  19. This was from a day ago.  I searched and didn't see it posted, which surprised me because I usually find out about stuff like this from you guys.

     

    It is not a long clip, but the summary is that Bill basically sought ought Josh after the playoff game (they said locker room, but Josh didn't) to compliment him.  Honestly, I don't know what to think of that.  Didn't he kind of blow off McD?  I know they shook hands, but it stands out compared to the attention he obviously gave Josh.  It probably doesn't mean anything, but it is interesting.

     

    Funny line of the clip from one of the guys on the show - Hey, Josh, big Pats fan here so, if you get a chance, I would like my soul back.  🤣

     

     

     

     

     

     

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