JohnNord

I think the entire idea of Spring football is flawed and always will be. Nearly every Spring league that has started ultimately fails to generate enough interest/revenue to make it sustainable. I will say that The Rocks seems to be taking the right approach with this version of thr XFL in terms of taking time to scout players, hiring execs with NFL experience, and using his connections to sign deals. In the end though, I think football fans enjoy the break from games and that any spring league always comes off as second rate. The only chance for a spring league is to make the produce different from the NFL like an Arena League.

What puzzles me about this is…if you throw an item at a player from the stands, how are you supposed to get it back? Do you plead with a security guard to give it to you? Come on… I hated seeing these videos not just because it’s disrespectful but because the Bills have really been accommodating to signing things for fans. I’ve read reports that Allen, Diggs, Von Miller and Dawson Knox (among others) have spent up to 40 minutes after practice signing for fans. This is rare in the NFL for superstars of that caliber and it shows how the Bills players are appreciative of the fan support. But it seems that because of this, fans expect them to sign items. It feels like they are taking advantage of their generosity. Throwing items at players is so disrespectful Good on Allen for calling out BS behavior

I know a huge Bears fan who speaks of Smith the way some of us talk about Edmunds. He seems to be very much underwhelmed by Roquon

Yeah I thought about Paup too. Still was a good player but never the force he was during his DPOY campaign in 1995

With news of the recent retirement of Kiko Alonso, some Bills fans on Twitter have named him the best “one year wonder” in Bills history. Who are some other players that come to mind who had really one great year and then a middling to below average career? A few come to mind: 1. Karlos Williams - He had a monster 2015 season averaging almost 6 YPC and scoring 7 TD’s, despite missing 6 games and playing behind Shady. He also was decent in the pass game. He seemed to be the perfect back and should’ve had a big career. But his attitude and failure to stay in shape forced him out of the NFL and he never played again. Tremendous waste of potential. 2. Peerless Price - he went from being a steady WR2 to exploding in 2002 with career highs in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Donahoe traded Price as a RFA and he continued to be steady but unspectacular WR he was prior to 2002. 3. Terry Miller - Rushed for 1060 yards his rookie season in 1978. He rushed for less than half that during the remainder of his career. Out of the NFL 3 years after his rookie standout season. 4. Robert Foster - Became one of Josh Allen’s favorite targets and established himself as a bonfide deep threat with over 500 yards and 20 yard avg in just 11 games. But he sunk on the depth chart and was out of the league 3 years later. 5. CJ Spiller - high draft pick that had a middling career until his 2012 breakout season where he rushed for over 1,200 yards. He had a decent year in 2013 but his production dropped quickly after and he was out of the NFL by 2017.

Joe Buscaglia just dropped an interesting podcast where he named 7 Bills that have exceeded expectations and 7 who need to show more in training camp. Some interesting takeaways: 1. Isaiah McKenzie - he’s been unguardable in both zone and man defense. Solidifying the slot WR over Crowder as he offers better YAC potential. 2. Zach Moss - has looked a lot quicker and decisive and could factor into the run game more than initially thought 3. Khalil Shakir - smooth route runner that has played well at WR2 and could be a legit backup for Davis. 4. Ed Oliver - making an impact every single practice and destroying the reshuffled OL 5. Christian Bedford - holding his own against WR’s and getting some snaps with the 1st team defense. He’s a lock to make the team. 6. Jaquan Johnson - Has outplayed Damar Hamlin. Offers position flexibility at safety and *could* be a cheaper replacement to Poyer in 2023 7. Matt Araiza - Solid holder…constantly punts farther and w/ nearly as much hang time as Haack. Players who are not trending downward but need to show more and have yet to impress: 1. Kaiir Elam - inconsistent and might be thinking too much. Has struggled versus Diggs and Davis. Needs more time/experience 2. Spencer Brown - has not practiced with team yet. Also struggled a bit toward the end of last season. Might start the year on the bench behind David Quessenberry while he recovers. 3. Case Keenum - has looked “meh” and has showed difficultly pushing the ball downfield. 4. Shaq Lawson - he’s made a few plays but has been relatively quiet in training camp 5. Greg VanRotten - has not looked good at all and is being outplayed by Greg Mancz. Could end up on PS 6. Baylon Specter - ST potential but there may not be a spot on the 53 this year. 7. Tommy Sweeney - loved in the locker room but has been outplayed by Quinton Morris. No separation and just an average blocker Interesting to see Elam on the list but it probably doesn’t help that he’s facing Diggs and Davis each week. Hopefully things slow for him. I also wonder if Shaq makes the 53.

Like you said, they can’t enforce it and they have to know that in 2022 there is zero chance people aren’t going to post video of a public event online I have never heard of any fan or spectator that was banned from attending for posting training camp videos open to the public This. Like other beat reporters he has to follow the rules and cover the Bills the same way that a fan blog like Cover 1 can. He’s pissed about that

Always liked Kilgore. That’s pretty cool that he was your Uber driver. I would be excited

I would agree. I don’t get the impression that the Bills will re-sign him unless they can get a short term deal and if you are Singletary you are going to want as big of a 2nd deal as possible. I believe Beane understands positional value of a RB and I can’t see him giving up significant money to re-sign

If anything this tweet from Thad comes off as jealously. Since he is credentialed media he has to follow rules and protocols for everything from what details he can reveal about practice to putting in formal requests with the team for interviews. He likely has to mind his P’s and Q’s so as not to have any Sullivan-like hot takes that would piss off the team. He has to follow these rules, because if he loses his credentials for his station he likely loses his job. On top of this, there’s limitations of his coverage to the 10 minutes or so he gets for the sports segment on the news. An outlet like Cover 1 has complete freedom to say and do whatever they want. Yes they don’t get credentialed, but they can cover the team with open practice access, all 22 game footage and now player interviews. So Thad seems to be upset that he has to jump through the hoops set up by Bills PR, and it’s really not that big of an advantage

I don’t have a problem with adults getting autographs though it’s not for me. But I like Bills merchandise so it might be cool to have something like an autographed football or helmet. With that being said, I wouldn’t be comfortable chasing down athletes and saying “could you sign this?” I don’t understand though the need for adults to get autographs at training camps. The thing is there are hundreds of people asking for autographs after practice from superstars like Josh or Von Miller. The players can only sign a handful of autographs. Why waste one of those opportunities on an adult when there so many kids waiting? It’s common courtesy. Just like when an adult fights off a group of kids going after a foul ball. Let one of the kids get that damn ball! Same here but I don’t think the average caller who will work for $20 has the improv skills to be as funny (or stupid) as this caller was, without being completely obvious What I can see happening is a call screener putting through a listener that has a ridiculous take just so Schopp can talk down to him.

I believe that Joe is on vacation which would explain the lack of tweets on social media. The end of June/beginning of July is a slow period and most Bills beat writers, as well as NFL reporters, schedule vacations during this time. You can guarantee Joe B will be at Bills training camp

Tyrod was clear a step above an EJ Manuel, Trent Edward or Todd Collins but he was who he was…a fringe starter/backup quarterback. He was a unique quarterback whose threat of running stressed a defense. But if you could contain him, he had some limitations as a passer. While there is a portion of the Bills fan base who don’t give Tyrod enough credit, there are also a portion who want to give him too much credit. I wouldn’t say he “ended the drought” more that any other player on the offense.

Polian’s rep took a serious hit based on his assessment of Lamar Jackson as a draft prospect but still a very strong take here so let’s hope he’s spot on. Also he used an old timey “dyed in the wool” phrase that I’ve never hear before. It means genuine or uncompromising

I don’t agree. The point about Kelly pressing after the fumble is absolutely correct. But he did play a very good first half. I’ll stand by the fact that Thurman lost this game for the Bills. Period. As far as swapping Kelly, I think you might make the argument that a different QB might be able to win SB25

I love it man. Thanks for the insight. I do think that this Bills team was much more focused for SB28 than they were for anti of the other 3 Super Bowls. It was as if they felt the sense of urgency and also knew that it would take solid execution to beat a good Dallas team. IMO I think Thurman might have been feeling the most pressure due to his other 2 bad performances in the Super Bowl. I do feel he was conscious of that the fact that he was a non-factor when the team needed him most. He always regarded himself as the best RB but played with a chip on his shoulder and never thought he got the respect he deserved. I too go the sense that he gave up after that fumble and that the offense unraveled from there.

The fact that Sammy was out drinking and doing drugs probably didn’t help his cause in Buffalo either. Eric Ciano was there in 2014, so this is just Sammy trying to make more excuses for his meh career. I am wondering if he is trying to blame the team trainer. IIRC Marrone wanted to get rid of Bud Carpenter was vetoed by Russ due to his relationship with Ralph and the old regime. He “retired” shortly after McDermott took and they fired his assistant trainer.

Not living in the past… just trying to sense out of what happened with people who had a different perspective than me. I was pretty young during this era and new to football

The thing is…Thurman didn't just struggle. He had among his worst game on those Super Bowls. Also, look at Kenneth Davis’ stats. He his numbers are not great but they also aren’t as bad as Thurman. Yes there could be reasons for that like garbage time but it’s just surprising to see one of the best players perform so poorly in those games They were outmatched for sure but take a look at Davis’ stats compared to Thurman. It was not a nice looking drive at all. Kelly looked a bit rattled and confused by the defense and he had to resort to short stuff to move down the fields.

Any other GM would be grilled in the media for trading a 1st round draft pick for a 7th. Belichick may be the GOAT as HC but he seems to have been making some terrible personal moves

Of course, like I said the entire offense struggled but Thomas was the teams #1 weapon on offense and in the 3 out of 4 of biggest games of his career he had terrible performances I thought that too… but how do you account for the fact that Kenny Davis seemed to have more success on the ground? Was it mostly garbage time?

In Super Bowl 25, Thomas arguably posted the best argument for a player on the losing team to win Super Bowl MVP rushing for 135 yards on just 15 rushes and catching 5 passes for 55 yards. He completely dominated the game offensively and you can find fault for Jim Kelly, Marv Levy and Ted Marchiabroda for not finding a way to give him the ball more often. But he struggled badly in his next 3 Super Bowls. I remembered Thurman being a non-factor but when I revisited his stats recently I was surprised to see just how terrible his numbers were. It wasn’t just the numbers he posted were below his season average. His Super Bowl numbers were extremely bad including in SB28 during his MVP campaign of 1991. SB26 10-13 1TD 4REC 27 yards SB27 11-19 1TD 4REC 10 yards 1 FUM SB28 16-37 1TD 7REC 52 yards 2 FUM So the total for his final 3 Super Bowls were 37 carries for just 69 yards with an average of 1.6 yards and 15 receptions for 89 yards and 5.9 per catch. He did score a TD every game on the ground but all were in short yardage situations. Also he had 4 turnovers in those 3 games - notably the 2 fumbles which essentially turned SB28. While I am aware that the entire offense struggled in these 3 contests, the passing offense did fare a little better. Also take a look at Kenneth Davis’s numbers which were far from great but still incrementally better than Thomas: SB 26 4-17 4REC 38 yards SB 27 15-86 3REC 16 yards SB 28 9-28 3REC -5 yards 1 FUM Davis’s combined numbers were 29 rushes for 131 with a 4.5 average and 10 catches for 49 yards and 4.9 per catch. He also fumbled once. Is there anything that can be taken away from Thurman’s bad Super Bowl performances? We’re teams just keying to shut him down? Or was it just an example for an offense falling behind early and abandoning the run game? Or did the offense just run better with Davis? Like I said, I faintly remember the Super Bowl years so hoping so others can shed light on Thurman’s lackluster games

If you take a look at Rob Johnson when under pressure the comparisons will immediately stop

Yeah pretty much. Like the other “insiders” he seemed to be a mouthpiece for agents and NFL teams but he wasn’t very good at it as a Schefter or Glazier. He was either played, had ***** sources, or just could not decipher real stories vs. spin. His reporting did lead to comical moments.

I think he has some potential given his physical attributes but theres a reason he was a UDFA. The odds are probably against him but I’m hoping he catches on the PS and gets some time to develop