P Riv

I don't see it as half full, just a matter of NOT taking last year as a template to project how he would do this season. Year 2 in the same system, full offseason, better personnel around him, etc. They were only 54% in the Red Zone last year for scoring, so I'm pretty sure thats why they went out and got 2 new TE's and a slot. They are now loaded at TE, slot, FB, have solid RBs and a physical O-line.

Seems that way, but fact is he completed 65.8% of his passes for a 7.2 yard average, with no offseason in a new and complicated offense and with virtually no one to throw to. I say don't be surprised if he turns it around. As if NE's brain trust is all of sudden completely amateur and stupid... With their Defense, Special teams and running game, all he really needs to do is hit his own career average numbers. If average Cam shows up, they are a very tough team. Every season is different, so I don't expect them to be worse than 7-9 and I don't expect us to be 14-2 or better. We're a 10+ win team, and they may also be a 10 win team now. Tough competitive division.

Great, so they basically rebuilt their SB defense from 2 years ago. What next, TB trades Brady back for a 6th rd pick? WTH

I'm just watching with concerned curiosity. Its the same template that's been used since the 80's Giants, mid 90's Browns to 2019. Last year was a flyer and most people get that, but it seems to go under the radar here.

What's the news on NE trying to get Fournette? The idea of that happening and then they somehow get Garrapolo back does actually scare me.

Belichick's defensive game plan for SB XXV against the prolific K-gun is in the NFL HoF. The Giants beat us with Jeff Hostetler at QB and the offense looked like what they're building in NE now. Granted their Defense doesn't look like the 1990 Giants, but the point is he builds a team according to certain base principles, plays disciplined football and wins the close ones. Expect to see exactly that this year. I keep seeing this habit of assuming our guys will play at their best, their guys will probably play at their worst kind of forecasting. As if Newton won't improve in year 2, etc. We're the favorites and they're a legit threat, that's reality.

Brady won it because he handled Spagnola's blitzes, distributed the ball to open receivers, kept the sticks moving and was VERY accurate. The offense was efficient because of him. Call it pedestrian numbers, but consider how pretty much every other QB has looked against the Chiefs D all season. Brady was Brady, and he won't be in our Div next season. 👍

So we get Brady, or Rogers, or Wilson.... Rather see Brady over there on the other side than the other two. The Rams are in the mix, but meh. My primary concern is getting that first playoff win since the 90's. If we're the 3rd seed and we play the 6th seed, I really hope its not NE. Talk about stress? Who wants to face Hoodie after he's digested all that film? lol

I don't think they're good enough to win out. If they can beat the Rams, I'll change my opinion. I suspect this is their year to digest all the cap hits from the last 4-5 years, evaluate their young talent and find a QB. They will be back next year in a way we are all too familiar with. They have a ton of cap space, free agents will be cheaper and there's going to be a few quality QB prospects out there for them if the part ways with Newton.

Penalties in general are down this year, have to wonder how many are influenced by loud crown reactions. Still, Its notable that NE, Houston and Miami are 3 out of the top 4 least penalized teams this season. There's something to the way Belichick coaches disciplined play. In close games, that equates to an edge.

Food for thought: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/penalties-per-game Dolphins make less mistakes than us, are more disciplined and obviously pay attention to Special Teams. We have more talent, but they play smarter and more disciplined which levels the field a bit. It isn't going to be easy... Flores will talk to his sith mentor Lord Belichick before they play us, no doubt.

I said.... "Compelling argument, but to my ears its tainted with Homerism". That pertains to the argument you laid out there, the one with situational stats lacking overall context and opinions slanted towards "winning". If I wanted to call you a Homer, it would have gone something like, "you are a Homer". You're posts are clearly biased for Bruce and I get that, he was our guy, doesn't mean I have to agree and regardless, my argument remains sound.

Compelling argument, but to my ears its tainted with Homerism and I'm not buying. Cheers

1) Jackie Slater got the Pro-bowl nod at RT every year during that period, so saying just because those teams I mentioned didn't have a pro-bowl RT is a non-starter. Every one of them was a top tier running team. All of them. What did NE have? Miami running game during the Marino era??? lol The Jets? Indy had Dickerson for a hot minute, but no QB to help him. 2) Reggie got doubled or Jerome Brown, not Clyde Simmons. Also makes sense to run at Simmons, not White...no? 3) Looking at Smith's 90 season, all of his sacks came against inferior opponents. He got shut out against Miami, the NY Giants among others. He feasted on the Jets, Colts, etc. As far as resting and missing pass rushing opportunities, sounds like BS to me. I watched those games, that might happen very late (plausible but not fact), but not very often and definitely not enough to have an impact on his stats. He had 19 sacks that year, 10 came from games against the 6-10 Jets, 7-9 Colts and 1-15 Patriots. Against the Pats it was common for them to move him across the line away from Armstrong also. I think Smith registered about 5 of his 200 sacks against Armstrong and they didn't exactly have Brady back there...lol Not drinking the Bruce Kool Aid, nope.... He was awesome, but he's still a dominant number 2 and Reggie White is number 1. Stats prove it, strength of schedule/opponents backs that.

This is just plain bad history... White played against the SB Champion 86 Giants, 87 Redskins, 90 Giants twice a year. Those O-lines were elite, so I'm not sure what your smokin here... That and if the defensive alignment White played in was so great for pass rushers, name another player that posted stats like White. Perhaps you could explain why White's sacks per game AND tackles per game were both higher than Smith's? (complete player???) Seems White was more productive across the board. Maybe you think the SB champion factory NFC East of the mid 80's to early 90's had lesser talent than the laughable AFC Least during that period? Bear in mind that the Bills usually played with a lead, forcing the opponent into obvious passing situations. The Eagles were always behind or in a dog fight against running teams with big O-lines, yet White still produced huge numbers of sacks. Look up the Eagles seasons, scores, etc. if you're still a skeptic.

SB 25 was Marv Levy's fault IMHO. He decided to stick with a no huddle attack against a team that was all about controlling the clock and we had a small, fast defense. Levy played right into their hands. The Giants held the ball for almost 40 min to our 20 and our defense was gassed. It was as stupid as it was predictable. A few plays and out for the K-gun offense and the D was back out there against NY's 300+ lb O-line pounding OJ Anderson and grinding it out. Had we run a conventional offense, we would have made more plays defensively and also softened up their defense. We did it in dramatic fashion in the red zone, lined up with a FB, clearly a running formation and jammed it down their throat. Clearly we had the ability to beat them at their own game. It should have been a Bills blow out, no late kick required. We bullied the AFC, but NFC East teams were not intimidated in the slightest. Levy coached a well behaved, efficient and talented team, but he never made them tough and physical like the NFC East teams. The talent was there all day, its the attitude and physicality that never showed up.

I posted on BBMB for years, I recall they had something like that there.

lol, thats awesome. I had no idea he was that old, looks like he's a short timer.

You got issues....lol Cheers

They're just plain average or even bad this year, so betting that they don't win much this year is pretty safe. Not much talent, lots of injuries, opt outs and incompetent QB play must all be bad coaching? lol He's the last coach to win a playoff game for Cleveland, he went 11-5 with Matt Cassel, had brilliant defensive game plans in the SB against HoF'ers Elway, Kelly and Warner... He's got 8 SB rings and 3 Conf Championship rings. I'm simply acknowledging that he's kind of accomplished... They'll be back next year, so we better build some momentum. As the Div winner, we'll play all of the other Div winners next year, they won't. As much as we want them to suck for the next 10 years, I just don't think that's reality and I'm not drinking the Kool aid.

Its ok to talk about the rest of the NFL and our Division, no?

Sounds good, but seems apples to oranges to me. Before Belichick was Pete Carrol and Bill Parcells. As long as the Kraft family owns that team they aren't going to look like the 2000's Bills. We had an owner who was looking to run a business, not win a championship. They have a ton of cap room for next year, opt outs coming back and they're developing young players for depth this year. Not sure what our cap and FA situation is, but they'll likely endure this year and be back in the mix next year. They need a QB, which means they'll trade down in the draft and get DT and O-line... lol Probably draft a QB in round 6.

I would not say we are a "very good" team. When you look at scoring defense, pts allowed, net points, etc. it says we shouldn't be .500 Realistically, we should win the division, be favored to win at home in the 1st round and after that, we'll get beat by a better team or crushed by a legitimate SB contender like KC. We're not elite or knocking on the door, lets keep it real. If we win a playoff game, get some solid new talent on Defense in the off-season, maybe with fans in the stadium we get a legit homefield advantage? Maybe we get there next year, but not this year.

Ugly wins get you to the playoffs, thats all anyone needs to know. That and this is the end of the Pats dynasty. Having said that, I remain of the opinion that they will be back next year in a big way and this year is kind of a one off, adjustment type of scenario.

Ya, they're taking this year off. lol