Sierra Foothills

Apparently the idea of a remark being "tongue in cheek" is being missed by some. Of course Howard knew Allen was the Bills QB, the Bills played the Bucs in an epic OT struggle in week 13. However I'm not sure why he had to "look at it on paper" as far as judging how good a team the Bills are.

The "Face of the Franchise" is getting wrinkles... Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Great work, thank you. In the other thread it was mentioned that in the last two years the Bills have only drafted one player who was in their Top 30 visits. I'm not sure if that is accurate but it definitely doesn't align with your point F). Hmmm it seems to me that many more of the Bills high draft picks have played immediately than have been brought along slowly.

I agree that if Howard had a "I want to be a starter mentality" at the beginning of free agency it shows a stunning lack of awareness of his own market value. Then again if he didn't know Josh played on the Bills this would make more sense.

Yes, exactly. There are so many accurate ways to portray a person. The occasion of a person's death is not the time to portray someone negatively.

Maybe but I'd rather take a guy who's good one on one and try to convert him to zone than visa versa. And I love Booth. First of all thank you for updating the list. Also it sure seems that the visits by position reflect what all of us believe are the Bills' biggest needs. Have you watched any of the video on Booth or have you only read about him? Well, that's interesting.

Particularly for a non-playoff game, this was a great game indeed. Also the NFL's Greatest Comeback (Houston-Bills) also has to be on the short list of greatest games. If you add Allen vs Mahomes, the Bills were involved in 3 of the greatest games of all time. Besides the 1958 NFL Championship Game (Colts-Giants) the 1982 Divisional Round game (Chargers-Dolphins) is most often mentioned as a candidate for greatest game ever. In fact it's known as "The Epic in Miami." "Winslow caught a playoff record 13 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown, while also blocking a field goal with seconds remaining to send the game to overtime in one of the greatest single player efforts in NFL history. Winslow's yardage total stood as the playoff record for tight ends for 30 years until Vernon Davis's 180 yards in 2012. What made Winslow's performance all the more memorable was that fact during the game he was treated for a pinched nerve in his shoulder, dehydration, severe cramps, and received three stitches in his lower lip. After the game, a picture of Winslow being helped off the field by his teammates became an enduring image in NFL lore."

That's interesting. I wonder if the above is generic file footage or proximate to the actual accident scene. The problem with characterizing Haskins as "troubled" is because that claim is pretty arbitrary, subjective and arguably negative. Consider one could also write: "Haskins was a very accomplished young man who set both Big Ten and Ohio State records for passing yards, total offense, and touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the 2019 Rose Bowl as well as that year's Big Ten Championship game and was drafted 15th overall that year. At the time of his death Haskins was preparing to compete for the Steelers starting QB position." What makes you think he wasn't walking to the nearest exit? And while you bring it up, is walking anywhere in that landscape a good idea versus waiting for LE and tow vehicles to arrive? What did he have to gain by walking as opposed to simply waiting in as safe a place as he could find?

Interestingly the average draft position of the 19 players on this list is 17.11 but none of them were drafted between picks 12 and 24. Of the 8 that were chosen at/before pick 12, the average draft position was 6.75. Those teams were shooting for an "elite" running back Of the 11 that were chosen at/after pick 24. the average draft position was 28.3. Those teams were trying to nail the right value. But this discussion is about high-round draft picks... 1st or 2nd round.

If I had something to back it up (like access to Poyer's WAR for instance... but I don't pay for that sort of stuff) I would have mentioned it. As it is we're beginning to split hairs here. You theorize 14 points over the course of a season? A possible loss? Fair enough. That is exactly the sort of calculus the Bills have to do here. Their valuation should be based on WAR and also the possibility that something like losing home field advantage could happen and what the worst-case scenario of that could be. As discussed above, the possible drop-off may or may not be "ok." Lots of people on our board are more than happy to take that risk in order to save Pegula from spending more of his money. As you say, if the Bills can spend that money elsewhere and it has a better overall impact than spending that money on Poyer, then it's worth it. However if people want to save the money just to have it handy for "someone else later," that's more questionable because in that scenario you're not using the money to improve the team. And it's important to keep in mind that this is supposed to be a Super Bowl or bust season.

In the Ryan Bates thread I brought up WAR, Wins Above Replacement. I definitely think Poyer is worth at least one win more than Hamlin or Johnson. And why would you pay him that much if he's no better than Hamlin or Johnson? As a GM you're always trying to pay for the "true value" of the player. If Poyer gets 3/26 that means he's a pretty good player. I agree that his current contract doesn't dictate his future one but I'm sure the infamous Miss Bush disagrees.

I'm not saying that Poyer has to be re-signed at any and all costs. I am saying that some here are dismissing his contributions to the team, as if he's a generic plug and play guy. Poyer is a very good player and a respected veteran leader. If he departed before the 2022 season, it would undo a lot of the gains the team has made this offseason, both from a personnel and a morale standpoint. It will be interesting to see how the team handles this somewhat sensitive situation.

I think reducing the Bills perennial secondary success to scheme is an oversimplification. You still need good football players to have a good team. If it was as simple as playing a DB friendly scheme every team would have a good secondary.

You heard this where?

Gregg Williams agrees with you.

It's a given that McFrazier are DB Whisperers and that somehow the the whole of the secondary is greater than the sum of its parts. That said, someone has to be playing well in that secondary and propping up the others so it's either Dane Jackson and Levi Wallace were covering for the deficiencies of the safeties or visa versa. The long held belief is that Hyde and Poyer are enabling the Bills CB (sans T White) to play above their talents. The Bills secondary play cannot simply be attributed solely to smoke and mirrors.

What hasn't been mentioned yet is that Buscaglia suggests that the Bills should entertain re-signing Jerry Hughes to play at his customary RDE position. Buscaglia reasons that the present candidates... Greg Rousseau who has almost never lined up at RDE in college or pros, Shaq Lawson, AJ Epenesa, and Boogie Basham, don't inspire confidence. In Buscaglia's documented view, Von Miller is substantially more effective lining up at LDE, and therefore bringing Jerry Hughes back to play his familiar RDE position could be the cherry on top of a revamped Bills pass rush.

I disagree Bill. iMO McDermott was not emphatic enough and he was not unequivocal enough. That was more noticeable from the video... if you read the words they had a different effect than actually hearing them spoken. His mea culpa (thanks K-9!) was unsatisfying, like an insincere apology and that's why many fans and media felt it was insufficient. And more importantly what did the players and coaches feel about his comments? The leadership aspect is the most concerning thing about his post mortem (thanks K-9!). Part of it is McDermott's limitations as a speaker... he could have said more in fewer words and in less time. And the team would likely respond better to a more effective message than the passive finger pointing that was implied.

I just watched 10 minutes of his game video. I expected him to be solid at the point of attack and he was but I was surprised with his athleticism. He had zero problems with reach blocks and working at the second level. He was effective with seal blocks, in combination, basically polished in every aspect of O-line play. He plays like a guy who understands the theory and objective behind every play. That said the whole Iowa line looked so polished and professional so that made it a bit more difficult evaluating him. Looks like a damn fine player though.

Yeah I understand about the leverage and the wrestling background, biomechanics, etc. I'd still be concerned about his size especially in the context of NFL talent. It's not a perfect comparison but Jim Ritcher was a smallish center who excelled for the Bills for many years. He was legendarily strong in the weight room but going up against Jumpy Geathers in the Super Bowl was Exhibit A on why O-linemen need to be big guys.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king! Geez Haze, complaining again?

That's true but isn't it possible that Moss regains his mojo in the same way that Singletary did last year? In fact if given a fair chance to compete for playing time isn't it at least a 50/50 proposition that he does rebound?

The other somewhat bizarre thing about Linderbaum is that he maintains his consensus position as the top center in the draft and yet he measures only 6'2" 296 pounds with 31.125" long arms. Is the team that drafts him not supposed to be concerned about that? In fact isn't he a possibility to slide down the draft? And if he's there at 25 do the Bills consider him?