Sierra Foothills

I was surprised to find out that Miami only had 40 sacks this year. They have a lot of talent on that D-line. I wonder if their sack total accelerated towards the end of the season?

In this discussion a distinction has to be made between players being pushed or even nudged in the back and what could happen if there were no restrictions on blocking from behind. Yes you're right the rule has not stopped the pushes and nudges but it certainly has eliminated high speed, high impact blocks in the back. The rule exists for player safety to prevent hits that could injure players. If backside/blindside contact were permitted it would be open season on defensive players. Also do you really believe the game would be improved by allowing offensive players to blindside block their opponents? Should American Football also legalize holding?

As you know whether defense wins championships or not is not a yes/no question. Many people still can't break the habit of looking at complex issues in an oversimplified and binary way. The question (if there is one) is, "How good does a team's combined offense and defense have to be in order for that team to be considered a Super Bowl contender?" It would be a shock to find out that there isn't a positive direct proportion between drive start and points scored. I like the model and agree that the Super Bowl will be won by one of those 4 teams though I believe that Cincinnati is also in that group.

Yes, extensive spying today. Agree that the INT was more on Brown than on Josh.

And against a tougher schedule this year. It is ironic. Hodgins couldn't stay healthy when he was here and then after he leaves, Kumerow gets injured. And in fairness, the Bills were starting to incorporate Kumerow into the offense a bit before he got injured. I don't know. All I know is that I'm glad we had 2 kickoff returns for TDs last week and that we have excellent special teams. It's great that we're playing the Bengals in Orchard Park instead of Cincinnati... due to special teams. Agreed. Having bad special teams is a constant, recurring plague. Not every special teams play involves kicking off to your opponent.

Whatever you do, don't call him "McClappy" or post a link to this video: If you do a total stranger will question your character.

Romo was calling him, "Big Game Gabe." I hope he continues to live up to that one.

I once skipped a friend's wedding (I was supposed to stand up for him) because he had the audacity to schedule it on a Sunday during football season (I had season tickets). I'm better now and he's even forgiven me. 😆 Today I actually allowed myself to enjoy the game even in spite of the suspense and momentum swings. Though there are reasons for concern I ended up enjoying the game. Of course the Bills won so I certainly can't say I'd have enjoyed the game had they lost and I'm glad I didn't have to find out. Yeah ultimately I have no problem with winning ugly. A lot of people here already seemed to have forgotten the 17 year drought. Guiness and sushi? THAT sounds like a "you" problem. Can you actually taste the food?

A few people I know didn't like the play calling on that possession but it's also true that Davis was behind the defense on both those passes. Josh underthrew him on the first one and overthrew him on the second one. A better pass on either play is a touchdown. The weird part of the game for me was the role the sun played on deep throws. I believe that the opening deep drop by Waddle, the failure of John Brown to breakup the deep interception, and the drop by Khalil Shakir were all a function of having the sun in their eyes.

Beane’s trade deadline acquisitions: Marlowe and Hines.

AJ's numbers are decent in context but still don't pass the eyeball test. The AJ experiment was an interesting one. I wish he was playing at his college weight cause I liked the pick and was impressed with his college video. As for TJ Watt, anyone who watched the Steelers last two games against Baltimore and Cleveland saw him being a force on every play, but not necessarily showing up on the stat sheet. Was this necessary? 😆 Agree with those wishing/hoping AJ develops a counter spin inside because it seems like he's overplayed outside most of the time.

You should worry about yourself, not judging others.

Larry thought the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax. Great ballplayer... not too bright.

I misunderstood... your reaction to "McClappy" is overblown. Yes I would agree. Sorry.

Really good point. This Bills regime has always been cautious and methodical about returning injured players to active duty.

Excerpt: "That Bengals game would have been a shootout, I swear. It had a big-fight feel to me, like you had these two heavyweight boxers about to trade crazy punches. Actually the truth is: we don’t like them. That’s how we felt going into that matchup. That’s how we feel about any matchup in our conference, with any team who’s standing in the way of our goal... One image I’ll always have in my head from that night is seeing our two head coaches talking. That stood out to me. I think it goes back to what I was saying about the Bengals earlier — and I wasn’t lying!! That’s enemy territory. But that just tells you again how different this was, because as soon as it became what it became with Damar, no one cared about that other sh*t anymore. Our coach and their coach got together. Our players and their players blended together. And not even just blended together. Bro we were crying together. Like, ugly-tears crying. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t played football….. but to go from where the atmosphere was in that game, just crazy hostile, to where we were seconds later with those dudes?? That does not happen." Great read, thank you for posting.

Yes, part of the decision-making process is that this is an opportunity for a grand experiment... neutral sites for the conference championship games, so weather, controlled playing environements, hotels, etc are the major considerations. Hey Georgia Boy!

Overblown? No. For the record, you decided to judge me but I declined to judge you. Good luck and have a good life.

And how about you judging me? What does that say about you? You don't know anything about me, what I do, what I've done, the kind of person I am, the things I do in my spare time, anything I've done for my family or community and yet you feel comfortable judging me.

Partly a reputation thing for sure and the choices aren't perfect but I think this team looks better than previous Associated Press All-Pro or NFL Pro Bowl teams. One person who didn't qualify and hasn't come up in conversation is T.J. Watt. Watt is as dominating a defensive player as there is in the league. His impact goes way beyond statistics. The earlier mention of Micah Parsons is a good call too. Hmmm... I've seen Jacobs play 5-6 times this year and he sure looked like the best running back I've watched this year. Isn't that the same for any player? If NFL WRs and DBs think Davante Adams is better than Tyreek Hill I would not argue against them. IMO Hill is the kind of player who would probably do better in fan voting than player voting. One player who's really overlooked in this voting is Pittsburgh's Cam Heyward. Every time I see him play he's dominating the game. But he's a 3-4 defensive and so he doesn't really fall into any of the given positional categories.

Frazier gets lots of grief here but keep in mind that he's running the defense the way McDermott wants it done. McDermott wouldn't bring in a guy like Schwartz who's defensive philosophy differs from his own. Frazier is like the caretaker of the McDermott Defense. A round of applause for Coach McClappy!!! Reminds me of that old saying "if I have to explain... " 😃

From ProFootballTalk: The NFL Players Association announced the first Players’ All-Pro Team on Wednesday. Only active players were eligible to vote and players could not vote for themselves or for their teammates. They also only voted for the position group they play in as well as the players that they lined up against on the other side of the ball. All players were eligible for votes as long as they did not miss five or more games as of Week 15 of the season and two special teamers were nominated by leaders from each team. The union also announced that they will release the top five finishers at each position in the future. The entire team appears below: Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City) Running back: Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas) Fullback: Kyle Juszczyk (San Francisco) Wide Receiver: Justin Jefferson (Minnesota), Davante Adams (Las Vegas) Tight End: Travis Kelce (Kansas City) Left Tackle: Trent Williams (San Francisco) Left Guard: Joel Bitonio (Cleveland) Center: Jason Kelce (Philadelphia) Right Guard: Zack Martin (Dallas) Right Tackle: Lane Johnson (Philadelphia) Edge Rusher: Nick Bosa (San Francisco), Myles Garrett (Cleveland) Interior Defensive Lineman: Chris Jones (Kansas City), Aaron Donald (LA Rams) Nose Tackle: Dexter Lawrence (New York Giants) Off-Ball Linebacker: Fred Warner (San Francisco), Roquan Smith (Baltimore) Cornerback: Pat Surtain II (Denver), Darius Slay (Philadelphia) Free Safety: Minkah Fitzpatrick (Pittsburgh) Strong Safety: Derwin James Jr. (LA Chargers) Kick Returner: Cordarrelle Patterson (Atlanta) Punt Returner: KaVontae Turpin (Dallas) Core Teamer: Jeremy Reaves (Washington), Justin Hardee (NY Jets) Kicker: Jason Myers (Seattle) Punter: Tommy Townsend (Kansas City) Long snapper: Morgan Cox (Tennessee) https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/11/nflpa-announces-first-ever-players-all-pro-team/

Also kudos to Hyde's personal physician, Dr. Jekyll.

Probably heading to the mall to strut his stuff... hoping the gear might have some magnetic properties...