Sierra Foothills

Recalling other achilles injuries to people like Richard Sherman and Kevin Durant (where it's known that the achilles is precarious), it almost seems like there should be a procedure that reinforces the tendon. When I hear about athletes playing with a damaged achilles it sounds to me like a tear waiting to happen. Just odd to me that in this day and age there's not a proactive procedure that's available.

Agreed. To those who want a brilliant, creative innovator... be careful what you wish for (I'm looking at you Mike McDaniel). You know, this is still football. Deception and trickery only go so far and they're poor substitutes for more important football qualities.

Interestingly the NFLPA was also against banning the Hip Drop Tackle even though it was statistically proven that it resulted in a substantially higher incidence of injury to the ball carrier. Back to the topic, the thing all parties care most about is shedding liability. Monetizing equipment and uniforms is a close second. Set your timer to 30 seconds... I thought the collision between Hamlin and Tua was very mild... softer than an average tackle in that situation. JMO. Absolutely. The caps absorb energy so they would also mitigate damage to all body parts they impact... knees, ribs, everything. To the above 2 posts, yes Tua seems like he doesn't know how to protect himself. To your second point, Hamlin's responses to those very questions was quite interesting. The Hamlin replies I saw made it seem like he emotionally firewalled himself from the play... he seemed very detached. It's the CFL. If I recall correctly each team gets an equipment allowance of $6700 per year. For the entire team. 🙃 It tastes better if you call it a Beignet play. Can you imagine the carnage if NFL players wore MLB caps? Great stuff. I was gonna mention crumple zones AND leather helmets but you beat me to it. There is the school of thought that the modern helmet has given the players a false sense of security AND that players have learned to weaponize it (see Rapp, Poyer, etc). Some feel that a softer helmet will eliminate both of these unintended consequences. On a related note Muhammad Ali used to not wear headgear when sparring because he didn't want to develop a false sense of security. It was a good thought but it didn't work out too well in the end. Agree with you and @Starr-Bills. I think the engineering challenge is attaching the facemask to the helmet itself.

The laser to Shakir (Poyer personal foul play) was equally as awesome IMO.

I'm just super pleased with how the overall defense is falling into place. With the injuries to Milano, Bernard, and TJ it's opened up opportunities for others to get true on-the-job training. Players like Hamlin, Spector, Ingram, and Lewis are getting meaningful snaps. When the starters trickle back into the lineup we'll have trusted, proven backups... not unknown quantities. The defensive line has been upgraded substantially with the additions of Austin Johnson, Dawuan Smoot, Casey Toohill and DeWayne Carter. Von Miller is returning to form. Ed Oliver and Greg Rousseau appear to be in their early primes. DaQuan is excellent. Cole Bishop and Javon Solomon will make their marks soon. On the downside, hopefully Dorian continues to improve because he's a minus starter right now. Epenesa disappoints me but he's not a bad player. Regardless of the above two individuals IMO this can be one of the best defenses in the league by mid-season. They are a well-coached unit and there's pretty good talent to work with.

Away Agreed

Benjamin Dover

The Bills are off to a good start and there are a lot of encouraging signs. Good on you for embracing that thought. Guard it zealously. Invoke it often. The Bills had 59 yards of offense in the 2nd half because they weren't trying to score. Both teams were playing out the second half to avoid injuries. The stats you post are meaningless.

I really love what Beasley symbolized in this franchise's revival but I agree with you. Especially in YAC where Beas was almost a non-entity. At least they have Odell Beckham Jr. Yes, this is the first I've heard of this. Were they mad at each other? Benford is an All Pro quality player. The only thing he's done wrong in his career is to miss games due to injury. I have to disagree. 1) I don't want pass rushers hunting Josh for no real good reason 2) I don't want incompletions stopping the clock 3) I don't want to unveil any passing plays if not necessary Thank you for this great work!

The streak must be in the regular season.

Thank you for asking the obvious question. Weird that DraftKings doesn't include this information somewhere in the same post.

To your later comment in this topic it makes total sense to move Epenesa and also Rousseau inside occasionally to position their wingspans in the passing lanes more effectively... especially on those downs when DaQuan isn't in the game. I believe this will eventually happen more when Solomon starts getting snaps on the edge. Let me ask you two some questions: 1) Do you think McDermott's mantra about having a "growth mindset" is bullspit? In other words do you think he's incapable of changing his ways? 2) If you believe he's set in his ways and cannot improve and that his coachspeak is bs, how is it that the offensive doctrine has changed so drastically from previous years? 3) Do you think the new DC is incapable of bringing a fresh approach and effective strategies... do you think he's just going to base his playcalling on what he thinks McDermott would do? 4) Are you capable of changing the way you think or are you resistant to evolving in your opinions? 5) Do you have more of a commitment to growth than does McDermott? The first time I heard the term NASCAR pass rush used was when it was coined by the New York Giants circa 2015. It referred to them putting 4 edge rushers on the field at the same time without any tackles... a race to the QB. I think their NASCAR package included any 4 of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Omenyiora, Matthias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul.

Happy Birthday Beck Water! Yeah when you think about all of the hard, slippery, tangly, and irregularly shaped objects on the sidelines... man I wish he would have thrown the ball away much earlier on that play. Way too much potential for a bad outcome running full speed towards a bench area.

On Sunday I was encouraged by his bull rushes because he was getting good depth on them. As far as pushing guys backwards, often the great pass rushers start off with what I call engagement rushes... essentially trial balloons where they physically engage just to feel their opponents balance... like in martial arts. They'll sometimes do this repeatedly. Then when a crucial play is needed they either change speeds or dip into their repertoire of moves. In Sunday's @Shaw66 Rockpile Review topic I said that Von was "a force." Maybe a bit of an exaggeration but he's definitely on the come.

I saw that too and thought it could have something to do with the field conditions. Regardless, he's getting close.

I think his confidence is 100% back. I was telling my friends this week that we hadn't seen the spin move since pre-ACL and that I expected to see it tonight. Actually you could see in the KC playoff game last year that he was finally getting over the psychological hurdles. I'm absolutely not surprised to see Von playing well again.... it was sad to see how many people were writing him off this offseason.

"You guys played with the commitment and bravery of terrorists..."

What happened to Irene? Especially after he already had the first down. I could see that happening... poetic in that he started his career there. You can tell Kincaid is a lot stronger than he was last year. I could not disagree more. This game was a McDermott Masterpiece and a glimpse into his vision of an ideal football team. They said the same thing about Barry Sanders... too much dancing. Cook is a patient runner who looks for creases to explode through. You can't have it all and we should be happy to have Cook. He's another player besides Kincaid who has really improved in his second season. From hatching to your grocers shelf in 65 days. No. People are complaining about 1) Kincaid only catching short passes 2) Cook not hitting the hole hard enough 3) Knox and Coleman not "contributing" anything 4) etc 5) etc 6 etc Exactly I'm far from happy with Tyler Bass but did you happen to notice how lousy the field was with players falling left and right? Now think about a kicker's plant foot... Yes, except that he already has multi-generational wealth. It's not worth the drool bag at this point. Why is it an accident? This guy was a 2 year starter at Clemson which is a football factory. He was All-ACC and has looked good any time he's played. Spector's only problem as a pro is an inability to stay healthy.

And then what happened? 🙃

Is Kincaid out there?

While I disagree with @GunnerBill on his initial assertion in this topic he's one of the small percentage of posters here who consistently adds value. In fact he's one of our best posters. The attacks persisted for too long. As a group we don't "agree to disagree" as much as we should. JMO.

I didn't see the game but apparently Kirk Cousins looked like an invalid in week 1. For comparison he's 36 years old and coming back from an achilles tear suffered on 10/29... 6 weeks after Rodgers tore his. The Niners are a great team but 401 yards and 32 points does not say much about the Jets defense.

Every little bit helps... between Wilkins and Van Ginkel leaving and Bradley Chubb not playing I feel the Bills O will put up good numbers. Tough assignment for Cybo, especially coming off a bad week one. Toohill's not a bad player. This will become apparent with more snaps.

It's tough to win in the NFL and the Bills get everyone's best shot. It looked like the Cards had a nice offensive game plan and Kyler was playing lights out. I think they're a pretty good offensive football team. The Bills faced a fair amount of adversity being down 17-3 but I never sensed panic and for them to turn it around with TD drives just before and just after halftime was clutch. "Mr. Overrated" was his usual brilliant self, of course. Because of him this is a golden era in Bills football and I'm forever appreciative. Considering that the Bills have 4 new starters on offense and 4 new starters on defense there was a good chance that they would look disjointed today. But after they settled down they looked like a confident, veteran team, assignment sound and well-drilled in their systems. Both the offense and the defense seemed to make good adjustments. Among the many positive signs and good performances it was particularly heartening to see Von Miller being a force in the second half. I give McDermott and company high marks for weathering the early storm, pulling it together and getting the win (and almost the blowout).

Helluva good football game though.