PBF81

One could surmise that the Buffalos were meant as a distraction to get people all whooped up so that they wouldn't ask anymore questions. Either way, this is the stadium project that everyone seems to agree has had the least depictions (renderings) of what the final product will look like of any.

Well, OK, of that's something more in your book than average passing, great, so be it. Similarly however, if three games out of 144 against dreadful Ds are what is required to prove that a QB is above average, isn't that the same thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Either way, let's chalk it up to different standards.

After some thought, that was actually the case prior to the last five games. He only had four 3rd-down carries all season. We were never up by any significant amount in any of the last five games. We lost one of those games and nearly lost the others with the D/STs bailing is out twice.

LOL You can see it now, parking lots with way more cars and hundreds of drones over the stadium as fans watch from the lots. Drones buzzing down to where the wire-cam is. It'd be fun to be in a light tower with a radio to shoot down drones with a high-velocity pellet gun upon request. Once it's finished, if we only had a dome we wouldn't have to worry about drones. Thanks! We'll all keep our drones in our pants. Unlike this guy ... https://www.reddit.com/r/buffalobills/comments/3vqdg7/bills_fans_get_it_on_in_the_parking_lot_while/

What's mind-boggling is why the secrecy. It can't really be because they think that sales will be brisker if they withhold that imagery. It's just weird.

No argument here. But again, we get into the why of it all. One argument is that they finally had a top defense (2nd ranked), but it didn't fold in the playoffs. They allowed 7, 24, 10, and 22 points, for an average of 16 PPG in the playoffs, and against teams ranked 2nd, 6th, 4th, and 3rd in scoring. Contrast that with our Ds over the past three seasons. 2021: We had the 1st ranked D and allowed 17 and 36 in regulation to the 6th ranked (NE) and 4th ranked offenses. 2022: We had the 2nd ranked D and allowed 24 (Skylar Thompson) and 27 points to the 11th and 7th ranked offenses. Keep in mind that Miami was nowhere near 11th with Thompson at the helm. In fact, of his three starts, his best game was vs. us, in Buffalo. Minnesota and their 28th ranked D held him to notably worse. 2023: We had the 4th ranked D and allowed 17 and 27 to the 28th and 15th ranked offenses. Also here, the Steelers (28th) were playing a backup QB. In 2021 the Chiefs only scored more points all season against the Raiders' 26th ranked D twice, the Eagles' 18th ranked D, and the Steelers' 20th ranked D. In 2022 the Fins only scored more points against the Texans' 27th ranked D, the Lions' 28th ranked D, the Bears' 32nd (DFL) ranked D, the Browns' 20th ranked D, and the Ravens' 3rd ranked D. The Bengals only scored more points vs. the 9th ranked Saints, the 13th ranked Bucs, the 23rd ranked Falcons, the 10th ranked Steelers, and the 19th ranked Panthers. In 2023 the Chiefs only scored more points against the 9th ranked Raiders' D, the 24th ranked Chargers' D, and the 20th ranked Bears' D. Whether or not that's impressive is apparently in the eyes of the beholder, but mathematically it's underachieving when weighing our defensive ranking contrasted with our defensive performances in contrast to all the teams ranked worse than us, which in 2020 were all 31 other teams, in 2021 were 30 teams, and 2022 were 28 teams.

Well, we'll certainly see. What they say when they draft and sign these guys is often diametrically opposed. Jones is a great example. Seems likely that we're either going to have a very explosive season offensively, or that Allen's going to have a relatively down year statistically. One or the other. He's also never gotten anywhere near as many carries & touches that he got last season, either in the NFL or in college.

No real argument with most of that although the Packers put up 27 offensive and Denver matched our 24. In terms of yards gained, 1st-Downs achieved, and passing yards, we were very much in the middle of the stack vs. KC. In rushing we were low-end against them. There wasn't a lot of garbage time in most of KC's games either. But given what you said, you seem to imply that if there's a fault in our greater system, that it's on Beane, which is quite possible, t least partially. But given what you said, is there anything else that you would consider that might be an issue in the causation of that all?

Six more days 'til we find out, but if that's the logic, the week 18 game against May be against the Jets whom many consider to be the top challenger for the East. They split with us with Wilson at QB whereas Miami once again dropped both games vs. us. Now the Jets have Rodgers back.

You missed one simple thing. Absolutely no one in our team besides Allen has consistently stepped up in the playoffs, not one player, as in zero. Since our primary problem isn't getting to the playoffs, aka not the regular season, it's our postseason performance in that regard, and where our defense folds and underachieves more often than not, what is the explanation for that in your assessment? Allen's a what, top-2 QB? There aren't many, if any, top 5 or 6 QBs watching the playoffs come January. It's not difficult for teams with to QBs to simply make the playoffs today unless they have zero defense and few skill position players. This past season the top 8 yardage and top 6 TD QBs all made the playoffs.

LOL, indeed. Seriously though, from the angle that we'll get up for Miami it makes sense, but losing to them seems all but inconceivable. NE and the Jets beat us once each those past season, NE nearly twice, and both teams have improved. It's not difficult to envision us splitting with them again, or the Jets even taking two.

Cook petered out late in the season. He averaged a pathetic 3.6 yards-per-carry in his last five games. Not sure whether that was how he was used or simply being unused to that many touches. How this season plays out will be incredibly interesting. We had an even higher rated RB in Moss, very similar in style to Davis, and far more accomplished in college, and we didn't seem to know how to use him and didn't do much with him. There certainly isn't any clear plan in view.

We haven't lost to the Dolphins though other than in that heat game in which we entirely outplayed them, and otherwise since Allen's 7th ever start and his first game against them, in Miami. We own Miami. The Jets H/A games many think will be our toughest. If Rodgers stays healthy that's likely the case, no?

We're not simply "throwing out three games ...", we're discounting them because they were the three best games of his career, his only three games with 5 passing TDs each. The difficulties come in that the teams against which that occurred, two were ranked DFL and 31st in passing D, which renders any performance less than stellar. The other team had the 25th ranked passing D. It just so happens that they all happened to be in the same season. Otherwise, and we can use varying metrics, but in terms of passing TD production, Newton has ranked accordingly; 2011: 12th in TDs, 15th in Rating 2012: 21st in TDs, 15th in Rating 2013: 14th in TDs, 16th in Rating 2014: 20th in TDs, 26th in Rating 2015: 5th in TDs, 7th in Rating 2016: 20th in TDs, 28th in Rating 2017: 15th in TDs, 24th in Rating 2018: 14th in TDs, 17th in Rating In his 13 other games against teams that weren't the two worst and one comparable, his per-season average in those games would also have placed him at 14th in TDs. Even so, in 2015, in his proficiency metrics within that "remarkable" season were: 27th in Compl. % 16th in Passing Yards 12th in 1st Down production 10th in Success% 26th in Sack% 23rd in Yards-per-Game 12th in Net Yards per Attempt The data suggest all but indisputably that Newton was always nothing more than an average QB, even in that 2015 season. OK You have a point based upon scant data and you're immovable. That's fine. But there's no need to belabor the argument. It's also not particularly important. It's clear that both the Panthers under Rivera and our team under McD have both underachieved, perhaps them more so, particularly given some of the really standout talent on their team, but similarly in the playoffs.

Even the worst teams beat a good team or two many seasons. The 1-15 Cowboys beat the 10-6 Skins as their only win in '89 I think it was. Otherwise, it's also wild calling a team that largely beat losing teams all season long with one of the easiest schedules in modern history as something other than overrated. It's arguable either way I suppose. The greater point is that Newton was a very average QB other than in a single season, and that season was carried by his three best career games against the two worst passing Ds in the league and the 25th ranked passing D, for 15 of his 35 TDs. Newton was always a very average passer. The Panthers were a mixed bag under that coaching staff. Hot 'n cold from one season to the next, never any consistency.

We'll see, but IMO it'll go beyond the talent and into the approach. Some would still no doubt defer that if that were to be the case.

Not arguing that I'm the least. It's a great guess that by this season's end there's going to be a lot of criticism of Brady's approach in conjunction with our complimentary football MO.

I won't disagree, but let's not lose sight of the greater point, that an easy schedule, and there's zero denying that Carolina had an easy schedule that season, makes for an easier season and when the tough games come up, teams aren't as warn out. Common sense too. NE had that arrangement in our crap division throughout Brady's tenure.

So did four other teams. They were 10-6, not 14-2. Either way, of the argument is that they beat two good teams all season, sure. It was still one of the easiest schedules of any team in the NFL over two decades. That's a fact.

Carolina played the worst offensive game of any team that Denver faced that season.

Well, OK, but one of two good teams they played all season, 1-1. And Denver's offense was awful, far worse than Arizona's. Arizona was easily the more complete team. 42 offensive points vice 10? One win all season against any team that made it past the divisional round is hardly a harbinger of greatness. 12 of their 17 regular season games were against teams 8-8 or worse and with negative point-differentials.

Correct, one team/game all season. Seattle was not tough. Denver had Manning (P) before he unceremoniously slinked off after having posted the worst season of any starting QB that season. 9 TDs, 17 INTs, and the worst rating in the league. They were all but shut out against Denver's D which was about the same as Arizona's.

Was it really a drop-off though? He was an incredibly average QB in every other season, no? ... by any measure. On that season his passing stats were skewed by three monster 5 TD games against the two worst ranked paying D teams and the 25th ranked. Those were the the best passing games of his entire career. The rest of his season was also incredibly average.

Emphasize apex. Five losing seasons out of eight otherwise. Apart from that season, Rivera was 61-62 there. His playoff track record apart from that one season is similar in futility to ours. The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. Rivera was there for 8 seasons before getting fired and going to DC they everyone saw how bad he really was. They had crazy good talent in several positions, underachieved in major ways. My primary point was that that '15 season is vastly overrated as the season had their streets paved with gold, their schedule could not have been more accommodating had the schedule makers tried to make it easier. Literally.

That Carolina season is so overrated that it's ridiculous. They had one of the easiest schedules during our entire drought era. They had not one team with more than 10 wins in their schedule, and then only two at 10-6. Not one team in their division scored more points than it allowed. That should be factors into any discussion.