habes1280

We can't always use Cook. That's kind of the point. There are times when, to extend a drive on third and long or to stay in a game down multiple scores, you have to be able to pass the ball downfield. The games we lost were games when we needed a passing threat and found we didn't have it. I'm all for using Cook prodigiously, but when we can't, we need to have alternatives. I take your larger point. I'm sure the front office was working the phones and I don't doubt that they tried, this just seemed like the year to take a big swing, even if it meant overpaying. They are so clearly "one piece away"-- the o-line is intact (which may not be the case next year), the running game is sound, the TEs are solid, the defense is enduring/emerging, and Allen is everything we could possibly want-- why not push your chips into the center of the table for a reliable separator?

Given his rookie year, I'd think they'd want a first and a little extra. That said, I'd do it. 1st and a 4th? 1st and a 2027 3rd? It might not be enough, but for a 23 year old receiver coming off of a 1,200 yard 10-TD season, with up to three years remaining on his rookie contract, I'd have no problem with the Bills making a compelling offer. He's one of the few trade options that wouldn't force them to shuffle contracts to stay under the cap, and he remains cost-controlled for a significant stretch. Pay the freight, coach him up, and complete your receiver room. I would love this trade.

More likely a cervical disc issue, which, if it's degenerative, can be lifelong and make tackling/compression dangerous.

I like this. I keep hearing that Thomas is a cut above the second tier receivers, but the closer we get to draft day, the less comfortable I am with moving up the order to draft him. A trade-back like this, to the top of the second round, landing us at the top of the second surge of the receiver run, and in your scenario, recouping a pick in the third, would be perfect. I'm not sure that Franklin would be my first choice of the remaining pass catchers, but I wouldn't scoff (especially with two more picks in the top-100).

Six years, $120 million feel about right?

The jury's still out, but he's further along than I thought he'd be. Coming into the season, I didn't think he had games like the Dallas game or the first half of the Texans game in him. His profile had always been that he could flash with the right coaching and enough development, but that it might take more time than most. His play this year showed that he has the stuff right now, he just needs to learn to get out of his own way. I'll take that.

I think you might be crazy on this one. Knox didn't have a clear path to the endzone, and it wasn't befuddlement that kept the play from working, it was that Allen threw the ball over his head. I'm all for this team trying to put the game away, but this didn't look like a rehearsed, go-for-broke decision, it looked like a desperate move when there was still enough time on the clock to make a play.

Me, too.

I don't think this is a real measure of his value. The Cardinals left themselves with no leverage, and the Dolphins exploited it and got him for a price. Rosen may or may not develop into a top-tier quarterback, but it would be difficult to argue that the Dolphins aren't more stable at quarterback with him on the roster.

Eight of their first ten games.

This doesn't seem to be the year, the team, or the player to measure statistics. I'd like to see signs that he can do what successful quarterbacks do: dictate to the defense instead of simply taking what they give him, work through his reads and find the right targets for his throws, make those throws from time to time, and finally, show that the offense can count on him to provide a spark, make a play, or lead the offense down the field in adverse circumstances. He doesn't have to consistently do ANY of these things, let alone all of them. I understand that he's developing. I just need to see signs that he has these qualities in him-- so stated another way, I need to see him do these things SOMETIMES, and I need to see him doing more of these things by the end of the season than he was at the beginning of it (an admittedly high bar given his performance against the Vikings). He can turn the ball over, make bad decisions, bad reads, bad throws; I just need to see that he can make good ones, as well, and that he's getting incrementally closer to where we need him to be to lead this offense, and this team, at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Something tells me this is a rhetorical question, but I'll bite anyway. Short answer? It's easier. It's easier for coaches to identify the kinds of players they think will best execute their concepts than it is to modify those concepts to match the players currently on the roster. Adaptive coaches are rare, and there are only too many who are willing to rest on the laurels of schemes that may have won them games in the past, but are now either outdated or a bad match for their current personnel.

This is another stinger. If memory serves, when the Bills played the Seahawks that year, Wilson broke an NFL rookie record by rushing for three TDs and throwing for another in a single half, and T.J. Graham dropped four passes, one in the end zone.

The irony of passing on Rob Gronkowski because of his history of back problems for a less talented player who couldn't stay on the field because of a bad back is almost too much to take. I'm still not over it.

And the beauty of it was that, because Jauron tried to freeze the kicker with a last-second timeout, we got to watch Dallas kick the winning field goal twice.