dave mcbride

Look at what happened IMMEDIATELY to the Cowboys offense in week 10 of the 2017 season, which is when his suspension began. They had been a very good offense, but in three straight games without him they scored under 10 points. He is, without question, a difference maker. I compare RBs with LBs (their positional mirrors), who are similarly viewed as mostly interchangeable. But a player like Kuechly is NOT interchangeable. Same goes for Elliott.

That's such a garbage stat. Newton's playoff performance is in line with his regular season performance - an 87.7 rating. Bledsoe's?? His postseason rating is 54.9, and in his three "wins," the offense put up 228, 234, and 346 yards. In that game where they put 346 yards, it was mostly rushing - Bledsoe was 14-24 for 164 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, and a 58.3 rating. They won both of those games that season because of Belichick, who was the d coordinator by that point of the 1996 season. Not because of Bledsoe *by any stretch*. (I watched those games and remember them quite well.)

My view that Bledsoe was mediocre rests on the fact that he was a terrible QB when facing winning teams. I can't scare up his record against winning teams at the moment, but it was scary bad -- much worse than one would expect -- and much commented on at the time when he was playing.

Raw yardage is a sucker stat. Focus on it too much, and you'll begin to think that Drew Bledsoe was better than mediocre. Newton had 35 TDs to 10 INTs (notably better than any Bills QB in team history) and averaged a strong 7.8 yards per attempt. He led the league in TD percentage per pass thrown too. You do realize that he threw for fewer yards in 2015 because they almost always had the lead, don't you?? The Panthers led the league in scoring that year, for chrissake, but guess what: they were 27th in pass attempts! As for last year, no Bills QB has thrown for more TDs as Newton did since Jim Kelly in 1991. Do better.

Anyone who thinks Newton's best passing season was his rookie season is either a knave or a fool. How could you even contemplate saying that? My god. And comparing him to Taylor? Sheesh. Agreed on this. Wilson is HOF player.

There's probably a lot more to this story than the headline, because I firmly believe that the league REALLY wanted to bring the hammer down on him. Not suspending him is a terrible look for the league, and the league obviously knows this.

PS - For those who were wondering, Elliott has led the league in average rushing yards per game all three years of his career. Over three seasons, his ypc is 4.7, which is really good given the fairly large sample size at this point (868 carries).

Elliott is an extremely good player and a difference maker. I don’t pretend to know his worth, but at this point in his career (the peak, basically) he’s not interchangeable. That is, he’s not a dime a dozen. Does his presence add up to two WAR (wins above replacement)? If so - and I’m not saying it is - than he deserves to be paid. The difference between 11-5/10-6 and 9-7/8-8 is obviously huge. Even after rookie signings, the Cowboys have over $19 million in cap space. Any extra money that goes to that disgusting pig Jerry Jones is by very definition better spent on someone who is not him.

This is a big year for Brees' vis-a-vis his legacy as a top-five QB. That team is LOADED right now, and they should have a very good shot at getting home field advantage for the playoffs.

But if it's hardly ever called ... then players play with an expectation that it won't be called. When the unstated rules (not the written ones) suddenly change, then that's a problem. I guarantee you that if the shoe were on the other foot, we Bills fan would be complaining to this day. And rightly so.

It was a terrible call. That literally never gets called except for that one time. I'll take it, however.

Yup, I thuought about mentioning that performance and should have.

I'll try and put this in material terms so that everyone can understand a top-dog receiver's importance: Plaxico Burress. Burress, drafted 8th overall, was an absolute stud -- just incredibly physically talented -- and once he became a full-time starter in 2001, the Pittsburgh offense took off, going from 18th to 3rd in yardage in one season. They got to the championship game that season and lost to the Pats. They lost in a shootout in the second round of the playoffs the next season (34-31 in OT; Pittsburgh never saw the ball in OT because they lost the toss), but Burress was a great performer in the postseason in both of those seasons. He missed some time the next season (2004), but still had a solid postseason. The Pats lost to the Steelers in the championship game, but that was a game in which spygate was in full force. He then went to the Giants in 2005, and the Giants went to the playoffs (11-5) and finished 4th in yardage (Burress put up big numbers that season). They had finished 23rd the year before and went 6-10. Clearly, he had an impact. In 2007, you know the story. He had another excellent season (over 1000 yards), performed well in the playoffs, and made the game-winning TD catch vs the 16-0 Pats. After that, he shot himself on the dance floor, but that doesn't detract from his impact.

Walt Coleman does. He refereed that game (and the tuck rule game). It wasn't just the flag either. Shawn Jefferson was a full yard short of the first down. It's as clear as effing day, and the ref was standing right there.

22-8. Never, ever forget Foxboro.