dave mcbride
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Posts posted by dave mcbride
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4 hours ago, FireChans said:
I’m not sure anyone believes Watson is a franchise QB.
may as well say Nate Peterman.
But he is paid like one, and that matters vis a vis the definition.
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1 hour ago, MasterStrategist said:
Omar Khan is in over his head - this offseason has proved as much.
Being in Pittsburgh, its crazy to see how mismanaged two of the most prestigious pro franchises have been HORRIBLY managed these past couple years (Steelers and Pens).
Steeler country is in disbelief, I wouldn't be shocked to see a major change of the guard in Pittsburgh next year.
Hmm. I think the Steelers got a lot better. Rodgers isn’t who he was 5 years ago, but he was a genuinely pretty good qb most of the second half of last season, and he is FAR better than what the Steelers have been trotting out since Roethlisberger went into decline. Pickens is good, but he’s no Metcalf, and I’ll take Ramsey any day over Fitzpatrick, who was objectively bad last season at a lower value position. Ramsey was not bad last year and actually picked off Josh (not Josh’s fault, of course, but Ramsey was close enough to the Coleman error to make the play).
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Just now, HOUSE said:
A power shift in the AFC East
This is all about Pitt trying to put it together for a run in a brutal division with two elite QBs whose teams are also all in. They're all in, collecting stud boundary athletes like Metcalf and Ramsey so that they can a) actually play man with conviction on D and b) win regularly on the outside on offense with a near-impossible-to-cover-completely specimen. Ramsey basically forced his way out, and the Dolphins took what they could get, which wasn't much.
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1 minute ago, Don Otreply said:
Ya but, now he is in Miami now, he is going to be compensating for other middling players and not be able to concentrate specifically on his own 1/11,
Which he apparently did not do last year while in Pittsburgh.
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Weird how many folks here think a safety (Fitzpatrick) is more valuable than an elite boundary corner. If people watch other games not involving Josh Allen, they might recognize that Ramsey is very good. Most league personnel certainly think that way. Fitzpatrick hasn't been that great the last couple of seasons, btw. Opposing QBs' passer rating against in in 2024 was 127.6. That's not a misprint.
Anyway, an elite-level (talent-wise) boundary corner is more valuable than a safety, and in six of their last seven games last season including the playoffs, the Steelers D was basically shredded by Philly, Cincy x2, Baltimore x2, and KC. The lone good game they had late in the season was against the Browns, who didn't have capable quarterback.
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On 6/27/2025 at 10:29 AM, BADOLBILZ said:
Yeah @GunnerBill answered that. The Panthers realized after the draft that the Bills had their draft board and that McDermott was using it like his own. Which meant he had a good idea when he needed to move up ahead of them to get those players for he and Beane's operation.
Also, Zay Jones played essentially in the backyard of the Panthers (East Carolina U is 100 miles from Charlotte). As I understand it, they had their eye on him.
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23 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:
NOTE: I do think playoff performance means more than regular season performance too as you can only be a champion winning in the post season when the pressure and level of opposition are all higher.
Excellent point. Note the following: In 21 postseason games, his teams are 17-4 against top competition. He has 46 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 8.2 YPA, 67.7% completion rate, a 105.4 rating and 7 rushing TDs. No other QB compares. Plus he didn't just win 3 SBs; he has 3 SB MVPs. And this past season, his postseason QB rating was 101.4.
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34 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:
Fair, but there are different circumstances in all those cases. I believe Gurley had bad knees from college. Johnson was older and knee issues. Chubb major injuries. Zeek kinda fat.
id argue that the way Cook has been used in college and the pros means he’s going to age better than those guys. He doesn’t have nearly the wear and tear.
LaDainian Tomlinson: https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=1858275. His production from 2004-2009 (the extension covered these 6 years) suggests he was absolutely worth it: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TomlLa00.htm. He was all-pro four times and won an MVP. The only down year was the last one. The other five were all good to great.
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11 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:
I'm not too worried about it. The Bills have never passed on a RB in the draft or let one go in free agency and lived to regret it.
It's the nature of the position. Replaceable. You can find talented one's all over the draft and at different levels of free agency.
If Cook tore his ACL on the first day of camp I'd expect Johnson, Davis and whoever else they had to be plenty good enough to win a SB with. And the fact that Cook has had to come off the field on passing downs diminishes his value to me further until he can prove more worthy of being on the field on those downs. Those are the downs that ended their season the past two years.
Re: the bolded, that's an interesting question. One could argue that Antowain Smith on the Pats was a better, more reliable player than the fumble-prone Henry, but Smith (along with all the other Bills backs from that era - Linton, Bryson, etc.) was a solid 3..7 ypc guy for the Bills. Plus he had turf toe in 2000 and looked like he was running in quicksand as a consequence that year. More generally, I think a lot of the poor RB production in that era was the line, which wasn't very talented at all. Regardless, with NE Smith had two very good Super Bowls, and I value postseason play. He rushed for over 200 yards in the postseason in 2001 and 2003 with zero fumbles. Against TN for the Bills in 1999, he had 14 carries for 79 yards and 2 TDs. He was a postseason gamer for the most part.
Marshawn Lynch is going the HOF, but it could be argued that Jackson achieved the same production. Lynch was the better player, to be sure, but maybe it just wasn't ever going to happen in Buffalo for him. But generally speaking, you're right. Hell, the last good year OJ ever had was in Buffalo.
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6 hours ago, GunnerBill said:
He used to. Rodgers was abysmal throwing more than 10 air yards last season. His deep ball accuracy has fallen off a cliff. He was still good with the short game so slants are still a weapon but down the field he was about the worst QB in football.
He played decently the second half of last season (albeit not in the Bills game): https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6409964/2025/06/09/aaron-rodgers-film-review-pittsburgh-steelers/
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10 minutes ago, Logic said:
I remember the shock I felt when Brandon Beane came in and immediately dealt Darby and Watkins.
It immediately signaled two things to me: One, he and McDermott were trying to build a culture, and only wanted players that fit that culture. And two, they were gonna be drafting a quarterback in 2018 come hell or high water, and this was the first move made with an eye toward positioning them for a potential move up the board.
Always thought the way Beane pulled off those moves nearly simultaneously was cool, as was the fact that he got replacement players at each position that he traded away, simultaneously planning for the future but signaling to the locker room and fans that they weren't throwing in the towel on the present.
Other than that, as far as Darby himself, all I can say is: Good, solid, athletic man corner. Never a world beater, but usually a plus player when he was healthy. Carved out a nice, long, respectable NFL career. Here's wishing him a happy retirement.I forgot that he started all 16 games for Washington in 2020, when they won the division with a 7-9 record and finished second overall on defense. They had no QB.
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18 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:
Then he's the dumbest guy in the NFL and shouldn't be on the roster for that reason.
Everyone who has gotten caught the past 10 years has claimed this. For this reason, it's just not a credible defense. No player would simply take something some trainer or what not handed him and said, "don't worry, it's ok". Most of these guys can read, so, if they were really not sure what was in the drugs they were given, they could easily find out. Why would they leave their fate in the hands of some pusher? Accepting responsibility isn't accomplished by blaming someone else (who is this person he's blaming anyway?).
It's just not believable he didn't know what he put in his body. Zero point zero chance.
Hoecht can certainly read: https://brownbears.com/sports/football/roster/michael-hoecht/9698
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9 hours ago, MJS said:
If nobody talks about it, how do you know?
Keep on believin’. Also, check out @BADOLBILZ ‘s post above.
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1 hour ago, MJS said:
This is an opinion based on no evidence, though. Just assumptions.
Based on what evidence are they not strict about it? Players get suspended if they test positive.
Look, if you believe that HGH use isn't rampant in the NFL, that's fine. It obviously is and no one really talks about (players or league) because it's in no one's interest to do so. But both the league and the players need it to keep the multi-billion dollar entertainment machine up and running.
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1 hour ago, MJS said:
Based on what evidence? People say this all the time but just say "trust me, bro". It isn't the 80s and 90s anymore. These guys get busted and suspended today for a huge list of random substances.
The NFL is completely lax on testing for HGH because they know if they were strict about it and players stopped taking it, a very large number of players on every team would be listed as "out/doubtful" every week. HGH quickly heals soft muscle tears, which players at this level get ALL of the time given how fast, big, and violent the people lining up against them are.
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16 hours ago, The Wiz said:
And a Geneseo grad.
My daughter went to Geneseo!
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1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said:
It's hard to heal calf injuries.
You can go easy on a hamstring but it's hard to walk at all without aggrieving a calf injury.
They are so often the precursor to a torn achilles.
It's happened so often to so many big name players now that it's odd when people try to brush it off like you are doing.
The Bills have good depth a DE. That's the saving grace. Not the insignificance of the injury for a brittle old pass rusher.
I saw calf injury and immediately thought, thar's an achilles tear a-brewin', mateys.
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19 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:
I've been working in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles for over 30 years. In that time, have worked on numerous documentaries, and reality TV shows, including a season on Big Brother, and three seasons of Hell's Kitchen, which employed around 65 cameras. And I can tell you that I have zero concern that Hard Knocks will have some negative impact on the Bills' training camp, practices, or development as a team.
Here are some elements of production that I would fully expect:
- Every area of the Bills facility that HK will want to film will be pre-rigged to be as concealed as possible. There will be some lighting, and microphones rigged into the ceilings, but they will be low-profile. They will want 360˚ of access, without any production equipment in any of the shots.
- I would assume there will also be quite a few robotic cameras rigged around the facilities. These are similar to security cameras, but a little larger.
- There will likely be a few pre-lit interview areas. They will be out of the way, and private.
- Mobile camera crews will be very small-- probably three people, camera, sound, and production assistant. They will go out of their way to be as inconspicuous as possible. They will have low-profile headsets, and receive direction via radio.
- The director, producers, and robotic camera operators, sound engineers, etc., will be in a couple high-tech mobile production trailers, and few people in the Bills organization will ever see them.
- The director, and producers will not engineer, or gin up any drama, or conflict. Even on a conflict-driven show like Hell's Kitchen, the dramas occur organically. Such dramas are nurtured, of course. But that won't happen on Hard Knocks.
- Plot lines on the show will not be scripted. Even on a show like Big Brother, the closest they will come to scripting the show is to ask leading questions, and then ask the contestants to include the question subject in their answers. (example: Q: "How do you feel about Shiela?" A: "I'm angry with Shiela.")
Personally, I can't wait for this show. And if anyone is upset with Hard Knocks being around the Bills, they should probably also be upset over the Embedded series, which, as a much lower-budget production, was probably more visible to the players than Hard Knocks will be.
I'm upset for entirely superstitious reasons.
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1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:
This isnt good logic when, for most of those 24 years, playoff teams were allowed to opt out of it. So the show only featured teams that were already bad.
Looking back at the handful of playoff teams that did participate doesnt show any drop off or negative affect.
I dont expect any here either.
Frankly, if a part-time documentary is enough to sandbag the team, we arent that good in the first place. (spoiler: it wont because we are)
If you call yourself a Bills fan but aren't superstitious after all these decades, then I hold your Bills fandom in suspicion!
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6 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:
Get real. It's going to be the #1 storyline at the beginning of the show. Of course it should be talked about. That's how these things work.
The Bills are normally a very low drama organization(outside of 2022 which was a drama sh!it storm).
So Brandon Beane going on the offensive with local media and then going on a tour to yuck it up with out-of-town media about it while patting himself on the back about how great a job he's done with the WR corps is good drama to build on. Not a lot of GM's put their neck out like that.
And then they open up with the Ravens, who literally exposed the Bills WR corps last fall and sent Beane scrambling to trade for Amari Cooper a month ahead of the deadline. The Ravens then later held Allen to a pathetic 127 yards passing in a home playoff game where they physically outplayed the Bills but lost because of a comedy of errors on their part..........I mean, the WR drama could come to a head right away.
The potential entertainment value beginning this season story with Hard Knocks is enormous. By the end of that 1st game Beane could look like a genius or already be getting panned nationally if they struggle to throw the ball against Baltimore for a 3rd straight time.
Everything about this season is setting up to be incredibly entertaining. Love them getting Hard Knocks this year, they have a seasoned leadership group and coaching staff and areready for it, IMO. And so glad they didn't know they were going to be on it until Beane added some spice to it with his "I signed Joshua Palmer" swagger.😂
This is going to be great.
Good post. More importantly, we now have ~24 years of evidence, and being on Hard Knocks appears to correlate with a 99 percent plus rate of stasis/mediocrity/decline. The Bills agreeing to this is flabbergasting to me.
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42 minutes ago, Simon said:
I think there are also some folks (read: me) who don't necessarily want it banned, don't care that it's unstoppable but still don't like it because it's just boring and predictable.
3rd/short used to be an interesting down; now I look at it as a chance to change the channel or go to the fridge.
A league that emphasizes revenue over all else might be wise to consider that side effect.
Yeah, it's boring though because it always succeeds. That's why you can go to the fridge.
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Does the play remaining legal help the Bills? Of course it does. The Bills are only second to the Eagles in using it, and are almost as effective as them at the play. It gives the Bills an advantage, so I am all for keeping it.
The reason people want it banned isn't because it's not a football play or leads to more injuries (it doesn't); it's because it's basically unstoppable if you have the personnel. A play should be able to be schemed against, and the Eagles' version of the play is basically unschemable, defensively. It can't be stopped. That's why it's problematic. There should always be a defensive answer to a particular type of play.
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18 minutes ago, appoo said:
Cook is a very good back and a multi-dimensional threat.
We can absolutely lean on him as the bills win a Super Bowl and if you can do that, then IMO you’re worth being paid like a top 5-10 back
Those were the only seasons he got past 1000 yards.
And again, I’m not saying Drake is better! Saying someone “isn’t elite” isn’t the same thing as saying “this is not a great player”.
AJ Brown can lead my WR corps anytime. He’d literally be the 2nd best Bills WR since like Eric Moulds, right there with Stefon Diggs.
I probably shouldn’t get involved in “elite” debates
He actually has gotten over 1,000 yards five times in six seasons, and the one time he didn't he missed 3+ games due to injury (he still finished with nearly 900 yards). But I take your point about "elite" debates.
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19 minutes ago, appoo said:
And just to be clear about AJ, I love him as a WR and he’d be by far our best WR and it’s not even close. Same is true of Davonte Smith. That the Eagles have both is a function of luck, circumstance and opportunity.
But not everyone can be elite. In a world where Chase, Jefferson, Sun God, CeeDee Lamb, and scary Terry exist, I can’t call AJ Brown elite. That’s not taking anything away from him either. But there’s some REALLY REALLY good talent out there right now.
Like Drake London never gets any publicity but he’s been incredible. He had more catches, yards and touchdowns than AJ playing on a worse team with worse QB play. We’re not gonna call him elite though.
Feel like Eagle players are getting a bit inflated because they won a Super Bowl, when the reality is they won that Super Bowl by having really good players at every position, rather than relying on a a few different stars. They won with depth, they won with versatility, and they won with a pass rush that was more about waves than any one player taking over every week. They didn’t have a single guy with double digit sacks yet they had 5 players with double digit pressures (Bills had 4).
Thats also how I want buffalo to look, and I see no reason they can’t be thatHe’s simply not talented enough IMO. There’s a clear divide between the level of Barkely, Henry and pre injury Chubb that Cook doesn’t have.
And even beyond them Bijan Robinson and Jamhyr Gibbs in Detroit are a tier above Cook
If you look at AJ Brown's stats with the Eagles, in what world is Drake London more productive than him? He put up nearly 1500 yards in both 2022 and 2023, and last year was skewed by the fact that the Eagles had a 2,000 yard running back and had the fewest pass attempts in the league. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BrowAJ00.htm
Dolphins trade Jalen Ramsey/Jonnu Smith to Steelers for Minkah Fitzpatrick, picks, per Ian Rap.
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
Ramsey is not overrated.
Ramsey is still good (by the numbers) and Fitzpatrick was terrible last season (by the numbers). And the Steeler pass D was terrible in the final third of last season (including the playoffs).