dave mcbride

Yeah, and there was a reason he was a second-round pick ...

Lotta irrational people out there ... It seems obvious to me that Deflategate was a total joke. Bills fans hate the Pats, though, so they're primed to believe ...

Gotta disagree on one thing here: Joe Mixon is a STUD and hands-down one of the best RBs in the league. He had 16 TDs and led the team in yards from scrimmage (1,519). It's impossible to argue that he's a bit player in that offense. Moreover, he's an initimdating, fast, bruising RB with good vision who commands attention. Forget about the ypc -- just look at how he opens thing up for the passing game. KC certainly keyed on him in the AFC championship game, and he handled the ball on 24 out of 66 offensive plays (36.3 percent of the time). I'm not a RB truther either! I mostly agree with you. In fact, I've said before that if the Bills were to be gifted just one RB from another team, he'd be my pick.

?? - Deflategate was in 2014. They had the second fewest fumbles in the league that year. They were 23rd in 2013, 5th in 2012, 4th in 2011, and first in 2010. 2015: second fewest 2016: 27th fewest 2017: 4th fewest 2018: fewest (led the league) 2019: 6th fewest (2019 was Brady's last season in NE) That's four top-ten finishes and 3 top-five finishes in 5 years. The median ranking was 4th fewest. The pattern post-2014 is exactly the same as it was from 2010-2014. The median ranking is even the same: 4th fewest in the 2010-14 window. So no, nothing really changed. I hate the Pats, but this story was always a friggin' joke. Nope, See above. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/fumbles-per-game?date=2019-02-04 No, they remained at the same excellent rate in all the remaining Brady years save one.

It's less about money - it's the #1 sport in the wealthiest countries of the world (minus the US and Canada) by far -- and more about path dependency in fandom and age-old loyalties to venerable local teams that almost everyone in that locality has an interest in (think the Bills). I couldn't give a flying eff about the World Cup; what interests me is Leicester winning the Premier League after being a doormat for eons. Intense fandom in these places is tied to local teams just like fandom in the US is tied to teams that have been around forever and are basically part of the weather (i.e., the Red Sox, the Packers, etc.).

I totally hear you about Buffalo. Growing up there, I thought the NHL was massively popular. Then you go elsewhere, and you learn that it's not.

Baseball is great. Soccer sucks in the US because the talent and the professional system suck, but it's still a great game. Anyone American who is any good ain't staying to play here. They are moving on to the big leagues. In terms of talent/competitiveness, MLS remains a step below the Turkish league, and that's why the sport has never become popular here. It's not the sport; it's the fact that a US league is simply unable to break out of the ranks of developing world countries. No one here wants to watch that -- Americans like being number one, after all. That's why the Premier League is actually more popular in the US than the crap product fans are offered here. I have been hearing for close to 50 years (Pele!) about how soccer will break out of the cult sport ghetto, but it has never come close to happening. Tons of kids play it here, but once they get to 13-14 years old the talented ones are funneled into the sports that "matter." It's a vicious cycle and I don't see it ending any time soon.

You are wildly wrong about baseball's popularity: https://www.thesportsbank.net/business/nfl-vs-mlb-detailed-look-at-popularity-levels-of-both-sports/. Sure, the NFL is king by a long ways, but baseball is a LOT more popular than basketball and hockey. And as for TV ratings, comparing the two is silly even though the NFL is obviously king. Baseball's bread and butter is 30 local deals, not the national contracts with the networks. If you lived in Boston, NY, LA, or St. Louis, you'd realize how culturally resonant baseball is with the average person. The Yankees, for instance, are the most popular team in NY State, and by a fair amount. The Giants are third. https://giantswire.usatoday.com/2016/04/05/new-york-giants-top-buffalo-bills-new-york-jets-as-most-popular-team-in-the-state/

Probably hanging out on the Sloop John B in the Caribbean somewhere.

He was 81-63 in Chicago with a hodgepodge of mediocre QBs. He took over a bad TB team, went 2-14 in year one, drafted Winston, and then went 6-10, finishing 5th in yards and 10th in yards allowed. Then he gets fired and goes to Illinois, a historically bad program that has always struggled at recruiting. They tend to have one good year out of every five or six years, and the program he took over was in bad shape. It remained in bad shape because of recruiting and recruiting alone. But you don't have to recruit in the NFL.

That can get you to 9-8/10-7. There are far worse jobs in the NFL (Washington, Miami, Houston, Jets, ...). The Saints organization drafts pretty well and the team still has some excellent players. As for Winston, he had a rating of 103 over 7 games. Not too shabby.

For those interested in diving deeper: https://library.fangraphs.com/misc/war/replacement-level/

Really? Do you think Winston is truly that bad? He played reasonably well this season and should be at full health by September. Their talent is pretty decent, although like every team they have some holes.

Smith was 81-63 in Chicago and had Rex Grossman, Chad Hutchison, Kyle Orton, Brian Griese, and Jay Cutler as his QBs. He was fired after a 10-6 season too. Slightly deceiving. He took over a mess of team and then went 2-14 and then 6-10 the next season with a rookie Jameis Winston. Interestingly, Leslie Frazier was his DC in TB. They finished 5th in yards on offense and 10th in yards allowed on defense.

You never know. Given where the Bills drafted last year, you can bet they did their research on him. His "character" was apparently a polarizing issue regarding his future. No one questioned the talent.

Jeremy Fowler on ESPN+. https://heavy.com/sports/new-york-giants/kadarius-toney-trade-rumors-espn/

https://www.nfldraftdiamonds.com/2021/04/kadarius-toney-2/

Injury history, and not just in the pros.

You inspired to me look it up re Jax. I did not realize that James Robinson tore his achilles on Dec 21. Of course Etienne is coming off an ACL tear. I immediately thought a trade of Saquon to Jax made no sense, but perhaps it does given the injury uncertainties they have at the RB position. Still, given that Etienne is a first rounder, that's a lot of money to tie up into the RB position, especially when the two getting paid have major injury histories ... (Robinson is a UDFA going into his third season and is probably dirt cheap, but he of course is coming off an achilles ...)

I do think you can get a top-end interior lineman in round 2. I'm all for that, actually.

He missed a bunch of games in college due to injury: https://www.gainesville.com/story/sports/college/football/2021/04/29/breaking-down-what-florida-gators-receiver-kadarius-toney-provide-next-level/4886034001/

You never know. The Bills unloaded their best offensive player - Watkins - after three seasons. Schoen is a "culture" guy, and there may be stuff about Toney and his team "fit" that we don't know about. Daboll may also think that McKenzie is a better player than him at this point. My basic read on the latter is that Daboll likes him (given the playcalling) and McDermott has issues with him.

There are no clocks in casinos …

Bill, perhaps the main reason the Bills lost to KC was because of physically limited corners who couldn’t keep up with the KC receivers. CB is a more important position than it was 20 years ago. The game has evolved.

There is such a massive shortage of decent CBs in the league that he’s probably worth that number. Watch teams like Washington, Atlanta, and the Jets. Their corners are generally very bad overall. Other teams (Seattle, Detroit, Minnesota, to name three) need help too. Wallace is at least decent and a legit starter.