dave mcbride

I think they have good and deep farm talent at the lower levels, but I'm not super-stoked about the near-MLB ready talent. I don't see a Cano or Severino on the horizon. MLB.com has them at 18th: https://www.mlb.com/news/2021-farm-system-rankings. Here's their specific take: https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-top-30-prospects-list-2021-preseason?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

This may well be the year the streak of winning seasons ends. At best, I see them going 85-77.

The bills alt least got an extra second rounder in that draft by dropping back to take manuel at 16. They traded away next year’s first to move from the second back into the first to get losman.

Unimportant plays by unimportant players on unimportant teams. Aim higher!

The Johnson play happened to a winless team. It doesn't qualify. There are a lot to choose from, but I have to go with the second Thurman Thomas fumble in the final Bills-Cowboys Super Bowl. The Bills are up 13-6 at half time, and get the ball to start the second half. They have two straight running plays for 13 yards and the Bills' line is MOVING the Cowboys' d-line off of the ball. I'm starting to feel like it might actually happen. And then: handoff to Thurman, Kent Hull gets beaten TERRIBLY by Leon Lett, and then Lett forces a fumble that rolls into the middle of the scrimmage line pile. OK, not the end of the world -- fumbles that land in the middle of the rushing-game dogpile get jumped on by one team or the other and the play ends. Not this time. Safety James Washington somehow picks it up in the midst of a sea of giant bodies and ACTUALLY RUNS FOR A TD FROM THE 46 YARD-LINE. After that the Bills, who were tied 13-13 now, played like a team that was down 30-3. That was the most disheartening play in Bills history because they could have won that one with a better bounce. (@Irv -- This one definitely deserves a spot on the podium.)

Rutgers. All you need to know.

They had fantastic drafts from around 2009-2015 too, as @GunnerBill has said repeatedly. Life isn’t binaries or either/or.

Chris Matthews. 16 catches for 176 yards in his two-year career and 4 catches for 109 yards in that Super Bowl. Here was the logic, at least. It didn't work out. https://www.clnsmedia.com/film-review-patriots-draft-proven-commodity-wide-receiver-nkeal-harry/

Well, Gronk was, and he was one of the best ever at it. But I get your point. Maybe BB and Ernie Adams thought they were exploiting a market inefficiency or something like that. Or maybe they were still scarred by David Tyree and those Jermaine Kearse catches in the Seattle Super Bowl. And maybe they remember Lee Evans failing to make the contested catch vs. Leigh Bodden in the 2011 AFC championship game.

The thing about Harry is that in terms of measurables, he was regarded as being the best catch-radius guy by far and the sort of player that wins jump balls. But the league is moving away from jump ball guys. The Bills have little interest in them and instead focus on guys who can get separation. The last jump ball investment the Bills made was in Kelvin Benjamin, and look at how that turned out.

Seems to me they actually expanded the option route menu in 2020. But don't take my word for it -- I'll let Beasley himself deliver the words: “It was an option route,” Beasley said. "We’ve worked on that. It was a new add this offseason. We worked on it a lot. I’m glad we finally hit one." https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/analysis-josh-allens-elite-arm-cole-beasleys-savvy-keyed-winning-drive/article_55b7f81e-011b-11eb-9295-9b393d487c9f.html And more, also from 2020: No quarterback’s gotten better faster than Allen. Two plays showed that Sunday. One: Mid-third-quarter, Buffalo ball, third-and-goal from the Rams’ 4-yard line. From Allen’s left, his go-to guy, Stefon Diggs, is singled by the Rams’ best corner, Jalen Ramsey. At the snap, Ramsey appears to gamble that the throw will be a typical throw in this part of the field, a “pylon” throw, to the front or back pylon, so he clings to Diggs. I thought Ramsey would have used the sideline to help him while cutting off the front side of the throw. But Diggs turned in and Allen, under extreme pressure, flicked his wrist, the ball landing right in Diggs’ gut. Allen had a split-second to see—for whatever reason—that Ramsey would be giving up the middle of the field, and Allen, about to get creamed, took it. “An option route, and Stefon won, and I gave him a ball where he could go get it,” Allen said. Bills, 28-3. Two: Late fourth. Rams have come all the way back to lead, 32-28. Third-and-22 at the Buffalo 31. You could feel it slipping away for the Bills, after a big Ram sack and an Allen incompletion. Next play: “Me and Cole [Beasley], we’ve talked about this route many a time,” Allen said. Beasley’s job: find a hole in the defense. https://sports.nbcsports.com/2020/09/28/two-plays-that-prove-josh-allen-has-become-a-great-nfl-qb/ And vs. SF this year, which discusses Beasley's option routes: https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2020/12/10/22166642/all-22-analysis-how-the-buffalo-bills-offense-outschemed-the-san-francisco-49ers-josh-allen. And the capper, which isn't about option routes but about how much of a challenge the Bills' scheme presents to opponents: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/film-room/2021/film-room-buffalo-offense

That's why I said "I sort of agree." Regardless, the Cowboys are a way bigger draw than the Bills and it's a comeback game for Prescott. From a business perspective, the Cowboys make a lot more sense than the Bills. The Bills are of course the better team.

Smith had a terrific year in 2001. As did their #1 pick, Richard Seymour, who basically saved the Raiders game for them when he stuffed the Raiders on third down on the Raiders final possession in regulation. More broadly, the idea that the Patriots can't draft well is a massive myth. They have had bad drafts the last 4-5 seasons (we don't know about 2021 yet), but from 2001-2015, the number of good picks is very strong overall: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/draft.htm. As for 2000, his first year there, he drafted Brady. But just look at 2001-2004.

I sort of agree, but prior to Dak's injury last season the Cowboys were on pace to break some offensive records. Prescott was on a pace to throw for 6,000+ yards, which would have shattered the yardage record. They can score. More importantly, they're the Cowboys, the most popular team in the country.

The Bills offense is the opposite of simple. And Beasley runs a ton of option routes! There are articles about it and everything, including a paywalled one from The Athletic. Here’s one from Cover 1: https://www.cover1.net/cole-beasley-option-routes-josh-allens-development-buffalo-bills/. You may want to retract this particular opinion.

You didn’t respond to his post.

C’mon! He lived to be nearly 100. His death isn’t a tragedy. But ... I see why you might feel that way. Speaking for myself, I watched that playoff game when I was a kid and was rooting for the Pats because they were a great Cinderella story that year (the Bills were awful in 1976 — 2-12 — and were out of it early on). I remember the play!

Because of the Sugar Bear Hamilton call in 1976, Dreith wasn’t assigned any Patriots games for 11 years. https://thegruelingtruth.com/football/raiders-fans-tuck-rule-game/

Ben Dreith is responsible for one of the very worst calls in league history — the personal foul called on Sugar Bear Hamilton for a late hit on Stabler on fourth down vs. the Raiders in the 1976 playoffs vs. the Pats. If he doesn’t make that bad call, the Pats get the ball back with less than a minute go, and Grogan and the Pats would have advanced to the AFC championship game. As a close Pats fan friend of mine put it years ago, the tuck rule call vs. the Raiders was “Sugar Bear payback.” Karma is a b**ch.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/sorry-but-nfl-draft-grades-cant-tell-you-who-had-a-good-draft/

Another thing: they signed Sanders, who I expect will be good to very good this season. And literally every year now, the draft is LOADED with wide receiving talent. Next year will I’m sure feature a ton of Elijah Moores too. The passing game is not going to be the issue this season, so fix what needs fixing. There will always be good receivers to take given the nature of elite athlete sorting at the HS and college levels.

His cardinal sin was his coaching hire. Williams was terrible.

Josh Allen makes the 2018 draft an A+ regardless of what happens to the rest of the draftees. He's the most important pick since Kelly.

I certainly hope you're right. I just think Mayfield is better than average and is gradually evolving into the type of player who'll put up an elite season or two over the course of his career. His ceiling is Drew Brees and his floor is Andy Dalton (who has had a better career than many realize: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DaltAn00.htm). Where he ends up will be interesting to watch. Anyway, we shall see.