dave mcbride

Aha. It was credited to Allen ...

Excellent points, although I’ll add that the Bills got to play the Jets twice! The Bills played badly in both games (ie, self-inflicted wounds) and were plagued by mistakes, but still won relatively easily. The Jets were that bad.

Wildly disingenuous? Mayfield was actually good last season. He is improving. He is not as good as Allen, but he is good (seriously, check out his advance metrics numbers from last season), and I think the Browns’s roster overall is probably more talented than the Bills. But it’s close, and coaching matters. Both coaches are good, but I’d take the Bills’ management over the Browns. Again, though, it’s tight. Stefanski did a great job last year.

Fisher was better than average. The problem was that when he went down in garbage time vs. the Bills, the house of cards that was the KC o-line collapsed. If he had been healthy for the SB, they would have likely been ok. They didn’t retain him for an obvious reason: his contract is up after this upcoming season, and he won’t be available because of the achilles tear. They didn’t cut him because of performance.

I get that, but the bad route running cost the Chiefs that SB as much as anything. It killed them in the first half.

Re watkins, he is a great, tough route runner, and it was notable to me that reid brought him in (despite the fact that he was injured) late in the SB after pringle and hardiman REPEATEDLY ran wrong routes. Mahomes was visibly furious about their lousy route-running in that game. Sammy at least could run the routes properly. He is a physical beast when healthy, but the leg injuries have really damaged his career. Still, he’s 20 times better than, say, Pringle when fully healthy. The AFC North was a more competitive division than the AFC East last season. They did get 4 games vs the NFC north, granted.

You have a jones for terrible Bills QBs who have the singular memorable comeback! I remember watching that game and yelling at the TV to Antowain Smith to take a knee at the one yard line at end the game. He ran it in for a TD instead, and Harbaugh almost brought them back (missing the 2p conversion). Where were you with EJ’s comeback vs Carolina in 2013 (the one where the Bills benefited from a very shaky PI call vs. Keuchly that put them inside the 10 yard line)? That was pretty clutch.

This is straight up homerism. Cleveland is very good and is a threat. They have had an excellent off season. Allen is better, but Mayfield is good enough to excel with a good team around him. And Cleveland right now is LOADED with talent on both sides of the ball. I expect them to win 11-12 games next year. I hated what the Steelers have done and expect them to be 8-8 next season. That division is going to be a Ravens-Browns dogfight. @Inigo Montoya’s OP is a good one.

The last time buffalo played cleveland, mayfield (who is WAY better than what the homers here believe) outplayed Josh and Cleveland won.

It happened in the playoff game vs the Colts, but he also had his ankle literally broken on the play, so the premise of the post you’re responding to is BS. Oh jeez. He literally broke his ankle on the play. The player who doesn’t fumble on a play like that is a truly rare breed. Please add context to posts like this.

Word to the wise: always trust the (very) small circle of The Mighty Boosh fans!

Check out Marangi’s completion percentage in 1976! https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MaraGa00.htm

Collins was terrible in 1997 and made it clear that he was a bust. Yup, me too. Definitely my worst take. Regardless of his coaching chops/record, I didn’t realize how much of a buffon he was and how lazy he had gotten.

Omg — that is definitely the worst take ever!! I can’t think of a worse QB than Marangi. He was worse than Peterman because he got more playing time. It was PAINFUL watching him.

Well done!

Well, I called him (but I was off by 30 slots!):

I just think they need more speed on the outside in a big, big way. And another CB who projects better than Levi. As I said elsewhere, they have have 5 first-round d-line picks (and now 2 second rounders). It’s a bit much in a league where cbs are the most important players in terms of the metrics.

I have issues with the pick ... but Basham was arguably the best player on the board regardless of position. He was my guess for who the bills would pick at 30.

Only reason that worked in the super bowl is because both KC LTs were down. Against teams with good pass rushes when kc’s LTs were healthy, the line was basically fine.

I was kidding! I think Jones will be good.

Actually, you do, and I don't think it's good enough. 5.04 even with a stiff ocean breeze at his back would be my guess. Christ. That's just ... vanity.

Dallas HAS to get a corner. They were fools not to take one in the first, in my opinion. All those high-pick LBs they have helped produce the worst Cowboys defense in team history. Their corners couldn't cover.

Alabama doesn't actually play a cupcake schedule. I expect Jones will be good. I fully agree. Athleticism is nice, but it's not as if has a bad arm. It's certainly good enough, and he can make all the throws. This isn't Christian Ponder we're talking about. I feel like that's the unstated comp here and it's just wrong.

The thing about the Raiders is that they posted 21 total sacks last year and the defense was TERRIBLE (31st in average points per drive allowed). A number as low as 21 is really difficult to achieve. And it got worse as time went on: in their final seven games, they gave up 35, 43, 28, 44, 30, 26, and 31 points.

@AKC -- Makes me think of you and your old arguments about d-line equity!