dave mcbride

I get the bad calls -- it's a fast game and all -- but I feel like obvious false starts always get called. I was pretty shocked that the last one that should have been called on NE didn't get called. It was pretty obvious. Jones looks pretty good, but I'd be concerned less about him than an offensive strategy built around 12 play drives. So much can go wrong on any given play and often does. It's why they're averaging 17.5 points per game.

I wonder if it was pretty minor yesterday but ended up causing him to be pulled simply because the opponent was so bad. No point in risking making it worse when you have near-zero doubt you're going to win easily.

He doesn't actually come across as dislikeable, although the people in this thread who personally know him and who have voiced their opinions will have a better sense than me. I don't know the guy myself.

Collinsworth is horrible.

Just looked it up - he ran a 4.58 in the 40 at the combine which is extremely fast for a linebacker. And in his career year with the Bills - 2004 - he had 5 picks and 18 passes defensed, which is just ridiculous for a LB. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SpikTa00.htm. And he had 4 forced fumbles too.

He was extremely fast for a LB … until he tore his achilles. He was never the same after that and was basically a thumper.

There are a lot of not-very-good CBs playing in the NFL. Good ones are very, very hard to find. He’s crafty enough and has enough ball hawking skills to at least be a decent CB2 option. Who else is out there, after all? That’s all I’m saying.

Good signing by the Bucs. They have injury issues on the back end, and he's at least league-average. League-average guys are hard to find at this point given that just about all of them are already on teams.

He's actually 63-74; I give him credit for the game in which Brady went down very early (season opener of 2008) and Cassel played the bulk of the game. It was 0-0 when Cassel came in.

Payne is a beast. He dominated vs. the Bills in 2019.

I’m a little surprised no one is rooting for a host of 6-8-week non-contact soft-tissue injuries on both sides.

Excellent! I did not know unitas went there. I wouldn’t put bridgewater there yet - he’s been decidedly mediocre - but maybe this season he makes the step up.

Agreed about Jones. He will definitely have some ups and downs this season - that goes without saying - and NO’s defense is good. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Along with Cal, Oregon, Alabama, and Stanford, Purdue is the only school with three good-to-excellent QBs since 1960 (see my post above for details). That said, after the 1960s, Purdue seems to go about 15-20 years between good NFL prospects. They haven't had one since Brees, although Orton could actually play in the league. He wasn't great, but he was physically capable and could operate an NFL offense. But really, he's a Steve DeBerg-type QB -- good enough to get a coach fired. My own advice about QBs is to NEVER assume a school is a predictor of anything. To reiterate a point I've made numerous times, it was assumed up until 2001 that Michigan QBs would never be great and would most likely be terrible.

Payne dominated the Bills in 2019.

Good post. He did hit on a high-trajectory bomb to Diggs last week - a play in which Diggs had time to adjust and make the play.

9 home games and 8 road games. What's to complain about?

Parcells hired him. He also hired Coughlin. Part of being a great coach is identifying and hiring great assistants. It’s basically the number one job of a head coach, and Parcells was unparalleled in that area. He also rescued and nurtured Sean Payton. Parcells is one of the greatest ever, in my opinion.

The rules are the rules and they are crystal clear. Easy solution: don’t do it.

In that 2019 Denver game, the difference in ability to handle wind between allen and the denver qbs was stark.

Well, given that we’re facing Washington, it’s worth mentioning that he played well in a quite windy game vs them in 2019. Average 18 mph winds with gusts higher than that, and a passer rating of 110.4 (70 percent completion rate). https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201911030buf.htm He also played well vs Denver in similar conditions. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201911240buf.htm

Lot of drops for Darnold last night. Completion pct should have been significantly higher.

Chicago is without question one of the great American cities.

Oh please. It’s The New York Friggin’ Times, for chrissake. And no, I’m not going to bloviate about its content. Read the story yourself.