dave mcbride

That works against an early-to-mid career Fitzpatrick, who was still basically a backup masquerading as a starter. Against Brady and a cast of elite receivers? No.

My one caveat is that you have to be more patient with young players. Edmunds is just 22 still, and Knox is a young 24. Both are extremely talented and way above average with regard to 40 times relative to their positions and size. NFL coaching is all about extracting the best out of raw, elite talent, and both of those guys are very talented physically.

He played great vs. Baltimore. Don't forget that.

The picks are slightly overrated. The one near the end zone was really bad, but the other two were effectively punts. Arians is a believer in Mike Martz, who always downplayed deep INTs thrown from your own end to the other end as risks worth making because the penalty for doing so was negligible.

All true. But as I was watching that, I immediately thought that if anyone gets singled (which I thought would never happen), Brady would attack. So predictable. Basically you play coverage and concede the 45 yard FG attempt there. That was obvious.

Yikes — these are extremely tough words about Pettine from LaFleur: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/01/25/mike-pettine-under-fire-after-bucs-touchdown-before-halftime/

Excellent post, esp re Epenesa, but Moss looks like a pretty good NFL back to me. If I’m right (we’ll see), he’s good value for a third rounder. He needs to be paired with a faster back, however.

A fact: In the postseason, Allen is 0-2 on the road, and 2-0 at home. McDermott is 0-3 and 2-0.

Well, he was hurt.

I expect KC to blow out Tampa, and if I’m right, this narrative will decline. We shall see.

Allen absolutely threw it at the right guy’s face — at a serial cheap shot artist obviously trying to injure him in garbage time. Please.

Fantastic. Thanks.

You actually can compare them. One was playing with turf toe — a serious injury because it’s a torn ligament — and the other wasn’t, yet Mahomes outplayed his opponent. Allen is a terrific player — I love him — but Mahomes is another stratosphere.

He threw it at Okafor, who delivered two obvious cheap shots to allen over the final two series. On that second play (the one under discussion), the whistle had CLEARLY been blown, and 1.5 seconds later, okafor comes in with a late cheap shot. This is not actually arguable given the previous play (arguably an attempt to injure), so don’t argue. 🙂

Agreed, but I'd pick up the option and give him two more years. If he isn't going to pan out, you'll know by then.

That I don't know. He does call the defense at this point, and that's something to consider. It's usually the MLB's job. It's not like the Bills defense is terrible. Overall, it was average this year after a couple of seasons of being a lot better. I think that decline and yesterday's loss is understandably coloring people's perspectives right now.

I thought he played extremely well vs. Baltimore and was basically pretty effective from the SF game onward. My view of him is that he's still very young -- 22 years old, for God's sake! -- and physically very talented. Fans have to be patient with players. Let them develop. I am in no way saying he was anything close to elite this year, but factor in his age and experience when making assessments. One thing I've become focused on is the importance of coaching up rare, elite physical talent. It can take time, but the payoff can be huge. I just feel like a guy that size who runs a 4.54 40 is someone you shouldn't make a final judgment on, especially since he's just 22.

I felt that by the end of the season Leonard Williams was one of the 2 or 3 best interior linemen in the league -- just dominating. Apparently, the Giants have no intention of letting him walk.

He remains better than average at his position according to the numbers (PFF etc.). The drop-off is likely to be steep unless they get a stud in the first round. I don't want to spend a first or second round pick on a safety. Keep him.

He was bad in the first half of the season because he was literally playing injured. Factor that in.

I think this is unfair. He played well vs. Baltimore, but playing zone against Pat Mahomes and Kelce with no pass rush in front of him is setting him up to lose on every play. It's simply too easy for the receiver to adjust. There's not a LB in the league who can stop that combo playing that technique.

Great post. One thing you should factor regarding Hughes, though: In the Bills postseason games in the last two seasons, he has 6 sacks in 4 games. He was awesome against Houston, and he actually had a very nice sack vs. Mahomes yesterday (maintaining his discipline and riding him to the sideline; although he could have easily gotten a PF there). He also made a huge play vs. Baltimore on the play before Johnson pick-six along with getting two sacks. My point is that if you're going to assess a player, include the postseason performances. I'd keep him.

I think they need some better players, frankly. Teams like Denver and San Diego -- pretty bad teams -- can keep them at bay to an extent, and that's because they have d-linemen (Bosa, Ingram, for instance, created huge problems for KC in their first game this season) who can wreck plays. The Bills don't have those guys, and simply can't get to Mahomes with a 4-man rush. The Bills make up for it with disciplined zone play in coverage, but that's been proven to be useless against KC. Mahomes and Kelce just pick it apart. Look, you're never going to have elite players at every position, but you gotta have more than what the Bills have in terms of their pass rush. It's too bad about Ed Oliver. He's a decent player, but he's not a difference maker (3 sacks, 6 pressures, 23 tackles in 2020). They spent a high pick on him and the returns aren't impressive so far. As for schemes, I do think it's probably an issue, at least with regard to KC. Belichick frequently gives KC's offense fits, including the game this year with the corpse of Brian Hoyer playing QB. The Bills' looks and schemes -- which were pretty vanilla in both games this year -- clearly don't present any issues for Mahomes. I think the only way to deal with this issue is to get get 1-2 game wreckers on the line. I was in support of getting Carlos Dunlop, who ended up playing extremely well for Seattle. I think you've gotta take a chance on a guy like that -- someone who is clearly more talented than the Mario Addisons of the world. I know Clowney didn't do much this season, but he's still ultra-talented and was incredibly disruptive for Seattle in 2019 despite the low sack total. My sense is that this is a pretty weak d-line draft, but I don't know for sure. Others will know better than me. Yeah, there are drops every game. Brady suffered through drops yesterday. The ones you hate are the ones like Singletary's -- low velocity lobs to a guy in open space. Diggs and Brown dropped bullets as they were getting hammered. I forgive those ones. It's impossible to catch balls at a 100 percent rate in those situations.

It actually went a good five yards beyond the LOS. I watched it a couple of times to make sure.

Whatever the stupid rule is, the decision to overturn it was obviously correct.