dave mcbride

Cleveland's handling of an injured Mayfield who gutted it out for them has to be one of the worst cases of QB malpractice by a franchise in a long time.

He probably would have thrown for 4,000 last year if he didn't essentially sit out the final game of the season. If that game mattered and was close, he would have gotten there.

Very!!!

Tua is a good QB, and arguably very good based on the numbers (especially QBR, passer rating, and wins-losses). His sack percentage isn't bad either. The hatred of his game here is a bit laughable:

Super interesting. Pretty much establishes how good Leonard Williams was last year.

I am only challenging on one prediction: Giants lead the league in sacks. Too much talent.

Not good last year, but not the worst. And this might be a “beggars can’t be choosers” moment.

NFL players aren’t built like regular people. Their pain thresholds are off the charts. Most of us here would feel like we should be put in traction after just one play in an actual NFL game. I know I would.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bills-first-round-pick-maxwell-hairston-dealing-with-knee-injury Can’t say that the words from Benford here make me feel good. Anyway, fingers crossed.

My understanding is that Darnold was good in SF and thrived in that system during practices. He only started one meaningless game at the end of the season, and apparently did a good job of operating the offense in a 21-20 loss to the Rams (96.5 rating, 7 carries for 19 yards and a TD, 16-26 for 189 yards, 1 td, and 0 INTs). After the season was over, word on the street from SF was that he had genuinely taken the next step and showed he could effectively run that sort of offense. That's why Minnesota signed him. O'Connell's offense is not that different from Shanahan's, and he thrived for the most part.

"On his first day back at camp, Coleman was in a prominent role again, working with Allen and the first-team offense heavily, though he failed to deliver on several opportunities. During team drills, Coleman had four targets result in no receptions. The first was against second-team cornerback Dane Jackson, with Jackson sticking on Coleman the whole way and not allowing a catch opportunity. Coleman later had two reps against top cornerback Benford, with Benford breaking up both passes in contested opportunities. Then, near the end, Coleman had a chance to catch a pass along the sideline against Tre’Davious White, only for White to break up the pass. The common reason these reps went in the defense’s favor had to do with Coleman’s lack of separation from the cornerback. The lack of separation has been a central theme since the Bills drafted him. While he does have quick feet at the breakdown point to flash as available to the quarterback, he has the tendency to allow the defender to get back in on the route, even with the initial win. Most of this has to do with foot speed and maybe not being as fluid a mover as other receivers. Coleman winning in contested situations must become his calling card unless he can begin to separate more, and none of those opportunities during Day 1 went his way during team drills." https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6511535/2025/07/23/buffalo-bills-training-camp-observations-james-cook/

That's not really the story of the game. A lot of it came down to coaching decisions. For instance, BB decided to forego kicking a FG midway through in the third quarter on 4th and 13 from the 31 yard line. I thought that was insane at the time, and I was right. Brady threw a low-percentage heave to Jabar Gaffney that really had no chance. It would have been a 49 yard FG attempt in a dome for Gostkowski, who in all likelihood would have made the kick. Bear in mind that they lost by 3 points. After the Giants went up 10-7, the Pats threw it every single play on a stalled drive early in the fourth rather than mix it up. And then they blitzed on the game winning TD to Plaxico, shortly after Asante Samuel dropped what absolutely should have been the game-ending interception. At any rate, the 2006 Pats were probably the most dominant team in NFL history, and just had a bad day. Their not winning the SB had nothing to do with the fact that Randy Moss was the top receiver on the team.

I'd include Cook in there because he's going to be here for year 4. It's 50 percent - 3 for 6.

I pay for HBO Max because it has a lot of great stuff.

'A "country mile" is an idiom that refers to a long or indefinite distance, often implying it's longer than a standard mile. It can be used to describe both physical distances and figurative distances, such as a large margin of victory or a significant difference. The origin of the term is likely related to the winding and often uneven nature of country roads, which makes traveling a mile feel longer than it would on a straight, paved city street.'

They need to pay their best players. Wilson is elite. And they're not spending much on the QB position these days.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45712186/why-nflpa-mess-matter-football-fans The Lamar Jackson story here - no offers despite the fact that he was obviously one of the best five QBs in a league with a lot of terrible qbs - is the icing on the cake.

??? - Glover was a four-time all pro and once led the NFL with 17 sacks. Teller has been good, but he’s a pale shadow of Glover, careeer-wise.

Not saying the eagles’ D wasn’t good, but this doesn't account for change over time. The ravens’ D was the best D in the league in second half of the season.

Ramsey is not overrated. Ramsey is still good (by the numbers) and Fitzpatrick was terrible last season (by the numbers). And the Steeler pass D was terrible in the final third of last season (including the playoffs).

But he is paid like one, and that matters vis a vis the definition.

Hmm. I think the Steelers got a lot better. Rodgers isn’t who he was 5 years ago, but he was a genuinely pretty good qb most of the second half of last season, and he is FAR better than what the Steelers have been trotting out since Roethlisberger went into decline. Pickens is good, but he’s no Metcalf, and I’ll take Ramsey any day over Fitzpatrick, who was objectively bad last season at a lower value position. Ramsey was not bad last year and actually picked off Josh (not Josh’s fault, of course, but Ramsey was close enough to the Coleman error to make the play).

This is all about Pitt trying to put it together for a run in a brutal division with two elite QBs whose teams are also all in. They're all in, collecting stud boundary athletes like Metcalf and Ramsey so that they can a) actually play man with conviction on D and b) win regularly on the outside on offense with a near-impossible-to-cover-completely specimen. Ramsey basically forced his way out, and the Dolphins took what they could get, which wasn't much.

Which he apparently did not do last year while in Pittsburgh.

Weird how many folks here think a safety (Fitzpatrick) is more valuable than an elite boundary corner. If people watch other games not involving Josh Allen, they might recognize that Ramsey is very good. Most league personnel certainly think that way. Fitzpatrick hasn't been that great the last couple of seasons, btw. Opposing QBs' passer rating against in in 2024 was 127.6. That's not a misprint. Anyway, an elite-level (talent-wise) boundary corner is more valuable than a safety, and in six of their last seven games last season including the playoffs, the Steelers D was basically shredded by Philly, Cincy x2, Baltimore x2, and KC. The lone good game they had late in the season was against the Browns, who didn't have capable quarterback.