dave mcbride

Good thread idea. I fully agree. The Jets were a lot better in the second half of the season, and Darnold, while still mistake-prone, is supremely talented - good arm and fantastic accuracy when he gets set. The Dolphins are well-coached and well-positioned to dramatically improve their roster. Who knows with Fitz, but he's played well enough to be considered a credible starter in five of his last six seasons. He was phenomenal in the second half of this season.

Maybe because his QBs were Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy and an 85-year old Jake Delhomme??

Bill O'Brien has done pretty well, and Flores looks like the real deal. Some people in the league actually feel Flores should be in the running for coach of the year given what he did with that woeful roster.

If you read the thread, you'd realize how ironic your moniker is given that I explicitly say that Orton was a guy who could make all of the throws! The Bills have been spinning their wheels with guys like Peterman and Barkley who CAN'T make all of the throws. As I also said, all backup qbs are gonna be flawed in some respects, but I do think basic arm strength is a necessity. Just look at a guy like Brissett, who went into the season as a backup. He can actually play, but the guy who subbed for him when he went down was Hoyer, who at this point of his career cannot play. He is terrible and simply can't make the throws. He cost them two games they would have in all likelihood won with Brissett (Pitt and Miami; they were leading and driving when Brissett went down against Pitt). It was the difference between 7-9 and 9-7/10-6 (I'm assuming Indy approaches the final game vs Jax a lot differently if they went in 9-6 as opposed to 7-8 and out of it).

He’s not an athlete. Read my original post. It is the only good game he has had in his career. And I like the guy.

Did you watch his throws outside the hashes? He can’t make them; he looked like Peterman without the height. (I say this as a person who likes Barkley.) I realize that by definition backup qbs are gonna be flawed, but lest we forget, Kyle Orton was a backup who could play and certainly make all of the throws.

He was bad vs NE too. He fumbled twice (one was bizarrely reversed) and the Jets dropped another pick. He cannot make the throws. Yeah, backups played too, but he himself looked like the opposite of an athlete out there.

Nah, I don't think he can get us to 2-2.

This is an issue for the off-season, but as I watched Barkley yesterday, I concluded that this is not a guy that can you to 2-2 over a four-game stretch when the starter goes down. That means he shouldn't be the backup QB, because that ability to get you to 2-2 over that stretch is the baseline requirement of the backup QB. I will admit to being snookered by his once-in-a-lifetime performance against the Jets last season, but man was he godawful yesterday. He had 3 turnovers and should have had 5 (one of which was reversed by a truly terrible officiating decision). He simply can't make all the throws, and he's the sort of player who is going to throw a couple of picks every game in which the score is remotely close because the floating duck is a core part of his repertoire. Plus his multiple slip-ups and staggers led to something like three free TFLs for the Jets. I'd prefer not to spend a draft pick on a backup prospect. Who is going to be available on the open market next season? The seemingly obvious choices - Dalton, Eli, Rivers, Mariota - are not going to want to be backups in Buffalo (all would of course be major upgrades). Brissett strikes me as an ideal backup, but he's not available. Anyone have any idea of viable candidates who will be on the market in the spring? (Before anyone gets any ideas, Fitz is under contract next season.) I mean, I could see staying with Barkley because he knows the offense and seems like a decent guy, but there's gotta be an upgrade out there, right?

And Kirk Ferentz and Jim Schwartz too.

I would have said that 3-4 weeks ago, but the offense has become so pop-gun level that I just don't see it now. They haven't scored 20 points since November.

The thing about the excuses, though, is that sometimes they're valid. I remember a LOT of fans metaphorically high-fiving each other when Rex ran Roman out of town, and there was veritable dancing in the streets when Ralph forced Marv to fire Henning (which Marv refused to do - he retired instead). The very next season, Parcells hired Henning to call plays (while serving as QB coach), and lo and behold: Henning goes to a talented team, and they end up 5th in points, 4th in yards, and Vinny T has by far and away the best season of his career. The Jets go 12-4 and have a 10-0 lead in the AFC championship game before falling apart to a great Denver team. Bills fans LOVE to blame the coordinators, but it's almost always a lack of talent/execution that is the reason for the lack of production. The one big exception was Rex, who really did make a talented defensive unit underachieve. If Allen is even a moderately accurate deep thrower this season rather than being one of the very worst in the league, the yardage and point numbers would have looked a lot different. Overall, the Bills fielded a low-talent offense with a sub-average offensive line. That line was a lot better than last year's, to be sure, but that's only because last year's line was such a joke. Daboll, for better or worse, has been cursed with low-talent offenses in every place he's OC'd at.

I think it's because they throw so many go routes to him, and defenses mostly defend against that. He was good last year, so I really have no idea who is to blame this year.

Quality of ownership is decisive in coaches' decision-making. It's why Belichick pulled out of the Jets job in 1999. The Giants have been down the last three seasons, but they have some pretty good young offensive talent on their roster (including the most talented RB in the league) and the fourth overall pick, which should allow them to land a blue-chip stud like Jeff Okudah and immediately address a glaring need at a prime position (CB). Jones played a LOT better than people expected too: 24 TDs/12 INTs in 12 games; a 61.9 percent completion rate, an 87.7 rating, and was on pace for 4,000+ yards prorated over 16 games. That's all very good for a rookie. He fumbled way too much, but he was a rookie and that's to be expected.

They have good, stable ownership, have won a SB in every decade going back to the 1980s, are one of the great franchises in league history ... the list goes on.

ST isn't 1/3 of the game. It's more like 1/9.

None of the throws to Foster were close to catchable. It has been bizarre this season -- I can't think of another player who was on the receiving end of such a high percentage of uncatchable throws as Foster in 2019.

Ravens by 10 over SF.

He would have lost that challenge because it was in fact OPI. The fact that's only occasionally called doesn't erase that fact.

The NFL should really make week 17 a week in which every player on the roster is active. There's no reason not to, and these week 17 games involving teams locked into playoff slots have been a problem for a long time. His injury had nothing to do with his small frame. It was a freak leg injury on a non-contact play.

Rivera is a Rooney rule qualifier.

I was happy with the performance of the Bills' D yesterday. They should have really only given up 10 - the Jets got their first FG after the really stupid cheap shot on Bell by whats-his-name (Moreland?) in what should have been a pick.

As I have said elsewhere, why do any Bills fans care if the player makes money given that they are $90+ million under the cap. Murphy is a good player who had a solid season. He’s not elite, but he’s not being paid elite money. He’s being paid solid-veteran money.

Rudolph wasn’t benched. He was playing well and then hurt his shoulder. 14-20 for 129 yds, 1 nice TD pass, and no turnovers.

The hit on Hauschka was from the previous year, and Gregg Williams wasn't the DC of the Jets at the time.