dave mcbride

Not in the last 4-5 games *at all*.

Knox's hands are a real problem. Not arguing with that.

I think we underestimate the do-your-job qualities of Murphy - he sets the edge well and never seems to either freelance or make glaring mistakes. I honestly think he's been a nice role player for us this year.

Yeah, true. I just think he takes a ton of criticism for the obvious stuff, but doesn't really get the credit he probably deserves for the massive production. I mean, 5,226 yards (what he's on pace for) would be fourth all time, and if gets 10 more yards beyond that, it'll be third all time. I know he's missing some receivers tonight, but Houston's pass D is *terrible* (near the bottom of every category) and Atlanta's pass D is almost as bad. It could well happen!

Hey, I don't like him either! But this is all Coughlin, and he was basically trying to replicate his crazily strict Jag regime of the 1990s. You can't go home again, though.

I'm glad we're discussing Winston, who I was going to bring up in a separate thread. He's one of the most interesting cases in the NFL right now. TB is third in both points and scoring, and they are an offensive machine. They should also by all rights be 8-6 (they missed a chip shot FG vs. the Giants that would have won the game), and they've won four in row. He is on pace to throw for over 5,200 yards, which even in this day and age is MASSIVE. Basically, their offense is unstoppable unless you intercept him (which happens a lot, I know). I guess my point is that with an even moderately improved defense and slightly improved ability to avoid INTs, we're looking at a team that no one would want to face. I don't know what's going to happen with him, but even with the INTs, he's mostly clicking on all cylinders now. When I watch them, they seem to move up and down the field at will.

Call me crazy, but I feel like Murphy has been quite disruptive and a real presence the last few weeks. He has 3 sacks, sure, but he also has 3 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, an INT, and a good number of pressures.

No, it's mostly because he's a d**k (trust me on this one, KD).

I'm not putting much into Saturday's game. BB eats young QBs for breakfast, and he's fielding his best pass defense ever and playing at home. I hope Allen plays well, but I won't be upset if he doesn't have a great game. Few do up there. Literally every team has multiple drops almost every game. As I said elsewhere, I watched the Niners/Atlanta game, and both teams had at least 3 drops. It's part of the game.

It sounds like you simply don't like Marrone and are ascribing sins to him that you don't have evidence for. My view is based on the fact that he never had a rep in Buffalo as a martinet (the team was pretty loose overall), and he was here for a couple of years. There are literally like a dozen sourced articles out there showing that this was all Coughlin.

Allen needs to become a lot better. It's not crazy to point that out. He's making progress, sure, but the offense overall is bad. It's of course not all on him, but he's at best an average NFL QB right now. As I've said with Allen, the two-player continuum that applies best to him is the Roethlisberger-Bortles one, and he needs to be getting closer to the left of that continuum if he's going to last. The decline in turnovers (13 on the season, which isn't bad) is a start, but there's a lot more that he has to do going forward. I think he can do it, but to assume it's a sure thing is a sign of homerism.

Not according to Albert Breer: https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/12/19/tom-coughlin-fired-jaguars-stephen-jones-cowboys-eagles-nfl-week-16-game-plan "Over the last three years in Jacksonville, in his role as executive vice president of football operations, Tom Coughlin did his best to be respectful of Doug Marrone, the Jaguars’ head coach. But Coughlin’s desire to do coach-like things sure did make for a bizarre dynamic in Jacksonville. And you don’t have to look far to find people who picked up on it. “Anyone would tell you they’d never seen anything like it,” one source said. “Look across the other 31 teams, there’s not another role like that,” said another. Indeed, Coughlin, in his golden years, was one of one; nowhere else was there an executive vice president who’s also a boots-on-the-ground minister of discipline. Nowhere else would simple mention of an EVP’s name elicit such a visceral response, well beyond the normal hard feelings of a tough contract negotiation or roster decision. Nowhere else would the head coach throw up his hands and openly concede a major football decision wasn’t his." The whole piece is worth reading.

The problem with people like Coughlin is that they're not very amenable to change, and when legally mandated change comes down the pike (i.e., in the form of a new CBA), they act like it doesn't exist because it doesn't conform with their priors about best practices. This was an implosion that was waiting to happen.

You just know that he’s going to be playing for himself in that game because he wants a record. Perfect opportunity to exploit holes in the resulting defense. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/12/18/jamal-adams-expects-to-return-this-week-break-db-sacks-record-this-season/

I counted an equal number of drops in the SF and Atlanta game by *both* teams (if not more). Point is, every team has drops every week and the Bills aren truly nothing special in that regard. The Steelers had I think 3 too. And that’s why you don’t start subtracting drops to goose your favored qb’s completion percentage. I’d avoid doing that. Drops are inevitable in almost all football games - “the friction of war,” to quote Clausewitz.

Um ... I don’t think Gerry is saying Parcells is the scam artist!,

Dont’a Hightower is a GREAT player. HoF caliber, in my opinion.

Um, his 10-sack years came playing across from a still-dominant Mario Williams and a pre-2nd contract Marcel Dareus. The 2014 Bills D was dominant, and the 2013 D was excellent as well, racking up a ton of sacks. Those were his two 10-sack seasons.

The Chargers were terrible in 2015 and 2016.

It seems to me that it’s important to mention that one Gore’s “runs” on that 4th quarter red zone series wasn’t a conservative run but in fact a go-for-the-throat halfback option pass. It just wasn’t there. Basic rule of sports stats: don’t X out the good plays to make an average-based argument. The good plays count too. That said, I agree about Gore.

If you’re going to talk about SD playoff failures and not bring up Marlon McCree, You’re leaving a crucial event out. The Chargers were the best team in football in 2006, and if not for one of the stupidest decisions by a defender ever, I believe they would have won the SB. Rivers had nothing to do with that.

Salvatore is fine by me. We forget, but that offense halfway through last season was on pace to be the worst in NFL history.

To be fair, the Derek Anderson/Nathan Peterman combo era was a dark one ... My wife and I had our wedding at Salvatores on September 15, 1991. We had to delay the ceremony until Pat Leahy missed a last second fg attempt for the Jets to tie the game. Bills win!

I thought he had fumbling issues before last night. That was a surprise because he was advertised as a guy who was an extreme non-fumbler in college. Clearly, though, this isn’t mid-major D1 football anymore.

Not close? The bills were losing 10-7 in the fourth quarter.