dave mcbride

Huh?? That tells me nothing. The Ravens had no receivers the year before, and in any event no way no how are Brissett, Prescott, and Tyrod Taylor better deep throwers than, say, Roethlisberger or Matthew Stafford. I mean, come on. So much of these stats are functions of the team around the QBs. I'm focusing on arm strength and the ability to make throws. Keenum struggles; Flacco doesn't. He has a good arm. I really like FO, but this is a garbage chart assuming we're meant to draw conclusions from it. Taylor was a good deep thrower when he was throwing to Sammy Watkins, Hogan, Woods, and and a healthy Percy Harvin; he became a garbage deep thrower when tossing it to Matthews, Benjamin, and Zay Jones. Go figure.

They were whiskers away from being 10-6 last season. They lost a ton of close games that could have flipped them to 10-6 if Flacco had been the QB. He really is a better player than Keenum, who had one outlier season and showed us who he really was this a year: a guy who can't really throw a deep out with any effectiveness. Are they 13-3 good with Flacco? No, but there's no QB out there who'll get them to 13-3. Flacco is a measurable upgrade over Keenum and the team will be better for it. I don't see why anyone would mock this decision. Getting to the playoffs is where you start and always the goal, and Flacco has shown he can perform well in the postseason.

Flacco isn't elite, but he's a better player than Case Keenum. Simply put, he can make throws that Keenum can't. Paired with a good defense, which Denver has, he has proven he can win (Baltimore has a 96-67 record when he's at the helm and went 10-5 in the postseason).

He was injured last season.

Yes, but there aren’t any good ones available in FA. This column is only about FA.

Good call. I can see NE too. Maybe LA? His career ain’t over yet, Bill. I think that’s meaningless,p. Players want to win.

The problem is that Chef Peterman had a debut the previous fall at a different farm-to-table hotspot in the warehouse district, subbing for the overly safe but still (mostly) mistake-free main chef who had been put on leave. But while trying to fill an order for braised halibut with an arugula-pumpkin aioli and a side of roasted beets topped with caramelized fennel, he burned the kitchen down and almost killed everyone in the building.

I think another factor is that Chip Kelly lost his touch. He captured lightning in a bottle at Oregon but wasn't pliable enough to change his ways. I say this as a UCLA fan -- UCLA's incoming class of recruits this year is graded at 46th, and they attracted zero five-star recruits and only 3 four-star recruits. That is awful given the school and its very strong record of attracting good recruits as well as placing players in the NFL. They were 13th in 2015, 12th in 2016, 21st in 2017, and 19th in 2018.

I agree that he's great, and he had a very good season overall. His September numbers alone (when he was completely healthy) were all-pro worthy. I'm just saying that he had a decent stretch this season where he was clearly not 100 percent.

I say this guardedly, but he is a genuine pro as a television personality. He's more entertaining than the rest of them, and has a real flair for the dramatic. I'm not equating that with good; I'm just saying that he's lasted as long as he has on ESPN because he's a pro at being on TV.

Mack started out great this past season, but after his mid-October ankle injury, he was not the same guy the rest of the way (he missed two games too). He was still good and made plays late into the season (and he played well vs Philly in the playoffs despite the stats), but the stand-out physical dynamism wasn't there. He should be fine, of course, but that injury did hamper him a bit down the stretch.

Gary Marangi just re-checked his 1976 season stats (the only season he started games; he started 7) and demands an apology from you. 35.3 percent completion percentage, 16 picks, 12 fumbles, 1.8 adjusted yards per attempt, and a 30.8 rating on 232 pass attempts. Peterman's was 30.7 this year, but at least he didn't fumble 12 times!

Kiper mocked Mayfield to the Browns in subsequent mocks. Also, don't dis passionate amateurs. They're the people who make life interesting.

Don’t compare his situation to Peters, though. Peters was wa dominant player for the Bills and a lot better than Dawkins.

Um ... that wasn’t his final mock. He got 4 right. Given trades, it’s hard to predict a whole lot more than that. https://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/nfl-mock-draft-2018-picks-mel-kiper-mike-mayock-todd-mcshay-20180427.html

They're probably going to be better this season. Cano is a huge pickup, and he's still extremely good. Christ, he had an OPS+ of 136 last season - in line with his better years. If their staff stays healthy, it's among the best in MLB. https://www.amazinavenue.com/2019/2/7/18215693/pecota-2019-mets-baseball-prospectus-projections-89-wins

They made the WS in 2015 and the playoffs the next season. They also went 97-65 in 06 and just missed the WS, and they went in 2000 (the first year of the Bills' drought). I don't see how you can say they're more embarrassing than the Bills.

It didn't really occur to me how much a vet qb who is on the bench helps out the defense on a week-to-week basis.

No, read again - he's been terrible in the takeaways category historically. 4 of his defenses finished 32nd in takeaways forced and 2 others finished 31st. Basically, the Jets hired Captain Queeg. We've lived through it and know what he's like.

After reading this, it boggles the mind that the Bills went into the season with no veteran experience at QB. Even though Hoyer doesn't play in the actual games, he does so much for the Patriots that can't be quantified. https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/02/11/super-bowl-devin-jason-mccourty-brian-hoyer-patriots-rams Thank god Beane learned his lesson and signed up two guys with experience immediately after the season.

My issue with Williams - aside from being a thorough a-hole -- is that he is ridiculously overrated as a defensive coach. The results over 20 seasons: Yards allowed - finished in the top half 8 times, and in the bottom half 12 times. Mean finish: 15.5. Median finish: 17th. Points allowed - finished in the top half 12 times and in the bottom half 8 times. Mean finish: 16th. Median finish: 14.5. Takeaways forced: finished in the top half 8 times and the bottom half 12 times. Mean finish: 20th. Median Finish: 22.5. 4 last place (32nd) finishes and 2 second last place finishes (31st). Top ten finishes: Pts: 5 out of 20 seasons Yds: 7 out of 20 seasons Takeaways: 5 out of 20 seasons Bottom 10 finishes: Pts: 5 out of 20 seasons Yds: 6 out of 20 seasons Takeaways: 9 out of 20 seasons Basically, he's the very definition of mediocrity.

Wow—now this is a teardown plan, and he is clued into that franchise. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article225952960.html Looks like we should be expecting the Bills to beat Miami twice next season. If we don’t, it’ll be a real failure.

Many people have long memories. I certainly do. I have vivid recollections of Bills playoff games from the early 1980s to this day.

Um ... they had never been to a SB at that point and wouldn't go for another ten years. They had a really good team that year that could have won the SB.

See above. Patriots fans (I know a few) felt it was basically karmic payback for Sugar Bear.