dave mcbride

Good post. I voted for Barkley because I've become an Eli believer again. I also think that Eli is one of those guys with "pretty good" physical skills that don't really decline all that much on a year-to-year basis. He's never been very mobile and has never had a huge arm, but he can make all the throws and doesn't get hurt. There's no reason why he can't be good at age 38 (next year).

I think Daboll calls good games and understands situational football. He's leagues better than Dennison. Talent has been the issue for the Bills. It ain't the playcalling.

The question is whether they think Eli has 2-3 years left. I was very critical of the pick at the time, but it is the case that Manning has been very good this year. I don't see any signs of physical decline; he remains who he always was. They are still in the hunt. An 8-8 is gonna make it, I think, and they can beat anyone.

Good question! As it happens, the Giants could easily be 8-5 (e.g., losing on the last second to Carolina on a 63-yd fg by an erratic kicker), and Eli is actually having a very good season. He's upper echelon among qbs this year, I think.

Actually, it wasn't an out of bounds play; the runner was down by tackle, but the refs didn't blow the whistle and he got back up and ran 60 or so yards for a td. Given that he was clearly tackled, schwartz immediately threw a challenge but was penalized because all scoring plays are reviewed by the league and can't be challenged. Bizarrely, because of that it was no longer reviewable by anyone, and the td stood even though the runner has clearly been down by contact and detroit was penalized on the kickoff. It was a thanksgiving game. Detroit lost by one score, as i recall.

The officiating was awful overall, but I felt like the Chargers got the short end of the stick all game. But bad all around. The NFL has to do something about it. I know that Goodell et al love them some 43-42 games, but it’s ugly to watch. Of course, I know what their rejoinder is: the ratings are up.

You weren’t wrong to want Watson. He’s really good too.

He’s obviously a better player than both of them. He’s a combo of an elite shortstop/point guard/QB. Tough to stop for sure.

Yeah, agreed, but the issue of an offensively challenged coach passing on Mahomes and Watson is gonna linger. And it should.

Wow - what a terrible play by the KC db there. He gave up!

Mahomes is the best player in the league right now and KC should be the AFC representative in the SB. I’ll be rooting for them, I suspect (given that Inroot for the AFC).

Patrick Mahomes is good.

I'll say. I'd be PO'd if I were a player.

Yeah, but: he had a really inaccurate throw in the Jets game that was gift-wrapped to the DB, but he dropped it. You can't count on DBs dropping INTs all the time like that.

Are you getting Champ Bailey (who played well past age 29) or Darrelle Revis (who fell off a cliff after age 29)? Bailey will be 29 next season, and he's a speed guy. That would concern me at least a little. He doesn't seem like the sort of guy who can transition to safety either (and the Bills don't really need a safety at the moment).

Shady being ineffective (due in large part to the line's decline) is a HUGE downgrade from last year. We went from having an RB who was recognized league-wide as a genuine threat to having nothing at the RB position. Shady had 59 catches last year too. He's a good receiver.

One way to square the circle on this is to view his play in full: He basically had 48 "touches" - 36 throws, 9 runs, 3 sacks - and generated 293 yards (6.1 yards per play). He had a couple of bad picks plus a bad ball-security fumble, but when anyone handles it that much, you should expect two turnovers (three is probably one too many). He only generated one TD, and I think the baseline with that many touches should be 2. Anyway, not great, but certainly not horrible. It's average-level NFL play (OK, but not good enough).

Nice: throwing out insulting nicknames because someone doesn't agree with you in an attempt at cut-down humor. Also find me posts where I indicate that I ever thought Taylor had a ceiling that was ever higher than "decent QB" who was the best option the Bills had at the time given the other options out there.

I've had this argument before. Just because a pass hits a receiver in the hands doesn't mean it's very catchable. There was a knock-down drag-out argument years back when a Taylor pass sailed off the top of Watkins' fingertips when the Bills were down by one score against the Pats and on their last possession, and the tendency was to blame Watkins because "it hit him in the hands." It was essentially uncatchable, however, and an errant throw. I will agree that Antonio Brown makes that catch. Clay is a serviceable TE -- not horrible by any stretch -- but he's not on this team to make catches like that. Hardly any TEs in the NFL make that catch given the starting point that Clay was at. I like Barnwell but don't always agree with him. I have a higher opinion of Allen than he does, but I see where he's coming from.

I agree with this 100 percent. The worst case scenario isn't Locker but (at least in terms of production) Jeff George - who actually had some very good seasons. Allen has a better attitude, of course. What I'm saying is that talent will get him places that guys like Locker and David Carr couldn't get to.

I strongly disagree that it was accurate enough given where Clay was in the EZ (right where he should have been given the QB's arm strength; plus he was wide open), where it landed, and the rotation of the pass. (I've said so much about this that I worry that it'll be written on my tombstone!) Look: he missed two wide open receivers in the end zone that game. Did they lose because of that? No, but the opposing QB made three accurate throws to the EZ on his three tries.

That is a fair point, although I'd counter that slightly by saying that his best game by far in every area was against Minnesota. It was also on the road and against an upper tier defense too.

Just to play devil's advocate (I've said too much already), working back to someone like Allen given his arm strength is not always the best choice. We're not talking about an arm like Matt Ryan's here. He overthrows people a LOT. I wouldn't blame Clay for that. He was wide open in the middle of the EZ and Allen missed him.

Exaggeration is a weapon of the weak, and I advise against it. I disagree with you, that's all. Are you suggesting that it was a remotely accurate pass?

No, that's not what he said. He said he watched every qb play of their last two games and factored that into an overall analysis of their entire seasons so far. Barnwell is about as good as it gets even if I don't always agree with him. My hunch is that if he said great things about Allen, no one here would be criticizing him. As I said above, I like Allen and the sky is the limit with him, but he is at the moment very error prone -- too many inaccurate passes and a lot of INTs (although not an inordinate # for a rookie). He needs a better cast, but he needs to get better too. Barnwell isn't wrong to say this, and he emphatically indicates that he's not declaring anyone a bust. I said "focused." He said he watched every play of the last two games so that he could flesh out an overall assessment. He's not really glowing about any of these guys except Mayfield, and he is correct to be glowing about him. He's good.