dave mcbride

He had to return it. If he lets it land in the field of play (which it would have) and bounce into the endzone, they get the ball at the 20. Really, the only plausible chance they had was a kick return for a TD. That was highly improbable, but more probable than going 80 yards in ~20 seconds with no timeouts.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6677047/2025/10/02/jj-mccarthy-sam-darnold-vikings-seahawks/ A sample: ‘When the Vikings were winning with Darnold last season, I asked a veteran coach to watch the Vikings' offense in hopes of learning just how well Darnold was playing. The coach thought there was a big gap between Darnold's impressive 2024 stats and how well he was actually playing for Minnesota. We found relatively few high-level plays in the games we watched. That same coach could not believe he was watching the same quarterback when he flipped through the Seahawks' offensive plays with Darnold this season. "The whole thing was Tier 1," this coach said. "No one we know is throwing better than that." Play after play showed Darnold delivering the ball accurately and with nuance, including against the rush. "He used to be jittery in there," the coach said. "Now, he stands in there and looks down the barrel. A couple times, he jumped and threw like (Aaron) Rodgers does. He dropped to three-quarters (delivery)." Was this really the same player? "The deep ball has been accurate, making sure they can catch the ball and assuring the yardage," the coach said. "He's throwing it correctly into the short zones to keep his guys alive, which is interesting. He is leading receivers away from the hook defender, making the guy slide on the digs. He's way better. I'm so impressed."’

It is in all likelihood a lecture about cartels/monopolies for undergrads by a professor simply trying to engage students with an easily recognizable example that many will have familiarity with. The person lecturing is Jonathan Gruber, who is head of MIT's econ dept and a genuinely accomplished economist: https://economics.mit.edu/people/faculty/jonathan-gruber.

Someone has to be the holder on FGs!

MIT has the second ranked economics department in the country (after Harvard), and they’re great at both macro and micro.

It also indicates once again that NFL players have EXTREMELY high pain thresholds. I would have been in a clinical state of shock if that happened to me.

Also, Josh McDaniel is simply better coordinator than Babich. That concerns me. Obviously, I’m not saying the Bills will lose. But I don’t think this will be an easy game. NE outplayed Pittsburgh, largely, and destroyed Carolina. They are clearly improving.

I actually think White played pretty well today. He had tight coverage three times where he almost succeeded in punching the ball out. The holding calls, well, I feel like if you look at all-22s, you’re gonna see a LOT of uncalled defensive holds.

Ball was tipped by the rusher.

Well put. There is WAY too much criticism of players when in fact the reason for underperformance is that they’re hurt (and it definitely is underreported a lot too).

Here’s why: ’Michaels attended Arizona State University, where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. He worked as a sports writer for ASU's independent student newspaper, The State Press, and called Sun Devils football, basketball, and baseball games for the campus radio station.’

Harrison’s issue is a lack of the quicks. Nabers and BJT have it. He doesn’t.

I remember watching a Chris Simms-Mike Florio discussion before that draft in which Simms said that after watching film, Malik Nabers was the clear number one, Brian Thomas Jr the clear number two, and Harrison a (moderately) distant third. He has been proven entirely right. I wanted the Bills to trade up for BJT, but it would have been a very steep price.

Re: that Broncos game, Leonard Floyd agrees.

Joe B breaks down every third down situation the Dolphins faced: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6655576/2025/09/24/bills-defense-third-downs/. Basic takeaway: three young players — Deone Walker, Cole Bishop, and TJ Sanders — were responsible for many of the problems. Also, Bernard and Tre White made mistakes (or simply failed to make a play) on a couple of occasions too. Otherwise, the Bills were reasonably sound, and their success on 1st and 2nd down suggests that they’re not in crisis. Rather, they’re dealing with the growing pangs of youth. Missing Ed Oliver is a problem too.

And the last time they played the Saints (Thanksgiving 2021), they annihilated them. Although that's the game Tre White tore his ACL in ...

They simply never solved the offensive line, and the one good player, Andrew Thomas, started out poorly before becoming good - and then he ended up getting hurt all the time. His one good year -- 2022 -- is the year they made the playoffs. He was a second team all pro that season. The o-line has been a train wreck from mid-2023 onward.

Wilson was shockingly bad in the KC game.

Richard Sherman has a real shot. Let the league in PFR AV rating twice (essentially, WAR): https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SherRi00.htm.

Oh, totally. It'd be the height of irony given how he was pilloried here.

He also had to share catches with Marvin Harrison for much of his career.

52 postseason receptions for 81 yards and 6 TDs plus a SB ring in 10 games suggests to me that he's first-ballot guy.

I'm not necessarily defending Lynn Swann's inclusion, but I think people focus too much on regular season stats at the expense of the postseason when it comes to the HOF issue. In three consecutive SB games (all victories) - vs Dallas twice and then the Rams - Swann had 16 catches for 364 yards and 3 TDs. That's 22.75 ypc and he also deservedly won a SB MVP. That needs to count because it's coming against the very best competition in the biggest games. I say the same thing about Terrell Davis. He had an injury-shortened career, but in 8 postseason games he had 1,140 yards and 12 TDs plus a SB MVP award against the league's best competition in "gotta have it" games. Extrapolated to a 17-game season, that 2,422 rushing yards and 26 TDs. Think about that for a moment! Gilmore probably should have been MVP of the 2019 SB, so factor that in. He had a huge interception, three passes defensed, and forced a fumble in that game. He also won a DPOY award.

I would normally punt but I think going for it here *might* be the right move. But the Ravens could still get the ball back with about 1:35 or so with no TOs even if they get the first here.

I do think there were problems with the Dorsey offense despite the metrics. I don't think he was great situationally and the offense had WAY too many turnovers. They were 31st in offensive turnovers in 2023 (meaning only one team had more) and 23rd in 2022. In 2024, they were first.