dave mcbride

It seems to me that the NFL has failed to even consider one major solution: trimming the game time from ~3 hours to 2:45. Cut some of the commercial time (painful, I know) and - I hate to say this - get rid of replay review. The fact that they have to cut to a long ad break for a decision that shouldn't take more than 45 seconds MAX is painful to watch. Baseball doesn't cut to ads, and the decisions come in quickly for plays that are no easier to decide on. Unless they fix that, the downside of review - i.e., interminable delays - outweighs the obvious positive. The NFL has to realize that they aren't the only player any more - there are too many other options. They have to get better, and that starts with the viewing experience. Better viewing requires better editing, and as far as I can tell no real editing has occurred since around the time of the Heidi game.

Historically, Brady has absolutely destroyed cover 2 zone defenses that can't get at the QB with 4 rushers. His accuracy takes apart zones. In contrast, Alex Smith's mid- to deep inaccuracy makes him very shaky against cover 2 defenses. Travis Kelce said it best before the Bills game: "until we solve the cover 2, we're going to continue to struggle." I think we're in for a long day.

You clearly didn't watch the Detroit game on Thanksgiving. Stafford, who is very good, was missing all day. This is a straw-man argument for a very simple reason: I'm pretty sure that there isn't a person on this board who doesn't think the Bills should draft a qb very early next draft. Meanwhile, we still have to finish this season with what we have, and Taylor is a lot better than the alternative. Again, though, no one here is advocating Taylor to be the long-term QB.

Dunne is good.

I understood your point right away too. Elway doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who wants Taylor. I expect that he'll simply draft a QB if he has a top-five pick. That's the biggest flaw on that team.

I don't count the Manningham catch as a miracle play: it was a well-thrown ball by a good QB to a pretty good receiver, and it was right on the money--very catchable. It was just a good, well-executed football play; nothing more, nothing less. No one did anything crazy on that play.

Without a doubt. That is the the loss I detest the most in Bills history.

More like 54.7 percent, but I won't niggle about the error.

Matthew Stafford missed a wide open Golden Tate on Thanksgiving with the game on the line and with very little pressure. If he makes that throw, Tate scores and ties the game. He also missed on his final fourth down throw to Marvin Jones. Goff clearly missed an open Watkins twice yesterday; one ended up resulting in a PI and the other in an INT. Among other misses yesterday, Alex Smith badly missed an open Tyreek Hill on the key 4th down play with 2:50 to go. It was a poor throw, but since it wasn't analyzed by Trent Green, no one is talking about it. But it was worse throw by far than Taylor's, which while not perfect was very catchable and certainly within the receiver's catch radius (at his knees, not his ankles).

The other factor is pain threshold. Suffice it to say that the people I know do not have the pain thresholds of NFL players. If I ever took an NFL hit, I'd be in traction for weeks.

This. Also, the 2013 opener, in which the Bills had the lead until the final play.

The Falcons were playing so well that they actually beat the Bills in the alternate good-officiating universe. In all my years as a Bills fan, I have never seen them be gifted a victory like that. That sack/fumble call was outrageously bad, but hey, I'll take it.

I'd add Brees to that list - he's gotten the Saints within sniffing distance 3-4 times and probably will again this year. He lost a heartbreaker in SF in 2011, and I think that team would have beaten the Giants in the NFC championship game. Disagree about Russell Wilson, btw -- his production is actually incredible both in its quality and consistency. His 2014 and 2015 seasons were great (859 yards rushing in 2014!), but he's good every year: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/W/WilsRu00.htm .

I've been influenced by its impact on people in my real life. It's been some tough sledding for them, but again, it really depends on the extent.

Yep, could be. It depends on the extent.

My wife just had it and my boss just had it. They haven't had great experiences, but certainly it depends on the extent. Microfracture is the worst-case scenario, if I recall correctly.

Thanks.

I don't profess to know the details, but I thought that if he was traded, the team trading for him had a choice. I realize that I may be getting this wrong. Either way, it's bad.

Wow. That's a bad injury--make no bones about it. I can't imagine us picking up the fifth year of that deal if given the choice, but if he's injured, are we obligated to?

So Pergament is wrong? I have no idea - only reacting to the tweet posted above.

I don't think there's a soul here who disagrees with you about this.

Now that was funny!! Seriously!

This isn't a knock on McDermott, who should be cagey about this stuff, but I tend to trust Schefter with these stories. He's likely plugged into Benjamin's agent, who will know for sure.

A trophy of some sort!

The Bills in 2015 were about 5th when you take away the QB rushing yards. They were second in 2016 when you take away the rushing yards. If you're talking about both seasons *combined*, which was not clear in your initial post on the matter, you are correct. That said, I think a season-by-season measure is better because in one season you have a healthy AP, the next you don't - and the next season you have Zeke Elliott. There are risers and fallers across the board in the run game stats on a year-to-year basis. Regardless, see KtD's post above about how Taylor opened up the run game. Neither Karlos Williams nor Gillislee had anywhere near the success they had in Buffalo afterward, and that is a function of the threat that the Roman-schemedTaylor poses to a defense's run game design. That doesn't really strike me as a debatable point, but as I said others can certainly disagree. I just want to see a reasoned argument as to why Taylor didn't open things up. I get that you hate Taylor and want him gone ASAFP. Personally, I think he is an average starting qb who gives them their best chance to win this season. But that negativity toward him shouldn't preclude you from taking a deeper dive into the design of the Bills run game in 2015 and 2016. Everything KtD says above is true, at least in my opinion.