dave mcbride

Enough with the insults. That sort of hand checking you cite occurs all of the time with all players (especially yesterday, a game in which the refs let them play), and it began at the LOS when White played him physically off the line, bumping him initially and then five yards later (technically illegal contact - watch: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21655874). White initiated the contact! At the end of the play, White initiated a no-doubt-about-it blatant push off (after pulling his jersey prior to this) that is usually called PI. It wasn't called in this case, and it directly led to the INT. Again, I think Gronkowski should be suspended and I think that White made a good play. But Gronkowski has a point. What you need to factor into your analysis is Gronkowski himself -- he is a truly unique player that gets roughed up all of the time partly because he's such a physical monster. He's basically uncoverable one-on-one otherwise. He continues to make tons of plays regardless, and I think that fact shades the officials' treatment of him.

I gather you hate the Pats and hate Gronk. That's fine. But I watch a lot of NFL football and feel confident in my judgment. Receivers initiate contact all of the time, and what Gronk did on that play was "within bounds," as they say. White then mugged him. It wasn't a dumb play by White because refs let DBs play a bit looser when covering Gronkowski, so it was an educated gamble. Gronkowski presents a problem for the league in that he's so dominating and physical that I think they feel they have to adjust the rules for him. To reiterate, I think he's the most physically dominating TE in all of league history. That factors into how the game gets called.

I think Darnold is going to be great. I'd also be shocked if he goes back to school. I've said it before, but I really suspect he goes #1 overall if he comes out. He's got it all, and his team wins with him in there. They were not winning prior to his taking the starter's job last year.

I do watch all of these players. None get mugged as regularly as Gronk. Granted, Gronk plays with a physicality that dwarfs these other guys, so I think officials may think he brings it upon himself. But no one in the league faces such constant mugging as Gronk. I am not defending him, and I don't view him as "poor Gronk." I am being as objective as I can be. The guy simply gets mugged more than anyone else. He also tosses people aside more than anyone else (because he's so damn strong), but often near the LOS. He is in my book the most physically dominating TE to ever play the game. I think the refs compensate a bit for this.

Doubtful. Baltimore is going to win 9 and they have the tiebreaker over Buffalo, and they have Baltimore and Indy (playing in Baltimore) coming up. I expect the Titans to win 10 too - they have the Cardinals and 49ers on deck.

It really is worse with Gronk, who was completely mugged on that play. To be clear, I am not making any excuses for his actions -- he deserves a suspension.

Hughes was 10 yards away from the official. Players b**#ch at officials and use foul language while doing it virtually every game. The refs have a vendetta against Hughes, and I thought it was a TERRIBLE look for the officials, who had just witnessed an act that would have led to felony charges everywhere outside if an NFL field or MMA ring. Disgusting that they flagged him.

Not to excuse Taylor, who I am ready to move on from, but this is just false. Corey Graham put them in the lead, not Manuel, and moreover Manuel threw a pass every bit as bad as Taylor's yesterday early in the second half in a goal to go situation. The Jags' LB simply dropped it despite it being gift wrapped. He was terrible in that game and was in no way the reason the Bills came close to winning it. Also recall that the Bills D stopped Jax after they inexplicably ran it up the middle four times after getting a first and goal at the one in the third quarter. Finally, Manuel completely choked on the Bills' final possession in that game, making the wrong read and a bad throw on the final fourth down play. He stinks.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next game. Not excusing Gronkowski AT ALL (and the Pats collectively got a lot more calls, so this is a borderline irrelevant point w/regard to the larger game), but my god was that blatant interference by White on that play (and a good play by White at the same time, if that makes sense - he knows Gronk gets fewer calls because every contested route with the guy is a brawl). Anyway, that should always be called. He really does get interfered with or held constantly.

If you don't think that most NFL players don't take HGH on a regular basis, I don't know what to say. There is a REASON why the league, after years and years of saying it's going to crack down, never, ever does. Half the league would be suspended! Look at the guys on the field. It's not all weight lifting and protein bars, I can guarantee you that. Incidentally, I thought this was common knowledge. And I have absolutely zero problem with HGH use in a sport like NFL football. If they banned HGH, the injury reports would be a mile long every week. It's the dirty secret of HGH - it heals muscle tear injuries really well. These guys get muscle tears on a weekly basis. Also, put my on the (very) high end of the estimates of the percentage of player using HGH: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2602986-players-say-the-nfl-has-an-hgh-problem-even-if-peyton-manning-isnt-part-of-it

Hard to take NFL policy re PEDs seriously when most of the players likely take HGH regularly while the league continues to make noise about it and yet do nothing. I have no problem with players taking HGH, btw; it's an ideal medicine for minor muscle tears, which tons of players sustain every week in what is at the end of the day a brutal game. We fans want to see players play, after all.

Looks like Baltimore is getting a wc.

This is true, but it could be said about a lot of college defenses among the top 50 teams or so. They generally play zone and leave players wide open on every play.

You are mischaracterizing what I said about Spiller. Revisit what I said above. He is not in my good-to-very good slot. Re the bolded part above, I'll take that as a white flag (because it applies to offense too!). Like Nixon and Vietnam (and me at halftime in my VHS tape of the fourth super bowl loss), I'm declaring victory and getting the hell out.

The evidence is not overwhelming, and moreover you didn't provide any beyond anecdotal listing that is divorced from comparative context. As an experiment, I suggest looking at Bills' d-line picks in the first two rounds going back to 1970 and see how they panned out. Al Cowlings, John Parrella, James Patton, Dee Hardison, Scott Hutchinson, Eric Flowers, Ryan Denney, Walt Patulski, Phil Dokes, Aaron Maybin, and (I fear) Shaq Lawson -- the results probably won't be pretty. And let's not even talk about the QB position, where Todd Collins is the norm. My very basic point, which you have not refuted, is that RB is an easier position to project *relative to other positions*. This is because the athletic skills for the position are obvious and the positional demands limited in scope relative to other positions. For one, the rushing routes are a lot less complex than receiver routes, and they are less dependent on the qb for production than receivers. Again, the Bills have drafted 11 HBs. 8 were good to really good. 2 had flashes but disappointed. 1 had Guillaine-Barr syndrome. Also, in what world was Deuce McAllister not a good player? He ran for 1700 yards one year and had 4 1,000+ yard seasons. Addai had two excellent years too - twice at ~1,500 yards from scrimmage and PFR AVs of 15 and 14. Yes, he faded relatively fast, but he was a good player for a time.

The goalposts haven't been moved at all. You're just arguing for the sake of arguing at this point.

I don't have any evidence for this, but at the end of the day I think Darnold comes out. Too many people think he's the best prospect in the draft, and I think he'd go #1 overall if he leaves SC. I don't see how he can turn that up.

I think you're right. Cleveland for a host of reasons HAS to take a qb #1 overall whether they fully believe in the player or not, and the Giants are a franchise that just made it very, very clear that they're taking a QB #1 overall. Their history suggests that they may even move up to draft the guy they want if they can (i.e., trading their first, second, and third plus next year's first to move from 3 to 1 or 2, depending). They are a smart organization that lucked into a bad season when the upcoming qb draft was good. That's obviously the big problem for the Bills. It's great to think about in theory, but at the end of the day, teams at the top are likely to be absolutely committed to taking a QB early. And let's not forget that the last thing the Browns need is more draft picks. It's possible that they may even have too many at this point.

I think the wise move is to spend a crapload of draft capital in the one year we have it and get a franchise qb. A franchise QB is a dozen-year investment. If he pans out, he covers up everything else. I do not want to settle for Brady Quinn, JP Losman, Christian Ponder, or Brandon Weeden. If the team actually believes that one of the top guys is a sure-thing franchise qb, do what you have to do to get him. We will have the ability to do it for once this year. I still wince at the fact that the Bills couldn't muster up enough draft capital to trade up past Pitt in 2004 and get Roethlisberger, who they loved. The "economical move" doesn't really apply here because in football it's a winner-take-all market in which the QB is everything.

If Darnold were to come out, I strongly believe he'd go #1 overall.

I think Rosen LOOKS like the better pro prospect right now, but I think that Darnold IS the better pro prospect, if that makes sense: better size, better arm, better accuracy and arm strength while on the move when plays break down, and a slightly better release. This is not a critique of Rosen, who is also quite good at all of these things too. Bear in mind that USC is 19-3 in games that Darnold has started, and in the very first game he started - which SC lost 31-27 to Utah - he lit it up. He will throw the occasional pick, but he's 20. I think he's gonna be a monster pro. Check it out: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000877512/article/ask-5-whos-better-nfl-prospect-sam-darnold-or-josh-rosen. Bear in mind that I like Rosen.

Word on the street is that Darnold (the best talent in the draft, and by a faigr bit) is leaning toward staying at USC.

Huh? Tanier is good.

Alright, let's look at a specific team -- our very own Buffalo Bills. Here are the Bills RB draft picks in the first two rounds going back to OJ: 1969: OJ #1; Bill Enyart #2 - OJ is an all time great; never heard of Enyart 1978: Terry Miller #1 - great, great rookie season; not sure why he cratered (I think injuries) 1980: Joe Cribbs #2 - great player 1981: Booker Moore #1 - bust, but IIRC he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome shortly after being drafted. Bad luck. 1984: Greg Bell #1 - jerk but a very good player; had 18 TDs (!) in 1988 for the Rams 1986: Ronnie Harmon #1 - another jerk but a slightly-south-of-HOF caliber player (one of the better receiving backs in league history with 582 catches). 1988: Thurman Thomas #2 - HOF 1990: Carwell Gardner #2 - he doesn't really count because he was a FB and was drafted as such; it's the only position he played too. I'm not counting him. 1997: Antowain Smith #1 - very good career (7K yards); two excellent SB performances (92 yards and 83 yards respectively) in 2001 and 2003 2001: Travis Henry #2 - (over 6K yards) very good player with major personal issues that derailed his career 2003: Willis McGahee #1 - excellent career; 8500 yards 2007: Marshawn Lynch #1 - probably a HOF player 2010: CJ Spiller #1 - a disappointment, but it is the case that his 2012 season is arguably the best offensive single-season performance by a Bills offensive player this century (6.0 ypc; 10.2 ypc on 43 receptions--very high for a back) So, we have 12 RB picks. 9 were good-to-great players (3 HOF caliber); 2 flashed genuine greatness briefly (Spiller and Miller) but faded quickly; 1 was a bust (Moore), and 1 is a guy I couldn't tell you anything about because of the guy drafted before him (Enyart, drafted after OJ) That's a high hit rate by any stretch. Laughably, the Bills got rid of a lot of the guys who reached greatness elsewhere (including the Birmingham Stallions!). Cribbs, incidentally, had 2500 rushing yards and 80 receptions in two seasons with the Stallions. This occurred after his lawsuit against the Bills.

I think you're forgetting a lot of the anti-Kelly sentiment prior to the SB years. I'm not sure you were following the Bills closely in 1987, but (credible) rumors had spread far and wide that Kelly was hungover against the Pats in the second last game of the season. Losing that game knocked them out of the playoffs, and he played horribly. The pitchforks were definitely out. Fans can be brutal.