dave mcbride

He defenses a LOT of passes. That's the same as tackling a RB at the LOS with the added benefit of making QBs being leery about throwing 20 yards downfield to the middle of the field if he's lurking in that region. He had 4 pass breakups vs. Miami. The only type of rookie with a higher upside than Edmunds is going to be a first or second round pick, and if the Bills are taking an off-ball LB with a first or second round pick, they're drafting very stupidly. I'd re-sign him given that I believe that he's a core component of this defense. People might not like the scheme, but you go to war with the army you have and he's a good soldier for this scheme. He is not perfect, of course, but they have bigger holes to fill.

Losing SBs is way more impressive than not reaching them. 7-3 in 10 games is way more impressive than both 7-0 and especially 4-0.

Comparing him to Seifert is ridiculous. Seifert took over one of the most talented teams of all time and Pederson took over a post-Chip Kelly team in disarray and a bottom-of-the-barrel Jax team. And he got fired because of Carson Wentz, who he stopped believing in. And he was correct. And Wentz has proven to be the ultimate coach killer.

And looks physically sharp out there. He's still fluid in his mobility and throws a great ball. I always thought he threw a great ball; he just was in bad situations and compounded that with too many terrible reads of the field. If you're a coach, he was a guy who was easy to lose faith in. He's gotten better on the mental side for sure, but the physical talent he showed this year was always there.

Re: the bolded, yes but: Houston's offense was pretty good (14th in yards, 13th in points, 7th in yards per drive, 8th in points per drive) and a defense is always going to give up some plays. Holding a good offense to 16 earned points on the road in regulation is a winning performance, and it's on the offense to score 20 points themselves. They couldn't do it despite scoring 3 times (13 points) on three of their first four possessions.

Doug Pederson’s teams have actually made the playoffs in 4 of the past 5 seasons and his postseason record is 5-3.

Allen played terribly in that game but got lucky. Houston DBs dropped multiple easy INTs.

I am going to push back HARD on your thin interpretation of the Houston playoff game. The D essentially gave up 16 points in regulation plus another three because Allen fumbled at midfield, which led to a FG after a defensive stop. Then, in OT, the Bills actually made a stop, forcing a punt. Then Cody Ford happened. And on the game-deciding play, Frazier made the perfect call with a Milano blitz. Milano had watson dead to rights and simply blew the tackle. That should have been a sack, full stop. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202001040htx.htm

Daqoun Jones being out in that game was actually huge.

I just compared him with a random “name” running back, Joe Mixon. Over his career, Singletary has 13 fumbles on 817 touches, and he had 3 this year: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SingDe00.htm Mixon, on the other hand, has 6 fumbles on 1,545 touches, and he had zero this year. In fact, he has had 3 seasons with zero fumbles: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MixoJo00.htm

And the current Bills center is actually above average.

Honestly, a 7-3 record in Super Bowls is significantly more impressive than 7-0, much less 4-0. Getting to the SB ten times is incredible.

Remember the halftime show where scores of small children choreographed an impassioned rush to the stage while Jacko performed? If only the NFL knew then what we know now! I also remember being surrounded by filthy rich Cowboys fans, and at least one had a gold lame cowboy hat (we had really good seats through a stroke of luck). Should have been 59-24 -- Lett should have scored and James Lofton dropped the easiest of TD passes in last-minute garbage time.

Or Malcolm Butler in 2018.

More like a big lead and no need to throw it every play. He threw it 29 times and had a rating of 125.8. He had a legit great game. Total qb throwing yardage is a highly misleading stat. Focus on efficiency.

I was at the game. Sat right behind Ted Danson and Whoopi at the 40 yard line about 20 rows up.

You may recall that the game was played in an absolute monsoon:

That’s because teams get behind and have to throw the ball nearly every play. They were 4th in defensive ypa and 30th in number of passes thrown against (meaning only 2 more teams had a larger number of passes thrown against them). https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/kan/2022.htm Folks do realize that in college sacks are considered qb rushing plays, right?? Again, sacks count as qb rushing plays in college.

The thing is, the Patriots were not going to help the Bills. That wasn’t happening. But I am pretty sure that the Bills wanted McDuffie.

Terrible professional players judged RELATIVELY TO OTHER PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS and not randos off the street like you or me (i.e., like to like) get pro paychecks all the time. Everything should be judged on a curve, and there is a bell shaped talent distribution curve in every sport. There are always going to be bad players relative to the median player. Bad teams are filled with bad players. It’s why they’re bad. Johnson is one of them, but I do admire how he has survived.

Diggs has more than one good year left in him. He’s not that old and has a ridiculously huge route tree. He’s no one trick speed pony.

Oh, I fully get it. You’re just proving my point that he’s a bizarre low-talent unicorn who will literally play for anyone, anywhere, and at any time. That’s what he is, and it’s why he’s both interesting and unique. No need to valorize his “love for the game” (🙄🙄); merely look on in awe at a guy who has more than 20 professional football contracts in 15 years. That’s pretty crazy. Johnson was a D3 guy who only came onto people’s radars because Harbaugh was insanely successful at USD. He is low, low, low talent — which is (again) why his career is interesting. I feel like you’re invested in some sort of “climb every mountain” inspiration story when the simple fact of the matter is that he blows yet has bizarrely managed to hang on by being readily available to any team at any time in moments of injury-related desperation.

He was 0-5 with Tampa and had a collective passer rating of 60 (5 tds, 10 ints). No doubt, but he is the opposite of good. He’s a true unicorn and I feel deserving of a documentary. Again, 15 NFL teams. That is insane.

I don't think better at quarterbacking (he's bad!), but certainly better at surviving (think cockroach and nuclear attack) and better at answering the emergency call when QB 2 goes down for whatever team.

McDermott has always liked NFL family stuff (i.e., Edmunds), and Zay Jones has an NFL dad and played in the Panthers' backyard in college. Word at the time was that the Panthers liked him. And we moved just ahead of the Panthers to draft Dion Dawkins, and word was that the Panthers were enthusiastic about him. Beane knew he was leaving for Buffalo, and I've always wondered if he fed McDermott info. Obviously they used Bills scouting info - they had no other choice - but I have always thought that draft was McDermott's. Recall that interview with Whaley about Mahomes and Terry P's enthusiasm. Trading back for a good zone CB instead of grabbing Mahomes strongly suggests McDermott influence to me.