dave mcbride

That was tipped — those are so hard to catch because it totally upsets one’s hand-eye coordination at the last second. I never fault receivers for those “drops.”

Go for 2 if we get a td, right? Makes it a 3-score game.

Players improve and get worse over the course of a season, so this isn’t surprising.

Gardner being active suggests to me that the Jets kinda hate the Bills. I think they’ll play hard.

Bills inactives: elam samuel hamlin grable morrow cine austin johnson

I do agree about his high sack rate. The line is trash, but a lot of those sacks are on him. It’s the one flaw in his game.

I’d argue that in terms of WAR/VORP, he’s the equal of anyone. That should be the guiding factor, but of course it won’t be. It’ll go to either Jackson or Allen for sure.

Skewed by early results. In the last 6 games, they have given up 181, 202, 112, 181, 198, and 153 passing yards. In terms of total yards given up, they have averaged 267 over that 6 game stretch (and just 16 ppg). They are arguably playing the best defense in the NFL right now.

I think they’ll win too, but there is no guarantee and Flacco at this point is the sort of player who can gift the opposition 3 INTs. The Giants on the other hand do need to lose to retain the number one pick.

No. There are 22 starting players on a team and of course injuries etc. people need to take off the homer goggles and recognize how good he has been this season. They had a ton of ridiculous close losses that were in no way Burrow’s fault. It’s of course not all him, but his throwing and diagnosing this year has been off the charts great.

Their D needs to show that it can step up even just a little too. They need to be able to believe in themselves because losing confidence is a real thing. They were embarrassed by a terrible Pats team at home in bad weather (379 yards; 2 clinical drives to open the game). This after giving over 500 yards to the lionn and nearly 500 to the Rams, who failed to score 20 points in their next 3 games. LA had fewer than 200 yards at home last night too.

Disagree because I do believe they want Allen to win MVP. If he plays like last week, he will definitely not win it. To succeed, they can’t be vanilla on offense.

The issue is that both the Phins and Colts will be starting backup QBs today. There is a real path for Cincy although it’s still more improbable than probable.

I don’t see that. I do believe he is unbelievably good and of the same caliber as Allen. His season this year is the equal of Allen’s.

Honestly—and this won’t be popular—I think the MVP this season is essentially a three-way tie between Allen, Jackson, and Burrow. Burrow is having a ridiculously great season. With average qb play, that Bengals team would be 4-12 right now.

The Bills D did NOT give up 31 points to the Dolphins. You should check the box score and play by play of that game.

Rousseau is actually probably better from the LDE spot.

Really? I posted it as a gift article. Not sure why that isn’t working … Anyway: “If you think he’s pissed off now, wait until this summer,” said one longtime NFL executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss players under contract to other teams. “That kid is going to be pretty upset with what they do.” No matter what Brown has in store, don’t expect Burrow to go quietly. When asked after Week 15 about the possibility of a future without Higgins (a foregone conclusion in NFL personnel circles), Burrow deadpanned: “I’d be very disappointed in that. … Tee is a need.” That rhetoric can easily escalate moving forward. Surely, Burrow is aware that with each force-fed pass to Chase around the end zone, he is driving up the price for his owner, who allowed the superstar wide receiver to play for just $4.9 million this season. Chase playing next season on the fifth-year option seems incongruous — or at least begging for a significant holdout — and Hendrickson playing his final season at $16 million is probably a lark, and the reality is Burrow is covering up a roster in disrepair after suspect drafts and acquisitions. “I don’t think Mike Brown is going to spend big enough to fix it,” said one general manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity because GMs are not permitted to speak about other teams’ transactions and personnel. “This guy is almost 90 years old. He’s not changing now. I’m telling you, Burrow is going to be disappointed. “The offensive line is not any good. That’s almost like a total rebuild. Higgins is going to walk. I don’t think Hendrickson is going to be back. Their defensive backs are not good. They need an overhaul back there. They haven’t developed young pass rushers. “Burrow is already getting fed up. You can see it. We could see it [when our team faced him]. … That’s a smart kid. He knows what it takes to win. He’s seen it himself. From the way he’s been talking, you can kind of tell that he wants to be consulted and have a voice in what they do, but that’s not how Mike Brown does things.” … “I’m not saying this will be Carson Palmer all over again,” the longtime exec said. “But I’m not saying it can’t get there eventually, either. Some of us have been doing this long enough to remember how ugly that got.” It took Palmer vowing never to play for the Bengals again to finally secure his departure. Of course, Brown, nobody’s fool, shipped the disgruntled passer to the Raiders, a franchise that was losing even more frequently than his own. Butting heads with Brown tends to come at a cost, and this quarterback is not one to back down.

https://wapo.st/3VWoqxi (Gift article)

Re: Cook -- https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/27/sport/james-cook-bills-best-running-back-spt/index.html

"The Times of India (TOI) has a circulation of over 4.4 million newspapers and a reader base of 13 million. It is the largest English newspaper in India and has the largest circulation of any English-language newspaper in the world." Just sayin'.

On the next two deep sideline throws, he kept up with his man and walled him off at the end. No chance of completions on either.

But the difference is staggering. The Bills have just 3 players in this category, and 20 teams have 10 or more (and 25 eight or more).

After the first td, he had fantastic coverage on two subsequent deep sideline throws in which he basically ran the receiver's route and gave Maye no chance.