Chilly

Thanks for the cliff notes version Boyst!

Lol I haven't been following the Newton thread. I feel like I need to go read it now.

Have you seen him play this year?

Here's my gameplan if I had this team: Denard Robinson/Bilal Powell - if Yeldon doesn't play and Denard is good to go with his foot injury he's a must start vs NO. Otherwise, Bilal is killing it and Patriots give up six catches to rbs a week. Danny Woodhead - getting 30-40% of snaps and should continue with Gordon out. Some risk but a solid play. AJ Green - New Orleans has one good corner and he plays the side of the field Hurns lines up on, not Robinson. I'll take the better talent in AJ since both will face top defenders this week. Latavius Murray - Averaging twenty carries a game and San Diego run D is horrific. Good luck this week!

The defensive coordinators primary job when the head coach calls the plays is to teach the defense and instill the gameplan. Dennis Thurman has clearly failed. Not sure Rob is any better (he's terrible in his own) but at least he knows the D.

Polian is amazing but his 07-11 drafts with the Colts were generally terrible. Some red flags in his recent track record. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/draft.htm I personally like Whaley and don't want him having Polian tell him who to draft.

You seem confused. Thurman Thomas was a Bills running back from like twenty years ago. Wore number 34.

I believe he's a one hit wonder across whole career. One decent year, the rest all God awful. I don't know how he keeps getting jobs.

There's lots of important aspects of leadership from a position of authority. I wholeheartedly believe having a fun and safe environment is extremely important. That environment needs to make it okay to ask questions, encourage learning, and make mistakes. It also should be fun and needs to be an environment where you feel like the coaches have your back. That being said, hard work and accountability need to also be valued. People should get recognition for being awesome and working hard, and should get called out when they make mistakes. Rex's job is to create an environment where not only that happens from the coaches, but one in which the players give both recognition and accountability to their teammates. I think Rex does a fantastic job at the first part of what I wrote, but it's really hard for us to have the visibility to judge him on the second. I'm not sure he's the best at it but it seems like our players haven't really done it for years either. So who knows.

My Texas longhorns while I was in school. It was unbelievable. I still think it's the best football game I've ever watched and the good guys won.

Good players shouldn't drop this far off. If anything, I would have expected Brown to go from good to average or below average if it was all scheme, not worst. I think we need an upgrade.

Given our injuries everywhere I think this is a true tossup.

Hah, fair enough. One thing that I thought was interesting was when Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan before the season said we have the worst linebackers in the AFC East and the third most talented defense behind the Jets and Patriots. I thought they were crazy coming off of last year. Boy we're they right.

Instead of copying and pasting my original post: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&section=findpost&pid=3808850

Rex is responsible for a huge chunk of this offense by hiring Roman, getting Tyrod, and adding speed (aka McCoy), so yeah, it is a positive.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the Jets. The talent level on that team is massively behind what it is this year. Like, not even close. To think that the difference is coaching is asinine. Coaching is of course part of it, but the talent level is night and day. As for the rest, you're picking out individual points when I believe it's a combination of factors that influenced this year. I think it's a lot more nuanced than saying "our roster on paper is better so our team should be better".

Geno Smith was Rex's starting QB last year, Stephen Hill was a starting WR; Quinton Coples (who got cut) was starting at LB, and Dee Milliner, Dimitri Patterson, Kyle Wilson, and Antonio Allen were all starters at DB. This is a completely different Jets team and in my opinion that comparison is not at all valid. I wholeheartedly believe the problem in New York was Mike Tannenbaum. I love that he went to Miami.

I'm starting to come around to the idea that I had unrealistic expectations. Here's why: New schemes on both sides of the ball again, with a ridiculous complicated but proven successful defensive scheme. New, first time starting quarterback. The ridiculous amount of injuries the team went through. The linebackers who aren't near as talented as we all thought. The Doug Marrone hangover effect (Preston Brown mentioned that it took them a while to be comfortable asking questions because they thought they'd be berated). Players just weren't bought in at the start. Pat Kirwan referenced this on moving the chains yesterday - Rex was perfect for the Buffalo job because of how Marrone quit on the team trying to give him a raise. Had to get a players coach to regain trust. If anyone has been through that you know it takes a lot of time, especially with divas in the nfl. The right side of the offensive line. Danny Crossman. Refereeing. In my opinion, Rex deserves a ton of credit for the offense this year. He was directly responsible for asking Whaley for more speed (which he delivered in McCoy), Tyrod Taylor, and bringing in Greg Roman. The defense was hugely disappointing. Yet I'm still curious to see what would happen with a fully implemented Rex scheme and some better linebackers. This is an offensive driven league and it's probably my favorite offense since the kgun. We've got a gigantic big play ability with Tyrod and Sammy and Shady. Let's build on that, not destroy it, and get Rex the rest of the horses he needs to be successful on defense.

I don't have any faith in Urbik or Kouandjio lol. I'd like to give competition for Henderson and Miller.

I think we have a lot of holes to fill: WR RG RT DE (to replace Mario) All 3-4 Starting LBs S CB to replace McKelvin Backup QB The good news is we don't have to get a starting QB.

How do you define control?

Cool. So decently nice hotel, in the middle of everything, and mid-range pricing. I've stayed at most of the hotels on the strip, and here are a few options pop into mind that are mid-range: 1.) MGM Grand - This is probably my #1 choice for you. Feels very much like the craziness that is Vegas. Absolutely GIGANTIC. It's a reallllllllly long walk from the hotel to the strip. You do have the monorail there, but honestly the monorail is kinda worthless and I never use it (it's super far from hotels). This hotel has everything. Giant casino, tons of restaurants, bars, etc. If you want everything all in your hotel, this is a great choice. Rooms were renovated about 2 years ago and are very nice. NYNY, Luxor, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay (via tram) all close by. PH/Aria/Cosmo not far but a bit of a walk. Little bit on the south side of central. If the MGM hotels interest you, this is a great spot. 2.) Bally's - Attached to Paris and old-school Vegas with renovated rooms. A little bit of a walk to the strip but it's a smaller hotel. This hotel was originally the MGM Grand before the new MGM Grand. The renovated Jubilee rooms are nice (the older rooms, conversely, are absolutely terrible, so be careful which you book), and you've got Bally's/Paris attached to each other. The downside here is the options at Bally's isn't great, but you've got Caesars, Bellagio, Aria, PH, Flamingo, Cosmopolitan all close by, and walking distance to the hotels a little north and a little south. I'd avoid the Mirage. MGM has made some massive changes there, including restricting drink service, and other things. Rumors is MGM is cutting costs to sell it, but we'll see. One hotel that looks like it's new rooms are great, but they aren't, is the Linq. This used to be the Imperial Palace, then the Quad (for a few months). Rumor is the upgraded rooms still have that Imperial Palace stench, so I'd avoid this one too; the renovated Casino is pretty sweet though and I dig it. Others I'd avoid: Excalibur, Luxor (fun casino, rooms suck), Monte Carlo, NYNY (unless you don't mind tiny rooms, fun casino though), Mirage, Linq (fun casino tho), Circus Circus, Stratosphere, Harrah's. Flamingo isn't bad but I prefer the upgraded rooms at Bally's at that price point. Bellagio is overpriced at it's price point, as Caesars is generally as well. Others I like (but don't think it's likely a good fit for you): 1.) Mandalay Bay - Fantastic hotel, freshly renovated rooms, great food and gambling. Only downside is it's at the very south end of the strip, so hard to explore North from where it is without taking a Taxi or Uber. If that's not an issue for you, it's a great choice. I personally love MB, have stayed there many times and got married there. 2.) Planet Hollywood - Central location, easy access to strip. Rooms aren't bad but need a renovation, lots of dinged up furniture, rooms are fairly dark, big standard rooms/bathrooms though. This is a younger crowd, party focused hotel, so the late-night scene at the Casino is hopping and super fun. Some decent food options too. It's also central strip so Caesars, Bellagio, Aria, PH, Flamingo, Cosmopolitan all close by. If a fun late-night scene that you guys can have fun at then stumble up to bed is a priority, PH is a great choice, and one of my favorites. Otherwise, avoid and don't stay there. 3.) Cosmopolitan - Highest of the high end, but fantastic property right in the middle with super strip access. Hopping scene. 4.) Aria - a little bit of a walk to the strip, but nice rooms, great property, and centrally located. Very high end price point though. 5.) Venetian and Wynncore have the same problem as Mandalay Bay - very North end of the strip, hard to get south. Plus, they're very expensive, but great properties. I'd steer away though just cause of location, but they are definitely Vegasy. I don't really have an opinion on TI, never stayed there and don't really like the Casino. Caesars is fun but generally overpriced for what you get, and Tropicana I've never stayed at, rooms I've heard are nice but it doesn't feel like current Vegas so I don't go there. Let me know what other questions you have on Vegas and I'm happy to answer; I've eaten at a ton of the restaurants there, gone to all the Cirque shows + others, etc. Oh, and I visited most of the Wedding Chapels too I second this. Best discounts are at players clubs, second best is here.

I've been to Vegas like 15? 16? times. What are your priorities other than mid-level? Do you want a party hotel? A quiet hotel? A hotel that's easy to walk to multiple casinos? One with great restaurants in it? Happy to help you pick one out, just would be good to know some more detailed priorities.

I think we sweep the NFC East and have a playoff game week 17 vs the Jets.

Yeah I kind of agree, variety is the best way. Honestly I'd rather them just get rid of divisions and have two conferences. Twelve games vs AFC and Four vs NFC. Eight of the AFC games are rotational, four are based off standing, and Four NFC games are rotational so you play every team once every four years. Stack rank all sixteen AFC teams for playoffs, top 6 get in, top two get byes. Can easily be expanded to eight so nfl makes more money and half the league gets in when the time comes.