4BillsintheBurgh

That's really where we have an advantage now as opposed to the drought years, there is an expectation to win now. There will be pressure from the other players on him, and I for one am glad that he was able to drop some weight because it would tell me if he's focused he can get it done. So as a coach I'm having the captains of the team demand excellence from him. I think he can add a dimension to this defense and will be someone who makes the players around him better, assuming he wants to put the work in. I especially like the idea of him batting balls down, it will be tough for any qb to throw over him.

I understand. It's highly unlikely to me that Bass' position coach didn't make him aware of the plan for that kick.

One other possibility for the execution is that Bass may have reacted to something on the field. I thought I saw Hill out there in the clip that cover1 had where some of our guys were looking at the sideline after the ball went out of the endzone. It's a possibility bass had been instructed before the game to knock the ball out of the endzone if he saw any shenanigans. Bass could have decided to override the instructions he had gotten.

Not unexpected. He will be re-signed to a reasonable deal and we'll go from there.

If we go into the season with a day 3 qb backing Josh up the whole locker room will have a problem because of the chance they would be taking. We saw this year how a game or two mattered at the end of the year and to not have a qb capable of winning games would be a huge issue. We don't play for draft position or to get a young player experience anymore, we play for championships now.

I think the interview will be a big thing for Davis. He might have the physical ability to be a Suh but it doesn't look like he is treating his body the right way to realize that potential. If Davis can convince beane he wants to work at being the best dt in the league then I say go for it. Getting some pass rush push along with run stopping at dt would add a nice dimension to,the defense.

You can think of brad smith too. Either way it's history.

From the Chase screenshot above it looks like there are two Bengals short to burrows left, seems like the short progression was there, then to the other side with deep to Chase and finally short to Perine. Joe just didn't have the time.

Does it make that much of a difference, in reality? Say if the schedule was 16 games with three bye weeks how much would the dollars suffer? You would lose the gate revenue from a 17th game but isn't the real money from the TV contract that would in effect be 19 weeks? There can only be so many games on tv anyway and while there would be less games to choose from if there is a bad game you can just switch to other closer games. If the owners wanted to have more games available they could ramp up their desire to go overseas, which would also be easier for the players with more bye weeks. I think the NFLPA really screwed the pooch agreeing to more games before getting more bye weeks.

After the extra point Bass might not have joined the st huddle where Farwell made the announcement and he then forgot to go back and make sure the kicker heard him. Just a guess though.

Maybe John?

Absolutely, especially since our oline is always going to be better pass blockers than run blockers so we need a better than average back with speed to attack off tackle. Seems pretty important to me.

Good info, but actually I guess I didn't get the point I was trying to make clear. I was thinking on a year to year basis, so Brady in year 10 is going to be less than Josh in year 10, for any year that is looked at, just because Josh is a better athlete.

It seems to me that if he doesn't run the ball the offense can sputter. He needs that scramble or one of his runs to keep drives going.. So I want to see the number of his runs drop and see the offense not lose a step.

Yeah maybe, hopefully it will be because Josh is seeing the field better and getting rid of the ball faster, but yes, our running game may be better with Kromer and less Josh. I'd be willing to bet Josh's run stats will always be better than Tommy's at any similar point in their careers, because Josh can while Tommy cannot.

So you're going to compare what BB* does with rookies vs the rest of the league? No thanks, I'll spend the extra for the insurance with playoffs/positioning on the line. Brady did have plenty of both rookie and veteran backups over the years. The other point is that Josh runs more than Tom and the chance we will need someone is much greater.

We're at a point as a team where we need an experienced backup qb to give us a chance to win games if Josh goes down for a few games, and not worry about how much we can get for said backup in a trade. Those were the good old days when we weren't expected to be in the playoffs. As we saw this year a game or two has large ramifications on playoff seeding. Pittsburgh did this with Charlie Batch, he was a backup who could come in and play ok as well as be a sounding board for Ben. Fitz could be that for us, if he was willing to accept that he is the backup and do the things that position requires. I could see Josh and Fitz getting along well too.

Seems to me like McKenzie will end up with the NYG, Stevenson will compete with Beasley for playing time. We will be able to tell if the front office thinks Stevenson is good enough by what they do; if they re-sign McKenzie or draft a guy it doesn't bode well for him. This is what needs to happen for us with the guys who were brought in as fa's, they need to be replaced with draft picks to keep costs down. If not, the pay your own drafted players thing kind of falls apart. Best case scenario Stevenson wins outright in camp and either Beas takes a pay cut or is released/traded.

Well I'm glad someone will be advocating for the running game. Between Dorsey and Brady I figured our rb room would be a lonely Taiwan Jones.

Meh, I didn't think he had that big of an impact over the course of the year. I'm sure he's great in the locker room but I don't know if we need that as much anymore and I wouldn't mind seeing an upgrade. I'm hoping for a first round pick, with Diggs/Davis/Beasley it seems like a decent time to bring in a guy who can threaten the deep third, get acclimated slowly, then next year take a prominent role.

I think retirement was dependent on winning the super bowl. Seems like given his statements around that subject he wouldn't join the giants though.

I assumed Daboll will pay Sanders decently to help the giants.

I was reading the Bieniemy thread and I guess there is some personal baggage he has to overcome too. Will be interesting to see what happens with him.

So you think the failure of other coaches under Reid are causing the issue? I assume Eric calls plays also, but it seems like Reid is always calling plays in the high pressure times.

Yeah, as long as Reid is carrying a play card on Sunday's Bieniemy will have an uphill battle for a job. At the end of his next contract I wonder if Eric will move along.