Cash

I get your point, but aren’t you ultimately saying that with equivalent blocking, Cook’s 44-yard TD would be Ray Davis’ 4 yard gain? I think the point is that Cook brings a lot of value to the offense, above and beyond the scheme or the play of the line. And I agree with that point.

Season 1 of both The Office and Parks & Rec were both well below the overall show quality - both took huge leaps in season 2. So there’s a precedent here for a show like this needing a longer runway. The downside? I don’t think The Paper has Mike Schur working on it, just Greg Daniels. I don’t know how good The Office would’ve been without Schur, but I suspect not nearly as good. I haven’t attempted to watch yet, but I’d rather it turn out to be good than bad.

1. Yeah, he probably should have - at least for the last TO. Just to take the Bills out of their rhythm if nothing else. 2. It’s hard to make that call in the heat of the moment. It’s a rare enough scenario that Harbaugh may have never seen it before. 3. If Harbaugh took the first 2 right away then waited on the 3rd, the Bills probably would’ve had Allen take a shotgun snap, roll right, and huck the ball into the 200 level. That would both stop the clock and run off more time. Best case for the Ravens is 1 play from scrimmage. 4. If Harbaugh waited on the first or second TO, the Bills would’ve still had extra downs to play with. They could’ve run the play from #3 or spikes to stop the clock at a time of their choosing.

FWIW, I'm friends IRL with two (2) Ravens fans, and both are great. My online experiences have been similar to yours.

Whose spot do you think he takes?

I’m pretty sure Caden Davis is still available and wasn’t in the tryout list. Which tells me the Bills just don’t think he’s good enough to roll out there if Bass is hurt.

Now that we know the initial 53-man roster, and the practice squad is set, it's prediction time. This is the time every year that I make my one (1) prediction for the Bills regular season. My track record is pretty good - I'm generally +/- 1 win from the Bills' actual total. (Full disclosure: I was off by 2 last year. If we'd made the Cooper trade in preseason, I would've kept my streak alive, but such is life.) I don't go game-by-game; instead I try to look holistically at the Bills as a team for the full season. I do take overall strength of schedule into account, but upsets happen both ways, so I think it's futile to predict the results of each week well in advance. Likewise, injuries happen, guys have big games here and there, etc. There's some averaging out, but overall a really good team tends to win more than a fairly good team, which tends to win more than a mediocre team, and so on. So with that preamble aside, I'll go on record: I'm predicting 12 wins from the Bills this year.

I feel very similar about that drop to how I feel about Bass' missed FG against the Chiefs in 2024. Lining up for the FG, I was already very confident we were going to lose, because Mahomes had plenty of time to drive down for a FG. I expected the Ravens to convert the 2-pointer, but also felt very confident that Allen would drive us down for a FG with the time remaining.

With respect, I think it is far fetched. Because if another team agreed, they'd sign that guy to their 53 and let them compete for the starting job.

Thanks to @BarleyNY for being first on the player. I did remember it was Crohn's, and a lineman, but couldn't remember which one. Kickers have down years all the time, and bounce back from them all the time, too. If I was running a team and we were anything short of Super Bowl contender, I would probably sign nothing but guys who just got cut after their first down year.

I fully agree with this. I'm generally pro-McDermott. But unless/until he wins it all, there's no way to put him even on the same tier as Reid as a HC. And in terms of offensive coaches, Reid has a strong argument as the #1 in NFL history. McDermott + Daboll/Dorsey/Brady is a massive step down. If coaching matters AT ALL, then that has to be taken into account when comparing Allen to Mahomes.

They changed the rules a couple years ago (during COVID?) to expand the PS to 16 and also allow more vets on it. I think the limit is 6 now? Something like that. And yeah, as far as I know every team uses those spots for vet depth. In some cases, the vet on the PS might play over the young guy on the active roster if an injury happens. But since the vet is declining and the young guy is (hopefully) ascending, teams won't expose the young guy to waivers, even if he's not good enough to play yet.

I think Strong was always playing on the boundary.

Eh, I don’t think it’s fair to lump CB into the same bucket here. This offseason, they added two vets who’ve had success in the system before, plus their first round pick, plus another late pick. And probably the Hancock pick should partially count, since they drafted him thinking he might play NCB (and still might, but it seems like he’s mostly a S for now from what I’m reading). That’s a lot of investment compared to S, which again was limited to just a bargain-bin FA and half of a 5th round pick.

Yeah, the FO’s actions this offseason really sent a message that they were feeling good about their safeties. One very low-level signing with roughly no guaranteed money, and one 5th-rounder who played more NCB than S in college. If the safety play isn’t up to snuff this year, it’s not a good look for the FO.

The other thing I keep coming back to is that Coddy was a healthy scratch in the playoffs last year. To me that means he needs to be significantly better this year to warrant that roster spot. With the season on the line, the coaches thought that the dropoff to Davis/Johnson would be outweighed by having an extra backup at whatever position.

Good post. Regarding Hyde & Poyer, I would also point out that both were drafted at CB and eventually moved to S. I think Poyer moved to S while still with the Browns, but Hyde was a Cam Lewis type (but better) for the Packers until we moved him to S full-time.

That reads to me like he means "our twos (in this game)" and "our threes (in this game)".

I disagree. If Shenault has a positional advantage over Coddy, it’s that Shenault can potentially play multiple roles on ST, not just returner. Not sure much weight that carries, or if the coaches would want their return man to also be a core special teamer.

Yeah. Third preseason game (2 weeks before opener) was the “dress rehearsal” and fourth game was for guys who were on the roster bubble - but no one played that game who the coaches needed in week 1. The NFL (I think) figured that since week 4 had become useless, let’s get rid of it and just keep the 3 that have value. The coaches immediately decided that the last preseason game was going to be the useless one, whether it was 1 week or 2 weeks from season start.

Ironman. Allen plays every snap. Not sure why it wasn’t an option in the poll, but you can take it to the bank.

Thanks for posting! My thoughts: 1. Those Greg Bell unis are an absolute eyesore. 2. The Thurman run was the first NFL game I ever attended in person. I was in the end zone behind the Bills. One thing I forgot was that Lofton doesn’t just run with Thurman, he actually makes an impactful block about 60 yards downfield. And in FRONT of the runner, not behind. I can’t think of another time I’ve seen that off the top of my head. 3. I was surprised that OJ was only on the list once, but I didn’t account for it being stadium-specific and not home-game-specific. 4. I was also surprised that Kenny Davis was the only 2-timer. The draw on 3rd and 6 was the absolute perfect play call, and he just turned on the jets. The second one was a more impressive run, and probably the best of his career. Tremendous balance to shake off about 4 tackles, including the last one at high speed. 5. Cook might alter the list a bit this year. Even if he doesn’t, that 65-yarder in the snow was awesome. That whole game was such a joy and delight to watch. (For us - not so much for Niners fans.)

I still remember listening to Artie Baby Boo Boo with my parents in the drive home from watching the No Punts Game at a friend’s house. His performance was INCREDIBLE. Absolute peak sports radio.

Did anyone mention Richard Sherman yet? I believe he switched from WR to CB while at… Stanford? That one’s interesting because he actually approached the coaching staff about it, not the other way around.

Has a coach ever been fired between the first and second preseason games? This could be a first.