finn

How is that possible? He's the best quarterback in the league! I read that!

But somehow the halftime show will find a way to praise Mahomes and KC. Meanwhile, the rest of the sports world is all thinking the same thing: "How does it feel to not have the refs in your pocket, KC?"

Get both, man. Give away the rest of the D-line, except Rousseau.

Sorry, but Hurts is not a very good quarterback. He's a poor man's Lamar, at his best.

Beane would have had to trade up to get him. He trades up for Elam and Kincaid but not McDuffie or DeJean, go figure.

God, I'd love to see KC humiliated. Next best thing to Bills being in the Super Bowl.

"Patrick, the best in the world at everything, loses track of the defense, but did you see what an incredible throw it was to DeJean? There's not three people on the planet who can make that throw. He's just amazing. No one, and I mean no one, does it better, even interceptions. A thing of beauty!"

Even when Mahomes and Kelce mess up, we hear how they're the best in the league. I heard that before I could mute it.

Just tuning in. How do you mean not like the Bills?

You mean LaPorta, whom Beane could have taken (and saved a fourth round pick) instead of Kincaid? 6'3 245 Ibs, 4.59 40? Not taller, but bigger, faster, and stronger. And better.

Me, my gorge rises with every glaze of Mahomes. I don't mind anyone else receiving praise, but there's something about the prohibition of ever--ever!--criticizing that Kermit-voiced, fey, whining, graceless cretin and the equally strong imperative to deify him as All That Is Holy that makes me turn the channel whenever he's on the field. GAAAA! (Seeing my counselor again Monday. 😔)

Any sense of what they don't like?

Must be tough for Ravens fans, to have Lamar beaten twice by Allen in just a few weeks. First, he ends Lamar's great season, then, to add insult to injury "takes away" his MVP award. Not much left for them but ashes and vinegar.

I should use these types of comments in my class to teach logical fallacies. Someone says they suspect the game is rigged, and the Straw Men come out in force. My only question is why do you stop at claiming all the refs have to be involved in tipping a close game? Why not go whole hog? "Are you telling me that the entire NFL--all its employees, from Goodell to the janitors--ALL are working with Goodell to rig games? And their families, too? And the media and their families? We're talking nearly a 100 million people here! How could a hundred million people work in such silence to rig the game? It's ludicrous!" Straw Man right back at you.

If I were a conspiracy guy, I would suspect that the league is worried about the increasing grumbling that the KC-Buffalo game was rigged, and to quell it is now twisting arms to swing the MVP vote to Allen. Throw 'em a bone to shut 'em up.

Their bias has been well documented. Read Scorecasting by Tobias Moskowitz. But I suspect their bias isn't just unconscious. With billions of dollars hanging on the spread, wouldn't at least some interested parties try to persuade them to influence the game, even in a limited way? Think of a) how many highly motivated parties there are out there now with gambling legalized; b) how many ways refs can be "persuaded" to participate, the many variations of threats and bribes; c) how easy it would be for a ref to cheat; and d) how easy it would be to deny the cheating, especially with the full force of the league backing them, as well as many fans (albeit a dwindling number). All these factors add up to a high probability that at least some games have been influenced by at least one corrupt ref, with higher likelihood of playoff games with their higher stakes. As someone pointed out, cheating might not even be illegal, pushing the probability even higher.

It may be time to admit that the "everybody eats" motto was putting a happy face on a bleak situation. That's not a criticism, either; they were making the very best of a poor WR roster. Shakir and Hollins were terrific in their roles, the rest were frankly mediocre. Brady and Allen played a lousy hand brilliantly, which is why Brady drew interest as a head coach and Allen is the clear MVP.

That's like saying it's not a controversial statement to say Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were great players by pointing out how many home runs they hit in 1998. How many Super Bowls would Mahomes have won if the league, via the refs, weren't putting their thumbs on the scale? I don't care if he goes on to win ten Super Bowls. All but the first few will always carry an asterisk. One of the many disgusting aspects of the cheating, the one I'm least concerned about actually, is that it does diminish what Mahomes and the Chiefs have done. For this reason, rather than denying the cheating (which they have no part of), they should be first in line criticizing it.

It really may be time to move on from McDermott. He's had so many chances, especially in the 13-second game. My nightmare is that Beane will stick with McDermott for all of Allen's prime before even he agrees the man is not the answer or he himself is fired. And when will Allen realize he can't win in Buffalo with this coach and say it's him or me? We have the wrong head coach.

Good point. It's easy to kvetch, especially with hindsight. And maybe Kincaid and Coleman will work out. Maybe.

Three years ago, Beane, needing a cornerback, panicked and traded a fourth rounder to move up to pick 23 for Elam, a bust, after KC traded a third and fourth to move up to 21 for MacDuffie, an All-Pro. The following year, needing a tight end, he traded a fourth to move up for Kincaid at 25, leaving Detroit to take LaPorta, a Pro Bowler, in the second round. Last year, needing a wide receiver, he declined to trade up to 23 for Thomas or stay put for Worthy, opting to trade down for Coleman. In sum, instead of Elam, Kincaid, and Coleman, he could have had MacDuffie, LaPorta, and Thomas. Say that out loud for full effect.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this is just the reasoning the league, if it is cheating, wants to hear from fans. "It didn't happen" along with "If it did, it wouldn't have affected the outcome," with plenty of "What about that call?" remarks thrown in. If the cheating is real, you're playing a very important role for the league, which, with you and other ordinary fans defending them at every step, hasn't even bothered to dispute the charges (although they're careful to come down hard on the more damaging criticism from players and coaches). I'm skeptical of all conspiracy theories because of motivated reason (you find what you're looking for and disregard the rest). But sometimes there is some truth under the suspicion. So I play the "believing game" to explore the given question. For a moment, put aside your skepticism that the league cheated and believe that it did. How would they go about altering the result? What would they do and not do? For example, would they urge the refs to be blatant or subtle? Would they tell them to try to throw blowouts or only very close games? At the end of those sorts of questions, I get the KC-Buffalo game. Even then, I'm not persuaded there was cheating. But factor in the billions of dollars balancing on the outcome, it seems blindingly naïve that conclude that there wasn't.

No way I'm watching the Fraud Bowl with the incessant glazing of Mahomes. Makes me physically ill to hear that garbage. But first signs of recovery: I'm just beginning to think about the draft. I hope Beane realizes his team doesn't just have go be better than KC; it has to be a LOT better to overcome the cheating. Somehow he has to give Allen receivers of Bengals caliber and a defense of KC caliber, or even one of these. I know he's been trying. The Von Miller contract was--and will continue to be--an epic disaster, through no fault of Beane's, as was the Diggs contract albatross last year. If both those players had worked out, things would likely be different, even with the cheating.

Right. The better question might be, "Is Allen actually compensating for McDermott and Beane?" You can give McD credit for building a team culture, but it's hard to deny he's been outcoached in the playoffs every year, consistently one step behind his peers. And you can give Beane for finding late-round and free agent gems, but the overall talent on this team is below average, outside of the supernova at quarterback. Sometimes the truth is so blindingly obvious we don't see it. Allen IS this team. Without him (i.e., with a Tua type at QB), they'd have a top-ten pick in the draft this year. I suspect his teammates know this.

Good thread. The answer could be a blend of two or more of the four options you lay out. McDermott and his staff might be excellent at developing players but less good, maybe even below average, at game-day preparation and management. So they develop a sixth-round cornerback into an All-Pro quality player but are surprised by Mahomes running the ball every other play. They build one of the best offensive lines in football but don't prepare them for a team that stuffs their most successful plays. So McD could be excellent at one aspect of his job and mediocre at another. Same with Beane and his people. He finds gems in late rounds and free agency, but he whiffs a lot, especially in the critical early rounds. His record in both areas is arguably better than most teams--impressive considering he's drafting so late--but he's falling behind teams his main competition: KC, Baltimore, Philly, and Detroit, all of which are somehow are finding and keeping better rosters. I mean, we were upset that only Allen and Dawkins were named to the Pro Bowl, but who else should have gone? Benford, Brown, Cook, and....? Take off the rose-colored glasses and look candidly at the Bills' roster. Aside from these five excellent players, you see few very good ones and otherwise a whole lot of "adequate" or worse: Kincaid, Knox, Coleman, Samuels, Cooper, Hamlin, Douglas, Rapp, Epenesa, Jones, Miller, and Bass. On the other hand, he was a magician finding Douglas and Floyd last year, and Cooper and Hollins (both for cheap) this year, when he was in salary cap hell because of prima donna Diggs. And if Miller hadn't been injured, the Bills might have won a Super Bowl by now. In short, I would argue that McDermott is elite in developing players and a winning culture, but he is a grade below his best peers at game-day prep and management. And Beane is one of the best in the league at drafting and free agency, but he is not as good (or lucky) as Veach, Roseman, DeCosta (Baltimore's GM) and Brad Jones (Lions).