Derek Anderson was signed by the Buffalo Bills last week to be a mentor to Josh Allen. He was not on an NFL roster at the time, having reached the end of the line after last season with his former team, the Carolina Panthers, where Bills head coach Sean McDermott and General Manager Brandon Beane knew Anderson well. Anderson's first day with the Bills was last Wednesday and when Josh Allen arrived at the stadium, Anderson was already hard at work, having completed his weight session and was deep into reviewing film of the team's upcoming opponent. By all accounts, Anderson, a 14 year veteran, was helpful to Allen last week as he prepared to face the Texans in Houston. Fast forward less than a week and Anderson may find himself as the Bills starting quarterback on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Nathan Peterman is a past winner of the Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award (and there are only four of them, after Davis himself) but this week, I am awarding him with a variation on the award - a sort of forced retirement - as he is likely to be cut by the Bills after earning the starting quarterback job coming out of training camp and the pre-season. Peterman will become a punchline in Buffalo for his propensity to throw interceptions and it seems unlikely that any other NFL team would want to add him to its roster. In his two career starts - one in Los Angeles last year and another in this year's opener in Baltimore - and after coming in to last season's playoff game in Jacksonville and then entering yesterday's game in the third quarter for an injured Josh Allen, Peterman has established himself as a prolific interception thrower. He threw five in his ill-fated start last season and another in the playoff game but yesterday he reached a new level by literally throwing the game away with 1.23 remaining in the fourth quarter of a tied game. Peterman's pass, intended for Kelvin Benjamin, was read easily by Texans cornerback Jonathan Joseph (as Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News put it, "he couldn't have read it more easily if it were flashed on a giant neon sign") who easily returned it for the game-winning touchdown. I can not see Peterman remaining on the Bills roster through the end of the season. If Allen can not play this week, look for Anderson to get the start with Peterman backing him up and then look for the Bills to cut Peterman once Allen is healthy again.
Lost in all of the Peterman interception excitement was an outstanding performance by the Bills defence in Houston yesterday. Think back to halftime of week two against the Chargers. Through a game and a half, the Bills defence looked like they couldn't stop anything. It was certainly enough for Vontae Davis and with clearly prolific ineptitude on both sides of the ball, I was preparing for the possibility of an 0-16 season and the first overall draft pick which goes with it. But since then, the Bills defence has steadily improved and yesterday in Houston, it looked very impressive indeed, allowing only 216 yards of offence and 13 points. The pass rush was awesome as Texans quarterback DeShaun Watson was sacked seven times and hit repeatedly. The Bills defence forced another three turnovers and held the Texans to a field goal at the end of the fourth quarter after setting up with a first down at the Bills one yard line after a pass interference call in the endzone. An outstretched Matt Milano got his hand in front of a third down pass from Watson to prevent a game-wining touchdown. Houston had little success in the run game with only 74 yards and, despite having one the NFL's best receivers in DeAndre Hopkins, the Texans managed only 142 passing yards on the day. With any modest level of offensive support, the Bills defence played more than well enough to win. I chalk up the improvement to good coaching.
Up next, the Bills travel to Indianapolis. By that time, cannabis use in Canada will have become legal. I think I'm looking forward to trying it on Wednesday to see if legal cannabis is any different from the kind which has been firmly embedded in the Criminal Code for a hundred years. I'll report back next week if I remember. I do hope that users will show respect for those who do not choose to use it and who find the smoke and the smell not only offensive but bad for their health. What we do not need, in my view, is a free-for-all with people smoking-up on the streets, in parks and in other public places any more than they already do now. I support the concept of legalization but I also support a reasonable and respectful level of discretion around the use of cannabis in public.
Commentary on the Buffalo Bills, politics and whatever else is on my mind
Monday, 15 October 2018
Monday, 8 October 2018
Bills 13, Titans 12
Since the Music City Miracle in January of 2000, the Bills and Titans have faced each other eight times with the Bills winning only three of those games, including yesterday's last second 13-12 win in Orchard Park. With the most recent meeting before yesterday being a 14-13 win in Nashville in 2015, the Bills have now won the last two meetings with the Titans by a single point. Had Home Run Throwback not succeeded as it did so tragically for Bills fans, the Bills would have won that one 16-15. Tennessee entered the game yesterday as a five-and-a-half point favourite after beating the Super Bowl champion Eagles last week.
One long-time reader of this blog encouraged me to continue the "halftime retirement" theme throughout the season if possible. So, I will not only oblige but I have decided to name one player from each Bills game for the rest of the 2018 season as the winner of the weekly Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award. This week's candidate was more of a challenge to come up with but I have decided to name Titans wide receiver Nick Williams as the winner. Williams played for the University of Connecticut and was initially signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an un-drafted free agent in 2013 where he moved on and off the practice squad and saw limited action before signing with Washington and finally the Titans entering this season. He will quite likely be cut once again today and could find that his chances of getting on with another team are quite slim. Although his retirement-inducing play came in the fourth quarter yesterday when he dropped what looked like an easy touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota on a third down play, had he have been able to foresee it, he surely would have retired at halftime, thereby saving himself from being the game's goat (I know its a stretch).
Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving and, as I have done for several years, I brined, stuffed and roasted the turkey for our family dinner. The turkey went into the oven exactly at noon, immediately after which I did my one-hour bike ride and then settled into the game surrounded by family and friends who generally cared not at all about the Bills or any kind of football on TV. But I fought through the distractions and watched the Bills defence play a solid game which earned them three turnovers. The running game also showed up for the home team with LeSean McCoy gaining a season-high 85 yards on 24 carries and Chris Ivory adding another 43 yards. Josh Allen picked up 19 yards which included the game's only touchdown in the first quarter. Allen did not have a strong game passing the ball but made a few key throws at critical times, especially on the final game winning drive.
So, at 2-3 (and having won two of their past three games) the Bills are showing signs of having earned some measure of respectability in the NFL. I doubt that they will finish with the league's worst record as seemed likely after their first two games. On to Houston next week to face the Texans who eeked out an overtime win against the Cowboys last night. The Bills are early 10 point underdogs.
In a departure from recent posts, I want to weigh in on the recent SCOTUS developments. The point I want to make is by way of comparison of the US system to the convention which governs Canadian Supreme Court appointments. Now that the drama around his nomination and confirmation has mostly ended, I have to say that I was most struck by the way in which Mr. Kavanaugh comported himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he gave testimony the week before last. And I'm not really talking about the fact that he decided to repeat what I would classify as Fox News talking points in his testimony (which I disagree with but that's not the point I'm trying to make here). It was his demeanor and attitude which shocked me. In my view, it was the antithesis of how a judge on the nation's top court should behave in a very public setting. When I think of characteristics which befit a judge, I think of words like calm, thoughtful, reserved, rational, neutral, learned. In Canada, we rarely hear judges say anything at all publicly except perhaps after the retire from the bench. And when judges are appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, we hear very little about their personal lives or political leanings and no mention at all of whether they might be conservative or liberal. The appointment process in Canada purports to operate above the unsavoury partisan bickering of the red/blue tug of war. Maybe we are fooling ourselves thinking that our judges aren't partisan and who knows, maybe they would react just as angrily as Mr. Kavanaugh did if we conducted pre-appointment hearings which included salacious details of their past personal lives. I just think that the events which played out over the past two weeks in the United States have damaged the American people's confidence in the SCOTUS and that is a sad development.
One long-time reader of this blog encouraged me to continue the "halftime retirement" theme throughout the season if possible. So, I will not only oblige but I have decided to name one player from each Bills game for the rest of the 2018 season as the winner of the weekly Vontae Davis Halftime Retirement Award. This week's candidate was more of a challenge to come up with but I have decided to name Titans wide receiver Nick Williams as the winner. Williams played for the University of Connecticut and was initially signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an un-drafted free agent in 2013 where he moved on and off the practice squad and saw limited action before signing with Washington and finally the Titans entering this season. He will quite likely be cut once again today and could find that his chances of getting on with another team are quite slim. Although his retirement-inducing play came in the fourth quarter yesterday when he dropped what looked like an easy touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota on a third down play, had he have been able to foresee it, he surely would have retired at halftime, thereby saving himself from being the game's goat (I know its a stretch).
Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving and, as I have done for several years, I brined, stuffed and roasted the turkey for our family dinner. The turkey went into the oven exactly at noon, immediately after which I did my one-hour bike ride and then settled into the game surrounded by family and friends who generally cared not at all about the Bills or any kind of football on TV. But I fought through the distractions and watched the Bills defence play a solid game which earned them three turnovers. The running game also showed up for the home team with LeSean McCoy gaining a season-high 85 yards on 24 carries and Chris Ivory adding another 43 yards. Josh Allen picked up 19 yards which included the game's only touchdown in the first quarter. Allen did not have a strong game passing the ball but made a few key throws at critical times, especially on the final game winning drive.
So, at 2-3 (and having won two of their past three games) the Bills are showing signs of having earned some measure of respectability in the NFL. I doubt that they will finish with the league's worst record as seemed likely after their first two games. On to Houston next week to face the Texans who eeked out an overtime win against the Cowboys last night. The Bills are early 10 point underdogs.
In a departure from recent posts, I want to weigh in on the recent SCOTUS developments. The point I want to make is by way of comparison of the US system to the convention which governs Canadian Supreme Court appointments. Now that the drama around his nomination and confirmation has mostly ended, I have to say that I was most struck by the way in which Mr. Kavanaugh comported himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he gave testimony the week before last. And I'm not really talking about the fact that he decided to repeat what I would classify as Fox News talking points in his testimony (which I disagree with but that's not the point I'm trying to make here). It was his demeanor and attitude which shocked me. In my view, it was the antithesis of how a judge on the nation's top court should behave in a very public setting. When I think of characteristics which befit a judge, I think of words like calm, thoughtful, reserved, rational, neutral, learned. In Canada, we rarely hear judges say anything at all publicly except perhaps after the retire from the bench. And when judges are appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, we hear very little about their personal lives or political leanings and no mention at all of whether they might be conservative or liberal. The appointment process in Canada purports to operate above the unsavoury partisan bickering of the red/blue tug of war. Maybe we are fooling ourselves thinking that our judges aren't partisan and who knows, maybe they would react just as angrily as Mr. Kavanaugh did if we conducted pre-appointment hearings which included salacious details of their past personal lives. I just think that the events which played out over the past two weeks in the United States have damaged the American people's confidence in the SCOTUS and that is a sad development.
Monday, 1 October 2018
Packers 22, Bills 0
I wasn't really worried about another halftime retirement by a member of the Bills (ok, there's only been one and I'll move off this theme after today) but if anyone was going to hang 'em up after the first half of yesterday's game at Lambeau Field, it could have been Josh Allen. Things went well for him last week in Minnesota but, as happens with rookie quarterbacks in the NFL, it all turned around yesterday against the Packers. Allen and the Bills offence were anemic at best, gaining only 145 yards on the day. Allen generated three turnovers - two interceptions and one fumble - while completing 16 of 33 attempted passes. Whatever pocket presence he had shown through his first two starts deserted him yesterday as he was was sacked a total of seven times. Green Bay fans will take comfort in a solid defensive effort by their team while Bills fans will lament an offensive performance to be forgotten.
Although the score never got out of hand, the game was not competitively close in any way. At times it felt like I was watching a football practice - a Packers practice, that is - where the Bills were only on the field as a scrimmage opponent posing no threat to actually win the game. The Bills were not quite the Washington Generals playing the role of doormats to the Harlem Globetrotters but at times the two teams didn't look like they play in the same league. I can remember games from the early 1990s which felt like yesterday's game with the Bills calling the practice drills against their own versions of the Generals.
Aaron Rodgers looked sharp yesterday despite a couple of missed throws and he also gave up a rare interception on a ball which was tipped twice. Otherwise, it was clear why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He used yesterday's game as a chance to work on his pocket movement and, on a few plays, he looked like he was testing his mobility and playing a game of something between keep-away and chicken with the ball as he easily avoided the Bills pass rush. Those skills, combined with his arm strength and accuracy, make Rodgers a huge challenge to defend against. He is one of the NFL's biggest stars and one of its most recognizable faces. He has been able to leverage his popularity and clean image into lucrative television commercials with another campaign this season for State Farm insurance and a new gig for Bose noise-cancelling headphones where he is able to tune out Chicago Bears fans as he warms up before a game. The only known less-than-wholesome aspect of Rodgers public persona is the somewhat mysterious rift between him and his immediate family - his siblings and his parents - with whom he has not spoken for at least a couple of years. He doesn't comment publicly on this. His annual football salary is more than $33 million and he recently signed a contract extension which included $100 million guaranteed.
The Bills return home next week to face the Tennessee Titans who beat the Super Bowl champion Eagles in overtime yesterday. The overtime in Nashville was one of the few I can remember where the team which had the ball first (the Eagles) scored a field goal on their opening possession and then went on to lose the game. I still strongly feel that the NFL should adapt a version of the college football overtime format which is more dramatic and also ensures that no games end in ties. There have been two games already this season which have ended in ties and yesterday there could have easily been another two - Tennessee/Philadelphia and Oakland/Cleveland.
The AFC East reverted to the norm yesterday with the Bills, Jets and the previously undefeated Dolphins all losing and the Patriots showing that they are still for real. With a win against the Titans in Orchard Park on Sunday, the Bills can improve to a respectable sounding 2-3 on the season. They then go on the road again for two weeks with theoretically winnable games against Houston and Indianapolis before returning home for a Monday night home game against the Patriots.
Although the score never got out of hand, the game was not competitively close in any way. At times it felt like I was watching a football practice - a Packers practice, that is - where the Bills were only on the field as a scrimmage opponent posing no threat to actually win the game. The Bills were not quite the Washington Generals playing the role of doormats to the Harlem Globetrotters but at times the two teams didn't look like they play in the same league. I can remember games from the early 1990s which felt like yesterday's game with the Bills calling the practice drills against their own versions of the Generals.
Aaron Rodgers looked sharp yesterday despite a couple of missed throws and he also gave up a rare interception on a ball which was tipped twice. Otherwise, it was clear why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He used yesterday's game as a chance to work on his pocket movement and, on a few plays, he looked like he was testing his mobility and playing a game of something between keep-away and chicken with the ball as he easily avoided the Bills pass rush. Those skills, combined with his arm strength and accuracy, make Rodgers a huge challenge to defend against. He is one of the NFL's biggest stars and one of its most recognizable faces. He has been able to leverage his popularity and clean image into lucrative television commercials with another campaign this season for State Farm insurance and a new gig for Bose noise-cancelling headphones where he is able to tune out Chicago Bears fans as he warms up before a game. The only known less-than-wholesome aspect of Rodgers public persona is the somewhat mysterious rift between him and his immediate family - his siblings and his parents - with whom he has not spoken for at least a couple of years. He doesn't comment publicly on this. His annual football salary is more than $33 million and he recently signed a contract extension which included $100 million guaranteed.
The Bills return home next week to face the Tennessee Titans who beat the Super Bowl champion Eagles in overtime yesterday. The overtime in Nashville was one of the few I can remember where the team which had the ball first (the Eagles) scored a field goal on their opening possession and then went on to lose the game. I still strongly feel that the NFL should adapt a version of the college football overtime format which is more dramatic and also ensures that no games end in ties. There have been two games already this season which have ended in ties and yesterday there could have easily been another two - Tennessee/Philadelphia and Oakland/Cleveland.
The AFC East reverted to the norm yesterday with the Bills, Jets and the previously undefeated Dolphins all losing and the Patriots showing that they are still for real. With a win against the Titans in Orchard Park on Sunday, the Bills can improve to a respectable sounding 2-3 on the season. They then go on the road again for two weeks with theoretically winnable games against Houston and Indianapolis before returning home for a Monday night home game against the Patriots.
Monday, 24 September 2018
Bills 27, Vikings 6
As the clock wound down toward the end of the first half in yesterday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, I thought that the Bills roster would again be reduced by another halftime retirement. And this week's candidate was going to be Nathan Peterman. Had he followed Vontae Davis' lead from last week, Peterman probably would have made his decision when Josh Allen decided to launch himself up and over Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr on a third and nine run late in the first quarter with his team up 17-0. Peterman could have resigned himself at that point that he wasn't going to see another live snap this season as he watched Allen establish himself as the confident, aggressive, athletic leader the team was hoping he would become when they picked him seventh overall in April.
I guess Peterman wanted to stick around for the second half to see if his team would fold and allow the Vikings back into the game. But that didn't happen as the Bills came close to shutting out the Vikings on their home field for the first time since 1962. By the time the home team did finally score, the game was beyond reach and the Bills went on to earn their first win of the season. And if the team ends the season with three, four, five or perhaps six wins, yesterday's road performance will probably be remembered as the highlight - as the day that Josh Allen showed us why he is the future of the team and the day that the Bills showed the football world that they are in fact better than the Alabama Crimson Tide and maybe not the 32nd best professional football team in North America.
To put yesterday's win in perspective, the betting line at kick-off was Minnesota minus 16.5 which was the largest spread for a September NFL game in five years. The line opened at minus 17 but some Buffalo money late in the week brought it down by a half point. The spread was so large that Proline delisted the game and it actually was not on my $25,000 ticket (which didn't win but came close). Here's an even more remarkable statistic from yesterday's game: the Bills were the biggest underdog to win an NFL game outright since 1995. This game proved the principle we know by rote that any team can win on any given Sunday. Pundits, odds-makers and gamblers also know the principle of a "trap game" and the Vikings, who travel to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Thursday, fell hard into the trap of overlooking what was considered to be the worst team in the league while subconsciously preparing to play the Rams four days later, who some consider to be the best.
I heaped plenty of praise on Tony Romo as a colour commentator last season (his first) so I don't need to go on about it again - except to say that he delivers the most insightful analysis of anyone in that role, ever. Yesterday was no exception. I'm not sure why Buffalo at Minnesota deserved CBS's top broadcast team of Romo and his play-by-play partner Jim Nantz but I'm glad that it did. Romo addressed the issue which emerged after last week's game against the Chargers where head coach Sean McDermott took over the defensive play-calling from coordinator (and former Vikings head coach) Leslie Frazier at halftime. Romo explained that the passing back and forth of play-calling responsibilities between head coaches and coordinators is common-place and depends on who has the best feel for how the game is going. I don't know who called the defensive formations yesterday but they worked extremely well as the Bills were able to pressure Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins all afternoon. The Bills pass rush earned them two key turnovers in the first quarter which they turned into 10 points and never looked back. In his post-game locker room speech, McDermott gave the game ball to Frazier.
The Green Bay Packers lost yesterday in Washington to bring their season record to 1-1-1 with the high-flying Bills traveling to the not-quite-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on Sunday. I suspect that the Packers will not fall into the same trap as the Vikings did so the Bills will have a much tougher test in week four. But, as we know, and as was proven yesterday, any team can beat any other team on any given Sunday.
I guess Peterman wanted to stick around for the second half to see if his team would fold and allow the Vikings back into the game. But that didn't happen as the Bills came close to shutting out the Vikings on their home field for the first time since 1962. By the time the home team did finally score, the game was beyond reach and the Bills went on to earn their first win of the season. And if the team ends the season with three, four, five or perhaps six wins, yesterday's road performance will probably be remembered as the highlight - as the day that Josh Allen showed us why he is the future of the team and the day that the Bills showed the football world that they are in fact better than the Alabama Crimson Tide and maybe not the 32nd best professional football team in North America.
To put yesterday's win in perspective, the betting line at kick-off was Minnesota minus 16.5 which was the largest spread for a September NFL game in five years. The line opened at minus 17 but some Buffalo money late in the week brought it down by a half point. The spread was so large that Proline delisted the game and it actually was not on my $25,000 ticket (which didn't win but came close). Here's an even more remarkable statistic from yesterday's game: the Bills were the biggest underdog to win an NFL game outright since 1995. This game proved the principle we know by rote that any team can win on any given Sunday. Pundits, odds-makers and gamblers also know the principle of a "trap game" and the Vikings, who travel to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Thursday, fell hard into the trap of overlooking what was considered to be the worst team in the league while subconsciously preparing to play the Rams four days later, who some consider to be the best.
I heaped plenty of praise on Tony Romo as a colour commentator last season (his first) so I don't need to go on about it again - except to say that he delivers the most insightful analysis of anyone in that role, ever. Yesterday was no exception. I'm not sure why Buffalo at Minnesota deserved CBS's top broadcast team of Romo and his play-by-play partner Jim Nantz but I'm glad that it did. Romo addressed the issue which emerged after last week's game against the Chargers where head coach Sean McDermott took over the defensive play-calling from coordinator (and former Vikings head coach) Leslie Frazier at halftime. Romo explained that the passing back and forth of play-calling responsibilities between head coaches and coordinators is common-place and depends on who has the best feel for how the game is going. I don't know who called the defensive formations yesterday but they worked extremely well as the Bills were able to pressure Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins all afternoon. The Bills pass rush earned them two key turnovers in the first quarter which they turned into 10 points and never looked back. In his post-game locker room speech, McDermott gave the game ball to Frazier.
The Green Bay Packers lost yesterday in Washington to bring their season record to 1-1-1 with the high-flying Bills traveling to the not-quite-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on Sunday. I suspect that the Packers will not fall into the same trap as the Vikings did so the Bills will have a much tougher test in week four. But, as we know, and as was proven yesterday, any team can beat any other team on any given Sunday.
Monday, 17 September 2018
Chargers 31, Bills 20
Vontae Davis, we hardly knew ya!
Have you ever taken a new job and felt like quitting at lunchtime? Maybe the company's prospects look bleak; perhaps the management appears to be less than competent; could be that you're just not feeling that great and you'd rather be somewhere else. Then take inspiration from Davis and just walk out. You can show them that you think nothing of bolting if things aren't going your way. One thing's for sure: you will be remembered for quitting - and for the way you quit - even if you had a decent 10 year career beforehand.
The Buffalo Bills signed the cornerback, entering his 10th NFL season, in February to a one-year contract worth $5 million, with $3.5 million of that guaranteed. He was a healthy scratch from the Bills line-up in week one but was activated for yesterday's home opener in Orchard Park. He played the first half and apparently felt that he was physically unable to perform to the level he wanted. So, he quit. Quit the team, quit the NFL, quit the sport of football. At halftime. Not only did he pull himself from the game but he showered, changed into street clothes and, rather than joining his teammates on the sidelines for the second half, he left the stadium and then issued a self-serving statement to the media. There is no precedent for this as far as I know. So, readers, take inspiration; if things don't go well this morning, when noon rolls around, just walk out.
Back to the $3.5 million in guaranteed money. If I were Bills GM Brandon Beane, I might try to avoid Terry Pegula today at least until I can think of a reasonable explanation for giving away $3.5 million of his oil-fracking money to one player in exchange for one crappy half of football. If his deal had been $5 million for the season with nothing guaranteed, then Davis would have earned one game cheque of about $312,500 - and it seems to me that the Bills would have a solid argument to cut that amount in half. He will earn that single game cheque anyway but he also walks away with the $3.5 million. Move over Jian Ghomeshi, Vontae Davis is this week's hashtag. I have a feeling that Davis won't feel as sorry for himself as Ghomeshi apparently does.
Driving home from the cottage, WGR post-game hosts Mike Schop and the Bulldog were looking for any suggestion of a silver lining from the home opener and they latched on to the performance of quarterback Josh Allen. Despite some notable throwing inaccuracies, they said that Allen looked poised under centre and overall played decently enough to encourage the fan base and give them some optimism for the future. Hardly glowing praise but I am inclined to agree with their assessment in that he certainly does not seem to have the Nathan Peterman "deer in the headlights" look about him and his big arm, when properly harnessed, will serve him well as long as he can improve on locating his passes. He seems to have a good instinct for pocket presence and is deceptively fast when flushed. Maybe his big arm will serve him well when the weather turns cold and windy.
Schop and the Bulldog also made the point that last year's unlikely trip to the playoffs provided Bills ownership and management with the necessary relief for the fan base to justify stripping everything down, having an epically bad season in 2018 and rebuilding most of the roster from the bottom up starting next year. This follows 16 years of posting between 6 and 9 wins - not bad enough to be the worst but not good enough to be a playoff team except for last season when a fortuitous 4th down play on New Year's Eve in Baltimore squeaked them into the tournament as the 6th seed in the AFC.
That analysis makes sense to me. But I still have 7 home games this season to deal with. The appeal will be watching the continuing development of Josh Allen while hoping that the Bills league-worst offensive line doesn't get him killed in the process. With December games against the Jets, Lions and Dolphins on the schedule, if Allen is injured, I for one won't be too interested in watching Nathan Peterman deal with his gremlins.
Have you ever taken a new job and felt like quitting at lunchtime? Maybe the company's prospects look bleak; perhaps the management appears to be less than competent; could be that you're just not feeling that great and you'd rather be somewhere else. Then take inspiration from Davis and just walk out. You can show them that you think nothing of bolting if things aren't going your way. One thing's for sure: you will be remembered for quitting - and for the way you quit - even if you had a decent 10 year career beforehand.
The Buffalo Bills signed the cornerback, entering his 10th NFL season, in February to a one-year contract worth $5 million, with $3.5 million of that guaranteed. He was a healthy scratch from the Bills line-up in week one but was activated for yesterday's home opener in Orchard Park. He played the first half and apparently felt that he was physically unable to perform to the level he wanted. So, he quit. Quit the team, quit the NFL, quit the sport of football. At halftime. Not only did he pull himself from the game but he showered, changed into street clothes and, rather than joining his teammates on the sidelines for the second half, he left the stadium and then issued a self-serving statement to the media. There is no precedent for this as far as I know. So, readers, take inspiration; if things don't go well this morning, when noon rolls around, just walk out.
Back to the $3.5 million in guaranteed money. If I were Bills GM Brandon Beane, I might try to avoid Terry Pegula today at least until I can think of a reasonable explanation for giving away $3.5 million of his oil-fracking money to one player in exchange for one crappy half of football. If his deal had been $5 million for the season with nothing guaranteed, then Davis would have earned one game cheque of about $312,500 - and it seems to me that the Bills would have a solid argument to cut that amount in half. He will earn that single game cheque anyway but he also walks away with the $3.5 million. Move over Jian Ghomeshi, Vontae Davis is this week's hashtag. I have a feeling that Davis won't feel as sorry for himself as Ghomeshi apparently does.
Driving home from the cottage, WGR post-game hosts Mike Schop and the Bulldog were looking for any suggestion of a silver lining from the home opener and they latched on to the performance of quarterback Josh Allen. Despite some notable throwing inaccuracies, they said that Allen looked poised under centre and overall played decently enough to encourage the fan base and give them some optimism for the future. Hardly glowing praise but I am inclined to agree with their assessment in that he certainly does not seem to have the Nathan Peterman "deer in the headlights" look about him and his big arm, when properly harnessed, will serve him well as long as he can improve on locating his passes. He seems to have a good instinct for pocket presence and is deceptively fast when flushed. Maybe his big arm will serve him well when the weather turns cold and windy.
Schop and the Bulldog also made the point that last year's unlikely trip to the playoffs provided Bills ownership and management with the necessary relief for the fan base to justify stripping everything down, having an epically bad season in 2018 and rebuilding most of the roster from the bottom up starting next year. This follows 16 years of posting between 6 and 9 wins - not bad enough to be the worst but not good enough to be a playoff team except for last season when a fortuitous 4th down play on New Year's Eve in Baltimore squeaked them into the tournament as the 6th seed in the AFC.
That analysis makes sense to me. But I still have 7 home games this season to deal with. The appeal will be watching the continuing development of Josh Allen while hoping that the Bills league-worst offensive line doesn't get him killed in the process. With December games against the Jets, Lions and Dolphins on the schedule, if Allen is injured, I for one won't be too interested in watching Nathan Peterman deal with his gremlins.
Sunday, 9 September 2018
Ravens 47, Bills 3
When the NFL first introduced a salary cap in 1994 (set at $34 million per team) it was intended to, among other things, assist in the creation of long-term league-wide team parity. The age of team dynasties in the NFL - think of the Steelers in the 1970s and the 49ers in the 1980s - essentially died with the advent of the cap. The Buffalo Bills were actually one of the last examples of a team which maintained its core group of star players through many seasons, earning four consecutive AFC Championships at one point along the way.
NFL General Managers not only assemble their team's coaching staffs and rosters and oversee armies of college and pro scouts but they must also constantly focus on adherence to the league salary cap which is set at $177 million for the current season. Each team is restricted by that upper limit but also must spend not less than 89% of the cap each year. With NFL player contracts not guaranteed beyond the amount of their signing bonuses, these bonuses - and the way they must be accounted for under the cap - can sometimes haunt teams for years after players who earned them are jettisoned. That's because any unamortized portion of a released or traded player's signing bonus counts against a team's cap in the current year even if the bonus was paid in full when the contract was signed. This is known in the salary cap world as "dead money". It can kill a team - and sometimes quickly.
The Buffalo Bills enter the 2018 season with a staggering and by far the league's biggest dead cap money allocation at $54 million . Think of it this way: Of the $177 million they can spend on player salaries, $54 million is unavailable off the top because of the accumulation of unamortized signing bonuses for players the Bills have traded or released. The league average this year is $11.9 million. Four players - Marcel Dareus, Eric Wood (who retired unexpectedly for medical reasons), Cordy Glenn and Tyrod Taylor - account for about $41 million of it. The team with the second highest dead cap number is the Cowboys with $28.8 million. The New England Patriots have $6.3 million.
The dead cap anvil around Bills GM Brandon Beane's neck - and yesterday's embarrassing rout in Baltimore - are the bad news. And there will probably be much more of it over the next 15 games. The good news is not for this season but for next as the Bills will enjoy the second-highest salary cap space in the league at $76 million. With that, they can sign free agents and lock in some of their other assets. But that's going to happen in 2019. We need to get through 2018 first and season ticket holders like me need to come up with reasons to go to the 8 home games on the schedule. Or reasons for anyone to go.
The game in rainy Baltimore yesterday unfolded as the antithesis of what Bills fans had hoped for. They won the coin toss. Then everything unraveled as fully and completely as it could have. Especially for Nathan Peterman whose second career NFL start was not much better than his first one last season. Josh Allen came in when the score reached 40-0. And I went for a bike ride.
The Los Angeles Chargers, who travel to Orchard Park next week for the Bills home opener, lost their own home opener yesterday so both teams will be looking to avoid an 0-2 start. For the Chargers, it matters a lot as they are expected to compete for a division title in the AFC West. For the Bills, I'll be happy to just see more of Josh Allen under centre and some improvement on the only two things Marv Levy said a team needs to do to win in the NFL: running the ball and stopping the run.
NFL General Managers not only assemble their team's coaching staffs and rosters and oversee armies of college and pro scouts but they must also constantly focus on adherence to the league salary cap which is set at $177 million for the current season. Each team is restricted by that upper limit but also must spend not less than 89% of the cap each year. With NFL player contracts not guaranteed beyond the amount of their signing bonuses, these bonuses - and the way they must be accounted for under the cap - can sometimes haunt teams for years after players who earned them are jettisoned. That's because any unamortized portion of a released or traded player's signing bonus counts against a team's cap in the current year even if the bonus was paid in full when the contract was signed. This is known in the salary cap world as "dead money". It can kill a team - and sometimes quickly.
The Buffalo Bills enter the 2018 season with a staggering and by far the league's biggest dead cap money allocation at $54 million . Think of it this way: Of the $177 million they can spend on player salaries, $54 million is unavailable off the top because of the accumulation of unamortized signing bonuses for players the Bills have traded or released. The league average this year is $11.9 million. Four players - Marcel Dareus, Eric Wood (who retired unexpectedly for medical reasons), Cordy Glenn and Tyrod Taylor - account for about $41 million of it. The team with the second highest dead cap number is the Cowboys with $28.8 million. The New England Patriots have $6.3 million.
The dead cap anvil around Bills GM Brandon Beane's neck - and yesterday's embarrassing rout in Baltimore - are the bad news. And there will probably be much more of it over the next 15 games. The good news is not for this season but for next as the Bills will enjoy the second-highest salary cap space in the league at $76 million. With that, they can sign free agents and lock in some of their other assets. But that's going to happen in 2019. We need to get through 2018 first and season ticket holders like me need to come up with reasons to go to the 8 home games on the schedule. Or reasons for anyone to go.
The game in rainy Baltimore yesterday unfolded as the antithesis of what Bills fans had hoped for. They won the coin toss. Then everything unraveled as fully and completely as it could have. Especially for Nathan Peterman whose second career NFL start was not much better than his first one last season. Josh Allen came in when the score reached 40-0. And I went for a bike ride.
The Los Angeles Chargers, who travel to Orchard Park next week for the Bills home opener, lost their own home opener yesterday so both teams will be looking to avoid an 0-2 start. For the Chargers, it matters a lot as they are expected to compete for a division title in the AFC West. For the Bills, I'll be happy to just see more of Josh Allen under centre and some improvement on the only two things Marv Levy said a team needs to do to win in the NFL: running the ball and stopping the run.
Monday, 5 February 2018
Eagles 41, Patriots 33
My opinion of the NFL sort of went full circle over the weekend. I ended up feeling better about it after the game than I did before kick-off. The game was a best-case-scenario for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in terms of entertainment value and competitiveness with outstanding plays made by both teams throughout. The game's only blemish came when Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks was knocked out of the game on a helmet-to-helmet hit from his blind side.
The Eagles and their fans finally have their Lombardi trophy which - and this has always been one of my pet peeves about the NFL - was presented by Goodell not to the team's quarterback, captain or coach but to the team's owner Jeffrey Lurie. The NHL does it right every year when the Commissioner hands the Stanley Cup to the winning team's captain.
I wrote these three paragraphs yesterday afternoon before the game:
Justin Timberlake held a press conference last Thursday - as is the requirement for the headliner of the Superbowl halftime show. Among other things, he confirmed that no special guests would be appearing alongside him for his 20 minute performance. He also made an offer to Patriots coach Bill Belichick that if all of his receivers were injured, Justin was ready to suit up and run routes himself. Very nice. Then came a question about his 3 year-old son perhaps running routes in the NFL some day. Timberlake replied with "he will never play football". He then moved on to a rambling explanation of how he just wants his son to become a great person whether or not he shows interest in the arts or sports or anything else. Goodell was probably doing a slow burn.
There were two newspaper articles this past weekend which, quite honestly, made me seriously question whether or not I will renew my Bills season tickets - a decision I will have to make within the next two or three weeks. I don't recall an NFL player named Rob Kelly who played five seasons at safety for the Saints and the Patriots between 1997 and 2001 before his career ended with a neck injury he suffered in training camp in 2002. On Friday, the New York Times published an article written by Kelly's wife Emily about her husband which I found quite disturbing. Starting in 2009 (seven years after his football career ended), Kelly began to suffer from mood swings, depression and weight loss which eventually qualified him for "total and permanent disability payments" under the NFL's pension plan. She says that her husband certainly recognized that football was a dangerous game but, along with many other former players, she states that "these men chose football, but they didn't choose brain damage". Emily Kelly's husband is now a shadow of his former self and she finds support within a group of wives and partners of former players suffering similar problems. I'm aware that we hear only about those former players who are suffering the long-term effects of a football career. I wonder, of the thousands of players who have suited up in the NFL, what percentage is more-or-less fine ten or more years afterward and what percentage is not.
The Globe and Mail's sports editorial writer Cathal Kelly penned a piece on Saturday entitled "The sun is setting on the NFL, and fast" in which he chronicles the multiple issues facing the league. Chief among them is the concussion and CTE issue which the league first denied entirely before finally, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, acknowledging the connection between football and brain injuries. Aside from that, the most concerning data point in Kelly's article comes from a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll of American males aged 18-49. Four years ago, 75% of this group said that they followed the NFL closely. Now, that number has plummeted to 51%. With the league's television ratings down 10% this season (compounded with an 8% drop last year), the NFL's popularity looks like it's about to fall off a cliff. Sure, it may stabilize at some point and may even recover a bit of lost ground but it's hard to see how. Kelly compares the NFL's declining popularity to Facebook which is also suffering from a drop in new accounts and in overall engagement. But, as Kelly points out, there is no other Facebook while sports fans have many other options. The NFL chalks up the drop in viewership to cable cord-cutting, an increasingly fragmented television landscape and fans tuning in on devices other than televisions. All plausible explanations for sure but how then can the NBA's improving television ratings be explained?
The Onion reported this fun fact last night on Twitter: "All of this year's Superbowl confetti was made from shredded concussion and CTE studies".
The Eagles and their fans finally have their Lombardi trophy which - and this has always been one of my pet peeves about the NFL - was presented by Goodell not to the team's quarterback, captain or coach but to the team's owner Jeffrey Lurie. The NHL does it right every year when the Commissioner hands the Stanley Cup to the winning team's captain.
I wrote these three paragraphs yesterday afternoon before the game:
Justin Timberlake held a press conference last Thursday - as is the requirement for the headliner of the Superbowl halftime show. Among other things, he confirmed that no special guests would be appearing alongside him for his 20 minute performance. He also made an offer to Patriots coach Bill Belichick that if all of his receivers were injured, Justin was ready to suit up and run routes himself. Very nice. Then came a question about his 3 year-old son perhaps running routes in the NFL some day. Timberlake replied with "he will never play football". He then moved on to a rambling explanation of how he just wants his son to become a great person whether or not he shows interest in the arts or sports or anything else. Goodell was probably doing a slow burn.
There were two newspaper articles this past weekend which, quite honestly, made me seriously question whether or not I will renew my Bills season tickets - a decision I will have to make within the next two or three weeks. I don't recall an NFL player named Rob Kelly who played five seasons at safety for the Saints and the Patriots between 1997 and 2001 before his career ended with a neck injury he suffered in training camp in 2002. On Friday, the New York Times published an article written by Kelly's wife Emily about her husband which I found quite disturbing. Starting in 2009 (seven years after his football career ended), Kelly began to suffer from mood swings, depression and weight loss which eventually qualified him for "total and permanent disability payments" under the NFL's pension plan. She says that her husband certainly recognized that football was a dangerous game but, along with many other former players, she states that "these men chose football, but they didn't choose brain damage". Emily Kelly's husband is now a shadow of his former self and she finds support within a group of wives and partners of former players suffering similar problems. I'm aware that we hear only about those former players who are suffering the long-term effects of a football career. I wonder, of the thousands of players who have suited up in the NFL, what percentage is more-or-less fine ten or more years afterward and what percentage is not.
The Globe and Mail's sports editorial writer Cathal Kelly penned a piece on Saturday entitled "The sun is setting on the NFL, and fast" in which he chronicles the multiple issues facing the league. Chief among them is the concussion and CTE issue which the league first denied entirely before finally, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, acknowledging the connection between football and brain injuries. Aside from that, the most concerning data point in Kelly's article comes from a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll of American males aged 18-49. Four years ago, 75% of this group said that they followed the NFL closely. Now, that number has plummeted to 51%. With the league's television ratings down 10% this season (compounded with an 8% drop last year), the NFL's popularity looks like it's about to fall off a cliff. Sure, it may stabilize at some point and may even recover a bit of lost ground but it's hard to see how. Kelly compares the NFL's declining popularity to Facebook which is also suffering from a drop in new accounts and in overall engagement. But, as Kelly points out, there is no other Facebook while sports fans have many other options. The NFL chalks up the drop in viewership to cable cord-cutting, an increasingly fragmented television landscape and fans tuning in on devices other than televisions. All plausible explanations for sure but how then can the NBA's improving television ratings be explained?
The Onion reported this fun fact last night on Twitter: "All of this year's Superbowl confetti was made from shredded concussion and CTE studies".
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