WhitewalkerInPhilly

No. I know what you're trying to say. A little part of me liked being the underdog. Maybe if the fanbase becomes insufferable like the Patriots after multiple championships I'll miss it, but I have close to 20 years of irrelevance to exorcise first.

Well, you could always forfeit the game! Ok, serious question then. First, I think that you need to bite the bullet and double cover Diggs. I love Gabe Davis, and I want him back soon, but there is a severe drop off between Diggs and him. I see a big drop off between Diggs and the rest of a receiving threats (Davis, McKenzie, Knox, Crowder). The most significant loss on offense was Beasley as a zone beater, so if you are playing tight, disciplined zone coverage you can at least contain them and hope for a mistake. Next, I'd do my best to stunt, overload and double gap on the D-line, trying to overwhelm Saffold, Bates and Brown who are all good but not world beaters. You have to generate quite pressure while cutting off escape routes. Try to force third and short where the Bills seem to keep having problems. This is not easy. I do not foresee many games this year like the Steelers and Jaguars last year. But if I am trying to come up with something that's what I would try. Josh Allen is playing out of his mind right now, and while he does still sometimes have a dud, his short field accuracy has looked amazing and he is now willing to take the profit. I keep going back to all of those easy Diggs completions because the CB just played so far off him.

I think that's where our group sat for the Patriots game. Let me tell you, it was worth it on that bitterly cold night. I've been to three Bills games in my life in person and I will never forget that one. The argument, as much of the spin that the annnouncers put on it that while the defense did in fact flinch and in doing so caused the offense to flinch (because they are trained to do that, because 99% of the time it's an Offside) that the defense hadn't moved "enough" into the neutral zone and had reset by the time the offensive line moved, and this it was a false start. Which is utter BS, and I expect there was an attempt at point shaving at that point.

Can they make it permanent?

Good. I don't expect him to play anytime soon, but if he is walking unassisted that is an amazing sign for his long term health. I'd rather burn a roster spot on a street CB than risk a man's life.

Virgil and Shaw are still princes, I just have been bursting at the seams. That's a good thing about primetime games, that I have the night to think it over instead of needing to take care of real life things.

sparingly, but it got used with under 2 minutes to go with the Bills in the RedZone and I was tearing my hair out

I am not sold on Tua either. The Ravens play aggressive man coverage while the Bills play suffocating zone, which should limit those kind of comebacks. But I have to admit, every knock that I have had against Tua I can point to Josh. I am not saying they are the same, but yeah, it took Josh until his 3rd year and a legit elite #1 season to blossom into the massive talent he is today. Can Tua do the same? Time will tell.

I don't think so either. But beating us early makes it harder for us to snag the lead, and would help them on playoff seeding.

Because the more talented and vetted commentators are still being productive citizens and I need by fix: I confess, midway through the second quarter I was an irritable mess. I have seen a certain script play out once too often: the Bills, despite being an objectively better team, were being stopped. Injuries were going to pile up and the Titans were going to steal one from us. Again. And then, little by little, the grip tightened. The broadcasters called it "suffocating" and it's not a bad analogy. The Rams and Titans were able to thrash around, fighting for dear life to keep is close until little by little they exhausted themselves and went limp. The Bills have the depth that even if teams bring everything in the early rounds, but the end they are punching just as hard as the start. Speaking of the broadcasters, was it me or was that cringeworthy? I kept hearing every opportunity to bash the Bills early about being annointed too early in a game that they never trailed in. I mean, try to be a bit objective. They then had to pad time talking about why Josh Allen is why you don't give up on young QBs. I hope this gets better next week. Speaking of next week, that's looking like a game with playoff implications. I was not expecting that. My memories of the Kelly era Bills are dim, but I cannot think of a player quite like Josh Allen has been playing. Even Mahomes, as great as he is, doesn't seem quite the same type of player as what we are seeing. Is it me, or has Josh been making more adjustments at the line than in previous years? Or is it that it now seems like he's nailing the right choice so often that I'm noticing it more? Either way, even though he ran once it was at the perfect time in a key situation. Single off coverage on Stephon Diggs? Yes please. I am not even mad that Josh didn't distribute it more (which he did, just not at a huge volume). If teams are consistently giving your WR1 easy matchups, you take it. I once again pound the table for the FB position. Gilliam very nearly had two touchdowns. One the one he did get, I was sure that was a tackle for a loss and that he managed to bulldoze out of it is going to give defensive coordinators nightmares. Speaking of giving defensive coordinators nightmares (yes, I am repeating this) Dorsey has not missed a beat. Give credit to Daboll for building up this scheme, but Dorsey has found a new gear. I have been pumping the breaks on the idea that we might lose him, but I think he at least gets some interviews. At this point, I am not against bringing in a street free agent like Joe Haden at CB. Is it a waste of a roster spot? Is he going to be a liability long term? Maybe. But I do not like running out two rookies as our starting outside corners next week, and there is no way that Jackson is 100% by next week and we have no guarantees that Tre is ready to go week 5. I don't want to hear any comments about Edmunds for hitting his teammate. The Titans live on broken tackles, and that kind of mentality that we needed to stop Henry doesn't go off like a switch. It's tragic and terrifying, but this is the game. If you feel bad, then let's give defenses more room to breathe in the rules. Von Miller continues to look like an excellent choice, and it looks like Rousseau is coming along nicely. I was worried about our D-line, but hopefully we are back to full this Sunday. This team has the potential to be something. To steal from a legend "These guys are good. Scary good"

Time to prepare for the next victims. The Titans (after some trouble) made feeding Diggs easy. I mean, playing off man coverage? Yes please.

My kind of psychopath

Is it me or is this broadcast getting chopped up? I mean in spite of the pretty terrible commentator work.

Now that I can see it, him pounding the ground and kicking his legs is a very good sign. Still a monster of a hit, and I don't expect him back soon but it shouldn't be a spinal injury if he was able to move like that.

I hadn't seen that. Bastard should be thrown out of the game.

Eeeek, that was a nasty shot. I hope he's ok.

I'm surprisingly worried. No Davis, Settle or Oliver before a game that we should have easy in hand after a long break... I've got nerves. The Bills need to go out and show why they have Championship aspirations

I think it's impossible to have too many quality CBs over the course of a season, especially one where you have Super Bowl aspirations. The amount of wear and tear is tremendous and if you're telling me that we don't have to rush people back from injury, that is a tremendous boon.

I'm actually a fan of the 715 game start. I'm up early for work and I was so hyped last Thursday I couldn't sleep. If we repeat I have a few hours to get it out of my system.

They just lost to the Giants. I'm not saying that it's impossible to lose to them (last year's game should be seared into our memory) but I have zero doubts that we are more talented.

For the record, I think that the Rams are going to be a good team. There's a number of things that made Week 1 a rough start for them: Van Jefferson was out, meaning they had no strong second punch other than Kupp. They didn't play starters in preseason, so their tackling was poor. I think they pull themselves together a bit going forward. I still think they win their division. But if I am being completely honest, I remember watching the Super Bowl and thinking that both the Bills and Chiefs were better teams.

I am shamelessly stealing this format, because I am pumped for the day and see no current thread up. I have to give it to Dorsey. Yes, the offense has miscues, but for the most part the issues were in execution, not design. Considering that the starters had relatively little playing time in preseason, sloppy play (while not excusable) is an inevitable byproduct of trying to keep starters fresh for the season. I might quibble about exactly how best to handle our rushing attack, but it worked against a pretty good defense and one of the best D-linemen in the game. On that note, I want to spend a moment praising how the Bills handled Aaron Donald in particular. Yes, we had the benefit of being able to prioritize against him, but whenever he was one on one he showed why he is so dang good. So the Bills addressed the personnel mismatch with scheme. They ran shifts to take him out of a clear path. Donald was still a force, but the Bills didn't allow him to take over the game, and that is really the best you can ask for when dealing with such an elite player. The Rams invited the Bills to dink and dunk on them early. This was not a surprise to me. What did surprise me was how fast and accurate Josh was getting the ball off. I know he gets the reputation of being an improviser who can make magic out of broken plays, and that reputation is well earned. But this is the guy who everyone (including myself at draft night, hello eating crow) screamed was inaccurate, and he had a single pass hit the ground all night. If Allen can do this against a solid secondary, and this balance continues they are going to be a nightmare to scheme against. Feed Motor. I don't hate Moss, but at this point there is a clear pecking order. I don't hate keeping Moss as a backup, but I will not shed any tears for him being placed on the inactive list. The usefulness of a fullback in the modern NFL is a hill I will die on. Gilliam showed why with some of those blocks on an all-Pro linebacker. I said it elsewhere already, but I saw why the Bills paid Von Miller all that money. It isn't just that he had some nice sacks, it's that his presence opened up room for the others. We've been waiting for Rousseau, Basham and Espenesa to break out, and all notched sacks as well. If their growth continues, this D-line can be scary. I am not calling for a red alert over Elam not starting, even as Benford got torched. Considering they had the task of guarding last years triple crown winner, the fact that he was contained as he was while starting 7th and 6th round picks as your starting outside CBs is stunning. I think Elam slowly works his way to a starting role and overall I think the CB situation in general is good enough that we have the luxury of letting Tre White come back healthy. Overall, there are miscues but the first game of the season is always wonky. I am licking my chops at the idea of playing a Titans team with a busted secondary and lesser WR and QB talent.

Obviously you always keep tweaking. Like many here, I am ready for Zack Moss to be a game day inactive/backup and just feed Motor. Josh doesn't need to run that late in the game up three scores. But other than that, what isn't to like? The run game got going just enough to have some balance, and the pitches worked well. You had 7 players who had receptions. Diggs showed why he was All Pro in 2020. Davis looked the part of the perfect #2. The turnovers were not the result of play calling. Aaron Donald was extremely limited. For a first time OC outing what isn't to like?

That play was insane to me. I remember panicking on a deep pass on third and short and my jaw dropped as it connected. And that was audibled ? WHo does that? Josh Allen that's who

I remember hearing talk that we overpaid for Von Miller. I think we saw why we paid for him. It wasn't just the sacks, though two sacks were nice. It was that we went from being so close on sacks to finally getting home. I know Stafford isn't the quickest draw, but a big missing piece is now present.