Alphadawg7

What do you mean, those are all week 1 games

Underdogs I like this week: Vikings over Packers Raiders over Chargers Big upset alert: Steelers over Bengals

People read too much or too little into preseason. Our starting offense literally played one drive all preseason. Anything we did or didn't see with Cook with the backups is practically irrelevant. He was electric and promising in practice when he got time with the starters. No need to over analyze here, there wasn't some conspiracy either to "hide" him. Our starters just didn't play along side him. Just like how too much excitement was made of a couple good plays by Blackshear or a couple short catches by Hodgins against backups and guys who didn't make rosters.

Easily. His projected totals over a full season after the Bucs game would be 1400 yds and 17 TDs. He will break 1200 yards this year and double digit TDs.

I think its more they are being cautious with a player expected to play a relevant role this season. Its just preseason, and he had a good camp and preseason when he played. They already knew what they had him, no need to push him through minor injuries. A lot of these injuries guys get during camp and preseason are ones they could play through if it was during the season or playoffs. But there is no need to risk a bigger injury at this time of year. Different when its a player they aren't sure on, then practice and playing time matter more and can be the difference in making the team and not making the team.

I will say some these things on depth chart don't mean a lot when game day comes around. Plus this depth chart will be fluid and could change more before week 1. For example, Cook is listed 3rd behind Moss, but I bet he out touches Moss. Shakir was always set to be in the slot, but can play outside. So I suspect that Shakir will get snaps outside and the slot and will certainly out snap guys like Kumerow. Once they move Stevenson to IR, won't surprise me to see them move Shakir's listing to his spot either.

That sounds a lot less petty than the way it was written before, and I agree I wish him the best. Hopefully he is back on our PS and can get better at ST to increase his chances of getting on a roster.

So you would rather be right than see your team make the best decision. Got it. There is also the fact that neither Hodgins or Kumerow were competing to make this team as a WR, they were competing to make this team as a ST player.

But some are saying that and they say it all the time. Do you forget the fire beane threads from this past season? The threads criticizing his draft history? The rants how everything he has ever said is a lie now with culture? Sorry, it's just over the top and has been long before this week for some of these people. And again, 100% of all GMs cut players they drafted, signed or traded for right now. That doesn't make it a bad week for a GM, it makes it standard NFL football 9 days before the season starts. Nothing about cutting OJ or trading Ford is a "bad week" for Beane because no GM bats a thousand. In fact, I would argue that it indicates more than anything he is a great GM who isn't afraid to make the best choice of the team even if it means its contradictory to a previous decision he made. And has a proven track record of recouping some value in these situations like getting draft picks back. Lots of teams end up having to cut those players without any compensation back. As far as the the Araiza thing, of course that does make for a bad week...but more a bad week that he and the team had to go through it in the first place. Its not Beane's fault that something like this came out after they drafted him and doesn't change the tremendous job he (and McD) have done to rebuild the culture, the roster and tun this losing franchise into a perennial powerhouse.

I said they were #1 in the AFC 2 years in a row, not in the league. They were #2 overall in 2020 behind only GB (barely) and #3 overall behind only GB and TB. But #1 in AFC both years.

Based on those pesky things called math, facts, stats, etc. But let me guess, you are going to argue against facts now too right?

I am not against Hodgins, I was rooting for him. But the over exaggeration got out of hand with him is my point. People kept saying he was a must keep regardless of ST, and sorry, his play did not dictate he was a must keep candidate at WR if he couldnt play ST. He made some nice short catches, but again, under 9 ypc through 3 games while leading the team in targets and receptions against weak competition is not an example of roster lock. Shakir went out and turned heads and showed what a roster lock looks like. People were saying to cut Crowder, a 28 year old proven good starting WR in the league just to keep Hodgins which was ludicrous. The plays Hodgins made any competent WR at this level should be able to make, it wasn't anything special. It was the same with Blackshear, a guy who made a few good plays against weak competition, but ultimately, outside of 1 carry for 25 yards struggled to run the ball in 3 games. Yet people wanted to cut/trade someone like Moss to keep him. I love seeing young players beat the odds, so will continue to root for both. But this isn't 2017 anymore, this is a deep and talented roster. You keep the guys who will help you win games on Sunday and make you a better player. WR6 is not a Wide Receiver, that is a starting ST player...and if you are not the best player in your role, you will not make this team. No disrespect, but its silly to cite the catch % of Kumerow considering how few targets he saw or will ever see. He may not get even one target this year. I mean one more catch and the % jumps because the sample size is so small. Reality is, Kumerow is a strong contributor on ST, the only place he or Hodgins would ever see the field. And I do really hope Hodgins makes our PS again and keeps improving on ST so he can make the roster, I have nothing at all against him.

Exactly... Also, I have seen people around here getting on Beane over trading Ford and releasing OJ as if its not completely normal. Every GM, 100% of all GM's in the league now, the past, and forever in the future cut or trade guys they brought in through draft/signing/trade every single preseason that did not work out. The insistence on some peoples obsession to remain in the negative lane at all times is utterly mind blowing. Beane took a perennial loser team, got rid of 100% of the roster, and had them as a SB contender after 2 years of actually rebuilding, and now heading into their 4th year under him recognized as the most talented roster in the NFL by most and the consensus odds on favorite for both the SB and MVP. But Beane's overall record is clearly better than most, if not all, considering he flipped 100% of the roster over and turned into the consensus best roster in football in a few short years. But hey, you negative minded people go right ahead and keep micro nit picking at the fact OJ Howard or Ford didn't work out, the rest of us are enjoying the ride to not only relevancy, but a perennial winning team and powerhouse contending for Super Bowls instead of watching 7 win teams every year.

Bills have fielded the #1 offense in the AFC 2 years in a row

The Hodgins stuff is out of control. He is measly averaging under 9 yards per catch through 3 games...while leading team in targets and catches and facing backups and guys about ready to apply at Best Buy for holiday season work. I like him, root for him, but he hasn't done so much at WR on the field that he has made himself uncuttable. He needs to contribute and be good on ST or he isn't making this team. Like like you said, this is a very good roster, it will not be easy to make this roster across the board.

Oh I get it, I wasn’t advocating for it. I only said it was a possibility earlier in camp if they get more comfortable with Cook as a runner too, not just a pass catcher specialist. I don’t think Beane would trade him unless he got a strong offer anyway.

Personally, I think Beanes position on Moss is that he wont trade him unless he gets a strong offer. I think it would take a 4th rounder to get Beane to start thinking about it. Moss has more value than a low round pick to us in a Super Bowl run, so I don't think there is any chance he gets moved on the cheap. I think the odds of him getting traded are low just because I am not sold anyone would offer him what it would take to peak Beanes interest.

There have been twitter rumblings since Friday of a possible Moss trade...but no one noticed because of Matt Araiza

Weird, I feel like I got a lot of flack when I suggested multiple times now through camp and preseason Bills could be showcasing Moss for a trade...

Geezus, the world is out of control right now. Glad to hear he is in stable condition already, hopefully he makes a speedy and full recovery.

If true, that is still bad thinking on her part or bad advice because she could have had both. Let him get paid, then after file the civil suit and take the money in court as that would still end his career and take away all his money. Now she has his money and took away his career. But that also doesn't add up. Multiple times they were in negotiations or attempting to open negotiations for a settlement. It was not until Matt's attorney recently told her attorney he will not be interested in a settlement that they decided to file a civil suit. Her attorney even posted the text messages between the two attorneys confirming this where he was essentially threatening him to settle or else.

They had 2 press conferences within 24 hours of each other in which he was cut in between. Geezus man, what did you expect an 10 hour telethon to discuss it? He was on the team less than 36 hours after the civil suit was filed. You are being way overly dramatic here.

Hard disagree...honestly I couldn't disagree more with this assessment. Very few, if any, other HC's would have come to the press conference and initiate the discussion of Matt and then refuse all football questions to focus only on this subject. If they even took questions at all, they would have maybe taken a few and then moved on to questions about the game. Then after cutting him, most GM's and HC's would not have given a face to face press conference for 30 min takin any and all questions from reporters out for blood trying to force any negative narrative they can for clicks. Most teams the GM would have released a written statement or maybe a short video where they controlled the message and that is it. They would have hidden behind being able to say they cant comment on an active investigation. Both McD and Beane did not hide from this and went out there and took responsibility and addressed the press directly and took what ever heat they wanted to throw at them. And they were clearly emotionally affected by the severity and gravity of the situation for the victim and did nothing but do their best to respect everyone involved. Sorry, you are categorically wrong if you think that is the behavior or just any other franchise. And that is just a flat out fact.

Surprisingly, I feel like a lot of people here are very much missing this very fact and just have unrealistic and unreasonable expectations of the reach and investigative prowess of a sports organization. Very well said, and I think this is a post worth pinning to be honest.

I agree with you, of all the things to question this is the fairest. But 2 things...Haack sucks, I think they had no intention of entering the season with Haack as the starting punter regardless. So I think that played into why they cut him, I mean a punter is as plug and play as it gets in the NFL in terms of a position. When they released Haack, they literally said they wanted to give him time to catch on with a team. So I think that decision had everything to do with respecting Haack as a person and doing what was right for Haack because they had already decided they wanted to make a change there. And Beane also said, they aren't perfect, not every decision is easy when they make it. And things can happen after the fact that make you rethink a previous decision. To be honest, if I am Beane I am assuming I have more time before a civil suit gets filed to figure the situation out. It was not in the best interest of the victim to file the suit when they did, so I don't think they expected this to escalate this soon either and caught them off guard. And I think that is pretty evident in the timing of releasing Haack.