Alphadawg7

I think he is calling it a desperation ball because Josh had to run around for what felt like an eternity to be able to get the pass off. The pass its self wasn't a "desperation" hope and pray ball, but the play in itself was in desperation mode scrambling to extend to find something or someplace to go with it. I still believe Allen flat out missed the right read to Samuel from a clean pocket that would have been a TD or close to a TD.

Respectfully disagree. If Allen puts that ball to the outside and in front of Samuel then Gonazalez would have to go through Samuel to get to the ball. There was for sure a window for Allen to hit Samuel, and with Allens arm strength he might have hit Samuel with out him ever getting touched. Shakir still was interfered with, maybe the most egregious PI of the night, so terrible non call by Refs that should have seen the drive continue. So I don't think there was anything wrong with throwing to Shakir - but there was a clear missed opportunity, and easier opportunity to Samuel from the pocket that gets us close to a TD or a TD. I would bet good money Josh wants that one back.

Flonkerton. Coffee Cup Race. Hate Ball. M&M Chug. Guess The Elevator. Dunderball. Josh would definitely concur 😉

Well that is fair, and I am a big Baker supporter, been a fan since college. So I agree, I think Baker is firmly in the top 10 QB category right now and if I had to pick one I would take Baker over Purdy. That being said, I do think Purdy gets short changed a lot by others, and the way your post read I thought that was more your take on it too, so thanks for clarifying. Yeah, I agree with you on Mac. A backup comes in and wins a game, especially one they weren't expected to, and they get the attention and buzz. But to be fair to Mac, guys like Geno, Baker, and Darnold are all having success later in their careers too after being premium draft picks but faltering in the earlier stops in the NFL as they got better or into better situations. So who knows, maybe Mac can find a rebirth somewhere too. But I still agree with you and think that Purdy is the better QB and the guy I would trust more as my starter, at least right now.

TBH, I just don't really understand why Purdy doesn't get more credit and respect as a QB right now. I have watched every game Brock has played given my wife is a die hard Niners fan. The only exceptions were the few times Niners and Bills were on at the same time where both games were on, but I was only really paying attention to the Bills lol. What I will say is that Brock Purdy has been better than people give him credit for. I am not saying what he will or wont be moving forward, but the touch and precision he has had since he got the job has been impressive. The Niners offense was night and day different the second he took over for Jimmy G. Brock, and the Niners, have been hit hard by injuries every season in the Purdy era. He has still played at a very high level even through the difficulties of constant injuries to all the teams best players on both sides of the ball. I don't know if Purdy has the staying power or not, I am only talking about how he has been thus far. And IMHO, he has been better than he often gets credit for and he throws a pretty ball.

Oh I am with you, this is even better than the SB era IMO in terms of weekly fun and enjoyment because Josh Allen is just that fun to watch. I was more referencing how they will be celebrated and remembered in general.

Lost in the noise of TSW is just how insanely good the Bills really have been and the number of records we have seen individuals and the team set, break, and are even continuing to set right now. And they are doing it in the AFC, which is, and has been, the better conference during the Allen era. To be fair, I think the gap this year between the AFC and NFC is probably closer to even this year given the struggles and injuries to some of the teams expected to contend this year like Balt and Cincy. But no doubt, over the past 5 seasons overall, the AFC has been the clear tougher conference. For example - Heading into the Saints game, in Josh Allens previous 12 games, including the playoffs, he had 30 TD's to 1 Int. I don't if people truly understand just how crazy good that is. Bills are also in the midst of what is already an NFL record of not losing the turnover battle in consecutive games and growing. And while the comment still gets mocked to this day, the facts are "Its hard to win in the NFL". Every game matters, and matters a lot, over the course of a season. This isn't baseball or basketball where if your team just isn't clicking, doesn't have it, etc one game then big deal, its not that important over the scope of a season. Your team has to bring it each and every week in what is already a physical and mentally draining game. The complexity of defenses and offenses is nothing like you find in other team sports. You have to be ready both physically and mentally each and every week, and in some weeks on short weeks before you body fully recovers from the previous game. For a team like the Bills to do things at the level they have done them for as long as they have done them is pretty remarkable. Even the streak they had never losing a game by more than 1 score, thats so unheard of in todays NFL. All that being said - they won't be celebrated or remembered for any of that unless a Lombardi trophy is sitting in our trophy case in the new stadium. And with the landscape in the NFL right now, this season is clearly their best shot. If they can handle their business against the teams they should beat, we could have the 1 seed locked up early and get that all important 1st round bye and the even more important road to the SB in Buffalo.

Ask any RB, coach, OL Coach, etc - and they will tell you the same thing, playing RB is about rhythm and feel. To come in cold for one snap and leave the field is a really tall ask, especially when its usually on an obvious running situation. I have not had time to watch the ALL22 myself, I am going off what I have seen other people post on this subject when they are posting lots of plays showing he had no where to go from their review of the ALL22. So I am sure I have not seen every play, and will just trust your review of those plays and assume he missed an opportunity on those 2 plays - but couple points here on this: I didn't see the 2 plays on ALL22 you referenced, but as a general note: Just because there was a hole somewhere does not always mean that is where the play was designed to go. There isn't a RB in the NFL you cant watch the ALL22 on that you won't find the same thing for. Sometimes its they broke off the designed run and made a bad decisions, other times, they are going right at where the hole is supposed to be and isn't. This also leads right back to my point above. RB position is instinctual, especially when popping out of where it was going to go to hit another hole elsewhere. When you are coming in cold, short yardage, thinking about ball control and just hitting the hole hard then it becomes hard to also rely on those instincts. Football players of all calibers (even Josh Allen) talk about how getting that first hit, contact, etc wakes them up, gets the blood going, etc. I am not here to make excuses for Davis, but I saw a lot of plays where he had no chance on some guys social media post where he discussed the criticism of Davis and if its fair. Doesn't mean there were not some plays he could have done more or not, just means that most of his lack of success this year has been due to low sample size and really no where to go with the ball on most his carries. For me, that makes a lot more sense than some of the theories that his struggles are because he lost 15 pounds.

Curious - has anyone watched any footage breakdown on Hawes over this season yet? If not, there are things on social and youtube to look for, but man is it impressive. He is a manimal as a blocker, and to think he is only 4 games into his career and could perceivably get even better is pretty exciting. Its also pretty wild that a guy known for his blocking got his first target in such a massive moment and way down field in tight coverage against the Ravens and made the play. I like Knox, a lot, so this not about him or anything - just about how much Hawes has himself impressed thus far and how many big and positive plays he has affected with his blocking and limited touches already as what essentially started as a TE3. Its fun film to watch if you haven't seen any outside what you saw live in games.

No disrespect, the year I am referencing it was definitely at least 4 dropped sure fire TD's. Might have been 5, but I know it was 4 as I had a running tally going that season and tracked it. And like I said, it was the throws where he is running down field and having to look back over his shoulder to track the ball and make the catch where the drops happened. And if you look at Cook this year and last year, he doesn't really get those kinds of targets anymore unless its an improvised play where he trying to get open for Allen to have a place to go with the ball.

Yeah, spot on. If you look at the carries, he hasn't had any space of opportunities on the few touches he got. This is why people checking stat sheets and ignoring context, sample size, etc are led to misleading conclusions that he is the problem or failing. Someone was talking about this on social media and cut together a bunch of his carries this year, and on those plays Cook would not have fared any better if he had gotten the carry, the play was blown up with the RB having nowhere to go. It would be one thing if there were holes he was either late or slow to hit, or just flat out not seeing and running into a wall by choice. If there is no place to go, there is no place to go. This isn't like Davis and Cook are a "Thunder and Lightning" duo right now where they both get relevant carries and series to play. Davis usually comes in on one play, that is an obvious running situation, and the D is ready and the play has no where to go. I am hoping as the season goes on they start giving Davis more like a series or two instead of a couple one off individual plays to both reduce Cooks wear and tear over the long season and to also get Davis going for the playoffs where we may be in snow every round of the playoffs as the 1 seed and having a power run game will be of value.

Cook has never been great at pass pro, but he was certainly a lot worse at it early in his career, and I am sure that factored in along with the fact they really liked Devin as well. And we also frustratingly just didn't run the ball enough or as effectively as we do now back then. For the drops, I honestly don't remember if it was a thing or not his rookier year. But I believe it was in year 2 where he dropped at least 4, possibly 5 would be TD's. Funny, he didn't seem to drop a lot of other passes, but it was those routes (like a wheel route) more where he had to catch it further down field tracking the ball looking back for it that he just would muff, the kind of passes Ty makes look routine where ones that were Cooks kryptonite. The team seems to understand that now and Cook doesn't get a lot of those looks anymore and they throw those most often to Ty.

Part of the issue is that there is overlap with Shakir with our guys with the most "juice" in Samuel and Moore. So getting them on the field without taking off the better WR in Shakir is where the challenge is given how they run the offense where the dirty work is also a big factor in their play design and offensive philosophy.

You can't judge a RB who gets a random touch here and there and thats it. RB's need Rhythm, they need to feel the OL, the defense, etc. Then you have the factor that in a lot of Davis carries they are mostly obviously running situations and the defense responds accordingly. Davis is not getting the same type of touches that Cook gets who gets them on downs where we can be passing or running. Davis is getting a random touch here and there on more obviously running downs and with no creativity. And if you actually look at the carries, there are no holes, the play is getting blown up, its not Davis failing to see a hole. This is what happens when people use a stat sheet despite the sample size is so small and the use case context is not considered. You get misleading conclusions. I am not saying Davis is the next Cook, but he has proven he can play, and his lack of production is almost entirely rooted in the fact the plays and blocking themselves failed on the play more than anything Davis did poorly. I am not concerned at this point, not until I see him get some relevant carries that demonstrate he is the reason for the lack of success of better production on those carries. Cook has been playing out of his mind, and they have been riding his hot feet is what the real biggest factor is. Like others, I dont want to see this amount of carries continue for Cook, and I expect they will start to try and get the touches down some as the season goes on. But Cook is also VERY good at avoiding hard contact and big hits. So while there are a lot of carries, hes not taking on the same kind of physicality that comes with it like a Jacobs, Henry, Saquan, etc would be on this many touches where the power run game is a bigger part of their carries.

Oops, yes sorry Singletary ha, went too far back in my mind. But yes, he was frustratingly under used as a rookie when we had Singletary here his rookie year and wasn't even used much in the role we at least thought he was drafted to do which was be a pass catching RB.

I get what you are saying, and as I said in my post, I like Knox and I think if he was starting he would be a top 15 TE elsewhere. When I say "expendable" I am strictly talking about his role on the team - because like it or not, the role has been diminished to a role that can be filled by TE's who are not as good as of an all around player he is because his role is substantially more about blocking than being a weapon. That opens up the door for a lot more players who can fill that role and for a lot cheaper. I don't "want" to move on from Knox, but salary for a TE in his existing type of role is a fraction of what he makes now. Would he be willing to be paid like a TE3 to stay? I mean Hawes is already starting to out snap him because Hawes is an even better blocker than Knox is right now, and honestly might already be one of the best blocking TE's in the game right now, and only going to get better. Ultimately, Knox's future here will be up to him and what he can stomach to get paid on a significantly reduced contract. End of the day though, a formation with Kincaid and Knox isn't much different than a formation with Kincaid and Hawes in it right now. As much as I, and many people, would like to keep Knox - the "need" for him is not what it was prior to drafting Hawes and his future here is going to be a numbers game on what the FO is willing to pay for him to remain in a role that now has further diminished after already getting diminished since drafting Kincaid.

Shakir - despite having lost Crowder and stuck with the useless McKenzie, Shakir barely sniffed the field as a rookie. They even brought back the Ghost of Cole later in the season. Bernard - was consider a wasted pick immediately following his draft selection and his whole rookie season where he barely saw the field. AJE - barely saw the field as a rookie. Dorian Williams - barely saw the field as a rookie before leading the team in tackles in his 2nd season. James Cook - was brought along slow as a rookie and got very little usage behind underwhelming Singletary, and more frustratingly wasn't even used in the role he was initially targeted for in the draft which was as a pass catching weapon out of the backfield. And there’s even more - but point is we have brought many day 2 and day 3 rookies along slow many times that resulted in a quality to excellent players. So it’s pretty premature to make a big deal about Landon right now, especially with the very large piece of missing context in your snap counts, which is depth of contributing players ahead of him who have experience in the system on a team already forced to play multiple rookies on the DL while we have several key players out via injury and suspension.

Justin Simmons is the name that stands out to me. Can’t see us adding a RB right now, we still have Gore on the PS who stood out in preseason too if we needed another body. Hendrickson also stands out, but not sure if they can make him work with the cap, but no doubt he could help.

Bobby's seat is not going to get hot when the defense is missing 2 of its best players, its first round draft pick, and 2 of its relevant FA signings. Not saying it shouldn't - just saying what the reality is.

Its likely going to come down to how the Bengals season did last year. Bengals slow start put them well behind and they had to fight for every game down the stretch to squeeze in, but ultimately came up short. It would be really big if they can steal at least 1 win while Lamar is out. If Lamar misses 2 weeks and comes back to a 1-5 team, that is going to be a much tougher hill to climb than 2-4. And if Lamar misses 3 games and they lose all 3, I don't think that team came come back from that and still make the playoffs. Not impossible, but very doubtful.

While you are not wrong in terms of Knox brings more to the table in terms of athletic receiver…what you are missing is that Knox doesn’t play that role anymore, Kincaid does. Knox is much more of a blocking TE than he is a receiving TE since Kincaid got here. There was this idea of a 2 TE pass attack when we drafted Kincaid after extending Knox with a hefty contract. But the reality is we don’t really run that kind of offense like the Pats did when they had Gronk and Hernandez. Knox has become more of a blocker, not just in the run game, but in pass protection and through routes where the play is designed to go elsewhere and he’s clearing out and blocking for the YAC. And this is where Hawes vs Knox gets interesting because Hawes is already a better blocker, not a knock on Knox, but Hawes is just an excellent blocker already. And now Hawes is showing good feel and the ability to make plays when his number is called as a receiver. I agree Knox is a top 15-18 TE in the league, and honestly if he started full time as a more featured TE somewhere, he would probably be top 10. But make no mistake about it, the roles Knox plays here right now is a bit redundant with what Hawes does as well, and Hawes is already better at the core of each of their jobs which is blocking. And all one has to do is track their snap counts to see the coaches know this too. I like Knox, got nothing against him, but IMHO his future on this team is rapidly becoming expendable. And that doesn’t mean he will be gone, but it does mean his future isn’t clear, and in any scenario where he remains here, his contract will have to look a lot different.

bahahaha well played sir

Sorry, but Rex said nothing wrong and nothing that everyone else isn’t already thinking and knowing. Shadeur has a major entitlement problem and has no clue how to be a pro - which is shameful given his dad should know how to be a pro in this league. You can’t be cocky like Deion if you haven’t earned the right to be on the field. Nothing wrong in Shadeur being confident in his abilities, but there is a proper way to go about it. He could have said he believes in himself and he is just trying to do everything he can to be ready when the opportunity comes. But phrasing it the way he did, he’s is clearly throwing shade at the guys ahead of him, demonstrating a lack of patience, a lack of maturity, and displaying the same entitlement issues that made his stock drop in the first place. This is a man’s league for serious people. Go show them you can be the man, a leader - be in that front row, be all about football, be committed to being the best - don’t sit there and coast through and show bad body language because you think the job should already be yours before you’ve proven to deserve it. Talent/ability - especially for a QB - is only a portion of what makes a player successful. He lacks every other intangible right now even if he may be the QB with the most upside talent wise on that roster.

If he doesn’t like his SB ring and the Philly offense he’s not gonna be happy here

I can totally see him winning OPY if he keeps this up. And - If we are being truly honest about "MVP" in terms of the MVP race, and by honest meaning not just putting every QB we can on the list - then I find it hard to not list Cook as 2nd behind Allen right now. Lamar? 1-3 and missed plenty of throws and plays in all 3 losses despite his great overall personal stats. Mahomes? 2-2 and he hasn't been having an MVP level season thus far. Herbert? Just blew a critical opportunity to hold on to a 2 game lead over KC and was the reason he lost to a bad Giants team missing its best weapon and starting a rookie QB in his first start ever. No RB has much of a chance to win MVP (we have seen as much in recent years) - but I cant really put another player 2nd behind Allen right now who has meant more to their teams start than Cook.