Alphadawg7

Mitchell has a one of the least accurate quarterbacks throwing him the ball in the NFL. You don’t think this stat has any meaning because you don’t seem to understand the stat…which was solely about the receivers ability to create separation, not count how many catchable passes their respective QBs threw.

We didn't snap out of our slump last year until we stopped focusing on Diggs. So there is that too.

I am all for working out kickers...but this is the best they could find? There has to be a better option out there to try out. Hell, humor us with a Youtube trick kicker for all I care, just give us some hope there will be an improvement at least.

I don't disagree...I said there is a lot of football left, but the early returns are positive. And lets not forget we scored 31 points in 31 minutes on AZ too without all those Tua short fields. A team that just dominated and decimated the Rams this week showing they are not the doormat there were last year. But there is no doubt this team will be tested more over our next stretch of games of Jags (a team we have played down to in the past), Balt, Hou, and Jets over our next 4 games...which includes each of those teams having more and more film on Brady's offense to prepare for with each passing week. And as I have said in every other post, the first week or two does not decisively prove anything, it was never going to be proven in the first 2 weeks, good or bad. But...none the less, its an encouraging start by all measures and good early returns to start the season.

Bills have scored 65 points in 2 games despite: A) Allen having just 2 pass attempts until final 2 minutes of first half week 1...and B) The Bills mailing it in for almost the entire second half of week 2. Cardinals showed this week they are not the doormat they were last year too. Final 6 games of the guy you defended all offseason in Dorsey, Bills averaged under 20 ppg with Diggs as the focal point of the offense. Brady took the focus off Diggs and the offense went on to average over 8 more points per game the rest of the season on its way to 6-1 finish saving the season. In the first 2 games we are now averaging 32.5 PPG despite the offense only playing at full speed barely a game and a half (and all but 3 of that came in a stretch of about 4.5 quarters of play). There is only one column that matters, the win column and we went from 5-5 against bad teams under Dorsey with a focus on Diggs to 9-2 since while averaging significantly more points per game. I would say the returns thus far are showing this is a better brand of football for this team. Lot of football left, but early returns are positive.

Oh I know what you meant, 4 game IR. If he does in fact go on 4 game IR they are done too in terms of divisional race as they won't win many, if any, games with Thompson with how bad they are in the trenches and will far too far behind. But if Tua misses a game or two, then they can still potentially stay in the mix with their schedule compared to ours. This is our upcoming schedule: Jags, Balt, Hou, Jets, Ten, Sea, Mia, Colts, KC, SF, LAR, Det, Pats, Jets, Pats There isn't a game on our schedule we can't win...but there are also not a lot of "easy" games ahead either. Between now and week 15 (Lions) we have to face 6 teams expected to be among the best in their respective conferences coming into the season. Then we end the season with 3 straight divisional games, one of which is with Jets if they manage to keep pace at all. So for me, I just think it was way too early to propose us "skating" to the divisional title as we need to first focus on getting through each week and doing that over a tough stretch without 3 of our best defenders. And it starts with us reversing our recent trend of playing down to the Jags on Monday night. I do expect us to smash them, but I thought that in the games we lost to them too lol.

This is more of a must win for the Ravens IMHO than Dallas. Ravens starting the season 0-3 is going to really put them well behind in the AFC that is already a lot tougher conference than last year. Cowboys can start 1-2 and still have a good chance at their divisional title as at worst they will be only 1 game back where Ravens will be either 2 or 3 games back depending on if Steelers win this week. I think both are pretenders though as they are every year.

To be clear, I agree with everything you said about both teams here. But the schedule we have vs them is where I take pause on our eventual divisional title being a cake walk like the OP suggested. I prefer Josh's approach where its just focus on going 1-0 each week and hopefully this is the week we finally smash the Jags like we always should but somehow find a way to play down to their level.

Well the doctors haven't ruled that out, nor have they said he will be out that long either. If he goes on IR, Fins are done for sure as they won't win many, if any, games with that mess of an OL with Thompson. I am just saying, its premature to declare our division title a cake walk given how hard our schedule is with Jets still there, Pats playing tougher than people thought (although I expect that to fade some) and Tua still having the possibility to not miss as much time as people originally thought.

This is the first year I did NOT place a Josh Allen MVP bet or a McD COY bet. I did that intentionally because I actually felt like both could be really in play this year if the Bills offense plays at a high level and Bills exceeded the lowered expectations with such a tough schedule. So I figured I would help those odds by NOT betting on them...and yes, that was a real consideration and conscious decision I intentionally made 😂

He may...he may not. All he has to do is clear concussion protocol, and with concussions every one and every person are different. If I had to guess I think he misses this next game and is back the week after.

Like I said up thread - Too early to declare Jets dead off one game. Too early to declare Miami dead as we don't know Tua is done or even going to miss more than a game and they have an upcoming schedule where each game is winnable (if Tua plays). Jets week 1 was a poor barometer considering it was the first time their QB played in 2 years and skipped all preseason. While its just the Titans, they certainly fared better week 2 than week 1 and unreasonable to think they can still improve their overall play as Rodgers and the offense get more comfortable with each other. Miami has a relatively winnable schedule until they face us again in week 9. They can stack some wins here if Tua doesn't miss much time given he is full go on coming back, not retiring and working to get back on the field. Do I think we will win the division still. Absolutely. But all this premature talk about skating to a divisional title was way too early as we have by far the hardest upcoming schedule and are down 3 of our best defensive players already for that entire stretch. And while the 2-0 start is sexy, its also just a 1 game lead on both Jets, Miami, and NE (who has so far surprised and been tougher than people expected) I love Josh Allens answer and approach whenever asked about the season ahead or games coming up...every week its about going 1-0. Just focus on the game at hand and what you need to do to win that 1 game season.

Its been proven over and over again that you win in the postseason in the trenches and by being able to run the ball effectively to compliment your passing game. Teams who can't win in the trenches, who aren't physical, and don't have a reliable run game (does not mean being a run first or run dominant team) will struggle come postseason time. This is why I said all offseason that Grier and McDaniels will either be on the hot seat or flat out fired by seasons end. They are a prime example of how just assembling a track team wont get you very far outside some flashy games against weak opponents. And I am pretty confident even now in week 2 Grier is already on the hot seat. For all the dazzle of Mahomes, the majority of their offense and his game is based on damage with short throws near, at, or behind the LOS. Even when they had Tyreek Hill his stats were more normal where his best season with Mahomes was more than 500 yards less than his averages in Miami. Because the deep ball was not a big part of their game even with prime Hill and Kelce. Hill did a lot of his damage on YAC. They also always run the ball effectively and can turn that on when they need to. Brady same thing. His game was not deep shots, in fact, literally zero of his Super Bowl wins did he have a deep ball game with top end WR1's to throw too. All of his Super Bowl wins came from top end TE play and smart, sure handed, and effective WR's that got to the open spots. Brady was capable of hitting shots down field, but its not what they built their offenses around. And the run game was also always a strong component of the Pats teams as well. The more things change...the more they stay the same. Build a bully in the trenches and you have the baseline for a championship football team.

Napolean Kaufman - RB - Raiders who retired in his prime. He wasn't the biggest guy, but he was literally the strongerst player on his team out benching and out squating the biggest of guys as a smaller framed RB yet still lightning fast. I will never forget when he laid out 2 dallas all pro defensive lineman in Dallas one year, where on one of them he picked the guy up over his head and flipped him behind him. It was nuts...then he was also blazing fast. Woefully underused in Oakland, forced to split carries with Harvey Williams. I loved watching him play for the Huskies in college, so followed him in the NFL despite he got stuck on the Raiders.

Collins wasn't getting open because he caught guys off guard. He was their WR1 all season and drew coverage as such. It's not like teams ignored him every week and let him do what he wanted because he was a 2nd year player. I will give you an honest answer, which is 100% yes, and in my mind it's not even a question. The Cardinals just dismantled the Rams offense this week and their team as a whole. AZ isn't the doormat people remember from last year. But its more than 2 games. Dorsey was on a 6 game skid when he got fired with bad losses to bad teams while the team averaged less than 20 ppg focusing on feeding Diggs as a WR1 alpha player. First game without Dorsey or a Diggs emphasis was against the Jets, a team we lost to in an ugly game week 1 under Dorsey. In fact, in Dorseys 3 games against the Jets, the Bills averaged 17.5 PPG with Diggs as the lead weapon. First game without Dorsey and without leaning on Diggs, we put up 32 points. We would go on to average over 8 more points per game and go 6-1 to finish the season after removing the Diggs emphasis and Dorsey. Now in the first 2 games, we are averaging 32.5 PPG despite only trying for a game and a half really since we mailed it in and chewed clock and tried to get no one hurt for almost a half against Miami where we might of broke 50 on them if we hadn't. And again, Houston with all its weapons and perfect QB is 8.5 points less per game than us, and that is with them trying as hard as they can in close games for all 8 quarters otherwise it would be well over double digit difference had Bills not mailed it in during the 2nd half offensively with the game out of reach. Yes and its not close IMHO. We went from 5-5 to 9-2. That is the only stat that matters. 5-5 leaning on Diggs, 9-2 not leaning on him and trading him. We are winning more, scoring more, and more efficient. It isn't even a question in my mind at this point. And like I said, I feel like it was a win-win move. Diggs gets a better head space, has value in Houston where he doesn't have to be a lead WR and Bills benefit from playing unselfish team ball that has been a better formula for winning thus far without any of the dark clouds. As far as the impact WR's can make without monster stats I agree with. But...the way you are using is more fan assumption than reality. WR's make big impacts on the field through the dirty work...selling their routes when they know the ball isn't coming their way, blocking in the run game, blocking on routes going to other targets, flying to the ball in case they can help lay a block to spring the runner for a bigger play or score, etc. Diggs was not known for that, that crown was carried by Davis and Davis alone. Now we have a WR room where every guy on the field has bought into that dirty work, that team work and unselfish play. So yeah, they can make a big impact off the stat sheets, but Diggs just wasn't on the same level in that regard to the guys we have on the field now.

Yeah, still is a bit mind boggling their decision with Baker. Browns gonna Brown

Bills.

I like watching Pacheco play, he runs like he is pissed off at the ground.

Not surprised. He has not looked at all like an NFL QB since he stepped on the field. I do question if it's the organization or him though. Baker Mayfield got benched there too and immediately looked legit when he came in to the Rams in season and then signed with TB and has now established himself as a legit starter. Sam Darnold was trash there, but in Minny looks like he has more to offer still. While he has looked terrible, that organization has specialized in making QB's look terrible for a while...much like the Bears have. So, I won't condemn his career just yet until I see if another organization can turn his career around. I find it hilarious that Baker is doing so well while teams like Cle and Car are floundering with terrible QB play after giving up so much to get a different QB instead of realizing it was them as organizations that sucked.

You realize Collins had 1300 yards and 8 TD's last (while missing 2 games too) without Diggs right? And his 2nd best WR Tank Dell also missed 6 games. So no, I do not at all think Nico's success has anything to do with Diggs or anyone else on the field. To suggest otherwise is a complete disregard for Nico's abilities as a player that he established himself before Diggs got there. Yet Shakir is open as much if not more this year than he was last year. Shakir has caught 100% of his targets for 28 straight targets as well. That doesn't happen if you are not open. He has not needed Diggs to get open this year, in fact, he doesn't have a TD if Diggs is one of the WR's in on his TD play because he wasn't going to lay the blocks down that Hollins and Coleman did to make that TD possible. I said all offseason...the most over exaggerated thing that kept going around here was this notion that without Diggs drawing extra attention no one else can get open. One, that concept is greatly over exaggerated by fans in general, and two, the notion that no one on the team would garner extra attention this year was a silly premise to begin with. Teams must account for Allen as a runner, pocket passers, and someone extending plays...that is monumentally more impactful than any one WR garnering extra attention. Plus, guys like Kincaid (as we have seen early) still will and also you will need to cheat attention at Keon on his size alone. All of these things we have seen happen in the first 2 weeks too. Do I think Diggs is trash...no...but I do think there are a lot of myths around his value of just being on the field.

Wait are we doing the Watkins decoy defense again? I mean hasn’t this been somewhat debunked already given everyone said only Diggs drawing extra attention is the only reason anyone got open last year? Yet here we are with guys open, more efficient, and scoring more points without Diggs. And for all that help Diggs is giving to Nico, who had no problem getting open before Diggs arrival, we are averaging almost 10 more points per game than them despite mailing it in for almost an entire half. And it’s not 2 games, it’s 12 games between last year and this year.

Like I said when this thread was posted originally...Why can't they both be good players? Its 2 weeks into their careers and we are already comparing them? The context of the starts of their seasons couldn't be any different either.

Keep in mind, Shakir was making people pay on the boundary last year too though. I still think you sell Shakir's capabilities a bit too low IMHO. But more importantly, I think too many people over value this "boundary" attack. We have seen MVS get open deep multiple times and Allen just missed on his passes to him. We saw one deep shot to Coleman on the boundary and it was a beauty. And we have seen very little of Samuel so far whose snap counts have been low both probably to help manage the turf toe early and also because of game flow. More importantly, we are winning all over the field. We are getting chunk plays that move the chains and not just from the slot. Coleman has shown both in the preseason, week 1 and even week 2 (even though he didn't get the target) he has a nasty comeback route outside that he is getting big separation on to the point he was able to turn up and get an easy first down and double-digit yards. Knox and Kincaid have been making plays for chunks too, as our RB's. And factor this in: Week 1, Allen had 2 pass attempts until the final 2 min drive to end the half. We would go on to put up 31 points in 31 minutes from that point on. Then week 2, Bills had to take the foot off the gas and chew clock for almost an entire half in a blowout win and we still put up 34 points as a team. This offense has only been humming for about a total time of 5 quarters of play due to game flow and the Bills have outscored their opponents 75-13 in that span. Its early...teams will get film and try and be better prepared to defend this team no doubt. So it will be up to Brady to figure out how to adjust and attack those teams too. But right now, this approach has been highly efficient and effective.

Not sure how there is even a debate at this point. Diggs final 10 games in Buffalo he averaged 8.9 ypc, bad numbers for a backup TE. Now in Houston, after 2 weeks, the Texans have struggled to beat an average at best Colts team and a bad Bears team and Diggs is again averaging a pathetic 7 ypc through 2 weeks. This is a "WR1" allegedly with a YPC average that would get a backup TE cut through 12 games. Is Diggs now a "bad" WR...of course not...but he isn't close to what he was and the fact Beane got a 2nd for him, even if the Vikings surprise and the 2nd is a late 2nd, its a steal. When the offense flowed through Diggs we were 5-5 and losing to terrible teams while we averaged under 20 PPG for six straight games leading to Dorsey getting fired. Once we went away from that our PPG jumped to 28 and we went 6-1 to come back and win the division and 2 seed. 2024 points per game: Houston - 24 with a "stacked" and "loaded" offense with a "mistake free" QB Buffalo - 32.5 with a "bottom 3" group of receivers and weapons and an "overrated and mistake prone" QB. There is no argument that can be made today that suggests we didn't become a better team and offense moving away from Diggs last year and moving on from him this year. Now will this continue to be true, well we don't know. Maybe Diggs starts averaging 80+ yards per game again in Houston as the season goes on, maybe the Bills offense hits a rut when teams have more film on it. But as of today, it's clear Bills have been better since moving away from Diggs first football.

Casualty list though? That has been on defense, the thread is about the offense how efficient it has been. And Cardinals just showed that they are a lot tougher than people thought. Back to the casualty list - We held McBride, MHJ Jr, Hill, and Waddle to a total of 99 yards combined without Taron and Milano week 1 and without them and Bernard week 2.