Alphadawg7

They are certainly better than the last few years...by a good margin. So you are definitely right about that. #2 though? The article claims second only to Dallas. IMO, not a chance, not the way the right side has been a mess.

Fair question...and I can easily explain...before I do, want to make it clear, all our guys sucked in weeks 1-9...but lets still look at productivity. Weeks 1-9 (pre Barkely, pre Josh return, and pre Fosters return). KB led team in receiving 3 times. McCoy and Zay tied for leading team in receiving twice, however one week Zay led the team with just 26 yards...so big deal and McCoy combined for more yards than Zay did. KB - 302 yards, 1 TD Zay Jones - 299 yards, 1 TD So Zay wasn't even our most productive receiver before Foster came into the mix in week 10. Dont get me wrong, KB sucked major balls, by no means am I saying he was good...but as bad as KB was, Zay still didn't our produce him as they were basically even. Weeks 10 - 17 This isn't even a mystery...Foster clearly out produced him during this stretch by putting up 511 yards including three 100 yard games. Zay put up 353 yards during that stretch. Now Zay did out produce Foster in TD's, but he got one TD on the last play of a 3 score blow out against the Pats and double dipped on the Dolphins twice. However, Zay also helped us lose the Miami game when he failed to hold on to the pass that would have had us in the Redzone just before the famous long pass Clay drop. The only reason Zay "led" the team was only because the other receivers did not play a full season. Its not an apples to apples situation. Zay started 15 games. Foster was active for 13, but he really only played in 7 and only had 3 targets prior to coming back from PS. So despite starting 15 games, Zay still only finished ahead of Foster by 109 yards despite the fact that all but 3 of Fosters targets came in the final 7 games once being brought back up. So, there was not any period of time last year where Zay was the most productive WR...he gets the nod on TOTALS only because he started more games than anyone.

I am a football junkie...so I watch more than you might think...but obviously not watching all 31 other teams as close as Bills. But I don't need to watch the other teams to know if the Bills line is playing well or not. There is not a chance in hell I would rank the Bills OL pass blocking as second best and narrowly behind #1 Dallas. Right side of the line has been a mess, and I would heavily argue our run blocking has been superior to our pass blocking by a decent margin.

Yes, I was really specifically referencing Foster when saying he's been outplayed in all 3 seasons. Although before Foster was brought back to the active roster for week 10, as bad as KB was those first 9 weeks, he still led the team in receiving the most times. Zay was tied for 2nd with McCoy, but one of those games was week 1 when Zay led team with 26 yards. So I would say prior to week 10, it was like a whole different season where the offense as a whole was all hot garbage.

Eyeball test says otherwise.

We need to dial back how many deep balls we are throwing in the first place. We only have one deep threat on the field most times in Brown, and he's getting most the defensive attention out there. Cole is too small to run deep, Zay is well Zay, and Foster has been barely used when healthy or just not healthy. Daboll needs to do a better job on game planning. Its like he knows he has powerful race car in the garage, but forgets he has a talented but raw "Cole Trickle" behind the wheel, who just learned to drive race cars watching ESPN, and not ready to be fully unleashed yet and a pit crew around him still learning to work with each other. Boom! "Days of Thunder" analogy and it totally works ? #DaysOfThunder #GoBills

Yeah I agree with that, but I will add thats more of a recent development based on the success of guys like Mahomes, Watson, Lamar and even Allen for that matter. They are seeing guys who are unconventional to the traditional QB come in and have success and present new challenges in how to defend them. Prior to this group, the closest was probably Wilson, but even he is more of a pocket passer with good mechanics. Totally agree on Goff...and the Bears last year were the first to really show the NFL the blueprint for that. Goff for me seems like a Matt Ryan ceiling type QB. I don't think he will ever be special, but he will be a pretty good QB for a long time in this league. But with all the Rams spending, they better not forget about the OL as that could be quite the achilles heal for them with Goff and could be the difference in becoming a SB champ or not.

Oh yeah I know that, I was writing more of a general comment in the discussion which is why I had said "For those who may have forgotten"...just really was another comment unrelated to you. Sorry if that wasn't clear I had originally replied to you with the first paragraph just supporting what you said and clarifying what the question marks were on Mahomes and that it was really about his college system and his mechanics that had divided people on him. Statistically he had a big year and wasn't eratic.

Might be the funniest thing you've ever said, literally laughed out loud when I read this. Nice work

Sorry but the OC is doing a bad job when on a big 3rd and 7 goes empty backfield then lines up DiMarco and Gore out wide as the ONLY receivers on the entire left side of the field. No other actual receivers over there...no Yeldon who is by far the best receiving back...no TE on that side...but DiMarco and Gore. Here is what I dont understand with your post here. Why does criticizing Daboll somehow translate to you as if it was meant to excuse Allens mistakes? You realize its possible in a team sport that more than one person can be making mistakes or not having their best game too right? Not once did I say Allens mistakes were all because of Daboll. However, I will say that Daboll called a poor game and was late on making the adjustments needed to help the offense find more rhythm. For me...Josh's biggest flaw is simple...He is highly competitive and he trusts his overall athleticism too much to the point he tries too hard to make/extend plays when its not there. It can lead to an ill advised throw using awful mechanics like the back foot throw and also to terrible sacks because he thinks he can keep avoiding and still get a ball off like when he cost us field position that cost us 2 FG's. Josh controls that aspect of his mistakes 100%, and he gets to own and improve on that. But Daboll also is responsible for creating the game plan and maximizing the strengths of his personnel to put them all in the best position for success out there. And Daboll (who I still like overall) has had his own mistakes (and respect to Daboll for acknowledging this too), and the first half was easily Daboll's worst this year so far.

The big knock on Mahomes was if his mechanics could translate to the NFL or would they need to be rebuilt to have NFL success. He was in an air raid offense, played with a street ball mentality and had questions regarding his mechanics. This is why he was a polarizing prospect where a lot of people disagreed on where he should be drafted ranging from top 10 to 2nd round. He was far from a slam dunk obvious pick, potential was always high with him, but he had plenty of risk to go along with that potential. Hard to fault us for not drafting him, not like he was graded as a Luck type prospect leading into the draft. For those who may have forgotten some perspective of draft night: We had a GM that was about to be out the door. We were coming off a season where the offense was 3rd in TD's behind only the Saints and Falcons in the 15 games TT played and averaging 26 points a game in those 15 starts. Our defense finished in the high teens, HOWEVER...we got a gimme fluke shoutout against the Pats who were without Brady, Jimmy G, and Gronk in week 4...if you remove that anomaly, in the other 15 games we were 26th in points per game allowed at 25 ppg. And if Brady had played week 4, he likely puts up at least 30 on us like he did a few weeks later and that would have dropped us to 28th. Our defense was atrocious. We had a rookie HC who was a defensive mind with defense being our worst unit on the field by a lot. We had a mobile QB who our new HC had not yet worked with who just led the Bills to the highest 2 year scoring period in team history outside the first 3 SB years and also just made 2 straight Pro Bowls in his only 2 years as a starter. It was clear he was limited as a pure passer, but we were still moving the ball and scoring with him at QB. The next years crop of college QB's was already being talked about as being one of the best in years. Pretty hard to fault that years regime for taking an extra first round pick and a defensive player (whose been excellent for us) under those circumstances. Its very easy to do it now, but on draft night, their decision wasn't really a bad one. Sometimes those decisions work out, and sometimes they don't. End of the day, the trade still worked out quite well for us as we still got a promising QB in Allen but also still landed Tre and Edmunds for our defense because of the trade down and the extra first rounder.

2nd half: Allen = TD (only one surrendered by Pats D) and we were on the move a second time before he got hurt. Josh is amongst the leaders in the NFL in 4th quarter rating and seems to always be stronger in the 2nd half. Barkley = Turnovers on Downs, missed critical completions on poor throws, and a game ending INT. Not saying Allen was crushing it in the 2nd half...but bottom line is once Daboll started getting Knox and Yeldon involved in the 2nd half, things overall got better for the offense compared to the first half where Daboll was trying to throw for 3rd down completions while using DiMarco and Gore out wide as the only receivers on the left side. A half where he continuously called a lot of deep routes rather than focus on giving Allen more options underneath to help get him in a rhythm sooner. I like Barkley, really happy he is our backup and I have confidence in him. But his second half mistakes were as costly as anyone else's that game.

I would counter and say that I dont know how anyone watched last Sundays game and did not see how the offense was playing better overall in the 2nd half when Daboll finally pulled his head out of his a**. Daboll was terrible in the first half. Lets not forget, once Daboll FINALLY started getting Yeldon and Knox involved in the passing game, we drove the field with Allen and put up the only TD on the Pats this year. Lets not forget, we were driving again when Allen was knocked out of the game. Lets not forget Barkley failed on 3 critical passes that all could have helped us win the game because he made very poor throws. Bottom line...I really like Barkely as our backup, he is certainly capable IMO. But nothing I have seen from him makes me believe he gives us the better chance to win on any given Sunday. Complicating it further is we have a dinged up OL that is already been inconsistent as they all try and learn to play together (and to be expected really with 4 new starters including a rookie). Allen's ability to extend plays and escape pressure has been substantially impactful in all of our games this year.

Couldnt agree more

Agree with all this, although I am definitely more optimistic on Dukes ability to help the team, at least more than Zay, Foster, and McKenzie have combined for through 4 games. Evans would be a huge get, but I just can’t see him being traded at all. I would love Diggs, but I’m skeptical he will be traded too, and if he is, not sure he can be had for a price tag Beane will be comfortable spending ahead of a draft with some special WR prospects in it. Sanders I think is the most possible and reasonably priced get IMO, and he would certainly be an upgrade still. However, while I would be stoked to get any of those WRs, I would still like to see what Duke could do first to see if we need to even make that move right now, especially given the top end WR prospects in this next draft. Not saying Duke is gonna be huge, but if he can diversify and compliment this offense enough for now, we can look at grabbing one of the stud prospects in the draft this year, even move up if needed using the assets we might have used in a trade to help get there.

What is this thread and how did it get to 3 pages?

Yeah agree with that. Plus I have seen a number of passes by Allen this year not get caught that should have been caught. Zay had the TD hit both hands against the Giants and failed to make the scoop that hit both his hands against the Pats. Foster dropped one on the sideline. Knox had a couple go right through his hands. And so on and so on. Having a big catch radius guy guy right now feels like it could be of value and help diversify the options for Josh. If you think about it, Brown and Cole are small and dominate targets. Our RBs are small targets. Only real target regularly involved that isn’t small is Knox and he’s still developing too. Be nice if Josh has more than 1 tiny option out there consistently involved to look for to help move chains who also has a big catch radius and reliable hands. Zay isnt tiny, but him and Josh can’t seem to find a groove or any chemistry either, so maybe Duke can build more rapport with him. And they don’t need to get rid of Zay to find out given they already have an open roster spot.

Huh? I’m on this board every single day way too many times. Never one time have I ever heard a rumor that Whaley and Pegulas wanted Mahomes, not once. So where was this rumor reported? Any links to anything citing that? Or was this more just basically fan speculation and there wasn’t really any substance to it? It’s possible I missed it, but honestly never once seen anything suggesting this.

When he was at the combine, he had not been playing and wasn’t in the same conditioning he was at start of season when he was being so highly regarded. All part of his maturity issues and off field stuff. Again, he’s clearly not a burner, but his combine also probably isn’t really an accurate barometer today to go off of as he wasn’t at his best at that time.

When you look at who the Redskins had on their coaching staff while Gruden has been the HC, it’s shockingly hilarious he still has his job. I mean they had some of the top young coaches in the NFL there, headlined by McVay. Gruden should be and likely will be first HC fired this year.

Zays draft spot is the only reason he still has a job, it’s the best thing that ever happened to him. Had he been a mid to late round pick or UDFA, he would have likely been cut after his atrocious rookie year and off season issues. And even if he survived that rookie year, he definitely would not still be on this roster today. Bills investment has given him a longer leash. Zay has been definitively outplayed in all 3 seasons by other WRs on the roster while also struggling with mistakes, drops, and off field stuff along the way too. And sorry, but I don’t care where he was drafted. I care about what he does on the field, and averaging 2.5 rec for 30 yards over 35 games sucks by itself. But the shaky hands, mistakes, inability to make tough catches, lack of in-game awareness, and general small catch radius are why people are upset with him. Does not matter to us how he got here, him being a disappointment based on where he was drafted is literally the smallest part to his disappointing story so far.

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2015/01/dhaquille_williams_will_begin.html Article reminding what his potential was before he got into the off field stuff. Duke was being talked about as the #1 WR draft prospect heading into his senior year. Also, his combine numbers were off because he had not been at his best after being suspended and not playing. He’s not as slow as the numbers suggest. Not a speed burner, but he is fast enough to play WR in the NFL. No chance he is activated this week if Josh isn’t cleared to play, they will need the open roster spot for Webb unless they want him active enough to also release another player. But if Josh is cleared, I do think there is a strong chance he will get the call this week.

Thats not what I think he means. I said the whole first half they need to get Knox and Yeldon involved to give Josh some safety valves and start getting a rhythm. Daboll called a terrible first half and then in the second half he did exactly what we were screaming to do in the first half and poof we scored a TD. Daboll needs to remember that we have 8 new players on offense to go with a second year QB who doesn’t even have a full seasons worth of games played yet. He’s got to put Josh in positions to find his rhythm before they start trying to push the ball down the field so much. Give him more options under neath.

No will not be happy with 3-2, especially since it would mean we lost 2 in a row in the AFC, including against a Titan team who could be competition for a playoff spot late in the season. I had us at 4-1 before the season started. I also won’t freak out either, lot of football left.

All good, but I would argue “not more rosterable” should be rephrased to say either “not quite ready” or “hasn’t had the opportunity” yet. I mean you’re kind of over looking the logistics of PS. If they felt it was a toss up for instance between Zay and Duke (Or Foster and Duke...or McKenzie and Duke even)...they aren’t going to risk Zay through waivers who will certainly get claimed after being a recent 2nd round pick and having some production. I mean Zay and Foster in preseason had trade value too, so they would trade one before cutting one. 0% chance Zay or Foster could have been snuck through waivers and put on PS. And even if they did, they would have other teams still offering them active 53 spots after clearing waivers. Duke had a much better chance sneaking through waivers given he didn’t get a lot of snaps until late in preseason and had no NFL resume really yet. McKenzie was less a sure thing to get claimed, but they also kept him because they badly needed ST help from the WR position as Cole and Brown weren’t going to play ST and Zay and Foster had never played ST. So McKenzie had an edge over Duke in terms of ST contributions. PS is also something GMs manage strategically. So all I’ve been saying it’s not always so cut and dry as you put it. Either way, we agree it would be good to see if he has anything to offer more than the trio of Zay, Foster, and McKenzie have thus far. GoBills