Thurman#1

Erik didn't say Brady "doesn't have the scheme to beat the defensive tendencies emerging." That's way more definitive than what he said., It implies he will never be able to handle it with his scheme, and that's way more than Erik ever said or appeared to mean. He did say that Brady will have to do a better job scheming to beat those coverages, and that appears to be very correct to me. Unless the Bills can learn to handle this variation they're getting, it will be a long season. I'm all but sure they'll scheme better and handle these variations better. But how much better? Most of this group hasn't played together or with Brady before. It'll take time to smooth the rough edges, without question. Even with the edges smoothed, will they be good enough to be legitimate contenders. That's the concern.

He wouldn't be immediately WR1 on this team. He'd maybe be in the mix. Love the young and cheap bit, but while I like the guy I don't think as much of him as you obviously do. Can't see them bringing in a guy who stays at home cuz he feels ignored. Diggs didn't stay home but still didn't fit here. They should always kick the tires but no, I don't see it.

The defense won the Miami game? Um, no. The defense played terrific. So did the offense. Fair enough not to be convinced by four games (although it's also fair to say it ain't four games, the offense was much much better last year after Brady stepped in). Still, if you throw out last year, four games isn't much, but for those four games the offense played very well in three. Pretty bad in the other, yes, but overall this season pretty damn well.

It's pretty much the nature of trick plays. If they work you're a genius and if they don't you're an idiot. They only work sometimes. More, as with any other play, it ain't just about play design. It's also about player execution. Something very weird happened there, that's immensely clear. But what? Samuel and Josh very obviously didn't work things the way they'd been called. Josh is running right, Samuel throws the ball behind Josh, who has to stop and turn around. Dunno what was supposed to happen there but I know that things didn't go the way they'd practiced it. Kincaid is lined up standing pretty close to in front of Van Noy, the only one with a shot at blocking him, but instead he runs right and sets up to block the right side of the pocket. He wouldn't have done that if Allen had actually been tasked with running left. My guess is Allen was supposed to run right back into the pocket and set up there, and that they thought this might blunt the pocket rush. But whatever, assuming this was all a terribly called play rather than a terribly executed play or maybe a bit of both, is overreaching. Might've been doomed from the get-go. Or it might have worked if they'd done it right. Who 100% knows? Not us, or anyone really. I don't like the call but the execution sure looked bad as well.

Nah. If Tua were still playing as he was in the Bills game, the Fins are a good team. And the Cards have played a damn tough schedule, Bills, Lions and Commanders so far, they don't look good but probably not that bad either. Baltimore really did run all over us, but as Joe Marino said, they were playing light boxes nearly the whole game. That was nuts. They weren't putting the players in position to succeed, which they did own up to after the game.

Well, I've been wrong before. If I'm wrong again, it won't be the first time. But why does Ginitti say this, then? "The move does lower his cap hit in 2025 for now by about $15 million." You're saying his 2025 cap hit jumps from $30M to $43M. Ginitti say it's lowered. You also say, "They restructured Josh to free up space this year, kicking the can down the road." Yeah? If so, why does Ginitti say "Giving Allen more money in 2024 actually resulted in a net zero on his cap hit"? You're right (and I'M WRONG!!!!!) about one thing, though, I thought that this raised the team cap totals for this year. Clearly I'm wrong about that, as Ginitti says the cap for this year doesn't change. MEA CULPA!! Wrong is wrong and I'm wrong there!!! I saw that blue line in Ginitti's article and thought it was the end. On re-reading, it was not. There was plenty more to read. According to Ginitti, Josh's cap hits go like this: Cap details from March 2024 (after the re-structure but before this last move): 2024 cap hit: $30.4M 2025 cap hit: $60.7M 2026 cap hit: $56.431M 2027 cap hit: $49.5M 2028 cap hit: $45.725M Cap details AFTER Summer 2024 renegotiation where the $30M is moved forward 2024 cap hit: $30.4M (no change) 2025 cap hit: $43.4M 2026 cap hit: $56.431M 2027 cap hit: $57M 2028 cap hit: $48.225M Again, Ginitti's numbers, not mine. So looks like he cleared up space in 2025, kept the hits the same this year and added a bit extra in 2027 and 2028. and in And doing so he also moved up a ton of cash payments to Josh this year, a very nice carrot for Josh. I think we were both partly wrong. I love that they freed up cap space in 2025. I guess they must feel that the total team cap numbers will go up enough by 2027 and 2028 that they'll be able to better manage and offset the extra cap money it will cost in those years. Again, a smart move by Beane, and one that makes Josh happy.

(EDIT: These numbers, especially about this year's cap hit, are wrong. Don't want to change the post below, as I always try to own it when I'm wrong. But I also don't want to spread misinfo, and I was wrong about some of the specifics in this post. Very sorry about that.) The contract was fair beforehand. This wasn't about fairness. It was about taking more money into this year's cap and freeing up space in 2025 and 2028. This is the year when we eat dead money, and now extra salary for Josh. With this move, though, the future gets even brighter. I gotta wear shades. Smart move by Beane. It's good for both parties. Josh gets extra money earlier, financially better for Josh. The Bills get more pain this year and more freedom later. I love it. It's interesting how the first move, the re-structure to spread out the hit, took place before the Diggs trade. Although there's no exact date, the move to move the money hit back to this year almost certainly came after the Diggs trade resulted in the major dead cap hit and the lack of a clear #1 WR.

Um, yeah. Really. Without the slightest question. Vegas has us this week as the fourth favorites. But nice work on the GIF. Works great even if your point was dumb.

Nonsense. For the ten millionth time, the Chiefs won a title last year with a group that was worse. Yes, they also had a very good TE. So do we. A generational talent at QB allows you to be very effective without being forced to spend a ton on WRs. As has been been pointed out, again, about ten million times, they expected to have Diggs still here, till he forced his way out. He admits that's true and that he made it happen. Everybody eats is indeed a catchphrase, but it's also a very reasonable approach in terms of these circumstances. Yeah, damn it, and for a team with zero wins, we ... ... oh, wait, we're 3 - 1. Relax, Chicken Little.

Rasul Douglas. Amari Cooper to the Cowboys. Christian McCaffrey. Minkah Fitzpatrick. Marshawn Lynch. Jalen Ramsey. There are a bunch.

Probably not. Largely due to cap consequences. If they can bring in someone without major consequences, great. But generally the big names aren't cheap and if they are they'd require major trade value, probably a 2nd rounder or more. IMO if they bring someone in, it won't be one of the top names, someone mid-range and not too expensive.

Reasonable supposition. Could also be an injury involved. But also could be some regression. I'm hopeful but something's wrong. Brown was recovering from a pretty serious back injury and surgery. It happens.

Right now, safety. Not sure anyone is available, but if there were one, that's where I'd go.

With observational skills like those, you won't be missed. This team has been one of the absolute best in the league for years and they're still top 7 or 8 and competitive for a possible title in a year when they had to get rid of some core players for cap reasons. If that's not enough for ya, fine. Don't feel you have to hurry back. Yeah, this.

Looking forward to 2025? At 3-1? Seriously? That's some weird *****, IMO. I'll look forward to 2025, but not any time soon. If / when we get knocked out of the playoffs, that'll be the time for that.

It's both. Guys like Losman, Fitz and Tyrod would have been better with this group than they were with theirs. But not as good as Allen has been. Playoff contenders, but not beyond that, IMO.

This is it. You either include the Super Bowl or you don't. If you do, the Chiefs have to be first. If you only include this year, the Bills have been more impressive. Hard to get upset either way, IMO.

Top 15 - 20 CB salaries are between $10.25 and $13M /yr, according to Spotrac. That's not happening, not even close. They will need to spend quite a bit more. And they should, though not anything he asks.

Tish, you spoke French.

Yeah, agreed. Even between this year and last year placement and ball speed as well has really gotten better on the short balls, IMO. And he just seems more willing to take those shorter throws rather than hoping something will open up later. Orlovsky was on One Bills Drive last night Chris Brown and Chris said this, "I don't know what it is, but there was a play last night, he thought for a half a second about throwing a 40 yard rope to the end zone on a low percentage play and he checks it down instead to Cook and it goes for 15 yards and my eyes opened up really big and I said, 'Oh, my Gosh, that was a Mahomes-like decision right there that he just made on the check-down to Cook.' It's a small sample but I'm wondering if we're seeing a maturation of Josh with that decision-making that makes him even more consistent." Orlovsky said, "Yeah, I absolutely think you are, it sounds like you are as well when you sit there and you talk with him and you hear him kind of share how he's feeling in the offense. ... I'll go back two or three years ago, sitting with Brandon Beane talking about where Josh at least in that moment they were hoping that Josh was going to get kind of where he sits right now. And Brandon said, 'it's my job that I have to put enough people around him that he feels okay with making some of those decisions, that if you do check the ball down that there's a person there worthy of checking the ball down to and that you can go get 12 or 15 yards.' When you rattle off the names, the sum is greater than the individual parts. It reminds me of 2017 when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, there wasn't this thousand yard receiver or this superstar." This hit the nail on the head for me. The Beane quote there isn't that we have to get him a Diggs, it was that they have to get him "enough people around him that he feels okay with making some of those decisions." They didn't want to get rid of Diggs, but they did want to bring in a lot of guys that made Josh feel comfortable. I think Josh has improved and the situation he's in isn't as bad with guys to catch the ball as many had feared.

Nah. Not so. It'll be well before February. Having said that, you're right that with three games, the sample size is still too small by quite a bit. That's a reasonable point.

Yup. This is consistent refrain here. History shows guys do get those opportunities, but not as early as Bills fans think they will. Daboll, according to these boards, was a sure thing to be gone after 2020. And look how well things have turned out - so far - for him in NYC.

Check Joe Marino's podcast yesterday. He had Dr. Kyle Trimble on and he had some interesting things to say, overall positive.

In fairness, that was a legal pick for Keon. But other teams do it all the time, why shouldn't the Bills?

He was a lot of fun to watch. Great player. RIP.