st pete gogolak

Point of the post is not revisionist history or wishful thinking. Some injuries are devastating, some not as much. If Hyde and Poyer play yesterday, we 100% win that game. Probably win in Miami as well. If Poyer can come back healthy and team with Hamlin, I think we'll be ok.

This is NOT an excuse. EVERY team suffers injuries. Baltimore's season was wiped out last year with injuries. Chargers this year. Pittsburgh lost the Defensive Player of the Year for half a season. But if Hyde and Poyer were healthy and played every game this year, I believe this team is 9 - 0, maybe 8 - 1 (possible would have lost Jets debacle regardless). It's pretty obvious that they are the heart and soul of this defense. Right now, forget about home field. Goals: (1) cross your fingers we are healthy as possible going into playoffs; (2) clean up the turnovers; (3) find a way to run for first downs on 2nd and short and 3rd and short.

Defense needs either Hyde (obviously he won't be there) or Poyer back there. It's a big problem when they are both out. It's kind of crazy but I keep thinking the season turned during a win. Leading GB 27 - 10, Cook carries it down to the GB 3. Second and goal. Run it twice and kick the FG or run it three times and score a TD or pin GB deep. Instead, incompletion , then Interception. GB makes it tiny bit of a nailbiter. Same type of thing happened over and over today. Refusal to run on second and short or third and short or when we did, couldn't make a yard or two. Aren't going to win a Super Bowl if you can't gain a yard or two on the ground when you need it. Oh, yeah Dorsey's play-calling is awful.

Last three second halves and OT; zero touchdowns, four field goals, five interceptions (four in the red zone), one fumble, outscored 43 - 9 defense gashed over and over by the run. Brutal, brutal, brutal.

This thread got me to thinking about 2023 (I still believe in 2022!) and what the Bills defense might look like and how resources should finally flow to the offense. So what could D look like next year: CB - White, D. Jackson, T. Johnson, Elam, Benford. You can't be any more stacked than this. No FA's, no draft choices. S - If Hyde is healthy (obviously, big if) I don't see them holding on to Poyer. Love Poyer but Hamlin can play SS with Hyde next to him. I'd like to see Neal backing up one of the spots. No FA's, maybe a late draft choice. Wouldn't mind not seeing J. Johnson on the field again. OLB - Milano backed up by Bernard. No FA's, no draft choices. ILB - I don't think they resign Edmunds. I'd like to see them try to pry Bobby Wagner off the Rams or someone similar. Vet with instincts and aggression but not the athleticism of Edmunds. Or resign Dodson as a cheaper alternative. Can Spector be a viable backup? DE - Miller, Rousseau, Epenesa, Basham. Let Lawson walk. No FA's, no draft choices. DT - Oliver (same deal as Edmunds this year - let him play out fifth year and see if it is worth resigning him), Jones, Settle. Let Phillips walk. No FA's, maybe middle round draft choice. That leaves a lot of room to upgrade at OL, WR, possibly RB. Defense should be fine.

What an incredibly bad take. Is this sarcasm? Bad awareness in the pocket? His right tackle was beat like a drum and he was trying to make a throw.

I'm looking at team disappointments rather than individual players, especially problems that have seemed problems for some time. I thought that the run defense was fixed with revamped D Line. Last two games were a tremendous disappointment. Offensive line and running attack. I really like Spencer Brown and the offseason maladies and the ankle sprain haven't helped but yet again, the offensive line is an issue and a consistent non-QB running game is a mirage. Couple that with a couple of lousy games from Josh and more injuries than we are used to (we've been awfully lucky in that respect for the last couple of years) and 6 - 2 seems just about right. Not giving up on this year by a long, long shot but (1) run D has to be fixed and (2) offense has to find some balance.

What sets me over the edge about a game like this is that after six games this season you could say a couple of things confidently about this team: (1) run defense is much improved and (2) our QB is front runner for MVP. Questions about the offensive line? Sure. Lack of running game outside of Allen? OK. But what lets us down in the last 2 games (run D) and last 6 quarters (QB play) are the things that absolutely aren't supposed to happen. I still don't get the run D. It wasn't just the stats (1st or 2nd in YPG and YPA in the league) but they were passing the eyeball test. Teams just weren't having any success running on them. Last two games? Poof. It all goes away. I'd be interested in any film study that could really break down teh difference between first six and last two games. Josh? Unless it's an injury, it's really inexplicable.

Have we lost 8 straight coin flips or do we not defer if we win the toss? I thought losing the toss (or not deferring) bit us in the rear today. Jets score late first half and control opening drive of second half. Both losses involve missed from Bass (yeah, 55 yards but it would have restored some momentum going into the half. Both losses have horrible plays from Q-Berry directly contributing to loss. Ugh.

Actually, I think Burris and Rogers elevates this in the decent category, let alone not "worst of all time". Marlo Perry and Lonnie Johnson has some moments as well. Not great, but far from terrible.

The title of the thread was more for effect than anything. Of course, Broncos' 2018 draft wasn't worst of all time. Many, many drafts were worse. I guess the point I was trying to make is that unless you have Allen, Mahones, Brady in his prime, etc. you have to evaluate your QB situation every single year. Someone pointed out that Keenum wasn't a Bronco at draft time. I didn't realize that but it makes the Broncos situation that year even more puzzling. At #5, they had firepower to move up (possibly) to get a QB. Did they do their homework on Allen (who played next door at Wyoming for goodness sakes) and didn't believe him worthy? Just puzzling draft from that perspective.

The GB game was just weird. I mean really weird. Run D has been absolutely magnificent all year long, including games against Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Against GB, they were absolutely gouged. No sugar coating it, both first half and second half. Offense looked great first half and first drive of second half (probably go in for TD without the holding call). Josh was fine in second half (Knox and Davis with early drops) until the play he was tackled OB on the drive that resulted in a FG. After that, he was pretty bad, missing throws he makes in his sleep. Add in some really questionable play calling and it amounted to a strange, kind of unsatisfying game. But a win is a win and in two weeks no one will remember anything but the win.

Didn't Baugh play DB as well and have at least one year with double digit INT's? Crazy stuff. Different era.

Hey, the Bills have messed up more than their share of drafts and no, it's not the worst ever. But this isn't really looking at what the Broncos have done in hindsight. They decided to stick with Case Keenum in a QB rich draft. Kind of crazy.

OK, maybe not the absolute worst in NFL history but they are sitting at #5 in a supposedly historic QB class and their QB is Case Keenum. Not only do they not draft Josh Allen but they turn down a trade with the Bills because they absolutely, positively have to have Bradley Chubb at #5. They churn through Keenum, Paxton Lynch and Drew Lock and decide they are a QB away from the Super Bowl and give the farm away for what looks like a washed Russell Wilson. The cherry on top is now trading Chubb for a #1. What a frickin' disaster.

This is a nice coup for the Bank of America investment banking group. Usually, this would go to Goldman or JP Morgan.

It would be nice, I don't know, give it to a running back and have the running back rush it into the endzone. It would certainly throw the opposing team for a loop.

There's a time and place for everything. For example, after the Cook catch and then the Cook run, we had a second and goal from the three yard line with a little over ten minutes left in the game and a 27 - 10 lead. I'm sorry but the call there should have been to run on second down. If you don't get in, run on third down and if you still aren't in, either kick the field goal or go for it on fourth down. You are either up 34 - 10, 30 - 10 or 27 - 10 and GB has the ball around the one yard line with about 8 minutes left. I'd really like to see if this team is capable of bull rushing the ball into the end zone from inside the five.

OK, problem solved. Didn't know time out was called in Colts game and that it is ok to take helmet off during time out. Much appreciated explanation. Call against Moore was still ticky tack as my understanding of the rule is that once you are off field of play, it's ok to take helmet off. Moore didn't remove helmet until he was off field of play.

So how many seconds do you have to wait before you can take your helmet off in the field of play?

Moore started to take his helmet off just as he was exiting boundary of end zone and it didn't come off until he was clearly outside the boundary of the end zone. Result? 15 yard penalty that may have cost Panthers the game. McLaurin makes great catch near the end of the game against Indy, takes his helmet off in the middle of the field after the play. Result? Nothing. Washington wins the game on one yard plunge. Is there a rationale for all of this or is it just ad hoc sometimes I'll enforce the rules and sometimes I won't? Also, not much was discussed about this but how could a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct NOT be called on Douglas after the Diggs touchdown. After the play was over he picked up Diggs and threw him to the ground. It didn't impact game and Bills had plenty of calls go their way but come on, try to be consistent!!

I have no idea whether Singletary will be resigned after this year. I do know that there are an unbelievable number of very good running backs who will be on the market next year which will (1) depress the RB market and potentially make resigning Singletary economically feasible and (2) if we don't resign him, we should be able to sign a good back on the cheap to pair with Cook.

I didn't suggest that this would be a WINNING strategy. It's almost the ONLY strategy the Jets can employ to stay in the game. My real question is whether we put a third LB on the field from the get-go to counter any heavy O the Jets put on the field. From experience, it just doesn't seem like the Bills like to do that, especially if it takes Taron Johnson off the field.

He opened with a very good game against LA, missed Tenn with ankle injury, shouldn't have played against Mia and Balt because he was obviously not close to 100%, came back with monster game against Pitt and very good game against KC. Admittedly, he had a poor game last night but there's no way they are going to attempt to pick someone up to replace Davis as starter (including OBJ coming off ACL tear). Not going to happen.

I haven't watched the Jets much this year but I did watch yesterday's game against the Pats. No way do they put the game in Wilson's hands. I think he will be on a very tight leash. I know that Hall and their best O Lineman are out but I can certainly see them running all sorts of heavy, two tight end sets, try to grind the clock, rely on their defense to keep it close, etc. My question is whether we stay 4-2-5 if they go heavy. After our game yesterday, I assume the answer is yes. Not sure it's a great answer.