Buddo

Happens quite a bit with the lower round picks. The list being looked at is more about the early round guys.

As reards Allen and trying to be 'Superman', I think we will have to beg to differ Shaw. I understand perfectly what you are saying about the 'process' and it's undeniably logical. But it still won't stop the kid from taking a shot too often, now and again. He's simply too competitive, not to. The 'process' is going to be there, to try and make him reduce the instances of this. As it's a process, the goal would be to stop all instances of 'hero ball'. I just don't think that is possible with Allen's competitive instincts. Tbh, I don't want that attitude taken away from him. He will make some of those throws, because he has that amount of ability. I want him to take his shots. What I do want also though, is a better understanding of the when and where to take the shot, much of which will come with both experience and coaching. While there's only so much time to get a play off, there should be enough time in that, to make the point about not making an error, especially when you aren't far from the half, with a lead. i.e. no hero ball, take what you are given. Just to be clear, I'm by no means down on Allen, I just see that particular int before the half, as a prime learning experience.

Good stuff as usual Shaw. While it wasn't in the OP, I'm quite taken with the idea that Kyle was the last playing link to the Wilsons, and also Marv Levy. Levy wanted to take Kyle in the 4th round, but Modrak persuaded him to wait, as he thought he would still be available in the 5th. Modrak was, obviously correct. But so was Marv, as he still knew a footballer, when he saw one. It's also almost a microcosm of his career, undervalued at the price point, yet appreciated way beyond that. As a team, an organisation, and a fanbase, I was delighted by the way the Bills responded to Kyle Sunday. There will be very few players who get that sort of send off to their career end. Classy all around. Augie has the right of it though, both Allen and Edmunds gave us a tantalizing glimpse of what the future may hold for both of them. After letting the 'Fins right back into the game playing 'hero ball' just before the half, Allen comes back out and puts the record straight, with a long solid drive to put the Bills back ahead. A needed display of both composure in the young guy, and learning from the mistake. Thing is, I think we are always going to get this from Allen. He is such a fierce competitor when he hits the field, that I don't think he can stop himself occasionally. Where he needs to get better, is in recognising when he is about to have a 'Superman' moment, and abort it. But what a joy to see a Bills QB who not only just wants to make plays down the field, but has both the arm, and legs to do so. He also needs to improve his touch on some throws, and also get his feet better set when just dumping the ball off, but much of that will come with both reps, and familiarity with his receivers. He's quite capable of making touch throws, and I think with better trust with his receivers, you will see more of them. Edmunds did pretty much most things right. If your MLB ends up on the winning team, makes the most tackles, gets a sack, and an interception, he's pretty much having a good day. His athleticism and speed were on show plenty, and I'm of the belief that he's only going to get stronger. As pointed out in one of the PCs yesterday (and I've already said it elsewhere myself recently), he hasn't actually stopped growing yet, as he's still just 20 years old. Commentary on the game made the interesting point, that he might still be the youngest guy on the team, after another draft class, and going into his second season. Talk about promise and potential. While I may have a myriad of small concerns over schemes, coaching, coaches etc., it does appear to me that the swing for the fences from McDermott and Beane, over Allen and Edmunds, is going to work, and could well become a masterstroke for the Bills future over the next many years. Our HC and GM, now have to work their butts off, to use the cap space and picks we have, to get more talent on this team, where it's needed.. While the season end has filled me with optimism, especially at younger players development, this was still a 6-10 team, so work has to be done.

I'm annoyed by this. You knew when Walt was the head zebra, that we were going to get shafted, him retiring completely muddies those waters. ;(

I voted both, but more in hope than expectation. Neither had much to work with, but were still not up to snuff imho. We’ve definitely had better in the not too distant past. There’s got to be better guys out there, especially with all the changes happening elsewhere.

It has been, it's in the other thread though - the prep one.

Good stuff. I particularly was impressed with how detailed Hughes obviously is, even to during games, where he's still trying to find an edge. One of the best, and most one sided trades, the Bills have ever made.

Sorry to see him go, but perfectly understandable. Many thanks for simply bringing it, every time you went on the field. There isn't a better example around, of how to prepare and play. All the best for the future.

Couldn't agree more. Gragg was the last failed project from a previous regime, but there seem to have been numerous others.

Me, I'd get rid of the lot of our so-called TEs. Clay is done, and the rest have had their chances. Thomas has been around for years, and still isn't any good. Croom has had two years, and although he's flashed ability, he's also nowhere near being starter quality. As his blocking is rubbish, he's not really even a useful backup at this point. Even with prior staffs, we seem to keep trying to develop TEs, for years, and none of them have amounted to anything. We need to go to FA for a proven vet, and draft someone who actually knows how to play the position in the first place.

The media 'draftnks' aren't always the brightest bulbs around. Kiper, for years, had us taking an OT in the first round, because we never replaced Jason Peters. A lot of those guys don't really watch the actual teams in the season, so aren't that well versed in where our needs are. They look at rankings and go off of that, a lot of the time. The D isn't ranked badly, so we won't go there to start with, would be a typical rationale, imho.

I think you're missing the point - it wasn't about where someone might prefer to go, it was about the fact that although the Jests will have a greater amount of cap space available, they also have an awful lot more roster places to fill with it. Iirc, the Bills will have 39 guys under contract for 2019, whereas the Jests only have something like 30. Chances are they will have less to spend if they have to re-sign a greater number of their own guys than the Bills do. I'm not sure there's anyone we actually need to re-sign.

As regards the Jests having more cap space than us, well they certainly do. Thing is, they have a lot less guys already under contract for next year, so we may well be in a better position than them.

As we currently don't have a TE worth anything at all on the roster, I'd take grandson of Jack any day of the week, and twice on Sundays. We've had 'potential' stick around far too much in the past, and do nothing, and we've done it again with Thomas, and tbh, Croom (although I would have kept Croom also). How about we hang on to a few guys who actually know what they are supposed to be doing at their position, you don't build a roster without having some guys who are just adequate but at TE this year, 'just adequate', would have been an enormous improvement, over what we witnessed. Personally, I'd cut every TE we currently have on the roster. Go get a solid vet in FA, and look to draft a young guy or two.

Iirc, wasn't Stanford carted off at some point on early Sunday? So the 'depth' disappeared early. Something else that didn't help.

I think McCoy can come back and still play well, but it has to be with far better line play. I actually think he's lost confidence since his return. None of our RBs this year has looked any good, tbh, so I'm far more inclined to blame the O-Line than any of the backs specifically. As they have all shown they can do it in the past. It wouldn't surprise me if the emphasis for the O-Line has been changed to making sure Allen stays upright - or at least as best they can. I also think with a bit more creativity, you can still get a lot out of him, he should have been being used as a WR way more often, as he can actually catch a football, but I can also see that they might decide to move on from him.

Edmunds has had some very off days, but also some pretty good ones. I think people are being too hard on the kid, too soon. Losing Milano hurts, especially when you trust what he's doing. There's also the 'rookie wall' to consider, that and the fact he's barely into his 20's. Probably hasn't even physically stopped growing yet. While we will certainly need to invest in another LBer in the off season, our depth being non-existent, I don't think we need to be specifically looking at a MLB. I also like Edmunds size in the middle, for narrowing down passing lanes, there's some serious height and wingspan therew.

Tbh, I read a fair bit of that article the other day. Imho, you can use analytics for individual assessments, reasonably well, combined with knowledge of assignments etc. I don't think you can use it especially well in actual games. While there are certain things within games it can be useful for - the examples of 2 point situations and when to go for it on 4th down, are useful pointers - I simply don't think it can cope with the overall strategy demands, that a game places upon the players and coaches. It might be able to identify weaker aspects of an opponents play, but it isn't going to be able to tell you when to actually attack those aspects. Now that the players are being tracked by GPS, there is increasing amounts of individual data available, and we've already heard about guys having their practises altered, as they are already up at a high level of stress, to try and reduce the chance of injury. There are lots of little ways you can find value in all of this data, but it still isn't going to be able to do anything other than be an additional tool to help. Probably the biggest help it can/will have is in roster building , especially in FA. It can probably also be useful in determining if you are getting 'bang for your buck' from players, or for what to pay certain positions, based off of scheme. Overall, I think the use of analytics, can be very helpful in making the best informed decisions you can, but ultimately, the games still have to be played, and analytics can't do that for you.

Maybe, maybe not. The OP was still way under with his 'spend', so there's plenty of 'wriggle room', especially for an O-Line guy or two. While performance wise it can be argued Beane overpaid for your named trio, we don't really know if he did, as we don't know what (if any) other offers they may have had. If there's so much money going around, it probably isn't 'overspend,' as much as market rates that are being pushed higher, due to teams having plenty of spare cash. Fwiw, in general terms, I like what the OP has outlined. What remains to be seen, is if Beane etc. can identify the right guys to both go after, and to get.

This is a good point. We could quite easily find a guy in the 2nd or 3rd round who McDermott can coach up. For any other faults he may have, identifying talent at DB, is not one of them. That being the case, I'd rather take the youth, tbh, but if McBeane decided to go after Peterson, I couldn't argue about it, due to how well they know DBs.

I suppose at least the need is recognised. Doesn't mean we will draft him, at least not there, if there's a bluechip talent still available.

There were plenty, you must have just missed them. I've not re-watched it, but if I do, I'll try and do a count of how many. There also seemed to be a fair few helmet to helmet hits that the zebras let go - not so much on Allen, although I'm pretty sure there was at least one, that even the commentators mentioned as a should have been flagged.

We need to find a solid receiver in FA, like a Robert Woods (I know he's not available, but like him), and then go after a true #1 in the draft as I don't believe a true #1 will be available in FA. Something similar has also to apply with the O-Line. Except we could do with a couple of starters there. We desperately need a better center. Bodine was the best we had, but he wasn't good enough. Right Tackle also. And a Guard. There's some talk about a decent Center becoming available in FA, his name escapes me, but we need to go get him. We should probably draft one also, tbh, maybe stick him in at guard for a couple of years, like we did with Wood. The guy from the Panthers, at RT would be a good signing, if his knee is okay, as he's a proven commodity, rather than a cast off/marginal guy. Like Star in that respect. You know he can play and start. I'm not sure about keeping Miller. I find it almost impossible to evaluate his play, due to being between a sub standard center, and a crap RT, talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I'm not convinced he's as big a problem as many others think, and he might be at least valuable depth. At TE we need to find a vet who can block, and who is available weekly, a guy who can catch passes like TEs are supposed to do (FA again if possible), and draft a better prospect for once. It's all very well trying to develop guys, but they never seem to work out, and aren't talented enough to begin with. McDermott seems very good at developing DBs, so he should use the development spots for them, and not mess about with positions where we have had no success. There are other areas we need to improve in, but aside from expressing concerns at the RB group, which I like the blend of - but they can't seem to stay on the field these days - I'll leave it at that.

First half the Bills started well, and got a decent lead. Then our not very special teams happened. All the momentum that had been built up in gaining the lead, was evaporated by horrid STs play. What could have been a repeat from a few weeks ago, suddenly became a game again, due to STs incompetence. I understand where you are coming from on this Shaw, but I don't think truly, this was a game that we should have found a way to win. What we should have done,was found the way not to lose it, and we didn't due to (largely) STs play. Allen aside, with McCoy crocked (and not looking too great anyway this year), we simply don't have enough offensive talent, to think we can find ways to get past the winning line at the death of games. There are one or two bright spots (Foster and to a lesser extent, McKenzie), but the talent isn't there to do enough consistently well, to presume we should be able to grab a win.

This is turning ugly. Refs are turning a blind eye to a lot of late hits, and hits to the head, from the Jests. As much as I don't like it happening, someone will have to give some back in kind. It'll either then stop, or will all kick off properly. You don't turn the other cheek to some of this crap the Jests are pulling.