Utah John

Sorry warrior I missed your post. I have had this idea for a while and finally got around to posting it.

I think the NFL must be contacting potential replacement players to see if they'll agree to show up, before announcing their names. Saffold and Huntley must have been the only guys who answered the phone.

The NFL has this strange procedure for calling delay of game penalties when the play clock expires. Sometimes it seems a QB will have a full extra second, but not always. With all the high-resolution technology available for almost everything else, why use this subjective approach? When the play clock expires, sound a horn (like in basketball) and have lights on the sidelines go on, so no one can mistake when the snap is late. This seems like a very easy, and fair, way to go.

This is sensible but the Bills don't allocate enough roster spots to O linemen to make it happen. They have dozens and dozens of D linemen (or so it seems) for four positions, but only about 8 O linemen for 5 positions. The big reason they traded away Wyatt Teller was that he still needed time to develop, and they didn't want to waste a slot on him.

Watching what KC's D line did against the Bengals was very disappointing, because the Bills with all those high picks couldn't do anything similar. The Bills were supposed to blow up the Cinci offense because of the three replacement O linemen. Instead Cinci ran for over 150 yards, and Burrow was hardly touched. Epenesa and Basham are both busts, and will likely stick around for another year or so only because they're warm bodies on their cheap rookie contracts. Also because Beane drafted them, and who wants to admit such a terrible mistake?

I don't know about long-term, but there are more serious problems to fix. I think both guards need to be replaced before RT.

The nail in the coffin for Oliver for me, was that he completely disappeared against three backups on the Bengals' O line. The Bills big advantage in that game was supposed to be that we could disrupt the Bengals' offense because of their O line injuries, and it turned out to be the opposite. Wanna bet that KC's D line finds a way to beat that Bengals O line?

Tyler Bass should be off-limits too. Now that we have a dependable kicker, and a young one at that, we should keep him right where he is.

It's natural after a playoff loss to be looking at what's not good enough, but it would be good to review the things that went well also. Which veteran players were better than previous years, or better than expectations? Miller turned out to be pretty good punter, and Bass has been rock solid, getting better and better each year. Mitch Morse continues to play well. Matt Milano has turned into a real star, and the Bills did well to sign him already for a team friendly salary. Knox became a better receiver and a better blocker, and I'm glad he's on the team. Rousseau had a better year than last year. Hines had a few big players on ST but never got integrated into the O. DaQuan Jones was usually our best D lineman not named Von Miller. Unfortunately that's about it for the good news. As for players who didn't improve, Allen was injured and he had to screw around with his throwing motion, which really did hurt his passing. At the end of the year, teams spied Allen and suddenly he couldn't break off those runs, and at the same time he started missing easy throws he always makes. (The overthrow to Diggs on the Bills first possession of the Bengals game showed that Allen is just not himself. I think the Bills would still have lost if they had scored on that play, which was right there for the taking, but you've got to take the chances that come your way.) Diggs did not disappoint. His production was down largely because Gabe Davis sucked so much and Allen struggled from time to time, but Diggs was always there, getting open and making catches. Which draft picks worked out? I think Elam was meh, not a star at least not yet, but he was playing in a very unsettled secondary. He could turn into a consistent, long-term JAG, but that's about it. Cook got better and better through the season, but he's so small I'm concerned he's at risk for injury -- and his game is all about quickness so if he wrecks a knee and loses even a little bit, he's done. Shakir and Benford, also good. I don't know if Shakir will ever be a serious threat but he's better than any of our other options for WR3. (Wouldn't it be nice to have Isaiah Hodgins? Look what he did with the Giants when he got his opportunity.) Terrel Bernard -- I had to look him up, he was so invisible this year. A third rounder. Jeez. And Matt Araiza, also jeez. Wasn't there another O lineman we could have drafted for depth with that pick? We got a perfectly good punter off the street. Oh yeah, Luke Tenuta was a O lineman. He couldn't stick with the Bills OR the Colts, and he's barely playing for the Packers. Overall, is that a good enough draft? I just don't think so. As for disappoinments, there's a long list. Gabe Davis is at the top. I think he must have had at least one dropped pass in every game, but some of that is down to having to make contested catches because he's so bad at getting separation. Ed Oliver continues to vanish completely sometimes for entire games. Edmunds is doing what Frazier wants, taking up space, but he's a responsive player who chases down the opponent after the opponent makes a play. He is NOT a threat to make plays for a loss, or to stop an RB in the hole before he gets the first down. Maybe he could be that guy, with a different D scheme under a different D coordinator. Jordan Poyer, man, hats off to him for holding things together when he wasn't injured, but (a) he WAS injured a lot, and (b) that's not surprising considering his age, and (c) even when he was there, he wasn't as good as last year. Hyde's absence probably had a lot to do with it. Finally, the coaching was less good than last year. Teams have been figuring the Bills out for a couple of years. The D is the same as always, so other teams have figured out how to attack it. And on offense, other teams have figured out our pass routes and are playing to stop what we do best. And they have all seen how helpful it is to spy Allen, as I mentioned. Where's the innovation on either D or O? It's going to be tough to stay on top of the AFCE. The Dolphins are getting better, and if they replace Tua with Lamar Jackson, holy crap that's going to be hard to stop. The Jets D is excellent but the Jets are still the Jets so they keep on screwing things up. The Pats are stuck in pretty-good land, not good enough to make the playoffs but good enough to be a tough out, and never drafting high enough. All things considered we're probably looking at 10-12 wins a year for the next few seasons. We'll make the playoffs but will never get a top seed, and will be on the road at KC or Cincy or the Chargers, who will continue to improve despite their many boneheaded moves. I'm 67 and it's beginning to dawn on me that I will NEVER see the Bills win a Lombardi during my lifetime. 2021 was the year. The 13 seconds took away the best chance we'll ever have with Allen and the McDermott staff. From here on, we'll have a good team but a slowly deteriorating one.

Could it have just come down to wearing better cleats? On O and on D, the Bengals seemed to be able to run and cut pretty well. Our guys were so tentative. Cook took a swing pass to the left side. There was a hole there for him to cut back into, and on a dry field he's made that cut many times. Today he just ran straight ahead and got tackled. It was even worse on D, where our guys just didn't attack like they usually do. The Dolphins solved Josh. They spied him, and suddenly Allen could no longer break off the long runs our O depends on. So of course the Bengals did it too. Until we figure out how to neutralize the spy, we'll keep seeing it, and Josh will lose part of the skill set that makes him so good.

There are some improvements already in the pipeline. Next year we get Hyde back, and we finally get Tre White back to being Tre White. His injury often takes two years to recover from. He certainly wasn't playing like he used to, this year. He was often a liability rather than a dominant strength. We also get Von Miller back, but he will be in the first year after the same injury White had, so he might not be as good as he was at the start of this year, right away. Expect Rousseau to continue to develop. I think his selection in the draft was a win. Not so much Oliver, who has never been the impact player we were told he'd be. Certainly not Epenesa or Basham, either. Those last three players will stay on the team until their cheap rookie contracts run out, and then they'll get their big second contract somewhere else. As for Poyer and Singletary, they're both looking for big contracts, but I think they'll be disappointed in the offers they get. Who's going to give a high dollar long term contract to a 30+ year old safety who's entered injuryville? It's sad because he's been so good for us. And, who's going to give a high dollar long term contract to the 8th or 10th best RB in the league, with a lot of workload in his past? Very few RBs make a lot. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if both of them came back on team-friendly, two-year contracts. I think they both make the team better. If Frazier leaves for another job, expect Edmunds to go with him as a FA. Frazier loves Edmunds, who fits exactly into the role Frazier wants as the center of his D scheme. If Frazier is replaced, the new guy probably will want to rebuild the D with a more conventional LB, one who doesn't just limit damage, but who makes proactive plays.

1996: 23 year old Mounds (rookie), 37 targets, 20 receptions, 279 yards, 2 TD receptions 32 year old Reed (12th season), 101 targets, 66 receptions, 1036 yards, 6 TD receptions -- Reed clearly the top dog -- Kelly's last season 1997: 24 year old Moulds, 52 targets, 29 receptions, 294 yards, 0 TD receptions 33 year old Reed, 114 targets, 60 receptions, 880 yards, 5 TD receptions -- Reed still the top dog at his advanced age 1998: 25 year old Moulds, 116 targets, 67 receptions, 1368 yards, 9 TD receptions -- Pro Bowl Moulds had clearly surpassed Reed by that point. 34 year old Reed, 109 targets, 63 receptions, 795 yards, 5 TD receptions -- opportunities did not drop off from 1996 and neither did production 1999 season (Reed's last year in Buffalo): 26 year old Moulds, 101 targets, 65 receptions, 994 yards, 7 TD receptions 35 year old Reed, 90 targets, 52 receptions, 536 yards, 1 TD reception I have to say that at his peak, Moulds was the most physically dominant receiver we ever had. Reed's career was longer, and he was producing at a high level (eight or nine years with high production) for longer than Moulds did (six seasons with high production). Reed did have Jim Kelly throwing to him for years, but don't forget that Kelly retired after the 1996 season so Reed had to deal with the motley crew of failed JK replacements for his final years in Buffalo. Moulds never had a really good QB. Which is better? Take your pick. My pick is Reed, since it's so very hard to sustain high performance over a long period in the NFL. (If we're talking about the best receiver the Bills ever had, don't forget about Jerry Butler, who was killing it before he got his knee wrecked. Butler had Moulds' size and Reed's route ability, and the Bills' best hands since Haven Moses.)

Our D line is just as good as Baltimore's. After the Bengals' O linemen were hurt, leaving only two starters on the field, the Cinci offense was done. Cinci scored on the long fumble return, but that's it. I think the key player will not be an individual, but the entire D line, with players taking turns taking advantage of playing against scrubs.

As far as a potential replacement for Dorsey, if Dorsey gets a HC job somewhere, the only real problem with Leftwich is that he'll probably be hired away in a year too. The good side of that of course is the extra 3rd rounder the Bills would get for losing a black coordinator.

Roman is an innovative coach who designs schemes to maximize his best players. His Ravens scheme was brilliant for Lamar Jackson, but with it looking likely that Jackson won't return, that scheme is a non-starter for any other QB. It is absolutely not Roman's fault that Jackson chose not to play against the Bengals, but since Tyler Huntley is a very poor man's version of Jackson, the scheme didn't work when they needed it to. If I was Baltimore I'd keep Roman and let him come up with something to fit whoever is the QB next year. If it turns out to be Jackson after all, they're going to regret not having Roman around. As for the Bills, I think Roman could probably adapt to do a good job with a Josh-centric offense. Josh is also a great running QB but he's a much better passer, and the Bills O line is built for pass protection, not running. So he'd have to adapt, but I think he could do that effectively, and I think Beane would be able to revise the O line to meet his plans.

Of course. That's the rule.

If both teams were completely healthy, the Bengals would have the edge. We'd have Hyde back at full strength, and White playing like White. And of course Von Miller would be there. But that's it. The team without just those two and half absences is nowhere near as good as the Bills were at the start of the season. Getting the back would make them better but not by that much. But the Bengals are in far worse shape. They're down three starters on the O line. They're going to need to keep their RB in the pocket, and their TE on the line, to help block on pass plays. They still have a lot of talent with WRs but I think the Bills can limit their damage, particularly if they blitz from all different angles and with different players. And the Bengals have injuries on D as well, maybe more than the Bills do. Overall, edge to Buffalo. It is entirely possible and plausible that the Bills win on Sunday. But it's also possible that they lose. It should be a hell of a game.

The big innovation the Dolphins used that I haven't seen anyone else use successfully was to spy Josh. It's a big part of the Bills' game for Josh to punish teams for leaving open space near the LOS. I have never seen anyone take that away like Miami did. All I can say is the Bills better have answers for Ds that do that. Copycat league -- you see it until you beat it. The key to the Bengals game isn't our offense, anyway. It's whether our D line and LBs can take advantage of the Bengals' disaster on their O line. So many injuries. I guess the point is that we have a very very good team that now knows it can win close games. At the start of the year the feeling was the Bills could blow you out by a lot, or lose to you by 3. Now the Bills win by 3, over and over. Or by more which is fine.

As a meteorologist, I can tell you that weather modeling HAS gotten vastly better over the past couple of decades. I can also tell you that a forecast a week out is likely not reliable. Check back on Thursday or Friday for something you might rely on.

I'm not about to read through 73 pages of comments to see if someone mentioned this already. But. I wonder if the Ravens had flashbacks of the Bills beating them in the playoffs when the Ravens were just about to score, and Taron Johnson intercepted a pass in the end zone and ran it back for the winning touchdown. At least that was a regular football play, which almost worked if Johnson hadn't shifted his position slightly. The Huntley fumble was just the result of a bad play concept, jumping like that instead of just pushing the pile forward with his feet on the ground.

Shoot. Forgot that one.

Outstanding. The Red Iguana opened up a second restaurant near the one you went to, which was the original. The food at the new one is just as good as at the old one, but the atmosphere is completely missing. I hope you didn't have to wait outside very long.

I always wear a Bills hat when I'm out and about, particularly when I'm hiking, and I always get a Go Bills from another hiker somewhere along the way. This was especially true when I lived in Salt Lake City (I hope the OP went to the Red Iguana restaurant -- every visitor to SLC should do it -- get one of the moles -- that's mol-ays). The Wasatch Mountains are terrific for hiking once the snow melts in July. I was wearing my Bills sweatshirt after hiking in Glacier National Park. Sitting with my wife at outside tables at a small restaurant in the small town of East Glacier MT, the couple at the next table saw my sweatshirt and we started talking. They were from a town SE of Buffalo (Colden, I think) and were die-hard fans of the Bills. AND it turns out that my uncle's construction business built their house! The moral of the story is to wear Bills gear all the time. You never know... We drove through Chiefs country while moving last summer, and of course I had on my Bills hat. A Chiefs fan nicely asked me about it. I asked him about the impact the Tyreek Hill trade would have, and he said he was glad to be rid of Hill, saying the guy's a real jerk. Interesting the things you find out from wearing Bills gear.

It's a tough situation for the entire team. I understand Watkins's view that it would be better if Jackson played, and I don't think he's calling Jackson out. It boils down to the fact that Jackson doesn't want to put his entire future at risk for a less than 50-50 chance of a SB this year. By not playing, he does himself no harm at all. Other teams, and the Ravens as well, know what a healthy Jackson can do, and he'll get paid accordingly if he's healthy. Anyone remember RG3? Robert Griffin III? He played for Washington and really lit it up his rookie year, 2012. He had a knee injury (LCL sprain) going into the playoffs, but he was put into a playoff game by HC Mike Shanahan. His injury was made much worse. He underwent surgery which was nominally successful, but he was never the same player. He lost his starting job, then his roster spot, and he became a journeyman who bounced around the league for a few years. If you think Lamar Jackson isn't aware of this history, you're just being silly. Both he and the Ravens don't want to repeat the mistakes the Redskins and RG3 himself made, both for that year and for the future.

And yet if they had managed an even 500 they would have won. Their last chance came with the Bills just outside the end zone, with Allen missing McKenzie on a pass play he could do in his sleep. But Allen and the rest of the Bills were just shot. It was a heroic effort and it was a shame that they lost like that. And it's really outrageous that the Miami stadium is designed like that. The coin flip at the start of the game should be for which team gets to sit in the shade.