starrymessenger

One of my favourite was watching Darryl Johnson destroy a Hawks kickoff returner after a Bills TD. Plays like that are a message to a team looking to regroup and come back. The message is "no, not today". Bills had a number of plays like that yesterday. Truth is they dominated Seattle in all three phases of the game - beginning with the opening kickoff. I suspect that McCoach had something to say to his team during the week leading up to the game.

Ive also noticed how a flick of the wrist travels 30 yards on a rope. Every time I see it I shake my head and question my lying eyes. I just can't remember ever quite seeing that before.

JA grows in spurts. He grew a foot in height and 30 pounds in weight one year as a teenager. He's grown by leaps and bounds as an NFL QB since entering the league, especially year 2 to year 3. Scary thing is that he's got room to grow and is clearly still on an upward trajectory. He's got things to prove, but next year at this time (if not before) he may well be credibly mentioned in the discussion about who is the best QB.

Bills hit Russell 16 times yesterday, most hits on a QB so far this year. Klein was a big part of that (as was Jerry Hughes, as per the usual).

Tua landed in a much better spot than Darnold. With Flores, Chan and Fitz he is in very good hands. Darnold has Adam Gase and a generally disfunctional organization.

Tua can play. It's back to the days of Kelly vs Marino in the AFCE. Fun times ahead.

Don't know just what is going on with this guy mentally but if he's on his game he could be a major upgrade. He can play the run well enuf, can certainly pressure the passer and can drop into coverage. I can see it as a fit for SMs D since his gap management, when he's got the horses, is aggressive/penetrating and the secondary relies upon the front seven to pressure the QB, sort of like the Falcons during Beasley's tenure there. I could see him leveraging off Hughes like he did Freeney in his league leading sack year. If hes just fallen off the deep end then agree he's useless, but if he actually wants to play he certainly can.

Dude has the makings of a top tier passer IMO and he's legit as a dual threat (at least you have to account for him running). He just needs a new brain. I hope he gets one for his sake.

Something is holding this offence back. Lots of things come to mind but I'm not sure what it is. I suspect coaching, game planning and play calling, but idk. Production should be better than it is against good and bad teams. If the run game comes around esp on early downs maybe things will improve and we go toe to toe with Russell et al. So a shoot out instead of a blowout. Could be a pretty exciting game.

Agreed. I don't expect a blowout (of either team).

There is always a risk that we get blown out against the league's top performing offence. Maybe you could guesstimate/weight that risk at 20% (I would). If so, a blowout is unlikely. Bills are a funny team. They hang in there with a chance to win against both superior and, oddly, inferior competition (they could actually have beaten the Chiefs, a better team). They don't blow out the competition and they don't seem to get blown out themselves (at least not yet). Seahawks have to be favoured even if playing a road game but with legit big play capability in the passing game (against a weak secondary) and a run game showing signs of life (God bless Mongo) my expectation is the the Bills will be competitive with Seattle and should have a good punchers chance of winning. I also expect McDermot to react and make the best use possible of what he has on D and strategize fully taking into account the abilities of the opposing offence. I don't doubt his proficiency on that side of the ball. Ball control (aka a good ground game) can do a lot to limit Russell (maybe the only thing that can) and I hope Daboll tries to control the clock and run Single and Moss for as long as its productive. Regarding Metcalf, everybody (except maybe the Bears) got it wrong, very wrong, with Seattle being less wrong than the other teams. Dude was a top 5 pick for sure and I'm glad he's panning out as an elite wideout. If you like football it's great to see that type of rare talent develop. Good time for Tre to start earning his money (I don't want to see Wallace or Johnson trying to cover him, that would be both hilarious and painful to watch).

Idk. In evaluating the O's performance, I add something in the good column for the uncalled PI when Beasley was forced off the field, the Davis TD that was called back for an inconsequential and stupid penalty, and our TE kissing the carpet instead of walking into the end zone. So it really wasn't just a bag of field goals IMO.

Exactly. Always has been good. Just a top shelf professional slot receiver. Basically uncoverable in zone.

I get it but even when the run game was working (eg last year) he was always more a back who relied upon vision and elusiveness than burst. CEH is not straightline much faster than DS but he has burst and hits the hole fast. Different type of runner is all. Given DS’s game I’m not sure I fully understand the Moss pick. I guess we will see.

I agree. Lawrence Taylor showed what a world class athlete could do from the outside LB position in terms of aggressive play, bringing pressure etc...I would have Edmunds, who reminds me more of Taylor (in terms of natural ability/type) than Luke K forget about quarterbacking the D, reading and reacting etc... and just turn loose his phenomenal athleticism. If the problem is instead a lack of bad intentions, I would look to trade him asap and before it's too late. You need bad people to play this game right.

I'm not sure Q. Williams solves the Bills problem long term. True he is very talented and he's being used mainly as a space eater/run stuffer, like Leonard Williams (and all other Jets DTs for that matter), but that's probably part the problem. He should be developed as a 3 tech - for him the logical model is A Donald/Geno Atkins (at least as to the majority of his snaps), not Snacks. All of his great college tape that got him drafted high was I thought from the 3tech, but Gregg likes to bring pressure off the edge not up the middle even though he doesn't have the horses to do it. It's a bit of an exaggeration but maybe long term Q needs a space eater next to him as much as Ed does. If Star returns or is replaced in his role and if Harry can come back I'd love to see Williams as part of a rotation with Oliver. Who says you can't have two guys who can bring pressure up the middle. That's the best place to bring it if you can.

Maybe I'm wrong but I didn't think they had the same running style. Haven't seen a whole lot of him but it seemed to me that CEH hits the hole a lot faster than Devin.

Hes the feature back on the Jets now that Bell is a Chief lol.

I didnt expect the Bills to dominate this year, especially given the strength of schedule. They are not yet a top team and there are no guarantees that they will get there. They do have assets however and if Coach is able to turn this D around to the point where they are not an embarrassment, the Bills are a dangerous team. In the playoffs I certainly wouldn't relegate them to one and done status from the get go even if I don't see them as true championship contenders at this time. If they can hang around through the late rounds they have the wherewithal to knock a classier opponent with faster hands and better footwork right out of the ring. It could have happened yesterday. When they are on, the Bills have a legit big play offence. Josh Allen=a very heavy right hand. Our receiving corps is very good. The season has a long way to go. I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if Coach was unable to whip his D into better shape and maybe get the running game going. If that happens the Bills will always have a good punchers chance even against top tier opposition.

Gabe Davis will be the difference maker in the second half.

He plays like a big woman.

I wouldn't say trash. It was written by a legit, qualified and technically astute observer and was a detailed professional evaluation, not a propaganda piece by any means. The article seems no longer available in their archives. I sort of wonder whether EJs current employment has anything to do with that, though I doubt it.

Coming out of college both Allen and EJ were touted as physically dominant dual threat QBs with rocket arms. When he entered the league EJ was almost exactly the same size as Josh. That's where the comparison ends. But I also think that Allen got a lot more of the good stuff when the Man Upstairs was handing it out. He's a much more dominant athlete and presence than EJ (and than 99.99% of humankind) and I often think that his otherworldly athleticism has largely contributed (and continues to contribute) to buying him the time needed for him to work on the many refinements of playing the position, in transitioning from athlete to athlete and QB. No doubt EJ was drafted into a bad situation by a desperate management. But his flaws were well known and well documented. A comprehensive article in the weeks before the draft in Tomahawk Nation by someone (whose name escapes me) close to and a friend of the FSU program listed in painful detail why EJ would likely be overdrafted and ultimately fail. The writer's detailed projections could not have been more accurate and predictive. I wish Whaley had read it but he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. At least he didn't draft Gino.

Bottom line: He was a bust that couldn't play.

Hes being used as a space eater/run defender like Leonard Williams was. He should be developed as a 3 tech imo ala Donald. They dont have the horses to bring pressure from the outside and their scheme seems not designed for applying pressure up the middle. Not sure why they thought this guy was a fit. Id love for the Bills to get him for a later round pick(s), which of course is not happening.