BADOLBILZ

Got married on NYE. It was a great party. Underrated marriage/reception date. My older sister was born on a NYE. Agree with the OP, most New Year's party's suck.

I do wonder if McD takes control of play calling in the playoffs. Maybe not until the defense struggles in the wild card game or something. I know that seems a long shot but I think Babich has had such a bad rookie year. There is no excuse for THIS talent to be worse than last season's. They are opportunistic but they get caught with their pants down over and over. Especially on possession downs. It's almost automatic at this point. McD at least got in a nice rhythm calling the defense down the stretch in 2023 until injuries decimated them in the playoffs. But ultimately, I also agree it's time for McDermott to change the defense. In year 8 of this system they shouldn't be regressing they should be building upon what they have. They should be able to create very opponent specific plans. But they apparently can't. I mean the fact that we are surprised when we see Dorian Williams come on the field for Taron Johnson underscores how rigid/predictable they've gotten. Around the league we are seeing some really creative DC's creating synergy with their game planning and in-game decisions. And that's stuff that can happen in year one with a good DC. We saw it here in 2017 when McD fixed a maddeningly leaky Bills D overnight(before he traded Dareus and made them vulnerable again).

I just don't think there is going to be a strong market for his services. Is Joe Brady going to take him to NOLA or Cincy? I don't think you take the talent they have off the field for Mack. Elsewhere, everybody around the league knows who he is. And he's old. I don't think he's getting better. He's always been good at all of this stuff. What has been clarified is that he's not a starting caliber boundary WR. That's why he is what he is.

Shakir is a much smaller target. With his tiny arms he plays like he's 5'9" from the slot instead of the over-sized slot guy that Andre Reed was. Reed would box coverage defenders out and then run away from them. He was tough to slow down after he turned upfield. Shakir turns into a running back after the catch. More elusive and slippery. It's a different style of YAC. We actually got a great look at the primary limitation to Shakir's game in recent weeks when Allen has tried a bucket drop deep ball that Shakir laughably short-armed and threw multiple end zone contested catch throws to Shakir that the DB swatted away like he was defending his son in the back yard. Those long armed CB's easily reach around and swat it away from him just like they can easily jam him at the LOS on the boundary when he isn't in motion. Contrast those swat-aways with the catches we just saw from Coleman and Cooper in the end zone Sunday. Shakir is really good at what he does.......he's(predictably) brought impact back to the slot for the past two seasons for the Bills.......but he isn't really anything like the all-around threat that Reed was. It's not flattering to Reed's game to comp it to Shakir's. Shakir has his own style........it's not Reed.......it's not Cole Beasley.

So when I literally quoted you verbatim from your original post in this very thread that was falsifying information? The post where you were also explaining to us that Shakir would have had over 2,000 yards if he had enough targets and assured us that he'd get over 1,000 yards. And where you were pffft'ing things like @NoSaint for his Lance Moore comp........because you thought he was so much more? You have replaced @eball as the resident triple threat "LAMP/gaslighter/fail-prediction thread" guy on TSW. You made an over-the-top-thread full of hyperbolic off-season math......about a really good slot receiver.........and then later moved your predictions around hoping you could take credit for it regardless of what he produced. I mean I call that kind of sh!t out everywhere and anytime I see it on TSW. That ain't personal. You just happen to be a main culprit. If you want to feel special, keep doing it.

Yet another in the line of prediction thread fails for @Alphadawg7. Shakir did indeed hit 100 targets on the season yesterday. His regular season is "probably" over. If so, he fell a whopping 529 yards short of Alpha's whacky off-season math. He's been who we really should have thought he'd be. A really good slot receiver. Excellent RAC guy. Sure hands on short-to-intermediate throws. Not so good further downfield or contested. The yards per catch was going to fall, that wasn't sustainable on a larger sample size from the slot. Might have worn down a bit from regular work and all the RAC wear and tear. Hopefully a week off will re-charge him for the playoffs.

The Bills weren't about anything on offense in 2017. Beane and Dennison combined to wreck what had been a top 10 scoring offense in 2016. The Tyrod-lead 2015 and 2016 teams lead the NFL in big plays both seasons. "Explosives" as they now call them. But a lot of them were runs. Which angered many Bills fans who were desperate for 300 yard passing games. I didn't think the ovation for Tyrod was anything particularly heartfelt. Part of it was fans being pleased that they had forced Rodgers to the bench. And people were giddy about the blowout.

And because teams can make those June 1 designation cuts in March now, Tremaine will probably already be back in Buffalo before the draft anyway.

It's both. A convenient lack of liquidity.........despite rapidly expanding wealth. We lived this here in Buffalo too. Especially for the first 13 years or so of our playoff drought. Randolph Wilson and Mortimer Brown were two pea's in a pod. Whenever there would be a forward thinking plan/proposal on the table at the owner's meetings the vote would be 30-2. They liked it simple.

Well you said Amari Cooper hasn't played up to the class of being selected #4 overall............so it was no more specific than your claim. In reality......he's clearly proven to be one of the best #4 picks of the last 25 years. Because the majority of them don't have great careers. Not even picked that high. So he's definitely in-class. As for the rest of what you wrote........what is your point, specifically? I don't disagree with where you ranked him in that random group but there isn't really a statistical field of any size that is going to show Cooper as having a disappointing career. That's all feels. Same issue @Alphadawg7 had in this thread with trying to align a specific statistical field with his feelings regarding Cooper's career......and then having to move the goal post when those two things didn't mesh. Everything is relative. Cooper has had a very good career. He has been a WR1. But he's never been great.

Well compared to the other 5 WR that went in round 1 in 2015 he has been on another level entirely. Diggs was the only elite WR who came out of that draft. Ten years later we know exactly who these guys were as players..........and being critical of Cooper for not being elite or more consistent NOW is really pointless. What he is now is big play threat on the boundary they picked up for a 3rd round pick and cost them about $700K. It's not a mystery to me why he hasn't been better. I've never been a big fan of his. He doesn't have the same compete level that guys like Hopkins and Diggs had. Not an alpha personality. THAT is why he's on his 4th team. On some teams being a top 15 WR1 is not enough. And getting $20M to be that was too much for them. That wouldn't have been enough for Buffalo in 2020 when they traded for Diggs. The skill he brings plus the cost/price have been a great fit in 2024 though.

Amari Cooper is inarguably one of the top 6-7 players picked #4 overall in the last 25 years.......so you are wrong about that. That's a feels thing not a real thing.

Who are the "big name" WR's that you compare him to? Cooper has never been elite. He's never finished higher than 8th in the NFL in receiving yards in his decade in the league. Guys like Jordy Nelson and Kenny Golladay, just to name a couple of many, have had higher ranks. The question isn't whether he disappears it's when has he ever produced enough to warrant being a "big name"? When you get drafted early and then play for Dallas you will have a spotlight on you but it's a little late in the process of a career where he's averaged about 900 yards per season to still act like any of that is relevant. He got a big contract from Dallas because of timing........but so did Mike Williams with the Chargers. If people are worried about Cooper demanding big money they don't know how free agency works. He's going to be 31 next season. He's in a category like post-PED suspension DeAndre Hopkins now. Those guys aren't/weren't getting $20M-$30M aav multi-year deals. Cooper gives the Bills that big play threat that they need on he perimeter. But Allen isn't great at the deep ball and has little margin for turning the ball over and 3-and-outs with the rookie Babich defense this season........so Cooper isn't going to get the targets he got with a deep ball specialist like Joe Flacco.

Daquan Jones only played like 15% of the Bills defensive snaps in 2023. Bernard was out there 93% and had a really good season.

Congratulations for accurately predicting that I wouldn't accept LESS than what you claimed was the norm and I took exception to. What's more, there is no context whatsoever to your stats. Cooper has never been considered a top 2 WR in the league like Hopkins or Diggs.......but for the sake of argument and to illustrate my point that your now upwardly adjusted stats aren't nearly as compelling as you want them to seem...........I pulled ONE random, corresponding mid-career season from DeAndre Hopkins and Stef Diggs to see how their best 4-5 games impacted their totals. 2018. In their 4 "best" games Hopkins and Diggs produced 41% and 48% of their receiving yardage, respectively. Oh my........it seems those numbers track with most of the years you claimed that Cooper was some kind of distant outlier among high producing WR's, don't they?

Ok so NOW you are saying that in just ONE season(2017) 40% of his production came in a few(3) games. Like I thought..........hyperbole that wouldn't hold up to actual statistical analysis. Amari Cooper isn't an elite WR1. He is a good WR1 who specializes in making big plays downfield. That's why he has a career 14.2 yards per reception and is second all-time with four 200 yard games. If you need a guy to soak up targets, he's not the guy. But the Bills don't need that. They need a legit threat to put up 6 when isolated against CB1. That's him.

I've been following the draft closely for a very long time........and I would say it was very unlikely that Carter would have lasted another full round plus. He isn't a great athlete but you don't usually see that combination of size, requisite ability, motor and great intangibles in a DT get to the late 4th. He was 60-100 range prospect all thru the process, IMO. But the trade winner will come down to whether Coleman is better than Worthy. I think Coleman will have the better career based on what we've seen of the two of them this season. Coleman has been better than advertised at FSU........Worthy has been a bit lesser than expected. But time will tell.

Also currently on the Dolphins payroll. That would be a non-starter for an old fan.

Gabe Davis too!

Well then show us that career statistical analysis you did that proves your point and that you aren't fabricating facts. If you want to cross over from irrational homer posting emotional takes for thumbs into the reality based discussions where what you say has some factual basis you have to use facts(in this case, stats) and not just your feels. I notice in your similar criticism of Cooper you didn't note that you didn't note that Shakir has had 3 very low production games in the last 4. Including dropping a number of catchable down field passes.

What rush? You saw the title and CHOSE to open the thread. The more obvious question is why not? NFL personnel departments do this year round so there will inevitably be fans who will as well. Roster building is a year round topic for the kind of Bills nerds who would post on a message board. Of the hundreds of Bills fans who live near me and I interact with regularly here in WNY I am the only one I know of who posts on TSW. Even some pretty obsessed ones who have strong opinions. This is a VERY small group of Bills information enthusiasts. It's all just entertainment......has no more real meaning than that........if it doesn't constitute entertainment to you then just don't click on it.

Amari Cooper had 8 games of 89 or more yards receiving in 2023 in 15 games played. So 8 of his 15 games played were ABOVE his per game average. It's entirely disingenuous to imply that he traditionally just has "a few big games" and the rest are "meh to invisible". You continue to just make false narratives around stats you just made up.

Why are there always a few people who feel the need to inform the OP that they don't want to talk about a topic if it isn't of interest to them at the moment? Whether it's looking ahead at the schedule or the offseason, whatever. It's presumed that if you don't respond you don't care. So is it superstition? Do you think you are part of the team and shouldn't be looking ahead? A general lack of understanding that this is all just meaningless discussion for entertainment purposes?

Grogan took a lot of blindside hits and that neck kept getting longer with each whiplash. He was held together with chewing gum and popsicle sticks at the time of that picture. https://youtu.be/EBf43TYJPLE?si=x48wDFLP5_hb7o4D

Yeah that was just a weird thread decision for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is that teams with bad RT play have been winning SB's periodically for years. You can scheme around issues there. But also because Brown was so inexperienced and so athletic and his growth had been slowed by an injury the year prior. The guy played 7 man football in HS, barely played in college but started at RT as a rookie in the NFL and was decent. That was impressive, all things considered. He wasn't a player who should have been on any kind of thin ice with the fans. But some folks were unnecessarily impatient. I don't disagree about the contract though. That was a significant risk at a position where you don't need a stud player to succeed. RT is not really an edge/island position because they typically have a TE to help. And I thought Grable or even Gouraige might be able to step in next year for pennies on the dollar. But I've always believed in Spencer Brown and glad they have him. But there will be things they can't do because of that contract so time will tell if it was the right move. The extension starts next season.