BADOLBILZ

I think you can expect Milano to miss between 5-6 games(30%-40%) worth of snaps every season going forward. His list of injuries is so long and they are more than likely to have a cumulative effect. But perhaps he could also go the Eric Wood route and basically dial his game back physically to stay on the field more. Wood had a bunch of injuries early in his career that were probably the result of just playing harder than smarter at times........he dialed it back and stayed much healthier. But without that hyper aggression he was overwhelmed in the power offense that Marrone ran and he played terribly(he even thought he'd get cut after the 2014 season). Wood needed to be in motion more where he could focus on angles, playing a more athletic style, which is what he got with Roman's offense. Milano's wreckless abandon is what makes him so good though.........if they paid him $10M+ per and he stopped throwing his body horizontal to make plays I think he would lose effectiveness and get really unpopular in these parts.

McDermott was on WGR this am and when prompted about it he didn't indicate in any way.......tone or otherwise......that Milano had re-injured anything or that it had worsened.........he said something along the lines of we are learning about the injury as we go. Which could mean that they think that a few weeks of no stress to the pec muscle and he might be full go.

This was my thought. If you are going to risk losing two games.........these are the two left on the schedule that you take more liberties with.

Your math is off it will be more like 9 counting this week and the playoff games(he missed the 2017 playoff game with a hamstring injury). And he only became the top of depth chart starter in December of 2017 so that will make 9 no-plays-at-all in 47 chances(19%). The big issue isn't just the missed games though...... it's the missed snaps...........he's only played in 34% of the Bills snaps so far this season. In this defense he is an every down player. He has had so many different injuries and those lead to a lot of snaps missed in games that he technically played in.

If he clears waivers I could see him on the PS. Not much long speed in the Bills WR corps.....when John Brown is out they really can't stretch the field. Diggs had a big ypr last season but before that his MO was getting open a lot underneath and we've seen more of that guy than the top popper he was in 2019. Ginn claims(at least) that he can still fly and is a career 13.9 ypr guy.

Ted Ginn just got released by the Bears........another former SB heyday Panther on the wire.🤔

Best part of this season is watching Allen grow into a really good QB. Worst part is seeing him not having the supporting cast on either side of the ball to allow him to continue to blow up the squatty defenses he is having to deal with. Diggs was a nice addition but they need to keep stacking playmakers like the Steelers have done for Big Ben the last decade.

Knox is having a Robert Foster-esque fall this season. They also seemed to have a potentially useful developmental player in Sweeney who has been injured. I think in general you gotta' throw a few mid round picks at the TE position if you expect to find and develop them..........and they have used a lot of those type picks on trades and trade-ups so they really only have expended a quality pick on Knox so far. It's funny when people try to act like mid round picks are expendable because the roster is fairly set.........TE is a position you gotta' throw a lotta' darts at if you expect to be above average at.

Feliciano looked excellent at center as well. I know Morse is one of their best 5.....but center is Feliciano's best position, IMO. The maligned Harrison Phillips also had his best game of the year on the other side of the ball. He's nowhere near where he was in September 2019 but if he gets his legs back that will be big for the run defense.

I agree, it's not an attractive destination for free agents. But it's complicated..........because they chose to tear down a roster that really should have made the playoffs the prior 2 seasons. Then they have been very pedestrian at drafting and developing their own talent. So they have been forced to do a lot more shopping than they would have if they had adapted systems to personnel and weren't drafting to fill needs created by their own roster turnover. Ultimately........with so much cap money now gone and ear marked to home grown talent...........turning around the tide with free agents will be about Josh Allen looking like a great QB to hitch their wagon to. Yet another reason why I have been so much more about bolstering the offensive personnel than tryna' patch up the defense.

Boettger is their most physical blocker.........would be nice if he's finally ready to assume a starting role.

Lotulelei, Addison, Klein, Norman.........all well paid defenders from Carolina who weren't brought in "middle of a season". While I agree in principle with your point it's by no means accurate to downplay their attraction to former Panthers............it's a real thing and its not yielded well at all. It might be time this offseason for McD to broaden his horizons defensively and for Beane to stop tryna' catch every stray Panther.

I agree that the Panthers weren't exactly a model franchise. They were an up and down team in an a division in flux. They got a league MVP talent and made a couple runs. Once the New Orleans franchise re-grouped the Panthers were outclassed in terms of coaching and personnel acquisition. Ron Rivera has had losing records in 7 of 10 seasons as a HC. I would hope McBeane have higher objectives than being Carolina north but the constant influx of former Panther players makes it seem to fans that they hold their former place of employment in a bit too high regard.

Because fighting isn't a game. Inflicting head trauma is the objective of fighting.

Sometimes those remaining games matter for development of a QB........or they might want to bring those players back so don't want them going elsewhere. The example would be the Texans........is it worth trading Will Fuller for a day 3 pick and undermining DeShaun Watson's performance for the final 8 games?

It sounds like cap space is a huge sticking point though........which is I believe what the OP meant. Not going to get much done for 5th-7th round picks if you want the other team to eat $3.5M of some expiring contract as well. Beane has been clumsy and careless with cap space.........$3M too much here, $5M too much there..........and that certainly limited what he could do now because the big motivation to trade most of these players is to save money and create cap space.

Because we don't yet have stats that measure the quality of decisions made in the draft........people like you can always say things like "every team missed on Tom Brady"............when the reality is teams that had Peyton Manning and Brett Favre etc.. made a much smaller mistake. The problem with the Bills decision was: -They had the worst WR corps in the NFL over the prior 2 year period. -The biggest issue was separation. -They had just drafted arguably the biggest armed QB prospect in NFL history.....but one who had some ball placement/accuracy issues. The Bills simply had a bigger and more specific need for DK Metcalf's base skill........a huge target who could separate deep. Instead the Bills chose a player at a low dollar value position with a skillset usually readily available in free agency........but also a skillset that most coaches say takes at least 3 years to get most players up to adequate. It was a really bad decision in real-time. I can all but guarantee that we will have "draft decision leverage" stats in the next couple years that will measure the quality of a front office's draft decisions based on criteria like I listed above........something like value of the position + ease of replacement + depth of team need + next gen expected results + actual results.

Can only help the Bills, assuming they win the division. Doesn't affect any of the #2-#4 division winner seeds. The Bills aren't getting the #1 seed and if they were to win their first game they quite probably would be heading to play the rested #1 seed.

The Pats LB flew in and cracked Morse on the dome to blow up a combo block before it could unfold. It blows my mind that Pats players will do things like that for their defense........the Bills defense really struggles just to buy-in to tackling ball carriers.

The Dolphins are the toughest defense in the NFL to score on this season allowing just 18.6 points per game..........they lowered their season number allowing just 17 yesterday..........but also allowed the Rams to run NFL record 94 offensive plays and amass nearly 500 yards of offense. There used to be a much better correlation between defensive stats and the old in-person eyeball test. Most defenses aren't really stopping much. Which is, of course, another reason I want to add offense at the trade deadline over defense.

Yeah he just looked like he was more ready than he was I guess. Certainly wasn't a lack of hustle.

I saw a guy at CBS was suggesting Hayden, King, Sheldon Rankins and Jacob Hollister as good trade fits for the Bills.........he had King going for a 4th not a 6th. Wonder if some of that was based on the rumors @MAJBobby was hearing. Personally.........I fix the passing game first. The #1 personnel responsibility of an organization is to support its QB........once you start forgetting that you are in trouble, IMO.

Could be.........but also could be that they had 9 guys within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage a lot and there was just a lot more traffic and made for closer plays as the Pats ran right into it. There were too many plays where the Pats passed and receivers were left "college open".........but that was the trade-off they were making. And still they allowed like 6 ypc and seemed poised to give up a walk in, winning TD if Cam hadn't fumbled. That one helps make up for the Leodis McKelvin kick return fiasco game in NE years ago so I will take it. Gotta' get lucky occasionally. I do expect them to start playing better later in the season.........that might be wishful thinking with all of the injuries........but I think we have seen stretches where this team makes some business decisions defensively for stretches and they've been in one of those.

Bills don't have one of those 4th rounders. Beane threw it in to secure Diggs in trade.

You don't have to be stout to prevent points. Turnovers and penetration in the red zone work well........especially if you don't have to play a lot of good offenses. Regardless of what McD had in mind with for his defense...........that has become their MO when it's worked.........limit quick, easy scores........get turnovers..........get penetration and set up situations where the offense feels they have to throw and try to confuse the passer with their (now less unfamiliar) matchup zones and hopefully they throw in front of the sticks or put the ball up for grabs.. Being stout is not giving ground........IDEALLY playing defense like the legion of boom Seahawks.........defending "every blade of grass". That requires a lot of matchup winning talent and excellent tackling which the Bills....despite expending 3 of their first 4 #1 picks on D........regrettably don't have enough of and don't do well enough.