2003Contenders

Their main back these days is Woody Marks, but look for Chubb do get some carries as well.

That to me was Beane's great failure with the Coleman pick. Not that Coleman has not been (to date) the player that the Bills hoped for when they drafted him -- but that given that the position was one of such great need (in a draft that was reportedly the deepest at WR we had seen in some time) that they didn't double-down by taking a shot at another WR later in the draft. It's funny that Bean HAS done this at other positions in the past, including (as you mentioned) Elam/Benford. He also did this in the latest draft at both the CB as well as the DL positions. Sadly, he had ample opportunities to do so last year with multiple mid-round picks to navigate, and hindsight shows us that he could have used that late 3rd round pick (ironically acquired in the move-down that allowed the Chiefs to acquire Worthy) to take Franklin instead of Carter. What is even more irritating is that in their move-downs, they wound up with the 1st overall pick in the 2nd round, which allowed them overnight to re-think their strategy (and probably afforded them some additional trade options as that 33rd pick is a treasured commodity). I also can't buy that they were THAT enamored with Coleman -- otherwise they wouldn't have traded down TWICE and risked losing out on him. I know Beane was frantic about acquiring additional draft picks, especially since the team didn't originally have a 3rd due to the R. Douglas trade. But trade-downs like that when your biggest need is glaringly obvious means that you don't have a great conviction about a specific guy at that position -- which is why it made even MORE sense to hedge the bet by taking another WR on day 2 (or beginning of day 3). The funny thing is that when day 1 came to a close, I felt certain that they had their sights on Franklin. The team had met with him on multiple occasions, and I even remember one reporter stating at the conclusion of the 1st round that the Bills' taking Franklin to start the 2nd round was one of the rare certainties of the draft. The only thing I will say is that, given that the team DID their due diligence on Franklin, there must have been something they didn't like about him.

I would also like to see Josh be decisive RUNNING the ball this game if the passing game struggles against this stout Houston defense. Last year, despite his woes passing (9/30 for 131 yards) he had some success running the ball (4 rushes for 54 yards). One of the things that Dabol used to be really good about was noticing when Josh was not in rhythm passing at the beginning of a game and calling some QB runs to get him in a groove. Brady has not been nearly as good about this. And I think this may be a game where some judicial runs from Josh can help get the offense going. Note also that Nix, Ward, Lawrence, and Mayfield have all rushed for 30 or more yards against this Houston defense so far this season -- and none of them are in Josh's league as a ball carrier. Heck, even the immobile Mac Jones averaged 11.5 yards per carry against them.

I get what you are saying. But it reminds me of back in the early 90s during the Cowboys' run, Jimmy Johnson rather infamously cut a marginal player on the spot for falling asleep during film session. At a press conference after the incident, a reporter asked Jimmy what he would have done if it had been Troy Aikman who had fallen asleep instead of the other player. Jimmy replied, "I would have walked over to him, nudged film and said 'Troy, wake up!'". The point is that an elite player (like Diggs was for the Bills most of the time) can get away with things that other players can't. It may seem unfair, but that is the nature of the business. Coleman hasn't done anything to date that has earned him this type of favoritism. And, given that he has already been disciplined on multiple occasions for the same indiscretion -- and both his QB and head coach were placed in a position just days before of defending his perceived lack of effort -- his decision to skip a mandatory team meeting could not have come at a worse time. I don't personally know the young man, so it is difficult for me to guess what the issue may be. Did he view the nice payday he received when joining the NFL as the culmination and end of his journey? Is he open to coaching and guidance from more seasoned players and coaches? I will say that I do not like his body language -- as it does come across as he doesn't care at times. That could be just part of his personality/demeanor, and perhaps the effort really is there. But perception is reality, and the perception by observers (including apparently some players and coaches) is that he that he does not always give max effort. He's still young, and I truly believe that he is playing for an organization that has his best interest at heart -- and will do whatever they can to help him "grow up". But it's up to him to step up and rise to the challenge.

I am hopeful that this is the week that the defense has a coming out party. The Texans' defense is elite, but their offense is one of the worst in the league -- with or without Stroud.

Funny, when this thread first popped up on Saturday I was under the impression that Keon was being benched due to his play on the field and that the coaches had game-planned for an offense without him. However, we later learned that this was due to a punishment based on him having missed a team meeting on Friday. That begs the question: was he being phased out of the offense anyway -- or (especially, given that the infraction occurred AFTER the offensive game-plan against the Bucs had already been installed) was he originally going to play a major role in the offense? If it is the latter, kudos to the players and coaches for stepping up and running a highly productive offense with last-minute changes.

I'm glad you brought this up! One of the big failings on offense this year versus last was the decline in the production we had seen out of the RBs on the roster NOT named James Cook. Davis was beginning to look like a cut candidate and Johnson, dubbed by Josh last season as the best 3rd down back in the league, had been a non-factor. While Davis didn't do much on offense yesterday, he was remarkable returning kicks, and Johnson looked more like the 2024 version of himself. I think the sudden RB activity in the passing game (remember, the Bucs have one of the best run defenses in the league) is just one more benefit of what happens when the downfield passing game is working and defenses cannot crowd the line of scrimmage.

I'm sure someone who left the game healthy will wind up on the injury report by Wednesday... J/K I am guessing that the easiest thing to do would be to IR Hardman and give his spot on the 53 to Davis.

It's difficult comparing receiving stats from the modern era versus what teams were doing back in the 80s and 90s when Reed played. The passing game is far more prominent and sophisticated these days, and the rules have been changed quite a bit to help the passing game. But you point is well taken: when Diggs' heart was int it, he was one of the best receivers this organization ever had.

I will say that it does seem like the Bills have actually performed better when it came playoff time in the seasons when they had some real competition in the division. In particular, I am talking about 2021 when they never seemed to win any of the close games and the division title wasn't decided until the final game of the season. That team (13 seconds aside) was the best and most-playoff ready team we've seen in this era. Actually, it seems like an every-other-year situation in these regards -- with the Bills dominating during the regular season in the even-numbered years (2020, 2022 and 2024) but fighting to the very end in 2021 and 2023. Now we're back in and odd-numbered season and indeed 2025 is looking like 2021 and 2023 with the Patriots putting the team in the position where the margin for error is razor thin. As it is, the Bills need to win out and hope that the Pats lose another game to ensure another division title. In essence, the Bills are already in a playoff format if they expect to make it to the tournament, let alone win the division. Things sure would have been a lot easier if they hadn't crapped the bed against Miami last week. Let's hope that debacle taught everyone in the organization a valuable lesson.

I expect (hope) Palmer and Davis are both healthy and play on the outside. That said, this could be a big game for Keon playing the "big slot" with Kincaid likely out and Shakir limited or out as well. I see something like 6 targets, 4 receptions and 58 receiving yards with most of the receptions being short with little-to-no YAC, but I think he breaks a slant for a long gain and a potential TD. I'd say 50/50 that he scores this week.

I wonder if we will ever find out what the real story was behind the Waddle negotiations. I know many of us have been operating under the assumption that the sticking point in the Waddle trade was that Miami wanted a 2026 first rounder and Beane was unwilling to make that trade. I have gone back and forth on this myself. Part of me maintains that Waddle is a proven player and almost certainly better than any player we could have acquired late in the first round this coming April. Also, he would be a shot in the arm to our struggling passing game and would help us NOW. But, it is worth asking -- are we really just a single WR away from the Super Bowl? What we saw on the field against Miami on Sunday would certainly suggest otherwise. And, again, do we really now that Waddle was available to the Bills for a 2026 1st round pick? From what we gave heard from reliable sources, Beane proposed a 2027 #1 and a 2026 #3, which was the best offer on the table. So perhaps Beane felt like any better offer would have been a case of him out-bidding himself. What we don't know is how serious were the negotiations. Did the Dolphins offer a counter? Were they ever seriously interested in working with the Bills -- or trading Waddle at all? Or, as some have speculated here, was there a deal in the works for the reported parameters -- but Miami pulled out at the final hour? We also heard rumors that Beane inquired about Olave and was told flatly that the Saints were not interested in trading him at all. Likewise, on trade-deadline-day, he was reportedly steadfast about trading for G. Wilson but the Jets were unwilling to make a trade in division. There was also talk of discussions between Beane and the Commanders about trading D. Samuel, which thankfully were never consummated. As many have said, all GMs make bad personnel decisions. It is forgivable to miss, for example, on the Keon pick. The bigger issue is coming across smug like you know so much more than the interviewers/fans and treating them in a disrespectful manner. I remember the same thing happening with T. Donahoe after he fired Gregg Williams -- he had a press conference in which he was irate and spoke condescendingly to the reporters and fans. He never overcame that misstep, and a GM that Bills fans had previously applauded was soon viewed as a villain. He was gone not long after. If I were a PR man for Beane, I would suggest that he go back on the radio on WGR and not necessarily apologize, but in a witty way acknowledge that they were right and that he has tried (and will continue to try) to fortify the WR position.

No denying the Pats are good. Even when they struggled the last few years, their defense was still pretty good, and we typically were 1-1 against them. Now they have found their QB and have a very solid coach, who will typically have them prepared game-in and game-out. Still, if the Bills had not played like trash against them, that would have been a Bills victory, which would have put the remainder of this season in a completely different light. Funny, all the talk heading into that game about how the Bills had not lost the turnover battle in like 2 years -- and then went on to do it in 3 of the next 5 games, all of which were losses. I guess a regression to the mean? Sadly, we've seen a lot of "regression to the mean" this year.

Well, in Pegula's defense, the Rex hire was at the urging of Russ Brandon, who was more interested in marketing than building a quality team.

The irony of all of this is that the theme behind McD's defensive scheme has always been to bend-but-don't break. That is, concede the underneath stuff -- and if a team is going to beat you, force them to be patient and methodically march the length of the field. The concept -- and in many ways it is a correct concept -- is that if an offense requires more plays to hit paydirt, then it is more prone to make a mistake somewhere along the line. So what kind of offense has McD instituted? The exact offense he wants his defense to force opponents to run! What's even worse is that he doesn't have a noodle-arm QB that he is trying to protect with such an offensive scheme, he has a generational talent at QB, blessed with one of the strongest arms ever. I get that the run game is important -- and the 12 (and even 13) personnel formations they have been running can be quite successful. But any offense needs to be truly multi-dimensional (which it CAN be in these heavy formations when utilized properly) in order to succeed. If nothing else, the offense has to be able to compete in a shootout, which it has shown on multiple occasions already this year it cannot do -- with the exception of the Week 1 game against Baltimore, which honestly may have been more of an indictment against Baltimore than anything else.