Bleeding Bills Blue

They should be... they kinda choked in the playoffs against Tenn. 3 turnovers and 0/4 on 4th downs. 4 TDs with drive starts at the Baltimore 35, Baltimore 45, Baltimore 20, and the Tenn 19. So 3 times Tenn started in baltimore territory, scored on all 3. The other time Henry broke off a big one. Even with Henry going for almost 200 yards, Baltimore still had greater TOP. Chiefs vs Ravens is an interesting matchup tho since stopping the ravens run game is so challenging. Buffalo did well with LJ last time, but the offense was pretty bad for the majority of the game. Tons of sacks, tons of incompletions, and a fumble that gave them a short field. Between the fumble, and the missed coverage on the long passing TD... that was pretty much the difference. Buffalo has a good pass defense, but if Mahomes can successfully buy time it would be a problem.

Possibly? I dunno - Mahomes just got a brinks truck of money. I feel like top-end contributors are going to get paid regardless.

The Steelers probably do have the best defense in the NFL. 2 really good pass rushers in watt and dupree. Unsung guys like tuitt and hayward. Haden, Fitzpatrick, edmunds. Devin bush inside. They are legit. They led the league in sacks and takeaways. They also went 8-8 with rudolph and hodges last year which is crazy. Even crazier that they didn't upgrade the backup QB spot with guys like dalton, and flacco sitting out there for pennies on the dollar. The ravens added queen, calais campbell, wolfe - and lost michael pierce. Humphrey, peters, thomas on the backend is pretty awesome too. Should be a really tough team.

Burned through most of darnolds rookie contract though. They went from Anderson, Enunwa, Kearse - to Perriman, Crowder, Mims in 3 years. Is that even an improvement? They added Becton, but they imo overspent on fant, and mcgovern. Basically through 3 years - they draft their franchise QB (and paid a pretty penny to get him) - and have surrounded him with nothing. I guess Bell would be considered someone they brought in, but its a huge overspend when you don't have a good offensive line. So assuming they probably don't win this year. You're now on year 4 of Darnold with 2 firsts - with needs at WR, IOL, Pass rush, and in the secondary. To get year 4/5 contributors youre just going to have to move picks anyway. I just don't really know what the plan is.

TJ watt is gonna get paid next year. I say next year because he'd be stupid to wait. Play out year 4 and negotiate, otherwise hold out year 5 and get your extension.

Yeah, thats where the money's made at QB. Physical talent doesn't mean as much. There's definitely a place where your arm strength needs to be to be viable, and i think he's there.

I always appreciated when NE would go with a 12 personnel grouping, and just absolutely gash you with an empty set. Croom and Knox would be able to hurt you more there. I saw nothing in sweeneys game to indicate he'll ever be more than a backup. You can find backup TE's, especially ones that run a 4.83.

He's got that certain "Je ne sais quoi". Moxie maybe... i dunno. He doesn't have the best arm but hes a really good QB. He moves alright, throws well when moving, has nice touch on the deep ball. Seems like his timing has always been solid. Isn't afraid to throw those backshoulders, or into tight windows. I also think he'll be good.

I honestly feel like croom has more upside than Sweeney. Sweeney's a bit of that old school, in-line tight end - doesn't have particularly good hands, and isn't a particularly good blocker. If injuries hit the position there are a fair amount of good options in free agency as well. Jordan reed has injury issues but has shown he's a good player when healthy. Could kick the tires on Delanie walker, darren fells, or even charles clay. Then theres like that next tier of Luke Stocker type guys that can function as backups. I'm fine with the 4 they have there now. If Kroft suffers another injury that will cost him time, or Knox gets hurt - it becomes more of an issue. Do you trust smith and croom? I'm not sure. Something to keep an eye on in camp.

I would think the Chiefs and Ravens have something to say about that.

vernon butler was already brought in - phillips is hopefully healthy. Murphy more likely to stick since there isn't another obvious choice if they carry 9 d-linemen.

Diggs is gonna eat! Same with John Brown.

I still think they beat the jets and dolphins. Lot of young QBs on that list too - BB tends to hurt those kinds of teams. LAR, Arizona, Denver, LAC. I don't think they'll have a historic defense again, but even with the losses, they should be a capable group within the top maybe 10-15 in the league.

Oh yes. Congrats on your all-pro secondary. We're going to hammer you for like 200+ on the ground.

Yeah - The thing about football is.. you can play it anytime. These stadiums aren't used for literally anything else, they don't share. Fans probably won't be there. If something happens you just push everything back a few weeks. Give teams a chance to get healthier.

Yeah - if they can be adequate replacements from a pass rushiing perspective, plus improvement from oliver. The defense as a whole should improve. Already near the top in many passing stats, it was the run defense that cost the team a few games midseason.

Guaranteed money is guaranteed. Cap% is not guaranteed, and no one wants a contract where the bonus ranges from x-y. They want the bonus to be a specific dollar, same with salaries.

Hot take alert - Dalton is a lot worse than Dak.

Not a big fan of the turf there as a playing surface. Feels oddly spongey.

Teams built around a strong run game. Can't make that a weakness and expect to replicate last seasons success. There is no one really behind him but a rookie, and they were in the AFC championship a year ago - you can't take a chance that he'll sit games out.

Team added Jefferson as well who has some familiarity at different positions along the defensive line. If your starters are hughes-oliver-lotulelei-addison, you have rotational depth with epenesa-jefferson-butler-murphy. Jefferson would probably be more comparable as a player to what they would have wanted out of lawson, while addison would be considered an upgrade as a pass rusher on passing downs (when the team was using murphy and lorax more anyway.

Sammy is also gone after this year - so prior to the mahomes deal hitting a cap.

He does the same crap most young QBs do. Holds the ball, panics under pressure, and tends to have sloppy footwork. His sloppy footwork tends to lead to balls sailing. He has as good a chance as anyone else at improving - but all they added to offense was Graham and Harris. And the only talent they drafted on O was kmet. So maybe this is the year anthony miller steps up, but who knows. He'll probably lose the job to foles, and fizzle out and end up somewhere else as a backup.

25M AAV with 100 guaranteed Mack got 23.5 AAV and 90M guaranteed. (also a 3-time first-team all-pro - Garrett probably would've been one last year if he didn't get suspended). Clarks AAV is about 21 with 62 guaranteed. Armstead got 17 AAV and 40 guaranteed. Hunter 14.4 AAV and 40 guaranteed. Z smith 16.5 AAV and 20 guaranteed. TJ watt is licking his chops for his payday. Joey Bosa is also probably looking at a similar level of pay request.

Yeah - they brought back irvin for a year, but i think having clowney would improve that rotation. Lets you bring along a collier a bit slower, especially after he basically showed nothing a year ago.