Bleeding Bills Blue

The offense absolutely sucked on Sunday. It wasn't all allen or peterman either. We had a ton of penalties. Holds, multiple illegal formations - these were drive killers.

well... at least its in a dome...? IIRC that was an especially windy game

yeah - we'd be looking at what.... a little less than 2/3 of that 10 mil base salary number? I think were around 9 mil in total cap. I think beane/mcd would rather trot out what we have for now, and save TP some money, and some extra cap space for next year. I do think we win that Houston game with him as either the starting or backup QB for the week. Cough Ryan Fitzpatrick Cough... https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200910110buf.htm

In general they're doing more stunting with Murphy/Shaq, and rushing 4 in more creative ways. Murphy and Hughes aren't dropping into coverage a lot, but when they are it's actually disrupting passing lanes, and milano/edmunds have been creating pressure.

It's one of the best pass rushes and defenses in the league... I wouldn't game plan lots of ball holding in this one

The snap was bad and it was blocked clean. That's not on the punter

Jags are over the cap going into next season. I believe Philly is as well. Look for them to be cutting people, we have extra picks to trade for players they would cut and absorb the hit.

I don't really think that hes been this bad that we would have to do this. JMO I also don't claim to know much about the intricate layers of punting and punt coverage. He's had a couple bad returns against him in 5 weeks, and I'm sure he has something to do with it. I just don't really know if that's all on him, nor does PFF for that matter - there were quite a few missed tackles on the titans one... In any case - I'd like to see more fair catches, and more directional kicking. But why all the hate on a rookie punter? It's not like bringing in marquette king is going to get us to the super bowl. If any thing it costs TP like 2 million dollars.

Yeah - i see what you're saying. Hopefully they can tap into something and he can improve into a more well rounded punter. Schmidt was really good with the coffin corners, and he would get the bounce back on his short punts. However, Schmidts bad days were really really bad. In college it seems like you always line up straight behind the center and just kick the crap out of it. He needs to better learn how to use where he's standing to trick the returner - how to create some different spin on the ball to make it trickier to return - in addition to better directional kicks and hangtime.

Right - but like... we're a team developing talent. He has more raw ability than schmidt or ryan - the potential to be good/great some day. Adding a new punter at this juncture isnt the difference between playoffs and non-playoffs. So why not see if we can develop that potential?

He's been with the team 5 weeks, is a rookie, and for the most part has been fine. He averaged 47.3 per punt in his last year of college, so the kid may actually have a pretty bomb leg. I imagine it takes time to meld with your coverage team, and coach. We're starting a rookie QB who is raw, and we aren't exactly lighting the world on fire. Why not try and see if we can find someone with potential to be great at punter - vs. keeping who we had that was mediocre to poor.

Is sproles healthy? I mean... what are we talking like maybe 15 touches amongst 3 guys? I wouldn't trade a 2nd or 3rd unless i was SURE this was the piece to get me to the super bowl.

I personally think they'll be fine with clement and smallwood.

He's a rookie. And Schmidt was one of the worst punters in the league. Sub 40 net average. Watch his punts against Seattle on MNF, legit cost us the game. It is possible for players to improve over time. Kid never got to punt in preseason and is still figuring out his coverage team here.

Now if only we had Steve Smith! or McCaffrey.

The nice thing is - FA is long before the draft. We'll likely have some money left over in order to sign later cap casualties, or trade a low value pick and some cap space for a player who may have a high salary. Going into the draft we'll know where the main needs are. Right now it looks like WR/Oline. It all depends where we end up though. If its a top 3-5 pick and no one has given us good trade offers, i say go BPA.

The pick plays should work, but its a timing thing. Ball needs to be there at a specific time - etc. It may take a few weeks to install something like that. The backshoulders have to improve - its a simple 1x1 play, and whether contested or not, benjamins size advantage should win the majority of those plays. Hitches and out looked better this week, but i really do think they need to start connecting on some deep balls too. This includes benjamin.

Teams are playing a lot of press coverage against us. Bubble screens don't really work in that situation. Slants are tricky too since timing is off. Really have to attack the deep boundaries since its likely 1x1 coverage with the single high safety.

His main issues right now are throwing on the run, and pocket awareness. But he also has like rookie issues that every rookie has. The game needs to slow down, he needs to see more blitz packages and more schemes. He needs to get on the same page as is OL (and not roll into sacks), and his WRs (timing seems to be an issue and i personally doubt the blame falls just on the QB). Until that happens, we're going to see a ton of 8 man boxes and press man defenses with single high safeties. The best way to beat that is back shoulder throws on the boundary, and deep shots. We've struggled with both so far, and until we get it right its going to be rough seas ahead for the forseeable future. Having a mobile QB break contain also can help make some plays (thats where weve had some success).

Right - hes like a 3rd down deep threat WR who can't catch deep balls.

I think taking out the RPOs, and simplifying things helped a bit. The designed roll-outs helped limit the sacks and pass rush. He's still really struggling to throw accurately on the run though.

I personally think the goal is always to win. That strategy we just used to beat Tenn, is likely to only beat a team like them. Houston we could see something largely similar since its also a team with a young QB, who struggles to run the ball. Once you start running into teams like NE, you have to attack them - because you're unlikely to limit them to under 20 points (yes it can happen, but their success rate is what 90%). I would expect to run the ball against Houston, they have a really good defense and the goal will be to eek out a win again.

He can't catch back shoulder fades, and he seems to be slow out of his break on every route. He's slow and never open, and is struggling to catch contested passes. It's literally all you can do at this point with him since he's never open. I'd love to line him up inside, but he doesn't want to mix it up with LBs in the run game so that doesn't work either. I'd honestly just replace him at this point. If we go deep to him whenever he's on the field, the other team will never bite on the PA fakes. He needs to improve his route tree.

I thought maybe they anticipated a challenge and ran the sneak

We'd be on the hook for 2 and a half years of base salary. But shaq thompsons a beast in that role