Bleeding Bills Blue

I tend to agree with Matakevich (a captain) and neal gone. You want a vet in the special teams meetings. Figure Hollins replaces sherfield, Ulofoshio or Morrow works into that unit to join spector and gilliam as core STers. Hardy has a chance to stick as a returner - so the other gunner is probably a different safety/corner.

The Texans just traded for Skowronek. Didn't give up much, but to me that indicates there's a market for a primary ST WR.

It's tough. I probably watched 50 games and went to 5 this year? They've been so bad on home ice for what seems like forever, and they look so uninspired when you watch them. I sat behind the net i think 4x this season and it was jarring to see a guy like cozens totally avoid a check behind the net. They don't seem to do things the right way, are passive, and just generally have an entirely rudderless feel. Hopefully lindy can infuse some juice not only in the fan base, but in the actual team.

I mean - the bills have a history of misery. However, losing to the eventual super bowl champs in the playoffs is a lot less miserable than the longest professional sports playoff drought. We have one of the top 3 QBs in the league. They're fun to watch. So i don't really think of it that way. The Sabres are miserable to watch though. The organization as a whole is so uninspiring and its hit a point where its not even misery anymore, its just become this sense of complete apathy. No one goes to watch, and no one watches them on tv anymore because no one has cable and there are blackout restrictions. The people that care are honestly more angry than miserable.

There's definitely still fights but... most stadiums are pretty serious about it and there's a fan hotline to text if you ever feel threatened. It's the... i'll handle this business myself crowd that tends to escalate it. I've used it at the bills stadium and they tossed people very quickly (my wife's a patriots fan and a girl behind us dumped a beer on her sisters head). They walked up and i stood up and pointed at the girl who did it. Her friends relocated to another section because there's really no recourse. What are you going to punch me in front of security? There was normal ribbing - "how can you marry a patriots fan?!" "We got married in August, they weren't playing that day". But the super drunk girl was too much.

dude... SAME! I was at average joe's on sweethome and i pointed at the screen and said Dez bryant. Hell even Demaryius Thomas might have been nice. I'd have hated a tebow pick but at least you're GOING for something. CJ spiller popped up and i was just... so confused. Chan gailey had mentioned wanting a "waterbug" back and everyone assumed that meant interest in dexter mccluster. In any case - Russ brandon was our freaking GM so of course we did stupid stuff. They had used some picks for wood and levitre the year prior (don't worry, they drafted maybin too.. can't have nice things), but bulaga or anthony davis might have been a nice pick there. We started Mansfield Wrotto in 7 games at RT, and LT was in flux after moving peters . Graham or JPP might have been nice to add a pass rusher since maybin seemed a bust from day 1. These aren't even reaches, they're like the next players off the board.

I wore a bills jersey in KC 2 season ago, and while people gave me some grief but nobody was particularly hostile? I did go with a group of chiefs fans though. Scariest dude i've probably ever met (probably 6'8 350 biker dude with a mohawk and his head painted like a chiefs helmet) was actually really nice in the beer line. The issue there is just how cocky and condescending their fans are towards the rest of the league. It's obnoxious and they desperately need a humbling. Philly fans have a bad history of violence, but i feel like you'd probably be ok at this point. It's likely very similar to buffalo - a couple hundred bad apples needing to perpetuate a stereotype. In buffalo thats... drinking in massive excess, and performing dangerous table related stunts. In philly its also drinking in massive excess and being jerks to just about everyone and everything.

Talented camera man?

I don't think anyone we have will be a top pass rusher in the NFL this season. But i also look at that list and see dollar signs and 0 super bowls. I wa Shaq barrett had 19 sacks in 2019, followed by 8 and then 10 - after never having more than 6 in his first 4 years. Harold Landry didn't crack double digit sacks until year 4 in the league. Zadarius Smith didn't hit double digits until year 5 after leaving baltimore for GB. I guess what i'm saying is... i don't expect anyone on our roster to take the jump to being some kind of feared player. But the possibility of adding a few additional pressures, and several pressures turning into sacks, isn't unheard of to see a jump from like 6 to 12 sacks.

From a more modern perspective of teams I've actually watched. They didn't even win a super bowl but that 2007 patriots team was ridiculous. Buffalo lost 94-17 across two games. Lot of older players but they had the goods across the board.

A lot of the teams sack numbers got goosed up by the 9 sacks against Washington. Buffalo was 4th in the league in sacks, and top 10 in pressures and pressure %. Floyd had 6 of his 10.5 sacks across three games - @NYJ, WSH, NYJ. Obviously the one was rodgers ankle exploding, the others were wilson and howell. He was probably the most consistent pressure player at times, but he was also likely playing a higher concentration of 3rd downs and pass rush specific packages as he was a borderline liability in run support. He had 6 total pressures and 1 sack across the last 7 games including the 2 playoff games. This is basically shaq lawson's pressure production, playing on 3rd downs only. Outside of floyd - the departing players and pass rushers are Lawson, Phillips, Settle, Ford, Joseph. I don't see how anyone we have brought in isn't at least a capable replacement (if not an outright upgrade in several cases). It all comes down to whether Miller and Solomon can generate some juice on passing downs. Miller honestly looked more dangerous come playoff time than floyd.

They stopped them the previous 2 drives. And Klein likely doesn't play the entire drive, Play action isn't really in play, you can maybe run twice on the drive. I think its a better chance to win there than overtime.

If the checkdown is there for a first down, whats wrong with the playcall? Allen also threw a very similar TD to kincaid the week prior. So its not as if that route combination doesn't work. I personally think we win if we get the TD. They have 2 timeouts but need a TD, and their running attack that had been really effective is likely not going to be in play in a 2 minute drill.

I'm happy to see some changes in there though. Brady getting the full time gig to me seemed logical. The offense wasn't considerably better in yardage or points even, but they were very improved at running the ball and maintaining time of possession. Babich getting promoted does seem like a changing of the guard. The Frazier coverage defense got the team near the end, but it never worked against better QBs. So with the loss of poyer, hyde, and tre - its likely a signal to some changes on defense. Considering McDermott comes from a Jim Johnson coaching background, i think there is a willingness to pressure QBs differently than in the past.

They literally went 5-12 the year after they won a super bowl. I feel like that was kind of a transition year.

I like multiple tight ends because you can be pass happy on a drive, and yet you're still playing a physical brand of offense. Short TE targets lead to down field blocks by other pass catchers, and forces corners and safeties to tackle big strong dudes. Or they're forcing their linebackers to cover players like kincaid and knox - you will run into teams during the season that don't have the horses to even do this.

So there's a salary guarantee of 4.5M in 2025 that was included at signing. So he won't be cut because of that - it would actually cost cap space to cut him. Trading him another team acquires all of his base salary numbers. Buffalo would be responsible for all the signing bonuses even on a trade. In that scenario you would gain 2.6M in cap space in 2024, and eat 12.5M in cap space in 2025 (~17.5M total). The 2.6M then just pays the replacement, and you have a huge cap hit in 2025 for a player who would then have played elsewhere for both of those seasons.

Very largely dependent on this season imo. He was solid in 2023, some drop issues. I do wonder if keeping him out of the end zone (he gets like no red zone carries) will make him want to leave though.

2 of their top 3 players in target share left the roster going into this season, as well as 15 TDs. I disagree with cutting or trading another guy who has been here for 5 years and has 28 TDs over that time, especially when the savings is basically enough to sign a replacement player - while also adding a massive dead money hit in 2025.

I remember he had a really rough start, then he was injured. It's hard to evaluate a season when i know he was both playing with the injury, missed a ton of practices with the same injury, and snap counts went down considerably by the end of the season. Missed 5 games including 2 pre-bye games with Brady at OC. After that his snap counts were reduced to mostly sub-50% snaps in the 7 games he played upon returning. He was targeted 11 times in 7 games after his return, but he had 2 TDs. If he's averaging say - 30 snaps a game down the stretch... and only like 15 of those plays are pass plays... and he's probably pass protection on several of those... doesn't lead to a lot of targets to make a big impact on those stats. As for his pay - he took a pay cut to stay here and trading/cutting would result in ~12M in dead money next season for limited savings this season. If they ate the hit for diggs in 2023 i don't think they're moving knox to get blasted in 2024. Not to mention you probably get worse at the position, that might be more important than ever with changes in the WR room.

Uhh Zappe threw 3 picks, one returned for a TD, and they scored 14 points on offense... So basically a net of 7 points. Another was returned to the red zone. They outgained the bills by 13 total yards but had 4 turnovers to 1. NE got the game within 1 score with 11 minutes left. Buffalo possessed the ball for like 10 of those minutes.

I think that he's probably just injury filler at this juncture. Sign somewhere during camp or after as a PS vet. Eventually either get called up or signed off the squad by another team.

Absolutely gashed in the run game in that one, and our run game was pathetic. 2 of our better run defenders leaving the game hurts a ton. Terrible travel plan. Terrible game plan. Terrible injury luck. Jax missed 1 tackle. Buffalo missed 18 per Pro football reference. Buffalo had 4 drops to their 2. Just everything about this game was letting it all slip through your fingers in some capacity.

He signed his deal in 2022 for 4 years. The last year has a massive base salary that essentially forces them to release him like a huge roster bonus, or forces them to restructure and extend. His thought is why wait to do that and give me some guarantees.

Even before Tua signs his deal. They are in a pickle moving forward. They paid Chubb. Picks and dollars for Ramsey. To a lesser extent Jackson Brooks and Sieler. Picked up the 5th year option for Phillips (this is a large cap hold going into the offseason that you may want to tag someone). They didn't pay Hunt and Wilkins. Cut Howard and eat 23M in dead space in 2025. I just don't see how they can keep Holland AND Phillips after this year. Oddly enough - this group is some of their best players from 2023. Hills cap hit in 2026 is 56M, which will require a major restructure - which is concerning when the player is 32. Armstead's cap hit increases to 22M in 2025 and he will be 34. The void years for decreasing those hits would be the same as Hill, so i suspect he is released next offseason. It's basically - you're married to this core, or you're ripping off several bandaid's at once.