Bleeding Bills Blue

To administer the testing? The team doctor can probably say one way or another whether he should go back in, but i'm not sure how much the coaches talk to the team doctors during a game if at all. If they're testing - Balance, speech, coordination, vision as they claim Speech will be a comparison to a baseline. The players know this, and its probably the piece they can most manipulate. Balance can't be faked Coordination can't be faked Vision test... i dunno maybe but i'd imagine also can't really be faked. All this to say - we know his balance and coordination weren't affected because he was mossing everyone in the secondary. He cleared all of his tests, and there is no requirement to take him out because he cleared protocol last week or whatever. If they want teams to take players out, then they need to change how they do these things.

The requirement is an independent spotter sends him to the blue tent. We don't really know what happens in there, but assuming some level 1 test that if you pass you are cleared to return. The bengals COULD try and save a player from themself, but the coaches are NOT allowed into that blue tent with the player (big no-no that daboll got his hand slapped for). So the coach doesn't know anything other than - he is cleared to return - and when asked if he was ready Higgins likely said yes. They aren't doing complicated brain scans in a blue tent on the side of the field, so there really isn't much for the team doctors to say.

I assume it was conditions. Timeout gives you a chance to feel the wind, pick a hash, clear a good spot, etc. Getting to +4 vs. +3 is probably more valuable than the timeout, and pushing your XP back 5 yards in a snow game for delay of game would be brutal if he missed.

I think someone claims him just to kick the tires the rest of the year tbh. But i don't know that it is a playoff team. Maybe someone like Tennessee or the Jets who are in full e v a l mode.

He started 14 games a year later fwiw

They said the same thing about hyde, and he returned THAT season. It's certainly possible, but he is SO far from a medical professional that i don't think reading his facial expressions should be considered gospel.

Just one question for you board invader - are you going to take your lumps if you lose? Or are you going to pretend you didn't hop into this board to troll?

Having played defense in snow, I always liked getting hands on players at or near their breaks rather than at the LOS. It's so much harder for a receiver to get some steam coming out, and i felt like i was better equipped to stop the run coming from depth.

ok - but you're taking a quote from a mid-season press conference and stretching its meaning. Essentially it didn't respond to the treatment like they hoped. Does that mean career ending? Sure. Does it possibly mean offseason surgery? Who knows.

Wouldn't it be something if they got bounced by Houston in the first round, and then went 8-9 with a 1st place schedule in 2026 and a regression to the mean in 1-score games and injury luck?

He's likely getting the fire-hose treatment as we speak. I don't think he's taking TJ's job, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him in the rotation with lewis in dime looks. ... source?

Gesicki has given this team problem for his entire career for one reason or another. They also had their hands full with jamarr chase lining up inside with some frequency. TJ seems to be playing a bit slower this year, and i wonder if quad/groin injuries are a big part of that.

DQ was out for the game and the depth couldn't get it done that game. I also don't remember who the corners were but dane Jackson and kaiir elam played a lot in those games which... Explains a lot of the issues with the game plan.

I wish we did add more at WR, I'll make that clear. But I think there HAS to be balance to win championships in the NFL. Even looking back at the kelly bills, when another team was able to run the ball it screws everything up. Fewer possessions and more of a sense of urgency because of the lack of possession time. I don't think that means we need to run the ball constantly, I just mean I don't want to build a team around 2 WRs and 1QB if that makes any sense? To your 2nd point about what if burrow carves buffalo up? The entire offense would need to play amazing to win in that scenario. If Buffalo puts close to 200 on the ground against you, even incompletions or penalties, or sacks can become game killing plays because a running team squeezes the clock. We'll see how it plays out! I think on the road it's difficult to just say we're going to dictate, not to mention very different personnel on both sides - namely hopefully less playing time for dane Jackson and kaiir elam.

I think a lot of things are missed here but i do like reading things like this that aren't fully rooted in a bias. 1 - I don't disagree. We barely wade into the FA pool here so you tend to want to see some impact before some splash. Injuries are going to happen to players though. 2 - Shakir's contract was about the same in AAV as the deal gabe davis and darnell mooney signed in 2024. I think his value there is appropriate and will probably age pretty well. Benford's contract was the 8th highest AAV of deals signed just in 2025. I think he's somewhere around 18 or 19th total. To me that reads fair market value, and will probably age well. Rousseau is overpaid, but it doesn't mean he's a bad player either. It's also not really an egregious overpay either. You mention bosa as getting more pass rush for the money, but he's also caused a lot of issues defensively with his poor gap integrity against the run. Bernard is a captain so there's a little bit of an overpay. There's like 7 off ball linebackers with ~10M AAV, so it's not like he's jumping off the page. He missed camp with a hamstring, re-aggravated an ankle injury, and now he screwed up his elbow on a weird tackle. He's likely here through 2027 unless he's traded. Dre greenlaw got the same 10M coming off a playoff achilles injury 3 - Other than White, all of these are mid-season injury replacements for Carter (DT5), Jackson (DE5), Palmer (WR2), Rapp (FS), Bernard (LB5). The options are either players who have never practiced here, and don't necessarily represent upgrades, or bring in players you've seen play quite a bit. Devil you know (they are old or not good), vs. devil you don't. 4 - Frazier was the DC during that bengals debacle. That alone was pretty much a fireable offense. You promote from within because it empowers young coaches to feel they have the ability to earn promotions. Brady was brought in as an heir-apparent, and stepped in and settled down that hot/cold dorsey offense down the stretch. Babich was interviewing with other teams for their coordinator position, and has a family pedigree of coaching. 5 - I think there's reason to be critical of the strength and conditioning staff, seems like the team has torn pecs/biceps, pulled hamstrings/quads/groins quite frequently. There have been a number of practice injuries this year which is concerning. At the same time, the tackling was so bad to start the year that you HAD to improve the practice intensity. Seemed like that coincided with more soft tissue injuries. 6 - I think there's still and will always be a buffalo effect here. There are a number of players... who do not want to play here. The weather alone to me always will deter a lot of people. Factor in night life and stuff and its not always a place people want to live. As for WRs having to block? Yeah, thats going to be important for any team that plays in the rust belt. It's a mistake to NOT have that be a large part of your identity. You WANT to play football in december and january at home, and that means wind/snow/cold that tends to favor a running football team. I want to be clear, you are not WRONG in your criticism of Beane. I think there's more than enough reasons to be, but there's nuance and context. "Go out and get a WR" doesn't really work when the available trade options aren't good. Trading for holdouts like Samuel, Mclaurin, or Metcalf were not looking to be smart moves - and none of them really worked out for their team this year. Davante has been solid this year, but with that contract you probably don't get Bosa. Also not really sure he was interested in coming here so its speculative.