Miyagi-Do Karate

As the biggest weather worrier on here, the silver lining to not getting the #1 seed is getting to play in a stadium in the playoffs without gale force winds.

I was coming here to post this exact same sentence, verbatim. Total clown show. The guy is a prima Donna. He goes on a dog and pony recruiting show; he files a big lawsuit against a Nike; and gets thrown off a plane, all in the span of a week.

All fair questions. I obviously can’t speak for the Bills. But given the buzz over and attempts at getting a pass-catching RB (eg, McKissick), I saw the Hines trade as more than just a ST specialist. I was expecting a guy who would basically be no less than a third round back, and would be catching at least 4-5 balls per game, and being mixed in with the other RB’s with a few Carries here and there. That would be the floor on expectations. The ceiling would Be a guy who would essentially be our slot WR, with the versatility to move into the backfield. Some of my expectations were driven by Hines’s contract. I guess the Bills could let him walk after this season, but if they aren’t, his contract justifies higher usage.

I am going to have to do some deep-dive film study into said Gatorade container kick.

My hope And guess is that they are taking a very deliberate and long approach to Hines. Get him fully up to speed, figure out how best to use him, get him lots Of practice reps, etc.— all In time for the final stretch and playoffs. I think what that means would be he is fully integrated by the Jets game. That would give him that 10-day window between games too for more reps. Either that, or they are really squandering the trade.

Go Blue! Ryan Day has to be on the hot seat. Got totally outcoached with the more talented roster.

a “superstar,” actually.

I assume that the Pats will play a lot of man. That means that Josh running and McKenzie beating man coverage will be key to this game. McKenzie is really going to need to be on point.

This is a bit unfair. It is really rare for teams To have two all-pro defensive ends. I think the Bills’ plan B if Miller got injured was the young guns at end they invested a ton of high draft capital in. To me, that is acceptable planning.

maybe I am Being too harsh on him. On multiple snaps, he looked like he was stuck in mud on coverage. Just didn’t move at all in his zone or have any feel, and let guys get wide open with very little resistance.

was surprised to see how poorly Bernard did in coverage against Cleveland. I thought that would be his strength.

I am probably beating a dead horse, but Klein was just really solid on Thursday. What a great pickup, especially after Dodson has shown himself to be horrendous.

To be fair, just like Dorsey is learning on the fly, we have a generation of Bills fans that are learning how to be fans of a winning team, or are fans that forgot what it’s like to be a fan Of a winning team. Their default is to revert to “fire X” because they now have expectations that are totally out of whack.

sort of wonder if there are advanced stats out there on missed tackles. Not doubting you, but I haven’t gotten the same impression as you (ie, that this is a problem). I also don’t think YAC always correlates to missed tackles. Sometimes it is due to bad coverage, or being out of coverage position.

It’s not as if we also had almost 20 straight years of coaching ineptitude as an important data point here.

I thought Klein played great. But beyond that, he called the defense too!!!

Ugh. Forgot this was an Amazon prime game. Is there DVR and stop/start functionality?

To defend Dorsey, I saw some really nifty new misdirection run plays yesterday. I think he is continuing to build and innovate.

The Bills have never been able to run a proper TE bootleg, almost ever. Maybe Jim Kelly days was the last consistent success on that play. Even when they run one now with “success,” it’s like a 5-yard gain.

I guess I am in the minority. Dane is a very solid #2 CB. I would throw out the Vikings game because it was Jefferson, who does that to everyone. And the browns game was a little misleading because Cooper was in the slot a lot (and Brissett was making some crazy throws there too). Dane plays very tight coverage, plays the ball well, and is great in run support. I think he has had some spells of bad luck recently, or QBs making just ridiculous throws. The TD he gave up to Chalk was as perfect coverage you can get and just a perfect throw and catch. Moreover, if the pass rush were better recently, some of his recent flaws would be hidden too. I hope they stick with him. Once Tre and Elam are back, I can see a nice rotation there.

Klein was huge. Very good in run sport and competent in coverage. Dodson is an utter disappointment, and isn’t even going to be tendered as an RFA after this season. Bernard is still a raw rookie, and so the jury is still out.

wasn’t that Taron?

haha— awesome!

That thread had some very subtle differences from this one. This one appears to be quite nuanced.