ctk232

Mills has handled Watt before. Doesn't mean it'll pan out this time, but each team has the same mismatch: OL v. the other team's DL. It'll be a question of which QB can beat the pass rush, and I like our secondary over their's, should Tre's ankle prove to be a non-factor. My worry is Allen getting the ball out in time to avoid Watt and Clowney on those pressures - if we can't establish a run game to keep the defense honest, we're looking at another Titans game. Add in Watson's unknown injury status and it may end up being quite the slop fest.

Saw that too, was watching some of his interviews - idk, either way our DL v. their OL is a mismatch in this game. As is our OL v their DL...which QB goes first?

Credit to @26CornerBlitz for posting this in the matchup thread. Seems like he's made up his mind...

It's part of the reason we get the "need to be better at tackling" grades/reviews, too.

Not saying it won't happen, but what credibility does John Harris have in this regard?

Thank you. Getting pretty tired of people confusing "worth" with "market value" in this context. His worth is entirely subjective, and to the Bills, that worth is high considering their current offensive circumstances and the greater needs being OL/WR. His market value, is also subjective to a point, but more objective in the sense that should he be traded, he is currently being valued by other teams collectively at a different ask than what the Bills have started with, which is all a part of negotiation. Regardless of the fact that Shady will likely not be a part of this team when they are ready to compete, I would LOVE to see us get what we're asking for, but realistically we end up with a 3rd and more cap space next season. It's just unfortunate that we may lose our only real offensive weapon this year: Shady/Ivory one-two scheme.

Allen can likely handle either scenario psychologically imho, whether he's benched or playing. The only reason I would bench him is to prevent injury, but our OL has been doing a decent job of protecting him on Sunday, and god forbid, as long as they stay consistent I'd prefer Allen starting the rest of the season. Regardless of his performance, experience is experience, just hope he's an experiential learner and not an observational learner in that regard. Starting Anderson for any other reason just frankly wouldn't make sense from what the FO has stated we are looking to accomplish. That being said, absolutely better than Peterman. I just want them to get rid of Culley and bring in someone who can actually do the job here.

No FA WR worth his salt will sign with the Bills this season if they are looking to make the playoffs. Nor do we really need to make any mid-season moves for any. Despite the current state of our corps, it's not like we're contending for a berth this year so why waste money on a WR that likely won't even fit the system/culture? We may have some more leverage in FA with our increased cap, but still risk overpaying for top talent. To be honest, Funchess is about the only WR I'd offer from this upcoming pool, but it's likely he stays put. We'll more than likely fill out our corps with second rate receivers with good fundamentals. I'd rather we put our draft capital to work here for our top WR in the 2nd to start to provide a WR corps of the future. Use this to gain momentum and attraction for other elite talent. Frankly, if they don't want to be part of the build and future process, then fine.

You really think Anderson is the guy to do that? And be the barometer for which Allen acclimatizes to the league? Derek Anderson? That bodes well. Better yet, what does Anderson starting and playing this year do for the team? To extend the logic of your point, if Allen is too psychologically frail to not gain experience and build from the rest of this year as our starter, than he isn't our future anyway. I personally don't believe this, but it's equally true given the logic of "psychological frailty." Playing Anderson this year over Allen sends two real messages, regardless of how they are perceived: 1. Allen isn't ready. This isn't good or bad, it's just a consequential fact of starting Anderson. That has impact on more than just Allen and his psychological state. It affects the entire team's hope for the future, the FO's hope for the future, and the entire franchise. 2. We're trying to win this year. Which is hilarious because if anyone thinks Anderson will take us back to the playoffs this year, they are sorely mistaken. Anderson isn't going to be the long term solution, so let him be the vet QB on the sidelines like everyone else on this board wanted, instead of a new QB coach to do all the things we signed Anderson for.

Pretty hard to miss the playoffs if you do this every year. Completely agree - and I think we can separate this from not wanting them to win. We all want to see them do well on Sundays. But I think we can all agree that the purpose of this rebuild isn't to win 8 or 9 games a year, make the playoffs and never go to the SB. Higher pick > playoff berth at the moment.

I love the conjecture about what he's worth. Right now we're paying him 8.95 mil against the cap, what's a 3rd round pick in comparison to his actual financial value? Point is, what he's "worth" is subjective and completely up to Beane and McD in reality. If they think Shady is worth more to this team than a 3rd round pick only then he isn't worth a 3rd round pick - it's also likely why we asked for a 2nd and a 3rd for reasons beyond just throwing a starting offer out there to work with. Doing so also indicates that he's a guy the Bills value and need on offense, not to mention he was just promoted to Captain. Shady is worth more than just a 3rd, and no way the trade gets done for a 2nd and a 3rd. The most likely trade scenario the eagles would accept however, is for a 3rd round pick, but that isn't necessarily what he's "worth."

Tomorrow you mean? Otherwise I'm pretty pumped about the new South Park tonight for sure

Not sure if they're desperate, but weren't they the ones that contacted us about it and were reportedly also interested in Bell? Why make the call if you don't need to? With Ajayi out I think they're just testing the market with teams who might be offloading aging/expensive RB talent relatively soon and could entice them into a trade deal. But otherwise aren't serious about these specific guys without the right offers. Shady did like Philly, he just hated Kelly, so maybe they were trying to play into that a bit. Either way, Shady isn't going anywhere unless it's for exactly what Beane wants. We made him a Captain this year for a reason, he won't get shipped off for less than a 2nd and a 3rd. He wouldn't bring in a 2nd and a 3rd as we supposedly demanded. That's why Beane started the offer there, which would likely get negotiated to just a 3rd, but still not sure I would do it for that, nor would Beane...at least from peering through the keyhole, it seems like he won't take less than what he's asked for, and not sure any deal gets made at this point anyway.

Would love to see Allen start to diagnose defenses on these run plays with pre-snap motion. It could potentially be a great foundation builder for him to read coverage without the added pressure of having to throw. I know how that sounds in reference to the future of our franchise, but if he really needs the help in this area of the game, this could be an equally efficient method in addition to the short/mid throw passing game. We all know what pre-snap motion can do on run plays in manipulating defenses, or giving the QB ability to flip the play, or note gaps in coverage. Something the Pats have used against us yearly, and Rivers does to us every other year. As for Daboll, I think you even made the point in another thread that Daboll shouldn't be excused for what we've seen thus far, and the more I re-watch the games, I can see what people are saying about him. There are some great playcalls, and situational calls that make me excited for an offense we haven't seen in a long time. And at other times we just look lost. As much as I put this on the players before, I have to remember this is also Daboll's first year back in the NFL, not to mention his first year with these guys. So regardless of player talent, there will be natural growing pains in addition to some truly head-scratching calls and play execution. So far I've returned to the realm of skeptical for how our OC is fairing thus far in the league. Let's hope this gets better with the season moving forward.

Wouldn't it be nice...but so far we've beaten two "top" teams in the Vikes and Titans, but have otherwise goose-egged our way through the other three. While your breakdown would certainly be the most logical, I bet we split both the Jets and Miami games some how and end up beating either CHI or JAX, but not both, just to fit the trend of top team upsets this season. Don't sleep on the Colts or Detroit at this point either, depending on which version of our offense shows up. Appreciate the positive outlook though, and certainly within the realm of possibility. Just don't think we sweep both the Jets and phish, division games haven't been our strong suit in recent history.

Don't disagree in the slightest - thought to note, some wins are just more convincing than others. No doubt our defense combined with our RBs and OL, dare I say, won us that game. W is a W no matter how it came, but for the purpose of my point, we all know the difference and what a convincing win looks like.

Thanks for the write up! Went through the Spotrac lists myself and thought Funchess would be a great WR add to match a WR draft pick in the 2nd or 3rd. Doubtful (even with the Carolina-Buffalo pipeline) unless Carolina picks up another receiver or Funchess would rather try his worth elsewhere, but I would prefer this signing to most other FA's out there for next year. He could still demand a decent penny though given his age and upside. I like the idea of Kalil for a year or two, but agree it's not likely - I'd honestly only pick-up Paradis if anyone at all to help fill out the line. I'd prefer us to address OL and WR in the draft early this year, perhaps even in that order. I'd rather build our line through the draft and develop these guys internally. It's a cheaper method and may help to preserve an effective line for the next 3-5 years depending on rookie contracts and how they pan out performance wise. Need to look into the OL draft, but I'd love OL in the 1st round, and AJ or other top WR in the 2nd.

We all hope so, but with Castillo coaching the line, how much hope can we have for any rookie we draft?

Don't get me wrong, not pointing to this as the one play that determined the outcome. That would be idiotic. Just take that play in the moment after all had occurred up to that point - do you have faith in our offense to drive the field for 6 if Williams comes down with the TD? The drive they put together was great, but it's far less likely we put up 6 on the final drive versus the 3 we did. Fortunately, it didn't end up going that way and we didn't play ourselves out of the final drive.

Could we have driven the field and put up more than 3 points? Absolutely. It's possible just wasn't likely given how the game was going, but yes, still possible. And I'm not removing the turnovers from the evaluation - quite the contrary. I responded separately to this effect in that we should at least wait a couple more weeks for some efficacious data to provide a better sense of how good this D is. I personally think our defense is solid and has tremendous upside. We've seen this since our opener and week 2 games. But before we start parading around our defense, let's see how they perform outside of the turnovers, or in games where we can't force any INTs, fumbles, etc. It's absolutely part of the game and I love seeing it, but all I'm saying is don't start the train too early/take what you've seen with a grain of salt.

Never said it didn't, it bounces both ways every game. But all I'm saying is before we go parading our defense, let's have a bit more efficacious data to work with and see how they perform in games where we can't force turnovers like we have in the Minnesota and Tennessee games. I think our Defense is really solid and has plenty of upside, but all I'm saying is we should slow down on that train and wait and see how they perform moving forward external of the crazy amount of turnovers. It's a catch-22 because it's not like I want to see less INTs, fumbles, etc. Just saying grain of salt.

Barring any unforeseen injury I'd agree - their division is wide open. But the chances of them beating the Saints or really any other NFC playoff team is unlikely.

Stating the obvious here but it's pretty likely they win the game if he catches it. But for everyone posting how great our Defense has been, the grain of salt is if you take away the turnover differential (which is mostly just the ball bouncing our way), we were one play away from losing that game due to a drop in coverage. Top 10 defenses have that happen, but not with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter in a game where we know our offense likely won't put up more than 3 points a drive.

They have two second rounders and a bloated cap next season, which would put them in a more win now mindset, despite having the same record as the Bills oddly enough. Though to your second statement above, I'd have to agree that talks aren't extending at this point given the lack of updates. It seems like a trade now move for the Giants game. Unless Philly is just shopping around right now to see what they'd get before picking up another RB. To be honest, trading for Shady or Bell at this point, and with their cap situation next year, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense on their end. To be honest, if the Eagles give up a second and third for Shady and end up missing the playoffs anyway, it will be the Bills fleecing the Eagles in a trade 2.0.

Actually though. And in reality, Shady will likely not be around when this team is ready to compete week in and week out. We aren't going to the playoffs this year, unless some drastic turnaround happens on offense, but even with Shady they won't make a playoff berth at this rate. He provides a nice counter to Ivory's North/South style which can really create a dynamic run game. But it'll be nothing once teams stack the box and dare us to throw, which we can't do with any semblance of consistency at this point. The more logical move is to offload him in a way where we can maximize return value and limit the cap hit. Trading him later won't necessarily increase his value, and risk us just releasing him for nothing. I love the guy and would like to see him stay, but if you're thinking of preparing a Bills team to compete in the next year or two, now would be the time to offload him for the greatest potential return.