Kirby Jackson

Flores still has a lot to prove but his 1st year has to be considered a massive success. That team was AWFUL and traded away 2 of their best 3 players. The other one missed most of the season with injury. The Dolphins did everything in their power to finish last and they won 5 games. They played hard, were prepared, disciplined and overachieved. They just had no players. Their coaching staff did a really nice job last year. Now that they have a lot more talent and some expectations let’s see if it continues....

So, I’ve been posting this in numerous threads for a few months. I know there are some people with me on it and some that think it’s crazy. The Pats are a bad team. They will win 6 games (and that’s with the greatest coach ever). Someone please make a case as to why they are a threat in the division? Please don’t use some lame reason like, “because they are king’s until they are not” or “because they are always good.” Give FOOTBALL reasoning as to why they are good!! My reasoning as to why they are bad is that they have no talent on offense. Their OL is pretty good but lost their legendary coach. They have, at best, a massive question mark at QB. At worst, they have the worst QB situation in the league. The Pats likely have the worst set of skill players in the NFL as well. Some people are saying that they are going to run the ball and play defense. Their backs aren’t good and they will be forced to run against loaded boxes because no one fears their passing game. How does this team generate offense?!? Please, someone, tell me... The secondary is really good. The pass rush isn’t. They lost Collins and Van Noy this offseason as well as Danny Shelton. That’s 3 starters in their front 7. That defense is no longer elite (although it could still be a top 10ish unit). Add that to, statistically, the hardest schedule in the NFL and explain to me what I’m missing? Again, no “because they always are” responses. This team has different players and coaches. I’m asking why THIS team is still a threat? https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/NE I’m hoping that this thread inspires some thoughtful conversation. I suspect that the trauma of 20 years of being the nail has people living in fear for no reason. They will hide behind “because Belichick” because that’s the ONLY thing to stand behind. I’m not sure how many games, against that schedule, a great coach is good for? I think that they win 6 because of Belichick. That’s a 4 win team otherwise IMO. I’d love to hear a real football argument those as to why they can win?

They’re actually not. I just bet it last week after the draft. The Bills were +130. The Patriots were +145. Unless things have changed since Thursday the Bills are the favorite.

Last year, the Bills played, statistically the 24th hardest schedule in the NFL entering the year. Their opponents had a combined .480 winning percentage in 2018. This ended up even easier in that Big Ben missed 2019. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/nfl/news/toughest-nfl-schedule-2019-strength-of-schedule/uul8u61c5vx715vm8xynhn7ci This year it is, statistically tied for the 5th hardest. The Patriots have the hardest, the Jets 2nd hardest, & Dolphins 3rd. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2020-nfl-strength-of-schedule-cowboys-ravens-and-steelers-have-it-easiest-patriots-face-roughest-ride/ People don’t just say random things on the schedule going into each year. There are numbers that support having an easy or hard schedule. It’s not just an opinion. Obviously, the situation can change but all schedules aren’t created equally. The Bills had an easy road last year (as did the whole AFC East) and the Bills have a hard road this year (as does the whole AFC East).

They did until you really dig into the schedule. Their last 10 games: - Jags (L) - Dolphins (L) - Giants (W) - Redskins (W) - Raiders (W) - Bengals (L) - Dolphins (W) - Ravens (L) - Steelers (W) vs. Mason Rudolph - Bills (W) vs. the backups There isn’t a good win in the bunch. Their schedule, like everyone in the division, is much harder this year. The Jets OL should be better but that’s better than awful. Their skill players stink and Gase is terrible. I like Darnold and think he’s going to be pretty good. The Jets look like a 6 or 7 win team to me. They play: Bills (2), Pats (2), Miami (2), 49ers, Cards, Seahawks, Rams, Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Chargers, Colts, & Browns. I’m just not seeing many wins there.

The secondaries in the AFC East are really good. Both 1st team all-pro corners and both 1st team all-pro safeties started the year in the AFC East. Fitzpatrick was traded to Pittsburgh. That’s pretty insane though. The top 4 DBs in football all started the year in the division.

Yeah, the Bills could have the same record as last year and be way better. The AFC East was 34-30 last year. I’m VERY confident that the division will be worse than that this year.

This feels about right to me Scott

Oh I’m not projecting them to win 9 games. I’m just saying they can. I don’t see how the Jets or Pats can. The Jets play the Browns & Colts in their crossover games and the Pats play the Texans and Ravens. I think that the AFC East goes 0-4 in those games. We also play the AFC and NFC west. Those divisions are strong. There just aren’t a lot of wins with the lack of talent and the schedule. With last year’s schedule it could have been different. The Bills are clearly the class of the division imo. They absolutely have the best roster.

I’m going to die on this hill. We are so traumatized by the last 20 years we’ve lost all reason. That team stinks. If you put lions uniforms on that roster we’d think that they were in the Lawrence race. They will win 6 BECAUSE of Belichick. That is one of the worst few rosters in the league. Stop thinking about who they were and look at this depth chart. What is it that you like about this team? Where are they good? I’m not picking on you specifically either so I’m sorry if it comes across like that. I’m asking everyone here to look at this. What about this talent do people like? https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/NE Their OL is pretty good but lost their legendary coach. Their skill players are AWFUL. The secondary is good but their pass rush isn’t. This is a bad football team with the greatest coach of all-time. Someone explain to me HOW this team scores points?

I just look at the division and don’t see it. Miami’s advantage is that their crossover games are Bengals and Jags. They are better than both of them. That puts them a leg up on the Jets and Pats imo. The Jets and Pats have no weapons. One team has a pretty good young QB but Adam Gase as the coach. The other has, at this point, the worst weapons in the league, the worst QB situation in the league and arguably the hardest schedule in the league. The Pats are a 6 win team. The Jets are in that general area too I believe. The Dolphins have some real strengths (specifically the secondary). They have a rebuilt OL, a solid vet QB and potentially a young franchise guy. They are well coached too. They may be a year away. They too may be a 6 win team. They are however, the only other team in the division that I can see a path to 8 or even 9 wins.

Ha ha, it’s like a bizzaro world. I hate to jinx it but with the Bills luck they’ll lose 3 games on special teams and we will all hate life. lol

I’ll take it a step further; I don’t see a path for anyone else. I think if Miami takes a BIG step they can MAYBE get to 9 wins. No one else in the division can IMO. I have the Bills at +130 and if I had more in my account I’d have bet more.

This^^^

If you find me saying good things about DiMarco please feel free to add them here. I‘ve been trying to cut him for years lol!! Just because he can’t play doesn’t mean that Gore can anymore. Those 2 things aren’t intertwined. Neither can play

The reason that it’s a “better play” than trying to get a comp pick is that you don’t have to sacrifice for it. When teams get comp picks it’s because they had a net negative in terms of players added. Beane’s strategy is to add twice as many guys as he needs. He dumps the surplus for the same picks and remains net neutral (plus the pick). It’s kind of genius. Wyatt Teller and Russell Bodine are perfect examples.

I’m hoping so too and Turk seems like an obvious long-term answer. Colquitt could be a short-term answer. Marquette King would be my first choice I think. Perhaps they try to deal some of their OL depth for a punter? I remember the Browns traded a 7th or something for Andy Lee a few years back. The Bills might be able to turn Spencer Long or someone like that into their punter? There are avenues to fix the problem but right now I see it as a problem.

Zion

Now, that that is out of the way, the weakest position on the team is punter. That’s the only position group near the bottom of the league. That speaks to the Bills depth. With that being said, it could end up being a big problem. Bojo can hit some bombs but he also hits some 25 yarders. With as good as the Bills roster is they need consistency there above all else. They need that position to be neutral (and ST in general). The Bills cannot lose games on weird ST mistakes. They need ST to be a wash. If that happens the Bills will have a really good record. There aren’t many teams that can match them on defense and offense. The Bills are a complete team and a deep team.

Hope that it was worth the signup process to make one trolling post. ??? take bot

4d chess

If you look at that picture it probably was taken 15 seconds after. Kraft is thrilled. The hooks are riddled with guilt and regret. They are asking themselves, “where did I go wrong?” I think that they will stink. I’m on record as saying that they are a 6-10 team. They have no skill players and the worst QB situation in the league. They lost their legendary OL coach and 3 starters in the front 7. They are definitely tweaking though. I just don’t see any path for them to remain on top. They will be a bad team in 2020.

He’s going to be 190ish I would guess. He’s definitely a lot smaller than Shenault but WAY more refined. They have a similar “Swiss Army Knife” skill set. Moore is a lot safer though (although he had some injuries this past year too).

It’s Occam’s razor. We could go miles down the rabbit hole talking about how each little thing is the cause for their great success. We can assume that no one else was doing these same things. We can put together a whole long story to discredit them. I choose to chalk it up to the most likely situation; they’ve been historically great for 20 years. I don’t sleep better at night by diminishing their accomplishments. Tip my cap and move on. The simplest answer is the likeliest answer.

I kind of do actually. It feels like Gore is one of those guys that will play until he doesn’t have a job. He doesn’t really care where. He’s kind of an “exception” guy. Gore is already in the HOF in my opinion but racking up more yards won’t hurt him.