BarleyNY

Agreed. People are propagating a myth that the Phins put Tua back on the field after an obvious concussion. That’s simply not how it works. An independent NFL neurotrauma consultant cleared him. Is it possible that Tua was concussed and still cleared protocol? Sure, everyone is capable of mistakes and even experts do not know everything about concussions and how the human body reacts to them. But it is unlikely with the steps the NFL has been taking to protect players from head injury - and themselves from associated lawsuits.

I agree. It’s probably not going to be bad enough to impact the game. If it does I’d say advantage Bills. Specifically if Lamar can’t make his usual cuts and if it eliminates RBs from making cutbacks it’s a big advantage to Buffalo. I don’t know that it’ll be enough rain for that tho.

A lot has to do with the punter crushing the ball on the free kick. That made the safety worse for us. There was no way he would’ve gotten a good punt off squished into his EZ so we’d have been in excellent field position. Still, we’d have needed a TD but on something like a 35 or 40 yard drive. (Maybe less.) As it stood we needed to get about the same yardage AND make a FG. Miami should’ve probably just taken the safety on purpose. Too much could’ve gone wrong on the punt, including a Bills TD. They got lucky it worked out for them.

Yup. Is Saquon Barkley really the guy to put the Bills over the top? At the cost of eeking out the last little bit of cap space we could maneuver? I really don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, when healthy he’s a very good RB. I honestly wouldn’t hate it if we had plenty of cap space. His salary isn’t crazy and we’d be due a future comp pick after he signed elsewhere. But not with where we are today. We don’t have the luxury.

I agree. Last season it seemed to be by design. Beane collected effective pass blockers at the expense of players who excelled at run blocking. There’s obviously a cost savings there versus players who are good at both. But the OL changes in the off-season seemed to be a reversal where they added some better run blockers who aren’t as good in pass pro. Injuries have taken a toll so it’s tough to see how it’s really working out. The new direction was a concern of mine coming into the season though. I thought it might mean seeing the Bills utilize a traditional running game more, but I didn’t want that to come at the expense of Allen seeing more pressure and hits.

It’s tight. You’re right that the team could free up a couple million from Allen. They also could free up some by restructuring the salaries of Oliver and Keenum and adding void years to their deals. They could’ve done this with Poyer when they added incentives. I’m not sure why they didn’t. Maybe it was because they wanted the salary in tact in case negotiations went sour. More there for Poyer to lose if he got suspended by the team. We are reaching into our emergency fund if the team were to make any of these restructures IMO. I’m generally a fan of kicking cap hits to the future, but these are scraping the bottom of the cap space barrel moves. As for Edmunds, it is permissible for both parties to agree to modify a fifth year option after it has been put into effect. It can’t be modified prior though. That just means teams can’t deviate from the league thresholds and calculations. Unlike franchise and transition tags, the team and player can agree to change the terms of the contract once in place. Baker Mayfield did this this off-season. I doubt that Edmunds would simply restructure and add void years. Why would he? His agent would insist on a new, long-term contract with a lot of guaranteed money. It would add cap space this season, but would definitely hamper the Bills with other contracts next offseason.

This didn’t look like anything of consequence. That said I’ve heard that there has been a lot of talk in NFL circles about Bieniemy and none of it is good. There is good reason he’s been a HC candidate multiple times but not a HC yet.

The NFL doc is responsible for doing the check and has the authority to hold a player out of a game. If the doc or the league says a player needs a check, then that player has to be cleared before he sees the field again. Teams have no authority to prevent or override any of that.

So you’re saying that the cause of the missed kick might’ve been the 38* offensive linemen that were injured and not a guy who is in his 10th** season of holding for kicks in the NFL? Interesting……. * hyperbole ** not hyperbole

Yes, it is a league hired doctor. These docs are highly skilled. The NFLPA isn’t going to improve their methodology. It would have to be proven that the Dolphins did something outside the rules to influence his decision. And even in that very unlikely event, good luck with it. At best that gets handled quietly. Maybe Goodell gets to punch Ross in the balls or something. Or maybe a fine. But what doc is going to put his/her career on the line for something like that?

Appropriate how? It was a league hired MD who made the judgement. Why should the Dolphins be held accountable for something they didn’t do?

Fair enough. Defensively I’d put Von Miller 1, Milano right behind him at 2 and then Poyer, Oliver and Rousseau would round out the top 5 in some order.

This. I think we will be okay next season, but we can’t be frivolous and we are tapped out now. There is a little space available in Allen’s salary (not much) but that is literally the only place left to add any space this season - other than cutting/trading some players. Other than moves close to minimum salary additions we have what we have.

I am sure it seems odd to some here. A lot of folks expected this to be an invincible Bills team rolling to 20-0 (or something close to that). Now they’re freaking out because that illusion has been shattered. The reality is the same as it was a month ago though. The Bills are a helluva good team, one of the best - if not the best - in the league. But they aren’t the only stacked team in the NFL. The AFC in particular is stacked and it will be a dogfight to the end.

Sidney Jones from the Seahawks? Not sure what he’s cost trade-wise, but they’re going nowhere and he’s on a one year deal. Cheap too. $3.6M contract, including $1.3M signing bonus so we’d only be on the hook for a prorated Portion of $2.3M. Some of that is even in the form of per game roster bonuses so we’d be off the hook for some if he got hurt.

Legit depends on how big a difference in health we’re talking about. Those two weeks off for the #1 seed help heal a lot of bumps and bruises.

Singular game grades really need to be taken with a grain of salt, especially where covering Hill and Waddle are concerned.

Looks like his head isn’t in it so far this season. Chargers was worst loss of the 3 mentioned. They are in bad shape. Vegas wasn’t included in the list but it might’ve been worse. 0-3 is close to impossible to overcome and make the playoffs (though there’s a 7th spot now). Edited to add: Only 6 teams since 1979 have made playoffs after an 0-3 start. Only 1 has made it after starting 0-4 (‘92 Chargers).

Is everything okay?

Fans of teams that have gotten close, but haven’t managed to win it all tend to dwell on the costly mistakes that ended their seasons. Pats fans aren’t dwelling on the Helmet Catch or any of the plays that ended so many Pats seasons prematurely because they have 5 SB wins with Brady. John Elway lost 3 SBs before winning 2 later in his career. That narrative changed when he got the first one. Just one championship changes so much. If Buffalo can get over the top just once you’ll see it here too.

I agree. I’d rather watch them play a game of kickball than pretend to play a football game. What makes the football game especially bad is that two players every five years take it seriously and wind up injuring someone with a hart hit they weren’t expecting. Just let them compete in some fun stuff that won’t get anyone injured. Make it a good time and maybe players will want to go again.

This one was on me. Went to a concert on Friday with some friends and we each got $15 in free slot bets at the casino. I’ve lived here 10+ years and have never been so we went. I was the only one who won a few bucks - $51 - and I didn’t want to keep playing so I wandered over to the sports betting spot with my buddy. It was free money so I put in a parlay bet with the “free” $50 I won. It was mostly on the Bills, including some prop bets, and they did not come through as 3 of the 4 did not hit. Win by 5.5, over 53.5, TD by Diggs all missed. Just got the Allen TD (which was a gimme). So it was my bad for billeving. I’ll try to be more pessimistic in the future.

Last season the OL was built to pass block. They built the line that way at the expense of run blocking, which they were poor at. This off-season they traded some pass blocking prowess for better run blockers. I have no idea why they did that. It has been my only big worry on that side of the ball. And it’s a big one.

This is fair criticism