BarleyNY

I'd add this to vincec's explanation (nice job): Schwartz's Wide 9 is really designed to rush the passer at the expense of playing the run as it is easy for the OTs to push the wide technique DEs out of any interior running plays. They even take themselves out of a lot of them. That kind of trade-off is best utilized when the offense is high powered enough to force the opposition into passing. When Indy had Manning they had this philosophy with defensive personnel and scheme (although I don't remember how much Wide 9 they played). Dwight Freeney was the poster boy for that. He was too small as a RDE to effectively set the edge and play the run, but he could sure get to the QB. And with Manning, opposing teams almost always had to pass to keep up. Under Schwartz and Pettine I kept wondering why the defenses were so geared toward the pass and so unconcerned with the run because we didn't have the offense to consistently get ahead and force teams into pass-only mode. Looking at what happened in Miami I think it's safe to say that the defense can still get set loose on a QB if the Bills get a nice lead. The problem has been getting that lead so it can happen.

And here I thought the answer was going to be "The Bills lack a franchise quarterback".

Technically that analysis only considers the 1st and 2nd most shown teams. Teams within the same division usually gets shown in the other teams' markets. It's just a general measure of the national presence of teams.

That's a good point. And if I'm going to ding Woods and say that he has to step it up in part because of PFF grading then I should give him props when it shows him doing well. Last season i noticed him because of his poor play and this season I haven't noticed him at all. He did need to step up his play and it appears that he has. His poor performances the last couple years could have been due to poor guard play around him (always having to look to help out) or playing with injuries. Tough players who don't complain about those sorts of things, play through them and have their play suffer are often the targets of frustrated fans. In any event he looks to be playing like I hoped he would and I've got to tip my cap to him.

Yeah, but the Bills would NOT make the playoffs if they started today. In the way you are ranking teams the Colts would lose a tiebreaker with the Bills, but in playoff seeding the Colts go because they would have won theirdivision and the Jets and Steelers are the WC teams. But that's telling in and of itself. The WC teams look to be coming from the AFCE&N. San Diego could still make a run though, but that's about it. The AFCS is a mess and I think the Colts will clinch it with their 7th or 8th win. So the Bills have a fighting chance at a WC if they can take care of the Jets. Oddly, I think the other playoff teams can already be predicted with near certainty: Pats, Colts, Broncos, Bengals, Steelers. That leaves the Jets, Chargers and Bills fighting for the other spot.

I'm from Cleveland and follow both the Bills and Browns. While it is true that some Browns fans still wished they'd have taken Watkins as recently as this pre-season, that has since changed after his recent comments and further injuries.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-nfl-team-are-you-stuck-watching-every-sunday/ Interesting tangentially related subject - what teams get televised most often where.

Only because who they got with the picks from the Bills are even worse, but no one in Cleveland is pining for Watkins.

It is due to suspension, but missing Richardson indefinitely is certainly a major loss.

By the end of the season the Bills and Jets will only have two games with different opponents (plus two head to head match ups). It should be easy to see where we stand relative to each other by then. I'm not optimistic about that at this point, though.

That was because Lebeau was doing it 2 decades ago. He was incredibly innovative, but - much like Tom Landry's shotgun formation - eventually everyone else copies you to a degree and gets used to seeing and handling it on the other side of the ball.

What schedule are you looking at? If the Bills want to make the postseason they need to be 11-5 or maybe 10-6 (best case). They've used up 3 losses already and still play at NE (big home field advantage there, which I'm sure is totally for legit reasons and all) and the Jest twice. They'll also play Dallas late in the season with Romo likely back. They've got to win some of those 4 games, probably going 2-2 at worst, to keep playoff chances alive. There are a lot of games the Bills should win, but dropping any of those - and certainly not more than one - would make the road to the playoffs very, very difficult. That starts with taking care of the Jags in London, which I'm not all that confident about. The Jags are better than they were and we are likely starting EJ without much help at WR or RB. The defense is probably going to have to be the difference and last Sunday doesn't sit well on that front. Nothing to do but wait and see how the team responds though.

I agree wholeheartedly. The advantage of having stud pass rushers and defensive linemen is to get pressure without bringing extra rushers or getting too fancy too often. It is a huge advantage for a team to be able to consistiently get pressure with 4 rushers so 7 can be in coverage. Presumably those would be the 7 that are good at it.

Overrated by the board: the importance of a stellar front 7 Underrated by the board: the importance of a franchise QB

Rib, glute, hip, calf and now ankle. Am I missing any injuries since he's been a Bill?

The NFL is a different world. I've heard rookies say things like "Safeties look like linebackers, but they're so fast!" The NFL used to be played by big, tough men; now it's played by physical freaks. So not only are the players bigger and faster, the windows are smaller (less time to prepare for hits, etc.), there is more practice time and the season is longer. Even with non/light-contact injuries there can be issues with players being asked to play heavier, but leaner and faster. These guys really push their bodies and sometimes they go past their limits. That's what worries me about any player with a lot of soft tissue problems - muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. - because they tend to keep happening. Watkins is certainly fitting that pattern thus far.

Yes. It's obvious where he injured it. (I looked again and still didn't see the ankle roll over. It's obvious that it gives though.). What I'm saying is that he had already slowed way down and that planting his foot at that speed should not have resulted in injury. He didn't have great body position at that point (his fault) and the pass was down and behind (not his fault), but he was at a slow jog by then. No way should even a sharp cut at that speed result in injury. It's concerning in both how it happened and that it's yet another soft tissue injury. Speedsters who have a lot of soft tissue injuries tend to keep having soft tissue injuries - and they usually don't stick around all that long.

http://www.scout.com/nfl/bills/story/1600773-watch-sammy-watkins-catches-touchdown-pass Here's a video of the play. There's no way that should have resulted in injury.

But he had to reach waaaayyyyy down by the ground! Even as a professional athlete who (presumably) trains daily that has to be tough.

Starting to think that Watkins putting the rib injury out there publicly was more of a contract thing. The whole I'm-better-than-my-numbers-I-was-just-injured tact. And while it is true that healthier players are better (obviously), it's also true that every player who gets on the field in the NFL is dinged up at some point. At some point dings and injuries aren't excuses anymore, they become concerns. If Watkins wants that huge payday, then he's going to have to show that he can stay healthy as well as perform. That'd be one of the stupidest trades imaginable for Cleveland.

There's certainly something to what you're saying. I'd wager that it stems largely from continuity and experience. Teams that are good year after year after year usually have very slow turnover in marquee players, coaches and front office personnel. The better you know your people, scheme, etc. the easier it is to see who and what fits and what doesn't. You also can devote time and energy to finer points and additional areas that can help you win. Many owners are not patient so unless a head coach/franchise QB combo hits there is often constant turnover and no continuity.

Ah. That does make more sense. For that I don't blame you.

As for Rex, I don't care one way or the other about the way he conducts himself. It's kind of fun and it doesn't hurt the team. It plays a lot better when his team is winning though. My only issue these days is with a defensive coach who likes to win with a strong defense and an offense that manages the game. I don't think that works in today's NFL. That's been Rex's modus operandi, but then again he's never had much choice because he's never had a QB. I still think that the lack of a franchise QB is what stands in the way of the Bills. I hope they find one and I hope that Ryan utilizes him if/when they do.

Why is anyone pissed off about THIS game? The only reason for that is the team not living up to the unrealistic expectations of some of the fans. The EJ Manuel quarterbacked Bills lost to a very good (and undefeated) Bengals team. Shocker. I'm disappointed that the Bills lost, but I'm not the least bit surprised. The game went pretty much how I expected it to go. The only thing that really surprised me was that the Bills didn't get more pressure on Dalton. I didn't expect the defense to shut down the Bengals and I didn't expect the offense to light it up with EJ at QB. I hoped for better, but that doesn't work out that well all that often. (Notable exception: Last year's Buckeyes.) I'm sick of the injury excuse, too. Take a look around the league at injuries and most teams have a bunch. Elite teams overcome good players missing time due to injury or suspension. Pittsburgh has won without Roethlisburger. Green Bay is without two starting WRs. The Giants beat the Bills down a bunch of WRs and TEs. The Bills were without a lot of players too, but we only hear about that because we lost. That's the way it works.

It was the worst of threads, it was the best of thr......no, wait. It was just the worst of threads. You are a terrible human being for doing this.