GunnerBill

To this point there is a thread on Chiefs Plant at the moment called "Fire Matt Nagy into the Sun" followed by a debate as to where the blame lies between Nagy, Reid and Veach for their offensive woes.

I am away for work this week and in a hotel with not much to do before my diplomatic meetings this afternoon I watched the all22 from Sunday. All three tight ends blocked well, Kincaid has definitely improved his run blocking technique which is encouraging although he can still doesn't sustain or finish blocks as well as the other two and he had a rough pass blocking snap though a tough assignment against I think McDonald. Hawes blocked nicely in both the pass and run game and Knox was a beast in this game as a run blocker. Trust me he more than made up for not coming down with a couple of makeable catches with his performance as a blocker.

The receivers we have are legit NFL players (maybe Shavers still a tbc - but Keon, Palmer, Shakir, Moore, Samuel and the two main pass catching tight ends) but none of them are (at least yet) difference makers and so we still have snaps when we are forced into pure dropback where nobody can get open downfield unless Josh gets out and extends the play. The Bills are finding ways to coach and scheme around that and to mask it to a large extent - but I do still worry at some point it becomes a limitation.

I don't think we have the receiving talent to have Josh tossing it all over the field. I suppose that goes to the heart of the debate. Any limitations that exist in this offense are less about the scheme and the playcalling to my eye than they are about the skill position talent. It's also why despite generally being against paying running backs I saw the value in retaining Cook. He is by far our most explosive skill position player. I wish that weren't the case, but given that it is I think it's prudent to retain that.

There were some called week 1 (less so this week) and Josh had to come off them because nobody was open and go underneath.

Yea his media management has to get better. It is Doug Marrone levels right now and that is gonna hurt you if you are not winning because the media will come after you even harder. I know Johnson can call an offense, and they have been good early on script. The two areas that remain to be seen are: 1. Coordinator hires - especially his DC hire with him being an offensive guy. The D lacks some pieces up front but to be this bad on the back end with the dudes they have is majorly concerning. Dennis Allen needs to get that turned around fast; and 2. Keeping a team together through 17 weeks. Its a rough start but they have the Cowboys, Raiders and Sainst as 3 of their next 4. If they can get to 3-3 the season is still alive. If they don't, watch out because from week 11 on their schedule really stiffens - Vikings, Eagles, Lions, 49ers and Packers twice are six of their last 8. We are going to see whether he is really Head Coach material or just a coordinator playing at it.

Anderson got a couple of jumbo snaps each week, mainly in goalline. He is less of a feature between the 20s. His snap count was higher this week but that includes snaps played in garbage time.

There is no way Knox plays here on his 2026 number. He takes a pay cut, or is cut, or signs an extension for a lower AAV than his previous deal. Depends a bit I think on where Kincaid is after this year as to what the Bills preference is. If they pick up Kincaid's option I think less likely Knox stays long term. If they don't I can see them wanting Knox under contract at least through 2027. Hawes is a good player and an excellent blocker in particular but it does make me laugh a bit that in the drought when we didn't have much at tight end most fans here HATED the very concept of a blocking tight end that was keeping whoever their favourite pet project was off the roster / field. Logan Thomas or Jason Croom or Chris Manhertz. Now when the top of that room is strong a blocking tight end is loved. Lee Smith was a really solid Bill in both spells who was undervalued by fans.

The last time the Network had a word with Tony Romo it turned a refreshing, honest, detailed new color guy and turned him into a shreiking, cliche ridden, opinionless identikit broadcaster who wouldn't sound out of place on Fox's D crew.

No OC that has had Josh Allen ran him at a higher clip than Dorsey that is a fact. The low margin of error comes from the lack of elite talent around Josh not from the scheme. The scheme actually does a pretty good job of maximisng the talent. I also think there is a bit of wanting it both ways from the critics. They want the offense to be less Josh centric to give him some help and when the OC designs an offense that means Josh needs the cape less frequently, save for against the very best opponents they go "low margin for error!" This OC's record speaks for itself and while of course any OC with Josh Allen should be able to have this success the predecessor was going whole halves without scoring before getting fired.

I am not kicking him to the curb either. I think he can still play. He just isn't quite the top 3 pure nickel in the league he was at his peak.

He has banged up and missed games last year and the Bills always try and run more base against Baltimore. That explains #2. He isn't quite the force now though that he was Taron. Last year was probably his worst since his rookie year. And Cam Lewis played really well in his absence yesterday.

I like your wife.

Where are all the Breece Hall truthers today? If you don't let him run gun straight through you (and the Bills didn't) he is done. I've seen tankers with quicker changes of direction. The touchdown run Cook had is a 3 yard gain for Breece Hall.

No offense works when you are playing against 40 points without the Quarterback being excellent. That goes without saying. Brady has without question raised the floor of this offense since he took over and he has done it without affecting the ceiling that was there under Dorsey or Daboll. Sure the defense getting better would help. But that isn't on Joe Brady.