GunnerBill

He was excellent against Jacksonville, poor at Baltimore, better against Houston.

In fairness he will get something back for Cooper if he walks in terms of a comp pick, but obviously delayed a year.

Yes, but there are elements that are on him. They didn't lose to Tennessee to blow the division seed last year when in poll position because Tennessee were more talented for example. He is a good Xs and Os coach on offense. But he struggles to lead and he hasn't been able to get the D right at any stage despite a lot of resources being poured into it.

He isn't the biggest issue. But he is a part of it. When you struggle to compete with playoff teams, have late season collapses two years in a row, go through 3 defensive coordinators in 3 years... some of it is on the Head Coach. I'm just not sure he is HC material. He is a really good offensive coach. But you need more than that.

Yea he was the guy in the wrong gap on the touchdown run for their first score too. In his one start he was literally responsible for both touchdowns given up. I want him on the field as much as anyone, and I agree with all the folks saying yea but by week 17 don't you want a settled in Bishop on the field going into the playoffs rather than the known limitations of Damar Hamlin? Of course. But when a rookie making his first start makes two major mistakes that give up touchdowns I think it is REALLY difficult to knock the coaching staff when they put him back on the bench the next week. I think pretty much every staff in the league would have done the same (possibly not the Panthers or Patriots or someone to whom winning this year isn't that important, but everyone else). It's also worth taking note of what @ganesh said above, because he is right. Bishop and Rapp while probably the two most physically talented of our safeties (picks #60 and #61 in the NFL draft respectively though a few years apart) have similar rather than complimentary skillsets. My suggestion for how you get Bishop's feet wet a little bit without exposing yourself to all the rookie mistakes has been to use him as just a man coverage piece in the redzone where I think his size and athleticism has the potential to be a weapon. Goal to go, obvious passing downs, sub him in for Hamlin. Get him comfortable with that then build from there.

I STRONGLY disagree with this. Almost every big play we are giving up is a result of poor safety play. And I am not just on about the physical limitations of a guy like Hamlin. Sure - the Henry touchdown - where everyone up front lost their assignment and then the safeties were just not fast enough to catch up even with the angle. But take that out.... the big plays are safeties making the wrong reads, taking the wrong angles or losing their position in coverage. Even the screen game you talk about multiple of those should - even with some of the failures on the front end - be 5 or 6 yard gains and a safety is out of position or taking a bad angle and its a 25 yard play. It is now, with the Cooper pick up, the single most limiting factor on this football team other than possibly kicker. Teams have gone after the Bills safeties all year and they will continue to do so.

Yep. That's true. But the Ravens didn't need him to be great as a rookie. The Bills left themselves so thin at the spot that they kinda do need Bishop to get up to speed fast.

He was the guy I was calling for before FA!

They need him to be that now. Safety is a major weakness on this team and their second round pick isn't looking capable of helping. That is a worry. I agree he can get there, not giving up on the kid at all, but the Bills needed that pick to hit quickly.

Take the D crew over the C crew. Harlan and Green make my ears bleed.

It's what I say every time someone tries to tell me Beane is forced to draft this way by McDermott...... his team building approach bears remarkable similarity to Hurney and Gettleman - the two guys he learned under. This is how he believes in building a roster. Don't get me wrong I don't think McDermott needs much encouragement to prioritise defensive tackles and linebackers, but his General Manager isn't some puppet having his strings pulled. He is a guy executing a team building strategy he believes in with a Head Coach he is in lock step with. How many defensive line rebuilds are we up to now in Beane's 7 offseasons? Three?

Explosive plays is largely a direct result of where they are at with their safeties IMO. The things we all knew were major problems in the offseason - outside receiver and safety - have been major problems when they take the field. Yes the injuries to the second level guys are unfortunate. The injuries they had at safety in camp didn't help. But at the end of the day when you have spots on your team where you don't have legit NFL starting talent - and the Bills had two until Tuesday - it shows up on gameday.

I want to see him out there too. But after he came in and played like that I think every coach in the NFL woulda gone back to Rapp and Hamlin this past week.

I agree they had to trade them. That was implicit in what I said in point 1. But I don't think they didn't realise until after free agency. That was known sooner. So that is an arbitrary cut off date IMO. As for who should they have taken... let's see. BTJ would certainly have been a win. We will see where Keon is at the end of the year. But I repeat: the Diggs contract decision, the lack of draft investment at receiver 2021-2023 and the way they handled things this spring might have elements of misfortune but they have strong elements of bad decision making too.

Myles Garrett isn't getting out of Cleveland without at least two 1st round picks. The Khalil Mack trade Vegas to Chicago was two firsts, a third and a 6th for Mack, a second and a 7th. And Garrett is a better player than Mack ever was.

They mismanaged Gabe's career here too, I spoke about that earlier in the week in another thread. Took too long to see if he was a 1B and by the time they did so their cap position basically meant they had nowhere to go once it was clear he wasn't. Their handling of the receiver room has been a fail. And that goes directly to Beane and his staff.

Agree. They are atrocious. I have done that job, I know how difficult it is. I spent a season doing Manchester City pressers every week and finding ways to try and cut through the coachspeak. But the questions they ask are way too long and way too vague. Sal M is the worst. Every question is so long with so many sub clauses that you can't remember by the end where it started.

Sadly the answer to this question at the moment is "not in his gap." I agree with those saying they gotta try and get him on the field because Hamlin isn't an answer to anything but when you put in a performance as brutal as the one Bishop did in Houston you are going to pay for that by riding the pine some.

I think there was some misfortune, sure, but whether they needed to give Diggs a new 4 year deal when they did is I think a legit question and it was asked at the time. On the original deal we took on at the trade he was a free agent after 2023. Could they have found a way to bump his money without adding four years? Could they also have done more in the years 2021-2023 in the draft to stock the receiver room? Could they have managed what they did this past spring with the receiver room? I think they had some misfortune. They didn't know that the Diggs / Allen relationship was going to rupture quite so spectacularly. They also probably didn't bank on Diggs hitting the decline at 30 and thought he might stay close to elite for an extra year or two. But they have also mishandled the receiver room over the past few years. There is no question about that. The Amari Cooper trade is the first step towards climbing out of a hole of their own making.

Here is how I see it: 1. The Bills were in a bad spot in that they had a formerly elite receiver, on the decline, with a huge contract and a broken relationship with the organisation and most importantly the star Quarterback. 2. They had to eat a ton of money for the gain of a 2nd round pick to get a fresh start and get him off the roster. 3. They then bungled their approach to wide receiver (particularly boundary receiver) in the offseason. The mid-level FA acquisition (Samuel) looks like a total bust of a signing at this stage and the rookie they drafted has the limitations in the pros that he had in college - predictably. 4. Given that situation getting a very good (never been elite mind you) receiver back for the cost of a 3rd round pick with a tiny salary and no long term obligation if it turns out he is declining as a rental until the offseason when you can address it properly and fix last spring's mistakes is about as well as they could have done. I'm not calling it a win overall though. It is a part mitigation of a loss. Don't get me wrong I love the Cooper pick up. I was advocating for it weeks ago. But you have to put it in its proper context before getting too excited.

This is true, but the Bills after 7 years of barely giving up explosives on defense are suddenly giving them at a concerningly high rate. That is a reflection of the safety play. I agree Bishop was part of that, he struggled massively against the Texans and both their touchdowns were on him. But it isn't like the others are holding it down either. We don't have a single true starting level safety on the roster. I suspected that before the season and, unlike last year at linebacker when I suspected that Milano was our only starting level player and then Bernard (and in the end Dodson) got on the field and actually showed they could play, it is how it has played out so far. Rapp is that guy who you love as your 3rd safety who can play in some dime looks but who has to be at his peak to get by as a starter and he is the best of the bunch. I think given that the argument for get Bishop on the field and let him take some lumps is a strong one. But I suspect for the exact reason you state that isn't what they will do.

I genuinely have no idea what that was. If the Jets were out of time outs, then as bizarre as that formation looks I would sort of get it. I can only imagine there was a serious miscalculation and they thought the Jets were out of TOs. Because if they weren't then there is no way from there you play full scale prevent. Baffling. And I know you make the wider point about McDermott and while I don't want to relitigate every past failure here generally even if I don't like every play call they make at the end of half/game I pretty much always understand the logic of what they are trying to do. I understand the thinking on Monday Night on the Hail Mary itself and I do think on that actual play the execution was probably worse than the play call (although as I have said before I'd have rushed 4) but that play before in the screenshot..... I have no explanation. I haven't seen his pressers yet but did anyone ask McDermott (or Babich for that matter) about that particular play? It was one of the most inexplicable play calls I have seen in 22 years of watching the NFL.

His misses are total miskicks. He has twice this year missed low and skewed off to the right on kicks where he made contact with the ball with the wrong part of the foot. That sort of thing can happen but it should happen to a kicker say once every 3 seasons. It has happened to Bass twice in 6 weeks. At this point to have such technical breakdown twice it HAS to be mental.

And Aaron Rodgers is not Tom Brady. He doesn't possess that drive. He is a man baby who points fingers at everyone but himself. Even his press conference at the end on Monday was embarrassing. I don't see any way he holds that team together to win 8 of 11. He is part of the problem in Jersey not part of the solution. For me this takes the Bills from "no shot" at a Superbowl this year to "outside chance." There are still at least six teams I'd have above them in the pecking order, but if the Cooper can get up to speed and give the Bills some semblance of a vertical passing game back then on their day I think they can beat any team.

I think there is a VERY strong case that he is. He is just such a reliable guy.