GunnerBill

Don't see that info tracked anywhere I normally use unfortunately. I'd be interested if anyone else can put their hands on it.

To be clear I was very open to people disagreeing with me. What irritated me, and I confess I did allow myself to get irritated by it on Monday which probably kept the conversation going longer than it needed to - I rarely get wound up on this board but just caught me at the end of a ***** day - was the "you disagree with me so you must have an agenda" stuff. It's childish. Others think Von played better than I think he did. Fine. If they think I'm wrong, fine. I certainly don't think I am beyond reproach. But people constantly wanting to make it something more than a genuine difference of opinion wound me up.

I think the offense has to be good early because I think it will be tough for the defense early. I go back to the home game with Miami early last year and the teams traded touchdowns until drive 3 when the defense had managed to settle in and get a beat on what Miami was trying to do. Then the Bills stopped them, scored on offense and the game was basically done. As for overwhelmingly off to slow starts.... they were 14th best 1st Quarter defense and 10th best 1st Quarter offense in 2023. So not fantastic but certainly not evidence of overwhelming bad starts. They definitely came out very slow last week on defense. They didn't on offense though. They went right down the field on both their first two drives and beat themselves with an unnecessary turnover and then an avoidable penalty. In 2022 we were 2nd in the league in first quarter offense and got off to a ton of very fast starts. I'm not sure the evidence points to a coaching issue.

Fair. I'd only focussed on the pass rush snaps at that stage. I was skipping through the run stuff. It was only last night that I literally went through the entire all 22 play by play.

End of the third quarter.... that will be like 3.30am or something here. I'll still be awake all being well. I am normally too nervous to fall asleep during a Bills game even when it is middle of the night in the UK. Only time I remember nodding off was the beatdown in Tennessee in 2020 which I think got moved 'cos of Covid and ended up on Tuesday night if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure I made it through the 4th quarter of that one awake.

Where did I say that? I only got through the entirety of the all22 last night. Until that point I'd only looked at a handful of specific plays that I wanted to dig into. His run game play was better on the all22 than I gave it credit for watching the game live on tv. His pass rush was still inconsistent and I still say his sack was a freebie.

If by the end of this year Coleman has established himself as at least legitimate #2 outside receiver and Shakir has continued to build on last year in the slot they will feel a bit like they did coming out of 2019 into 2020 where they are just that true #1 stud away from an elite set of weapons. The question then is are you getting that guy the way they got Diggs (trade) or via the draft. And that might depend on how early they are picking.

Loving the commercial and just wondering if where the Bills are this year is a bit more where Josh is comfortable. As the overlooked guy. As the one being written off some. As the under appreciated. Three years of being in and among the Superbowl favourites prior to this.... but there is just a bit of me that senses a level of focus from Josh this year, even in the way he is speaking that I'm not sure has been there the past couple of seasons.

He is a strange guy. But of course the AFCE runs through Buffalo. They are four time reigning division champs. I feel about Miami - Buffalo a bit like I did about New England - Buffalo in the 2010s when I felt like the Bills for the most part had a good roster that was at least playoff standard but they couldn't beat the Patriots. You gotta show me you can do it before I'm gonna pick you to do it.

Remember the key here is not to overreact on defense. I expect Miami to come out with a good script and have some success offensively early on. The key is the Bills just settling in, playing their defense and capitalising when the Fins make mistakes and Tua puts the ball in harms way - as he will at some point. If you start getting funky in response and getting away from your plan that's when they kill you. Settle in, trust your scheme, execute and take your opportunities. On offense got to pickup the Miami blitzes well up front, know where our hots are and get the ball out early. Not a day for Josh to hold the ball.

Josh was excellent on Sunday but it was one of the least "superman" games he has played in 2 years IMO. He ran in two touchdowns - one was a called run, the other was Josh being Josh seeing an opportunity and taking off. Personally I don't think you will EVER take that out of him. You could have Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens and Randy Moss at wide receiver and if Josh saw an opportunity inside the 10 to run to the redzone and leap over a defender he'd do it. So I think his play style can lead to people feeling like he is "asked" to be Superman more than he is. The only other play, except for the touchdown runs, where I think you can justifiably say "the Bills were asking Josh to be Superman" on Sunday was early 3rd quarter the escape to his right and throw on the run to James Cook. And you know who Josh Allen blamed for that play when he spoke to the media yesterday? Himself. He said he and McGovern blew the communication on the protection that led to a rusher coming free in his face and him having to bail the pocket and find his check down. Otherwise in the passing game on Sunday the Bills protected really well and they had lots of open receivers on the film too (certainly more than in many games last year). Did the defense suck first half? Yes. Did the special teams blow a punt return right at the point when it looked like the offense had put the game away? Yes. And generally is this team going to need Josh Allen to play well most of the year to win games? Yes. But I don't think the offense was anything like a one man show on Sunday. I thought the gameplan was good and the guys around Josh executed really well too.

It was the type of OPI that is never called though. If it was DeAndre Hopkins never has a career.

Watching the all22 I thought his run defense was what stood out. I thought he was pretty good vs the run. His pass rush was still inconsistent and a bit one paced. But I will concede his play against the run was better than I appreciated watching the game live.

No I'm not arguing that. The lack of volume was about what they were asked to do and that is outside of their control. If you have 10 special plays in that 14 low volume doesn't matter. But if its 3 and the rest are routine that isn't a huge volume of doing the routine well to get excited by. So that is why to some it caps the ceiling for performance grading. Whatever system one uses.

That play is a perfectly executed play. That is the only A+ play I'd give our receivers from Sunday though. I think Coleman's boundary catch and Hollins route for his TD are B+/A- type plays. I think beneath those 3 plays was just some solid routine receiver play (and not enough of it because we threw the ball to them so little to qualify on volume alone). But sure, there is no argument the Shakir touchdown play from design to execution to effort from Shakir was top drawer all the way around. Nobody should dispute that.

My view was less that the Bills would use him as a big slot but that there is where he suits best.

I agree the ***** outta this.

The Bills - Cardinals game was false start central too that went uncalled. The Cards had three blatant false starts on their first two drives and then the Bills had one on their own first scoring drive. I get it, not the same as illegal formation, but the overall consistency on procedural penalties in the NFL is pitiful.

Either the SNF or the MNF said 22 were called this weekend, which was about double the week 1 number last year.

Of course it isn't. But that is the discussion here... some people look at letter grading (which again, I am not particularly a fan of) and say "they did everything they were asked A+" and some people say "sure they did, but you have to consider how much was asked of them in the way you grade." I'll give you a comparison - when you do your end of high school exams here in the UK there are certain subjects (languages and math) where you can choose the paper you do. If you want to get an A or A+ you have to do the advanced paper. You can get up to a B doing the intermediate paper, even if you get 100% on the paper it's a B because it asks less of you. I think @Kirby Jackson would say that is a metaphor for a game where the receivers did almost everything right but only had 12 receptions between them (and only 14 targets).

Maybe but my suspicion is we will see more of it as the year goes on. It as windy, no dispute. But I think it is mainly about who they have at receiver. Fair enough. I tend to look and say how many plays did the receiver really make the play happen. I think Shakir, Coleman and Hollins (once each) did. The other 9 receiver catches were to me a case of just doing the basics well. And while I accept there is merit in just doing the basics well consistently. It needs more volume in order for me to get excited about it The receivers didn't make many, if any, mistakes. I agree. But the volume was low. It's why I wouldn't obsess over letter grades. To me it was a performance with some encouragement, but some reasons the retain a healthy scepticism as they head to week 2 as well. If we start to get that sort of performance as the "floor" for this receiver group going forward then I'll be less concerned about whether the ceiling is capped by their lack of difference makers on the boundary.

Dawson Knox to catch two touchdowns.

In terms of new money the only new money in 2024 is the $6.4m signing bonus. Then there is $19.7m new money next year and $15m in new money in 2026. I make that $41.1m in new money across the first three years (including this one which is technically from the old deal) at about $13.7m per year. While not all of that new money is guaranteed the reality is it will all have to be paid because the structure of the deal means he will be here for the next three seasons. It is then a further $15.5m and $17.65m in new money the final two years, but none of that is guaranteed and it might never be paid because there is an out after 2026 that would leave $12m (that's $12m of the $41.1m that will have been paid but not accounted for) in dead cap but could be spread across two years.

I they will do what they do to the Ravens and dare Lamar to beat them outside. They do that to him because he is a limitation to throwing the ball down the field outside (in fairness the Ravens receiver are too but that is because they built the receiving corps to suit Lamar). They will do it to Josh because they don't fear any of the Bills boundary receivers. So they will clog up the middle try and take Kincaid and Shakir away just by flooding those intermediate zones which also gives them people in position to play Josh's legs. We will see how the Bills respond. There are definitely tougher tests to come.

Yea I think you are using grades the way I'd traditionally use them. You don't start with an A+ then get marked gradually down each mistake. You start with a middle C and build up (or reduce down) from there. The receivers caught 12 balls. Taking them play by play I'd give Shakir an A for his catch and run touchdown. I'd give Coleman's boundary catch and the route Hollins run for his touchdown both B+/A- every other catch by a receiver was what I'd call a standard catch that they go the standard out of. It takes a lot of those plays stacked together to get me to an A. But the reality is I'm not especially bothered about what letter grade people want to assign. I'm bothered about performance and result. It was an encouraging first day. But only 4 balls thrown to the outside beyond the line of scrimmage all day is an indication of where some of the limitations are and my worry remains that as the season goes along those things will come to the fore more. Hopefully not. Because really the only thing that stopped the Bills on offense Sunday was the Bills.