GunnerBill

No I don't think it does come with the job. It is what I call toxic positivity. I can't have those people around me who will look at disaster and try and tell me the sun is shining.

Diggs, yes I disagree. His separation rate the last 8 games did go down. But it was still higher than Samuel.

Rodgers was drafted outside the top 10. There is no more important position in sport than a franchise Quarterback. If you don't have one having everything else is irrelevant. If your guy is 35 or over, has started talking life after football and you get a chance to draft a kid you think can make it you take that chance. Every. Single. Time. And even if you miss it is still the right decision. And how would Pittman or Higgins have stopped the 49ers running all over them at will?

Anyone still want to look back a few years and make the argument they should have given the prima donna a 1st round rookie receiver to not throw to the second he dropped a ball rather than select their Quarterback of the future? Was a silly argument then, even sillier now.

But I am confident they will get them. I don't think this is a plucky overachiever. I think they have very good talent at the premium positions in the modern NFL. Unless Stroud turns into a pumpkin (which I don't expect) the Texans win the South.

And you think he is better than Mitch?

Who?

It is a simple fact that we don't have anyone who is proven beyond #3 type production. I will leave Kincaid aside for a second because I was talking specifically about wide receivers. I am just not as optimistic as you are on either Keon or, to a lesser extent, Shakir who I do think can be very good but you have to be elite to be a difference maker at slot and I am not sure he is that. I think the Bills will have enough to move the ball. But they have objectively on paper one of the worst receiver groups in the league going into the season. It will come down to Josh and Joe to maximise what they have.

I'm not assuming he still runs everything he learned in New Orleans. I am sure he has developed as he has gone. But very few coaches completely abandon the stuff that helps them get their break. He did move Jefferson in to play big slot at LSU as well (was an inspired move). Wouldn't surprise me if they have essentially 4 wide formations where Coleman and Kincaid are in the slot either side with say a Samuel and a MVS outside in the playbook. I am not saying that us all they will run. But it wouldn't surprise me if Keon is trending around a third of his snaps inside by the end of the year. I also happen to think it is where his skillset is best suited.

They are also good at the premium positions. Stroud at QB, Diggs, Collins and Dell at WR, Tunsil at LT, Anderson and Hunter at EDGE, Stingley at CB. When you are good in those spots you win close games more often than not. I think they will win some of the games folks are marking as surefire losses on their schedule get to 10 or 11 wins and that will win a weak AFC South.

He did. And that Sean Payton version of the E-P was more of a spread scheme that has always classically valued size inside and then speed outside. I wouldn't be shocked as a result if Coleman (despite Beane's intention) ends up playing a fair amount of big slot.

Nah it pre-dated the Bengals. The Bengals game was in a period where they were barely speaking. One of the reasons I think you still see ex team mates speak relatively warmly of Stef is from what I was told it was not a split the locker room situation or anything like that. Most of their teammates didn't (and possibly still don't) know what it was that caused the fall out. I was told Dawson Knox knew but a lot of the others were in the dark. They just know somewhere in the middle of that season the relationship went sideways. Most of the coaches didn't know why either. I presume Sean and Brandon did but it wasn't something that was widely known. My suspicion (and I repeat this bit is speculation on my part and not based on anything anyone told me) is that the fallout did not originate on the football field. I think it was something off field that then spilled over onto the field.

I think the "conventional" combination is a bit of a holdover from the Daboll era. He liked that balance. Brady is gonna run some more spread and we saw some of that last year. But I am not sure I buy that that this group will separate better. I think the opposite.

I was out on Jax last year (indeed I said Houston could win that division). I am not out on Houston this year. They are built on stronger foundations than the Jags were.

Josh being Josh is baked into the calculation. But he will have an even harder job this year based on talent. If he can do it again and have them as a top 5 offense then Brady will have played a significant part in that IMO.

I am cheering for his return to form too, make no mistake. But he has a questionable association with the truth and my honest view is he is done. I'd be delighted to be wrong. Remember when even after the ACL scan he was telling fans he would be back within a couple of weeks. When he knew and the team knew the ligament was torn.

Whereas he was telling the team this time last year he would be good for week 1. Basically I don't believe a word Von says. All he has done since he got here ia spin bull####.

I trust my source 100%. The issues with Diggs way pre-date Brady. If he played a part it is a small part. As for the rest you are arguing things I have never said or believed.

I have more confidence in Brady than the talent. That said I sort of agree with you in that I think the varience is higher with Brady than with the talent. They are, other than Coleman and to an extent Shakir, total known quantities. But I think if the Bills O is really good it will more than likely because Brady has been really good.

Yes. And it is fair to say Matt Canada was a bust. I like the Arthur Smith hire though.

Okay he played in the slot more last year than I realised. His 1,000 yard season he played 70% outside. On the ESPN analytics don't they counter your point that Samuel is a good separator? He is valued at 36/99 and 136th best in the NFL at being open. I admit I don't fully follow what the metrics are alleging to show.

My offseason realistic WR target list was also: 1. Mooney 2. Samuel I think they are closer as players than you do. It is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other talent wise IMO. But Mooney is a proper outside receiver and Samuel is a move receiver. Outside was our need and is generally the more valuable spot which might also be reflected in the contracts they each got.

Well I was on here last offseason saying things were not hunky dory and relationships were strained and between Josh and Stef at that point non-existent. I don't really care what the narrative was or wasn't. I am telling you what I was told as a fact by someone in a position to know. And I was not the only one. Other reputable long term posters on this site had versions of the same story about the relationship. I don't know for certain that the new offense wasn't a part, that is true. But I do know for certain that the issues between Diggs and individuals in the organisation date back to the middle of 2022. That isn't opinion. That is fact. It just appears to me based on what I know to be true that the issues that led to his departure are related to that and not Joe Brady or his offense.

I am not insisting anything will work out. The lack of talent at WR is still what it is. But I can tell you for a fact Diggs issues long predate Brady becoming OC and I don't believe his departure and this "new" offensive approach are in any way linked.

The reason he was traded was he wanted out, didn't want to be here and his relationship with Josh had been bad to non-existent at times from the middle of 2022. Having a checked out player and that constant tension between your QB and top WR isn't healthy.