GunnerBill

They were both hurt and sharing the load per McD. Spector sucked in coverage but I am bot buying into the "game turned when Williams came in" narrative. He was pretty ropey in coverage too. Other than Elam nobody gave up more yards.

I'm as big of a Von critic as you will find. But he did have a couple of nice pressures on important downs last night. I still want him gone asap and say 4 sacks at this point and one since week 3 is just a mark of who he is.

He also got a career high in pressures v Detroit. I think he was out there less last night. Will be interested to see snap counts. But the Bills look to me to already be doing some load management.

Think the same on Bishop. He is better vs the run still having some coverage issues. He was late to recognise his assignment in zone a couple of times giving up completions that he needn't have. I'm more down on Elam than at any point tbh. That was not a good display. Both the calls on Elam were legit DPI.

DB who can from the Eagles and starter for us? You sure you are not thinking of Ronald Darby who was drafted here then traded TO the Eagles for a pick and Jordan Matthews on the same day we traded Sammy?

He has made in game adjustments a TON this year. In my view he adjusts a bit too much and a bit too quickly. I think he has a bit of a trigger finger and lacks patience. Which is an essential quality of a good DC.

I am not sure they are so much as they are putting him in a position where he puts himself in harms way. That last run from him was utter stupidity.

Yea he did have a good game last night. Agree he moved better than in a fair old while.

Don't think the defensive game planning was as good. I thought he struggled to make in game adjustments. I didn't think his game management was as good and I felt like the team never felt like it had a real unified purpose until the very end of the year and the culture had taken a knock. I thought he was doing two jobs at 5/10. He did find a groove at the end of the year with it. His defensive playcalling certainly improved post the Denver disaster. But I don't wanna throw that at him again 2 weeks out from the post season.

Milano needs to prove he is still that guy Von definitely isn't still that guy Williams still makes as many mistakes as he makes plays Rapp has had a decent year but is a borderline NFL starter talent Douglas is not excellent and has struggled this year. No. I don't. I think I'd rather keep the HC doing that and hope Babich has a couple of good plans up his sleeve for the playoffs (and has his starters healthy to execute them). He has had some good games this year. The last 3 weeks have not been kind to him. To me, that is the percentage play.

My worry with this is most of last year McDermott trying to do two jobs was doing neither particularly well. I don't want to split his focus.

He caught two.

Still think in transitions he struggles. The Pats ran wide to his side a fair few times and he struggled in run support. And in coverage his two PIs were just awful technique. They weren't becoming frantic to me. They were bad fundamentals showing themselves up in high leverage situations.

Haha. Yep. Again, if I am wrong I will happily correct myself. But I am willing to take that risk.

I'd take that bet. I think the opposite.

I am anti almost every single one of your views on D. DL rotation is just the modern NFL. All the best teams do it. Same with zone defense. It is absolutely the rule not the excpetion to be a zone heavy team in the NFL in 2024. The Bills best player on D is their nickel corner, and it is a big reason for staying in that package to keep their best player out there. And I think the talent IS the issue on D. They have Groot and Ed up front who are talented but have at different points been inconsistent. They have Taron who is great and Bernard who is good. Then they have Benford who is very good. Around those guys they have holes and/or question marks.

Of course he can. It happens. That was just a real nice offensive play. Could he squeeze the sideline a bit better? Sure, but it's nitpicking. He just got done on a great play there. But he isn't a legit starting corner in any event. We have seen enough to say that conclusively at this point. He isn't just behind two really good players (though Benford is really good). He is behind them because he is a backup level player. And his two PIs were not "ticky tacky" they were clear fouls. That last one I was saying "flag" while the ball was still in the air. Piss poor technique.

Cook McGovern Bernard Lewis

Agree, he has not been good. It's why I was in favour of a run for Elam but there are just too many mistakes I'm afraid. Patience are exhausted.

And that's fine. But you blame the thing you don't like every time the D gives up a play even when some of the time it very clearly isn't the thing you decry. It's the reflex "that's cos of soft zone!" response to every poor defensive play.

I think that is harsh. It was a perfectly thrown ball, a good route and a great catch. Not sure Kaiir did a ton wrong. It is in the bucket of "the other guys get paid too" for me. However, I thought he made a ton of mistakes in the rest of the game myself. I was all for giving him a run and letting Douglas rest up but I've seen enough. If Douglas is healthy next week I'd put him straight back in.

Second half he had some issues with the blitz. First half he was killing them when they blitzed.

Do I think there are plays where that is an issue? Sure. Do I think it is a philosophical issue with the defense? No. Never have.

It isn't semantics. It's the facts of the matter. You can have your perceptions and your opinions. I'm just giving you the reality.

Yes we do. So does every team in the NFL. Indeed the trend even this year is towards more zone and further away from man. Going into this week the highest man % in the league is the Lions at 46%. Jags are second at 42%. Everyone else is below 40. EDIT: in interests of transparency think the Bills are 29th in man % with 19%. Buccs, Colts, Bears are lower. Then Chargers and Packers 1% above us at 20%.