GunnerBill

Yea pretty much where I am. They had to do something, their tackles are rough, but Humphries was never that great - I think I called wasting a year of Paris Johnson at right tackle because the Cardinals wanted to keep Humphries at left tackle in 2023 idiocy. And then you factor in him coming off the ACL.... we will see how it looks.

Douglas won't be back and Benford will be extended (although that probably happens after the draft and FA once they know where they are cap wise).

The stories out of New York are he was pushing for Jones to be retained. Treated him like a son. As I say doesn't let the coach and GM off the hook but I think he did more than just sign the cheque. Yep. Think it matters more than ever.

The amount of time I spend watching the Bills / re-watching all 22, contributing to this forum, listening to podcasts etc.... my partner would prefer it if I were cheating.

The wording of that statement - Jones went straight to the owner - gives credence to the story that he was the owner's boy IMO.

I think the owner was the driving force behind it. Not absolving the coach and GM from blame because the owner wanted Saquan back too and they went against his wishes but from everything you hear out of there the owner was all in on Jones.

spat out his pacifier? Is that what you'd call it? The thing you give a baby to suck? Spat his dummy, means thrown a childish tantrum essentially. Yea, he spat his dummy.

Wow. I guess he has spat his dummy in some way, or else why do this now rather than after the season?

That was a decent enough blitz pickup but Davis hasn't done a good job pass blocking as a whole this year - though they don't ask him to do it much. Cook has done it better, but the guy the ask to pass block most often is Ty Johnson. He is their trusted go to 3rd down back because he can stay in and protect or he can get out and catch a pass. It is why for the first time almost ever under this regime they are dressing three running backs without any of them being stud special teamers. Because they believe Johnson has so much combined value on 3rd down that he is worth a jersey.

Agree except he doesn't do the talent evaluation. Will McClay does that and is one of the best in the business. They pay him more than some GMs get to stay without the title. The bits Jerry controls, hiring coaches and the strategy for extending contracts and paying guys is where they have had issues.

If they lose Sunday and to the Bills they are done. I imagine they try and push Purdy out there fully healthy or not and if they go 0-2 they then shut him and the season down and try and lose out.

No, I don't. He gets major kudos for drafting Josh Allen. To win a Superbowl, he has to build around him. My question here is really how well we have done that.

Is a really good slot receiver. Got one of those already. I would take Brandon Aiyuk over any slot receiver. I think a healthy Chris Olave on a team with a good QB I'd do the same. As we saw early in the season with the Bills it doesn't matter how good you are between the numbers, if you can't threaten teams down the field on the outside you are too easy to defend.

It's a point I've raised with @JGMcD2 in previous years. I think the work is excellent and the methodology decent but I do think it possibly undervalues that difference between star / elite level guy and good productive starter. But while the methodology might be imperfect it is better than gut feel and I think when you look at the top 10/12 it broadly feels right in terms of what the eye test tells you about teams who have drafted well in recent years. As for the Bills specifically Brandon Beane misses on fewer draft picks than almost any of his peers. He has some advantages in that regard we should say, a Head Coach with whom he is in total lock step, an owner who does not interfere and trusts him to do his job and not a ton of scheme change / turnover on either side of the ball (they have changed offensive scheme somewhat this year but it is basically the first time since 2018). That helps him score well in this analysis and so it should. @JGMcD2 - one request... can we see a cumulative ranking without 2018? My contention is Beane's two best picks - Allen and Taron - came in that class and I'd like to get a sense of how he has built around Josh since. But even the year by year breakdown feels right - 2020 and 2021 were okay drafts, not great, then the 2022 class bounced back into that top 6 or so.

And we basically swapped Tenuta for Ryan Van Demark who is our swing tackle. Both were cut at the end of camp their rookie years.... RVD came here initially to the PS and Tenuta signed for the Colts PS.

Agree. If they get in them please. They are awful. I don't think they will though. Could easily lose a couple of those games.

Agree. I don't think there will be a true gimme in the wildcard round but of the potential options my preference is: 1. Pittsburgh 2. Denver 3. Miami 4. Bengals 5. Chargers I think they are the only 5 teams I give a real chance of being in it. I still think Baltimore wins the North. If they end up in the WC they are my very least preferred.

The AFC North divisional games are never gimmes.

Oh I wouldn't replace him. I just don't know how you make that team better than the ceiling we have seen so far. I think he struggles as a leader and their defense year after year gets a new coordinator and doesn't improve.

I don't think he is a particularly good head coach personally, but he is a great offensive mind and I think Tua's success is pretty dependent on him and his scheme. So I agree they'd be really silly to fire him on the basis of a season where Tua missed a chunk of games in the softer part of their schedule. But I'm not sure I see a great route to the Dolphins getting better any time soon because the salary cap is gonna bite again next spring.

Yea I think the same. I doubt it would be Curry if Brady leaves after this season. I think it'd be someone from outside.

I think Brady would have to get a job. But Mike McDaniel would be a really interesting OC option here if fired. And I agree about McD still liking that style of offense. That is what I heard from the two people I had links to inside the organisation. They are both no longer there, but both, independent of each other, said it is going to take a major collapse type scenario for McDermott to get fired. Terry loves Sean and Brandon and they totally have his trust.

So first of all, just to say I acknowledge and recognise the starting point from which you are coming at this which is just that you are not saying this offense is bad it doesn't meet your schematic preferences. I understand that. I have a stylistic aversion to heavy blitzing defenses, I have never liked them. But I recognise that done well - Brian Flores, Steve Spagnoulo - they can be really successful. They'll just never be my cup of tea or the way I'd call it if I was running a defense. I think the Brady / Daboll comparison on the way they are trying to create separation is interesting too. They are using different styles to do the same thing. To a certain extent I think you can throw the 4th and 2 from Sunday out. The Bills have basically admitted Spags won that rep coaching wise. The Bills expected man, saw man, and then got zone and it was just Josh Allen making a superman play that made it work. The play was designed to get Shakir open and he is sufficiently past the line to be open, the Chiefs just had the right D called. But overall they do take different approaches to creating space. Daboll, as you say, was a master of spacing. And he used that to get his receivers into areas of the field where they had green grass around them to be open targets. Brady does a lot more of trying to put the defense in conflict. That tends to be why he has receivers closer to each other because he is trying to use natural leverage and rub routes to put defenders into a bind, conflict them as to their coverage responsibility and get separation for his receivers. The 3rd down play to Shakir earlier in the drive was a classic example of where they did exactly that on a key down. I'm not sure it is poor spacing so much as by design he wants his receivers close to each other to make defenders read and react and they have been pretty effective recently at getting guys open that way. It is a different strategy, and I might argue with our current pass catchers is an approach more suited to the talent. Dorsey was still trying to run the Daboll philosophy but with a declining Diggs, no Brown or Sanders and no Beasley to just sit in those zones. I have always felt that the Brady O has a lower ceiling than the Daboll O. That is still my niggling doubt despite the decent upward curve we are on. But I think the personnel kind of required them to move away from some of those core Dabes concepts. It needed a different way of getting guys open.

What will happen is it will be a really good football game, between two really good teams, it will be close and come down to the last 2 minutes or so. One team or other will make a play or not make a play and that will decide the outcome. 2021 playoffs - 13 seconds 2022 reg season - Taron pick on final drive 2023 reg season - Toney's toe 2023 playoffs - Josh just misses Shakir in the endzone 2024 reg season - Josh's superman run It is how these games have gone now 5 times in a row. Just gotta hope that finally, in January, we come out on the right end of one.

Offense: 1. Daboll 2. Brady 3. Dorsey 4. Dennison Defense: 1. Frazier 2. Babich 3. McDermott