Nihilarian

Easy to beat...tough to play... NE vs Buffalo In 2014 with the #4 defense overall the Bills got trounced by the Patriots 37-22 in Buffalo. That 2014 season the Buffalo Bills led the NFL in sacks with 54! The Bills only sacked Brady 2x. Although they beat the Patriots in the last game of the season at NE. The 12-4 Patriots Brady played the first half, Garoppolo played the second in a 17-8 win. The Pats had already home field throughout so the win didn't matter. 2016 with Brady suspended week four the Bills beat the Patriots 16-0 at NE with Jacoby Brissett at QB for NE. The next time they meet in Week eight the Bills get beat 41-25 at Buffalo with Brady at QB. 2018 Buffalo Bills had the #2 in yards allowed, #18 in points allowed. The Bills lost both games. In his 18 years in the NFL the Buffalo Bills have been Tom Brady's beiotch. The Biggest difference between the teams has been one player...da GOAT! 40 playoff games, 14 pro bowls. 9 super bowls with 6 wins. Since 2000 the Patriots have only missed the playoffs 3 times. 16 years of playoffs. During that same time frame 2000-2018 the Buffalo Bills made the playoffs ...once

This! Trade for Jadeveon Clowney! This only makes sense if the Bills think that they are this one player away from the playoffs...are they? Probably not as teams usually make strides incrementally and at 6-10 they could go 8-8 to 10-6. Which means that while they may make the playoffs I doubt they contend for a super bowl in 2019. QB too raw, not convinced O line is going to be dominant just yet and same with receiver corps, TE, WR. With the offensive roster just about set, I see the need for pass rusher, stud to help stop the run. First choice Clowney, second, third choices Nick Perry or Shane Ray at DE over Murphy. The Bills could make a move for Gerald McCoy who would be expensive but make a bigger impact over star who just eats blockers. Clowney, if he stays healthy could be the difference maker the Bills are looking for to make that jump to #1 overall defense in the NFL. Is he worth next years 1st?

I agree with this! Plus, having a decent run game that can move the chains or one that usually leaves the 3rd down distance shorter than five yards is a big help. A strong run game will also help the defense by staying on the field each drive to ultimately score. Thus leaving the defense on the bench opposed to being on the field. Believe it or not Buffalo was 13th in ToP in 2018 and was 30th in 2017. Also, the QB shouldn't be the leading rusher like Josh Allen was last season nor should the RB be the leading receiver like Shady was in 2017. The Bills threw deep last season more than any other NFL team and it's top two receivers missed on 85 targets between them. This should change now that Kelvin Benjamin is gone along with his 37% catch percentage. That greatly improved offensive line should not only help the run game in yard per carry and touchdowns. It should also help that QB who loves to throw deep be able to have more time in the pocket to throw deep. My only areas of concern for the 2019 Buffalo Bills defense is pass rush, stopping the run. The Bills had the #1 pass defense last season.

Hey, I agree! That #2 ranking was for yards allowed and they were 18th in points allowed. And that latter stat is pretty scary. What effected that horrid stat that in some games was that the Bills couldn't stay on the field and sustain drives, hence some games were blowouts. The Bills defense was really put to task in many games as they were on the field far, far to long! They were also susceptible to the run in some games where they simply couldn't stop the run, Colts, Patriots games come to mind. Plus, the Bills really had a difficult time getting the run game going from the RBs most of the season and this took no pressure off the QB's. #1 RB McCoy only had 514 yards rushing with 3 TDs all season. The QB escaping the pocket was the leading rusher with 631 yards, 8 TDs. Then the drops by the receivers, between Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin they missed on 85 targets by themselves, yes 85! Part of the problem was the Bills OC calling for deep passes around 30% of the offensive plays and this with an absolute craptastic offensive line. Josh Allen led all NFL QB on deep throws. It wasn't just with Allen either as Peterman and Barkley also threw deep around 30%. Barkley got luckey and hit a deep 75 yard TD bomb with his first pass play and it went on to a Bills 41-10 blowout of the Jets. That Jets game was a reverse microcosmic of what the Bills endured in many games last year. The Bills got the lead and exploited it. Suddenly the Bills had a run game as they had 46 rushes for 212 yards, 2 TDs. LeSean McCoy rushed 26 times for 113 yards, 2 TDs. The Jets OTOH first four series went three and out and the fifth was an INT as they couldn't get anything going on offense. Kinda the same thing happened to the Bills when they got behind in points the Bills OC kept calling pass plays and ignored the run game. While you have some valid points. The players brought in by the Bills FO should improve that line 1000% from last season. They didn't just add some warm bodies they added some hungry players who should compete for starting positions and have good depth as backups. The Bills have committed $39 million to six new linemen with a combined 317 games of experience in the NFL While Mitch Morse was the best of the bunch at center. He had to be to help call protections for that young and still learning QB. This alone was a huge improvement to the line. A veteran starting center was probably the 2019 Bills biggest needs and they filled it with the best player available in free agency. A position where a rookie just wouldn't do. Dawkins should hold down LT and improve as now he only needs to be concerned with his own position and not the left guards job too. I believe his play fell off last season due to having to plays with scrubs/inexperienced players next to him at LG. Just as Incognito helped raise the play of both Woods and Glenn. I feel Quinton Spain, John Feliciano, Spencer Long should compete for both guard spots along with Wyatt teller who only allowed 5 QB pressures in 8 games. Rookie Cody Ford was graded as a first round player and fell to the second round so the Bills traded up to grab a punishing run blocker and should start at RT or be moved to RG. Both the run blocking and pass blocking should improve greatly this year, no question about it in my view. This should also help the defense as they won't be on the field as much as they were last season and I don't see any team blowing them out in 2019. Lastly, lets talk about the very worst area of concern from 2018 and that was the Buffalo Bills being 32nd in special teams. They fired their ST coach (who is now in Miami) and hired Heath Farwell who was a ST assistant coach with the Seahawks, Panthers and as an NFL player. He was a special teams captain for both the Vikings, Seahawks. The Bills also added pro bowl ST KR/PR Andre Roberts to return. (The NY Jets were #1 ST last year) The Bills also added special teams ace RB Senorise Perry. The only area of concern for me this season is with the defense in stopping the run. Then again, should the Bills score first and hold the lead it should be lights out just like that 41-10 Jets game, the 42-17 Dolphins game at the end of the season.

This season the Bills have several receivers who can go deep, Zay Jones runs a 4.5. John Brown runs a 4.3. Robert Foster runs a 4.4. Those deep receivers will open up the middle of the field for Cole Beasley and the TEs. Mostly Beasley who caught 74.7% of the targets thrown his way. It also help with the run game because now the defense can't stack the box or get burned deep. Expect a better season from Shady and Co. Kinda reminiscent of those 90"s Bills with Beebe and Lofton running deep routes which opened up the middle for Andre Reed and help also Thurman Thomas with his cutbacks. The sky really is the limit to what this years offense will do. JMHO

He isn't and they won't! Look back to 2017 to a somewhat inferior roster with a running QB... who was afraid to throw over the middle. (That won't happen this year!) That years offense was 31st in passing attempts, 31st in yards passing even with a journeyman QB. Aside from last seasons rookie QB who will now get all the starting reps this off season. The Bills added some really good receivers, and O linemen to protect him and run block. The offense should be much improved as well as the defense, special teams...speaking of special teams the 2018 Buffalo Bills were 32nd in the NFL. This season they have no where to go but get better after signing the pro bowl KR/PR from the Jets in Andre Roberts. in 2018 the bills fielded the #2 defense in yards and the #1 pass defense. If the run defense improves the Bills should field a very dominant unit, and perhaps even number one overall. This season could be very special for the Bills.

I stand corrected. It was starting RT Ja'Wuan James who left in free agency to Denver. Along with starting LG Ted Larsen who signed with Chicago. They also have a band-aid at center but they could pencil in 3rd pick Michael Deiter for that position or perhaps LG. Still, I think the Dolphins roster stinks and their super bowl odds are at +27500. Which is last in the NFL. I also think that many around the league are underestimating how well Buffalo did in free agency and the draft. The Bills already had the #1 pass defense in 2018 and they signed EJ Gains. Now I have to wonder who the starting CB is opposite Tre White. Is it Levi Wallace? Is it EJ Gains? Is it Kevin Johnson? Decisions, decisions!

On paper is a funny thing. The Browns two head coaches last year are now long gone. The quarterback coach is now the head coach and while the new HC will be calling the offensive plays. New DC will be Steve Wilks who was the HC at Arizona last season. The Cleveland Browns went 7-8-1 last year and won 5 of their last 7 games under Gregg Williams. Who knows how that new coaching staff will do this season. Same old Browns?

While I agree that it might sound homerish. When I said resembles Andre Reed, I meant that Cole Beasley should be fearless in catching everything thrown his way over the middle which is something the Bills solely missed last season. What the Bills had last season was Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin who missed on an alarming 85 targets between them! Benjamin had a 37% catch percentage. He didn't even try more then half the time. Beasley might have been 3rd on the Dallas depth chart but he was 2nd in receptions just behind Ezekiel Elliott with 65 receptions to 77 and Cole had more yards with 672 to 576. Beasley also had a 74.7 catch percentage which is on par with most RBs catching shorter passes. The Bills needed a first down pass catcher and it looks like he should do a fine job in that respect. Now think back to the K gun, no huddle offense with Loften, Beebe running deep routes that opened up the middle of the field for Reed. Then think about John Brown, Robert Foster running deep routes and opening up the middle of the field for Beasley. And that should also the run game with two TEs, three WRs in and out of the shotgun as defenses won't know where the ball is going. DC's crapping themselves the first time Foster, Brown catch a TD bomb! This year the Bills should field a very exciting offense. Just the way I see it.

What Coward fails to realize is that a big reason for last years blowouts were because the Bills couldn't sustain drives early in the season. With not much of a run game by the RBs. and the new Bills OC calling for deep passes far too often with a craptastic offensive line that wouldn't usually give those WBs time to throw deep. Things have changed drastically on this years offensive line with many new faces. Most notably a solid veteran stud at OC who can help set protections for the line. New faces at LG Spain, RG Long, RT Ford. that new RT is a punishing run blocker. What he also fails to see is that the worst WR on the team who only caught 37% of his passes is gone. The new Bills slot WR is Cole Beasley who caught 74% of targets in Dallas last year and should resemble a Bills fan favorite in WR Andre Reed. Just what Josh Allen needed besides adding deep WR John Brown to compliment Robert Foster and the CFL's leading receiver in Duke Johnson. The 2019 Bills offense should be much, much better with the run and pass. Plus, the defense added an already #1 pass defense with EJ Gains and #1 pick in DT Ed Oliver. Also, special teams coach was fired and new blood brought in by the name of Heath Farwell, not to mention picking up Jets all pro KR/PR Andre Roberts. This season I can see the Bills knocking the New England Patriots off their lofty perch of division champs. OTOH, the Dolphins have the worst roster in the NFL and lost their starting LT, LG to free agency. I can see Miami drafting @#1 overall in 2020 and guess what position their pick will be...

If we are coming up with gimmicky nicknames for the 2019 Bills offense howsabout... the greatest show on snow! You know, like the old St Louis Rams the "greatest show on turf". I also don't think Daboll is in a place where he is ready to give up the power of calling plays to a 2nd year QB! Plus, I don't think that 2nd year QB is ready to call them. The Bills were already throwing deep nearly 30% of the time and Josh Allen was running far to often. Should the Bills offense go from near last in 2018 to a top NFL offense in 2019, I'm sure Bills fans figure out a new nickname. BTW, the K-gun offense was supposed to be named after Bills TE Kieth McKeller and not QB Jim Kelly. Basically it was a formation out of shotgun utilizing the "Hurry Up" / No Huddle offense that the Bengals tortured them with in the 1988 AFC Championship game. At some point Marv, Ted Marchibroda realized that one of Jim kelly's strongest points in his play was running the "two minute" drill at the end of a half. Probably because Kelly had played in "Mouse Davis" run and shoot offense in the USFL. What a lot of fans don't realize was what made that hurry up offense work so well were the cutback runs by Thurman Thomas and the Bills usually ran more than they threw it back then. Also, once the ground game was established and the linebackers had moved up to help stop the run the Bills would send Loften, Beebe deep while allowing some unknown WR from Kutztown U who was tough as nails to run over the middle and catch everything thrown his way. Nowadays, nobody runs an actual run and shoot defense because Dick LeBeaus zone blitz castrated that offense. Still, now most NFL teams use a version/variation of a hurry up offense and the Patriots are particularly good at it...the bastages!

Thank you Yolo! So refreshing to actually see that the GM and his crew are making all the selections... and not the marketing guy or the owner! While the HC sits silently while allowing the GM to do his magic! Gotta love these new owners! What a great time to be a Buffalo Bills fan! The Bills FO targeted a few players that they wanted and went after them, got them! I do recall hearing that the Bills wanted Oliver so badly that they were looking to trade up into the top five to make certain they would land him. From what I remember wasn't Oliver looking like the #1 overall after the 2018 draft? A top five player at #9, can't ask for more! Thank you Dave Gettleman twice over for not taking QB Josh Allen last draft and for drafting QB Daniel Jones @#6 this year.

For sure. Rosen had a halfway decent offense around him at UCLA and they didn't win as often as you would think. Anyway, Rosen should get some real NFL help in developing his craft with Ex Colts HC ,OC, Ex Lions HC in Jim Caldwell who is the assistant HC, OC at Miami now. Still, it doesn't help much to have such a poor surrounding offensive player cast as he does this season. Plus, the dolphins hired Ex-Bill Danny Crossman as Special Teams coach! that should be a few loses right there. Rosen will be in a burning crucible all season and it may break him or make him much better if he can survive it!

Clearly a typo is should read http://MORONalytics.com No player is wart free and Oliver had his issues. The biggest issue was he was played at nose tackle by Houston which caused teams to double, triple team him and he still caused havoc. Now imagine him playing at DT...Good Night!

Let's not forget Matt Millen president of the Lions and some odd fellow named Russ Brandon.

I dunno man, Rosen didn't look all that good behind a bad Cards O line last season. 3-13 and Rosen went 3-10. Guess what? The Dolphins have one of the worst rosters in the NFL and they gave up 52 sacks last season. They also lost their starting LT to Denver. Cameron Wake, Frank Gore, Danny Amendola, starting LG Ted Larson all gone in free agency. Most draft pundits have the Dolphins selecting the #1 overall pick in 2020 and that is a QB!

I agree, a top 5 player at #9. and only because the Riders and Giants had a brainfart.

Between Zay Jones and Kelvin Benjamin there were 85 targets missed last season...85! Those two were Josh Allen's top two targets. Zay Jones 102 targets, 56 receptions a catch percentage of 54.9%. Kelvin Benjamin 62 targets, 23 receptions, a catch percentage of 37.1%. Now you can see why the Bills outright cut him during the season...just not soon enough! John Brown was the Baltimore Ravens 3rd highest target last season with 97 targets, 42 receptions a 43.3 catch percentage. Although, the QB's changed during the season from Joe Flacco to Lamar Jackson. Cole Beasley the #2 targeted player for the Dallas Cowboys last season 87 targets, 65 receptions for a catch percentage of 74.7%. Which puts him in the LeSean McCoy percentage who had a 73.9 catch percentage. Now, the other things to consider are that Josh Allen threw deep more often then any other NFL QB last season. Not to mention that Bills OC seemed to call deep passes about 30% of the time. This with one of the very worst offensive lines in the league last year and literally not much of a run game from the RBs. Things should change this season with the upgrades on the Bills offensive line and now should have a much better run game from the RBs. The Bills HC is also aware of Allen's propensity to throw deep and has asked the OC, QB to throw shorter passes to help with completion percentage. The Bills also have a new WR coach so that should help!

Yep, TJ Hockenson was a top ten pick! He also might be a generational player too. Metcalf though, is still looking for that last cone.

Who? DK Metcalf?

While I agree with most posted here i don't think the ONLY real questions is will special teams improve. I have more faith in this new ST coach and the added players to make that unit better. KR/PR/WR Andre Roberts, signed a two-year, $5 million deal with the Bills. He joins Buffalo after having a Pro Bowl season as a returner with the New York Jets. He led the NFL in kickoff return yards and punt return average. He scored two return touchdowns — one kick return and one punt return. He provides the Bills with firepower at the return position, something the team has lacked. This player alone should help make a big impact to the ST unit! Offense: The other questions in my view is the run game with the RBs in being able to control the clock, maintain possession and make first downs. The QB should need to play HB and be the one making the first downs because the O line didn't hold up in protections. Just as Roberts will do for ST, the added free agents and #2 draft pick in Cody Ford should drastically improve both the run game and pass game. Defense: What worries me is while the 2018 Buffalo Bills were the #1 team in the NFL in pass defense. That same defense was also atrocious at times against the run and in the red zone. That Colts and Patriots games come to mind. While I like Ed Oliver as a smaller, penetrating DT in getting into the backfield and rushing the passer as he is replacing an all pro who played well last season and yet the defense still had those run stop problems. The other aspect of the defense that worries me is the Bills pass rush. Buffalo was 26th last year in sacks with just 36 sacks total. Only 6 teams were worse. These two issues are still to be addressed as I don't see great improvement in those two areas so far. Run stopping, pass rush. This FO fixes these two concerns and they could very well have a dominant defense this year. JMHO

The weakest area of the Buffalo Bills defense last season was their inability to stop the run in several games. The Colts, the Patriots games come to mind. While I like Oliver he is a smaller, faster perpetrator and not that big bodied run stuffer like a Pat Williams was in Buffalo. week one @Jets... Didn't fix their O line, still Le'Veon Bell at RB. Bills need to improve run defense. week two@Giants...No more ODB, But The Giants have one of the very best RB in the NFL. The Bills need to shore up that run defense better then Star, Oliver, Phillips. Perhaps sign Suh, or a trade late round pick for Gerald McCoy? The Bills run defense worries me.

NFN, but all this worry about a wide receiver that most draft pundits had placed in the first round to top ten is silly. The very first WR went #25 to the Ravens in the 2019 NFL draft. This tells me that no actual NFL team had any WR rated that highly. Marquise Brown #25, N'Keal Harry #32. Eight WRs taken before Metcalf and he was the last player taken in the second round, correct? It was all media and fan Hype. Now think back to last years draft when the majority of the Bills fans wanted to draft Josh Rosen. Most were willing to give up the farm to trade up to the #2 spot with the NY Giants to draft him. Some even wanted to give the Giants a 2019 first round pick too. Just like last year the Bills had a chance to draft the more polished QB in Rosen and passed for reasons. This year they passed on a WR/TE with that second round pick to draft a punishing run blocking offensive linemen for reasons. Reasons that are clear to me, because as many linemen as they added in free agency this FO wanted to make sure they could build a solid run game while better protecting that second year QB who loves to throw deep. Throwing deep requires more time in the pocket. This FO knows what they are doing and we should see the results come September.

Forget those players mentioned. I'd rather see the Bills trade a late round 2020 pick for Gerald McCoy to the Bucs to stop the run better. Then sign Ziggy Ansah (if he is fully healthy) to help with the pass rush rotation. As far as the offense goes I'd rather trade with the Vikes for TE Kyle Rudolph. Otherwise I'd like to see what the five new additions the Bills already have will do for the 2019 Bills WR corps.

So, what was DK Metcalf's specialty? His 4.33 speed? Weaknesses https://www.nfl.com/prospects/d.k.-metcalf?id=32194d45-5436-3377-5806-d2746f1b94aa Should rely on footwork and body positioning over arm-extension to clear the top of his route Rushes through pattern ingredients rather than developing their flavors as a route chef Gears it down a little when turning to locate the deep ball Fails to sell route fakes to manipulate his opponent Breaks and stems aren't as sharp as they could be Had separate season-ending injuries in 2016 (foot) and 2018 (neck) Suffered focus drops when working back to the ball Drop rate too high over last two seasons Needs better positioning of his big frame to block out defenders on comebacks The Bills signed a WR with 4.34 speed and gave him a 3 year contract at 9 mill per, his name is John Brown (and he can run more then three routes). With Robert Foster, Zay Jones did they really need another deep speed WR or a Right tackle like Cody Ford to protect Josh Allen with those deep throws?