Logic

True. Frankly, I agree with him. The competitive imbalance between a team having no fans and a team having 15,000 fans is huge. As weird as it might seem to do so on the surface, I suggest that the NFL measure the average sound output of 15,000 fans and pipe the equivalent decibels of fan noise into the stadiums without fans to rectify the imbalance.

And America is the Florida of the world ?

Maybe so. There’s also this video, so we know that Ford IS getting work at RG. We have so little to go on this year, but based on Joe B’s comment, McDermott’s comment about wanting to know Ford’s position (why even say that if there’s not a possibility it’s different than last year?), and this video, I’m sticking to the hunch that Ford is a real threat to start at RG. https://mobile.twitter.com/MatthewFairburn/status/1296455380055318531

He's likely to be ready to return to action by, say, week 5 of this season. They're not going to put him on IR or cut him. At some point in the first half of the season, he will factor into the discussion. As for Winters vs Boehm, I could be wrong, but I believe Boehm has more experience playing center than Brian Winters. Backup interior players' chances of making the roster are higher if they can play multiple positions. Neither of us have seen either man play a snap in camp this year, though, so we're both just guessing. This. I've seen a few different people point out in this thread that Williams is on a one-year deal. If he plays well at RT, why wouldn't the Bills try to re-sign him? Unless he's an All-Pro again, I doubt he'd break the bank. He may also WANT to stick around and play for McDermott/Beane, with whom he has experience, and with the Bills' top notch medical facilities. Such a thing would not be unprecedented. We saw it with Quinton Spain this offseason. I suppose we're getting ahead of ourselves, though. If we can get a good year out of Darryl Williams, based on what we're paying him, it'll be a real win. Besides, if he DOES beat out Ford to start at RT, everyone should rest assured that it's because he outplayed Ford at that position. You know the Bills would prefer that the player they drafted to play right tackle start at that position. If he doesn't, it's because he was beat out for the job, fair and square.

If this sticks, I actually see Brian Winters being cut. Feliciano and Boehm both offer more versatility as interior swing players. Dawkins - Spain - Morse - Ford - Williams Depth: Nsekhe, Feliciano, Boehm/Bates Looks good to me.

Williams runs about 335lbs, Cody Ford 330. That's a lotta beef on the right side. Cody Ford and Quinton Spain (both 330) is also a big, nasty set of guards.

In my opinion, Ford starting at RG and Williams at RT is the best possible scenario. It puts Ford at the position he seems best suited for, puts Williams at the position where he was a former 2nd team All-Pro, and allows Nsekhe to be our swing tackle. Basically, assuming Williams is back at his previously high level of play, this combo would improve THREE o-line positions.

Reporters are forbidden from listing where players are lining up or where they fall on the depth chart this year. This, then, was actually Buscaglia’s way of getting around that rule without actually breaking it.

https://theathletic.com/2017417/2020/08/23/observations-from-day-6-of-bills-camp-testing-glitches-stefon-diggs-day-more/?amp#click=https://t.co/15UlPgJSEP “While the Bills are still attempting to solidify their starting offensive line, they have seen Cody Ford and Daryl Williams begin to separate from the other options. Their individual performances have been better than those of Brian Winters, Ty Nsekhe, Ryan Bates and others, though it’s been the work of Ford and Williams as a duo that has set them apart. Both players are fun to watch as run blockers. While some parts of the line struggled to get a push in the running game early, Ford and Williams have alleviated some of those concerns in recent practices. On their best rep of the day, Williams hammered down on the defensive end while Ford cleared out the defensive tackle, allowing Singletary a huge lane to make subsequent defenders miss. They also worked together excellently in two-on-two pass-blocking drills. They communicated well with one another and displayed a good feel for when to hand off the defender to their teammate. Williams has been one of the best surprises of training camp. The former second-team All-Pro has battled injuries and, as a result, posted some poor play in Carolina last season. However, his feet look a lot quicker than they did on film for the Panthers last season, which must have the Bills hopeful he can factor into the offensive line this season. If he can do so while working well with their 2019 second-round pick, Ford, the Bills will be ecstatic.”

Second prettiest thing Poyer ever kissed.

My contribution to positivity: I expect the Bills defense to be the best this year that it has ever been under Sean McDermott. Part of it is the additions to the defensive line. A bigger part, though, is internal improvement. Specifically, I expect Ed Oliver and Tremaine Edmunds to take big steps forward. The respective progression of each player will take the Bills from having a pretty good 3T and MIKE to having an ELITE player at both positions. This will, in turn, greatly improve the defense overall. I also expect the offense to be the best this year that it has ever been under Sean McDermott. That's obviously not saying much, since it has stunk for three years running. The offensive line being in its second year together, the addition of Diggs and Davis to the receiving corps, and the addition of Zach Moss to the running back room will all be a big help. Again, though, internal improvement will pay the biggest dividends. Dawson Knox, Devin Singletary, and Cody Ford will all be better players this year. I expect Knox to become a top 10 tight end, in particular. AFC East champions. It's happening.

Agreed. I actively root for our division rivals to make dumb decisions. Lately, the Jets have been playing along rather nicely. The Dolphins, less so. I like Flores and Tua, unfortunately. I get that some people want to see healthy rivalries and a strong AFC East. All I care about is the Bills winning. Whatever makes it most likely for them to win the next 10 division titles, that's what I want. No one discounted the Patriots' success the past two decades just because their division stunk.

Regarding the WR room: If all four bubble WRs are playing well, the tie has to go to the two rookies, right? We pretty much know Davis will make the roster, but it seems like Hodgins will be tough to cut, too. How much better would Duke need to be performing in camp to win a roster spot over Hodgins? McKenzie will be a tough cut, if it comes to that. When counted on, he tends to produce.

I was so happy when I saw the Jets give mega bucks to an off-ball linebacker and a running back. I mean...if there are two positions in the 2020 NFL NOT to give big money to. Bad teams seem to find a way to stay bad.

How long before he’s a Dallas Cowboy or New York Jet?

I appreciate your response and perspective. I have always enjoyed your contributions to this forum. I disagree with your contention about the usefulness of the statistics I posted. I also disagree with the tactic of seeking to lessen the impact of the amount of Americans COVID has killed by passing blame to bad reporting and co-morbidities. Clearly, we will have to agree to disagree on the matter of how well America is handling the pandemic. I wish you and your family good health and prosperity. Go Bills.

So, just to be clear, you AGREE that 175,000 Americans have died from COVID and that: The U.S., which accounts for less than 5% of the world population, leads all other countries in global coronavirus infections and deaths. The nation represents more than 22% of global coronavirus deaths and more than 25% of infections as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Right? Because if you agree with those two FACTS, it would seem difficult to conclude that the US is “doing fine”.

THAT’S your defense? That the government is making it all up? That the 175,000 deaths didn’t actually happen? And then, aside from that, your other defense is to snidely act as though the deaths, if they did happen (spoiler alert: they did), don’t matter because it’s just grandma? The callousness and ignorance of this stance is astonishing. I’ll go with facts, science, reason, and compassion. You can have your conspiracy theories and cold-heartedness. By the way, I actually DID lose my grandmother to COVID. Please do go on about the government lying, though.

No. I just have eyes and common sense and compassion. 175,000 dead Americans and counting, with no signs of the virus letting up any time soon. Still in the depths of dealing with this nightmare when nearly all other industrialized nations have, for the most part, moved past the worst of it. If thats “doing fine” to you, then we simply fundamentally disagree on what “doing fine” means.

It's really not, though.

The only way I can see the NFL making the “fans in some stadiums but not others” issue more fair would be to pipe in crowd noise at the no-fans stadiums. The competitive advantage for teams with fans, in terms of snap counts and so forth, is just too great. There has to be SOME leveling of the playing field.

There is one kernel of truth in this soon-to-be-closed thread: some teams having fans in the stands while others don’t IS a competitive advantage for those teams. It IS unfair. Theres no easy answer on how to remedy this issue, but it IS an issue.

One thing I forget every year and then remember once the season gets going is this: regardless of how many WRs are on the 53-man roster, the team only DRESSES a set number of them each week. Last season, for instance, they sometimes dressed just four WRs, and sometimes five. Never six. So if Diggs, Beasley, Brown, and Roberts dress every week, it leaves — at most — one extra WR spot per week. It’s important to remember, then, that whoever gets that extra spot each week (if they even use it) is likely to be a small part of the overall offensive gameplan. Last year, they’d sometimes activate Duke when they wanted size, and sometimes activate McKenzie if they wanted his gadget play abilities. We have to figure that Gabe Davis is most likely to get that last game day receiver spot, based on his draft position and camp performance thus far. As such, any remaining receiver on the roster would likely rarely be active on game days and would serve only in a very limited capacity of specific strategic needs. The question then becomes: what does the coaching staff value more? McKenzie’s utility as a gadget player and special teams depth (and do they believe another player, like Diggs or Roberts, can handle those sweeps and gadget plays)? Or is the size/red zone ability of Duke or Hodgins more valuable? I DO think that only Duke or Hodgins would make the 53, not both, as they have redundant skillsets. All of this is to say that whether or not the Bills believe they can replace McKenzie’s contributions should go a long way toward determining whether they keep him or a “size guy”. And then between the two size guys, who is performing better? If it’s a tie, you go with the rookie. No matter who claims the sixth WR spot (if there is one), that player will likely rarely be active on game days unless injuries occur.

What Gugny said. The Jags got that far (for ONE year) in spite of their toxic culture, not because of it. Their failure to repeat that success and their immediate descent into mediocrity and then laughingstock status are proof that culture matters. That Jags team was an elite collection of players. It wasn’t necessarily a great TEAM, and they surely didn’t have a sustainable culture. The minute things went poorly (AFC championship collapse), they crumbled. No resiliency, no mettle, no perseverance. Just finger pointing and selfishness. Culture is real and it matters.

I just read Michael Lombardi’s article about the Jaguars, and it really made me appreciate the culture that coach McDermott has developed in Buffalo. Basically, the Jaguars have hit on some draft picks at key positions (Ramsey at CB and Ngakuoe at DE), but because Jacksonville’s culture is so toxic, the players were not able to “become the best versions of themselves”, and both demanded trades. Now, instead of having franchise cornerstones at the two most important defensive positions, the Jaguars are back to square one defensively. There are three key elements to team building: drafting good players, developing them, and re-signing them. The Jags have shown that even when they hit on the first element, they fail at elements two and three. It’s hard to have hope as a fan of a team like that, knowing that even if your team drafts well, they are failing to develop and re-sign players. The Bills, meanwhile, have shown so far that they can draft and they can develop (i.e. “helping a player become the best version of himself”), now they just need to show they can effectively re-sign players when it’s warranted. So far, so good with Dion Dawkins. Tre White will be the big test. All of this is just about the on-field, skills development portion of the Bills culture. I could also talk all day about the way in which this culture encourages and allows players to become better teammates, better community members, and better men. Culture is real. Just look at the Jaguars and the Bills.