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He's got talent for sure, so I'm willing to see how his third year pans out before making a definitive call on him. Definitely needs to cut down on the turnovers. He does some things we saw Josh do throughout his rookie year and a few games into 2019. Just trying to do too much and trying to force plays and it usually ends up in a turnover. Glad to see Josh knows now when to throw it away or bail to the sidelines and live for the next play. Sometimes it just isn't there, defenses will win their fair share of plays.

And that's the hallmark of a Greg Roman offense. He can beat you with the run nine different ways to Sunday, and will crank out wins if they hold a lead for most of the game. If they're behind by 10 or more and need to start throwing more than running, they're in trouble. Roman's passing concepts are relatively easy to defend and they really don't have anything special at WR. I mean, Brown is good but he can't do it all himself. His TEs are solid but overall their passing game isn't to be feared.

I commented on the Bills IG where I first saw this and just said I love how much of a team they really are. There aren't any selfish guys who only care about personal stats. They lift each other up and genuinely want everyone to succeed. At the end of the day, they don't care who makes the play, just as long as the play gets made. Kinda reminds me of 2018 (I think?) where the sideline went nuts after Tawain Jones caught a short pass and converted on a big third down. I like that McDermott said they know they can do better. They have a solid group. They do miss Star for sure and I do hope to hear about Beane swinging a trade this week. But, I'm also aware that they might be a piece or two away from serious contention. They have the roster that can get you in the playoffs but it might not be a roster that gets you deep in the playoffs. I could be totally wrong, too. They could get hot like they were in September and start scoring 30 points a game again.

This is EGREGIOUS, Cotton! It is absolutely unacceptable that Tremaine Edmunds did NOT lift Isaiah Wynn over his head and launch him into the 300s. Even more worse and not gooder than that is he didn't pull an Ant-Man and shrink himself down so he could slip between the two guys blocking him. He's so selfish with his superpowers. How dare he. He and his one arm.

Oh, we're at this part of the season now? How neat. Once again, no GM is perfect, and not every transaction always works out. They've drafted well so far. In 2017 McDerms found Tre, Dawkins, and Milano, three starters, two of which have already earned second contracts and the other is well on his way. Missed on Zay Jones, it happens. Missed on Nate Peterman but he was a fifth round guy. McDermott was also working with an entirely different scouting department. 2018 brings in Allen, Edmunds, Phillips, T. Johnson, Neal, Wyatt Teller, and Ray-Ray McCloud. They flipped Teller for picks and turns out, he's been a pretty solid player for Cleveland. McCloud has bounced around the league but has stuck on Pittsburgh as a returner. Not bad for a couple late rounders. Neal is a core special teamer, taken in the 5th, right where you find special teams guys. Taron Johnson has had good stretches aside from his injuries. Horrible Harry is struggling along with the DL as a whole. He's a talented player, they just need to figure it out. Edmunds is playing with a bum shoulder and without Milano most of the time. Does he need to get it together? Sure. Does Brandon Beane deserve to get fired if he doesn't? No. And then of course there's Josh, and as well as he's played this season I still think he can get better. 2019, Oliver, Ford, Singletary, Knox, Vosean Joseph, Jaquan Johnson, Darryl Johnson, Tommy Sweeney. It's too early to make a definitive call on these guys since their careers are all of 20-some games old. Oliver had a great second half to his rookie season. Again, the DL as a whole is still trying to figure it out, they need to find a way to maximize the skill sets these guys have, the only problem is they're missing a guy like Star who is a true 1-tech whereas Ed is not yet he has to line up there at times. He's also playing through an injury. Cody Ford had his moments at tackle last season, some good, some bad. Seems they like him at guard where he's done well in pass pro but not so hot at run blocking. Slowed by injury right now. I think he has the talent to be a solid longtime starter. Singletary has shown to be a solid player. Knox has shown flashes and so much potential but injuries have derailed this season for him. I think he'll be alright. Vosean Joseph didn't work out, 5th round guys get cut all the time. If you find a player in the later rounds, that's a bonus. Jaquan Johnson is a core special teamer and in line to compete for a starting gig in the future. Darryl Johnson has shown some moments and maybe he's a long-term project and he works out, who knows? Tommy Sweeney probably takes over for Lee Smith next season. 2020 - Epenesa, Moss, Davis, Fromm, Bass, Hodgins, Jackson. Incomplete grades for Fromm and Hodgins. And no pre-season for these guys to get acclimated to the game. Seems like they're bringing Epenesa along slowly but he was seen as a bit of a project and if they keep working with him he could be a steady, solid player for them. Moss had the slow start with injuries but showed today what he's capable of. Davis has also had some excellent moments and seems like he could be a steal. Bass has had some ugly misses but he did go 6 for 8 in a game so that's pretty good. Dane Jackson has one of what, like three INTs by a DB this season? And they're 8 games into their rookie year so it's difficult to grade these picks just yet. Aside from the draft, Beane also cleaned up a ton of bad contracts and brought the team out of cap hell to a team with a ton of cap space. He flipped players for picks that he eventually used to draft Josh Allen. He got a third round pick for Tyrod Taylor. Unlike some prior Bills GMs, he's not afraid to be aggressive and trade around in draft day. Before Beane and McDermott took over, Bills consistently had rosters with the fewest homegrown talents in the league. They've reversed that and found a really good balance between their own picks and free agents. He's also awarded second contracts to several of their picks, something that rarely happened beforehand where players would play their rookie deal and say adios. He reinforced the OL in 2019 by adding Morse, Feliciano, and Nsekhe. Reinforced the WR group by adding John Brown and Cole Beasley. Makes the flashy trade for Stefon Diggs, who's been near the top of the league stats-wise all year. Has everything been a winner? No, but again, no GM has a perfect record. So they've hit a rough patch yet they're still 6-2. They know they need to do better. They also know that they've got a roster full of banged up players at the moment. Things happen. Maybe they're still a piece or two away from serious contention. Maybe they turn it around and get hot like they were in September. Who knows. Let's let the season play out before we start trying to dismantle the team again.

He was rough today. He's played so poorly that Beane has gambled on Darron Lee. This defense has some pieces but they're gonna need reinforcements next season. We'll see if they swing a trade this week but next off-season I expect them to make some changes.

Coaching can only go so far. Throughout the day I thought they called a decent game, but that only goes so far when your players aren't executing. The DL had some good moments in the first half but got shoved around in the second. They're trying all sorts of different combinations with the DL so I can't say that's bad coaching, they're attempting to find a formula that works. They miss Star and don't really have a natural 1-tech DT, Oliver is way better at 3T and so is Phillips. They're trying to make it work with what they got. Offensively, this has been a team that dials up 40+ throws a game. Today, Singletary and Moss were clicking to the tune of 6.1 YPC for 26 and 5.8 for 20. And Josh threw it 18 times. So to me, that shows decent coaching as it would've been easy for Daboll to say, "Yeah, we've run it alright but we're a passing team, lemme dial up a buncha throws cause that's our identity, darn it!" But they didn't, they kept running and they did it well. Gabe Davis also dropped a touchdown, you want me to go chew out Chad Hall for that? I understand some people are frustrated, I am as well, the game shouldn't have been that close. But what's the alternative? Fire the coaching staff and start all over again? That's the thing I don't understand about the knee-jerk reactions. People want change but they don't know what the alternative would be. From my perspective, they're trying, they're tinkering with the DL lineup and I'm sure Beane is on the horn and has his eyes on the trade deadline this week. They're not complacent, they're always trying to work and improve. This season is odd, no one had a pre-season to better evaluate things so teams have been forced to figure things out as the regular season has played out. But some of the comments I see sometimes are just wild, yeah, let's dump the staff that's turned the team around and taken them to the playoffs in two outta three seasons. 🙄

Loved seeing him out there today. Sucks he's gotta play in place of Morse, though. If Ford can go next week I'd like to see Bates get a start over Winters, just to see how that works.

I don't think they were out-coached at all. Sometimes I think they roll with their normal a little too long and are a bit slow to adjust or even hesitant to change things up here and there, but I don't think they were out-coached today.

Can't have the mistakes. Can't let them hang around. Diggs was fired up just before the half. Pretty sure he said something along the lines of, "They flippin' suck, this is bull$#!+, let's go!" So hopefully they get angry and come out and slap them in the mouth.

And that, my good man, is why I watch the games on mute.

Hyde is a leader and a guy that younger players look up to. The amount of times I've seen him slowly get to his feet after a play this season leads me to believe he's playing through some injuries. I think a lot of guys are doing that right now. I can't see him being cut outright but maybe a restructured deal and more of a rotational role on the field if they find a better option to start over him.

Exactly what they pay Lotulelei to do. Funny how so many people were down on that signing but now that his absence is blatantly obvious, people are like, "Wait, maybe that WAS a good deal." Guys aren't always paid to be flashy and rack up the stats. Guys like Star are paid to allow his teammates to flash and rack up stats. And if this Shamar fella is a real option, I'd utter the age-old mantra of... "Get it done, OBD!"

They had plenty of chances to beat Brady and the Pats. They did it once or twice, right? I mean, I'm good with that because I reached my "Brady whoops the Bills" quota about 14 years ago so, I'm aboot done with all that. Times be changing, Pats on the downswing, Bills got their chance to go on top, gotta take advantage. 2-4 or not, Belichick will have this team ready. Hope it's a good one. As in...I hope Josh and the Boys rack up 35 first half points and blow 'em out of the water.

Someone said "Don't overpay anyone" and while that's a good rule of thumb, the Bills have regularly had to overpay free agents to sign here for years now. That happens when your team and city are viewed as "undesirable" by a lot of players. Now that they've been winning, that perception has begun to change and I've seen more than a few times that Buffalo is starting to be seen as a solid option for free agents. So they got that going for them, which is nice. But yeah, we've definitely seen them dole out some hefty deals for players that don't quite match that salary but sometimes you gotta bite the bullet to get what you want.

Maybe if they define a role for him and only ask him to do specific things, then maybe he might make an impact. He's an athlete for sure. Is it coaching? Is he a numbskull and can't comprehend schemes? Does he gamble and get burned too much? I remember there was some hype on him in 2016 but he didn't really do much. Again, maybe if they use him only in certain packages he could have an impact.

I understand where Minshew is coming from. He may have thought he was just hurt and could shake it off. And yeah, he probably felt like if he had to miss time due to injury he'd lose his starting gig but if I were him I'd have some confidence in myself and say, "It's Mike gotd@ng Glennon, I can beat this guy for the #1 spot."

Okay...how does that help the Bills right now, tho? I've said it in some other threads, late round picks in 2021 aren't very valuable to a GM like Beane right now. Tons of prospects aren't able to play this season and a lot of those guys are probably gonna get drafted in later rounds. It's gonna be tough to evaluate and figure out what you have in your late round prospects next year. Either way, late round prospects don't have the greatest odds of making this Bills team. The only way I'm taking late round picks for Trent Murphy is if I know I'm taking those picks and flipping them to another team for a player. There's just no point in trading him just to trade him and his contract is up after this season so there's not much point in cutting him. I mean, who are the alternatives? Darryl Johnson? AJ Epenesa? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the potential those two guys have but right now they're being outplayed by Murphy which is why he gets more snaps. Yeah I'm sure they expected more from him when they signed him but maybe the injury really FUBAR'd him and he just can't get back to how he was playing before the injury, I've no idea. But as it is right now, he's better than a couple of future late round picks. Unless some kind of knock-his-socks-off kinda deal comes around, I don't think compiling late round picks for the future is real high on Beane's priority list. They have a window to compete right now so if they're gonna make any sort of move, it's gotta be one that helps them immediately and not next year. Again, just my two cents on the subject. And of course I've seen Trent play. He, along with the rest of the DL, have struggled this season. He does flash and make plays at times, it's just too much time between those flashes. It feels like, "Week Two, Murphy has two sacks and a forced fumble" and then his next sighting is like, "Week Nine, evidently Trent Murphy returned from his trip to the moon because he had a sack and a fumble recovery!" Yes sir. That'd be the only way I'd trade Trent Murphy for a couple of late round picks, is if I knew I could then package those picks and flip them to another team for player that can help them right now. They have a window to compete so I don't think stockpiling a buncha future late round picks does them much good right now. And any late round prospect has their work cut out for them in terms of making the team.

Trent Murphy right now is more valuable to the Bills than a 2021 6th or 7th round draft pick that's unlikely to make the team. The only way I see them taking picks for him is if they then flip those picks in a trade for another player.

I gotta say, it feels like the Twilight Zone to see the Patriots ranked somewhere other than top of the mountain. I suppose that's what happens when a team dominates for 20 years. They did lose a lot of players and had players opt out but Belichick believes he can succeed with any player plugged into his system. Year after year he wins games with guys that might be backups on a different team. He's always been able to do that because he never has to compensate for the most important position in the game: QB. When that's taken care of, it makes everything else a lot easier. You can afford to be below average in a few spots because you know you have a QB that can strap the team on his back at any moment. I also feel like he's in a bit over his head. I know he's done this in other years but again, he doesn't have the luxury of not having to worry about the QB and really the offense in general since he has McDaniels. But other than him, I don't believe he has a defensive coordinator or a special teams coach, I believe he's handling those aspects himself and delegating things to his mullet-headed kid and some other assistants. He's also the GM so he has a lot on his plate and maybe he should really consider balancing his staff a little better so he doesn't have so much responsibility. This is 100% a winnable game for the Bills. Two ugly losses and an ugly win... shake it off, go in there and smack them around and win in a definitive fashion, doshgarnnit!

I'll trade for Apple with my Snapple.....cap, my Snapple cap...they ain't gettin' the whole beverage as it is far more valuable than the defensive back services provided by Mr. Apple.

Meh.

I would avoid the Jets like the plague until they're under new ownership.

I really feel like they should beat New England but the way the defense has played makes it tough to completely trust that they will. Defensively, it's not like they're constantly giving up monster plays, it's that they cannot end a drive before it hits double digits in plays, so it seems anyway. They allow so many easy down and distance situations, 2nd and 3, 3rd and 4, etc. I think that affects what types of packages and pressures they can dial up. And then when they do get a 3rd and long, they end up screwin' the pooch and giving up 21 yards when the opponent needed 20. That $#!+ is disheartening as a fan, I can't imagine how it is as a player. That stuff will drive a defense batty and weaken their confidence. All season long they've just given up too many long drives and end up on the field for too long. They gotta force more 3 and outs and more punts. That said, I don't think the NE offense should have a field day out there. They don't really have any major weapons. Yeah, they can run the ball a buncha different ways and that may be a problem but I feel like if the Niners can go in and beat them that bad, the Bills can too. I'm sure a lot of people probably saw Seattle on the schedule and thought, "That's a loss" but I think they play Seattle tough and we'll see what happens. And then I hope McDerms and Frazier dial up some super confusing looks for Murray and the Cards. That dude is tough to defend. I really have no idea. The eggs they laid against Tennessee and KC were very concerning and it made me second guess if these guys are as good as they were they their first four games. I don't think the Jets game is as bad as some think. Offense moved the ball very well, just sputtered when in Jets territory and had to settle for field goals. They were super close on a few plays and Gabe Davis needs to stop getting robbed of TDs on BS procedural calls. It was 18-10 but if a few things go the other way it could've been 38-10. Should've been... Bah. This sport gives me anxiety.

Grew up in a family of Bills fans. Played backyard football with friends and family as a kid and when you're a kid, you gotta have your own thing, can't be some sheep falling in line and liking what everyone else likes. So, our little crew all picked teams we liked, for whatever reason. My brother picked the Giants because he liked Mark Bavaro, my cousin took the Falcons because he liked Andre Rison. Another friend went with the 49ers because they were winning all the time back then. Myself, I went with the Raiders because I thought silver and black was cool. And then 51-3 happened and I switched teams to the Bills, haha. I also had picked the Bengals the year before because of the orange and black. I look back at my childhood now and wonder how many decisions I made based on color lol.