Rigotz

The penalty seemed a little harsh ... until I looked at his history: https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/nfl-fines-pittsburgh-steelers-damontae-kazee-fifth-time#:~:text=Kazee was one of nine,of which have been %2411%2C806. Prior to this hit, he was fined 5 separate times for unnecessary roughness this season. There's a clear history and intent here. This last one could have paralyzed his opponent. The suspension was the correct move.

So ... trade Matt Milano too? He gets injured sometimes. Negative value to the team?

As much as I hate to say it, I agree. If Josh and Pat were playing like their usual selves all year, they'd have a chance. This year, Tyreek has it all. The stats, the flash, the wins, and it's something new. That's what people vote for.

It's almost as if ... he was injured ...

LIGHT HIM ON FIRE AND TRADE HIM FOR A 7TH! TRADE HIM POST JUNE 1ST TO SPREAD HIS $8M DEAD CAP HIT OUT TO TWO YEARS INSTEAD OF PAYING HIM $3.7M TO ACTUALLY PLAY HERE. GIT ER DONE BEAN !

Can we please call this what it is? It's simply an "RB Slip Screen." Here's how it's designed: https://youthfootballonline.com/running-back-screen-pass-play-rb-slip-screen/ To the question of "are our linemen not athletic enough?" ... the left side of the line is tailor made for slip screens. Dawkins has shown his mobility with the tackle wrap play. Morse's lateral mobility is arguably the best in the game for Centers, and McGovern has a RAS score of 9.74/10 (relative athleticism to size). On the right side, Brown would be perfect, but CyBo's big weakness is lateral mobility, so we wouldn't want to test him "olaying" his defender and sprinting lateral wide. Now, the important question of why we don't do it often... considering we have a good pass catching HB and athletic o-line on the left side. It's one of 2 reasons: 1) We're not getting blitzed by the OLB or MLB. RB Slip screens are blitz beaters. They work best when the OLB attacks because the line lets them run free alongside the DE/DT, which gives you "numbers" after your RB and OL escape the box. An obvious reason of why we don't see the OLB/MLB blitz often is linebackers are spying Josh or playing zone to defend the QB scramble. If they stay in the box and don't blitz, your slip screen will probably be blown up unless someone on D attacks the wrong gap. 2) We're just not good at it. Whether it's Josh's hand size making the short passes harder, or WR not being able to sustain their blocks, or linemen not communicating well enough, we're just not good at it. As some posters have mentioned, these issues pre-date Cook and most of our O-Line, so maybe it's a Josh thing? Either way, it's almost definitely some combination of 1, 2, or both.

$9M is pretty reasonable for a solid #2 CB. I would hope they can get an extension done at less than that amount, but I don't think it's likely. I'll never understand this ... trading him after 6/1 does not save you a couple million. Keep the 1st round Corner you drafted, when you need Corner depth (at worst) and develop him ... Or flip him for a 7th and pay more to not have him? This is insane.

I think we have to break this into three position groups: Safety: Micah Hyde - Free agent, going on 34, nagging injuries and lost a step. Gone. Jordan Poyer - Cutting saves $5.5M. $2M dead cap. Gone. Rapp - Free agent - Gone. Hamlin - Last year of cheap contract. Maaaaaybe practice squad, otherwise gone. Need 2 new starters and maybe 2 backups. Slot Corner: 1) Taron Johnson - last year of extension, due $12M. I bet we extend him. Need depth, maybe in late rounds? Outside Corner: 1) Christian Benford - Solid 1/2 and under contract 2 more years. Injury concerns. 2) Rasul Douglas - Rock solid 2 and under contract for next year. No reason to extend yet. 3) Kaiir Elam - This is the upside guy you groom behind 1 and 2. No reason to cut or trade. 4) Dane Jackson - Meh. Expired contract, would welcome him back on vet min for depth. 5) Tre White - cut or ideally injury settlement. Love you Tre. Need injury insurance for Benford and ideally a stronger #1 corner. Is Elam that guy? Thus, safety is the big need. Corner depth and hopefully upside can be found in late rounds. To those suggesting we cut Kaiir Elam... why? He has raw talent and is on a relatively cheap contract. It's an $8M dead cap hit to cut him and $3.7M to keep him on the roster next year. Why the hell would you pay double to not have him?

Still too early, but I do want to point out that not all games are created equal. Green = Top 10 defense Yellow = 10-22 defense Red = Bottom 10 defense Dorsey: Jets: Defensive DVOA Rank: 3rd ... 16 points scored Raiders: Defensive Rank: 16th ... 38 points Commanders: Defensive Rank: 32nd ... 37 points Dolphins: Defensive Rank: 11th ... 48 points Jaguars: Defensive Rank: 8th ... 20 points Giants: Defensive Rank: 25th ... 14 points Patriots: Defensive Rank: 10th ... 25 points Buccaneers: Defensive Rank: 17th ... 24 points Bengals: Defensive Rank: 26th ... 18 points Broncos: Defensive Rank: 30th ... 22 points Brady: Jets: Defensive DVOA Rank: 3rd ... 32 points Eagles: Defensive Rank: 20th ... 37 points Cheifs: Defensive Rank: 9th ... 20 points Dorsey had some horrible offensive games against bad defensive teams. Eagles aren't bad. Joe Brady hasn't, but again ... too early. I like what I've seen thus far.

On the topic of McDermott addressing this article publicly and saying it's an "attack on his character" ... I have a different take. The Bills have their backs against the wall. They already have an "us vs the world" mentality. What if their coach is trying to lean into this and get even more juice out of the "us vs the world" narrative? It would make sense, tactically.

I had this conversation with my buddies yesterday, who are Pats fans. The Patriots have the toughest Strength of Schedule in the league. That's the tiebreaker for draft position. There are 5 other teams that have 4 wins. The Patriots now have 3 wins. That means if Bill wins another one, you're potentially picking outside of the top 5. I appreciate the positivity and am not trying to be a hater here, but this is new territory for a lot of Pats fans ... the win last night was potentially catastrophic for you guys. We did this for 20 years and those wins often find a way to crush your draft stock late-season.

Seems like a lot of people are getting upset about the comparison of Araiza and Miller. Nobody is comparing the events themselves, the alleged victims, or the players. What I'm saying is a lot of us jumped to conclusions the moment we heard a news story with partial facts about Araiza. That story is remembered differently now. Perhaps we can benefit from the learning moment that we do not know all the facts yet and shouldn't assume Von Miller is a horrific person, the same way we did with Matt Araiza.

The commentary on Von stood out to me, toward the beginning. Sounds like Beane & the Front Office are confident that Von will not be charged with any crime and this could potentially be a misunderstanding. Maybe we should be cautious this time around (ex: Araiza) and let things play out before crucifying Von...

In 2020 Beane drafted Jake Fromm, the developmental QB, in the 5th round. It was a wasted pick. That same year we got Tyler Bass in the 6th round, Dane Jackson in the 7th, and Isaiah Hodgins in the 6th. In 2022, we got Christian Benford in the 5th, Khalil Shakir in the 5th, and Matt Araiza in the 6th. There are 20+ other teams looking for a QB with any type of talent. We will need to spend a premium pick to get one in the draft. I'd rather have the guys above than take a 10% shot on maybe having a decent, young backup QB instead of a proven vet.

What if I told you ... In the year that the Chiefs look worse than ever, Joe Burrow gets injured, Aaron Rodgers gets injured, and the Patriots are a joke... The Bills respond by going 6-6 and standing in 10th place in the AFC, currently outpaced by the Browns, Steelers, and Colts, all of which are using backup QBs.

They do several per year, including Beane. You’ve really never seen one?

And we're likely to receive a 3rd round comp pick as well

Amidst all the negativity this season, I want to bump this thread one last time. We found a true impact guy in the third round last year. The talking heads hated the pick. We hated the pick. Everyone was wrong. Terrel Bernard through 12 games this year: 104 tackles 3 interceptions 3.5 sacks Tremaine Edmunds through 5 years as a starter (full season averages): 113 tackles / yr 1 interception / yr 1.3 sacks / yr It's not just about the splash plays either. His run fits and pass coverage have been beautiful. Exciting to think about him and Milano paired for the next several years.

Yes, but it could be worse. Dolphins rest their starters because it's a meaningless game for them... and we still lose. 2003 all over again.

Yup. This is the one. Any suggestion of cutting Dion Dawkins rather than simply restructuring elite players is ridiculous. Right idea from @Einstein but wrong execution.

Von on the possibility of missing games because of this: Zero percent chance. I'll be back to full strength by tomorrow.

If our offense is #1 in the league and our defense is #32, one might consider something like this. Otherwise, it's reckless and stupid. If you miss the conversion, which has a historical 50% win rate, now the Eagles can win the game simply by kicking a field goal. If you make the conversion, the Eagles have to score a touchdown to win. You would have to have extremely little faith in your defense and extremely strong faith in your offense to do this. The analytics say DO NOT do it.

What would you rather have at this point? Option 1) The Bills win 4 out of the next 5 games and sneak into the playoffs. They have to play the #2 seed on the road and lose. McDermott gets to say he gutted out a tough season with many injuries and he survives another year. The Bills hold the 20th-24th pick in the draft. Option 2) The Bills lose 2+ games and miss the playoffs. The season is a failure and McDermott is fired. The Bills hold the 15th-20th pick in the draft. Many of us would choose option 2 simply because we can't imagine a scenario where McDermott's team not only guts out 4-5 more wins in a row, but then goes on the road for the entirety of the playoffs, then Super Bowl and wins it all.

Bill Belichick's resume was NOT better than McDermott's before Brady. Assuming Reich's coaching stinks because he's not winning Super Bowls with Jacoby Brissett is extremely short-sighted. He made some really bad QB's look good. I'm not sold on him being the wrong guy.

I love when the broadcast highlights that he's on the field. It's appropriately embarrassing for both him and the coaching staff that they keep trotting out the ghost of Von Miller to the field. Every snap he's been out there has been a wasted snap. Think about how many times the coaching staff has put a zero impact player on the field at a critical position ... by choice. Yet another reason to be DONE with McDermott.