Straight Hucklebuck

The Bills look like a Playoff team. But you look at the halfway point, and are they much better than the 2019 Bills? They look about the same. The offense is better with Moss over Gore, Allen and Diggs. But the defense has slipped. So do I see breaking the Playoff Win drought? That looks iffy right now. Trade deadline tomorrow...

I think the 2020 Bills are the 2019 Bills. They are regressing towards 20 ppg and having to win tight games. WGR just keeps talking about "the first four games", but I don't see that happening to the tune of 300-400 yards passing as it was. I can see getting to 250 yards again, and 2 TDs. They look like a Playoff team, who goes out Wildcard weekend.

Jamiezzz - I think your assertion would work better if you had a list of items to support your idea. 1. 2. 3. Examples needed - were you unhappy with McDermott not taking timeouts at the end? McDermott not going for 2 to make it a 2-score game (although if he doesn't make it New England wins the game), continuing to play AJ Klein for some reason. The 2020 Bills look like the 2019 Bills to me. They can beat bad teams and will struggle with good teams. They make the Playoffs and go out in the first round. Josh Allen has started 35 games now. This is who he is.

Well this is disappointing.

He needs a year in the weight room. His Combine showed a borderline NFL athlete with a 5.0+ second 40 yard-dash, 17 reps on the bench, 32.5” vertical. I think those numbers point to a an athlete who is not explosive and is more of a try hard player. So between weight room work and technique, he may get 6-8 sacks a year.

This seems to be right. I think the standard now is you go in immediately, to no more than sitting one year. That range 0-1 years. That’s all you get now. It will be an interesting case study to monitor the Jordan Love situation as the reports were he looked terrible in Training Camp.

I think you’re right to acknowledge that these QBs are coming in and immediately putting up numbers. I would just think the danger is if you’re 6-10, not being high enough to get a good QB. Then again Mahomes, Lamar and others fell.

It’s a big game. With no Edelman now, you have to believe the Patriots are going to try and ram the ball down the Bills throats. And if the game plan is to do the exact opposite, this Bills defense can’t allow Jacoby Meyers as the #1 WR to burn them. 6-2 before another tough stretch of games is all that matters.

I said at the time of the signing, Klein is a fringe NFL starter, he’s a guy. But the Bills must have thought he was the answer after Lorenzo left, because they didn’t draft a Linebacker in 2020, and in 2019 they drafted Vosean Joseph in the 5th, who didn’t pan out.

This excuse is getting really old. The Bills are good right now, trying to get to the Playoffs right now. So the plan is to just wait around for him to suddenly get good? The Bills knew he was 20 when they drafted him.

To some degree I agree with this, but, for instance, some fans called out Sammy Watkins for his lack of production. Well when the Bills declined his 5th year option, isn't that them admitting he can't play as a #1 WR? It's them admitting he isn't a difference maker at that price. If the Bills go out in offseason and attempt to improve the Tight End position, isn't that proof that the opinion that our Tight Ends are below league average is true? An average fan can watch games and form opinions. Are they always right? No, but sometimes it bares out that obvious personnel holes are apparent. Are the Jets bad, and bereft of offensive talent? Or do we just not understand their players responsibilities?

Good analysis of each play, thanks for writing all of that out. Well, I guess we're set then.

Then why are we even watching the games? You can't watch the game and form an opinion of how the team is playing?

He needs to be replaced. Unfortunately the Bills have skimped on Linebacker. They drafted one in 2019 (Joseph) and none in 2020. Alexander retires and we sign Klein. Linebackers aren't worth paying through the nose for, but the Bills should explore options. Because this is the best Bills team in 20 years, and sitting there with an obvious weakness in the middle of the defense because we are waiting for improvement is strange to me. Shouldn't we be seeing some plays? An interception, a TFL, a big hit? He's not the only Bills LB who is a ghost on the field, but wouldn't a competent linebacker help this defense out?

I'd be shocked if the Bills get anything more than a future-7th for him.

So Edmunds is playing well?

Instead of finding a scapegoat, couldn't it be pointing out a weakness on this team and discussing why that might be? When you say some people, the same could be said about the people who act like the Bills are in this indefinite mode of development for the future. We are fairly good right now, so why not try and figure out what to do with Edmunds? Why are we rushing in to always make excuses?

Seattle needed that desperately. Their Defensive Line is the biggest collection of no-names I've ever seen. And out of camp, I believe the only kept 7 on the roster between DT/DE.

The Bills need to explore/execute a trade for a linebacker before the deadline. And I agree with several of the fans on here. Edmunds is a problem right now. I don't care how young he is, or if in 3 years he'll be good, right now he is not a good MLB. You're coming to a point where you might have to move him around and see if he can rush the passer, or use him only in subpackages.

Man, more capital thrown at the defense, we have to go all in on Allen.

The problem is still the same with the Patriots though. They’ve let their skill positions fall apart the past two seasons. They’ve never drafted WRs well under Belichick and haven’t had to as their constant contender status kept the FAs flowing to them. But now it’s dire. Edelman is the #1, NE passed on DK Metcalf for Harry, and the rest are replacement level players. In the end, it might take a Herbert level playmaker to lift this offense.

WGR has been talking non-stop about the "first 4 games" and "30-points" and "MVP candidate Allen". Nate Geary today said he needs to feel that this offense can score 35. Seattle is averaging 33.8 per game, so 35 is a lofty number to just expect in the back pocket for a team that averaged 19 ppg last season. I'm not sure how they expect the Bills to do that, there are a few reasons. 1. We oscillate back and forth on Daboll. After scoring 35 against the Rams he's getting mentioned as Head Coach candidate. Then you have the non-existent 3rd Quarters, or 3rd-1/4th-1 QB sneaks against KC and you're left frustrated. In terms of the run-game, I just think we get too finesse from time to time. A lot of running out of the Shotgun, and no recognition that delayed handoffs and sweeps to the edges don't generally go well with this line. Sometimes, I'd like to see a standard handoff from under center. 2. I come out in the middle on our talent at running back. I wouldn't clamor for more handoffs/emphasis for Singletary, and not for Moss until he shows he warrants it. 3. Brings us to the pass game. Fans talk about it, WGR is obsessed with it, but the explosive plays of the first 4-weeks. Without John Brown, and without a Tight End to clear out the middle of the field, I feel the Bills will revert back to the model they had in the beginning of 2019, and the Dallas game in 2019. Shorter, timing passes, that focus on the middle of the field. I think that's where Allen is at his best. Time to throw, survey, and make throws straight down the middle of the field. I like him on the move, designed boot-legs like Jared Goff, but there needs to be WR's that can separate and come back to the ball since our running backs are slow, and the Tight End is non-existent. I don't know if Gabe Davis is a one-trick pony who runs go-routes and has a nose for the endzone, or if a guy like Duke Williams would provide that bigger, target body on off center throws. So my thought would be keep rotating pieces in and out, and see if we can identify any playmakers past the established ones (Diggs, Brown, Beasley) on this team, so you can avoid predictable Isaiah McKenzie sweeps for -5 yards.

Those are a couple of soft/embarrassing penalties there.

Because Doug Whaley and Tom Modrak talked about how more reps and more OTAs and more Training Camps and you just keep getting better and better.

Bills fans hang on. They’ll hang onto some PFF stat that said Levi Wallace and Tre White were the 2nd best tandem in the NFL two years ago, they’ll hang onto the “first four weeks”, and some are hanging onto this idea Harrison Phillips was coming into his own at the beginning of last year. I think the comments about lunch pail player, and translation he isn’t that good are closer to the truth. If he was a difference maker, you’d know it and he’d be out there.