SCBills

And we haven't even seen more than a quarter of Von Miller, Greg Rousseau and Ed Oliver playing together...

Exactly. Sunday Ticket is an expensive lifesaver for a lot of us, but it’s absolutely comical that two weeks in a row, the most hype game of the NFL calendar is a 1 pm CBS game.

I don’t know if Elam is better than Jackson right now, but I also don’t know that he isn’t. His first game, in insane conditions, he balled out. How much help schematically did he have? We don’t really know. Just one game though… He gets the chance to show its sustainable on Sunday.

Absolutely insane that this is a 1 pm CBS game.

Some of y’all can keep trying to talk yourselves into Dane Jackson starting opposite Tre White in a few weeks, but I’d be shocked if it’s not Kaiir Elam. The guy has elite attributes, is a hard worker and passed his first test with flying colors.

Part of me is wondering if he’s just trying to get to the bye week, at which point, if we have a healthy Tre White, Dane Jackson, Kaiir Elam, Christian Benford and Xavier Rhodes, somebody (Benford?) starts transitioning to Safety. There’s been rumblings that Benford (long term) may be a Safety here.

I think it’s debatable given the monster punt he got off. Starting around the 25 for a FG or starting around midfield (probably closer) for a TD. Each scenario allowed 1 or 2 middle of the field plays, but then sideline work needed for the FG. With our OL in shambles, we couldn’t really orchestrate a quick out to the sideline. Hence McKenzie clock running out play. In retrospect, Allen being able to leave the trashed pocket and take shots into the end zone, instead of needing to throw sideline outs may have given us a better chance. That said, we did get to a 60 yard FG with time to run a quick out to get closer and then Quessenberry killed us with a hold.

They didn’t plan on it being a one year rental though. They tried getting him locked down for two more years.. but the Bills offered three (guaranteed).

Trent Murphy was fantastic in that game, if I am remembering correctly.

Dane, Poyer and Oliver back for Sunday would be incredible... which means it obviously won't happen.

Such a brutal time to have a holding penalty. I'd give Bass even odds at hitting from 60 to win the game.

Have a friend who's a huge Titans fan and he described them as this years Titans as well. Tennessee fanbase knew they were never as good as their record... wanted to believe they were, but deep down knew it was a house of cards. Somehow they gutted their way to the 1 seed, but to a fan, they all knew it would come crashing down in the playoffs.

I think we need to give this OL more than 3 games before we make sweeping judgments. Especially when nobody should be basing anything off the Miami game. I believe we have an above average LT and an above average C. Not elite, but both are in the next tier after that. Our LG is an average vet. That's fine. What will make or break the OL is our RG and RT. Bates and Brown are both low floor / high ceiling guys with elite athletic attributes. The depth is probably pretty solid compared to most teams. Quessenberry is a borderine starting caliber vet at swing tackle and GVR/Mancz are veteran interior depth. Hart is veteran G/T depth. Boettger comes back at some point this year, hopefully, and replaces Mancz or GVR on the active roster. Most teams, maybe, have a reliable 6th OL... nobody really has starting caliber linemen after that. We have one of the best OL coaches in Aaron Kromer. I'm willing to give him, and these guys, more than 3 games. OL play is just brutal around the league. Half the QB's have to mask it by getting rid of the ball with lightning quickness (See Tua on Sunday). Others like Allen, Mahomes, Herbert etc., will take more sacks by trying to extend plays. Guys like Burrow that lack athleticism, or Daniel Jones that lack awareness, try to buy time but just put their teams in horrible positions. I was struck by a guy in Evan Neal, big time Tackle prospect, being legitimately unplayable against Dallas. Then you see a guy like Slater go down for LAC. OL play/attrition is just brutal in recent years, league wide.... and we're definitely no exception. Our lack of run game and/or inability to stick with a run game just highlights our teams OL struggles more (IMO).

I think Cinci's problem may lie just as much with Burrow as it does the OL, re: Sacks/Pressure

They ran the ball ok against LA. Not so much against Tennessee. Im really hesitant to use the Miami game as much of a baseline for anything. They blitzed almost every play, Miami had defenders all over the LOS, and any creativity and/or pulling linemen was lost when we started seeing the effects of the heat early on. It certainly seems like it’s a problem though. A start would be to shorten the RB rotation. No idea why they rotate backs so much. I don’t care if it’s Singletary or Moss, but pick one and stick with them. Rotate Cook in as the change of pace back.

I cannot believe we got to a point on Sunday where the thought entered my mind... "man, we could've really used Bobby Hart today"

We can certainly discuss the lack of running ability in the red zone, but we literally self destroyed on two TD’s. Lack of running game ability has been an issue, and will continue to be until they get better at it, but nobody is talking about red zone issues if Gabe holds onto a TD and Allen makes one of the easiest throws he had all day.

Bengals/Dolphins looks like a true toss up. Bengals aren’t as bad as they’ve looked and Miami is a house of cards at 3-0, somehow winning two games they were dominated in.

Yes, we have some things we need to work on. Point noted. You said they benched Brown, that it wasn't heat related. So, does that mean you truly believe he is so bad that the Bills coaches thought Tommy Doyle on a torn ACL was a better option late game - when we had no OL left - than an, apparently, well rested Spencer Brown? What kind of YAC are you expecting when Davis is hobbled, Kumerow goes down early in the game, and we're left with 3 healthy WR's? Diggs couldn't even finish the game. Why do you think Allen had to throw to RB's incessantly? Miami's secondary is SO good that Diggs and McKenzie can't get open against man coverage as they blitz Allen? We won two games by a billion points. Lost a game under extreme circumstances, where we made a ton of mistakes and our lack of running game was exposed. You decided to take one valid point and lump every other grievance you have with this team into your complaints after a loss. There are valid critiques (lack of run game, in-game coaching decision and personnel decisions), and then there's posters like you.

Yea.. you're right.. probably was benched. So bad that Tommy Doyle on a torn ACL was a better option late in the game than Quessenberry at RG and Brown back out there. WR's just can't get YAC. Again, spot on. Had nothing to do with the heat/injury situation. Why can't the 3 healthy WR's running 90 plays in 110 degree field temps do better? What are we even paying them for??

That's why the Davis drop/strip in the end zone was sooooo bad. We had nothing left. That was a time consuming drive, where we lost Bates to a head injury and emptied the tank. That was the TD we needed to carry us over the finish line.

Allen kills the blitz. Miami's recipe for success was 100% dependent upon the heat/injury situation. Credit to them.. they knew this was the case. Morse was out, they relentlessly blitzed. Got burned early, but also forced a fumble early. Then Spencer Brown went down to heat exhaustion.. 3/5ths of our starting line remain. In the heat.. on long drives.. they just blitzed and blitzed. Fast forward to the second half and we're down to 2 remaining starters on the OL. Backups all over. We found out Tommy Doyle literally finished the game playing on a torn ACL because we had nobody else. Allen is dependent upon guys getting open to burn the blitz. OL can't protect... Allen buys time.. WR's are dropping like flies due to fatigue.. Reporters saying they were running 3/4th speed midway through Q3. Diggs & Knox couldn't even finish the game. Davis is playing snaps hobbled on a bad ankle. PLEASE Miami... try that again under normal conditions. They will get torched.

It seems they were justified in trusting Elam, Jackson and Benford. They all look like pretty good corners, albeit young. I can't get on them for not signing a vet CB, when they get Tre back in a few weeks, plus entered the season with 3 outside corners that they clearly liked a lot. Also, how do we even know a vet corner would come here if they knew they weren't going to start.. and likely would be signed to the PS.

I don't know that we can be making statements like this after two games... I say two games because I'm not taking anything away from the Miami game where one got hurt and the other left in Q2 with heat exhaustion. The Giants OL, obviously not entirely due to Feliciano, is a disaster. Pretty wild how their high draft pick, Evan Neal, has struggled.

Agreed. McDermott/Frazier are elite defensive minds. We can criticize them for 13 seconds and this repeated idiocy of rushing three on 3rd and longs, but even the greats have things they can be criticized over. With all the injuries, if someone told us that the defense would hold Miami to 21 points, with one drive starting inside our own ten yard line, NOBODY is thinking we lose that game. This loss was entirely on the offense (injuries/heat aside). Many of us can criticize decisions, while still acknowledging how good or great someone is. Josh Allen is the best player in the NFL. He’s got to make that layup TD throw late in the game. Doesn’t mean he’s not great.. just means he made a costly mistake. They will all learn from it and get better. That being said.. Frazier acknowledged that 3rd down wasn’t his best moment, but he’s also repeatedly done that - and been burned by it. If it keeps being done, I start to worry it’s a blind spot.