SoTier

If Gase were the Bills HC I'm sure you'd see lots of "great leadership qualities" in him.

I responded to a poster who claimed that the Bills being 3 years with the same coach gave them a significant advantage over the Jets because Gase was in his first year. I didn't predict them to make the playoffs. If Gase has become a better HC than he was in Miami, and if the Jets off-season moves pay dividends there's no reason that the Jets can't win several more games than they did last season and possibly make the playoffs. Actually, Pedersen, McVay, Reich, and Nagy were all totally unproven when they were hired. That Gase failed in his first HC gig doesn't mean that he'll never be a good HC.

Not all teams take year to get their acts together under new coaching regimes. The Bears won 12 games last season under new HC Matt Nagy after winning only 5 in 2017. The Colts won 10 games last season under new HC Frank Reich after winning only 4 games the previous season. The Rams made the playoffs in their first season under McVay and made the Super Bowl in his second. The Eagles won the Super Bowl in Pedersen's second season.

I think that reports of the Chiefs' demise as a power in the AFC, like those of Pats', are a bit premature.

I agree. Two rankings I think are too high, based on preseason play, are the Niners and Panthers. Unless Garoppolo plays up to the contract he got and Cam comes back as good as ever, these two teams are going to be drafting top 5 in 2020. I think that Indy is a bit too high given Luck's physical problems, but if they get him back early enough, they'll be fine. Journalism has ALWAYS been about trying to get something out as fast as possible. The problem is that human editors with good spelling/grammar skills have been replaced by spell and grammar checkers -- and that's not limited to journalism. What the hell have the Bills done to justify being considered better than the Jets? The Jets brought in a new offensive minded HC, their 2nd year QB was mechanically a better passer than Allen, and they added a marquee RB and a WR about as good as the two veterans the Bills added. Nobody knows if either the Bills or Jets OLs will be as improved as fans hope. Famous. Last. Words.

I think I heard this same thing said when McDermott named Peterman the starter last year.

On paper, I don't think that the Bills D is good enough to stop the offenses of the Pats, Rams, Chiefs, Saints, Eagles, Steelers, Chargers, and Browns while their offense isn't good enough to score enough against these Ds, even if the defenses, like the Chiefs', aren't great. I think the Bills could very well lose twice to the Cowboys, Vikings, and Seahawks although they would have better chances of spliltting with this trio than the others. If Andrew Luck was healthy, I'd add Indy to the second group, too.

I think that 10 wins is going to be hard to do, and that 8 or 9 is much more realistic. Too many fans overestimate how successful the Bills personnel changes will be while at the same time discounting the changes that their opponents have made to their coaching staffs and rosters, some of which have been much more substantial than what the Bills have done. Moreover, assuming that the Bills will sweep the Jets and Miami is foolish; divisional games -- even when one team seems significantly better than the other -- tend to be very competitive.

Josh Gordon has been conditionally reinstated and practiced with the team yesterday and today. He won't play on Thursday, but if he can stay on the straight and narrow -- he got through 12 games last year -- Brady has his outside threat. Also, Demarous Thomas has been activated. If he comes back close to his pre-injury form, then Brady will have two studs on the outside. The Bills still have lots of questions despite how well they looked in the 2nd preseason game: How much has the OL improved, especially if Morse is unavailable or misses significant time? Can the Bills field a decent running game? Are the WRs and TEs good enough to be effective in the regular season? Can Allen play as well in the speed and pressure of the regular season as he has in preseason? If the OL, running game, and/or receivers don't improve as expected, Allen is going to struggle even if his own skill set improves. Can the Bills defense do better stopping the run ? Can the Bills defense be tougher in the Red Zone?

I'm sure Zerovoltz will take 18-1 or 17-2 if they win the one that counts, their last one. I think it's very possible that if the Chiefs don't go 16-0 in the regular season, they may very well still win 14 or 15 games.

Uh-oh. You obviously missed his new look on the sidelines this preseason. He's not quite svelte but he looks like he's lost a considerable amount of weight already. I believe a couple of commentators mentioned this during a broadcast.

Don't be too sure of that. Lynn knows what he's getting in Taylor, which is a competent backup QB. Jones hasn't proven that he can play competently when the games count.

I think that the only two QBs that NE has "developed" other than Brady would be Matt Cassel and Brian Hoyer. They were at least low level starters for several teams but Brissett and Garoppolo haven't proven that they're more than competent backups, although Brissett played well the other night. I don't think any other QBs that the Pats have drafted/signed since they drafted Brady have done anything in the NFL. I think Flacco looks like a "brand new man" in Denver. Maybe the Denver offensive scheme suits his style better than what the Ravens ran.

LOL. Garoppolo has had fewer starts than Josh Allen despite being in the league for 5 years ... and right now, he's playing like an UDFA rookie not one of the most expensive players in the league.

Running on Empty You Love the Thunder

I was really impressed by Josh Allen and his receivers in this game. They looked like a real NFL passing offense, something that we didn't see last season. Allen was on target on his throws and his receivers held on to the ball and even got YAC. His short game was impressive. His decision making was good. If Allen can continue this kind of play in the regular season -- a big "if" -- then he will have definitely made that "significant" improvement everyone was hoping that he would.

Who, exactly, is the RB that McCoy would be an insurance policy for?

Somebody said that the only QB who mattered was Allen, which was a stupid statement. This year, it's clear that Barkley is the second stringer but last season the Bills went with the wrong QB, and they paid for it in spades.

I disagree. As we found out last season, having a competent backup QB matters, too.

That may have happened to Odomes, too, but according to Pro Football Reference, Jackson's last official NFL season was 1992. He only played 5 years. I got the info that he was injured while with Seattle but before he played a game from Wikipedia.

In 1992, the Bills had Kirby Jackson, Nate Odomes who made the Pro Bowl in 1992, Henry Jones, an All Pro SS in 1992, and Mark Kelso. That was probably the best secondary the Bills had since the merger. Jackson's suffered a career ending injury after leaving Buffalo for Seattle, so he only played 5 years. I don't care who the Bills other safety was in 2003 but Winfield, Clements, and Milloy were all Pro Bowlers either for the Bills or for other teams, so I'd rate them second best. Winfield's last season with the Bills was 2003. He went on to start for 9 more seasons with Minnesota and was a three time Pro Bowler. Clements last season with the Bills was 2006. He went on to start 4 more seasons for San Francisco and 1 more for Cincinatti. Milloy played for the Bills for 3 seasons, 2003-2005. He then went on to start for 3 seasons in Atlanta and played 2 more seasons in Seattle, starting 15 games in 2010, so he was hardly "washed up" in 2003. Since none of the current Bills DBs has been a Pro Bowler or been named a top 100 player, it's hard to make the case that they are "the best secondary ever". They play well in McDermott's scheme but except for White, they don't seem to be outstanding individuals. Other Bills squads have had 1 outstanding individual among pretty average players that played well as a unit. Y'know for a team that supposedly has this "elite level" secondary and an "elite" defense, the Bills sure couldn't stop teams from scoring on them in the Red Zone in 2018. Maybe that's why the rest of the NFL and media ignore them when it comes to handing out honors.

Well, it might be "useless speculation" to you but the reality is that Morse's symptoms from his latest concussion have already lasted three or four weeks, which is far longer than any poster on TSW thought they would when he was put into concussion protocol. Lingering symptoms from head trauma are clear indicators of the serious of the injury. Since this was an injury that occurred in practice where hits are much more controlled than during games, Morse's future is very much in doubt. Concussions aren't like broken bones or ligament damage or muscle injuries that heal over time, and players can have long careers without ever experiencing that injury again. The evidence is pretty clear that concussions become more likely and more serious the more of them a player has.

This team is not that talented at all, so their depth isn't impressive either. Almost all of the talent on the Bills today is concentrated in young guys, only one of whom has "made his bones" in the NFL to this point, Tre White. In this unproven group is Dawkins, Milano, Allen, Edmunds, Oliver and Ford. That Zay Jones is a starting WR underscores the lack of talent at the receiver position, both wideouts and tight ends. On many playoff caliber teams, most of these guys -- all of whom started/will start as rookies -- would have started as part-timers, and some might still be rotational players. Hyde, Poyer, and Hughes are solid, but the rest of the veterans are old or haven't demonstrated that they have regained their pre-injury form. The only other established veterans are this year's FA crop. Brown and Beasley are decent wide receivers but Pro Bowlers they're not. Except for Morse, none of the OLers were bonafide starters. They were backups who landed starting roles when the regular starters got hurt. As for Morse, he managed one practice in pads and has been in concussion protocol since, so his availability through the season is certainly much more dicey than if he'd never had a concussion. Now, the OL may turn out to be decent without Morse, and maybe even good with him, but nobody knows. As for Allen, he looked pretty good in his first outing in the first game. There's reason to hope, but he still has lots and lots of room for improvement. Certainly the Bills offense didn't look as good as either the Jets or the Ravens offenses looked under Darnold and Jackson. That may have less to do with Allen than with the players around him, but media folks aren't looking at how Allen played last year so much as they're looking at how he plays compared to the other NFL QBs, especially the QBs in his draft class.

I stand by my view that unless Allen has a successful career that has pundits asking towards the end of it, "Should Josh Allen be in the HOF?", then the Bills probably overpaid for him. I would think that of any QB that any team paid that much in talent and draft potential to acquire, however, so it's not a personal thing against Allen. I actually like Allen, but I'm skeptical of his chances for success. He has to improve significantly just to become a competent NFL QB, but I think that his biggest handicap may be the Buffalo Bills. The Bills handling of Allen last season was either incompetent or callously $$ motivated. When you -- ie, an NFL football team -- use a first round pick on a blue-chip QB prospect you expect to be the face of your franchise, why don't you hire a real QB coach to help him -- especially when he's raw and in desperate need of high caliber coaching???? David Culley may very well be a fine offensive assistant, but before he came to the Bills, he last coached QBs thirty years ago at a small Louisiana college. Why didn't the Bills bring in an assistant QB coach just for Allen? They could have given Culley another title or the new QB coach a different title if that was an issue. I'm not going to restate my views on how the Bills mishandled the other QBs -- Peterman, McCarron, Anderson, and Barkley. Suffice to say, that was more evidence of lack of support for Allen. Baker Mayfield was offensive ROY and threw 27 TDs, and the Browns traded for OBJ. The Jets signed Le'veon Bell to bolster the short-passing and running games for Sam Darnold. The Ravens are creating an entire offense to maximize Lamar Jackson's talents. The Bills' support for Allen pales compared to what these other AFC teams have done for their 2018 first round QBs.

The Bills had the thirtieth ranked offense in 2018, behind the Fins (7 wins) and the Cards (3 wins), and their moves to improve their offense have been modest, especially considering that other teams also improved. The Bills were never serious suitors for OBJ or Le'veon Bell and signed John Brown rather than Antonio. Mitch Morse, their most notable FA acquisition, has been in concussion protocol since the first padded practice, and their new TE has been sidelined with a broken foot. They used their first round pick on defense, and are hoping that their second round OT/GA and other youngsters will step up and improve the OL, RBs, and WRs. Frankly, on offense, it looks like the Bills are trying to build an offense based on the model of an expensive QB surrounded by mostly bargain-basement talent while they're concentrating on the defensive side of the ball. That's sort of what Carolina has done with some success since they drafted Newton in 2011 but Carolina has had better talent on offense to help Cam out (Greg Olson, Christian McCaffrey, decent OL) than the Bills have given Allen -- and Allen is not nearly as good a QB coming into his second season as Newton was. BTW, the lowest quarter of NFL offenses in 2018 were: RNK TEAM WINS 25 -- Titans ----- 9 26 -- Bengals -- 6 27 -- Jaguars -- 5 28 -- Redskins - 7 29 -- Jets -------- 4 30 -- Bills -------- 6 31 -- Fins -------- 7 32 -- Cards ----- 3 The average number of wins for these "non-offensive juggernauts" in 2018 was 5.875. The bottom four teams averaged 5 wins. Only the Bills and Titans stood pat with their HC and starting QB, and Tennessee did add a former starting QB in Tannehill to push Mariota. Contrary to the fans' narrative in this thread about "bias" and "lazy journalism", it seems that maybe the national media has taken a hard look at the Bills and hasn't been impressed.