Richard Noggin

Imagine that: aggressive/disguised pressure package that attempts not to even let the QB get off a decent hail mary. Kudos to that call.

Bernard and Milano have each flashed serious ability rushing the passer, albeit very sparingly. There is some aptitude there. And I suspect Douglas and Bernard could do a little something downhill as well. But I do agree that the Bills are not designed to be a heavy pressure team. I think we all clearly wish they'd be more aggressive at the LOS against receivers more often. Those clean releases and off coverages get eaten alive by the top offenses (especially when combined with a lack of pressure).

About 10 years ago my uncle (who moved his family there to work in the auto industry back in the early 80s) took us on a driving tour of Detroit's socio-economic disparity: we passed from affluent Grosse Pointe and immediately into the same kind of squalor we see on Buffalo's east side, except in Detroit many of the zombie houses have in fact been removed. But the craziest/saddest part was when we got to The Heidelberg Project, a sparse and impoverished and beautiful neighborhood where many of the homes have been turned into art installations, TWO of the houses were actively ON FIRE as we idled past. That was some layered social commentary in real time. This was mostly my point; that I'd be a dumbass about it. Although CTE seems potentially worse, long term.

See, you're approaching it all wrong. You gotta pick a shoulder/forearm to lead with, that way you ALSO fracture an ulna and/or collarbone, and probably dislocate that shoulder and/or maybe shred one of those complex joints. Duh.

Your 2nd line does seem to happen every year in the playoffs, at least to an extent. It's not an anomaly against the best NFL offenses. McD's Bend-don't-break relies on the offense jumping out to a lead and the defense pressuring the QB in obvious passing situations. Start over Hamlin? That's possible. Hamlin is already limited athletically, and tends to be the deeper safety. I see Hyde as more of a Dime sub-package guy, maybe taking over half-field (or single-high, in rare pressure looks) DEEP responsibilities when we add a 6th DB. But Lewis has shown some chops as the season has progressed, so we'll see. Wonder if both Lewis and Hyde could see playing time over Hamlin? Doubt it, but wouldn't mind some tinkering.

Been to a bunch of Lions games over the years, plus all the Bills games that have been played in or moved to Detroit in the last 10 seasons. We have close family outside Detroit, where we go for Thanksgiving each year. Saw the Bills against Barry Sanders in the Silverdome. Definitely my #2/NFC team. And my current favorite offensive coordinator in Ben Johnson.

This is a really bad take. Take a look at the splits of 1st half vs 2nd half offense and defense and scoring just this season, and come back here and repeat this claim. Ridiculous. If anything, McD and his staff are outcoached in the first half pretty consistently. But in the second half, they tend to dominate. They usually make excellent in-game adjustments.

I'll be ready lol

Ever had two two-game losing streaks under McD? I don't think so. Usually it's just the one streak. But this year could produce a second pretty easily.

Detroit's offense could curb stomp the Bills defense next week. Two-week McDermott swoons are nothing new. Usually it involves a defense unable to stop the run. Let's see if they make miraculous adjustments to their otherwise predictable defensive approach.

Love Shakir a lot. Love his personality, his off-field training with Eric Moulds, his on-field blocking, his catch percentage, and his pinball run-after-catch balance. Just depends on what he's looking for in an extension versus on the open market. Would he come in under the $18M+ AAV market value that's out there now? Hate to ever lose a guy like him.

Perfectly played, universe

Wut

OBVIOUSLY Allen was awesomely productive today. But also he was out of sync with his receivers far too often and missed too many throws to win. Fully willing to recognize what an absolute beast Allen is and was. Just needed him to hit like ONE more play (given the rest of the game's circumstances).

Where I was watching, we thought we saw Milano torpedo a couple plays consecutively (unsure when this was in the game) right as we were openly wondering about him. Like he is predictably still not always trusting his reads and triggering downhill the way we've seen in the past, and of course that one play Corum absolutely abused him in the hole. But I think he's already flashing, and we can look forward to increased impact as we near the playoffs. The entire 2nd level got abused today, with Taron Johnson especially being targeted early and often.

McD's defensive coverages are predictable when an offense employs enough motion pre- and post-snap while also holding onto the threat of the run. His defenses can be forced into backing off just enough by simple motions that out-leverage them. They can be made to be vanilla by teams dedicated to balance and disguise.

Can't spend premium picks on more than 1 or 2 of those defensive positions. Gotta replenish and restock on the offensive side as well. Give Allen more trustworthy protectors and targets, always. The offensive line must remain a strength (injuries haven't pressed the issue this season, but we're built to absorb o-line injuries and should remain that way if possible). And we need more receiving talent in the pipeline after Cooper leaves and Samuel gets closer to his FA year and Shakir reaches contract time.

The standard needed to be better today with the Rams offense absolutely executing at an elite level. Not saying the Bills offense wasn't super productive overall. I AM saying that the margin for error was miniscule, and they faltered JUST enough to fall short. (It ain't fair, no doubt.) Stats do NOT capture the complexities and nuances of a complete NFL game. Allen was monstrously productive today. Such an elite stat line. But he also missed some glaring plays that could have changed the outcome. Simple and cruel evaluation.

Stafford and Nacua executed to perfection. That's the standard when playing against a team that can keep up. Edit: obviously Allen and his guys made enough plays to score over 40. But they left a couple big-time plays out there, mostly with Allen being a little unsettled and rushing (that Mack Hollins deep ball took Allen a while to find him, and so Allen then rushed his delivery and underthrew a rainbow when a missile would have been perfecto. Gave Hollins a chance, I guess, but it was a bad miss).

And the Bills were simply NOT really good often enough. It's true that the Rams made so many plays, and the Bills just missed on too many plays.

Agreed on a macro level, but on a micro level, Josh Allen was jumpy and rushing his mechanics at times during the first half. He missed some HUGE plays throughout. Gotta have those. Doesn't help that our running game was total dog crap.

I find the losses to be LESS impactful in the midst of such a dominating run. Actually now, I expect the Bills to lose next week as well. Two-week skids are a thing. As long as they close out strong against the dregs of the AFCE, then whatever. It only matters how they perform in the playoffs now. This is the main contention most Bills fans have with McD once we're in the playoffs. His bend-don't-break defense only works if your offense is playing LIGHTS-OUT and/or if you get some timely stops or turnovers. The D-line needs to be more effectively disruptive, and our guys just have NOT been disruptive enough outside the Chiefs game. (And the Chiefs O-line is bad.) McVay's offense absolutely torched our D all day. And the Bills offense stumbled enough in the first half (which has been a problem) to cost them in the end.

It becomes a cap management thing, though. The retreads and free agent backups tend to cost a bit against the cap, while still not really being likely to string together a bunch of wins. So why not build up the pipeline with drafted talent (within reason) who might be just as successful or even more so, while still providing value due to low AAV and even potential to be traded or compensatory pick value if signed away.

Drafting a developmental QB should be seen as smart cap management tbh. Grab a guy on day 2 or 3 who hopefully fills your backup QB position at a crazy savings for 2-4 years. That's just smart roster building, when executed. Trubisky ain't exactly doing Allen's homework for him and piping in the answers on game days. Come on. Might even bring out yet another level of leadership in JA17 to have another talented young QB on the roster.

Let's not overcomplicate this position group evaluation: Mitchell Trubisky is HOT GARBAGE. With the exception of his 2nd season (and to a lesser extent, his 4th and final season) in Chi, with Nagy calling the shots (and providing easy answers in general and defined reads in the RPO game), the guy has had a serious issue with pulling the darn trigger. His years away from Nagy's/Reid's system (years 1 & 5-7) have shown him to be similar to Tyrod Taylor: athletic, conservative, reluctant. His time in Pittsburgh really seemed to illustrate this point, with Kenny Pickett providing the anticipatory confidence/aggression (despite limited arm talent) to inject at least some life into that offense. Please replace Trubisky ASAP or at least bring in some developmental talent. Thank you.