SaviorPeterman

Not sure I would get too fancy against the Raiders. But with Gaines confirmed out, one move we have to make is to put White on Amari Cooper and have him shadow him the entire game. Wright is not great but I'd put him on Crabtree who isn't a speed guy and take my chances there. Really hoping Poyer plays though but still not looking promising even if he's limited today which don't even know if that's the case yet.

Nitpicking but yes you are correct. Both of these games loom LARGE for not only Taylor but the Bills. If this team gets to 6-2 I'm certainly on the playoff bandwagon, but 5-3 wouldn't necessarily be worst case either assuming we beat the Jets/lose to Raiders.

The Gilmore deal was certainly baffling but Belichek has still made a lot of shrewd moves in recent years and isn't afraid to admit to a mistake (i.e. dumping Kony Ealy). At the end of the day though they are still in firm control of the division and probably finishing no worse than 12-4 this year so something must be going right for the Pats.

Taylor has certainly graded out well in certain areas, but I still tend to believe a lot of it is because he doesn't turn the ball over much because of not taking chances and/or throwing the ball out of bounds or overthrowing down the field. With that said he's in prime position to get this team to 5-2 and possibly 6-2 if last week against the Bucs wasn't an anomaly. So basically we'll find out if he's truly turned the corner or the same old player in the span of 4 days over the next two games.

If Taylor doesn't get this team to the playoffs the smart move is to let him go and start Peterman (who I still believe is a special talent that is going to develop into a upper echelon NFL QB) But even with handing the keys to Peterman I would double down so to speak and use one of our many draft picks in the top 3 rounds on another QB in the draft, presumably without having to trade up and waste the picks we have stockpiled.

Great start by the Ravens and certainly wasn't expecting this the way the Fish have been playing. But Miami has been a BEAST in the 2nd half of games this year which is why I'm paranoid they will pull out another big comeback especially with Flacco out for the Ravens.

Sorry SBF I didn't see it. Mods can lock this thread then.

McD already said that Humber is getting his starting job back when healthy. Don't be surprised if we see Milano in more coverage sets though especially in place of Alexander. Only problem with that is we sacrifice a very good pass rusher by doing that.

Major loss for the Pats, Hightower was among the top graded players especially against the run and pass rush efficiencies. Seems like they have these type of injuries every year though and manage to be fine.

Bills are 19th which isn't terrible, also have Taylor as the highest graded offensive player and Zay Jones as worst. Also worth noting TB is ranked #2 (also where they are at in total yards) so it's not necessarily a bad thing they moved the ball at will against this defense: https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-offenses-after-week-7?utm_content=bufferec0ae&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=nfl

The only way we are moving Dareus is to restructure his deal first, that's likely what any possible suitors would be asking as well. So it would be up to Dareus and his agent to do that, and if he wanted out of Buffalo don't see why not.

People need to stop with this crap. If you can't afford a few bucks to read online newspaper content it's time to find a new job or stop being so damn cheap! I'll would pay a lot more than BN is asking to read Vic Carruci and Jerry Sullivan's articles alone.

Run defense is no doubt better, but we are currently ranked 21st overall in yards allowed and this is a fact no matter how you spin it. Also fact, Bills defense has given up nearly 800 yards passing in the last two games, 4 passing TD's (after zero in the first 4 games), and 47 points. Again, we aren't trending in the right direction but I do have a lot more faith (so far) in McD and Frazier even if I'll never be a big believer in the classic 'bend but don't break' style of defense.

I'd rather go after Byron Maxwell, can play zone coverage and would provide some insight into the Dolphins who have been very successful under Gase the last few years.

Our front seven has vastly improved stopping the run, but that is somewhat misleading because teams have had a lot of success against us throwing the ball specifically the last 2 games. Biggest issue is the LB's in coverage and I disagree with the depth comment, we are sorely lacking in key areas especially the secondary. If we see this defense let up 300+ yards passing and 20+ points for the 3rd straight game it's time to be very concerned.

Yes if the guy could stay healthy and stop leaving every game with an injury!

So you weren't furious after the Bills imploded against the Raiders last year knowing they had a real shot at the playoffs still? I was so angry I almost threw the remote at the tv and upset my young son. Yes we have a new coach, but we are not even 12 months removed from that game. Key of course is going to be the defense and what they do against the Raiders but early returns aren't promising if you consider what this team has given up the last two games in terms of passing yards, TD's, and points.

If Poyer is playing on Sunday I would suspect he's going to be limited in practice tomorrow, then also limited at worse on Friday. Same thing for Gaines. Either way this staff seems to be very cautious and not banking on either of them for Sunday. Last time Gaines didn't start we lost at Cincy.

Yes 6-2 is not a guarantee, but this team has not never had that record after 8 games at any point during the drought. In fact I've pointed out before they have never been 6-4 or better since the first year of the drought back in 2000 so even reaching that milestone this year could be telling. If we do get to 6-2 though I'd certainly start buying into the playoffs as a very realistic possibility.

If we do bring in another WR at this point would have to assume Andre Holmes days are numbered. Also not a good sign for Zay Jones and perhaps McD is getting ready to bench him or severely reduce his number of snaps which should happen at this point.

Nice imagination but I still don't see a team out there willing to take on Dareus contract. Even without his attitude and off the field stuff it's way too burdensome from a cap stanpoint. Dreamers can dream though and I'm sure Beane will be trying up until the deadline next week....

One thing I will say about this matchup, obviously we did go into Oakland last year and jumped out to a 2 score lead before one of the more epic implosions during the 17 year drought where we actually ended up losing by 2 scores. And like most fans I was sickened and disgusted by that one. But that's also the reason I have dire concerns about this game, the defense was destroyed during Oakland's comeback last year and we are returning a lot of the same players this year and possibly going to be fielding a mash unit in the secondary. Bottom line though is that this game is in Buffalo and true playoff teams have to win games like this on their home field. Also Oakland traditionally don't travel well to the east coast although they have had more time to get ready.

On paper there are some challenges but the Pats always seem to keep rolling. What sticks out the most is playing 5 of 6 on the road after their bye week including 3 straight with the Bills first. Would be interesting if the chargers could find a way to shock them this week but not holding my breath. Still think they probably finish 12-4 worst case.

Yes, too much talent in Oakland. Keep in mind that even though they lost those 4 games in a row, they were 2-1 when Carr left the Broncos game with the injury. Miss next week against the Ravens and then obviously wasn't 100% against a surging Chargers squad. The win against the Chiefs however saved their season and snapped a 5 game losing streak to the Chiefs which was huge mentally for them. We will probably have to play our best game of the season just to have a chance in this one and no doubt Del Rio is salivating over what this defense allowed to Winston and the Bucs.

I said weeks ago this defense was smoke and mirrors and would come back to reality once we started playing some of the upper echelon QB's and offenses in this league. Don't get me wrong, we are still very solid in terms of limiting points, turnovers, QB pressure, etc but the lack of talent and playmakers (specifically at LB) is starting to show. This is why I have a very bad feeling about the Raiders game because if we are without both Poyer and Gaines it's going to get ugly.