Inigo Montoya

I think the NFL schedule makers have done us a huge favor in our two games versus the Jets this year. I think these two games will have an overweighted affect on our playoff chances this season. I posted a thread shortly after the schedule was released on May 1st entitled "Bills/Jets Wk 17 New Era Field for Playoffs" where I said that I think we will be playing the Jets in Week 17 at New Era for a playoff birth. Having that game at home should be a huge advantage for our BIlls. I think just as important, and as advantageous, is our other Jets game Week 1 in the Meadowlands. The fact that we get to play the Jets the first game of the season when they are going to field a new Head Coach, a new Defensive Coordinator, and a new QB/Offensive Coordinator is a huge advantage. There should be some growing pains those first few games of the season for the Jets as they try to implement new systems on both sides of the ball. New coaches and new systems in New York versus continuity of coaches and schemes for Buffalo. How much is that advantage worth? A field goal, a touchdown? That should at least negate the typical three point home field advantage most teams enjoy. I think catching the Jets at home Week 1 when they are trying to get their footing is just as big an advantage for us as playing them Week 17 at New Era.

I just don't see anyone, or any combination or entities, dropping $500 MM plus on a venue that will be used at most 12 times a year. I just don't think it's feasible. Time will tell.

I have thought for a long time that in order to get government money to help build whatever Pegula is going to do, it would need to be for a multi-use domed venue in Buffalo somewhere. Rehabbing New Era just won't provide enough tax revenue to justify the investment. If they build a new stadium downtown it will spur additional economic investment in the area and generate more revenue for everyone. Whether that is the best solution from a fan experience or a Bill's tradition point of view I think is irrelevant. If investors (including government) are going to pony up 100's of millions of dollars, they are going to expect some serious return on their investment. Adding on to New Era stadium in Orchard Park that will be used 10 times a year with no surrounding economic development was never going to be the answer. At the end of the day, there is simply more money to be made with a new downtown, domed, multi-use stadium. Not saying it's good or bad, it's just the way it is.

Hopefully with an upgraded offensive line to go with our athletic 6'5" -- 240 lb quarterback, we will have even more success on 4th and short. It's also easier to go for it on 4th down when you know you have a great defense to help bail you out if you don't get it.

Robert Kraft; Me Love You Too Much! Robert Kraft; 78 is the new 69! Robert Kraft; Don't go chasing waterfalls! Robert Kraft; "Supporting Foreign Exchange programs since 2015" Sorry Mr. Kraft, no Happy Ending today....

What an upgrade across the length and breadth of the entire roster over the last two years. It looks like a real 53 man NFL roster now. Eric Wood said it best a couple of weeks ago. Players that get cut from the Bill's roster will be picked up and start for other teams this year, and that hasn't been the case in a long time.

Wow... You should apply for a position as someone's ex-wife

The answer is... 6 ames Tackles Rk Player Year Age Draft Tm Lg G GS Sk Solo Ast Comb TFL QBHits 1 Keith Millard 1985 23 1-13 MIN NFL 16 6 11.0 0 0 0 2 Dana Stubblefield 1993 23 1-26 SFO NFL 16 14 10.5 64 0 64 3 Santana Dotson 1992 23 5-132 TAM NFL 16 16 10.0 71 0 71 4 Ndamukong Suh 2010 23 1-2 DET NFL 16 16 10.0 48 17 65 13 17 5 Corey Simon 2000 23 1-6 PHI NFL 16 16 9.5 38 13 51 8 6 Aaron Donald 2014 23 1-13 STL NFL 16 12 9.0

Peyton Manning Rookie Year Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS QBrec Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD TD% Int Int% Lng Y/A AY/A Y/C Y/G Rate QBR Sk Yds NY/A ANY/A Sk% 4QC GWD AV 1998 22 IND QB 18 16 16 3-13-0 326 575 56.7 3739 26 4.5 28 4.9 78 6.5 5.2 11.5 233.7 71.2 22 109 6.08 4.84 3.7 1 1 11 Completion percentage less than 60%. Not accurate. 3-13 record. Loser. Only one 4th quarter comeback and one game winning drive. Not clutch. 26 touchdowns to 28 INT. Interception machine. Peyton Manning = Bust My point is to have everyone take a breath and give Allen a chance to learn the game. I'm so glad someone didn't decide that I was a bust at my job my first year out of school. There is no substitute for experience. Why don't we give the kid an honest chance to gain some and then see where he stands.

Hey Alphadawg7 I picked 9 based on Darnold's rookie campaign sack total. To provide a little context for that number, in Darnold's rookie season, 2014, the St. Louis Rams finished with a 6-10 record. Their defense was ranked 16th or 17th in the league depending on which criteria you use. The team finished with 40 total sacks which ranked them 13th in the league. Robert Quinn led the team in sacks with 10.5 sacks. So that defense was not some juggernaut that was routinely destroying people that Darnold was playing in. As an aside the #1 team in the league for sacks that year was our very own Buffalo Bills with 54 sacks... Oliver's entire game and value is based on his ability to get into the back field quickly and disrupt. He is a rookie and there is always a concern with how he will transition to the pros and that is something that you need to consider when estimating how productive he will be this year. I agree with you, if he gives us 7-8 sacks I wouldn't be upset at all, but I think this Bill's defense is going to be really stout, I hope much better than the 16th ranked defense Darnold was playing on his rookie season. I think with more talent playing along side Oliver, he is going to have more opportunities to produce. Time will tell. Opening day can't get here fast enough... Inigo

It's true. They are already making a movie about it; Josh Wick "They had no idea when they shot his football that they had just signed their own death warrants and unleashed Hell..."

I agree. Don't tell your wife. ?

Gutsy call!

I have been reading up on Ed Oliver's draft evaluations and the frequent comparisons to Aaron Donald (it's going to be a long time until training camp...). I decided to look at what Donald did in his rookie campaign. He played in all 16 games, starting in 12 of them. He recorded 9 sacks his rookie season. I though we could do an over / under on Oliver's sack total this year based on Donald's first season where he had 9 sacks. Might want to add why you feel that way too. Aaron Donald Career Stats Games Def Interceptions Fumbles Tackles Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS Int Yds TD Lng PD FF Fmb FR Yds TD Sk Comb Solo Ast TFL QBHits Sfty AV Career 78 74 0 0 0 0 9 13 0 4 40 0 59.5 263 189 74 97 149 76 2014* 23 STL LDT/rdt 99 16 12 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 9.0 47 37 10 18 13 11 2015*+ 24 STL LDT 99 16 16 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 40 0 11.0 69 43 26 22 37 20 2016*+ 25 LAR dt/LDT 99 16 16 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 8.0 47 36 11 17 31 15 2017*+ 26 LAR DT/lb 99 14 14 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 1 0 0 11.0 41 32 9 15 27 15 2018*+ 27 LAR DT 99 16 16 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 2 0 0 20.5 59 41 18 25 41 15 So plant your flag. Go for broke. Make a stand. Go all in. Be bold. Draw a line in the sand. Ed Oliver Sacks 2019; Over / Under 9 I think Oliver is landing in a good situation in Buffalo. I think he will benefit from defensive coaching that will scheme to get him production. McDermott and Frazier like to rotate DTs so Oliver should still be fresh in the 4th quarter of games when the 300 lb lineman opposite him are wearing down. Having Hughes coming off the edge will help flush the QB up in the pocket where Oliver will be pushing. Oliver is quick enough to stunt with Hughes and create mismatches all along the line and sow havoc with blocking assignments for the offensive lineman. I'd be shocked if he doesn't get at least 10 sacks this season. Inigo says anything less than 9 is INCONCEIVABLE! I say over.

Ok everyone. How about Canton in twenty-two years??? ?

Josh Allen doesn't have to be Tom Brady or Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers. He just needs to be solid NFL quarterback who can manage a game and pull out a game winning drive from time to time when the chips are down. Put a QB like that along side our defense and a decent run game and we are going to be contending for championships. Having said that, I would love to make a trip to Canton in twelve years to listen to Josh Allen's induction speech...

All fair points WEO. Bell might not find success as easy in the Jet's offense this season with a questionable offensive line and a less robust passing attack to pull defenders out of the box. I'm curious to see how he does this year. I'm a big Kareem Hunt fan. He should be back Week 7, I think we play the Browns in Cleveland in Week 10. That game will be a real test for our defense. The Brown's offense looks stacked. Can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Thanks for setting me straight freddyjj, I’ll hop back into the post and fix that.

There is a good article about the Bills defense on WGR's website that talks about the bulk of the defense from last season being back this year and being healthy. Here's the link; https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/while-bills-offense-has-dealt-injuries-defense-benefiting-continuity It got me curious to look at last year's defense and wondering if the defense has the potential to take another step forward this season and become a historically great defense, and by historically great, I mean defenses like the '85 Bears, '00 Ravens, '76 Steelers, and '13 Bucs. I think there are five reasons why this is possible, but first I put some stats from last season's defense to show how our defense fared and see about where we should be starting from this season. Bills Defense Rankings 2018 Yards Per Game; 2nd Passing Yards Per Game; 1st Rushing Yards Per Game; 15th Points Per Game; 17th Take Aways; 7th (16 INT/ 11 FUM) Sacks; 14th Tied with Tampa & Detroit Def Touch Downs; Tied for last with 9 other teams (0 TDs) Obviously, the rushing defense was our achilles heel. We had three game last season where we gave up 200+ rushing yards. Week 7 At Indy 220 yards Loss Week 12 Home Jags 226 yards Win Week 16 At Pats 273 yards Loss It would be easy to think that the reason our defense's pass stats were so stout was because teams could just run the ball successfully against us and didn't have to pass, but I don't think that is the case. Our run defense was still ranked in the top half of the league even with those three 200+ yard games. I think our secondary was simply playing at an elite level last year. Here is the starting D lineup at minicamp this week, and note that Ed Oliver isn't on this list; DE - Jerry Hughes, Trent Murphy DT - Star Lotulelei, Jordan Phillips WLB - Matt Milano MLB - Tremaine Edmunds SLB - Lorenzo Alexander CB - Tre’Davious White, Levi Wallace (Slot CB) - Taron Johnson S - Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer Pretty damn solid all around. I think there are five reasons we should expect even better play from our defense this year. 1. Another year in the same defensive system; Everyone, especially Edmonds, will have another year of knowing what is expected of them. Less time to think about the scheme and more time to simply react to the play as it unfolds. This may be the single biggest factor. I think it's fair to expect Edmonds to play better this year. That alone should be huge for the run defense. Harrison Phillips and Jordan Phillips will both be in their second season in the system as well, and Horrible Harry will also have a year of NFL experience under his belt. 2. Defense bringing almost everyone back; We lost Kyle Williams and that is a huge hole to fill. The Bills recognized that and spent their first round pick to bring in Ed Oliver. We'll just have to wait and see how Oliver plays this season to see how much, if any, drop off there is at that position. I think the Bills did the best they could to mitigate the loss of Kyle Williams. Kyle was our only loss on defense. Our secondary should only get better this year. We have added Kevin Johnson and E.J. Gaines to the secondary. Solid pieces and great depth for an already stout secondary. Wallace continues to ball in OTAs and mini camp and looks like the real deal. I think we will have the best secondary in football again this year. 3. Pass rush should get better; I think people are going to be surprised with Trent Murphy this year. He is now fully recovered from his ACL and I expect him to bring a lot more game. With Hughes and Murphy coming off the edges and Oliver pushing up the middle, we could have a real "pick your poison" situation for opposing offensive coordinators. Our secondary should be better too, leading to more "coverage sacks" by our pass rush. 4. I think the AFC East is trending in our direction; Our six division games are more than a third of our season, and I think our defense is set up to have a great year in our division. The Jets have added some skill position players and I think Darnold is a solid QB, but they didn't do enough to strengthen their already suspect offensive line. As we all know too well, it's hard to do anything well on offense if your line is the weak link. The Jets went for the shiny toys in free agency and should have focused more on their line. I think it is going to cost them. I think our defense is going to feast on their offense. The Dolphins are in full on rebuild mode. We don't play the Phins until Week 7. Miami starts off the season with the Ravens, Pats, Cowboys and Chargers. A tough stretch. Week 5 is their bye week and then the Phins play the Redskins at home in Week 6. I would guess that is where Rosen will start if he doesn't win the competition outright in training camp. I'll take Rosen in a new system against our defense any day of the week. That leaves the Pats. Brady is another year older, Gronk is gone. Many have been predicting the end of the road for the defending Super Bowl Champs for a long time, but it just can't last forever, can it? I think we will split with the Pats this year. I think we now have the talent on the roster to do it. We play them in Orchard Park Week 4. Hopefully the Pats get off to their typical slow start and we can capitalize on that and home field advantage to grab a win. Everyone knows the cheat code to beating Brady is pressure, look no further than the 1st Round picks in the AFCE this year; Wilkins, Oliver, and Williams. If Oliver can get some push up the middle and our linebacking corps can fill those run gaps I think we will take it to the Pats this year. 5. Our special teams / offense will be better (can they be worse?); Better special team's play helps the defense as much as it helps the offense. I think special teams is still an unknown at this point, but the special teams were so bad last year I would hope the only way to go is up. Beane has made a point to bring in aces on special teams. Let's hope it pays some dividends. It's almost impossible to overstate how many times the offense put the defense in a hole last season. Despite being on the field way too long because of failed offensive drives, having horrible field position, and rarely having the benefit of playing with a lead, the defense still managed to have a fantastic season. If we get even modestly improved offensive play this season the defense should benefit immensely. In the end, I think we have the makings of a very special, historically good defense this year.

Being an NFL head coach is an 18 hour a day job. Very few people can handle that grind for more than a few years. Even fewer can handle that and the responsibilities of being the GM. GMs do a lot more than draft and cap issues. Ultimately, I think this is good news for the Bills because I think Gase is going to have difficulty doing both jobs well with the end result being a weaker Jets team on the field. Another thing to watch closely is how Bell reacts to getting dissed by Gase. Bell just got paid, he rolled the dice and lost, he actually would have gotten more money had he taken the Steeler's original offer. He burned his bridges there and wanted out. Now he is going to a new team where it's all over the media that the head coach didn't really want him. Wait until he has a bad game and the New York media starts to lampoon him in the papers and the always forgiving Jet's fans on social media start calling him a bust. I don't think it will be too long before he starts thinking, "I've got my money now, maybe I should think about life after football and not destroy my body for a team and fans that treat me bad." Should be very interesting...

Elm Street? I thought you said Elm Avenue. Sorry about the house. My bad...

They might just trot him out in the red zone to high point the ball in the corner of the end zone.

When we signed him I read a lot of articles about him and interviews with people talking about how he has played, and more importantly, how he has carried himself in the CFL. It was all uniformly positive. He will be the first to tell you that he is playing on his last chance. I think that is what he is talking about in this interview. He has no illusions of his situation. He knows he can't make anymore mistakes. When he says "I can play if I stay out of trouble." I think what he is really saying is, "I have always had the ability to play at the NFL level, I just kept screwing up and didn't take advantage of my opportunity. I realize that now." Maybe I'm just too forgiving, but it sounds like the light finally has come on. I'm excited to see how he plays in camp and during the pre-season. I'm still hoping he is a diamond in the rough.

Notice how everyone in the room was in a suit and tie. I'm sure that's not the case in many draft rooms. I think it's indicative of the culture Beane is building in the organization. Be professional at all times There are no short cuts, no causal Fridays. You are here representing this organization and this city. We are going to look the part, we are going to act the part, we are going to take care of our business like professionals. It all starts at the top. You gotta like it.

From 13th in the AFC to 5th or 6th in a single year? I think would be a huge amount of improvement.