WideNine

Yeah, that 3-down back argument is a key sticking point in regards to where Cook wants to get paid - being able to understand protections and block on passing downs and not just whiff or be an insignificant speed bump. To be fair, the early critiques of Cook (too much dancing behind the line, not lowering his pads to run through contact when needed) he banished pretty well last year and really was fantastic with the ball in his hands and not afraid to pop the pads. But he has a slighter build so not sure how much he can anchor and improve in pass protection. If he does take a big step forward in that area and is trusted to stay on the field on more obvious passing downs, he would be a very complete back and probably deserving of more money - not sure if we would have enough cap to retain him though. I would not be upset if he felt compelled to test the market, as some folks pointed out running backs in the NFL (in general) are not getting big long-term deals and most do not have a long shelf life before they start to decline. A player has to make hay when he can. I do think we have an excellent offensive line that is very capable of creating holes for our running backs to exploit - would be interesting to see the metrics of how many yards our running backs got before contact last season. Regardless, Cook has given us that breakaway speed that has been missing from our backfield for such a long time. We have had good running backs, but we always knew they were not going to break the long one and score. I can still easily recall last season when Cook broke free of the attempted "hair tackle" and just sped away from pursuit. If we have to lose him, Beane just has to ensure we get something in return - trade or some form of compensatory picks.

Moving him during the draft is a possibility; although I have heard that there is a decent crop of RBs available in the draft and that may limit deals, but who knows. Could be a team misses on their guy at RB and are looking for the traits that Cook brings to the field. We will see how this plays out, but hoping it does not become a distraction

I believe it is the final year of his deal. The Bills would love to pay everyone, but that is not realistic. I also think they frown a bit when players try to negotiate deals in the domain of social media. Either way, I agree that he is elite with the ball in his hands and should have a great year if he is a Bill and is playing for the market next year.

With the recent signing of defensive coaches and in particular someone to assist with the defensive backs and defensive line, it is not a stretch to assume they will invest via the draft in those areas and took steps to get the right guys in the house who can coach up those players better and faster than what we have seen over recent seasons. Going out on a limb here, but with Rebrovich coming in to assist with the d-line and both Nielson and Pellegrino having strong DB resume's OBD seems to be stocking up on the coaches that can get the job done in those areas. Just my opinion, but I think it makes sense... then I would expect them targeting someone who can stretch the field with hands to challenge some of the matchups we had at the boundary. I feel good about our depth at TE and OL, even our depth at RB is not terrible although I would hate to lose Cook. The kid had a great year so of course he would look to parlay that into $. Depth at LB is never a bad idea with Milano usually dinged up and that position is one where we have a lot of injuries over the course of a season. I know there are folks that want us to break the bank on getting a premier veteran DL prospect - I struggle with just the idea of being in cap jail for many seasons like we had with the Von Miller deal. I always prefer to build through the draft, but who knows if Garret really wants to be on a contender he should know that the Bills have been knocking on the door for a while now.

Losing Benford was huge and I did not see Elam playing press, if anything he was giving up quite a bit of turf as a cushion and just giving the KC WRs room to take him to school on the top of routes or free releases underneath. They also went after him with motion and orbit motion and rubs. The kid had a rough outing and not sure how much of that is how he was coached up or just poor execution. Also the Bills really cannot play press with back seven guys like Hamlin and Rasul who are not going to be able to go stride for stride vs receivers with speed. As soon as they lose leverage on a route they both are left in the dust. Decent zone defenders, but not the kind of athletes that can play press, yet recover and make up any ground lost on a route break.

Don't discount 2-3 absolutely pivitol calls that went the Chief's way. That long catch that was not a catch, the 4th down conversion that did not stand, etc.. As close as the contests have been between our two teams it does not take much to tip the odds. The only thing that made those poor calls a bit less impactful for me was that Allen had the ball in his hands with 2 min to go and a chance to tie or pull ahead and the offense could not execute. We had a chance, but not sure my ticker could have taken a SB loss going up against a stacked and healthy Eagles team. That being said, our Bills have surprised us from time to time taking down "unstoppable" looking teams so who knows. Just cannot put down the Chiefs when it matters.

Film. On how the Chiefs were stopping the Bills and making the necessary adjustments.

Another thing I noticed on the Eagles OC side was that they did a much better job mixing up the cadence which several times tipped Philly to the blitzes that Spags was dialing up so they were able to adjust protections and hot reads. They would use a longer cadence and several times could get KC to jump early with their blitz defenders. We were terribly predictable with our cadence and snap counts...I assume some of that was due to playing in Arrowhead and taking the best of the worse options...false starts vs predictive cadence on our snap counts. Either way, it allowed KC to get to Allen more often and impact throws with simulated and actual pressures.

That's why I really enjoyed watching T. Johnson running routes out of the backfield. The dude has wheels and hands...like that low throw Allen threw in the EZ that he dug out 4 inches from the carpet while contorting his body to keep in bounds. Two parts to that equation, having receivers that can run to the spot and Allen throwing with enough touch and arch to meet them in that spot. I think this was one of the better years for Allen hitting shallow targets in stride and that was bourne out in RAC metrics, however it was not reflected on deeper throws. Usually a lot of factors, but needs to improve on deeper throws taking advantage of the single high looks we were getting with the success we had pounding the ball in the ground. That and guys are sticking to him like glue and not peeling off to defend Mahomes scrambles. Thought the Eagles did a good job with their cage rush with the 4 guys up front. Mahomes got free a few times to move the chains, but was not enough of a factor to change the game.

That Eagle D-line with just sending 4 was making that usually stout middle 3 of KC look really human. Some good stunts too that had guys lined up wide looping up the middle giving Mahomes no where to step up into. Basically, they had game wreckers up front and were able to keep plenty of capable guys back in zone. It was the kind of D I have heard that McD always favored, but lordy this team has struggled finding and grooming the D-line talent to pull it off. The Eagles did a good job avoiding rubs and not getting fooled by motion. KC had 3 weeks to prep for us, but not the same luxury vs the Eagles and it showed. The Eagles seemed to know what they were running too with every gadget they through at them. Not sure how we would have faired against this Eagles team, they were stacked on both sides and have a team that was peaking at just the right time. Tough to get a roster to that point without some holes. Heck even their ST and kicker was nailing it... No tears over KC looking silly and getting crushed. Wished they would have panned over to T-Swift crying in her VIP box with the usual suspects. I have had to suffer through so many times they panned over to her after games we lost with her absolutely giddy as my Bills exit games on the wrong end. Would be a bit of Karmic justice. Petty I know, but I am ok with that.

He kept it very classy for B-lo. Nice to see Dawkins up there to introduce his QB. A lot of guys represented on that stage deserving of that award, but Allen has paid his dues, broke several records along the way, and it was time to be recognized for that body of work.

I like the hire. There were several times that I thought our d-line pass rush was unimaginative with the exodus of Eric Washington to the Bears last offseason. Not terrible, but far less stunts, and less creativity with odd fronts, and working to marry those up well with our simulated pressures and blitzes. I do think our defensive staff did a much better job down the stretch defending the run which you still have to do with teams like Baltimore and the Eagles out there that want to establish that kind of game script and are very capable of doing so and making your team look silly. And kudos to them to have the flexibility to incorporate a 3 LB look from time to time - it is a great problem to have if you have 3 capable LBs and you are looking for creative ways to get them all on the field. Always thought I would see more fire zone kind of concepts the way teams were gashing us underneath with screens, slants, and drags (like blitzing a LB and dropping someone like Epenesa with his hands into those shallow vacated zones - the guy seems to have hands, and seems to be able to climb the ladder (for a DL guy), and has a proven knack for batting balls at the line where I think he has picked a few and come close on others). Not saying go nuts like Seattle did when they did things like dropping Poona Ford into coverage but sprinkling in those things teams don't expect from you. They did manage to generate a boat-load of turnovers. That, coupled with an offense led by Allen that was downright stingy about turnovers was a very good recipe for our Bills this year and they went farther than many thought because of how complimentary they played. Maybe Mr. West needed a bit more time to bake and acclimate to the DL coach role and having a bit more experience in his ear can do nothing but help, or it could be a succession plan. Regardless, getting a true game wrecker that can play inside or outside and drafting a stout NT for spelling Jones would probably help make many problems magically disappear.

Trying not to think about it too much. Just feel like we have what it takes, but this contest reminds me a lot of our games with the Patriots where you just could not let off the gas and the Bills had to keep the pedal to the metal the whole 60 minutes. If we let up or gave Brady a window he would find a way to get the score they needed. We have to play them with the same attitude we had earlier this year where they just did not let up and did not give KC a chance to get back into the game. At the end of the day these are the 2 best teams in the AFC and it was no surprise that the AFC comes down to them - again.

If Allen gets it, it would simply be those voters finally recognizing the volume of work he has done since he has been in the league without ever receiving that MVP recognition - just my opinion on how those voters may justify where they go with it. If Lamar got it, it would be recognizing the numbers he put up this year. Daniels has done an amazing job with the Commanders - never saw that coming and kind of glad he is in the NFC as the kid seems to have a ton of talent and I don't think anyone has quite figured out how to limit what he is able to do. Seemed like there was a bit of a drought on great new QB talent till the "class of" Mahomes, Lamar, and Burrows arrived - but now there are quite a few youngsters flashing real potential. Perhaps FO personnel had a reset and recognized the traits that QBs need to have to have more success facing modern NFL defenses, mostly gone is the pure pocket passer. What teams need is that guy that can operate at a high level both on or off schedule, use their legs to extend plays, move the chains, and mitigate the pass rush. Burrow does not strike me as exactly fitting that mold, but he is highly accurate and can get the ball out in a hurry when needed (and has had the benefit of working with the same top tier receiver since college). Because Burrow is a bit less mobile, I think he gets injured a lot more than the others as it is easier to put a target on where he will be when rushed. I recall when the Jags went with Lawrence, and he was touted as a "no brainer" even on this board as he was such a prototypical QB checking all the boxes that personnel folks normally focus on when he came into the league. What do we think now? He is a giraffe back there, not exactly quick-twitch when moving around, and seems to have an exaggerated throwing motion. All these traits are things defenses can exploit, and he has been getting smoked. A bit off track, but all this talk got me thinking about what makes a great QB these days. Jim Brown was the only rookie ever to win the NFL MVP in 1957 so for all intents and purposes it is not going to happen, but I could see Daniels getting some votes.

This. Lamar is a great QB and had a great season full stop. I am certain that both he and Allen would rather hoist the Lombardi than win some MVP award. Seems too much like an empty consolation prize and media popularity thing than anything meaningful.