Florida Bills Fanatic

Sanders was a really good pickup by Beane. He can effectively play outside and in the slot. When injuries happen, he can be moved around to fill in where needed. With the exception of losing Diggs, Sanders can replace any of the other guys without a huge drop off in performance. My only concern is about how well his legs hold up in a long season. I expect to see him share slot snaps with Cole (both are over 30) and fill in on the outside when someone needs a breather. As some of the other posts have indicated, I don't see McKenzie being in the top 10 slot receivers in the league.

Just click bait.....next thing you know, one of us will actually worry about what Kiper thinks about those guys.

I agree with you. They seem to run a strange mix of stretch plays and straight power runs. Both Singletary and Moss seem to get better results from the straight power runs. It may be that neither has the speed to beat the pursuit to the outside on stretch plays. It may also be that the o-line doesn't handle a zone blocking scheme very well. I believe most of the blame should be on the running play design and the o-line performance. Since the Bills didn't draft another running back, it seams that Beane and McD may see it the same way. It's incumbent on Daboll to see where the running game breaks down and make changes. He also needs to call enough running plays to make the play action passes seem like a plausible threat.

Sounds like the Bills may be the only team interested. Wait for Ertz to be cut. Take the chance on being able to sign him for less money without giving up anything. If they miss out on him, it's not a big deal.

Gilmore's best games are probably behind him, although he is still very good. He has always been a "me first guy". He may realize that he is at the age when the performance of corners starts to decline. He probably sees this as his best chance to hit the Brinks truck for one last big haul. I hope he gives Bellicheat a bunch of trouble this year. If the Cheatriots are forced to move him out of New England, it will leave a major hole in their secondary. Anything to mess up the Cheatriots is okay with me.

Hey...if it still holds water, who needs those disgusting port-a-johns? Just sayin'

Lots of valid points made here. Teams that played KC well, kept outside containment on Mahomes and pressured him up the middle. The Bills d-line didn't accomplish that on many plays. When they did, Mahomes quickly threw the ball away. Mahomes is very good at quickly recognizing a play that is about to break down. He doesn't take many bad sacks. It also seems to me that Mahomes has been more prone to injury than Allen. Maybe Allen has the same kinds of injuries but we never seem to know because he is able to play through them. I expect coordinators around the league may be willing to take more chances to put hits on Mahomes because sitting back in coverage has not seemed to work. They'll want to find out if he can take the hits and keep performing at a high level. The Bills need to run the ball to compete with KC. This does shorten the game (less Mahomes opportunities) and will get KC out of the two deep safety looks that they often use. Right now I think KC plays a better game than the Bills. The rosters are real close in talent but I see the big difference is in the Reid vs Daboll/Frazier match up.

I was not suggesting that Allen didn't improve. I was merely suggesting that in addition to the receiving group, improvements to the o-line made a difference as well.

You're exactly correct. Don't forget about the improvement in the offensive line. Not having a defender in his face on almost every throw made a big difference as well.

Change is inevitable. Let's hope it doesn't price the average Bills fan out of game attendance or destroy the game day atmosphere.

You've got that right. The AFC East is not a good place for a QB with only an average arm. Foxboro, Orchard Park, and the Meadowlands are windy places to play.

Philly had a pathetic group of receivers to go along with a bad o-line (many injuries). Wentz also had a role to play in their bad performance but it wasn't solely on him. He played great during their super bowl year and was surrounded by a very good team. Throwing from a clean pocket only means something when your receivers can gain separation or can win on contested balls. Not much of either of those things were happening for Philly in 2020. Even with all of that said, I agree with you and expect him to be a big disappointment in Indy. They will hide some of his problems with a good running game but when he must deliver on a critical drive in a close game, I expect him to fail.

Teller did get better as a run blocker but was nothing special as a pass protector. Coaches made an assessment based on their exposure to him. Since I didn't see him in practices, it is difficult for me to say that they made a bad decision. Maybe a trade served as a wake-up call to tell him that his current effort had put him on a path to be out of football. Fear can be a serious motivator.

I have not been impressed by the coaching in Chicago. I happen to believe that the coaching in Buffalo is significantly better. The fact that Trubisky signed to be in Buffalo with no chance to compete for a starting job tells me that he and his agent view a year with the Bills will make him a much better player. It will be interesting to see if there are noticeable improvements in Trubisky's game.

Well said. Knox is a bit of an enigma. He will make a very difficult catch in one moment and drop a perfect pass in another instance. He appears not to watch the ball into his hands before he starts looking to make his next move. Other players have had trouble with this, corrected it, and went on to have great careers. Even Jerry Rice had trouble with drops during his rookie season and through some off-season work corrected it. I'm not expecting Jerry Rice type performance but I do think he can make a marked improvement. With the other weapons available on the offence, the Bills don't need him to be a superstar. He just needs to be a reliable viable option that opponents need to defend. He has not been that up to this point.

A bunch of people thought the same way about the AFL and we all know how that worked out. Football in the spring is a hard sell because there are more things for people to do. I will probably watch a couple of games just to see how good or bad it is. I have low expectations for the league.

I agree with you. Beane probably created the extra cap space to be able to react to a variety of potential situations (replacing injuries, chasing a good free agent, pulling off a trade). I just don't believe he is actively locked in on getting any of the high profile/high cost players that may come available. I believe that he is just getting prepared for any eventuality that may occur during the season. It's just smart to have some cap money available.

When you look at their org chart, all of these people ultimately report to him or to people who report directly to him. I'm sure nobody gets hied into any front office position without Beane's concurrence.

A group of my friends and I ran into Thurman in a pub in the UK when we were there for the Bills vs Jacksonville in London. He is a friendly and gracious guy. Based on the number of people that were wanting to see and talk to him, he is still one of the most loved and respected players to ever play in Buffalo. Buffalo was fortunate to have had him on the team. He continues to be a class act and is a most worthy hall of fame member. Happy Birthday Thurman!!

I agree with you. Having watched several of the Miami games from 2019, he was pretty impressive. Whether or not he is up to the rigors of an NFL schedule remains to be seen. I believe his snap count and rotation will reflect his physical readiness to play.

Hopefully in raw meat! The D needs a guy with an edge.....lol

Good points! Additionally, Beasley and Diggs were both hurt and struggled to get open. This forced Allen to hold the ball which led to some sacks. Hyde didn't have a great game.

He is a stronger inside runner than Brieda, otherwise I'd agree with you. Ongoing knee injuries are a major concern as well.

Great summary Virgil ! I always enjoy reading your observations. In addition, I thought the o-line played a good game and looked prepared for all of the stunts run by Baltimore. It's a lot of fun to be a Bills fan these days.

Besides the missed tackles, we need to remember the guys that bit on a fake and left their jock strap lying on the turf as they watched the runner pick up another ten yards. This happened more times than I want to think about. The Bills have made some pretty average RB's look like super stars. They can't afford to play like that against Baltimore or their season will end poorly.