Ethan in Cleveland

Don't you know facts are not welcome here....

I think it is in the eye of the beholder. If you play like crap and beat yourself then it is a trap game. If you play well but the underdog wins well that is just playing the games. As for this season, I think it will be Bills at Jets Nov 6. Buffalo will be beyond the first 6 game gauntlet and coming off a home win over the Packers. Jets are an improved roster. Jets 27 Bills 17

The OL story will be very intriguing. I've added TEs and RBs for the role they play in run/pass blocking. Dawkins was a liability for the first 2/3rd's of 2021 and then he played the best football of his career after coming back from second COVID infection. He looked like an All-Pro late last year. Morse has never lived up to his contract but he too played his best football in a Bills uniform last year. Brown was very good in run blocking but was just shy of a liability in pass blocking. They really need him to improve in year 2 because the swing OT spot is a mess. Two schools on Bates. He is that good which begs why the hell did it take so long to get him in the lineup? Or he is not that good and he will regress back to being a career backup. Saffold looks like a solid signing. Should be very good in a more balanced offense that runs the ball a bit more. Hopefully he is good enough in pass protection. Interior depth is a massive question mark. They have bodies that have played in several games in Ford and Boettger but both of these guys will have trouble even making the roster. As above swing tackle is a mess, but Quessenberry has some experience and offers an ability to play inside if needed. Odd story last year. Almost like boom or bust. Plays well the majority if the time but then gives up 17 sacks. Another year removed from his cancer diagnosis and a new OL coach may be the key to him taking another step forward and pushing for a starting role. Doyle will only make the roster for use in the heavy TE sets. I'd prefer they keep him and get rid of Sweeney as the third TE. And as for TE, Knox and Howard are just average in blocking. Maybe Knox gets a little better. Knox is a star ready to dominate this year in the pass game, so whatever he brings as a blocker is just added bonus. Two additional notes. Singletary and Moss are exceptional pass blockers. I've rewatched most of the games from last season and they are both excellent at finding the free rusher or where they need to help out. And lastly, my annual Gilliam crusade. This guy does nothing well and on a team that uses 2 or more spots solely for special teams and a roster this deep, he has to go. Keeping him hurts the team depth somewhere else simply by taking up a roster spot better suited for WR, DL, or OL.

I just love all this preseason hype so all the people that say the media hates the Bills can shut the hell up now. The media loves winners. They don't care about losers. They don't care who the winners are. They will find a story and an angle to talk them up.

He may be

That is true. But just as you have that right so does the team have that right not to sell it to you

The most common maneuver is to take salary and convert it to a signing bonus. When the player signs his contract they get one bonus and a salary for a number of years. You can't write a contract with a series of signing bonuses. You just have to covert them if you want every year. Additionally if you put all the money into a signing bonus up front and the player doesn't work out then it becomes a large dead money cap hit. Not every contract/player signed will work out. So you have to hedge your bets.

Wow we agree. The universe may end now.

Kaizen is part of Lean or the Toyota Management System. It is alive and well in many organizations far beyond auto industry.

Phil Jackson is a complete fraud. He had the best player of all time in Chicago and in LA he had 2 of the top 10 best players of all time. He didn't do anything in NY when he didn't have a superstar.

Post-draft I would say the biggest weakness is the O-line. There is plenty of optimism but also a fair amount of question marks on the OL. I think the run blocking will be ok but I'm still worried about the pass blocking with the group we have. Dorsey is an unknown but I am not too worried. I hope we get rid of Gilliam and play more two TE sets with Dorsey calling the plays. Settle, Jones, and Lawson

Don't you think Beane addressed this ? I'm as big an Edmunds critic as anyone, and his run defense is awful. But the DL run defense on paper looks better.

Great list. I would rank Johnson's pick 6 in the playoffs just behind Mike Stratton's hit.

Johnson has one of the top plays in franchise history if not the greatest.

Good take but you left out the Raiders may have one of the weakest HCs in the league. McDaniels will have a better QB than he did in Denver but he was still a failure in his first stint as a HC. Add the fact the Belichick tree is littered with failures, I have them 1 game ahead of Denver in third place

Agree

Agree on Staley's past. He needs to do better. The same could be said for McDermott and as I said in another thread he has gotten better.

The Broncos stats for defense are right around 10th best in yards, YPA, sacks. I admittedly have not followed them as close because I did not think they were much of a contender without a QB. Honest inquiry here, what makes their defense awesome?

Agree on Baltimore. I think they win the AFC North. Good comments on injury history for Chargers. Also Matt Ryan could get real old real quick too like Rivers and Brees did. Will be interesting to see how he plays.

Great Division foe thread. There was good conversation on the topic of AFC competition during free agency and leading up to the draft. Now that most of the moves have been made let's revisit it. My take is the Chargers are the biggest obstacle to the Bills making the SB. They have a superstar QB, multiple weapons on offense and they have on paper made significant upgrades to their defense. I think they will win their division but will only be third in the conference standings because of how competitive their division is. I believe it will be Buffalo #1 followed by Indianapolis at #2. I think Tenn takes a step back and the Colts win that division by 2+ games. Bills get home-field in the playoffs and win at home in the Conference game. Why not KC? It's reasonable to pick KC again and despite moving Hill they did make some nice additions in free agency and the draft. Just seems like their star is fading while other teams are on the ascent.

In the NFC the Dolphins are a WC team. In the AFC they I'd say they are ranked somewhere between 9-10 with the likes of Tenn and Cleveland if Watson plays. I would put Buffalo, Indy, Baltimore, Cincy, Vegas, Denver, KC, and Chargers in the top 8 in no particular order.

You may be right about the DL. When I last did the head count I thought they would add a NT in the draft and therefore had 1 too many. That said I think they have at least 1 if not two less DL this year. The high number kept last year didn't really help and they got a little younger. Agreed. I wanted OL in the second or third round. A lot will be determined on Spencer Brown. If he gets better and can play solid RT then I think the line will be ok. they have enough options in the interior this year that they will find a reasonable starting 5

Based on Beane's comments about Moss and the fact they will be in 2 TE sets more, I think Gilliam is finally cut and Moss makes the team. They keep 4 RB - Singletary, Moss, Cook, and Jones. I hate spending money on Special Teams but McD values the spots. That said I think Jones stays, and Kumerow and Matakevich are cut. I think some of those day 3 picks will end up being the core special teams guys for the next few years. Haack is gone. Strong chance White is on IR to start the season. Last DL roster spot will be a battle between Epenesa and Phillips. I know they are different positions, but Basham and Settle probably can play inside or out. So I think it will come down to numbers. Do they want to carry an extra DE and hope Epensa gets better? Phillips might be the second best interior pass rusher. So I think they keep him and cut Epenesa. Ford is gone. He is truly awful.

Dolphins have the best roster of the other three but might have the worst QB. Jets are still a year away from winning 8 games. Bills 12-5 Dolphins 9-8 Pats 8-9 Jets 7-10

He doesn't even have to play. His salary is guaranteed. He can sit the whole year and rehab his arm