Beck Water

I think we don't know to what extent the above numbers were influenced by: 1) a shoulder then neck injury that Josh Allen indicated was affecting his technique (thus accuracy), and trying to lean on the run game to spare Josh 2) potentially, Diggs dealing with issues caused by an oblique injury 3) Joe Brady trying to make lemonade out of the offense that was already installed I'm more worried about McDermott kind of exculpating the offense and pointing at ST and defense, because whatever McDermott and Beane ID as the "weakest link" tends to get the lion share of the off-season resources, and that would be f'ing stupid IMHO

Prefer direct quote of source to NY Post Cameron Wolfe is legit, a reporter for NFL Network "Cameron Wolfe @CameronWolfe National NFL reporter, @NFLNetwork .

Amanda Hyde Gets It She crazy Gets It. I'm not sure he wants to coach. I know that BK, he and his wife loved to travel - he said, ideally to places where they didn't know the language. He is probably still thinking about whether he wants to try to play another year or retire (I hope he retires, because he seems to be one wrong hit away from a permanent disability in his neck). I expect he wants to take some time and sort it out.

An injury settlement is a tool which allows a player (who usually has a “split” meaning he’s paid less when on IR) to be released while he’s still injured. The player and club agree how many weeks his injury will take to heal, the player gets paid for those weeks, and after he heals he can try to catch on with a new team, instead of languishing on IR all season (possibly on a lower salary, too) There is nothing in Tre’ White’s situation to which an injury settlement applies. His 2024 salary may not be injury guaranteed (there’s nothing about it). He’s due a $1.5M roster bonus early in the new league year. The Bills options are probably to cut him (and eat the $10.3M dead cap) or keep him and take the $16.4M cap hit. The dead cap is due to various signing and restructure bonuses he’s already been paid, and he’s not giving any of it back.

Yeah, the “don’t golf” thing is ridiculous. Just physically, a guy can’t train and throw more than a couple hours a day. He can do some mental stuff and watch film in a methodical way to train his mind a couple hours a day. He can do football stuff 8 hrs in the off-season and still spend 3-4 hrs a day playing golf. Easiest. Fake. Ever.

Thanks for the insight. I went through the play-by-play, but I didn’t do a running total through the game. My biggest fear right now is that Beane seems to react post-season to the biggest gaps shown in the last game. So after we lost in 2019, he decided Josh needed a #1 receiver and we traded for Diggs, which was a good move. In 2020, he decided we needed still more pass rush so he doubled down in the draft on Rousseau and Boogie. In 2021, after 13 seconds, we still needed to “affect the passer” more so he signed Von Miller as well as drafting a cornerback in the 1st. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Shakir and Kincaid are nice pieces, but we need to give Josh a #1 and #2 WR by drafting a WR high and looking for a quality FA. But with McDermott in his presser talking about defense and ST, I’m afraid that’s what we’re gonna get.

It's true that in terms of catch % Shakir is now the leading WR on the Bills. But in terms of targets, he still has only 45. Diggs all alone for a sure 1st down would be considered "your most reliable WR" by many. He really SHOULD be the most reliable WR on the Bills - being paid like it. I think from Josh Allen's POV, a ball thrown to Diggs might have been tipped, the DL was that close to on top of him.

First off, I'm not sure where you're getting 8.5 yards per play. The Chiefs had 361 yards on 47 pass + run plays. That's 7.7 yards per play when I math. A nit, perhaps, but IMO the "yards per play" thing is missing the point. I'm not interested in semantics debate about "nuclear meltdown" or not, but the average is like the joke about the duck where there's a cluster of shots to the right and to the left, and the punchline "on average, the duck is dead". Out of those 47 pass + run plays, there were something like 5 long pass plays and 3 long run plays given up to the Chiefs - plays of 20 or more yards. McDermott's defense is designed to depend on everyone knowing where they're supposed to be, and getting there in time. When you're playing a MLB who is over 30, just practiced with the starters this week, and has lost a step off the low athleticism he had to start with; a CB on 1 leg (who looked mi-tee slow in the clip we saw of practice) and a backup; backfilling for an athletically limited OLB with a raw rookie; and back-filling for the safety you move into the box with Cam Lewis - expect something like a 15% failure rate on a defense which depends upon everyone being on the same page. Your mileage apparently varies 🤷‍♂️

One difference that I heard from last year and the previous year's end of year presser, is that he talked about wanting to get "back in the lab" as soon as possible and to work with guys off-season. I think that's in contrast to the last two end of season pressers where he talked about needing to take time off to let his body heal and wanting to take some time away

I'm not sure what this means?

I think a number of us have receipts for that. And no, I don't think it was assumed Diggs was going to be extended after this season. He's already 30 and is signed through age 34. There's a reason guys like OBJ and Hopkins only got 1 and 2 year contracts, respectively. It's not as bad as RBs, but when WR who rely on quickness and agility fall off a cliff, they sometimes fall steeply. Floyd? He could. I think he has visions of more, not sure he'll realize them.

So this is an interesting conversation. Other teams *don't get Diggs at his cap number*. His cap number is $27.85M. But a lot of that is signing and restructure bonuses. So to other teams, his cap # is $18.5M and he's under contract for 4 years. None of the $$ that go with Diggs is guaranteed until 3/17/2024. And, if they want to, other teams could renegotiate part of that $18.5M into bonus and spread it out over 4 years. A salary of $18.5M would slot Diggs in as the #15 WR in the league for annual average. Diggs is #6 in the league for targets, #7 for receptions, and #13 for yards. Especially if there's some back-story about Diggs being hampered by injuries, he could be attractive as a trade target, depending upon what Beane could get for him. He won't get a first, but if he could get a 2nd or 3rd, or do a player-for-player swap for a guy he thinks will do better here, I could see Beane going for it. Where and when did this congratulating himself on being close to catching it happen?

LOL I suppose I "got it" because it expressed my own frustrations about Diggs. Josh Allen famously tells WR he wants them to "get open and catch the ball". Get open - check, not as much as he used to Catch the ball - that's been more of a problem than you'd like to see from a #1 And while you're at it - after you catch it, hang on to it.

We signed him as an UDFA. Big kid (6'5"). Spent the season on the practice squad. Started college with Alabama, then transfered twice (to Mississippi State and San Diego State) I mean, this is just the practice squad guys. Would it truly change your feelings if we signed Eli Ankou and Andrew Brown?

Appoo, you really ought to read Mango's post on this. In general, players it makes sense to restructure are the young-ish core of the roster who you plan to keep through the years when the restructure could bite you. It would have been preferable if the Bills could have avoided restructuring him last March, but they did. Let's not compound the errors.

Thanks. I think that's very telling, from both of them. Meanwhile an obviously distraught Josh faces the media 2x and takes accountability, and so does Bass.

Probably so. But not definitely so. Floyd was cut by the Rams 2 years into a 4 year, $64M contract and wound up signing a 1 year, $7M "prove it" deal with the Bills (for which the Bills will take on a nice dead cap hit next season) I'm sure he'd like someone to pony up and offer his 31 year old self a multi-year, multi-million contract. Von Miller's Albatross of a contract at age 35 illustrates why teams may be reluctant to do so.

Thanks. Was there anything from or about Diggs?

Tell me you didn't click on the link and read and understand the article, without telling me you didn't click on the link and read and understand the article. Tell me you didn't click on the link and read and understand the article, without telling me you didn't click on the link and read and understand the article. Oh by the way, which one are you?

I think with Diggs, he's been nursing some dings and then showed up on injury report with a foot injury, he might not be running as many routes in practice. But the timing was there, the ball and Diggs were perfectly in the right place at the right time, he just wasn't able to close the deal. I've heard it said that catching a ball starts with the feet? This is where I am. Shut up and play better.

OK, I was asking about this because I didn’t have the stomach to Wade through all the post game stuff. Did Diggs bail out of the locker room and refuse to make himself available to the press, again? He doesn’t have to talk, but he’s supposed to be in the locker room during press availability. Wow. Had his man beat. Catchable ball is right there.

I’m sorry for not wading through the postgame thread, but did Diggs actually “cowboy up” and stick around for post game press availability this time? Or did he flounce out of the stadium like a petulant kid again?

I’’d like to throw down here the part that the players hold in all this. A concussion is not like a broken bone or a torn ligament. You can’t usually see it on x-ray or MRI - a significant trauma with a subdural bleed but that’s relatively rare. How do you know a player has a concussion? 1) they accurately report symptoms 2) they gave an honest effort on their baseline testing so post-concussion testing shows cognitive defecits ”The independent neurologists must be on the take”, way to slander medical professionals. Why would they be “on the take”? What would be the benefit to their careers and professional reputations if they cleared a player who is reporting symptoms or who didn’t pass his baseline testing? And way to dodge the elephant in the room - the responsibility players have for their own health and safety, and the fact that they really really really want to play and that some will shade baseline tests and minimize symptoms towards that goal. Hopefully Taron Johnson has not done this and is legitimately cleared to play.

Understandable

I think those two ***** interceptions did ‘em in