Beck Water

I missed watching the Ravens beat-down where he played the most, but it was noticable that even when Bernard went down again for a game and Spector was injured, the Bills didn't put him on the field again. And he's been waived and cut twice. Which sort of speaks to your point. It sort of reminds me of last year's path for AJ Klein, and we all know Klein wound up playing most of the WC round and starting at MLB in the division round - and that didn't go to well. The thing is, with Bernard nursing a couple injuries at this point (ankle and now quad) and Spector on IR and unavailable, it would be kind of nice to have SOME option beyond Ulofoshio

No sorry. It goes on our record and impacts draft choice

Only if the other two are disqualified. They can't just be healthy and available but benched. And yes, the QB that is replaced by the emergency QB can return to the game. The rule gives specific examples, such as being evaluated for concussion but passing the evaluation; undergoing tests such as xray which are negative etc.

What he looked like for the Bears and Steelers or the fact that he got benched in favor of The Reindeer wasn't enough for you? He would need to be active this Sunday in order to play, assuming Josh Allen is not disqualified or injured (AVERT!), but simply replaced by Trubisky. If Trubisky is injured the NFL would expect them to put Josh back in the game if he's healthy. Of course I guess they could make something up but I think that would be Very Bad Juju But, White would be available as an emergency 3rd QB for playoff games without having to be active.

I did NOT see that coming. Who did they cut? Woah! I guess that answers one question of whether they see him as a viable backup LB. Wonder if they put him on the practice squad? Either way, now we have even fewer LB and less depth.

Thanks. Though wondering if you have any insignt on the other points that I raised - that the Bills have 2nd fewest 3rd down attempts against them? Why do you think that is?

That is correct - but Bernard looked best the first 4.x games when he was playing next to Milano. And Dorian Williams was not playing LB very much last year. They started him the next game after Jax in place of Milano and quickly said "nope, not gonna work". They tried various combinations and settled pretty quickly on the Dodson/Poyer platoon (Rapp backfilled at safety when Poyer moved up) At DT they were playing some combination of Jordan Phillips out of position, Tim Settle, Poona Ford then Linval Joseph, and some other guys. This season, Tim Settle seems to be playing pretty well for Houston - started every week since Game 7. Poona Ford has started every game at DT for the Chargers who seem to have the best defense in the league on points and #12 for yards so, better than ours. Linval Joseph has been seeing regular snaps at DT for Dallas. Anyway. Bottom line, yes the DTs and the LB next to Bernard were both different last season. Top of the 2nd round

Say WAT? Um, yes, it has. His fellow LB last season after Milano went out, was Tyrell Dodson platooned with Jordan Poyer on passing downs. Last season, the cast of characters was different at DT, and the ones that are the same (DaQuan Jones, Ed Oliver) are assessed by most as having played signficantly better than they have been this season.

Hey Gunner. First off, wondering source of your stats? Pro-football-reference, which is typically accurate for stats such as this, has the Bills at 29th. Not that 29th is good, but it is a little bit higher than 31st. Next point. If you look at sheer number of third down conversion attempts, the Bills are 2nd in the league at 189, 2nd only to the Lions who have 174. The league median in 3rd down attempts is 201, so the Bills have 12 fewer attempts against them than league median. So one needs to think about why that is, and what that means. It could be bad news - that the Bills have fewer 3rd down attempts against them because they're letting teams score without needing to convert as many 3rd downs? And there could be some of that - the Bills have given up some TDs on Big Plays. But the fact that the Bills D is 11th in points against even after giving up more than 30 points in 3 games (Rams, Vikes, Ravens) suggests that's probably not the answer. It could also be a TOP issue - if the Bills were allowing opponents less TOP, they might have fewer 3rd downs. I actually don't know where to find TOP stats, but I would think we could use # of plays as a marker for TOP, and the Bills D is smack in the middle there - 17th, 1 play to opposing D more than average. So nope. Or it could be good news. Maybe the Bills are taking the ball away more so the opponent gets to fewer 3rd downs? The Bills as we all know are tied for the league lead in turnovers, with 31. So that could be an answer - if the Bills are taking the ball away there are fewer 3rd downs for the opponent to convert. Anyway, I thought that was interesting.

Tape matters Who he is playing next to, matters How the DL is playing in front of him matters a lot

Exactly my point. The depth chart has been Bernard - Spector - Buffalo Joe Spector is on IR and not available until (if applicable) the Conference Championship Game So now the depth chart is Bernard - Buffalo Joe - and who? Matt Milano has never played MLB. Dorian Williams has not played MLB in the NFL (don’t know about college). Edefuan Ulofoshio hasn’t played defense in the NFL as of yet. Nicholas Morrow is a dark horse to me. He’s been in the league since 2017. He’s started in the league for 3 teams (Raiders, Chicago, Eagles) playing at OLB. He bounced from the practice squad to the active roster for the Eagles last year and this year for the Bills. He hasn’t so much as taken a defensive snap. If we think Bernard is undersized at 227, Morrow is playing at 216? I’m not sure what the plan or thinking is with Morrow, except it doesn’t sound as though we want to see him at MLB. That’s why I feel Beane and Co better be keeping an eye on the cutout bin and scrutinizing the practice squads around the league.

Guy who claims he watches every snap of the games. Don't hassle Terps Recruiting with the Facts, Son!

I didn't calculate it as a $ per snap thing. But the Bills had to have been pissed about Miller's 4 game suspension, and he isn't playing as though he was meticulous in his S&C while suspended.

It depends on who is there, right? We're not talking find someone better than Bernard. We're talking find someone who knows how to play MLB. Which Williams, as of yet, does not. We'll see how Buffalo Joe handles himself. "Cuts" and "waiver wire" are the same thing, by the way - the second choice I mentioned was practice squad. Teams do carry vets on their practice squads. Let's pull an example from the Bills PS. We've been carrying Will Clapp on our PS all season. He's a 7 year vet. He's started 21 games in the NFL. Is he better than McGovern? Obviously not. Is he better than Sedrick Van Pran Granger? Granger has more potential and more likelihood to get sniped if he were put on the PS, so unclear - maybe, maybe not. If a playoff team had an injury to their starting C that put them on IR and needed depth behind their backup, would Clapp be someone they might try to sign off our PS? Could be a better choice for them than trying to move a 2nd year guard, who is still learning to be a guard, over to C. I don't know who might be out there on a PS or, on IR but who thinks he's recovered enough to ask for an injury settlement.

I have no hate for Dorian at all. But let's be realistic - he's a 2nd year guy just learning to play the OLB position on the Bills. He was observed to be in the wrong gap or out of position on a number of plays. That's not hate, it is what it is. It's his first year playing, first year players make mistakes. I want to see him succeed, and see the Bills succeed, and needing to play Williams at a position he's never played as far as I can tell (MLB) and where one of his duties would be to call the plays and get the other players into position - in a playoff game (!!!!!)- is not the path for success either for him, OR for the Bills. If he has to start at OLB, OK - he did that for most of the season. But not at MLB, not wearing the green dot and calling the plays. As far as "better than Milano", well, you have your thoughts and I have mine. I will say this - he's different than Milano. Williams is fast and a good tackler. If he recognizes the play and knows where he ought to be, he's fine. That's an "if" though. And we're coming into the playoffs, where the teams we'll be playing are the masters of offensive misdirection and disguise. Milano is rarely fooled and usually the fastest or one of the fastest to diagnose a play post snap. But coming back from a year(+) off, he isn't able to react on instinct yet. He has to see-decode-go and it makes him a step slow. Combine that with still recovering from the bicep surgery and he's not as sound of a tackler. But he misses tackles because he's in the right place just a fraction slow of the right time. Williams doesn't miss the tackles he's in position to make but he isn't always within tackle radius of where he needs to be.

It's a point. I was assuming that Shavers would get called up, but as you point out he's already had his 3. I think Davidson has only had 2 call ups, so they might go there I have to imagine they want to sit Shakir, Cooper, Coleman, Knox and Kincaid for most of the game.

I believe you - NFL got it from somewhere - but if the Bulls had him at 232 on their roster and he weighed in for training camp at 232, ya gotta wonder if he ate a bunch of salty food, drank a bunch of water, and "clenched" or something before getting on the pro day scale. So historically the Bills are pretty good about giving players the chance to reach their incentives. On the other hand, given Von Miller's injury history and his 4 game suspension, well...."how about if we look at your playoff incentives, Von?"

Depends on intangibles. He's one game back from a groin. Only he and the Bills trainers and coaches can balance the need to rest and rehab vs. the need for more playing time to polish off more of the rust.

Yeah, the guy has 9 tackles 0 sacks and 2 QB hits in 6 games playing 40% of the snaps and just got released by the team challenging for the #1 pick in the draft. What are you seeing?

And the Bills other Pro Bowler is not a WR or RB.

If we're playing the 2nd string OL I don't want Allen on the field, even handing off.

Really? I saw that on nfl.com but he was also listed at 6'0" - not sure they check the stats on the guys who aren't invited to the Senior Bowl or Combine On June 24, Buffalo Rumbings had him at 6'1 232 The UB Bulls Roster from last year listed him at 6'1 232

I agree with your concern about Trubisky, but McDermott has said they are going to find it difficult to elevate White due to "numbers".

Please do a little research. The top paid ILBs: Roquan Smith 6'1" listed at 230, may play at 236 [2025 pro bowl] Fred Warner 6'3" listed at 230, may play at 229 [2025 pro bowl] I'll skip Tremaine Edmunds Patrick Queen 6'0" listed at 232 may play at 230 Bobby Okereke 6'2" 235 (drafted at 239 I think) Aziz Al-Shaiir 6'2" listed at 232, may play at 227 Additional Pro Bowl: Zaire Franklin 6'0" 235 Zack Baun 6'3" 225 Let's start by you explaining why a guy who has played at a 231 frame would improve in any regard by bulking up 9 lbs? Maybe a couple pounds. Our own Terrel Bernard, listed at 224, talked about coming into the season at 227 and he would "see how he felt". But 9 lbs is a huge body composition change for an elite athlete I think there's an outdated vision of linebackers that's out of sync with the size/weight of today's top guys. Has McDermott or anyone actually said that Gore will be elevated?

So the guy was just waived for a boneheaded roughing the passer decision; he hasn't been impactful enough for the Patriots to overlook it - 9 tackles and 2 QB hits in 6 games where he played like 40% of the snaps - and you want to bring him in here? Dude. For comparison, Dawuane Smoot has 16 tackles and 4 QB hits in 10 games, 29% of the snaps. I'm thinking Baltimore waived him in November for a reason. The only position where I'm hoping Beane and his minions are speed-scrutinizing the waiver wire and other team's practice squads is LB because right now if Bernard can't go we're kind of hosed. I do NOT want to see Dorian Williams trying to play MLB.