Beck Water

Are you at TC or did you see a replay of this somewhere? Linky if the latter. More news, please, if the former. If it's as you described, that's very very tough and sounds like it should have been a catch. I don't think "the tip of the ball touched the ground" should overturn unless it is clear that happened first, before he got his hands on it. If it just touched the ground as he rolled, that should be a catch.

OK. Barring Tee Higgins, DeVanta Parker, Jaylen Waddle, and maybe Tyler Lockett, who you want to trade him for, straight up? Don't say OBJ or DeAndre Hopkins, we'll see about them. Someone who was more productive LAST YEAR in terms of receiving yards/game and had a better catch % than Davis.

Fair. So it was a reaction to a general turd-ness on his part and not that specific post?

This does NOT sound good. Especially not already, in pre-season.

That's a shallow take. JAG with no redeeming qualities don't collect 200 yds on 8 receptions in a playoff game vs KC or even 85 on 4 (but all critical, high DOD shoestrings) The issue with Gabe is that his play shows a very high ceiling, but it's inconsistent.

The Bills expect all their WR and TE to block, if nothing else downfield or on bubble screens. One reason we struggled with those is that Beasley didn't (well), and his first couple years Knox wasn't so good at them either. Kincaid needs to learn to block. Doesn't mean the Bills will be using him in-line as a 6th OLman, but he needs to be able to block, it's part of the job.

He's not wrong though. Josh was forcing in those throws to Davis last season, resulting in Davis leading the league in INT per target on throws to him He had 6, and he's the only WR with less than 100 targets and that many INT on throws to him. There might be one or two of those Davis should have come back for or contested more aggressively, but mostly they're Josh's fault, and he needs to change what he's seeing/doing a bit.

And this is where we sit with Shakir. He's not a bad player, but depending upon him as our #3 (just like depending upon Davis as our #2) puts the Bills at a stark disadvantage at WR vs a handful of teams with 2 or even 3 top WR. The only guy on the team last season who could consistently make that "ooohs" and "aaaahs" catch was Diggs. Hopefully Kincaid joins him.

I heard he's been playing with the 1st and sometimes 2nds and scarcely coming off for a sip of water. They seem to be pushing to get him all the reps they safely can (and maybe more than, though Rochester is a relatively good environment for moderate heat/humidity

The thing about a guy like Ray, is that to my understanding NFL practice squad guys make more than CFL starters. So he can possibly be stashed on the practice squad in case of injury, and he would be benefiting financially while working for a chance.

This Buffalo Rumblings guy is lighting it up.

If you're wondering how many snaps during games he's actually missed, this information is readily available at sites like https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2022.htm

The point is, he started as the backup WLB last season, and if he doesn't win, he's at least the backup MLB. Or maybe backing up both. And maybe he'll put on some beef and win the job next season. Or maybe he won't. But the team won't hit the shot they don't take.

That's a good sign, but it's also not a good sign that it's worthy of remark.

He's missed one game in 2021 and one game in 2022. How much time do other linebackers miss?

I think he didn't change it, he clarified it because it was being misinterpreted. He meant the same thing both times - this is the NFL, it's not Tulane, we'll see how much he can handle and if he can handle learning both, he'll learn both but chances are we'll start him at WLB his first season then look at MLB

I thought Dodson looked ok against Pitts. In fact I thought he looked pretty good. You? It's worth noting that vs Minn, we were starting Jackson and Benford at CB and Damar Hamlin and Cam Lewis at S. It was Benford's 2nd game not splitting snaps (Elam was inactive). But, there is a reason they claimed AJ Klein off waivers 5 days after that game.

They said they'd see how much he could handle, but their thinking was they'd start him at WLB, right after the draft.

Def. showing leadership, but it's one thing to show leadership and another to read your keys and be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. Which I'm not saying he wasn't, but if they assessed the film from the first 5 practices and decided Dodson and Bernard were significantly ahead, they got to roll with that.

They discussed the plan at the time. They like him, they don't want to overload him, they plan to start him learning WLB and playing ST this season and develop from there. The MLB is a complex role, he has to not only know his role but the role of the other LB, the nickel, the DBs on every play call and then how that changes with pre snap and post snap motion.

Theoretically possible, but given that the other two actually have starts at LB and Spector has limited snaps on ST and was inactive most of last season.... ....unlikely. I think you are taking what Beane said out of context.

I don't think Hamlin would accept that. I could be wrong. Jaquan Johnson is signed with the Raiders. Cam Lewis is still with the Bills and is making his case for a roster spot. I don't think Hamlin was in competition for the pro bowl or AP-1. But I thought he was a solid player in the Bill's system. He hadn't had a lot of playing time on defense before last season because Poyer and Hyde were so durable - saw defensive snaps in 6 games in 2021 with only one game over 20%. So he did have a learning curve. But by midseason I thought he was looking like he belonged - not at a level that would keep the Bills from looking for another safety in 2023 if Hyde couldn't return, but like he belonged. I also think the Bills do like Jared Mayden, who has ~6 games of starting experience for the 49ers and Philly. If I had to pick right now, I'd say Poyer Hyde Hamlin Rapp Right. And people forget that Hyde and Poyer didn't pop onto an NFL field looking like all-pros in their first games. Hyde had played for 4 years and started ~2 seasons worth of games when he came to Buffalo. Poyer had started 10 games in Cleveland. Both had 4 years of NFL experience.

Dorian Williams is, per Beane and McDermott, not in the rotation for MLB this season. He will be backing up Milano. The MLB rotation has been Dodson-Bernard-Spector. The kerfluffle is that on Tuesday, which would have been Spector's day, Dodson ran with the 1sts. So the question is, does that mean Spector is out of the race, or was it just a switch-around for some reason?