Beck Water

That's.....😥😥😭

I think Elam very much improved, yes. But keep in mind that Benford was on IR starting in Game 12 and then inactive the rest of the season Two things can be true: the Bills (and fans) can believe that Elam improved the last few games of the season AND the Bills can also believe that especially in zone coverage, Jackson and then Benford are still the better players at this point. McDermott and the position coaches 100% like to send the message "nothing is guaranteed, everything is earned" during camp

Well, if he's got other things in his life, that's understandable But if he missed (and we missed) due to mere lack of tickets, I think he's a freakin' public benefactor and ought to have tickets earmarked for him!!!!

Is this new, or did we see a lot of screen work last preseason only to have screens vanish under the shifting sands of the regular season?

Thing is he hurt his ankle in 2021 as well Hope he can keep them both healthy this season. I have been told that catching the ball starts with your feet. I don't understand that, but, it was said by someone who knows his ball so.... Cover1 bringing it

No Astro notes for today? 😥

Plus, Hackett may have been a disaster as a HC in Denver, but apparently Aaron Rodgers got on with him well in GB so....

Sal C article: https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/bills/starting-middle-linebacker-cornerback-battles-in-full-swing?utm_campaign=sharebutton&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=WGRAM

Well, Yeah. All HC have egos. As Darryl Talley said about players, "if you don't have an ego, you don't belong on the field". Even more so for the HC. Right or wrong, he's gotta believe in himself and his "process" or he doesn't belong in charge. Sean Payton was HC of the New Orleans Saints for 16 years. By now his ego has had time to reach full maturity and be ready for harvest.

Fair.

I could be wrong but that doesn't look like Sean Payton to me. And this is what sucks about social media (see what I did there? lol). Some dude named Joe Bagwell whose profile says he's from Taiwan, joined in twitter in 2016, and has 15 (fifteen) followers (!!!!) posts something and calls it Sean Payton, then some Jets fan picks it up and next it'll be all over the blogoverse. Looks legit to me (not)

I don't think Sean Payton and Nathaniel Hackett are gonna be "besties" any time soon.

See above. It's Beane's pattern. He'll take a shot on "elite traits" guys and count on them being able to be coached up. Sometimes that works, and sometimes that doesn't.

This is a valid point. Some people like to carry on as though every 1st round pick (or 2nd round pick) on every other team is a "hit". But the truth is, the effects of coming into sudden wealth, the increased level of competition in the NFL, the length of the season....all have an impact. About 1/3 of first round picks don't pan out, and another fraction become football players, but not the stars the team hoped for. The Bills/Beane do have a pattern of taking draft shots on higher ceiling/lower floor players who sometimes take longer to develop (and, in this world of FA, then play well for only 1-2 years before hitting the big payday). I would frankly class Tremaine Edmunds as one of those.

Kumerow isn't on the Bills team. He's currently not on any team. He's a free agent. I expect he's still recovering from late-season back surgery, and he may be signed closer to the start of the season if he has a good workout. Or, at age 31, he may be done.

Couplea things then Imma let this go It's not, really. We need a guy who, as Reid said to Mahomes before KC tied it up: "When it looks grim, Be the Grim Reaper". But yelling at or shaming a guy from the distance during the game won't help him make that shift. So, we'll have to agree to disagree here. Listening to your elite weapon is important. Screaming at your QB is not appropriate, and in any case, you'll get what Diggs got - Allen ignoring him. Constructive ways to be heard are to approach the QB and share some observation about how the defense is covering you, how you can run a route to get open against that. Beasley did that kind of thing with Josh. Kelce famously did it with Mahomes, leading to "13 seconds". If Diggs wants to see the Bills push that rock over the top, then he needs to look at himself and see what he can do to help Josh be better. To his credit, he did say some stuff to that effect in his presser yesterday that seem to have mostly gone unremarked by media focused on the Minicamp kerfluffle. Something to the effect of "I can do more to help him. I WILL." Yes, Diggs has been extremely productive for the Bills, in 3 regular seasons and in the 2020 playoffs. In 2021 playoffs, he was contained or shut down, 3 receptions on 4 targets for 60 vs NWE, 3 receptions on 6 targets for 7 yds vs KC. 2022, 4 receptions on 10 targets for 4 yards. That indicates a need for communication - but that communication had best be about how they're playing him and when he can get open better. And I'm not saying that 4 receptions on 10 targets is on Diggs - I know some of the throws were off-target - but I think a couple of them he could have had. Diggs needs to find a way to be more productive in the playoffs, to whatever extent that's within his control. And it may critically depend upon Josh having better receiving weapons behind Diggs.

Well, since that was a factor both in the Bengals debacle and the loss to the Jets....maybe the receivers need to be practicing their catching skills with wet footballs and a juggs.

I hope you're right, and certainly the contract the Bills offered him makes it clear they think he's got more to offer there than McKenzie did. But the problem we've historically faced with smurf players who have better skills than most opponents, is that when it comes to playoff football where the refs put their whistles away and "let the players play" (aka let the DBs mug the WR) they get neutralized. Early reports are that Sherfield is playing gunner on ST opposite Neal. The question with Sherfield isn't "is he a game changer on offense?" but "has he shown himself to be a better offensive contributor - a better WR - than Kumerow was?" The answer is pretty clearly "yes. Yes, he has."

I think if you could combine Benford and Elam you'd have a heckuva player. Elam is still getting "lost in space" in zone coverage. He's still thinking about it and not just see-and-react, it makes him a step slow. He can man up though. Benford has the zone coverage down. He understands what he's supposed to do and when and why. He's got "zone eyes" (so does Dane). But he's not gonna win against the top receivers in man coverage.

I don't think Kincaid will have the blocking chops to act as a fullback, not first thing as a rookie, anyway. JMO based on scouting reports pre-draft. If he learns to release off the line against press man and outfight physical NFL play as a receiver, that will be enough.