Beck Water

That pass is crazy. Allen is on the run and just flicks it. The ball at one point is traveling SIDEWAYS. But it still moves with velocity, on a rope right to Gabe.

Well, here's the thing. People are saying Damar Hamlin was a starter last year and looked like the Bills were counting on him to develop as a safety, so he won't be cut. People are saying the Bills love Cam Lewis and he is crazy versatile and playing his ass off and won't be cut. People are saying the Bills love Rapp because he can cover, but also play the run and they can use him in different ways. Now Neal, very active. 10 DB is about the upper limit, 6 CB 4 S White, Jackson, Elam, Benford, Johnson, Lewis, Neal - pick 6 Poyer, Hyde, Rapp, Hamlin, Lewis - pick 4 (note overlap of Lewis They have a similar talent logjam at DE and DT. Then there's the underwhelming group at LB, where Dobson, Milano, Bernard, and Williams seem like locks. Matakevich has guaranteed money > cap hit and is a special teams ace on a unit that lost a lot of guys. Then there's the reliable vet Klein, last year's pick Spector who got an early chance to run with the 1's, and some other pickups. Pick 6. Well, the Bills can't keep everyone. Someone who might be useful during the season is gonna have to meet the Turk.

I thought his tweet kind of acknowledged he was "helmet boy"

Well, he's signed by the Steelers. Although the reaction to the 1st preseason game in some quarters is that Mason Rudolph outplayed him, so if that keeps up, maybe the Steelers will trade him back to us. They'd eat a $10M dead cap hit though, and they don't have it. The Bills could afford it just fine, his salary is essentially league minimum, but he's got a $4.9M signing bonus this season and 2x $2.3M for 2024 and 2025 So trading or cutting him would be costly to the Stillers.

Seriously? Did you actually watch the play before you typed that?

Yeah, Josh Allen was reportedly furious so apparently there may be some difference of opinion, and/or Dodson is presenting his actions in the most favorable light.

Can I go with "you're both right"? Allen had a handful long completions in that game, notably 35 yds to Beasley (!!!), 25 yds to Davis, 23 to McKenzie. But if you look at the passing chart, we can see that actually, most of Allen's completions (~20 or so) were within 5 yds or behind the LOS. He really did nibble the 49ers to death, and then a handful of long passes went for the kill And that's really classic for how the Bills offense operates most efficiently. Now if you look at the Dolphins playoff game, we see a very different pattern. A handful of completed passes are within 5 yards of the LOS, and the others are scattered throughout the field. I'd put in that chart but the board software won't let me unless I re-size tiny and may fuss at me then, but here's the link So I would say, we need to know what the range and the standard deviation are when interpreting YPA, because 2 very different passing games can have similar YPA. Or, better yet, just stroll by Nexgen Stats and look at the passing chart for the games.

So I was actually thinking that Hamlin might be in a bit of trouble as far as making the roster. It's pretty clear the Bills like Cam Lewis A Lot for his versatility being able to play safety, nickel, and CB (I know there are people here who get PTSD at the thought, I'm putting out there what the Bills think, OK?) But with Cam Lewis not at practice again (groin injury) Hamlin is saying "seize the day!" in making his case

Isn't that what pineapples are for?

So update, placed on the reserve/retired list https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/bills-offensive-tackle-brandon-shell-not-at-practice-intends-to-retire/article_fd0bcaa8-3b8a-11ee-a708-0793679ff8a0.html Annnnd the obvious pun....

Factually, Diggs had 10 targets in the Cincinnati game. Now I can't tell you what that means - how many of them were catchable? But the stat line is 4 receptions on 10 targets, the most of anyone on the team. That would probably suggest that if Diggs wasn't involved to his satisfaction, it wasn't entirely for lack of JA and Dorsey trying. This is hard to see on the TV coverage, but people who have attended the games say he appears to take himself off the field. He did play more snaps in the playoffs - 90% - but that can present its own problems if it's not what a player's body is used to.

Scary is, as Scary does. On paper, sure, they've become a very talented offense. But as I've said before, football games are played on grass or turf, on Sunday Hackett has had a top rushing offense twice in his career as an OC/HC: 2013 in Buffalo with FredEx and CJ Spiller; and 2017 in Jax with Leonard Fournette. Green Bay had kind of a mediocre run game while he was there, and that was an improvement on their previous celler-dwelling lack of run game.

Jets are of course, gunning to be the Beasts of the East and topple the Bills who have won for the last 3 seasons Jets sign Dalvin Cook Pats sign Zeke Elliot It's almost as though our AFC East rivals think that the Bills can't stop the run or something

The Patriots sign Zeke Elliot The Jets sign Dalvin Cook The Bills have won the AFC East the last 3 seasons and of course, their AFC rivals are out to change it I don't know....it's almost as like their coaches believe that the Bills can't stop the run or something?

This totally cracks me up. 1) knocking off Dalton Kincaid's helmet 2) that little hip shimmy with 17 at the end

Good call, right you are. And thank you for the kind words. Justin Jefferson gets 15-16 targets a game because he almost never comes off the field. 92%, 98%. 100% of the snaps. Diggs has never gotten 20 targets in a Bills game, and only gotten 15 or 16 targets a handful (literally 5 I think) of games, and never in one of the 6 playoff games he's played as a Bill. Part of that is, he isn't on the field that high a # of snaps most games. 2021 82%, 2022 77% of the snaps. So I'm not sure where an expectation for 20 targets in a playoff game would come from. A lot of the best teams follow the philosophy, "take away their best player on offense", that being Diggs. Thus Gabe Davis drawing 10 targets and collecting 200 yds vs KC in the playoffs. I'm not sure what the last sentence "It’s because the org hears Diggs loud and clear" means.

By what metric did the Bills have a "terrible offensive line" last season? Interesting "sneer" though. It's been known to happen for a team to start a late 2nd round rookie at C next to a 6th round rookie at RG, and have it work out OK, so I'm not sure what your point is. Will be interesting to see how Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor work out for ya. But....but....but....the NFL only cares about one thing, Winning, so they always hire the best man for the job! I read that right here!

We'll find out eventually

Please say that again, a little bit louder, for the people in the back of the room I want to like "you say Boettger, I say Stallion" as Dion Dawkins said in 2021. But man, he looked awful. And in addition he had a terrible, no good, very bad day. PS btw very very good capture, thanks a lot for these.

Jake Fromm says "hi" from the 5th round in 2020 Started 2 games for the Giants in 2021, lost both.

Where was this praise for Kyle Allen? He said he thought the QB play was "hot and cold, that we moved the ball at times but at times we stalled out, we weren't productive enough on early downs (all true). In the second half we were better moving the ball on a more consistent basis, Matt getting the ball out and getting into a consistent rhythm and (his) hat goes off to him." Then he said it's an open competition for backup QB. For McDermott, that's about as close to critical of a player (Kyle Allen) as he is willing to be. All I heard about Dodson was that "he saw some good things out of the MLB group"

I thought Gabe Davis was actually lighter this season. where did the "extra 17 lbs of muscle" come from? But, I applaud your hopes for him as blowing us away!

I agree with the "better not more". The Bills were actually running the league average # of attempts per game last season. But part of "better" IMHO is less dependence on Allen as their best rusher, and more dependence on the backs. That may not actually be better in terms of improved Y/A or even as many Y/A, but if it's better in terms of Allen wearing down during the season, it's still an improvement. Note that I'm not suggesting Allen not run, just that he not run as much. I'd like to see him at the 2020 level of 6.4 attempts per game instead of last year almost 8 attempts per game.

So changing the topic: is anyone else particularly interested in the run game the Bills showed? Last season, the league average for rush attempts was 27 attempts/game and league average rush Y/G 121.6 The Bills were right at the league average with 26.9 attempts/game and above league average with 139.5 rush Y/G, but as many have pointed out, if one subtracts out QB rush attempts and QB rush yards, the Bills were below average with both. So I've been very interested to see what the Bills would do with their rush game over the off season. vs. the Colts, the Bills had 26 attempts (about average) for 82 yards (below average). Thoughts?