Beck Water

I’ll also say this. There is a difference between one person in a group or organization undergoing an emotionally stressful event, and the whole organization suffering it. In the former case the rest of the organization can hold them up - surround them with support and cover for them if needed. I think the Bills did that for Knox the first month or so of the season. When the whole group underwent the same event, it’s a different situation. The Bills could have been energized and inspired collectively, but they weren’t. End of story.

-Why do you think Boettger would start the season on PUP? He was healthy enough to be active and take snaps in one game; he was also healthy enough to be re-signed to a 1 yr deal. Remember PUP is ONLY for players who are not physically able to take a single rep in training camp. Once they do, they become ineligible for PUP. -Why do you think the team would rely on Doyle as LT/RT depth, when he is rehabbing from an ACL tear that was probably operated on in mid-Oct, and may well start TC on PUP? I don't care if an OL is taken on Day 3, but if that's the only OL taken, I'll share your disappointment. I'm preparing for disappointment though I agree with you, I don't think they take an OG in the 1st round on Day 1.

Say more about Campbell and the differences you see between Edmunds and Campbell in how the defense would function. I know he's slower (a 4.6 guy) but the OBL crew and Maddy Glab were discussing him and described him as very cerebral, very fast to process, and solid in coverage. Especially his first two years here, and somewhat his third year, the knock on Edmunds seemed to be that he had incredible athleticism and the reach of a pteryactyl, but struggled to figure out how to apply them.

There's a chance Morse gets concussed again and decides to hang up the cleats any time, but I hope not. There's a big difference between "some experience at center" and a top C in the league, a level Morse played at last year. Edwards didn't just have "a concussion", he had two concussions in 2 weeks, that put him on IR and then when they opened his 21 day window and tried to bring him back, he couldn't make it. So he basically lost 3/4 of a season to 'a concussion', which is actually more worrisome to me than multiple concussions that were recovered from more rapidly. I think Edwards would be binned as a "high risk, high reward" signing - if he stays healthy, you get a SB-team level OG, but he could get concussed again and go out for the season at any time.

I did, too. And between Crowder and McKenzie the first few games, we were getting OK production from the slot. We do! You got one with great hands and a strong release we can sign for $2M or draft in the 4th round?

I agree, it was mystifying to watch. I'm just a bit puzzled on what, exactly, the people laying it on the coaches believe the coaches shoulda done. It was said that the coaches could tell the players were dragging and that they'd tried to adjust the week's schedule to "get things right". Obviously whatever they tried, either wasn't the right thing or wasn't enough.

I 100% agree with you it would be prudent, and in fact would have liked to see the Bills do that 2 years ago (yes, I'm still salty about Boogie Basham over Creed Humphrey, why do you ask?). However, and we'll have to wait and see what Edwards contract is to get an idea how the Bills see him - the fact that the Bills have signed two guys who are at best, upgrades and at worst, solid competition for Bates and Boettger says to me that a draft pick who's attracted enough attention and is pro-ready enough to not slide through onto the PS are unlikely. The Bills typically have 9 OL: the 5 starters, two backup G (one of them a G/C), two backup T - one swing, one who can play as a 6th OL They just paid Connor McGovern their biggest FA $$ of the season - he's the frontrunner to start one G position (initially, LG) and has played C. They may have a battle between Bates and Edwards for RG, but they're unlikely to slice Bates and count 100% on a guy who missed 13 games with a concussion last season if Edwards wins. I guess they may cut Boettger - he's on a 1 year, Veteran Salary Benefit contract with only a $76k bonus to take him into camp? Maybe I'm just jaded about the Bills likely OL investment. I still feel when it comes to investing in OL, they're like the 2021 Fed - they have a Low Interest Rate.

Doyle was injured at the end of September (Dolphins game). That means he likely had surgery mid-October. The league average time to return, I believe, is 12-13 months, so it's a pretty realistic expectation that he'll go through TC and into training camp on PUP. I could be wrong, but I think Big Men need more time to build their strength back up. They're basically bending their knees and trying to leverage the hell out of other big men with them every snap.

The Bills probably figure it's worth the signing bonuses to carry quality competition at OL into camp.

Who is Wililams? Bates has not shown himself to be anywhere near Morse at C.

Ike was rehabbing an Achilles last season and saw a mighty 6 snaps in week 15. Obviously they wouldn't have re-upped him if they didn't think there was a chance he could come back, and most players who do come back take a year, but I think there's a real question as to whether he can return to what he was - and then a 2nd question as to whether what he was, is good enough.

Isn't Doyle rehabbing a torn ACL as of the end of September? Chances seem good he starts the season on PUP.

Is he? (hurt a lot). He only played 4 games last season, but prior to that seems to have been pretty sturdy. -dnp the first 6 games of his rookie year 2019, played 100% of the snaps game 7 through 16 -dnp the first game of 2020 and half of the 2nd game, came in and played the rest of the season, but missed the two playoff games -2021, played 100% of the snaps in ever regular season game and all 4 playoff games except, taken out for 4 snaps in blowout against the Jaguars week 13 -2022 missed 1 game in concussion protocol, came back the following week, suffered 2nd concussion in 2 weeks, went on IR, missed rest of season So I don't think the issue is he's hurt a lot. I think the issue is he had a scary series of concussions last season, 2 in 2 weeks. It may say he tried to come back too soon from the 1st concussion (essentially, a Tua-type situation). He's this season's "I need a Guy to help teach my technique" for Kromer, except younger and potentially way more tread on his tires than Saffold had left. Hopefully fully recovered from his concussion symptoms and will undergo whatever mental training and mitigating strategies he can come up with - me, I'd be "Lemme take my $5.6M earnings and go enjoy life" but if a guy feels he's

Nah. It's one thing to be happy the team is trying to upgrade a few players you didn't see as the solution for this team in their positions. I'm all for that. I can see where the Bills view Harty as a higher ceiling guy and Sherfield as bringing a different skillset, so move on from McKenzie and give them a try. It's another thing to ***** on departing players who went hard here "missing when it mattered most" "too many gaffs at big moments", apparently having amnesia about the times they came through when it mattered. That's scapegoating, if you want to go there, Go There but don't expect a pass for it.

We'd gotten slapped in the face earlier in the season - Ravens were up on us 20-3 with 1:47 left in the 2nd Q with our previous drives being Interception - FG - Fumble - Punt -Punt - and we clawed back. I don't think the problem was that the players had "no idea how to respond to that". We weren't a team that had been having things all our own way with no need to battle back all season. So what exactly do you think the staff is supposed to do to change things?

Here's the thing. Maybe it's the Achilles heel of McDermott's strength. When you say you're going to craft a winning organization with love - with guys genuinely getting to know each other and soaking in and building bonds - you have to really mean it for it to be worth anything. And when you've got a guy, a brother, who essentially dies on the field and spends the next week fighting for his life - it's gonna have the same impact, in that environment, as a critical health situation or death for a close family member, except this time, it's not one guy it's the whole team. And the coaches are feeling it too. There were some media rumors that at least one of the coaches had broken down that following week. You can read the room, but what exactly are you supposed to do/say to "properly adjust" for a team that just had its head rammed into the fact that there are some things bigger than football? "Forget what just happened. Go out and go back to hitting other players like you want to smash their chests in, Be a Man". That doesn't work - it makes you look like everything you've ever said about loving and caring for one another is bogus. Sometimes it just takes time to process this stuff. You can scream at the players for not making plays, but if they think they're giving everything they've got or they just can't get it into that extra gear with the weight they're carrying, what's yelling gonna do? Yeah, a lot of us have lost a close family member or friend and taken our 1 to 3 days leave and gone back to work and sucked it up. But the circumstances are different. I could be working at 80% or 90% and still do a functional job, better than being absent and others having to cover for me. But the talent difference between two top teams (or even a top team and a bottom team) is not that big in today's NFL. Face a team you're a lot better than, maybe you can sleep walk through it. Face a team that's even steven, better in some places not as good in others, you better bring it all at 100% or you're Going Down. Personally I think it was a mistake to have Hamlin in the locker room before the game. I think it put "what can happen if you smash into a guys chest at the wrong time in the wrong place" right back before their eyes and instead of being motivational, was de-motivational. But @Simon said it, the Bills played their final game against the Patriots "with Love", and there were elements of that in the Dolphins game as well, so maybe it didn't make a difference or was positive.

Ding ding ding If they're smart, neither players nor coaches are going to give their authentic, unvarnished opinions to the press. If they do, there's a good chance it will accelerate their chances of being told to seek employment elsewhere, or hamper their chances of being signed with a new team. One of the things I don't care about with Ty Dunne's approach is that he seems to cultivate relationships with players who are lower down on the roster thus not assigned PR handlers or rehearsed in dealing with the media, then get stuff out of them that may potentially hurt them with their coaches or team. There's a line between both Dunne and the player enjoying a bit of unvarnished talk (like McKenzie saying he'd rather be sent to talk to Beane than McDermott, McDermott is like your Dad "why did you do that? I taught you better than that!" and Beane is like your fun Uncle "well, if you're going to steal a car, make sure it's a fun car and try not to get caught next time" - it was entertaining) vs. egging the player on to maybe say stuff that the players and coaches expect to keep in-house, which Dunne definitely tries to do at times. JMO

Ha! I did have that same thought. I think one difference, hopefully a significant one, is that of the guys who will be putting the defensive gameplan together (Holcomb, Washington, John Butler), two actually have experience as NFL DC's and all have extensive defensive coaching experience. Whereas NE last year was a former DC and a former ST coordinator, neither with experience coaching a young QB or crafting an offense. How Hard Could It Be?

1. I believe the Bills have already announced they will not hire anyone externally, so your preference for an external candidate is kind of irrelevant. 2. I was not a fan of Mike Pettine as a DC. He was a "live by the blitz, die by the blitz" kind of guy which I feel is outdated for QB who can make decisions quickly and throw an accurate short pass to the defensive area the blitzer has vacated. 3. McDermott's actual words were "more physical, nasty" not "more aggressive" defense. I think this makes a difference. To many people, an aggressive defense is a defense that, for example, blitzes more. A more "physical, nasty" defense might be a defense that basically plays the same scheme but hits harder, jams receivers on the line, etc etc. https://www.buffalobills.com/video/sean-mcdermott-more-physical-nasty-defense

I don’t think that’s true. There’s that fully-guaranteed $58M roster bonus which converts to salary if it isn’t exercised by week 1. It makes him tradeable because it becomes payable by his new team, once he’s traded, so it limits the guaranteed $$ cap hit GB has to take on the chin If he’s cut, it’s fully guaranteed, so GB has to pay whatever part of it his new team doesn’t pick up - and why would they pick up $58M? If the Jets get Rodgers, their capability in the draft will be irrelevant because their 1st round draft pick and maybe one or both of their 2nds will belong to GB

So on OBL, Maddie Glab, Tasker and Brown did a “mock draft watch”. Apparently a number of mock drafts by pundits have the Bills taking with Trenton Simpson or Iowa LB Jack Campbell in the 1st. I see Trenton Simpson on your list, but what about Jack Campbell, any word that the Bills have had interviews with him at all? He’s not on Ryan Talbot’s list either Two WR to whom Greg Cosell gave a nod, Jordan Addison and Zay Flowers, both on the list.

You called it - it’s a cliff-hanger to get people to subscribe. Ty Dunne’s thing with “Go Long” is …long articles, so that piece that looks long enough to be an article is actually his intro. I dunno about “shameless”, it seems like SOP to offer people a sample and see if you can get them to buy a bottle or a hunk of cheese so to speak. I thought Dunne was a very good writer when he was with TBN, and I admire him for coming up with an independent business plan that’s evidently working to make him a living - good for him! But I haven’t been too intrigued by some of his interview choices…early on, he spent a lot of time talking to former Bills FO employees Tom Monos and Doug Whaley (a man who clearly has no ax to grind with the Bills or Sean McDermott) about the state of the Bills, and I just didn’t want to hear it. I liked parts of his podcast with Isaiah McKenzie but I also felt he kind of ‘used’ McKenzie by drawing him on to maybe say stuff that could get him in trouble with McDermott. So I haven’t personally been moved to subscribe. ??? By the Bye week? Seriously? Like, at the point of the season where we thumped the Steelers then beat the Chiefs in a pretty clean game where we had 125 yds rushing, Josh Allen only had 35 of those, 3 TD 0 INT 329 yds passing while picking Mahomes twice? At that point, it was apparent to you that something was not right?

I seem to recall Donte Whitner

Congrats on beating that Douche, Cancer

I’m not trying to argue that the offense is without blame, clearly they didn’t do their job. The point is, when the defense fails to get a stop and get the ball back to the offense, they’re not without blame either - and the fact that some games were won when the opponents scored more than 27 points doesn’t change that, the fact that the D didn’t get stops and the O only scored 10 points are not unrelated. Someone made a good case a while back that to beat a good team, the defense needs to get at least 4 stops. The Bengals forced 4 punts on us, we forced 2 on them.