Beck Water

You're not asking me, but in previous games when he's available, Bills have preferred to move Bates to C and bring Van Roten in at G It works better

Seems a bit odd they would fly into O'Hare. Getting from O'Hare to Soldier Field gonna be a chore, hope they have a hotel next to the airport. What's not good about it? Other than all the airports in Chicago are going to be a cold mess today.

If it takes off out of Buffalo at 7 pm should arrive in Chicago ~7:30 pm central time or 01:30 zulu https://aviationweather.gov/taf/board?ids=KORD Weather actually forecast to get a bit better around then, but of course there will be all the ongoing flight impacts from earlier weather delays. Anyone know which Chicago airport the Bills use? Midway would be a lot closer to Soldier Field. LOL is that Cole Beasley in front of the one with McKenzie's number on it, like "hey, giving one to yourself - where's mine?"

Did we see this? Ed Oliver and Jordan Phillips both questionable - YIKES. Our DL is a mess. Hopefully 1 of the 2 can go, but I think we're gonna need an elevation to the 53 man roster (maybe 2) in addition to 2 practice squad call-ups. For those scoring at home, as best as I can figure: -Mike Love has had 1 of 3 practice squad call-ups -Brandin Bryant has had 1 of 3 practice squad call-ups. He has played in 4 games, but was signed to the active roster from 9/24 to 10/8 when he played in the 1st MIA and BAL games, again signed to the active roster 10/11 - 11/1 (no games), and a third signing from 12/13-12/19 for the 2nd MIA game. -John Brown and Cole Beasley have both used 1 of 3 practice squad call-ups Not sure who we bring up for another DT if both Ed and Phillps can't go.

I have it on good authority (aka this board) that Basham is a bust so can't make no never mind if it's Mike Love in there.

I think that's one of those Ben Franklin "let a man once develop a reputation for being an early riser, and he may sleep until noon" things

% of plays under center to date this season: 27% % of plays under center last season: 27% I'm thinking we play from shotgun the overwhelming majority of the time for other reasons. Though, Van Roten is effectively our 3rd string center so I doubt he gets a lot of practice time with Josh.

Basham with Creed Humphries on the board still chaps my grits. I still have hopes for Basham developing, but I think he's gonna be an AJE/Knox type player where if the Bills do get value from him, it's gonna be a "light bulb turns on just before he has to get paid" kinda thing. Most people seem to think AJE is playing pretty well this season. Not sure who you have in mind as a "replacement level" (ie PS/STer) equivalent in play. "Rotational DE", this IS Frazier and McDermott's defense, they are all rotational.

Dane on a ....candy cane? 🤔🤐 Po in the Snow and QB on a Tree my favorites. Ed on a Sled, Matt on a hat, and Tre on a Sleigh pretty good

Did McD say that they weren't gonna practice today or something? Because T-W-Th instead of W-Th-Fr would be the normal practice week for a Sat game

It's more kind of the way he said it. Turning his head immediately to look for another question, kind of with a "why would I do that?" affect. It kind of came across as dismissive, like "why would I?" If he said "I'm focused on studying our offense and being the best I can be within it" or "I catch their games occasionally - we have a very different style of play" it would have been fine.

I don't think they're missing a day of practice. They're planning to leave this evening, right, or has that moved up? So they'll get in their normal practice today as far as I know, which is equivalent to "Fast Friday" They'll do their normal "Saturday morning walk-through" on Friday, in a ballroom at the hotel if they need to (McD presser) The disruptions are more psychological and to treatment - guys missing out on the Thursday equivalent of "Friday date night" or "Friday Family night", maybe worrying if their families will come through the storm OK with power; guys who normally get a cryo or a hypobaric chamber treatment before the team travels, maybe missing out on that.

I think you may be working a little bit too hard to "prove" Warner is "wrong". When an RB is motioned out of pass pro into a route, he becomes a route running option - a receiver, a choice the QB can throw to - part of the design of the play. The route Motor ran contained what I believe is termed a "rub" (though my understanding of how the terms "rubs" and "picks" gets used is fuzzy) with Morris and his defender essentially screening off the defender assigned to Morris from Singletary - giving him a head start to get open. If Motor had an option and ran for the sideline, he would pull coverage off of Morris more directly if that were the intent. It's possible that if Josh held the spy with his eyes and by setting his feet, the "spy" would pick up Motor, though I think the Dolphins respect Josh's feet too much for that to be his assignment. I believe the point is, there are a lot of people yelling that Dorsey doesn't scheme guys open in the red zone and we're relying on WR to "beat their man" and Josh to buy time with his feet and create. But what if that's wrong? What if Dorsey has in fact designed quick pass options which scheme guys open against different coverages, and Josh isn't taking them, when he could? I give up now, because I think this is one of these instances where nothing I could possibly say would possible cause you to reconsider your POV

Why does it have to be the "hidden reasons" conspiracy theory thing? We were playing NE. Frazier wanted to play disguised coverage in zone and stifle the run, in a hostile environment with challenging communication. Rhodes is a good run defender, and Elam is still "progressing" in his zone coverage. And, there probably is some truth to the idea they wanted to see what Rhodes had left in case they need him, in a game where they thought they could get away with a look. They got their answer I assume (Not much).

Isn’t it Josh’s job as the QB to read the defense and decide which route is the best option given how the defense reacts after the snap You seem to be making an assumption that we don’t have play designs where Diggs is open, and that lack of play designs to get Diggs the ball is the reason he’s only getting 9-10 targets per game. If you like to wander over to another thread, you can find play breakdowns where (for example) Diggs was arguably open and the best option. Josh chose to hold the ball and manipulate the DB to close up on Diggs, and threw over his head to McKenzie deep.

Looking at the forecast, I'm actually a bit concerned they'd be better off leaving Thurs afternoon, not evening...could be kinda Gnarly in Chicago airspace already by Thursday night. Not as gnarly as it's supposed to be in Buffalo on Friday though, so there's that.

Might find this interesting Bills were playing a lot of press man against the Dolphins That's Elam's gig

McDermott was asked in presser and said Allen had “general soreness” in his elbow

That's a "trifecta" of "things I really really don't like about this week's injury report": Josh suffering from "general elbow soreness", Poyer with a knee injury missing 2 practices, and Mitch Morse still in concussion protocol (I think the likelihood is high he will miss this game). 🤐 One is impressed, but a little concerned, at your apparent ability to collect actual Moose Piss for a taste comparison

Jim Kubiak talks about some of the same plays that Warner breaks down. https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/jim-kubiak-how-tight-end-and-running-back-high-low-concept-helped-bills-qb-josh/article_df25bcb2-7ffe-11ed-bc7e-0354648364b9.html On some, he sees the same things. On others, he either doesn't, or doesn't comment on them. Kubiak on the strip sack: They both comment that there was an easy completion to Cole, and that the strip sack resulted from Josh buying time and looking for a deep throw when an easy completion was there. And I think that's a theme that critics of our OL need to consider. They are sometimes giving Josh more than enough time to make a completion - they just aren't always able to give Josh enough time to make the deeper completion he's trying to hit. And that's compounded by defenses studying Allen's tendencies, because they know they can plaster the deeper options and give less attention to the shallow throws as Allen won't take them. Where Warner and Kubiak differ in what they see/say, I think a HOF QB who got there due to his abilities to read the field and manipulate defenders might see options Navy's best QB misses, and his interpretation is at least worth hearing and considering - but YMMV. And BTW, Warner did not always have the benefit of a great OL. Some years yes, some years no.

I think there are elements of truth to this, but there is also a valid point (also one made by Warner) that at times, guys are in fact open and Allen isn't taking the "Easy" button he is offered.

I guess it must be in the "ear of the beholder". He never said "I would much prefer to play in a dome" He said things like "we have a pretty strong passing offense" and "of course, it's easier to pass consistently in a dome".

Link where Warner or Cosell called us the “deepest roster by far”? Or Simms for that matter Not at all sure it’s the same pundits I think Warner watches the Bills a lot

Can we please Stop with suggesting RBs play slot receiver? Cook has been a mixed bag when asked to run routes