Beck Water

Hyde said it in his interview after his first practice, that "it wasn't up to him if he plays, it's up to his doctors". The only way I can interpret that is they cleared him to practice, not to play at this point. Similar thing to Tre White (though hopefully, not as prolonged); he was cleared to start practicing, not to play. I think it is, in some sense, a Hail Mary. It's saying if we get through the next two games and Poyer (playing on a torn meniscus in his knee) or Dean Marlow can't go, there may be a proven alternative ready to rock. If Hyde doesn't start practicing now, there's no good alternative what with Hamlin out. I may be totally dissing on Jaquan Johnson and Cam Lewis but nothing I've seen leads me to believe they could hold up against a top, multi-dimensional team.

Guys, it's a 21-day practice window for a reason. Players who have been on IR have a legit need to work their bodies back into football shape. That's real, just the impacts these guys take landing on the ground and rolling and getting up again when they aren't actually smashing into someone or being smashed takes some adjustment. I haven't talked to a football player about this, we have some guys here who played they can confirm or deny. The closest analogy I have is a friend who fights in the SCA (society of creative anachronism). That's the medieval recreation group that dons actual re-creation armor and, as he puts it, "hits each other with sticks". He describes how when you start fighting, you get hit and each blow you take, even a non-disaabling blow to your shield, sends a disabling wave of pain through you. As you keep fighting, your perception of "normal" pain shifts and the same blow is accepted by your body as "OK, not a problem" you're able to follow through and maintain your guard and carry on your body control. It even kind of revs you up in a weird way (that's the Josh Allen "I need a little contact") He's cleared by his docs to practice, wearing a no-contact jersey. He's not cleared to play football. Yet.

IDK, there's stuff about his knee is still grossly swollen. It's possible he had more than a PCL sprain too (cartilage damage?) I don't think the public has enough info to say if there's bridge burning in effect - at least, not more bridge burning than was in effect when they couldn't get a contract done in the off-season. Question - and I honestly have no idea - when fully healthy do the Jets have a Roman-esque OL, which is basically large athletic, physical bruisers? I had the impression they were more skill/athletic types. I think the upgrade thing goes right back to the question some pundits asked when Roman was coaching the Bills offense with Tyrod Taylor: is the design of the passing game, and the coaching/execution of it good enough to win? No one doubts Roman's abilities to craft a kick-ass freight train of a run game. But I think there are legit questions about the design of his passing game as well as questions about the quality of the QB as a passer and the quality of the receivers.

I think he's saying at this point, it's like Hyde has missed all of training camp and he needs a minute to work himself into football shape. I think McDermott is disappointed and is trying to manage his own expectations.

I agree with the "need to be focused and ready" part. It's fantastic that Damar is back home and it appears that he's going to be fine. My concern is that some of the Bills players (and who can blame them?) are still working through the Damar Hamlin thing. Even believing it's a fluky thing - it's one thing to say to a reporter "I want to hit a guy so hard I smash his chest in" and another to see a guy fall to the turf. I thought @Simon had a point that the Bills played the Patriots "with love" in the first half. In the second half i thought they started to get back into it. Nyheim Hines and Taron Johnson certainly played with abandon and led the way. As far as the second game - the Bills had 9 more first downs. They had 446 yds to the Fins 405 yds. They had more passing yards, 304 to 234. They had 4 passing TD to the Fins 2 passing TD. They had more 3rd down conversions, 57% vs 36%. Overall, they had the same penalty yards. The Bills scored TDs on 3 successive drives in the first half. And, the Bills were leading by a TD for the majority of the first half. So it's a bit mind boggling to me what people are looking at when they say "the Dolphins looked every bit our equal" in the second meeting. What I saw was: 1) two long plays given up, due to apparent confusion in the secondary. Even with Poyer in the game, something has happened to communication in our secondary and it's gotta be fixed, Fast. 2) OL/C issues in the 3Q: we went into the game without Bates, we lost Morse to concussion halfway through the game. At that point, we were playing our 3rd string C and playing a tackle at RG, and it showed in the issues Allen had. Fortunately, we adjusted and started moving the ball again in the 4Q after what could have been a costly strip-sack fumble where Allen was (wait for it) holding on to the ball trying to make something happen after 4 successive punts. It was 1D. Throw it away, 2nd down. 3) Critically, the Bills D held the Dolphins to a FG after that strip sack at midfield, limiting the damage. That was huge 4) back to the 3Q, the Bills Gifted the Dolphins a 4th down conversion with a really stupid RTP 5) back to back long drives for the Bills resulting in a TD and what could have been a TD, but was limited to a FG by the Bills in order to kill clock. I would say the reason the Bills didn't dominate the game had less to do with the Dolphins, and more to do with the Bills. Mistakes in the 2ndary, poor OL play by 3rd string players at 2 positions, a really costly RTP penalty. "Only the Bills can Beat the Bills".

No we don’t. We need a win. Hopefully a comfortable win with a nice lead by halftime and a good third quarter, but the only thing that matters is a win. There are no style points in the playoffs.

Well, yeah. This is a football bulletin board. We judge other posters here by the quality of the words they post - not by who they are in a life we know nothing about.. What other way can it be? What’s Your Point?

It’s not just enroute. There’s a reason the FAA requires seatbelts on takeoff and landing.

That would indeed surprise me. It pains me to say this because McDaniel gives me the grues, but the Dolphins appear to be a well-coached football team. They will be Lit for this game, having not had a playoff game in what, 6 years? They have enough talent on offense that they will take advantage of any miscues or miscommunications or mistakes on D and it seems to be a halllmark of our D that we will give up 1-2 big plays per game. They have a good DC who has been able to slow us down. As long as we don’t make stupid ass mistakes I expect the Bills to win handily but I don’t expect to see us relax and take our foot off the gas until the game is over.

A non-zero chance? I guess, but I don’t think we sit Shakir in favor of playing Brown and Beasley. We’re going to have a minimum of 5 WR active. That would be Diggs, Davis, McKenzie, Shakir, Beasley. If McKenzie can’t go, I’m sure Brown would get a call-up, keeping us at 5 My point was that even if McKenzie “gets right” by gameday, IMO it would make some sense to call up Brown anyway and have 6 WR active.

Yeah, first play broken down in Cover1 Disguised Coverage, make a big deal out of how Dolphins motion forces us to adjust and we left a gap leading to a 13 yd run but even they eventually comment “that has to be some kind of miscommunication” which left 2 DBs snuggled up on the R side of the field. Plus a missed tackle.

Right. The saying is it’s hard to beat a team twice in the same season and harder still to beat them 3x in the same season. You learn their tendencies, the small tells, in a way just film study won’t always give you. The Dolphins have a very inventive DC and sound OC. They’ve got some good players on D. They played us hard both games and had some success. But I don’t feel they beat us, or came close to beating us, in either game. Even with the heat and the injuries, we beat ourselves - with a fumble on the Buffalo 6 yd line in the first game leading to a TD and a missed FG; with a strip-sack fumble and the World’s Dumbest RTK Penalty in the 2nd game. There were other miscues but those stand out. I don’t think the team is taking them lightly at all. But “they deserved to win” is silliness.

TBH, I’m kind of with the guy who asked “why do we need to dress 6 LB?” I’d rather see us dress 6 WR If McKenzie can’t go, call up John Brown and make him active. If he can go, snip someone off the LB list I don’t see it happening, but given how little we play base defense….. The thing is, on that John Brown TD, Allen commented that the safety went to McKenzie leaving Brown open. IIRC Gabe and McKenzie were running deep crossers and the safety went with McKenzie there too. Bills fans think little of him but having two fast guys makes a difference, especially when TDs have been caught in previous games. It’s harder on a defense to shut things down.

Indeed. If the quality metric for a game is whether a team is winning at halftime, then the Ravens dominated us (news flash: they lost), and we dominated the Vikings (news flash: we lost)

Which of those strict rules and regulations force the HC to declare a player, including a QB, “out” on Wednesday before a game?

Cover1 Disguised Coverage with Anthony Prohaska and Kendall Morris Film breakdown starts about 31:50 in if you want to go right for the heart of it Prior to getting into the film, they talk generally about some of the stuff Miami did on defense - that in general, Miami is a team that likes to blitz a lot and use Cover0, but that they mixed it up a lot , would show Cover0 and drop into Cover3 etc etc - that they really made Josh work mentally, and that the Bills need to have good quick answers for pressure

He’s listed as limited participation yesterday and today. Media said he didn’t throw while they were watching but that could easily be a smokescreen. https://www.buffalobills.com/team/injury-report/ I could be wrong, but I think they played a lot of zone against us in both previous games this season. At least in the first game, they were also pretty creative about disguising their coverage

Little ray of sunshine about the place, aintcha?

I agree of course, the question (to me) is why do this today, vs waiting until Saturday 4 pm (I believe that’s the deadline)

But the thing you are quoting said “on the 53 man roster”. PS callups are part of a gameday 55 man roster Well, I think the Bills are a class organization so hopefully they’ll work that out

Interesting, though that would appear to omit John Brown then Which would kinda suck for him But one step at a time, we gotta get there first I think you can bank on it, if McKenzie is out. The previous game he was out Shakir got 70% We may see more Beasley but I don’t think it will be his previous 60-70% of the snaps from 2021

Dude, if you’re gonna respond to me, could you please take the time to read what I’ve written? Otherwise, you’re just talking at me and there’s really not much point OK one more time: Beane could elevate Beasley any time between now and Saturday afternoon. There is no advantage to do it sooner. Beasley will not be more motivated or more involved in the game plan if he’s elevated now vs Weds. If McKenzie is going to be out, no reason to tell the Dolphins now and not Saturday The only reason I can think of to do it now and not Saturday is to make the Dolphins prepare defensively for some of the plays we used to have in the playbook for Beasley, that got taken out. That would be a good thing for us, just as making us prepare for 2 QBs is a good thing for them

I can’t imagine throwing a football with a broken pinky, but evidently Aaron Rodgers managed with a broken thumb? The things these guys do to get out there Agree with you that “no throwing during media portion of practice” could be a smokescreen That the game day active roster is 46 players, 48 provided at least 8 OLmen are active?

Fine “does not involve the QB as an option to carry the ball”, does that help? The point is the OP to which I was responding indicated an RPO could not be run effectively if the QB is not a proficient runner. But they can. https://footballadvantage.com/rpo-football/ They just gain another dimension when the QB can also run,

Good question, and I’m really not sure at this point Dodson and Matakevich are core ST’ers I think right now Klein would be the guy who comes in if we play a base D, but it might be Dodson Anyone got the code here?