Beck Water

I lost it now, but there was a video clip posted, illustrating another play (maybe the pitch to Hines) which kinda shown what I've seen from Shakir in the slot on the film I've watched. Shakir had to make his way between two players in zone coverage - which he did. As he cleared them, he raised the "mail flag" (arm gesture, I'm open). But there was a 3rd defender moving to pick him up as he cleared the first two, who within a step was covering him closely from behind and who was well-positioned to pick up any slightly errant throw or deflection. I'm not sure what exactly Shakir should do differently in that specific situation - maybe he was just well covered and taken away. Possibly, a "speed guy" like McKenzie might zip to the sideline and gain enough separation that Josh could take a shot, "his ball or no ones". A "surgeon" like Beasley might act like he's racing to the sideline then cut sharply inside and win separation that way. Shakir may be doing what he's coached to do, but to me he seemed oblivious to the fact that he was still very covered. I think the whole "beat the zone" thing is still "progressing" for him. Shakir's catches all seem to me to be outside or deep.

If we must talk OBJ:

Oh, wow, here we go: I wonder if Stevenson was not claimed on waivers, but is off taking a physical for another team for a PS slot. Maybe he doesn't feel he has a legit shot here, and is looking to see if there's a team where he has a better chance to get on the field?

I liked Crowder and agree that he was a significant loss to the O, but honesty compels me to point out that he was rocking a sub-50% catch rate and had an INT scored against him which IIRC was off a bobble or deflection. That's not Beasley-level reliable. You're right that Crowder has that ability to diagnose zone and find the open spots, but he gotta catch it, including in traffic, when he gets there.

You might find it interesting to look up posts by @HoofHearted in this thread, which include play diagrams and explanations of the play being run. A lot of the discussion centers around a play where Josh kept the ball, but my understanding is the sweep play handoff to Hines was the same design. In that play, the DE is unblocked and it's the job of the RB to evade him. The WR may have missed blocks on the sweep, but our WR have been missing blocks on sweeps for years now. So if you know someone who knows Hines, tell him he has to put his mind to it that to make something happen, he's going to have to evade and make yards on his own there, because there is no magic switch to be flipped that will enable our WR to consistently hit on those blocks. Davis and Kumerow can block in the backfield or chip inline like a TE. The rest of our WR even McKenzie can block downfield, but there's something about the blocking needed on a sweep or bubble screen we just don't Get. Maybe we don't practice it enough. Maybe there are "tells" that let the D diagnose and they're ready for it. IDK. But the sweeps haven't been working well all season. Hines is getting them instead of McKenzie IMO because the Bills hope he can break the first tackle and get some yards, like an RB. IMO.

I don't remember your responses to the trades, but in general - my impression is that when the trade was announced, some here were just giddy, as though we'd added our own Christian McCaffrey who was just under-utilized on that Colts team. That turned to indignation when the Bills were not immediately carving him out a big role. I looked at his body of work and felt that we'd added a player who could contribute immediately as a PR/KR, and who could potentially be an important depth piece backing up Cook and McKenzie. We've actually used him a bit more than I expected. So IMO, Yes, you had unreasonable expectations for the contributions of a guy who was the #4 or #5 player on a poor team. He did, and it was an important play - it showed that he has grasped that with Josh Allen, you can not, ever, until the whistle blows, assume that the play is over, and he is able to stay alert and adapt. McKenzie has taken some snaps from the backfield. He's been modestly successful - 9 rushes last season, 5.2 ypa; 6 rushes this season so far, 6 ypa. But the 5'7", 170 lb (maybe) McKenzie isn't going to hold up to a lot of that and is certainly not capable of trucking people and fighting for yards. Hines is an actual running back, and while he's not much taller, he has a stockier almost 200 lb frame, that can challenge more believably as an RB. I think that's a "you" problem The first part of this is a shared feeling here, FWIW. I felt this Spring that the Bills had under-invested in Offense, especially OL and WR. I think we're following a philosophy that Beane learned in Carolina, to count on a great QB to raise the level of the offense and overcome the deficiencies of the OL. It didn't take them over the top to a Superbowl in Carolina, it arguably shortened the lifespan of that great QB, and I'd like to see Beane evolve from it. But if you look at the Hines addition as part of a pattern, it fits right in with that. Another team (*cough*) adds an RB in the 1st, a C in the 2nd, and a WR in the 2nd 3 successive years - we can debate the merits of specific picks, but it shows a commitment to investment on offense. A different team (*cough cough*) adds a WR in the 2nd after its QB in the 1st; a 2nd WR in the 1st last year. In the same 3 drafts, the Bills add an RB in the 3rd, a WR in the 4th, and OL in the 3rd, and a WR in the 5th. We traded back before drafting an RB in the 2nd round, this season. The theme is, "we're not drafting at Nordstrom for offense; we can draft our offense at Kohls, same thing but cheaper" So apply that to Hines. He wasn't contributing as a top-tier player in Coltsland, so why expect him to show up big here? He's a budget add. Now, if Epenesa and Rousseau and Basham step up and come on strong and carry us to a championship, and if Cook starts contributing strongly, I will gladly return to this post and positively GOBBLE my plate of Crow Pie. Post here, get disagreed with here.

It's 10:30 in NYC now, so I'm kinda thinking if someone claimed Stevenson on Waivers yesterday it woulda been reported by now. I expect the Bills to re-sign him to the practice squad, but the coaches probably want to talk about which PS player to release and then talk to that player first, especially given they may want to change things up after yesterday's Von Miller news

Are you trying to play professional football week after week? If he gimps after sitting, what's he going to need 2 days after a game, a hoist and a wheelchair? Question: who are these "many" who thought help at WR would come from Stevenson? There's no special designation any more. Any player on IR can be brought back (up to 2x) during the season But, the team only gets 8 "return" designations total. So, it is a bit puzzling that the Bills would use one of their 8 on Stevenson. What I don't remember is if that carries over past the regular season. If it re-sets for playoffs, the Bills could be counting games and noses and thinking, with 5 games left and only 5 players on IR who could be brought back (Boettger is on PUP which has different rules, Doyle has an ACL), they're probably safe using 1 of their 8 slots on Stevenson and trying to put him on the practice squad to see if he's learned anything. The Bills have been very stingy about putting players on IR. They've had several (3 or 4) players who missed 3 games

Ooh, you free thinker you. But I saw with "1 tbsp ancho chilli powder, 1/2 cup of chilli powder" you were a serious dude. Have to try kidney and garbanzo mixed myself. What's your feeling on Pinto? Fun trivia fact. I moved away from using kidney beans as a working stiff, because I cooked a lot of my dried beans in a slow cooker all day while I worked. Easy peasy, soak a bag o' beans overnight, rinse and toss it in the slow cooker in the morning, beans cooked when I get home. Use some for dinner, portion the rest up and freeze. As long as the freezer has space, cheaper and easier on the digestive tract than canned. Kidney beans are one type of dried bean it's not safe to cook in a slow cooker. They have toxic levels of Phytohaemagglutinin - all beans have some, but kidney beans have toxic levels. The slow cooker doesn't get hot enough to inactivate it. Needs to boil. Canned, of course, are perfectly safe. These days I use an instant pot on those dried beans, but we have more $ so I use more canned beans as well.

One teaspoon cumin isn't nearly enough, and black beans are better.

Why do all you reasonable and rational posters keep engaging with this guy? He doesn't know football, he doesn't say reasonable stuff about the Bills. He's just here for the clicks and outrage.

Here’s some stuff from Banged Up Bills about Crowder: Article Earlier in the year (and with less detail about the specifics of the injury) Trimble was not sanguine about Crowder being able to return. In any event there’s a long way between jogging down the sideline in a straight line, vs being able to burst off the line and cut effectively.

From this, it kind of sounds as though the ACL was not fully torn. It sounds as though they did a “clean up” procedure to remove torn lateral meniscus, but while they were in there noticed there decided the ACL was injured and wouldn’t hold up?

I could be wildly mistaken, but in this day and age, I don’t know why the player would be traveling from town to town shopping for the best deal on his contract. That’s what they have agents for, and videoconferencing, and the ability to share documents on the internet securely.

I could be wrong but if Von was in Dallas on Monday and having exploratory surgery yesterday, would Miller really be back to Buffalo already?

I have total sympathy for the Cowboys players quoted upthread who talked about it being a “circus” It seems the guy is not ready to play this season, so why not just finish healing up, get right, and enter FA like the rest of the guys? He’s too special for that….

Disguised coverage pretty good session on Bills vs Jets I just hope we actually do have Milano

Oh, c’mon. Our media does ask follow-ups sometimes - sometimes not the same guy, but one further down in the queue Shame if they missed on this one though. Schedule a hot shower at a truck stop, change to warm clothes, get a thermos of coffee, you’ll be “good to go”

But if the real Jim Kubiak was kidnapped by aliens and replaced by a replicant how would you know? The differences could be subtle - like praising a play where Allen got his man-parts drilled and his and said afterwards “we need to be smarter” about it, maybe? ARE YOU SURE?

LOL. When I had my first kid, I got sick every year too. I attributed it to daycares and schools being little germ factories and kids being little plague vectors. As the kid got older and her and my immune system got tougher (about age 6 or 7 IIRC) I stopped getting sick so much. I”m told if the kids change schools, it’s “open season” for a new set of bugs but she never did.

Can anyone confirm: Milano DNP today with a knee, but McDermott described him as “Day to Day”? How did he describe Jordan Phillips? He’s got 4 days to “get right”, but I think Afrin is more likely than Dayquil

Concur. Looks like it too

One difference is that we peons are left to recover on our own, while pro athletes I'm sure get the best antivirals plus IV therapy to speed their recovery. My daughter had the flu last year. So did one of her friends, but said friend's mom scheduled her for those IVs from a traveling nurse. Made a big difference.

OK, I didn't see this upthread but someone has to ask it: Having just had a player take a full year to come back from an ACL rehab (and still not be 100% and now a second player go onto season ending IR with an ACL, where "if all goes well" we hope he'll be back for "most of 2023" - Brandon Beane, do you REALLY want to offer a contract to a 30 year old guy rehabbing his 2nd ACL in 2 years, who THINKS he can be ready to play AFTER the end of the season (5 weeks), and who wants to be signed for more than this season?

I wonder what Tre' White would have said if asked "when can you be ready to play?" at the start of the season or even "when will you be game-ready?" October 12 when the Bills opened his 21 day window to return from PUP? I'm not sure the player's judgement is always the best guide here