Beck Water

Or maybe he wasn't. As far as I'm concerned a visit to Chiefs Planet requires Level 4 Biosafety Precautions with observed and directed decontam. IIRC even our resident Chiefs fan visitors @Zerovoltz and @Billl steer clear of that cesspool

It sounds as though we can agree that Slovik may be a bit of a scapegoat for the Texans offensive woes to which WR and OL injuries contributed heavily (though I haven't listened to the Chris Simms video that was shared upthread so I could change my mind I guess) As far as him being overrated by the Bills fan base, I dunno about the Bills fan base as a whole but FRFR we got a segment here who seem to over-rate 1) any coach who is not named Sean McDermott. 2) especially if they have an offensive background and have coached an offense with 1 year of success

I think he understands it's a big game. But he doesn't have the weight of 3 playoff losses to KC in 4 years, including an AFCCG and 13 seconds on his shoulders.

When has McDermott ever used the word "optimistic" in regard to an injured player? He'll say "trending in the right direction" or "we'll see"

I think there's a good bit of revisionist history in that. Reid was doing what he thought (rightly or wrongly) was best for the team and himself first, and thinking of what was best for McDermott very much as an afterthought. I dunno about that phone call to Rivera and how much influence it had - "hey, I've got this great young subordinate, I'm firing his ass but I think he'd be a great hire for you" only goes so far as a job recommendation in any field. Be that as it may, Reid certainly didn't tell McDermott "you suck, you can't coach, I'm kicking you to the curb".

Well, Reid did fire McDermott. And then hire Juan Castillo, the offensive line coach, to replace him as DC (that went about as well as one might predict lol)

I could be wrong, but I think it's not uncommon for the C/Oline coach to handle protections for a young QB (rookie or 2nd year). Pretty sure McVay did it for Goff, which led to a fall-off as they transitioned to Goff taking it over. I actually think the Bills were unusual in that from the start, they expected Allen to do it - leading to an unnecessary number of sacks and QB hits his first couple years when he got it wrong. If I'm remembering correctly Allen said in an interview that he's embarrassed now to realize how little he "understood our protections" his first year. Anyway good find, Thanks! and I'll give it a listen!

Ha. Um, No. Interesting perspective. I'm interested if this is your theory or do you have some inside info and know this for fact?

Over the top, Not over the top...I dunno But I think it's worthwhile to look at the injury situation and results this season. As far as Rapp goes, he has missed most (3/4, 2/3) of two games: Bal L 10-35 Bal W 27-25 He has missed all of 3 games: Hou L 20-23 Det W 48-42 NWE W 24-21 I think it's worthwhile to look at the other players that were missing (and who was playing for them), putting the games in order: Bal L 10-35 Bernard (Spector), Milano (Williams), T. Johnson (C. Lewis) Hou L 20-23 Milano (Williams), T. Johnson (C. Lewis) Det W 48-42 Rasul Douglas (Elam), Damar Hamlin (C. Lewis) NWE W 24-21 Baylon Spector (Milano, Williams), Damar Hamlin (C. Lewis) Bal W 27-25 Let's be real: KC was going to pick on our safeties regardless, because safety has not been a strong point for the Bills all season. And Bishop in the 2nd half vs. Baltimore wasn't pretty. But I think it's important to remember that in previous games where Bishop was starting, there were multiple missing starters on D. The Bills, like a lot of defenses, historically have usually been able to field a competent D when missing 1 starter, but when missing 3, the quality drops off fast. People here like to dog Hamlin, but I think he's played competently for the Bills this season. I think it's possible that Bishop playing next to starter Hamlin and with starters in front of him, may play better than Bishop playing next to Cam Lewis and missing another starter besides. I would also like to say that I had considerable trepidation about Rapp as a starting safety because of his tendency towards "Friendly Fire". IIRC, he took out both Douglas AND Bernard on one play during the Pittsburgh playoff game last season, and cost us Bernard (and Douglas hampered). I've been pleasantly surprised all year that he was playing more "in control" and mentally sound this season, but his injury occured on another "friendly fire" episode where the Raven was already wrapped up by 2 Bills and Rapp arrived late to the party and took out Hamlin and Douglas. This year, the Bills are going into the offseason with the lowest-ranked defense they have had since 2020. I think a barrage of defensive injuries mid-season are partly responsible. Some people blame Babich. Whatever reason, it was definitely a reset year on D. The Chiefs are going to "get theirs" on offense. The key for the Bills will be to keep their poise, keep moving on offense, and limit the time KC gets the ball. I may be a minority view but I thought Bishop played OK against Baltimore. Hamlin was the one who made an error that resulted in a completion for a TD (going for the INT instead of "doing his job").

Didn't McDermott basically come out and say we won't see Hyde in a uniform?

I wouldn't. Nothing against Slowik, but I think that Shanahan-tree style offense is a total mismatch for Josh Allen.

That's true. Trentative Edwards vs. Ryan Fitzpatrick would be another example. But in the end, there is something with the Jimmies and Joes - they have to know where to go and when to get there, and make it happen. For most teams, losing 3 starting WR for most of the season would be fatal to this.

I'm not gonna go back and watch all the Texans games to make that judgement. You can't just watch the sacks; you have to watch all the passing attack and ask "where is he going or trying to go with the ball and why?" Stroud had an AY/A of 8.7 last season and an IAY/pass attempt of 9.0. The Texans offensive identity was clearly built on having a deep passing game and making teams pay if they tried too hard to clamp down on the run and the short/intermediate stuff. The Bills have a decent run game and they were still struggling earlier in the season (Balt and Hou games especially) when they had absolutely no outside threat that teams could respect. Can you adjust that to some extent during the season? To some extent, sure, but you need receivers who can beat man quickly in the short/int passing game and who will read the zone defense with the same eyes as the QB and find the soft spots. Were there any of those on the roster with so many receivers in the Body and Fender shop? Don't know.

They had time to do all their evaluations and interviews with players, then they turn to the staff. Maybe the evaluations and post-season interviews turned up some stuff Ryans wasn't aware of or wasn't certain were factual vs. impressions.

I don't watch enough Texans games to know if they actually ran Mixon on every first down on nearly every drive. I can look at stats and say their offense is not "super run heavy". It was predominantly a passing offense last year (57% pass) and the same this year.

Don't forget they also lost Collins for 5 weeks (plus another couple where he wasn't at full speed)

That's what happens when you have a young QB who is worried about whether he's gonna get killed while he tries to find a receiver open downfield. He takes a big step back.

Agreed. I'm feeling like the Texans are scaping his goat. Yes, we do over-react about coaches, using the "greener grass" principle. I'm not so clear that the Texans offensive problems are on Slowik, though: 1) They had a whole 5 games with their planned-for receiving corps together before Collins got hurt. 8 games total with Diggs. Then they had 5 games after Collins came back before Dell had that horrible injury. I felt last year that Stroud's apparent poise and maturity in the passing game was linked to having quality receivers that ran good routes and showed up where he expected. Didn't have that this season. 2) Stroud threw 5 picks last season, 12 picks this season. Part of that is shortage of quality WR, part of that is teams having more film on him. Either way, I don't think it's entirely on Slowik. They still won 10 games.

I don't think so? Chris Brown went on to quote McDermott: If you want to conspiracy theorize, his "personal matter" could in truth be an MRI or a PET test and they're hiding his real medical status. Actually it sounds fully compatible with a pretty much full practice. He'll test out his hamstring and see how it responds, then the trainers and coaches will make a decision based on that.

Here's the full rundown per McDermott: the "show more" word is "today".

That was what I thought.

No, it's not confirmed. It's possible she has an inside source. McDermott does a weekly segment with Sal Capaccio at 10:45 Eastern, and usually one of the other reporters will listen and tweet out what he says - Joe Buscaglia or Alaina Getzenberg are two to watch. McDermott will often say on that show if a player has been ruled out. Some other info: Analysis based on previous injury reports vs game availability: https://x.com/BangedUpBills/status/1882787197767881168

So my In-laws used to own and run a fast food restaurant in a small town, back in the 70s through 90s. Hamburgers, pulled pork, deep fried veggies, soft serve ice cream, if you've been in a small town in that time frame, you know. For the sit down inside guests, they had those little jukeboxes on each table. My late MIL was a Lady of the old-school rural style - could milk 4 cows and 2 goats before breakfast, vaccinate a dozen feeder pigs, do beautiful crewel work and cross stitch, get the restaurant suppliers to "fly right", and individually greet 300 different customers with personal enquiries before going to church on Sunday in an impeccable outfit with a fetching hat. A kind and generous woman and a sweetheart, but if you go to mess with her, get up early or she'll make you feel un-punctual. There was a guy whose job it was to drive around setting up the restaurant and bar jukeboxes with a mixture of old faves and the latest hits. One fine day he loaded "Centerfold" on the units in the ILs restaurant. My mother in law called and had "a little word" with him. I think he set a land speed record getting back there to take it off, breaking the previous land speed record he'd set in 1974 after he cued up "The B word is Back". If the police had stopped him, they would probably have provided a siren escort.

You don't need to get him on the ground a lot. In fact, getting him on the ground allows the refs to decide that's UR due to too much body weight or too late hit, and throw laundry. But if you get him off his spot and make him run around without allowing him to escape and run, it can have the same effect. He becomes inaccurate. Fair point. I will hope that they are actually thinking they want to rip their opponents to small shreddy pieces and avenge themselves for 2020, 2021, and 2023.

Is anyone else starting to get a little twitchy about our players talking about "it's a blessing just to be in this position" and yadda yadda? I don't want them to give the Chiffs bulletin board stuff but I'd like to hear a little edge.