Beck Water

Does he talk about what @NoHuddleKelly12 quipped were "The LIttle Sisters of the Poor" playing LB against the Chiefs in the playoffs? Beane is clearly aware of the need for pressure. That's why he drafted as he did in 2021, and then signed Von Miller in 2022. That was a "swing for the fences" that missed, when Miller was injured on Thanksgiving and then really couldn't play at an elite level in 2023. But a team also needs to get "hot" at the right time, as far as players turning it up (like Rashee Rice did for the Chiefs 2nd half) vs. disappearing (as Diggs seems to do come playoff time, and as Leonard Floyd did). And as far as players not being injured. Starting AJ Klein and an injured Tyrell Dodson at LB and an injured Rasul Douglas and Dane Jackson at CB is not a recipe for success.

I mean, you may be right that the Bills brass isn't as concerned as I am. After all, they had every confidence in Russell Bodine starting at C in front of rookie Josh Allen the year Eric Wood retired for medical reasons, and they weren't concerned about that (though they should have been, and after that season, Beane acknowledged they should have done more). But the thread asked our opinions here on OBD, not "what do we think the Bills brass will do". You asked for our opinions, I gave you mine. I don't care how brilliant a guy was coming out of high school. Justin Shorter was a top recruit at WR coming out of high school. By that metric, the other WR should just go home. But the NFL is a whole different level from even Alabama (or Georgia), and a guy like McGovern who committed to a D1 school as a Center but hasn't played it much since then, needs to Show Me before I think it's wise to bail on the only other option on the roster with actual game experience at C. Guys who have forgotten more ball than I'll ever know like @Buffalo716 have pointed out some of Van Pran Granger's need for technique development. I hope he develops fast, but let's not bet the season on it. The point isn't to have a "capable" OL, the point is to have a great OL, at least as good as last year and maybe better. And if David Edmunds were a better LG than Connor McGovern, he would have started there last season.

So here's the chicken-and-egg thing. Did Diggs play tail off because Brady changed his usage, or did Brady change his usage because Diggs play tailed off? Of interest to me is the Greg Cosell OBD segment after the Diggs trade. For those unfamiliar, Cosell is a Sr Producer at NFL Films and is highly regarded around the league for his film breakdowns. He's not a Bills employee or stooge and he doesn't always say things Bills fans will like to hear - for example, he is NOT big on Keon Coleman, thinks at best he was drafted for potential and traits. Anyway, Cosell didn't mince words. 1:40 in, he says he hopes fans are interested in the reality on tape, and that Stefon Diggs is "not a number 1 receiver in the league...the way we think about #1 receivers, the guys who really are." He says we're talking about a 30 year old declining player, who is not a #1 receiver. "That's essentially what the tape tells you that Stefon Diggs is...that's the reality of the tape". He says "I don't think he's a fully dimensional receiver at this point in his career...he's not a true vertical dimension..he's much more of a possession receiver.... he's still very very good at that". And he says he's going to a team where he's not going to be the #1 receiver. It's always possible that Diggs was dinged up in a way too minor to land him on the injury report, but significant enough to affect his level of play. Take it for what it's worth to you. There are a couple other guys who break down film who commented on the Bills playoff games - I think JT O'Sullivan? who critiqued Diggs play in several aspects.

I'd love to see that social media bit if you can figure out who posted it. Wild. A bit disagree on the "call or meet up" vs "text". That's a generational thing. My generation calls. My kid's generation, you text, always. As far as meeting up, at the time of the trade, they were probably on opposite sides of the country.

No, we should not. Connor McGovern has started one (1) game in the NFL at C. One. Clapp has started a whopping 12 or 14 games at C. Even if they think McGovern will be better at C than Clapp and that Edmunds will be adequate at LG, it's not worth it to leave ourselves with a 1 game guy and a 0 game 5th round rookie (who needs technique development) as our options at C.

Correct, but it was one of those "we convert your salary to signing bonus and spread it out over void years" moves Correct, no Cephus. No one has picked him up yet, either.

I've said this elsewhere but Spotrac's new format doesn't make this easy to suss out. Here's Overthecap. https://overthecap.com/player/dawson-knox/7887 While Knox, after taking a salary cut, had a very reasonable $7.7M cap hit this season, a big part of that is his signing bonus of $5M x 3 years (plus an additional 2 years of $1.17M tacked onto 2 void years). Altogether Knox has $17.54M of bonus money, which would all become dead cap instantaneously upon a trade. So the Bills need to have $17.54M of cap space to trade Knox this season.

Douglas had a knee injury in the Week 18 Miami game and struggled to come back for the KC division round. I could be wrong, but I thought I remember McDermott or Babich saying he was rehabbing his knee and they hoped he'd be back for TC. I don't think he's holding out.

I could be mistaken, but I don't think so. Stars get a year to come back from an injury. Guys who are fighting for a spot at the bottom of the roster are either ready to go, or gone. Do you understand that Knox has something like $16M dead cap to the Bills after a trade partner picks up his salary?

Of course Diggs would choose #1 According to Graham, the rest of the crowd around Josh was speaking encouragement and Diggs was the only one Josh snapped at.

I think there were problems between Josh and Diggs. After the trade on whatever show it was, Shady McCoy and the others were talking about it and one of them said "I don't know what his relationship with Josh was really like" and Shady piped in with "it was bad...it was bad". Shady has continued to be friendly with Josh and is still plugged in with other players, so I think it's more likely than not he knows something. Tim Graham reported on the scene after the 2023 Jets loss, Josh sitting there despondent, teammates dapping him up and speaking encouragement, Diggs came up and said something to him (Graham didn't hear what was said) and Josh snapped "it's only one ***** game" (he snapped at no one else per Graham) People here have reported that at the end of 2022, Josh and Diggs were barely speaking to each other, which is NOT what you need from your QB and his #1 going into the end of the season and playoffs.

Never say never, but a good part of the answer to your question depends upon how much Kincaid's blocking has improved. Knox can block in line and in the backfield. Last year, Kincaid's blocking consisted of "could get in the way downfield a bit". I would have said that Knox can't be traded currently because while he has a modest $7.7M cap hit after the haircut he accepted, he's got $16.8M of dead cap if traded. But then there was Diggs....

Trevor Lawrence does kind of look like Mark Arm, doesn't he? But I think he looks more like a horse.

It's a fact that Diggs cap hit for this season is $5.8M - just a scootch lower than Collins at $6.6M. Now I get your point that the Texans are doing an "outta sight, outta mind" thing by amortizing and shoving the rest of Diggs $22.5M/1 yr (not $30M, Spotrac very confusing since re-design) loot into the future, but how much of the cap a guy takes up is sometimes a clue to how the team sees him. As to how they'll use him, I don't know. Diggs can play from the slot. If Greg Cosell's analysis means anything, Diggs wasn't capable of playing that #1/boundary/X role and getting separation at the end of last season for the Bills. And he hasn't been an all-pro since 2020. I expect how they use him will depend on a lot of things - 1) which Diggs shows up for the Texans - the first half of 2023 Diggs, or the second half? 2) Tank Dell's progress in his rehab 3) What kind of run game do they really want to have, after drafting OL high in 2023 and 2024 and signing Joe Mixon to replace Devin Singletary?

That was one move I never did understand, signing Haack - unless Sam Martin were contemplating retirement or they weren't sure he'd come back from whatever injury he had?

K. I looked for a way to share a "gift article" and didn't see so I'll try (it's The Athletic, btw, which can be trialed with or without NYT). Article is by Randy Mueller, former pro personnel director for the Seahawks and GM of the Saints (2000-2001) and Dolphins (2005-2007). After that he had a 10 year run as "Senior executive for football operations" for the Chargers then moved on to the XFL. I give this as context, because while he legit knows some football, it's also notable that the NFL stopped paying him for his NFL talent evaluation ability back in 2007. He starts off noting that Trevor Lawrence was a consensus top pick with everything to like about him, coming out of Clemson - "Size, arm, athletic ability, accuracy..intangibles". He says that at the time of the draft, his take was "He’s going to need to be reprogrammed from Clemson’s RPO-heavy, simplistic passing game and be taught an NFL passing game from the ground up, conceptually.", but of course, that's true of a lot of QBs. But Lawrence hasn't really hit yet, so what's the problem? He writes off Lawrence rookie year with Urban Meyer and focuses on 2023 He says it's not the scheme: He thinks Lawrence lacks patience in the pocket: The same was noted of Pat Mahomes early in his career and the same could be said of Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, all among the top passers of today. So to some extent, I think this reflects a league change from the classic pocket passer (like Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers etc) to a more athletic "extend the play, create something" type QB. From that lens, the problem wouldn't be Lawrence bailing from the pocket, but the lack of secondary route concepts/scramble drills in the offense, and/or inability to either exploit them or create with his feet. He concludes

Um...you sure Tank Dell playing slot there in Houston? IDK, but 15.1 Y/R of which 11.9 are YBC doesn't sound like a slot.

Hope you and all your family are safe (1st priority) and property relatively unscathed (2nd priority). Can you say more about Deep Choice, what it is and how the Bills were using it last year? Also Zone Insert? Some of us may know both when we see them, but not by those names. I think Samuel is also a strong and capable blocker, but it's a testament to Shakir that you see him as our best perimeter blocker now because it shows he really worked at it. As far as Beasley's blocking, the best I can say for that is "he tried" Great question by the way

I mean, teams make their own luck to some degree, right? Having failed to either draft the right guy with the #3 overall pick and the #2 overall pick in two of the last 6 drafts (or develop him correctly), the Jets decided to "buy greatness" by going all in for Aaron Rodgers. Sometimes that works (see 2020 Tampa Bay; 2012-2015 Broncos) Sometimes it fails miserably (see 2022-2023 Broncos) Sometimes it's "close but no cigar" (see 2009 Vikings)

Huh? I don't remember that line of discussion from @GunnerBill at all Wait, Wat? Now you're claiming *I* was arguing that Josh Allen was "heading towards Ryan Tannehill territory"? Show your receipts. Does not sound like anything I've said, like, Ever. I'm not a big fan of comparing player A to player B generally, and in particular I can not conceptualize two QB it's less apt to compare.

Football fans of a particular team have one thing in common: we're fans of the same team. I believe there are some folks on this board who are of high character and strong values I'd be very proud to call friends IRL But just because someone is a Bills fan I don't expect them to be of higher character or better values than someone who roots for the Eagles or the Chiefs nor consider it a reflection on my character if they aren't. That's cray-cray to me. Like every assemblage, it takes all types. If you find it a reflection on your character to be associated with a group where (*gasp*) some of the people might not measure up to your standards, you might want to cultivate a stronger character that isn't besmirched by such things.

Poor Danica Patrick thought she and Rogers were gonna get married. She said her heart was broken how it ended. Rumors she was cheated on by Rodgers. Then "Next Up!" actual fiancee Shailene Woodley was ditched and left in the dust. If we're gonna dis off famous guys for their relationship behavior (which, I do not suggest) Rodgers is A Lot to keep up with. Me, I think famous football players are famous because they're good at playing the game of football, not because they're easy to live with or good at personal relationships. I don't want them to be sick ***** like DeSean Watson is alleged to be, but I don't expect them to be moral preceptors or of exemplary character or deep thinkers. IMHO that's a problem with society today that a lot of folks seem to be looking at celebrities of one or another sort for these things, instead of looking around us for people who actually, quietly, ARE moral preceptors and show exemplary character or who actually have deep knowledge of stuff.

Your disgust seems easily triggered.

Isn't he still estranged from his immediate family (parents and brothers)? So hugging his parents seems unlikely I mean, a guy can limp in a practice for lots of reasons. Blister on his tootsie. Dinged his foot somehow. Could be something, could be a nothing-burger, Time Will Tell.

We watching the same press conferences and interviews and stuff? 'Cuz I think he comes across like an arrogant prick who is happy to throw his teammates and sometimes his organization under the bus in public and shirk personal accountability and responsibility. I think he's an intelligent man, but I also think he suffers from a bad case of Dunning-kruger syndrome. I grant you this, but it seems like a very low bar. Plenty of NFL players don't have a warrant out on them for cruelty to animals or injuring people with reckless driving or beating up women and children or sexual assault, but also DON'T act like arrogant pricks in their pressers. Serious question, how old are you? I don't wish an injury on anyone. But I also don't think that injuries are doled out as some kind of retribution for bad behavior or bad character. Plenty of bad things happen to good people, and plenty of bad people flourish. I don't waste my time stressing about it.