Beck Water

You're absolutely right about the impact of missing players on every level. I thought Williams was OK. I'm not sure he's grown into a complete player. The Bills covered his shortcomings before by playing a sort of heavy dime with Poyer.

I wouldn't take the Bills depth chart too seriously. They historically reflect a need to put all 53 names somewhere on a depth chart rather than who is actually "next man up". Showing Shaq Thompson as Milano's backup, Buffalo Joe as Bernards backup, and Dorian Williams marooned at the rare 3rd LB sighting position may or may not reflect what will actually happen.

The 0-2 Giants. Whose coach Brian Daboll must have naughty pictures of Mara or something, given how the G-men changed coaches every 2 years from 2016 to 2022, including McAdoo who took them to a better record (11-5) and a playoff appearance his first year.

This made me smile.

Theoretically, any player is available for the right price. The first problem is: what is their price? Who you wanna ship out? The second problem is: quality LB have contracts. How we fit their contract in under our non-existant cap? I don't think we're gonna be shopping at Anthropologie or Saks 5th avenue for that quality linebacker. You prefer Dorian Williams?

Just a note that Banged Up isn't down with the 2020 details. Milano missed 2 games with a partial pec tear, tried to come back the 3rd game with a linebacker brace, and was pretty much totes ineffective - couldn't lift his arm to tackle. At that point the Bills pulled the plug and put him on IR to let him heal for 3 weeks, then brought him back on a snap count where he was only playing 30% of the snaps initially. It's his 2nd

Bernard missed 2 games with a pec injury (partial tear) last year. He was pretty ineffective his first game back then improved (IMO looked good 4 weeks out from the injury) There was criticism of his play as not being as strong as 2023 the rest of the season, dunno if the pec was an influence. My guess more likely to be the ankle injury he suffered a few weeks later, that would slow him down and, if he was taking painkillers to deal could have slowed him mentally. Milano had a partial tear in 2020 and tried to come back after 2 games. He sucked, and was placed on IR for 3 games (could be 3 games in 2020) before being phased back in on a snap count and playing well in the playoffs. Feliciano had a bad tear requiring surgery in preseason in 2020 and missed 7 games on IR but when he came back he started and played 100% of the snaps It just depends, but it seems pretty clear you in fact don't want a guy to be out for too few games, you want to let it heal.

Seems to me that Bills like to try to disguise coverage then shift pre-snap Seems to me that Ravens were coming to the line and snapping quickly, while Bernard was still trying to set the D or the back 7 were just starting to shift We better figure it out because if that's what happened, NFL copycats stuff that works. Of course, without the dual threat of Lamar passing and running and the dual run threat of Henry and Lamar, might not be the same shredding

I've been critical of Bosa but in one of those plays Baldy highlights, Oliver gets the sack because Bosa is right there waiting and licking his chops when Jackson cuts back and tries to break out. So Jackson goes "let's try the other way" and Oliver sacks him A thing of beauty

McDermott talked about it some in his presser today about 5:20. The rule is if the QB is in the pocket, then it's illegal contact (illegal touching) to force Coleman out of bounds. I think the play would still not count, but there would have been a penalty and I think they would replay the conversion attempt. But if the QB is out of the pocket, then the contact is not a foul, Coleman was out of bounds, and the catch didn't count because he was the first to touch the ball after being out and coming back in. At least I think that's what McDermott was alluding to. The key with illegal contact is the QB must be in the pocket. As I understand it.

Eh. We did a decent job in the playoff game, because everyone knew there assignment and filled it. That's really what McDermott's defense depends on: 11 guys who know their job, and do it.

Crazy reaction from you IMO. Josh sometimes makes a point of jogging around the stadium close to the wall after a game. He does it to interact with our fans who come to away games, but there's no rule that says opposing fans won't be there too. Don't you think that ought to be able to happen without fans slapping or hitting at him and any teammate near him? Sure, Jackson shouldn't have reacted, and I'm betting he'll be fined and issue some kind of apology statement, but you think he should be suspended as many games for a push that injured no one, as Rashee Rice who was involved in high-speed reckless driving which injured people and could have been worse? Nuts!

Ravens were really into this notion of a "revenge tour". Unfortunately for them, they didn't keep their motors running hot for 60 minutes. Or maybe they did, and it took everything they have to stifle us for 45. Maybe Josh Allen is just an unstoppable force some days. When Knox deflected that throw intended for Shakir and it resulted in Coleman hauling it in for a TD I just laughed.

Who are you, his momma? Yeah, No. There are boundaries. It's all about having some respect, fan should not throw things at player, push player, hit player. That "fan" won't be missed. My guess is Jackson probably will be fined.

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/bills-fan-banned-lamar-jackson-push-shove-nfl-stadiums-ravens-2025 Schefter has reported it and it's on ravens.com Think it's legit Good riddance, no place for that anywhere.

He wasn't Doing His Job in the first half. Not setting the edge and containing, which is crucial to McD's defense. Hopefully he improves.

The Bills LB, by design and like a lot of LB in the NFL now a days, are "tweeners" designed to be strong in pass coverage. That makes it axiomatic that if an offense is able to man handle our DL and get to the 2nd level, they're going to struggle. It's my problem with PFF grades. They look for plays - plays made or not made. But football is the ultimate team game, the ultimate chess match. They don't assess what is the effect on the LB of the DL getting their asses handed to them, or losing contain on the run. Spoiler: it's bad

Why do we bother with PFF grades? C'Mon man.

Eh. The defense showed flashes. I thought they were rusty AF and got better as the game went on. If the D doesn't force 2 punts and a fumble, in the 4Q when you'd think they'd be tired and dispirited from Henry running over them all day, we lose. I don't understand the "weren't at full strength but we clearly were" part. We were starting a late round rookie at CB - wasn't the plan White or Hairston? And Benford looked as though there was still something up with him. Safety I have to put down as the weakest spot. We're giving Bishop every chance to lose the safety job because of his upside, and so far he's not looking like he's growing into the job. And that wasn't the DL McDermott planned on as an upgrade. We'll see how next week goes down. D didn't look good, but I don't see how they're at full strength, either

WaPo take on the game. Should be a guest article, readable without subscription https://wapo.st/3JKf3O5 "The Ravens found a new way to dominate and lose"

Also historically, outside of a bake oven we've beaten them - but it's not like they've been run out of the stadium, they've hung in their and played us very tough

Yes, I felt they were very rusty. Particularly I thought Rapp and Bishop were neither in the right place nor on the same page. A few other comments: -That TD reception by Coleman on the deflected ball! Sometimes if you've gotta choose between Lucky and Good, pick Lucky. -Watching Allen sling it to Coleman all over the field, zip it into Kincaid between defenders, then hearing Cris Collinsworth adenoidal intonations about how Allen trusts Shakir in a way he doesn't trust anyone else on the field. Trust This, Cris! -Refs were in playoff form on a few of those no-calls. Keon Coleman needs a tear-away jersey Never mind, he who laughs last laughs best, and this called for an almighty case of disbelieving but delighted laughter

I don't know, seems appropriate actually

Don't you mean to ask about Raven? I think they're good stewed. Someone asked a friend of mine the difference between a crow and a raven. It seems a crow has 7 pinion feathers while a raven has 8. So the difference between a crow and a raven is a matter of a pinion. (note to ornithologists: It's A Joke)

I mean, he did that with his hit piece on McDermott as well: said he interviewed a huge number of current and former Bills players and coaches. What that statement hides, is how many of those sources he actually drew from for the major themes of the piece. I can talk to 32 people, but if I only use information from 3 or 4 of them for the major themes and points of my piece, why bother?