GASabresIUFan

I disagree. They traded a guy who is past his prime, who started dropping too many balls, became a problem in the locker-room and had the about same amount of yards as Shakir on 3 times the number of targets after the first 6 games. It was time to move on. We also have no idea if the offense is going to worse because of it. Elway said the other day, that Josh is going to be even better this season because he no longer has to force feed Diggs the ball. In addition, Kincaid and Shakir are ready for even bigger roles in the offense. There is a good chance that the offense will be just as good if not better than last season. I am worried about the safeties, but I think the quality of the entire team is about the same as last year, but could be better if all the 2nd years starters (Torrence, Shakir, Cook, Kincaid, Benford and Benard) continue to improve.

Anybody who says that the Jets have the 2nd best roster in the NFL has zero credibility.

Fair question, but the injuries continued to mount. Against KC Klein started for Benard, and Dane Jackson started for Benford. Losing those two young starters really made things tough. The D still held KC to 27 points, and the Bills didn't score in the 4th qtr. In fact, the offense had 3 possessions in the 4th qtr after KC took the lead. The first 2 possession resulted in 5 net yards. They then moved 54 yards, but missed the game tying 44 yard FG. After KC took the lead, the D allowed only 47 yards to the KC offense on 3 possession. So was it the defense or offense that lost the game?

I know people are freaking out about the defense, but how different is the D this season from the one that finished last season playing very well? Last season - DL - Rousseau, Oliver, with a rotation of Floyd, Epenesa, Miller, Settle, Joseph, P Ford and S Lawson This season - DL - Rousseau, Oliver, D Jones with a rotation of Miller, Epenesa, A Johnson, Smoot, Carter, Solomon, and Jonathan. This year's group is much stronger. Last season - LB - Dodson & Benard - with depth of AJ Klein, Williams & Spector This season - LB - Williams & Benard - with depth of D Jones, Morrow & Spector (or Jones & Benard - with depth of Morrow, Williams & Spector Honestly, I don't see much difference. When Milano went down last year, they tried Williams and when he failed, the inserted Dodson. This season it's a battle between Williams and D Jones to replace Milano. I really don't see much difference at all, except Williams and Jones have the potential to be better than Dodson. Benard should also be better as a 2nd year starter. Last Season - CB - Douglas, Johnson & Benford with Elam and Lewis for depth This season - CB - Douglas, Johnson & Benford with Elam, Lewis, Ingram and Hardy for depth Benford should be even better as a 2nd year starter and Elam looks vastly improved Last season - S Rapp & Poyer - This season - S Rapp & Hamlin - with Bishop and maybe Edwards as depth. This is the only area that looks like a problem, but Bishop is back to practicing and Hamlin has looked good in camp. He has starter experience of 13 games in 2022 including 91 tackles before his injury.

Which is the hot take, mine or his?

He has Jets with the 2nd best roster after going 7-10 last year and they are starting a 40 year old QB who lasted one play last season.

Let’s remind people of what happened last season. They got waxed by the Steelers in preseason. They lost to the Jets in week1 after knocking out Rodgers for the season in the first series. They lost Jones, White, Milano and Hyde on defense for some or most of the season. Diggs’ production fell off a cliff before mid-season and we fired the OC after 10 weeks. They still won the division and a playoff game. PS : I forgot we got nothing from Miller and had Rousseau playing out of position all year. We were also starting rookies at TE and guard.

Shoulder injury.

First thing first. Losing Milano is a huge loss, but unlike in years past, the Bills are in better shape to survive the loss. Beane invested at LB in the draft the last 3 years by drafting Benard, Williams, Spector and Ulofoshio, plus signing two vets with good track records in Jones and Morrow. Remember the Bills did pretty well without Milano in 14 games last season and Benard will be even better this season in his second year as a starter. Ultimately, Williams gets the first shot at winning Milano’s job. Williams flashed in two starts, but was ultimately benched because of poor zone pass coverage. If this improves, he could win the job permanently. If he doesn’t, I think Deion Jones takes the job. He is perfectly capable of giving us what Dobson gave us last year. I live in Atlanta and I’ve seen Deion Jones at his best, and if he stays healthy, he is very capable of becoming the starter and giving us good play. I think the Bills like Spector as well, but he just can’t stay healthy and is again banged up. He did play pretty well late last season when forced in the lineup.

It’s a good thing Beane has drafted a pile of linebackers the last 3 years in Benard, Williams, Spector, and Ulofoshio. Adding Morrow and Jones in the off-season doesn’t hurt either. Despite losing Milano, the Bills are still surprisingly deep at LB if a little inexperienced. Don’t forget that the Bills played without Milano for 14 weeks last season, (weeks 6-17 plus 2 playoffs games), and the LBs played well in general. The biggest risk here is if Williams becomes the starter, he will need to be much more consistent than he was when he became the starter last year. He also needs to better in zone coverage. McD said he is the next man up. I think the biggest beneficiary of this injury, besides Williams, is Deion Jones. Right now Spector, Morrow and Ulofoshio are also banged up.

Milano, the new Tre White?

https://static.www.nfl.com/image/upload/league/events/draft/2024/NFL-Draft-Map-2024-v2.pdf Here is the map for the Detroit draft locations.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/buffalo-bills/news/bills-offense-worst-league-very-important-statistical-category-josh-allen-jalen-hurts-2024/fef0bf786841941785788c52 I don’t think this comes as much of a surprise to Bills fans. The Bills red zone passing attack the last few years has been lacking and if memory serves the red zone is where Josh seems to make his most egregious interceptions. I think this issue is quietly behind why Beane completely revamped the receivers, including Kincaid, the last 2 off-seasons. Look at who Beane has brought in; Coleman (6’3” 213), Hollins (6’4” 221), Kincaid (6’3” 246), Claypool (6’4” 238 - sadly on IR), MVS (6’4” 206). Even Shavers is 6’4” 211 and Shorter is 6’4 229. Add these guys to a healthy Knox and Josh should have an array of bigger targets, most with good hands, to throw to. The only exceptions the signings of Samuel and Hamler. Hamler was signed to compete as a KR, while Samuel was signed as a Swiss army knife for Brady’s offense. After all you still have the move the chains to get to the red zone.

I'm not sure I agree with this 100%. 1st rd picks, especially in the NHL and NFL, certainly get the benefit of the doubt and multiple opportunities (especially QBs) even if the crap out at their 1st team. However, once they hit the practice field, coaches and GMs want to put the best team on the field. It's why Cousins beat out RG3. It's why Benford beat our Elam here in Buffalo. There are plenty of other examples. Certainly $ invested in a player matter. Dead cap is a serious issue in the NFL and teams try to avoid it. Would the Bills had kept Elam around to develop if he was a 6th rd pick vs a 1st rd pick. Maybe not. Will MVS make the team because of his dead cap hit if released? Probably, but Beane has been more aggressive in dumping players regardless of cost. (See Diggs and White). In fact the Bills dead cap this season is over 61 million, the 2nd largest in the league.

Can you say Ryan Tannehill.

One other note on NFL QB's, almost all the good one are high draft picks, but not necessarily the 1st over pick. Stafford is the only 1st overall pick to win a Super Bowl in recent years, although Burrow made it to the Super Bowl. If you had to make a list of the top 10 QBs in the NFL + HOFers still playing (excluding players drafted in 2023 or 2024), your list would likely include Mahomes (10th overall), Allen (7th overall), Tua (5th overall), Love (26th overall), Herbert (6th overall), Goff (1st overall), Stafford (1st overall), Burrow (1st overall), Rodgers (24th overall), and Jackson (32nd overall). The only guys outside the 1st round are Purdy (262nd), Prescott (135th) and maybe Hurts (53rd). Even the next layer are mostly 1st rounders; Mayfield (1st overall), Lawrence (1st overall), Watson (when mentally stable -12th overall), Murray (1st overall). Only Geno Smith (39th overall) is in this tier and he's a surprise. PS I'd add Stroud to these lists (2nd overall), but one year is not enough to establish a trend, but he's off to a great start. So why do guys like Trubisky get drafted high? Well GM's are desperate for a franchise QB and will do almost anything to get one.

Ryan Leaf, Rick Mirer, JaMarcus Russell, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Daniel Jones, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles, RG3, Jake Locker, Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Blaine Gabbert, Akili Smith, and Tim Couch. Here is a long list of the top 10 (and mostly top 5) QBs drafted high that you seriously ask what the heck were those teams thinking.

Better 1. TE - same players, but Kincaid in his 2nd year will take a major step forward. 90 catches with 1000 yards+. Also a fully healthy Knox should contribute more than he did last season. Brady will be calling a large number of 12 personnel plays 2. LBs - a healthy Milano, coupled with an improving Benard added to excellent depth in Williams, Spector and any of Morrow, Jones or Ulofoshio. 3. RBs - Cook will continue to develop plus the addition of Davis. Add a more run oriented offense Brady at the helm Same, but could be better 1. DE - Lost Floyd, but gained a healthy Miller coupled with a return of Rousseau to his natural position. May have better depth with the development of Jonathan, the addition of Smoot, return of Epenesa plus draft pick Solomon 2. CB - Douglas, T Johnson and Benford return. Elam looks improved. If Elam and Benford continue to improve, the could become a huge strength of the D. Same 1. DT - Oliver and Jones return. Like the addition of Austin Johnson. Will Carter and D Williams provide adequate depth? 2. QB - Allen is Allen and could actually have a great season without having to force feed Diggs. No depth behind him, just like in years past. 3. Kickers - Martin and Bass. Talk about hit or miss here. Let's hope Bass can return to being Bass-o-Matic. Same, but could be worse 1. OL - 4/5 of the Oline return, with key depth David Edwards stepping in the lineup. Morse and Bates are gone taking significant experience with them. Van Denmark, Anderson, SVP and Grable have zero NFL game experience. Worse 1. Safety - Rapp and Edwards, the pre-camp penciled in starters, are a downgrade from Hyde and Poyer. Now add that Edwards is hurt and high draft pick Bishop is hurt. Lewis is more CB than safety. That leaves the returning Hamlin as a de facto starter. Hamlin played in only 5 games last season and mostly on special teams. He did start 13 games at FS before his injury in 2022. NFL vets K Jackson and Burgess were signed as injury insurance. This position is currently a mess. Complete Unknown 1. WR - Out with Diggs, Davis, Harty and Sherfield. In with Shakir (as a focal point), Samuel, rookie Coleman, Hollins, and maybe MVS or rookie Shavers. Diggs was the only WR in the NFL to catch 1000+ that last 5 seasons. However, Shakir has more effective than Diggs from week 7 forwards catching about the same number of yards on 1/3 the targets and had significantly more chunk plays per target (17 on 45 targets). A significant piece of Diggs' 160 targets with be going to Kincaid at TE, thus possibly limiting the number of opportunities for the receivers. Our top 3 WRs accounted for 2540 yards on 191 catches (286 targets) with 17 TDs. Can Samuel, Shakir and Coleman give us 2500 yards? I doubt it. I'm projecting 2200 yards for the trio.

I don't think you have to worry. Unless he plays like a pro-bowl caliber player this season, the Bills will let him go to free agency. I think they really like Van Denmark.

Well the Chiefs need a receiver with Hollywood Brown injured.

The wind made the passing game hard at times. The wind blew a good pass to Shavers behind him as discussed during the broadcast. One thing that stood out was that the Bears, who played last week, were in much better rhythm than the Bills. Call me when actual football begins and we’ll see if we actually gave something to worry about.

1. Pre-season doesn’t matter. The Bills went to the SB after not wInning a single pre-season game. 2. FYI: This was the Bears 2nd game. 3. No major injuries I think. That’s the best news. 4. Shakir is going to have a great season.

I asked myself the same thing when reading the article. He put the answer at the very end of the article. “Injured Reserve: Players that go on IR without going to the 53-man roster first will be out for the entire year if they stay with the team Waived: A player with three or fewer vested years of experience will be subject to waivers if let go by the team. Released: A player with four or more vested years of experience is not subject to waivers if let go by the team and will be free to sign anywhere immediately.”

Maybe the Pats are interested in taking MVS off our hands.

Just a quick thought on the WRs. The Bills have carried only 5 recently. Given the usage of Kincaid as a primary pass catcher and the Bills large use of 12 personnel, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they only carry 5 again this season. 4 slots are pretty much etched in stone (Shakir, Samuel, Coleman and Hollins). The funny thing is I think Shavers is leading for the 5th WR job based on my reading from Buscaglia and others. If the Bills head down this route, that likely frees up a roster spot for a 10th OL or even a 11th DL. If you think about it, it makes sense. The top targets for Josh are going to be Kincaid, Shakir, Cook, Samuel, and Coleman, with Knox and Hollins mixing in. That doesn't leave many targets for a 5th let alone a 6th WR. Last year WR4 and WR5 had a 43 targets between them. The year before WRs 4 + had 51 between 7 players. Admittedly, Diggs was focal point of the passing offense, but his targets will be spread among Samuel, Kincaid and Shakir. I don't think it will filter down much beyond Knox and Hollins.