Sierra Foothills

I see a lot of people in this topic don't appreciate what a great player Max Crosby is. Maybe they simply haven't watched his career. As an edge rusher, as a football player, as a leader, as a tough guy... he takes a back seat to no one.

Very impressive with Cook running in a heavy snowfall and on a slick track. That guys seems faster with the ball in his hands... a true home run hitter... one of 2 the Bills have at RB... and Ray Davis can break long gains too. I love the speed of our RBs. I'd love to get a hammer next year to run behind this big O-line.

Fair and legitimate questions. Only Groot has taken more snaps among the Bills D-line. For better or worse AJ's not their 10th DL. I don't think this is fair. On offense we've arguably see the Bills modify their approach to personnel decisions and now they have their best O-line in memory, and are solid if not above average at all the other offensive position groups. More to the point they've arguably changed the traits that they look for and the philosophies they employ. I think it's very plausible that the Bills do a thorough re-examination of their defensive philosophies and act accordingly. McDermott is not going to want his defense to be associated with the organization's failures and I believe he will do some soul searching and change his ways. It's obvious that the defense has to get significantly better so as not to be an anchor on the organization's fortunes. I'm hopeful that the teams approach to personnel, traits, and philosophies will be re-evaluated based on how the offense was allowed to evolve.

If Crosby ever became available I would love for the Bills to make a play for him. IMO he's right up there with TJ Watt and Myles Garrett... and should still have plenty of good years left.

If the Niners want to be spiteful and punitive, they can. According to PFT: "Under the CBA, willful refusal to play constitutes a forfeitable breach. That allows the 49ers to recover 25 percent of his $3.35 million signing bonus. Because, however, the deal includes four voidable years, the signing bonus allocation for 2024 is only one fifth of the total amount, or $670,000. So the direct price of refusing to play is $167,500. Throw in the fine for a one-game suspension (if the 49ers do that), and Campbell loses more than $234,000." "And, yes, the Ravens could do the same thing to receiver Diontae Johnson, even though they didn’t pay any of his signing bonus ($17.5 million), his 2024 roster bonus ($3 million), or his pre-trade restructuring bonus of more than $3.2 million. Johnson’s refusal to play could end up being VERY expensive, possibly more than $3 million in all."

This happens all the time... not sure what the big deal is.

Apparently a fair amount of diddling. Confirming what we already know... that we're a bunch of #######s.

The organization collectively rebounds from last weeks debacle... Bills 34-31. KC loses to Cleveland.

He's gotta be faster than Keon... The appropriate response is "Git er done!"

I've heard of him!!!

Josh Allen has a red zone interception % of 2.3 which is 17th best all time. Not throwing due to fear of being intercepted is a fearful and losing approach IMO. Josh is one of the best run/pass option QBs in history. You put the ball in his hands and expect that he'll make the right play... which is a pretty good bet. The sneak in this situation is a bad call for the exact reason we witnessed. Yes. The Bills were short on an earlier tush push in the 1st Quarter. In Joe Buscaglia's The Athletic analysis of the failed sneak, he pointed out that the Bills used a different approach than the one that has been so successful previously: "On most of the Bills’ sneak attempts this season, they’ve put some receivers on the field with a running back lined up in the backfield. Having that personnel on the field keeps the threat of throwing the ball, even if it’s a slight chance given how often the Bills like to run the quarterback sneak with Allen, which keeps smaller defenders on the field. But the group the Bills put on the field for that first-and-goal attempt from the one-yard line had no deception whatsoever. The Bills went extra heavy, using sixth offensive lineman Alec Anderson, tight end Dawson Knox, tight end Zach Davidson and fullback Reggie Gilliam on the field at once. The other skill player was James Cook, who they split out wide and had a safety up against him. The Bills’ personnel is important because it allowed the Rams to match personnel, and they went even heavier than the Bills did. The Rams used a group of four heavier defensive linemen in the middle of the formation and four edge rushers who normally battle at the line of scrimmage. It was those eight all lined up in a row, with their usual two inside linebackers roaming on the second level to see where Allen would try his rush. Instead of going with what has worked time and time again, the Bills had no one lined up in the backfield, and instead called Davidson in motion to the backfield and then snapped the ball. Davidson extended his arms to try and get to Allen to get a push for him, but by that point, the Rams had already infiltrated between the left tackle and guard to stop Allen’s momentum. And with that many large players all piled into one area, it would take even longer than normal to get everyone up, to the line and to run another play." This is a very well-written and well-researched article. I've not read the writer's material before but he's dead on. "Tom Brady, the best situational player in the history of the game, laid out the Bills path to victory: throw for a touchdown, complete the PAT, kick off, stop the Rams for a three-and-out with a timeout after each play and then bring the ball into field-goal range for a win. Brady warned: Whatever the Bills do, they cannot run the ball on the goal line. But that's exactly what they did. At the 1-yard line with one minute and six seconds left, Allen ran the ball on a QB sneak. The Rams stuffed Allen, and the Bills had to call a timeout. Their chances of winning plummeted. "Now you’ve gotta onside kick. We’ve got a 3% chance on an onsides kick. … That changes the entire complexity of the last minute and two seconds of the game," Brady said. "Even if they score, what’s the big deal? You’re gonna have to go for an onsides kick. I did not like that one bit. That could've just cost them the game right there." It did." It's sad that Tom Brady could read the situation clearly and Joe Brady/McDermott couldn't. Said Joe Brady: "You look at us on the 1-yard line this year, and we haven’t been stopped on a QB sneak outside of this game. The only one that didn’t work going into this game was an illegal formation. … At that point — percentages-wise — the highest percentage play was the QB sneak. But at the same time, the cost at not getting it essentially did cost us the game," Brady said. "So I have to do a better job in that situation. And it’s something we’re continuing to evaluate. … We’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better." It’s nice of Brady to take the blame there. But this is what head coaches are for. McDermott, who is not a playcaller, has to step in to override his coordinators when they can’t see the bigger picture. McDermott let the mistake happen." Said the writer: "Instead of plugging the leaks, the Bills need to figure out why the leaks are happening. It's not enough to look at their in-game failures and say: We won't do that again. Every game is different. Every decision is different. McDermott might need a better infrastructure in place so he can quality control his coordinators... It’s worth noting that Marc Lubick has the title of game management coach for the Bills. He’s been with the team as long as McDermott but only stepped into the game management role in 2020. It’s unclear, however, exactly how involved Lubick gets in these situations and decisions. "Those are not easy situations overall. There’s a lot of communication that has to unfold. … [We’ll] adjust our process a little and hone that in a little bit closer," McDermott said. That process is everything for the Bills. This is a Super Bowl-caliber team. Its coach needs to be ready to make Super Bowl-caliber decisions. And he doesn't have a consistent track record of doing that."

They're playing in a driving rainstorm.

That's close to, but not exactly the problem. Yes, when they sent more than 4 rushers the defense was exploited. To me this is the problem. Compare the Bills pass rush with the way KC creates pressures with dogs, overloads, etc. It seems a very high percentage of the time, the Bills go straight rush with no loops, no overloads, no games, no slot corner blitzes, nothing. That seems apparent to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong... I don't review the All-22. The other problem not mentioned in 10 pages is that both Von and Groot are much more effective rushing from the defensive left side... ironically the non-blind side. When you move either to the RDE position they are not nearly as good. To me the answer is to keep them BOTH on the left side of the defense. On passing downs have Von rush from LDE and move Groot inside to LDT where even if he can't beat the guard, his height and wingspan create problems in the passing lanes. And IMO he'll have an easier time beating a guard than a tackle. Then on the other side of the D-line... I agree with both of you completely. In all his years in the league, AJ continues to lose contain and looks lost on the edge. Like my Groot example above, Epenesa needs to move inside on passing downs. This would 1) allow him to use his height and length to create problems in the passing lanes 2) eliminate him as a liability in setting the edge and trying to contain 3) allow him to reprise the bull rush power game he used so well at Iowa and 4) allow Javon Solomon to play RDE on passing downs. I would love to see DaQuan and Oliver play only on run and neutral downs. On obvious passing downs I would want to see: Von Groot Epenesa Solomon LDE LDT RDT RDE Speaking of saving bullets: 1) I think it's a crime that Elam is not being given the opportunity to play. Create schemes where his obvious talents can be used. Could the Bills have done any worse had they simply dressed Elam and had him travel with Nacua? 2) It was a mistake to not allow Dorian to get in there and see what he could do. A) Dorian had been steadily improving and B) Milano was obviously struggling and is still trying to get up to speed. 3) Javon Solomon had shown flashes early in the season. He is a pass rushing weapon. I get it... they don't TRUST HIM... but they trust AJ Epenesa who is not a trustworthy edge player? I'm sad to think of the dozens of snaps of experience that Elam and Solomon missed out on over the course of this season. Like most of the defensive problems, it's a failure of coaching, IMO.

It's sad that in the most dangerous sport and the one most likely to lead to bad health outcomes later in life, that the contracts are not fully guaranteed. Juan Soto just signed with the Mets for 15 years and $765 million... fully guaranteed. He could chase a fly ball, crash into the outfield wall and suffer multiple fractures of his leg, never be the same player... and still get paid every penny.

In the 2003 Fiesta Bowl while playing for Miami against Ohio State, Willis McGahee tore his ACL, PCL, and MCL. He went on to a really good 11 year NFL career but he was not the same player he was pre-injury.

And he was looking like a future superstar. Such athletic ability... just in the last few weeks he was really coming into his own. I hope he can overcome this catastrophic injury.

The Bills had a fast, white wide receiver back in the early 80's, Mike Mosley. He ran a 4.28 at the combine but a doctor botched his knee surgery and derailed his career.

As a relevant point of comparison, the backup QB in Kansas City is Carson Wentz.

Yeah but you're talking about the 4th QB on the Bills... Josh, Trubisky, and White, then Buechele. An organization's approach to the QB position is not the same for every team. A team with a superstar quarterback in his prime will take a different approach than a team that doesn't have a clear number one. Things like if you're a playoff team or not come into play too. Also whether you are an ascending team or a rebuilding team. These things all come into play so rules that might apply to one team might not apply to another.

A lot of the above comments are not differentiating between the backup quarterback and the number 3 quarterback. They are two different positions.

Also it would be a bit of a Michigan (State) reunion for Keon and I know that would just warm @boyst's heart.

1) Yes, if Josh misses appreciable time, the season can go up in smoke. 2) But if Josh were to miss "only" 3-5 games then the Bills are in "damage control mode" trying to preserve standings/playoff seeding until he returns. 3) Acknowledging #3 above you're probably going to be better off with a veteran, former starter (i.e.- Trubisky) as your backup. 4) However many believe in having a young developmental QB as your number 3, particularly on teams that don't have a durable superstar QB. 5) IMO, if the Bills chose to carry a younger developmental QB then they should be looking at free agents and/or undrafted free agents. 6) #5 above is based on the opinion that for a team that is a true and perennial Super Bowl contender, every draft pick should be used on a position player to make the team around the superstar QB, better.

Yes the Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has said that in principal he would like to draft a QB every year. Bill Polian and Bill Walsh were also adherents to the idea that even if you have a QB, there's nothing wrong with drafting another QB if the value is right. Fortunately for them, the drafting of Trey Lance didn't stop the Niners from drafting Brock Purdy at the end of the same draft. McBeane dipped their toes into that philosophy post-Josh when they took Jake Fromm in the 5th round of the 2020 draft... a move that was and still is questioned. And here to talk about his experiences is @JakeFrommStateFarm!!! Jake, welcome to the show... thanks for joining us...

I don't disagree with you on wanting to see Josh absorb less punishment but do you really think the bolded is an accurate statement? Specifically "sick and tired?" Thanks for playing! The Buffalo Shuffalo?