notpolian

I'm glad Hyde is back. Your comment may be the answer. I've been thinking along the lines of him taking Hamlin's place, that may be wrong. Hyde in the dime package come playoff time, now that could be very interesting 🤔.

I'm still optimistic about Bishop but it was a relief to see no injury designation for Rapp on the Friday report. We are going to have to put pressure on Stafford Sunday. If we end up having to blitz, having our safeties out of position would be even more deadly than usual.

Could be a tough game. But I'm done fighting the 30+ trend. Bills win. Bills 31 Rams 20

I was out of pocket all day doing fun outdoor stuff so didn't see this until just now. Just my uninformed opinion, but I would not be surprised at all to see Hyde starting in the playoffs. He may have lost a quarter to half step, but he is going to be in position and anticipates where to be. He can tackle. He just seems like a smart player. However it works out he is an upgrade to the roster.

The Bills have just been too successful to make changes. But I'm a #4 until the postseason outcomes change. It would truly be fantastic if he could follow the Andy Reid trajectory, without having to change teams.

I hope the Bills wait until Kincaid and Coleman are 100% healthy and completely ready before they bring them back. I actually think the current version of the offensive roster is just fine. I trust all the receivers to catch the ball and Knox can block.

It can be a problem if a team really sticks with pounding the rock. I just re-watched most of the 49ers game and Rapp saved us multiple times with last line of defense diving tackles. The DL interior linemen have to be better. Lions game is the ultimate test IMO.

Unlike some I do not care about MVP. Lombardi is 100% what I care about. But with the signature lateral play last night, if the Bills come close to winning out, he gets it.

Yeah if you were a Niners fan, you'd be pretty pissed about that not being blown dead. But I'll take it.

No. I don't and never really hated the Dolphins. I remember the losing streak of the 70s well. But it's the obnoxious teams I truly dislike, and I guess I never found Miami to be obnoxious. Now I am just quietly amused they've locked themselves into a beatable QB and coach for the foreseeable future.

Bills 23 Niners 20 Ground game and turnovers in the snow. Always going with one missed PAT.

Hate to see the Ravens win. But would rather face any team other than Ravens in wild card round if we don't get 1 seed.

I know how they measure these stats in Hockey and Basketball. I would be an easy thing to do but I should have been clearer what I was talking about. One way would be to find out what the defensive average yards allowed with Rousseau on the field vs. off the field. Or maybe DVOA with Rousseau on vs off. There are a ton of factors such as the play called, defense they are in, is there a twist or stunt on (oh wait, the Bills don't do that) but over the course of the season the sample size would be large enough such that things would settle out. I'd imagine the numerical difference wouldn't be much but the it might be interesting and a way to quantify the benefit of a player. Just curious if some website does that kind of thing. I doubt it, but I don't know. To my eye, we seem weak against the run. We've been running a 4-2-5 nickel for years, and we've always been vulnerable in the playoffs, but this year it just feels like teams can gash us for 7-10 yards on the ground if they stick with it. In past years we've done better. I'm not saying its Rousseau's fault, but he and others simply cannot overcome the scheme. To me that'd what a difference maker does. They jump out at you, fans fear playing against them, and teams game plan to take them out. My bar for that type of player may be higher than most.

I think there is a strong chance the Bills get a major reality check in the form of a pre-bye beat down. The Chiefs will bring their A game. But I'm still going Bills 24 Chiefs 21 Because KC needs to lose.

Anyone know a good voodoo witch doctor that can lay an inverse hex on Cooper's wrist? We need him on the field.

I don't watch all-22 or conventional coverage close enough to say either way if he is that good against the run. Do other teams always run away from him? Does he get double teamed? BTW, does anyone keep on/off or +/- statistics for football like there is for basketball and hockey?

Taron Johnson is the closest thing we have to a difference maker on defense. You can really tell when he's not in there and he makes plays, sometimes game changing plays.

You are right and I hope he becomes a more effective blocker. I also admit I was lazy and didn't look up his height and weight. He sure seems to play small for his size. I guess the term I should have used is he doesn't play with power. He strikes me as a finesse TE, though he does try to go through tackles for YAC. Just an aside, but I also would have swore Brock Bowers was bigger than Kincaid but Bowers is actually 6'3". I haven't seen Bowers play this year at all but he is leading the league in TE yards for a bad team. I saw him a lot at Georgia and he was dominant. His 40 time is a bit faster than Kinkaid's (4.55 vs 4.71) fwiw. He also is not a great blocker but was a big play guy in college with good hands. Kincaid hasn't had many big plays this year IIRC. Maybe not a totally fair comparison but they were the first TEs drafted two years in a row. Anyway, I hope Kincaid can play this week and if not gets healthy ASAP.

Beane is not good at drafting defensive linemen. Rousseau is good, but not a difference maker. There is always luck with any one player, but personally, I see an established pattern. Lack of difference makers on defense is what holds this team back from playoff success.

I wouldn't say the team is better with Knox in the lineup. But I think people expect more from Kincaid than he is going to deliver. He can't outrun DBs. He is not a big dude so he can't "box out" his way open and he is not good at blocking. He has good hands and runs good routes. Because of his blocking issues it's hard to have him in there as the only TE if you want to run the ball. He is sort of like a bigger Cole Beasley, and I say that in a positive way. I don't know if he is being asked to find the soft spots in zones enough (Kelce is painfully good at this). They don't have him go to the flats that much I think. He tries hard after the catch. Many would probably would look at him differently if he wasn't a first round pick.

To me Cooper is the one I would like to see back the most. Coleman is out already so nothing can be done about that. Kincaid has been somewhat underutilized and hasn't been a difference maker this year as much as some (not me) hoped. Cooper can possibly make KC play a bit differently by making them more reluctant to clamp down with the man to man that kills us late in games.

It's a festival of turnovers this week in the NFL

No matter how things ultimately turn out, this is good news.

Yeah unless there are unseen issues, he shoudl be signed after clearing waivers. But he'll need to want to come back. I'm pretty sure Dodson would be more effective than at least one of our current LBs.

Given our next 4 games and KCs record, the 1 seed would be a very tough ask. However someone needs to prevent KC from having an undefeated season. Denver had them beat this week but it didn't happen. The Bills need to make it happen.