BillsFanForever19

Baltimore The only team to handedly beat us in all phases this season. It was never a game. And I don't think that was a mirage. We don't match up well against them. The things they're best at are things we're bad at. We could not stop them. And Defensively, they gave us fits. I'm hoping Zay Flowers being out and it being a Division game leads to the Steelers doing an upset. Or that Zay misses next week as well. I think we always have a chance against anyone. But if there's one team I want to avoid? It's Baltimore, easy.

Yep.

They could always elevate Daequan Hardy or KJ Hamler. That's who we had doing the job in the Pre-Season before we swung a trade for Codrington. With the injury report looking as solid as it is, Codrington may be the only player Questionable.

No way. They aren't going to have 34 year old, damage necked Micah Hyde returning Punts for us. He'd essentially be a Fair Catcher and there's any number of players who are suiting up on Game Day that can do that. Even if they went to the Practice Squad for a Returner, they'd go to KJ Hamler or Daequan Hardy first - as they were the ones doing the job in the Pre-Season before we traded for Codrington.

And then he'd get a ring for coaching, instead of as a player. And if an emergency situation occurred where we were decimated at Safety, he wouldn't be able to come on the field. Do you anticipate everyone we sign to the Practice Squad to see the field? He's a player who did not look good coming back from a Neck injury and then kept getting stingers. We started moving on from him before he even said whether or not he'd come back. If they felt he was up to the task and still performing well and if he felt that, he'd have been here. Now he's been on the shelf for a year. When we had a litany of injuries to Safety during Training Camp, we didn't turn to him and he didn't turn to us. And when we had a litany of injuries to Safety at the end of the year when he was on the roster, we still didn't turn to him. I'm not saying he absolutely can't or he absolutely won't. I'm saying that he's an extreme break glass in case of emergency player that I don't see them wanting to see the field. And if he does, that probably means something bad has happened to one or more players and I don't think we should want that. This idea that they're just gonna throw him on the field for substantial playing time in the Playoffs with no game time (when it was available) over healthy Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin, and Cam Lewis is EXTREMELY far fetched to me. And slightly confusing as it seemed we all agreed that he was toast and it was time to move on. But keep on dreaming. Maybe it'll come true. I'm just saying I wouldn't place a bet on it. Most I see is *maybe* an activation for the Super Bowl so he's active for it without seeing many, if any, reps.

Exactly. McDermott has said everything short of outright saying "he's not seeing the field" with both his words and actions. If they had designs of doing it, they'd have wanted to evaluate how he looks after coming off the couch and get some of those rust reps out in the last week of the year when they were resting people. Not the same situation. The Rams were decimated at Safety heading into the Super Bowl. They were desperate. Had he been on the Roster at the end of the year and could get him some reps, they probably would have. If we're in the same situation, maybe he comes in. But as long as Rapp, Bishop (who I think may have beaten out Hamlin), Hamlin, and Lewis are healthy - he's not coming in. If the Call-ups that have occurred since he's come on are any indication, it would take multiple injuries as Kareem Jackson was called up multiple times before Hyde at the end of the year. And that's not something we should be hoping for.

Not impossible, but I wouldn't bet on it. There's a better chance now that Lewis Cine got poached by Phili. But I still think you're going to need to see multiple Safety injuries before he sees the field (and I wouldn't root for that). Cole Bishop has looked better with each start. He may be pushing Damar for playing time. And I think they'd sooner turn to Cam Lewis (definitely) and maybe even Kareem Jackson (as he got the nod in multiple weeks with Hyde on the roster) before him.

Sounds like you're projecting some PTSD there.. I don't disagree with the things you're saying about Moorman and Araiza. But if we sign a Player that's an interesting prospect at any position, it's going to be discussed at some level.

So fans shouldn't analyze roster additions at other positions bc we have Josh Allen?

That's wrong. No one's Drafting a Punter (regardless of whether they're a "God" or not) with an SA case hanging over their head. We didn't know. If we had known and lied about it to the public - Araiza would have been screaming from the rooftops that we knew and lied when we cut him and claimed we didn't. He never did and what you're implying has never been said by anyone. The reasons he fell below other Punters was: 1.) He didn't hold in College and there was no telling if he could. 2.) He very often overkicked his coverage. Which was a concern at the Pro level. 3.) He has an unquestionably strong leg. But nuance control like Coffin Corner kicks wasn't a strong point. 4.) Playing at San Diego State v. playing in the NFL is very different. Camarda, for example, was playing at Georgia. Which is as close to the NFL level as you can get. Things he got away with in SDSU he may not get away with at the NFL level. This idea that he was the greatest Punter prospect of all time is inaccurate. There were concerns with his game and how it would translate to the Pro level. Pat McAfee had Stout and Camarda above him as well in his pre-Draft breakdown of the position he played.

https://thepewterplank.com/jake-camarda-new-team-signing-afc-contender It seems like he got a Punter's case of the yips. Had some bad kicks and then got in his own head. The whole thing is odd. Coming into the year he was a bright spot on the team. One of the better Punter's in the league. Then he "crashed out", as the article put it, and was cut. Kind of a very quick fall from grace. The good news is he's young and there's many instances of Punters putting it back together in their second chance. Given his pedigree coming out of College and his performance in Year 1 and Year 2 - hopefully the start of this year was a blip and we get the guy he was expected to be in Camp this year, when he was taken in Round 4.

Yeah, I didn't think the Vikings would be as bad as people thought going into the year. But I didn't expect Sam Darnold to man the ship as well as he did. It's disappointing how low that Diggs pick is looking compared to where we thought it would be.

Yes and no. The pick we got from the Texans in Round 2 was a pick they got from Minnesota. I changed it to "From Minnesota Vikings via Houston Texans" to be more specific. Maybe it should technically read the other way around, but I think it's more important that people know it's Minnesota's pick we'll be getting.

Yes. But for the sake of keeping things straight and because right now the list is just picks in Rounds and not exact numbers, I listed Rounds where we had Picks first. Followed by the Rounds where we had extra picks, where they came from, and how. It's not an order of where each pick is expected to fall in the Round. And we have picks coming from those teams in that Round. But who knows (outside of the Diggs pick) if those picks that were traded were their picks in that Round or if they came from other teams to those teams.

As has been said, the picks wouldn't come this year and they won't both come in a single year. It would be 2026 and 2027. Our expected picks for this year are: Round 1 Round 2 Round 2 (from Minnesota Vikings via Houston Texans for Stefon Diggs and our 2025 5th Round Pick) Round 4 Round 4 (from Chicago Bears for a 2024 5th Round Pick) Round 5 (Compensatory for Gabe Davis) Round 5 (Compensatory for Leonard Floyd) Round 6 Round 6 (from New York Giants for Boogie Basham and our 2025 7th Round Pick) Round 6 (from Cleveland Browns with Amari Cooper for our 2025 3rd Round Pick)

Beyond Evans being here something that would never happen without hindsight or a time machine - there's this as well. If we Drafted Mike Evans - he wouldn't be here today. He'd have floundered having to work with the EJ Manuel, Kyle Orton, and Tyrod Taylor. We probably wouldn't have even been as good as Tampa Bay was when they had Evans with Jameis as QB. And when Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott came in? He'd have been traded as part of the rebuild just as Sammy Watkins had. As good as Mike Evans is, he wouldn't have made EJ Manuel or Tyrod Taylor a Franchise QB. He wouldn't have turned the Offense into something so powerful that we'd have overcame all the other inadequacies across the team - that led to the rebuild and us trading away what little valuable assets we had.

It wasn't. At the time, I was a child. Myself and every Bills fan I knew said it was a Forward Pass. Because it's always easier to say you were robbed or someone's out to get you than it is to admit the truth. Over the years as it's been played over and over again - sowed down, zoomed in, and in high definition. It's obvious - it was a legal lateral. A literally perfect throw that should have went forward but sadly and miraculously didn't. A one in a million shot. Terribly bad luck for a terribly unlucky franchise. Just look at the picture above my post. How can you say that's forward?

You know he can do both, right? They aren't mutually exclusive. Josh isn't going to find an extra level by losing the MVP or lose his fire by winning it. His ultimate goal, as always, is to win a Super Bowl.

Oh, I hate this. We had him with the team from the very start of the year and called him up twice. He was one of the first call up's when we had an injury at Safety. With us seemingly not serious about putting Hyde on the field - it leaves us with just Kareem Jackson if someone gets hurt. And I thought there was tremendous upside to Lewis Cine. Hopefully they let him go and he can come back at some point.

There's quite a disparity between your view of Ankou that he should be on the 53 and their view that he was the most expendable player on their Practice Squad.

God, I hate this discussion and how often it comes up. Yes, Watkins was taken 4th and Evans was taken 7th. But the perceived talent level and prospect ranking disparity was greater than those 3 picks. Watkins was considered in a class of his own in S Tier. Evans was A Tier. There wasn't a GM, Draft Analyst, or Draft Nerd anywhere that had Evans as someone that would or should go before Watkins. Taking Evans there with Watkins still on the board would have been one of the biggest "WHOA!" Draft moments of all time - that would have simultaneousy had people laughing at us and Draft Analyst's scrambling to find out what they didn't know about Sammy Watkins (turns out, there actually was quite a bit). Did Evans turn out better? Unquestionably. But it's a 1000% hindsight argument. The only non-hindsight discussion of the 2014 Draft I respect is the discussion of Drafting Khalil Mack instead. As there were MANY in the moment that thought Defensive End would have been more impactful at that time and wanted him to be a Bill, coming out of UB. There was absolutely no one saying we should have taken Mike Evans.

Saw this come across the feed and the name sounded familiar. That's because he was one of the two Punters that were taken in Round 4 (very high for a Punter) of 2022, when we selected Matt Araiza in Round 6. He recieved a Special Teams Player of the Week in his Rookie season, as well as a Special Teams Player of the Week, and Special Teams Player of the Month in his second year. He was released a couple months back by Tampa Bay in favor of someone else. Could be an interesting camp competition leg and/or possible replacement for Sam Martin next season.

Correct. What I described is NOT a "Debbie Downer". But they still get labeled as that constantly. Anyone who shows any concern for an opponent or even an on field individual matchup, or calls out poor performance from a Bills player will inevitably have people calling them out as a DD and less of a fan. I've been called both a Homer and a Debbie Downer multiple times on this board. There is no true Bills fan on this board, whether they fear or even expect a defeat, that doesn't cheer for the team on Game Day and want the team to win. And these kind of "holier than thou" posts (the OP, not yours) give me the icks.

What's the opposite of a Debbie Downer? Because personally I find the type of fan, who just ignores every other teams strengths, assumes we're always going to be the best team on the field, judges/name calls anyone else who doesn't blindly swing pom-pom's existing solely in their own Bills bubble, and thinks they're a better fan because of it even more annoying. ANY analytical thinking and valid concerns over individual or team matchups gets you labeled a "Debbie Downer". You can respect your opponent, voice concerns, still have hope, and cheer for your team just as hard as any other Bills fan - without being an "idiocy enthusiast" or a lesser fan than those who just drink the spiked kool-aid 100% of the time.