dave mcbride

He was bad in the first half of the season because he was literally playing injured. Factor that in.

I think this is unfair. He played well vs. Baltimore, but playing zone against Pat Mahomes and Kelce with no pass rush in front of him is setting him up to lose on every play. It's simply too easy for the receiver to adjust. There's not a LB in the league who can stop that combo playing that technique.

Great post. One thing you should factor regarding Hughes, though: In the Bills postseason games in the last two seasons, he has 6 sacks in 4 games. He was awesome against Houston, and he actually had a very nice sack vs. Mahomes yesterday (maintaining his discipline and riding him to the sideline; although he could have easily gotten a PF there). He also made a huge play vs. Baltimore on the play before Johnson pick-six along with getting two sacks. My point is that if you're going to assess a player, include the postseason performances. I'd keep him.

I think they need some better players, frankly. Teams like Denver and San Diego -- pretty bad teams -- can keep them at bay to an extent, and that's because they have d-linemen (Bosa, Ingram, for instance, created huge problems for KC in their first game this season) who can wreck plays. The Bills don't have those guys, and simply can't get to Mahomes with a 4-man rush. The Bills make up for it with disciplined zone play in coverage, but that's been proven to be useless against KC. Mahomes and Kelce just pick it apart. Look, you're never going to have elite players at every position, but you gotta have more than what the Bills have in terms of their pass rush. It's too bad about Ed Oliver. He's a decent player, but he's not a difference maker (3 sacks, 6 pressures, 23 tackles in 2020). They spent a high pick on him and the returns aren't impressive so far. As for schemes, I do think it's probably an issue, at least with regard to KC. Belichick frequently gives KC's offense fits, including the game this year with the corpse of Brian Hoyer playing QB. The Bills' looks and schemes -- which were pretty vanilla in both games this year -- clearly don't present any issues for Mahomes. I think the only way to deal with this issue is to get get 1-2 game wreckers on the line. I was in support of getting Carlos Dunlop, who ended up playing extremely well for Seattle. I think you've gotta take a chance on a guy like that -- someone who is clearly more talented than the Mario Addisons of the world. I know Clowney didn't do much this season, but he's still ultra-talented and was incredibly disruptive for Seattle in 2019 despite the low sack total. My sense is that this is a pretty weak d-line draft, but I don't know for sure. Others will know better than me. Yeah, there are drops every game. Brady suffered through drops yesterday. The ones you hate are the ones like Singletary's -- low velocity lobs to a guy in open space. Diggs and Brown dropped bullets as they were getting hammered. I forgive those ones. It's impossible to catch balls at a 100 percent rate in those situations.

It actually went a good five yards beyond the LOS. I watched it a couple of times to make sure.

Whatever the stupid rule is, the decision to overturn it was obviously correct.

you have to click on it and scroll. It's a thread with two subsequent clips.

Oh, jeez. I was looking at 2022, not 2021. Apologies.

The dead cap is $2 million, and the cap hit if he stays is $10 million. The difference is $8 million, with $8 million freed up if he's cut. What am I missing?

It was thrown into triple coverage. It was not an easy catch given the circumstances. Plus KC dropped two fairly easy interceptions. Not a great night for Josh.

Thanks, man, although you appear to have the wrong Addison numbers. The cap savings according to Sportrac is $8 million, not $6.1. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/mario-addison-8871/

I like White a ton, but check out these three videos:

No one on the line was good. Williams had an elite season and guys like that don't grow on trees. He's definitely worth spending some cash on.

By that point in the game, the Bills were clearly going to lose, 2 pt conversion or now. The Bills couldn't stop them at all, and the Chiefs could simply have kept dialing up easy first downs. The point is, don't make too much of that call. The better team won and could have scored 45 if they didn't take their foot off the gas.

I guess what I meant to say is that the Bills might want to view their own guy as a high-upside difference maker in coming years rather than a FA or draft pick. Tight ends take so long to develop and often flame out as pass catchers.

I just felt in retrospect that they were more likely to convert in that situation than if the game had somehow gotten closer and the outcome was in doubt.

I'd much prefer week 13 vs. KC when the Chiefs are down 3-4 key players due to injury.

That's exactly my thinking.

You have to try the two-point conversion at some point, and doing it when the Chiefs D is playing like it was garbage time (which it did on that drive) seemed like the perfect time to do it. They were a lot more lackadaisical and the Bills had a bead on them, largely because it was 38-15. The reason fans don't like the call is because it FAILED and crushed any smidgen of hope no matter how false that hope may have been (i.e., the Bills had zero chance to win the game at that point whether they converted or not). It may well have failed all three times given that the Bills don't run the ball well at all and the most effective 2 pt conversion plays are inside runs.

Knox is actually one of the league's faster tight ends (4.58 40 time).

We are getting zero comp picks. https://overthecap.com/compensatory-draft-picks-cancellation-chart/

I know this sounds crazy but I'd stick with Knox. He definitely has the physical talent and it's a hard position to learn. Next year is year four and hopefully a breakout season. It seems like a better bet than a draft pick or FA pickup.

If you're looking to save some money, Mario Addison seems like a candidate. He has a $10 million cap hit if he stays and a $2 million hit if he's cut. He's just not that good and seems easily replaceable. I mean, he's OK, but he's the ultimate DE JAG. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/mario-addison-8871/

If KC wins, the AFC will be up 28-27 in SBs. My memory is long enough to remember when the Bills were losing SBs and people said they played in the JV conference.

He counts for $10.343 million in 2021, and if they cut him his dead cap number is $5.5 million. So cutting him saves about $4.8 million.