Rubes

Gotta appreciate the honesty here.

Yep, kinda the whole point of the thread...

If that's the case, why are we so stinkin' bad at stopping the run??

Right…and most people, I would argue, were really interested to see how Poona and Settle would perform in this defense, given their promising careers before coming here.

Seems like it’s been a long time since the Bills had a difference-maker at DT. Not for a lack of trying, though—the Bills have drafted guys (not many) and brought a bunch in as free agents over the years, but almost entirely without substantial success. Oliver had a really good year in 2023, but that’s about it. DaQuon was looking pretty good that year too until the injury. Other than those two performances, the best we’ve had is really just average, with most performances ranking below average. We’ve brought guys in with varied backgrounds and skill sets, only to watch most of them disappoint or perform below expectations. Going back to 2020 that list includes guys like: Brandin Bryant Star Lotulelei Vernon Butler Poona Ford Tim Settle Austin Johnson Jordan Phillips Dewayne Carter Linval Joseph Granted, almost none of these guys were known to be, or were expected to develop into, difference-makers. I mean, for the most part we’ve gotten what we paid for—average, at best, though you could argue it’s even less than that. Then you look at what Poona and Settle did after leaving the Bills and having impact years, it starts to make you wonder… Is it the Bills defensive system more than the players? Is this a system that just doesn’t bring out the best in this position? If we drafted or brought in a true blue chipper at DT, would he just also underperform or disappoint? Or is it really just that we have underinvested in the position and it’s purely the lack of high-end talent that is the limitation?

In the world where you're trying to make an argument about a "trifecta"...😛

If only you had just left the Lions off of your list...

Yeah but 3034 would mean over 1000 void years on a single contract...

3034 is a pretty long time away...would they even allow that many void years?

I think this is just his way of highlighting the "It's time to move on from McDermott" thread.

Just as long as he promises to double check with the refs whenever he declares himself as eligible on a play. 😛

Not that it matters, but you youngins don't recall that waaay back in Super Bowl XII (Cowboys stomped the Broncos 27-10, the defense forcing 8! turnovers) they awarded the MVP to two players, Harvey Martin & Randy White from the defensive line. The DL dominated in general, but they gave it to those two. According to history, "The voters actually wanted to name the entire 11-man starting defensive lineup as co-MVPs, and asked the NFL if this was acceptable. The league said no, and so two players were picked for the award." I could have seen something like that happening this year, but maybe it was just too tough to pick two of them. FYI, Denver QB Craig Morton's passer rating for the game was 0.0, the lowest in Super Bowl history.

The irony of it all is that they just needed one more TD to make the Super Bowl. (or one more stop, but still.)

Holy smokes…

All I want is for us to grab a difference maker on defense and then go out and have a 1985 Chicago Bears-style season next year to close out the Ralph. Is that asking too much???

Some of it definitely has to do with the main coverage scheme (man vs. zone), but there's a lot more to it than that. We seem to run more zone than other teams, which means other teams' WRs can find open spots if the pass rush doesn't get home quickly enough. Other teams seem to play more man vs. us, probably because our WR aren't great at separation. I don't understand it any deeper than that, though.

I've often wondered how much of this is WR skill vs. passing game scheme. I've just seen too many instances where WRs of ours who aren't particularly fast or awesome at route running (or at least, not as fast or good as they used to be) still get wide open on long passes. Gabe Davis somehow made some of the longest catches in recent years. Diggs was wide open several times on deep routes in recent years, on many of which Josh couldn't connect with him. Same with some other less-than-impressive receivers we've had. I think I just don't understand offensive and defensive schemes well enough to understand the issue or answer the question. But plenty of other teams manage to get WRs who aren't superstars wide open at times. Why can't we do that more?

All-Pro post. Glad to see you're in top form on this important game day!

Chiefs fans online are begging McD to guard Kelce the same way he did last time. They think Worthy and Brown will feast all day.

Go Bills indeed.

Dude, are you posting on TBD while you're in a restaurant about to enjoy some steaks? That is some ***** dedication right there.

I agree. I mean, think about it: we were one failed 3rd down inside the 5 from posting 31 points on the best defense in the NFL.

Wait, in the Ravens game? You thought the OL was awful?