Rubes

This required its own thread?

I don’t even know what the hell this thread is about anymore…

Not bad. You're almost there!

Exactly!

Yeah, I don't know. We all thought similarly last year when we went into the season without a proven MLB, and thought he'd be crazy to stick with Bernard. Turned out to be the right choice, but it's not like anyone knew Bernard would excel the way he did. I just think he's taking the same approach this time with the WR position.

I thought it was crazy, until I realize the NFL often expects teams to play on a Sunday, and then on the following Thursday. Same number of days. *which is still crazy

Just inject this ***** into my veins. I love watching Josh highlights, can't get enough of them.

By the way, looks like schedule release might be next week: https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/signs-point-to-regular-season-schedule-release-next-week

I posted this in another thread last week, but I met a guy recently who saw me wearing my Bills lanyard at work and started talking football. Turns out he is a Lions fan, and he seemed quite confident that he heard Bills @ Lions would be the opening week game. No idea where or how he could have heard this. I don't see it happening, but if it does, I'm going to have to find this guy again and ask him about the next Powerball.

There's something to be said about an offense that runs the ball well enough to force a safety into the box, opening up much more of the passing game. I think Brady understood that last year, and it worked reasonably well. We'll see if that's the plan this year.

I met a guy yesterday at work who saw me wearing my Bills lanyard, and starting talking football. He's a Lions fan, and he seemed pretty certain that he had heard Bills-Lions is the week 1 game. No idea where he could have heard that.

I agree that we need an Edge rusher. I'm okay with the middle of the DL, but I can't imagine Beane is happy with where we are at DE.

I'm not sure I'd go that far just yet, but I do think one of the most interesting battles in camp this year will be: which player offers the best value: Edwards at LG, or Van Pran at C? If Van Pran shows enough at C during camp and preseason, and Edwards underwhelms, the coaches may think it's enough to move McGovern back to LG. It's still a long shot, but it might happen. I think it may happen later in the year, perhaps at the bye week, assuming Van Pran looks the part.

Dude is only 23??

2 year contract.

I'm guessing Denver was hoping fans would be distracted by the new unis and not notice the trade.

Seems like a huge waste of time and effort to me. Nothing remotely new or interesting about the jerseys. Pointless. I'm also sick of teams wanting a black jersey so badly. The Lions had to add a black jersey, of course, even though black has never been one of their colors. Denver's dark jersey isn't black, but they tried to get as close as they could with that "Midnight Blue".

I won't argue that our receiver room is, right now, worse than it was last year. At the same time, I'll still argue that Diggs and Davis didn't provide a whole lot down the stretch, and we still did pretty good on offense. Sure, some of that is from defenses protecting against Diggs and Davis and allowing the others more freedom, but my opinion is that the magnitude of this is probably overblown. I'm excited to see what Samuel, Shakir, Kincaid, Knox, Cook, and any other new WRs will do with Allen and Brady behind them. Allen, after all, is the kind of generational player who can elevate those around him, and will always keep us in games. We lack anything like that on defense. The three things that stand out for me with our defense going into next year are: Once Floyd faded, we were unable to generate any kind of pass rush at all. Right now, that should be a pretty good view of what it will look like next year. Without Floyd, there's no reason to believe we are improved in that area, unless you're in the minority of people who believe in Miller's return to form. Pass rush is a huge question mark next year. The loss of Poyer and (likely) Hyde means we lose the leadership and execution in the defensive backfield. Sure, they may have declined physically, but we're also losing their ability to recognize offenses, ensure the DBs are in the right call, and they all have the right assignments. Can our current starting safeties do that? Perhaps, but it's certainly reasonable to question whether they can do it as well as Poyer/Hyde and not lead to misalignments/missed assignments/blown coverages. The defensive backfield is another big question mark. Linebacker health. Bernard was a revelation last year, but we also saw that we are very dependent on at least one being healthy. Can they both make it through (most of) a season? There's a track record there that concerns me, especially when we have to go up against teams like KC and Baltimore with strong offenses in order to be a true Super Bowl contender. Again, the original question was about being a Super Bowl contender. I think once you get to the playoffs, it's our defensive struggles that have and will dictate how far we go. Josh can do everything in his power to will us to victory, but it's the defense keeping us from the big game. I don't see the defense getting any better next year and, if anything, they could be a notch worse—unless Miller returns to form and one or two of these new additions surprises us.

No chance I could even see past the line of scrimmage.

Be scared? All I said is that the defense is a big question mark. I'm more comfortable with the offense because we have Josh Allen and a cadre of very good skill players. We did fine the last half of the year with Diggs and Davis providing less than they had in any of their previous years. We've already proven we can win without Diggs, and without much contribution from Davis. I think Brady will find ways of making this offense more effective. I do think there will be some growing pains, but in the end: Josh. As for the defense, I agree with you—McD has been good at plugging in a variety of guys at different positions without a huge drop-off, for the most part. But this year he is losing Poyer and (most likely) Hyde, who have given him a lot of flexibility. He's lost some folks from the DL, and we don't have a ton of depth at CB. I think overall the defense will do okay, but just how "okay" is a big question mark to me. The question was if we would be Super Bowl contenders next year...frankly, in my opinion it has already been the defense that has kept us from getting to the Super Bowl. I see the defense being most likely a small notch worse this year.

I agree with OP that defense is the big question mark for me this year. Will we be able to generate a pass rush? Will the secondary make up for the losses? Will Milano stay healthy for a full season? I expect we'll be okay on offense, but I can't see us going very far if the defense is a notch or two worse than last year.

Good one. And thanks for reminding me that the Bills didn’t draft Rashad, they only traded a great receiver away.

That's my takeaway as well. I think some first rounders who failed to live up to expectations can resurrect their careers elsewhere, but their ceiling is probably more "very good player" than "difference maker/franchise player," as expected of many first-rounders. I don't think that team situation/system/coaching figures in as much as we'd like to think.

I agree, that was pretty interesting to read. I also thought it was interesting to read about all of the different individuals basically acting in their own best interest, rather than "for the good of the team."

Good one. I think he's about as good as any so far. Still, it's interesting how few and far between the examples are.