Rockinon

Lets Rock

Good. After the game it'll all be about Buffalo.

I'm thinking Coleman will get a couple of nice catches. Shakir, Kinkaid and Cook are going to be leaned on the most. Have to go with Shakir on offense. Rousseau on defense.

Their pass defense was equally bad.

I hope so. And Allen comes out throwing. The Cards have a terrible defense and no pass rush. Take advantage of it, jump ahead in points and make them abandon the run game.

Buffalo's defense is significantly better than Arizona's. The Cards are going to struggle moving the ball and the Bills will be marching down the field all day long. Can't stop this.

The Bills offense comes out like they were shot out of a cannon. 42 - 17 Bills One can hope, right?

The offense is the big unknown. One thing that is interesting about our new OC is the use of motion. Another is how RBs are being utilized in the passing game. These things are incredibly useful because it forces safeties to come downhill to make a play. This prevents safeties and LBs from hanging out deep to stop the big play. There is definitely an advantage to this because it will leave someone open deep. The bad thing is as a QB, you begin moving the ball with a lot of short passes, then you have to hit a deep one on the money. It's a lot harder than you think. You get into a rhythm getting rid of the ball quickly and then you have to look downfield, hold the ball longer, go through your progressions and deliver a strike. Josh is excellent at hitting a guy 20- 30yds downfield, but when you are switching back and forth between short quick hitters and deep passes, it's tricky. I have no idea how successful the offense will be because motion, utilizing RBs in the pass game and getting the whole offense to gel on all of these kinds of plays takes great focus by everyone. The thing is it's boom or bust on a lot of these kinds of plays however, the RBs have shown they are more than just rushers all ready. There is reason to be optimistic. Josh has worked hard to improve his short area game and that bodes well for this offense. You can not be one dimensional. Getting the whole offense on the same page with so many new faces is the biggest challenge. We have some proven talent with experience too. Even with all of the challenges mentioned above, guys like Shakir, Kinkaid and Cook can be leaned on. The arrow is pointing up and I think this can go one of two ways. Either there will be early struggles this season or they shoot themselves out of cannon. Can't decide. Josh often starts slow, so I'm a little weary.

I think there has been a concerted effort to "build a bully" across the board. One of our best pass catchers is a TE. We have bigger WRs. We have some real talent at RB. Our OL is pretty good. Our QB is a handful. Even on defense the pieces are there. It was decimated by injury last year, but there is talent there. They lost their best 1T DT, their best LB, their best pass rusher was still recovering from injury, half of their CBs and yet somehow they still did not completely collapse. Milano's injury hurts, but this defense is going to surprise many here. I think there has been too much focus by us fans on the individual players and their skill-set. Looking at the big picture, I believe the team is not just planning to win. They are planning to dominate.

I agree that the McDermott/Allen combo is a winning combo. The defense was absolutely devastated by injury last year, and I credit McD for keeping them competitive. McD has a few flaws and I believe he recognizes them and continues to grow. I believe the defense is going to have a resurgent year, even without Milano. The offense is where I have no idea. There is so much young talent added there. But Josh is leading this group and he has proven himself over and over. There could be some growing pains or they could come out of the gate like they've been shot out of a cannon. Either way, I think the talent they've acquired is better than most think. It's going to be a thrilling ride this year for sure. The many new faces are a big question mark, but one name keeps coming back to me. A name that should be added to the McDermott/Allen combo......Brandon Beane. Every year, we scratch our heads at his moves and every year he finds diamonds in the rough. Every year he builds a deeper roster. He doesn't listen to the noise of who everyone thinks he should bring in. For instance, nearly every WR on the roster now is known for having consistently good hands. He's not caught up in who's the fastest, or who is the getting separation. He is going after the bottom line. He wants receivers who do what their paid to do. Catch the ball. The winning combo should be McDermott/Allen/Beane. We've caught some bad breaks with injuries in the past. When the roster is healthy though, this team has looked unstoppable. I think the arrow is still pointing up for this team personally. It's just a matter of time before they break through and make it to the big game.

Nobody was released to make room for him?

Hyde and Poyer were getting pretty long in the tooth. The youth movement was necessary there. White too, though I think his injuries made it more necessary in his case. Diggs, I believe was just a matter of needing to change to a more "spread the ball around" philosophy. The Dline may be much improved with better health and new additions. Kind of excited about a possible resurgence from the defense this year. We may see some growing pains out of the gate simply because of the youth movement, but I believe that the potential is there to be a better overall roster. I'm not completely sold on the offense improving, but generally optimistic that they can grow into it.

Buffalo Joe still not cut.....

Also a WR or 2 will make their way to the practice squad.

Naw, wait. Houston can't keep all those WRs. They'll have to cut someone. Why give up a draft pick at all.

Year after year, Buffalo's defense is ranked pretty high. Unfortunately, it has been handicapped by a poor pass rush and an inability to stop the run. If our Dline can just stay healthy, that would change. And it's not just the DE's that need to be healthy. The interior needs to be healthy too. It seems to me, too much focus has been on DBs and LBs. The heart of the defense is the big guys up front. Also, I think having DaQuan back healthy is bigger than having Von back healthy for this defense. The defense as a whole was decimated by injuries last year but the injuries to the Dline is what hurt the most. If that unit can stay healthy, McD's defensive schemes can flourish. The DB's and LBs will look like all pros, but only because they had the support of a more dominant front four.

It seems to me, with the NFL increasing the number of regular season games, that they should also be increasing the size of the roster. Multiple teams are really beaten up after that many games.

Defenses were putting sometimes 3 DBs in Diggs area of the field. No receiver even in their prime is going to dominate in that scenario. I think there may have been some frustration on Digg's part but the bad attitude is largely overblown. It became necessary to scheme other receivers open because Diggs was drawing too much attention. Brady was right on the money by spreading the ball around and getting other players involved in the offense. The Bills are going to continue with that philosophy. Spread the ball around, use presnap motion, blend in more running concepts, utilize the TEs and work in some passing concepts that get WRs open quickly. There will be deep concepts too, but there will be fewer attempts in an attempt to not force it. I have high hopes for Brady's success and Allen growing into a more complete and experienced QB. All of the pieces are coming together. It's no longer going to be the Josh to Diggs show. It's very much going to be the whole team coming together approach and that is a good thing.

Having a healthy Von will be nice, but DaQuan back healthy is going to make this defense dominant. The LBs healthy too. There's a really good chance the entire D sees a resurgence this year.

Was talking about Brady the QB. Not Brady the coach. I think Brady the coach mixed things up better. More run plays. More presnap motion. Sometimes it isn't about statistics and just more about having a feel for the game. I think he sees the big picture better than his predecessor. Don't really have an opinion on if blitzes changed when Brady started calling plays.

You are right. This is a major contributing factor on why defenses blitz often. Allen has always struggled with screens and short yardage dump offs. Another contributing factor is WRs like Davis couldn't consistently catch a short yardage pass. Defenses never had a reason to do anything but have 2 high safeties and send an extra blitzer. They do this because they are simply not afraid of quick dump offs. And it is an area where Josh must improve. We have a lot receivers capable of taking those quick hitters and some with run after the catch ability. Now it's just up to Josh to deliver. Brady was never blitzed because he got rid of the ball so quickly that defenders were needed in coverage, rather than blitzing. If Josh never masters short passes, he'll continue to be blitzed more than most QBs in the league. The OL IMHO has been great and not really the reason why Josh has had to scramble often. Defenses with dominant DLines could crash down the middle, but most of Josh's scrambles were because of a blitzer coming off the edge. I'm hoping to see more consistency from the short pass game and for rushing attempts to be consistently successful. Do this, and the deep game will naturally become more dangerous. Take away a defense's ability to stress the offense and they will have to try something else.

He's improved dramatically compared to early in his career in that regard.

I think Kincaid leads the pack with Shakir right on his heels, both near 1000yds. After that there will be a committee of lower tier receivers. To early to tell for sure.

With a relatively healthy DLine.....Over. A lot over.

Also said the Edefuan was the best "zone" LB in the entire draft.