Gil Brandt says Bills are Biggest Threat in the AFC East

[MDH]

He also claims that Washington is the least likely to relinquish their division title, which is lunacy.

[26CornerBlitz]

He also claims that Washington is the least likely to relinquish their division title, which is lunacy.

 

If Romo is healthy, the Cowboys are the best team in that division.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

If Romo is healthy, the Cowboys are the best team in that division.

Hard to argue with that offense. If they get any kind of defense they should be able to outscore most teams.

[Ronin]

 

This is an example of Gil Brandt's poor writing. He states a premise, backs it up with facts, and then in his last sentence, says the exact opposite of his premise.

 

Like most sports media, Brandt seems to talk out of whichever hole happens to be handiest at the time he opens it.

 

He was tops back in the day, but his day is long over. Now he's just an out-of-touch wooden head.

 

Besides, has the deadline passed for which Brady can no longer appeal anything forcing him to serve this suspension? If not, I suspect that they'll do just that.

 

OTOH, I can see a downturn in Brady's play this season. His last four games last year were notably different than his average over his first 12. Coincidence?

 

They lost 3 of those 4 when they needed at least one to keep homefield. He can handle a modest downturn and still be among the best, but anything more and the Pats really aren't that good a team w/o him. Belicheat is overrated and we'll see how he does w/o Brady, I suspect not unlike he did w/o him before Brady.

 

Brady's 39 and while he says he'll play well into his 40s, Father Time is rarely cheated.

 

Manning played horribly at 39.

Favre too although he had one good season with the Jets from 39 to 41, but I'll take the same from Brady, one good year and two ****ty ones in the next three.

Marino tanked at 38.

Moon played well at 39 but tanked immediately after that.

Montana and Kelly both tanked at 36.

 

So I'd say that it's safe to say that we're going to start seeing indications that Brady's finished one way or another.

[26CornerBlitz]

Hard to argue with that offense. If they get any kind of defense they should be able to outscore most teams.

 

I haven't looked into the Cowboys cap situation, but they should make a deal with the Jets for Wilkerson if it's feasible.

[Webster Guy]

Brandt should have referenced the last time we played the Pats in foxboro, in November.

 

Rex and Thurman called a great game, we held brady to 50% completion, Gronk to two catches, and held them to 20 points. Thats with no Kyle and Mario wasting a roster spot getting handled single coverage by a crappy RT all game.

 

We only managed to score 13 points, mostly from weak line play on that right side, not able to stop Ninkovich and co.

 

Im telling you, we are not that far behind them.

[Ronin]

Brandt should have referenced the last time we played the Pats in foxboro, in November.

 

Rex and Thurman called a great game, we held brady to 50% completion, Gronk to two catches, and held them to 20 points. Thats with no Kyle and Mario wasting a roster spot getting handled single coverage by a crappy RT all game.

 

We only managed to score 13 points, mostly from weak line play on that right side, not able to stop Ninkovich and co.

 

Im telling you, we are not that far behind them.

 

Unfortunately Rex/Thurman didn't call too many other great games, they'll have to be much more consistent there before we talk about unseating the Pats.

 

Once Brady's gone, even with Belicheat, the Pats are a .500 team. They don't have that much talent. I'm just curious what everyone and the media's going to say about Belicheat once that happens and he's exposed as Brady having been 90% of the reason why the Pats have been so great since Bledsoe went down there.

 

Remember, Belicheat didn't recognize any talent in Brady, he could very well have been the next QB to leave after his original 4-year contract if Bledsoe hadn't gotten hurt. Belicheat was 5-13 w/ Bledsoe and 11-3 with Brady on essentially the same team otherwise back in 2000/2001. How does one explain that other than the obvious difference. Belicheat got lucky that Bledsoe went down for the season. Otherwise Brady probably would have been lighting it up elsewhere.

 

Belicheat's been awful with QBs. Even when he had Testeverde, Vinny was bad. The very next year he goes to Baltimore, not exactly the best coached offense at the time under Billick, and lights things up. Belicheat had that talent too but couldn't coach it up. Brady's his own coach and that for the rest of the O too. Their OC is largely a figurehead, which is why they never succeed elsewhere while Brady's offenses just keep on ticking.

[DriveFor1Outta5]

 

Like most sports media, Brandt seems to talk out of whichever hole happens to be handiest at the time he opens it.

 

He was tops back in the day, but his day is long over. Now he's just an out-of-touch wooden head.

 

Besides, has the deadline passed for which Brady can no longer appeal anything forcing him to serve this suspension? If not, I suspect that they'll do just that.

 

OTOH, I can see a downturn in Brady's play this season. His last four games last year were notably different than his average over his first 12. Coincidence?

 

They lost 3 of those 4 when they needed at least one to keep homefield. He can handle a modest downturn and still be among the best, but anything more and the Pats really aren't that good a team w/o him. Belicheat is overrated and we'll see how he does w/o Brady, I suspect not unlike he did w/o him before Brady.

 

Brady's 39 and while he says he'll play well into his 40s, Father Time is rarely cheated.

 

Manning played horribly at 39.

Favre too although he had one good season with the Jets from 39 to 41, but I'll take the same from Brady, one good year and two ****ty ones in the next three.

Marino tanked at 38.

Moon played well at 39 but tanked immediately after that.

Montana and Kelly both tanked at 36.

 

So I'd say that it's safe to say that we're going to start seeing indications that Brady's finished one way or another.

Time is rarely cheated, but Brady and Belichick cheat. I guess we'll all find out who wins that battle. None of those other QBs you mentioned had the opportunity to eavesdrop on their opponents radio communications either.

[klos63]

Buffalo on the rise?

 

Biggest threat in the AFC East: Buffalo Bills

 

The Patriots' spot here is based almost entirely on the four-game suspension Tom Brady is expected to serve to start the season -- if not for that, they'd definitely be No. 8 on this list. They do catch a break in that three of their first four games are at home, though they have to go to Arizona to open the season. Dion Lewis (who went on injured reserve in early November) should be back, while Martellus Bennett was added to an aerial attack that already included premier tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver Julian Edelman. Also, the team brought back retired offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia to fix a troublesome unit that was bedeviled by injuries in 2015. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo simply hasn't played very much, making him hard to evaluate -- meaning there will be a relative wild card under center for the first quarter of the season.

 

This is another division that made improvements from top to bottom, with three potential challengers to the Pats. The Bills did a lot to help themselves, extending left tackle Cordy Glenn and coming away with an impressive draft haul. Still, Brady or no, it's not wise to bet against Bill Belichick, who simply finds ways to win. I expect New England to ultimately capture its eighth consecutive division title.

Even though we have what's considered an excellent draft, to expect 3 and maybe more rookies to impact your team is asking an awful lot.

[apuszczalowski]

 

 

He says the Bills are the biggest threat... to NE in the AFCE.

and he's probably right looking at the Fins and Genos Jets. But I think at this point, being just better then those 2 would be like arguing over who's the tallest midget......

[26CornerBlitz]

Even though we have what's considered an excellent draft, to expect 3 and maybe more rookies to impact your team is asking an awful lot.

 

It is a lot to expect, but it's certainly not unprecedented.

[Ronin]

Time is rarely cheated, but Brady and Belichick cheat. I guess we'll all find out who wins that battle. None of those other QBs you mentioned had the opportunity to eavesdrop on their opponents radio communications either.

 

LOL

 

Touche`!

Even though we have what's considered an excellent draft, to expect 3 and maybe more rookies to impact your team is asking an awful lot.

 

Indeed. They also say the same things about draft picks every year. The hype on Goodwin was even bigger than it is for Listenbee, same for Graham, who frankly had a notably more impressive collegiate dossier than either. Preston Brown was a great value pick in the 3rd that should have been a late 1st or 2nd we were told, Bradham was really a high 2nd rounder, Kouandjio was supposed to be something instead of the nothing he is, the same things being said about Jonathan Williams were said about Johnny White who caught balls whereas Williams does not. Miller last year was supposed to be the OL steal of the 2nd round but he can't stay healthy and when he is he was not good either still leaving massive questions at RG and RT too.

 

Whaley's history with 3rd and later picks since his hire as Dir. of Pro Personnel/Asst. GM is almost non-existent. So any picks that develop from the 3rd on are gravy anyway. In six seasons we've had both 1st and 2nd rounders hit twice, in 2012 with Gilmore and Glenn, and again in 2011 with Dareus and Aaron Williams although to a lesser extent since Williams is merely serviceable as a starter and nothing special, low-end starting material.

 

So you're right, the odds of us getting two much less three impact players from this draft is not an odds-on proposition.

 

I don't understand the whole draft strategy this year. All the talk prior to the draft is how we needed an edge rusher to replace Mario, well this just in but Shaq is not that player. He's more of a hybrid pass/run DE and frankly, all the experts said better suited to a 4-3 which everyone says we're not using, so that is confusing. I don't like player comparisons necessarily, but from what they're saying I'm expecting more Phil Hanson type of play than of Mario type of play, which is fine, but hardly impact. He'll hold down on "edge" job but that's about it if it all plays out well enough.

 

As to Ragland, we now have two Preston Browns back there. Again, frankly, Brown's resume was just as impressive and his stats even more impressive and he didn't have the 'Bama D surrounding him. Either way, neither can cover, so who's got the middle? Seems to me we have a glaring coverage hole OTM, which is hardly good in the modern NFL. Factor in that we don't even have one good cover safety and the middle would appear to be wide open all the way down the field, again, hardly good in today's NFL.

 

As to Washington and Williams, either will be backups only and only take reps from someone currently ahead of them on the depth chart, the former on D the latter on O.

 

Everyone talks as if they know what Ryan's doing this fall when there's absolutely no concrete reason, besides rumors if those are concrete, to know.

 

It is perplexing to be sure. Meanwhile, has the team thought for two seconds what happens if either Watkins or Taylor goes out? We're screwed if either happens. Jones is a poor-man's Tebow with worse mechanics and a completely wasted pick. Everyone here's going to be thinking even worse of him than they do about Manuel at some point.

Edited May 12, 2016 by TaskersGhost

[Ronin]

 

It is a lot to expect, but it's certainly not unprecedented.

 

It's unprecedented since Whaley's been here.

 

The last time we had three players make an impact as rookies was the 2009 Draft with Wood, Byrd, and Levitre if Levitre counts. But we had two 1st's and two 2nd's that year and wasted the first on Maybin.

 

After that you have to go back to maybe 2001.

[26CornerBlitz]

 

It's unprecedented since Whaley's been here.

 

The last time we had three players make an impact as rookies was the 2009 Draft with Wood, Byrd, and Levitre if Levitre counts. But we had two 1st's and two 2nd's that year and wasted the first on Maybin.

 

After that you have to go back to maybe 2001.

 

@WilliamsonNFL

My thoughts on #Bills infusion of young talent to their Front 7 @theScoreNFL

https://t.co/IXbVLKyrzI

Leading up to the draft, many speculated the Bills were going to be heavily in the market for a quarterback in the first few rounds. However, with the status of their front seven, quarterback was just a luxury the team couldn't afford to address at this time. So addressing the front seven is exactly what Buffalo did.

 

With their first three selections, the Bills took Shaq Lawson at 19th overall, traded up for Reggie Ragland at 41, and picked Adolphus Washington at No. 80. That's three very different front-seven players. Buffalo went other directions with the remainder of their draft picks, but the point was made in a big way that their front seven needed an upgrade. These three rookies could make instant contributions.

 

[Ronin]

 

@WilliamsonNFL

My thoughts on #Bills infusion of young talent to their Front 7 @theScoreNFL

https://t.co/IXbVLKyrzI

 

 

Yeah, that's the going sentiment which everyone's uttered mindlessly without thinking.

 

Here's another take;

 

Last year Ryan had players on the team that had logged about 50 sacks yet got only 21 from them.

 

Even after the departures of Mario, whom everyone said duffed it last year, McKelvin, a relatively inconsequential role player and depth player, and Bradham, a low-end starting OLB that missed a third of the season, the team still has the talent on it that logged 35 sacks in 2014 the season prior to Ryan's arrival here. Ryan got 12 from the same group.

 

i.e., ... could be Ryan. More on that below.

 

Meanwhile, everyone says we have no talent. We didn't really lose much besides a wilfully underachieving prima donna and two non-impact players, one that didn't even start, so why did the D go from being great in 2014 to being bereft of talent now? I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing coaching issues.

 

IMO the Bills should have grabbed Prescott at some point and could have had him with their original 4th.

 

As I see it the offense was in far greater need of talent. Jones starting this year, or any year IMO, is a joke and not even worth discussing. He should be entirely out of the league by 2020 easily. We know what happens w/ Manuel in there.

 

But more importantly both our 3 and 4 WRs left and we don't have their equivalent to replace them. Sounds fine as long as Watkins and Woods stay healthy. You wanna wager anything significant that they both do? I can't imagine.

 

Now what happens if Watkins, who's barely averaged 1,000 yards and 8 TDs in two seasons, gets hurt? Really, what happens if he say, misses 6 games?

 

What if Taylor goes down? What happens to this team?

 

As it is I see Watkins being double-covered like those coverages are his wife on his honeymoon. He only posted 5 100-yard games last year as it is. I don't see one WR of consequence that's going to shake things loose if that does happen. Watkins is among the worst YAC WRs as it is, contrary to why he was drafted and something that people don't seemingly want to admit.

 

Woods isn't going to step up to the extent necessary. If Taylor goes down the only time we'll win a game is if our opponent comes into the game completely flat and even then I wouldn't bet on a win.

 

These people that think we're going to run, run, run our way to success are not thinking things through very well.

 

Without Taylor's rushing contribution we would have ranked 10th in rushing last season behind the Jets, Rams, and the Cowboys, none of which had prolific RBs and none of which made their season on running the ball. In fact the only one of those teams with a winning record was the Jets and they did it on a career year by Fitzpatrick, ironically, and a defense that went from 24th in scoring to 9th under a rookie coach after Ryan left, while ours did the opposite and went from 4th to 15th in scoring upon Ryan's arrival here.

 

If you ask me Ryan's part of the problem, not part of the solution. I don't think it's the talent because Schwartz did so much more with the same talent that was her prior to our draft.

 

But more importantly, the team will once again be relying on Taylor again to run the ball and we simply won't have the balance in the passing game to prevent Ds from cheating up on us to close those running lanes.

 

just my two cents, but a completely different perspective than the run of the mill nonsense that everyone's spouting repetitively seemingly without thinking much beyond hopes and dreams.

Edited May 12, 2016 by TaskersGhost

[26CornerBlitz]

 

Yeah, that's the going sentiment which everyone's uttered mindlessly without thinking.

 

Here's another take;

 

Last year Ryan had players on the team that had logged about 50 sacks yet got only 21 from them.

 

Even after the departures of Mario, whom everyone said duffed it last year, McKelvin, a relatively inconsequential role player and depth player, and Bradham, a low-end starting OLB that missed a third of the season, the team still has the talent on it that logged 35 sacks in 2014 the season prior to Ryan's arrival here. Ryan got 12 from the same group.

 

i.e., ... could be Ryan. More on that below.

 

Meanwhile, everyone says we have no talent. We didn't really lose much besides a wilfully underachieving prima donna and two non-impact players, one that didn't even start, so why did the D go from being great in 2014 to being bereft of talent now? I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing coaching issues.

 

IMO the Bills should have grabbed Prescott at some point and could have had him with their original 4th.

 

As I see it the offense was in far greater need of talent. Jones starting this year, or any year IMO, is a joke and not even worth discussing. He should be entirely out of the league by 2020 easily. We know what happens w/ Manuel in there.

 

But more importantly both our 3 and 4 WRs left and we don't have their equivalent to replace them. Sounds fine as long as Watkins and Woods stay healthy. You wanna wager anything significant that they both do? I can't imagine.

 

Now what happens if Watkins, who's barely averaged 1,000 yards and 8 TDs in two seasons, gets hurt? Really, what happens if he say, misses 6 games?

 

What if Taylor goes down? What happens to this team?

 

As it is I see Watkins being double-covered like those coverages are his wife on his honeymoon. I don't see one WR of consequence that's going to shake things loose if that does happen. Watkins is among the worst YAC WRs as it is, contrary to why he was drafted and something that people don't seemingly want to admit.

 

Woods isn't going to step up to the extent necessary. If Taylor goes down the only time we'll win a game is if our opponent comes into the game completely flat and even then I wouldn't bet on a win.

 

These people that think we're going to run, run, run our way to success are not thinking things through very well.

 

Without Taylor's rushing contribution we would have ranked 10th in rushing last season behind the Jets, Rams, and the Cowboys, none of which had prolific RBs and none of which made their season on running the ball. In fact the only one of those teams with a winning record was the Jets and they did it on a career year by Fitzpatrick, ironically, and a defense that went from 24th in scoring to 9th under a rookie coach after Ryan left, while ours did the opposite and went from 4th to 15th in scoring.

 

If you ask me Ryan's part of the problem, not part of the solution. I don't think it's the talent because Schwartz did so much more with the same talent that was her prior to our draft.

 

But more importantly, the team will once again be relying on Taylor again to run the ball and we simply won't have the balance in the passing game to prevent Ds from cheating up on us to close those running lanes.

 

just my two cents, but a completely different perspective than the run of the mill nonsense that everyone's spouting repetitively seemingly without thinking much beyond hopes and dreams.

 

Another dissertation on 2015 vs. 2014? No thanks!

[thebandit27]

 

Yeah, that's the going sentiment which everyone's uttered mindlessly without thinking.

 

 

Mindless huh? Well, let's take a look at your contributions...

 

 

IMO the Bills should have grabbed Prescott at some point and could have had him with their original 4th.

 

 

Yes, by all means let's take the guy with the slowest release in the class who showed no ability to run a pro-style offense.

 

 

As I see it the offense was in far greater need of talent. Jones starting this year, or any year IMO, is a joke and not even worth discussing. He should be entirely out of the league by 2020 easily. We know what happens w/ Manuel in there.

 

 

So, Prescott yes and Jones no? That makes no sense. Jones actually looked good when Meyer let him run a pro-style offense. He won a National Championship. I'd LOVE to hear what sets Prescott apart from Jones.

 

As it is I see Watkins being double-covered like those coverages are his wife on his honeymoon. I don't see one WR of consequence that's going to shake things loose if that does happen. Watkins is among the worst YAC WRs as it is, contrary to why he was drafted and something that people don't seemingly want to admit.

 

And Watkins being doubled is different from either of the last 2 seasons how?

 

 

Without Taylor's rushing contribution we would have ranked 10th in rushing last season behind the Jets, Rams, and the Cowboys.

 

Dead wrong. In fact, this very idea was refuted YESTERDAY.

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/185916-bills-working-on-extensions-for-gilmore-maybe-tyrod/?view=findpost&p=3944423

 

Best rushing game in the NFL (by YPC) if you remove QB rushing yards from the equation.

 

See above...you may want to refrain from calling others' opinions mindless until you can ensure that you aren't contributing to the apparent epidemic of spouting nonsense.

[Ronin]

 

Another dissertation on 2015 vs. 2014? No thanks!

 

That's fine, no one else is discussing it either, everyone just talks as if this team actually knows what it's doing and as if sticking our heads in the sand mitigates it somehow.

 

So let's move on to easier stuff.

 

What happens if Watkins goes down?

 

What happens if Taylor goes down?

 

What if both go down?

 

How do you envision our offense playing under those circumstances?

 

Is this anything that you've heard all the people applauding our draft even discuss seriously or at length in an analytical manner? I haven't seen it other than by journalists non-grata here.

 

As I see it we won't win any more games under either scenario much more so if both go out. And Watkins as we know is injury prone. For that matter Woods had his share last season as well with both players missing a combined 9 games. That's over 25% of the WR player-games for two starting WRs.

 

That's fine, no one else is discussing it either, everyone just talks as if this team actually knows what it's doing and as if sticking our heads in the sand mitigates it somehow.

 

So let's move on to easier stuff.

 

What happens if Watkins goes down?

 

What happens if Taylor goes down?

 

What if both go down?

 

How do you envision our offense playing under those circumstances?

 

Is this anything that you've heard all the people applauding our draft even discuss seriously or at length in an analytical manner? I haven't seen it other than by journalists non-grata here.

 

As I see it we won't win any more games under either scenario much more so if both go out. And Watkins as we know is injury prone. For that matter Woods had his share last season as well with both players missing a combined 9 games. That's over 25% of the WR player-games for two starting WRs.

 

Who's going to do the receiving not to mention the passing under those circumstances?

 

What, Jones, who threw for a grand total of 269 passes during his entire time at OSU? LOL

[26CornerBlitz]

 

That's fine, no one else is discussing it either, everyone just talks as if this team actually knows what it's doing and as if sticking our heads in the sand mitigates it somehow.

 

So let's move on to easier stuff.

 

What happens if Watkins goes down?

 

What happens if Taylor goes down?

 

What if both go down?

 

How do you envision our offense playing under those circumstances?

 

Is this anything that you've heard all the people applauding our draft even discuss seriously or at length in an analytical manner? I haven't seen it other than by journalists non-grata here.

 

As I see it we won't win any more games under either scenario much more so if both go out. And Watkins as we know is injury prone. For that matter Woods had his share last season as well with both players missing a combined 9 games. That's over 25% of the WR player-games for two starting WRs.

 

It's not about sticking heads in the sand just because I and maybe others are not interested in relitigating the 2015 season for the 1000th time on TSW.

 

What happens to any team if their key players get injured?

 

You can't move past 2015 and have BBFS. Enjoy yourself.

Edited May 12, 2016 by 26CornerBlitz

[thebandit27]

I'm learning so much here!

 

Apparently we're the only team that would get worse without our starting QB and/or #1 WR.

 

I've also learned that Sammy Watkins--who's missed a total of 3 games out of 32 (as in, played in over 90%), is injury prone.