Week 1: The good, the bad, and the missing

[Alphadawg7]

9 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

You do know that Foster has turf toe, right? It has been reported on. It’s a tough injury to deal with, as I’m sure you know (it’s a torn toe ligament).

 

Foster is hurt! People are aware of this, right?!?

 

Honestly, I am not aware of this in regards if it’s still an issue.  He was active and saw no mention of it still being an issue. 

 

So have you seen anything to confirm he is still being slowed by this?  I’m hoping you are right, would make me feel better if that’s the reason he wasn’t really used this week as opposed to being in the doghouse.

 

Although, if he is, then why even play him at all?  Seems better approach would be to not dress him if it’s so bad he can’t really play so it can heal faster.  

[dave mcbride]

23 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Honestly, I am not aware of this in regards if it’s still an issue.  He was active and saw no mention of it still being an issue. 

 

So have you seen anything to confirm he is still being slowed by this?  I’m hoping you are right, would make me feel better if that’s the reason he wasn’t really used this week as opposed to being in the doghouse.

 

Although, if he is, then why even play him at all?  Seems better approach would be to not dress him if it’s so bad he can’t really play so it can heal faster.  

Shortly before the regular season, mcdermott said he was dealing with a turf toe issue. It’s debilitating but doesn’t necessarily sideline you. It greatly affected antowain smith in his final year in buffalo but he always suited up. Same with eddie george one season. I think the only way to deal with it is manage snap counts and wait for it to fade. It can really  linger. Crappy injury.

Edited September 10, 2019 by dave mcbride

[Alphadawg7]

40 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

Of course it "doesn't make sense" to a McDermott cheerleader who accuses other posters of making excuses for "mediocre" players while crediting McDermott with doing something he didn't do.

 

In 2018, the Bills didn't play better in the second half of games except when Allen was the QB.  When Allen was absent from the line-up, the Bills played as poorly in the second halves of games as they did in first halves.   Against the Jets it was again Allen's leadership that won the game, not McDermott's supposed "half-time adjustments".

 

Ugh What?  Lol, you actually helped make my point ?

 

So in one line, McD does NOT make good 2nd half adjustments...in the VERY NEXT sentence you say he DOES make good adjustments but ONLY when his STARTING franchise QB Allen is playing...FYI: In 13 of the 17 games since we drafted him, Allen was the 2nd half QB.  

 

Well duh!  LMAO.  Its pretty hard to be better in the 2nd half when your QB was either Nathan Pickerman or a washed up DA fresh off the golf course LOL.  

 

Talk about making my point for me...thanks ?

 

Clearly you have some sort of hate for McD, and thats your choice (puzzling to me as to why, but still your choice).  But this reply was pretty hilarious and made no sense other than to just actually support my opinion/comment that McD often has the team playing even stronger in the 2nd half (but with your disclosure that only with his starting QB lol). 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Alphadawg7

[Alphadawg7]

11 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Shortly before the regular season, mcdermott said he was dealing with a turf toe issue. It’s debilitating but doesn’t necessarily sideline you. It greatly affected antowain smith in his final year in buffalo but he always suited up. Same with eddie george one season. I think the only way to deal with it is manage snap counts and wait for it to fade. It can really  linger. Crappy injury.

 

Well I hope you are right as Foster not being part of the game plan due to injury is a lot better than the alternative.  And I know McD said that, but that was several weeks ago after the 3rd preseason game and nothing has been mentioned since that I have seen and I don't recall seeing him on any injury reports either.  He could have been and I missed it, but just saying I didn't see it if he was.  

 

But I don't know why they would even bother suiting him up at all if it was still such an issue to only give him a handful of snaps.  Why risk a set back or aggravating it further in the first place? 

[dave mcbride]

50 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Well I hope you are right as Foster not being part of the game plan due to injury is a lot better than the alternative.  And I know McD said that, but that was several weeks ago after the 3rd preseason game and nothing has been mentioned since that I have seen and I don't recall seeing him on any injury reports either.  He could have been and I missed it, but just saying I didn't see it if he was.  

 

But I don't know why they would even bother suiting him up at all if it was still such an issue to only give him a handful of snaps.  Why risk a set back or aggravating it further in the first place? 

I just think it's one of those injuries that lasts a while and which can be managed through snap count limits with the hope that the player eventually gets to 100 percent and can go full speed with a bunch of snaps already under his belt. I'm not 100 percent sure about this, but I do know that the injury almost always lingers. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 9/9/2019 at 12:20 PM, Reader said:

How many snaps did the three missing WR's get? I thought Zay caught everything that he could.

 

According to the snap counts at https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201909080nyj.htm

-Zay Jones was on the field for 42% of the offensive snaps and 13% of the ST snaps

-Robert Foster was on the field for 22% O and 35% ST snaps

-McKensie was on the field 6% O and 13% ST

 

Brown was on the field for 70% of the snaps and Beasley 86%

 

According to NFL.com Zay had 5 targets

That number does not tell the story. 

-One target was a throw-away under pressure where Zay just happened to be the closest guy.

-One target was the tipped pass that turned into a nullified INT.  They scored Zay as the target, but he had absolutely no chance to make a play for that ball.

-One target was a deep ball where he was well-covered and Allen (IMO) threw long deliberately.  Why they had Zay running that route, beats me.  He's not "Mr Burner" and when he is giving it his best speed, he has no moves.  Zay actually did have a bit of separation on the play, I just don't think Allen had trust in their connection to let it go that close to the DB.

-One target was a check-down behind the LOS where Zay made a good catch but was hit immediately.  He had sure hands, and good thing, cuz he was on our 20 yd line.

-One target was a key, 2nd-and-10 pass of 20 yds on the 2nd TD drive.  Allen led Zay, perfectly placed ball, well-run route, clean catch.

So fundamentally, Zay caught 2 of the 3 balls he had any chance at, and arguably the 3rd was a deliberate overthrow.  One of his receptions was a key play in the comeback.

 

[Shaw66]

Dawg -

 

I gotta say you're overboard on Duke.   I like the idea of Duke, and Ill be interested to see him when he gets on the field.  

 

But I was sitting on the 40 yard line in MetLife on Sunday, and some time in the middle of the game I actually had this thought:  "What difference would Duke Williams have made in this game."  And my answer to myself, even though I want Duke to make it, was that he wouldn't have made any difference.  

 

The Bills are throwing to the open man.   They don't want to have contested catches.  They're running an offense where they think they always can have a receiver attacking a soft spot in the defense, and that's where they're going with the ball.  In that kind of offense, speed may actually be worth a lot more than catch radius.  

 

Still, I want to see him.  

[Alphadawg7]

11 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Dawg -

 

I gotta say you're overboard on Duke.   I like the idea of Duke, and Ill be interested to see him when he gets on the field.  

 

But I was sitting on the 40 yard line in MetLife on Sunday, and some time in the middle of the game I actually had this thought:  "What difference would Duke Williams have made in this game."  And my answer to myself, even though I want Duke to make it, was that he wouldn't have made any difference.  

 

The Bills are throwing to the open man.   They don't want to have contested catches.  They're running an offense where they think they always can have a receiver attacking a soft spot in the defense, and that's where they're going with the ball.  In that kind of offense, speed may actually be worth a lot more than catch radius.  

 

Still, I want to see him.  

 

Im not over board on him though.  In no way do I expect him to be a pro bowler here.  But I think he has value as a big catch radius target.  Allen has a big arm and he has great hands to both catch the ball and fight for balls.

 

We need WRs who can run fades and use their body on slants in tight windows.  It’s especially important in the Redzone and on 3rd and short where there is often not room to hope for a small WR to find said soft spot.  Also, lots of pressure is coming from the D and having a guy he can throw the ball up to and give him a chance to make a play would be nice.

 

At end of day, I was fine with McKenzie making roster as he earned it and liked how they used him.  But we also need someone who can make that catch Beasley dropped that could have cost us the game.  I have no doubt Duke makes that sideline catch which was Allen’s best throw of the game.  So if they aren’t going to involve guys like McKenzie, Foster or Zay heavily in the passing game plan, then it might be good to bring up a guy who at least has strong situational value to use in those moments over guys sitting on the bench too often.  

 

My overall bigger concern though is someone opposite Brown to draw attention from the secondary...and right now that needs to be Zay or Foster that step up and hoping one does this week.  

Edited September 11, 2019 by Alphadawg7