Where's Cole Bishop?

[GunnerBill]

11 minutes ago, appoo said:

 

While the 2 safeties aren’t quite interchangeable in McDermotts system there’s a ton of flexibility and overlap.  
 

Rapp has done well enough that I think it’s his job next few years, but you’ll see Cole given the opportunity to unseat Hamlin IMO. 

 

If it ends up Cole and Rapp I do wonder who plays centre field in single high looks. That wasn't Cole's game at all at Utah abd while Rapp has done it some in LA he was much better playing closer to the line as a strong safety.

[appoo]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

If it ends up Cole and Rapp I do wonder who plays centre field in single high looks. That wasn't Cole's game at all at Utah abd while Rapp has done it some in LA he was much better playing closer to the line as a strong safety.

He’s done it quite a bit for buffalo this season.

 

Go back to the play where Damar took a bad angle on Taylor, and he was lined up near the LOS, which meant Rapp was the deep guy. 

[Brand J]

Bishop is also supposedly a great blitzer and covers TEs well, which further solidifies he’s an in-the-box SS. We need a rangy FS with instincts and ball skills. Better angles and a quicker trigger from Hamlin would’ve meant 7-8 yard stops on both the Henry and Taylor big runs. Haven’t rewatched the Breece Hall run to see if it was the same case there, but from memory Hamlin got caught up in the wash inside.

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, appoo said:

He’s done it quite a bit for buffalo this season.

 

Go back to the play where Damar took a bad angle on Taylor, and he was lined up near the LOS, which meant Rapp was the deep guy. 

 

He has done it some, because the Bills rotate safeties and because we have played a ton of two deep. But he hasn't played a lot of true centre field in cover 1/cover 3.

[Sierra Foothills]

 

FWIW, in Mark Gaughan's breakdown of the video for the Buffalo News he said "Hamlin took a bad angle and lost containment on Jonathan Taylor’s 59-yard run. But Hamlin’s tackling and pre-snap disguise otherwise were excellent."

 

On 11/10/2024 at 11:31 PM, LABILLBACKER said:

Hamlin should never be asked to blitz. He doesn't have the speed or instincts to get near the qb.  It's a wasted call by Babich.

 

Hamlin saw there was no clear path to the QB so he aborted his blitz but showed enough awareness to recover the fumble.

 

He maximized his assignment on that play.

 

It's funny to criticize a player who recovered a fumble.

 

On 11/10/2024 at 1:54 AM, Sierra Foothills said:

So far Bishop's played 133 of 571 defensive snaps which is 23% but since his disastrous start in week 5 he's only played 4 defensive snaps in 4 weeks. The crux is how to get Bishop live game action to accelerate his development. Most everyone would like to see him get more snaps in the name of development and being game ready if an injury were to happen to one of the starters.

 

Even with a "comfortable lead" most teams will keep their starters in. Say that the Bills are leading by 15 points late in the 3rd quarter... is that an appropriate time to get some of the reserves more snaps?

 

Probably not because if they make a mistake which costs the team a TD suddenly the opponent is down 8 points (technically a one score game) and has some momentum... they've gone from likely losing the game to feeling like they have a chance to win. As we saw again in the Bengals-Ravens, games swing on one play all the time.

 

THIS is why it's hard to get Bishop (and others) more meaningful reps. Coaches are simply not willing to give young players PT if doing so increases the chances of losing a game.

 

To my point above, the update is that Bishop (along with Elam, Ingram, Andreesen, and Morrow) played 5 snaps against Indy... about 8%. Javon Solomon played 2 snaps (3%). 

 

On 11/11/2024 at 2:48 AM, Doc Brown said:

Given that we already have the division pretty much rapped up and have little chance at catching the Chiefs.  Wouldn't now be the perfect time to give him as many reps as possible to get the "mental" side of things down going into the playoffs?  If he's still struggling than just throw Damar back in there.

 

It's much like I outlined above:

 

The Bills scored 7 points with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter to make the score 30-13... which is a 3 score game. Until that moment it had been a 2 score game.

 

Upon making the score 30-13 the Bills brought in the reserves mentioned above and the Colts drove the field and scored a late, meaningless touchdown.

 

Now an argument can be made that a sole individual (i.e.- Bishop) could be slotted in to get snaps with the starters but the Bills like substituting in groups.

 

 

[Doc Brown]

30 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

The Bills scored 7 points with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter to make the score 30-13... which is a 3 score game. Until that moment it had been a 2 score game.

 

Upon making the score 30-13 the Bills brought in the reserves mentioned above and the Colts drove the field and scored a late, meaningless touchdown.

 

Now an argument can be made that a sole individual (i.e.- Bishop) could be slotted in to get snaps with the starters but the Bills like substituting in groups.

No.  The Bills played their defensive starters (stupidly) up 17 until around 1:20 or so left in the 4th in that final drive where the Colts got it to around midfield.  McDermott called a time out after the Epenesa sack on Flacco before putting the reserves in.  I have no clue why the entire starting defense was on the field up 17 on that final drive before that timeout.  So stupid on McD's part and I can't emphasize that enough.  Codrington then got beat on a 50/50 ball by Pierce for the meaningless TD.

[Sierra Foothills]

9 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

No.  The Bills played their defensive starters (stupidly) up 17 until around 1:20 or so left in the 4th in that final drive where the Colts got it to around midfield.  McDermott called a time out after the Epenesa sack on Flacco before putting the reserves in.  I have no clue why the entire starting defense was on the field up 17 on that final drive before that timeout.  So stupid on McD's part and I can't emphasize that enough.  Codrington then got beat on a 50/50 ball by Pierce for the meaningless TD.

 

Clearly I didn't notice the exact time of the substitution... so I'm glad you did.

 

So the Bills played 7 defensive snaps with a 3 score lead before putting in the reserves.

 

That's definitely 7 snaps wasted.

 

On the plus side, that's the first bull rush sack from Epenesa I can remember as a pro. He had lots of sacks like that in college.

 

In general I have high hopes for the Bills D-line in this last third of the season.

 

[Doc Brown]

Just now, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Clearly I didn't notice the exact time of the substitution... so I'm glad you did.

 

So the Bills played 7 defensive snaps with a 3 score lead before putting in the reserves.

 

That's definitely 7 snaps wasted.

 

On the plus side, that's the first bull rush sack from Epenesa I can remember as a pro. He had lots of sacks like that in college.

 

In general I have high hopes for the Bills D-line in this last third of the season.

 

I'm not even sure if McDermott realized it until he took that timeout.  WTF was he doing?

[Chicharito]

Please give the kid a chance. Hamlin is a PS player at best. If it weren’t for Hamlin and the bengals game, He would be on Pittsburgh’s practice squad by now.

[LABILLBACKER]

11 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

If it ends up Cole and Rapp I do wonder who plays centre field in single high looks. That wasn't Cole's game at all at Utah abd while Rapp has done it some in LA he was much better playing closer to the line as a strong safety.

We gotta hope Bishop develops into a younger version of Hyde.  Rapp is our Poyer with hopefully Cine given consideration in the near future. 

[Buffalo716]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

We gotta hope Bishop develops into a younger version of Hyde.  Rapp is our Poyer with hopefully Cine given consideration in the near future. 

Rapp is only 26... And safety is a position where players grow exponentially with experience 

 

He's younger than Hyde when he got here same age as poyer...

 

Poyer and Hyde were able to grow and play off each other.. rapp hasn't have that steady safety to learn with 

 

Maybe it can be rapp and Bishop for the next 3 or 4 years... Rapp has made a lot of big tackles this year, stop hitting our own people... He has a physical presence... I actually see good amount of room to grow

 

He Keeps getting all the first team reps and now he's more comfortable.. McDermott's secondary calls are so complex Bishop getting hurt at training camp really hurt... Especially because they don't hit live during the season much

 

Those reps are vital 

 

If Bishop can use his athleticism and learn to play within the system , he has the physical traits to be able to play free safety... Then him and rapp would be a pretty physical Duo

[appoo]

8 hours ago, Chicharito said:

Please give the kid a chance. Hamlin is a PS player at best. If it weren’t for Hamlin and the bengals game, He would be on Pittsburgh’s practice squad by now.

Pretty insane of Beane and McDermott to just giving charity starter minutes - the 2nd highest on the team I think - like that

[Buffalo716]

14 minutes ago, appoo said:

Pretty insane of Beane and McDermott to just giving charity starter minutes - the 2nd highest on the team I think - like that

Yeah that's definitely not happening 

 

Is Hamlin my favorite player? No

 

He certainly is an NFL caliber player and not a complete liability 

[GaryPinC]

13 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

I'm not even sure if McDermott realized it until he took that timeout.  WTF was he doing?

Thank you for noticing all that, this is exactly my point with McD.

 

He's gotten us this far, but is he doing everything he can to get us over the playoff hump?

Sure it's only a handful of snaps but the troubling aspect is his mentality and lack of emphasis on finding these guys max number of snaps.

 

Set aside the debate of whether or not Elam and Bishop could replace the current starters.  They appear to be the first option off the bench if a safety or boundary corner gets injured.  What if the injury occurs in the playoffs?  Will these guys be as ready as they can be?

 

We know our future, it's certainly true that you get there by focusing one game at a time, but McD is the one leader who has to concurrently tweak and plan for this future now.  And for me he appears a bit lacking.