Will they bench Dorian Williams?

[balln]

2 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

He does much better with Benard setting the table for him.   Big motions and ball fakes move him.  Mind you this affects all linebakers to some degree.  More playing time will help with that.  See ball get ball big he is very good.  Doen’t miss too many tackles. 

He absolutely missed tackles. He’s not

great in open field and gets beat with speed to the outside

[Mat68]

1 minute ago, balln said:

He absolutely missed tackles. He’s not

great in open field and gets beat with speed to the outside

No linebaker is a 100% tackle percent.  Games without Benard I see him out of position more.  Williams has been the constant at linebaker all year.  No Milano, no Benard.  Williams overall play has been a positive not a negative to the defense.  Better than Dodson last season imo.  

[balln]

1 minute ago, Mat68 said:

No linebaker is a 100% tackle percent.  Games without Benard I see him out of position more.  Williams has been the constant at linebaker all year.  No Milano, no Benard.  Williams overall play has been a positive not a negative to the defense.  Better than Dodson last season imo.  

The only

reason he’s a constant - is because he’s a backup. And the starting linebackers are injured

[Mat68]

Just now, balln said:

The only

reason he’s a constant - is because he’s a backup. And the starting linebackers are injured

The backup is the only guy to start every game.  He needs to develop more but his traits will be needed to win in January.   

[balln]

Just now, Mat68 said:

The backup is the only guy to start every game.  He needs to develop more but his traits will be needed to win in January.   

Yes well the coaches take him off the field for one of the UB backups DBs for passing 3rd downs. So not developing there 

[JGMcD2]

3 hours ago, balln said:

Yes well the coaches take him off the field for one of the UB backups DBs for passing 3rd downs. So not developing there 

Oh the horror, we switch to a dime look in an obvious passing situation. Those idiot coaches, you know, coaching!! 

[Bookie Man]

Once you see Milano knife through the backfield and blow a play up for a 6 yard loss, you'll be like Dorian who??

[Mat68]

14 hours ago, balln said:

Yes well the coaches take him off the field for one of the UB backups DBs for passing 3rd downs. So not developing there 

Why wouldn't you go Dime on third and long?  Playing more diverse has made them a less predictable defense.  Many forget in 21 Johnson was benched for Lewis.  Lewis got hurt and Johnson had the biggest most memorable pick 6 in team history.  Playing 2 very capable nickels on passing downs is the smart play.  

[Mat68]

9 hours ago, Bookie Man said:

Once you see Milano knife through the backfield and blow a play up for a 6 yard loss, you'll be like Dorian who??

Milano was a fantastic player.  He is 30.  Two seasons in a row basically lost to injury.  Buffalo and us fans need to hope he comes back at what he was but certainly cannot expect it.  Is Williams better?  No.  I would argue his play is better than the replacements Buffalo had for Milano last season.  Williams development the rest of season could play a larger role for the defense than Milano.  Is Milano able to return and play at an elite level?  Im all for it.  I think it’s being looked at as a forgone conclusion.  Recent history with Miller, White and Hyde paints a different picture.  

[Sojourner]

9 hours ago, Bookie Man said:

Once you see Milano knife through the backfield and blow a play up for a 6 yard loss, you'll be like Dorian who??

[boyst]

16 hours ago, 3rdand12 said:

Sunday I asked a few times

 Who is 42 and what is he doing ?

Not sure about his recognition sometimes.

 Hopeful

But yea. Still better plan on drafting another imo.

another Bernard surprise perhaps

he's playing better than i thought because he recovers quickly. he's a poor mans Tremaine Edmunds. which Edmunds was poor as it was. regardless, he's not far behind what edmunds brought to the team

14 hours ago, Mat68 said:

No linebaker is a 100% tackle percent.  Games without Benard I see him out of position more.  Williams has been the constant at linebaker all year.  No Milano, no Benard.  Williams overall play has been a positive not a negative to the defense.  Better than Dodson last season imo.  

relative to what we cuold expect from someone in his position he is playing to his ceiling. that's ultimately a bad thing going forward in the sense that he isn't going to get much better. but if his floor is as high as it maybe showing he is an excellent backup.

 

he could be the quintessential backup LB this team needs, though Spector maybe better overall. Spector will sign a big contract elsewhere after next year. Well, not big but just more money than I want the Bills to offer him (he will go on to be a special teams player for another 3 or 4 years seeing spot time on some roster like the Raiders or Saints).

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

14 hours ago, balln said:

He absolutely missed tackles. He’s not

great in open field and gets beat with speed to the outside

he had a brutal bad angle/miss on a RB in the Seahawks game to the outside. Reminded me of when the Bills had an aging, short-armed, bad-angler Kawika Mitchell out there. 

[Sojourner]

1 minute ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

he had a brutal bad angle/miss on a RB in the Seahawks game to the outside. Reminded me of when the Bills had an aging, short-armed, bad-angler Kawika Mitchell out there. 

I’ve been ok with his play so far but that Seahawks game after rewatching it… Yeah. You aren’t kidding some seriously bad angles in that game. A few times. 

[ElMarko]

The team gave up 32 yards rushing - with 8 of those on a fumble/broken play. 212 passing yards - many of those coming in mop-up time. With TWO back-up linebackers starting.

 

And people still complain. Can someone add a proper facepalm GIF for me?

[TFBillsfan]

Let Milano get fully healthy but there’s no doubt he’s starting when he’s ready. Injuries suck but for this situation, it’s benefitted the Bills. Williams gets more development time, Milano gets even longer recovery time from his leg injury while healing his bicep injury. Hopefully by early January, he’s ready to go! Bernard and Milano fully healthy would be HUGE for the playoffs.

 

BTW…I’m in no rush to bring Bernard back unless his ankle is solid. Don’t want a nagging ankle injury. Not ideal but Bills can beat MIA and Indy with Williams and Spector.

[Mat68]

28 minutes ago, boyst said:

he's playing better than i thought because he recovers quickly. he's a poor mans Tremaine Edmunds. which Edmunds was poor as it was. regardless, he's not far behind what edmunds brought to the team

relative to what we cuold expect from someone in his position he is playing to his ceiling. that's ultimately a bad thing going forward in the sense that he isn't going to get much better. but if his floor is as high as it maybe showing he is an excellent backup.

 

he could be the quintessential backup LB this team needs, though Spector maybe better overall. Spector will sign a big contract elsewhere after next year. Well, not big but just more money than I want the Bills to offer him (he will go on to be a special teams player for another 3 or 4 years seeing spot time on some roster like the Raiders or Saints).

I don't know how you can say that about a guy enter his second season and getting his first real run as a starter.  To me he is still thinking a bit at times.  More experience and confidence in his eyes there is room for improvement.  In the interim he leads the team in tackles by a wide margin.      

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

On 10/23/2024 at 7:21 PM, unbillievable said:

Matt Milano is coming back. Eventually.

Terrell Bernard is hurt, but he still plays.

Dorian has been the Bills best linebacker this season, but will they have to bench him to get the better duo on the field?

Or will they rotate?

 

Milano is the starter, and is an all-pro when healthy.  If you wanted to talk 2025 I'd say I want to see how he looks when he returns before I'd move on.  He makes the team better when he's in the lineup.  On a team that doesn't have a star pass rusher, or a star corner (benford seems to be ascending) - it's tough to walk away from one.  Especially if the injuries he's had haven't been knee ligament related in a way that traditionally slows a player down.  

 

The cap ramifications aren't particularly good, you can push it to a post-june cut but then you're eating 10M in dead space in 2026.  

[thenorthremembers]

I think we are vastly overestimating the impact Milano can make when he returns to the field.   He was a hell of a player but who knows what he will be when he finally gets back.    If he does come back this season, I would imagine it's at the earliest Week 15.   That will be 14 months since he last played a real down of professional football.     His leg wasn't even fully healed when he tore the bicep.   The guy had two major injuries in that span.    I am not sure a few weeks of football will be enough for him to get use to the game speed to make any sort of real impact.

 

I think the more likely scenario is Milano sits behind Williams the rest of year and never plays significant time for the Bills again. 

Edited 13 hours ago by thenorthremembers

[boyst]

19 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

I don't know how you can say that about a guy enter his second season and getting his first real run as a starter.  To me he is still thinking a bit at times.  More experience and confidence in his eyes there is room for improvement.  In the interim he leads the team in tackles by a wide margin.      

his mistakes are easily coachable. his tendency to commit those mistakes is a flaw in his coachability.

 

Pozluzknee and Edmunds led in tackles, too. almost all well past the line of scrimmage and on second or third contact tackles. he's also been the most reliable player to be playing on defense. otherwise Johnson would likely be the leading tackler, or any of the actual starting LB's.

2 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

I think we are vastly overestimating the impact Milano can make when he returns to the field.   He was a hell of a player but who knows what he will be when he finally gets back.    If he does come back this season, I would imagine it's at the earliest Week 15.   That will be 14 months since he last played a real down of professional football.     His leg wasn't even fully healed when he tore the bicep.   The guy had two major injuries in that span.    I am not sure a few weeks of football will be enough for him to get use to the game speed to make any sort of real impact.

 

I think the more likely scenario is Milano sits behind Williams the rest of year and never plays significant time for the Bills again. 

his injury is not that serious that he will have an issue recovering. if it was his hips, knees, or shoulder it would be much harder.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

6 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

I think we are vastly overestimating the impact Milano can make when he returns to the field.   He was a hell of a player but who knows what he will be when he finally gets back.    If he does come back this season, I would imagine it's at the earliest Week 15.   That will be 14 months since he last played a real down of professional football.     His leg wasn't even fully healed when he tore the bicep.   The guy had two major injuries in that span.    I am not sure a few weeks of football will be enough for him to get use to the game speed to make any sort of real impact.

 

I think the more likely scenario is Milano sits behind Williams the rest of year and never plays significant time for the Bills again. 

I'd say yes if Williams was playing well.  He hasn't really impressed me tbh.  The same coverage issues exist, and they are exploited by better QBs that Buffalo would play in the playoffs.