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I said the same thing I will say every season McDermott is coach - this team will never win the Super Bowl with him in charge.

I have this sneaky feeling Josh will play one series with the starters We shall see

He had a 5-6 game stretch there where he was absolutely lights out. I would have to play with the way back machine but I believe he had a fairly average targets per game but like a top (bottom?) 5 Passer Rating when targeted. Ie. He wasn't being carried by a low number of targets that were unfairling weighing his production.

I’m not a huge Ray Davis guy. He has slow feet IMO. He looks like Zack Moss to me. Also, he has roughly the same amount of touches as Cook through college and the NFL (which is wild). He seems like a great dude but I’m certainly not upset hearing his name in trade rumors. Samuel, Davis and a 2nd for McLaurin will be my prediction. It could just be something like Davis for a late round pick but him being traded is my bold prediction.

Damn this would be the 2nd year in a row they lost their 1st rounder to a knee injury, if it's as serious as it looked.

I watch a lot of UB football. I went there for grad school and my dad has always been a big booster (love coming home to free, close parking and box seats haha). I digress. Dolan is a better LB than Buffalo Joe but not by much. He’s better in coverage, where I think Buffalo Joe is a little more instinctive in run fits. Buffalo Joe, Dolan, and Jimmy Cialo (?) are the same type of player. You can only have so many of these guys on your team. There’s a reason he went undrafted just like Joe and Jimmy. I hope he does great in Dallas. I wouldn’t have had a problem throwing a 7th round pick on him but the only reason you are hearing so much about it is the content bros are all up in arms because they wanted the story and narrative. I love Pat Moran but that guy has his head so far up Dolacs ass when Dolac burps it sounds like Pat’s voice. Nate Geary has also been on that rant but no one takes that clown seriously. Maybe he sticks, maybe he doesn’t, but back up linebackers who play special teams are a dime a dozen.

Our defense definitely won’t be worse than last season so I don’t know what the hell you are talking about.

They are just making sure every existing season ticket holder gets called before they start on the waiting list. Now you can't say they didn't ask you.

Sounds like a character from an Adam Sandler movie.

Sorry, but this was clever 🤣

Florida Department of Transportation enrages liberals.

Redhawk’s wife?

So what did you say before last season? And how did that turn out? Chill brother, we haven't seen the starting defense more than 1-2 series this preseason. Tre is hurt, Max is hurt... nothing official on Tre but Max will be back early in season. Hoecht and Oji suspended, doesnt change the fact that we need Ed, Groot, Bosa and rooks to generate pressure and keep Milano/TB/Taron healthy. Nothing about this screams "rude awakening" - your post screams panic, for the sake of worrying over preseason and a couple injuries. I cant see how we can be any worse on 3rd down, than last season on defense. and while I expect a regression on turnovers/redzone efficiency, if we can stay top 5 in both (after finishing top 1-2), we will be winning alot more than we lose.

Totally bizarre that they gave up a 3rd round pick and didn’t even entertain keeping him beyond last season. I mean NO team wants to give him a chance this year. Did he just hit the wall or what ?

My mother inlaw was born in Mt.Morris and moved to Olean as a baby... She always talks about "Rock City." Here's a day trip we did in early 1970s after Kinzua Dam (mentioned) opened. The fish hatchery there: https://www.fws.gov/fish-hatchery/allegheny https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_National_Fish_Hatchery SideNote: On a Sunday with my father's 1973 Chevy Impala wagon... It was 1975 and it dropped it's gas tank losing a tank band... Brother sitting in back: "Hey Dad! There's sparks flying behind car!" Dad: "Shut up, there's no sparks!" LoL... Anyway... Back in day, not even gas stations were open on Sunday in Northwestern PA... We found rope somewhere and got home... Still remember eating cold "city chicken" on side of road as he rigged tank up.

Ok so to summarize the events of the day: -Tre gets "carted off" except he walked part way and it doesn't sound serious. -stark reminder that even if White heals up and starts week one, CB2 is shaky until one of the young guys steps up and solidifies it. -something, something Asante Samuel and Rasual Douglas. whatever.

That would make the 2025 Bills the worst defense in NFL history by a lot. The current worst are the 1981 Baltimore Colts at 33.3ppg. In recent years, even the 0-16 2020 Lions gave up only 32.4ppg and they were historically awful.

If that's the case I would expect the Bills to showcase him quite a bit against the Bucs. As a RB, I've felt Davis has been rather 'meh' in his preseason carries. As a kicker he was rock solid.

I had Zy going in the first round to Cleveland

You’re not wrong. Defense was always going to be a problem even before the injuries. This defensive “guru” of a head coach is wasting JA’s prime years

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Apologies in advance for a very long post. This idea that McDermott scapegoats guys or sets them up as fall guys needs to be retired. He's only ever trying to make the team better (and obviously he's not going to fire himself). But to think that he sets guys up so when the team fails he can project blame on to them and throw them to the wolves is such the opposite of who Sean is as a man. After almost 9 years coaching this team, Bills fans should know that about his character. I posted this in another thread recently, but think it should be repeated as so many posters continually say that basically we didn't make any changes on defense except for adding Bosa: This off-season, the Bills hired Ryan Nielsen as a senior defensive assistant and Jason Rebrovich as assistant DL coach. -Ryan Nielsen was the DC for Jacksonville last year, he was the DC and DL coach for Atlanta prior to that, and in his stint in New Orleans, he was DL coach, co-DC, and assistant Head Coach. In college, he played as a defensive tackle for USC. He has coached for 13 years in college and 8 years in the NFL. -Jason Rebrovich started his pro-coaching career in Buffalo, eventually becoming both a DL coach and an outside LB coach for the Bills, he then went to Jax and became their DL coach, and then in Green Bay, he was outside LBs coach, DL coach, and pass rush specialist. He's coached 12 years in college and 12 years in the league. During the Giants preseason game, they talked a little bit about bringing Nielsen in and said that he was brought in specifically to help the D-line and pass rush and that he would probably help Sean install more 5-man fronts and other variations. And obviously, Rebrovich (as DL coach, outside LB coach, and Pass rush specialist) was brought in to help the pass-rush scheme and to help the young pass rushers develop. The Bills brought in 6 FAs on the DL/outside LB: Joey Bosa, Michael Hoecht, Larry Ogunjobi, Shaq Thompson, Casey Rodgers, and Marcus Harris. The Bills drafted 3 new guys for the DL: Sanders, Jackson, Walker. They also added a first round cornerback (Hairston), a 5th round CB (Hancock), and a 6th round CB (Strong), and brought back Tre and Dane (however you feel about them). I'd say that is a lot more change than just adding Bosa. Kind of seems like you guys aren't really paying attention. Spagnolo and McDermott are both proteges of Jim Johnson (see below). And as far as McD not having it in him to change, see above, regarding the two new coaching hires. I am no big Xs and Os guy, so those who are more knowledgeable, please correct me if I am wrong, or where I might be wrong. But the idea that the scheme is the problem and won't work in the playoffs made me think about the fact that Sean and Steve Spagnuolo were both proteges of Jim Johnson. Now, it has been many years since they worked with Jim, so I'm sure they picked up other nuances elsewhere along the way, or developed their own wrinkles. But I wondered, if at the core, it is a similar system. I couldn't find anything definitive comparing the two teams/systems or specifically stating that they both run the old Johnson system (or a variance of it), but here are a few things I found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Spagnuolo "Spagnuolo learned under Philadelphia defensive coach Jim Johnson, and shares the same aggressive, blitz-heavy approach as his mentor. Spagnuolo uses a 4–3 base defense with a heavy emphasis on multiple blitz packages, including corner and safety blitzes." https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2023/2/8/23591081/chiefs-eagles-super-bowl-lvii-quarterbacks-changed-steve-spagnuolos-career “Steve’s very creative [and] smart,” observed Andy Reid. “A real tribute to Springfield College. He’s been in the league, and he had a good tutor in Jim Johnson when he was young. So he’s been able to build off of that scheme [and] be very innovative with it.” So, it does appear that his core is still the Jim Johnson system (like Sean). https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5224800/2024/01/26/steve-spagnuolo-chiefs-defense-nfl-playoffs/ "Spagnuolo’s best blend of producing an effective pass rush, exceptional coverage and timely blitzes occurs when he employs dime personnel — six defensive backs, one linebacker and four linemen, a personnel grouping he used most in the league." "'Spags is a wizard, man,' defensive end Mike Danna said. 'He’s got tons of blitzes, and he knows how to get after a quarterback.' The Chiefs blitzed on third down at the fifth-highest rate in the league (39.3 percent)." I couldn't find a 3rd down blitz percentage for Buffalo last year (if anyone else can find it, would be interesting to see...but my gut tells me ean blitzes less). "Kansas City had just 17 takeaways in the regular season, tied for the fifth-fewest in the league. But Chiefs defenders are just as happy getting a third- or fourth-down stop as they are generating turnovers because of one reason: They have Mahomes, the league’s best quarterback. 'The ability to get stops and prevent first downs is more predictive than the ability to get takeaways,' Schatz said. 'Takeaways are hugely important, but they’re not as predictive. If what you want is consistent defense, being able to get stops is more important.' They also talked about him disguising coverages and blitzing CBs/safeties. Ok, so the Bills run a lot of dime package as well. McD also blitzes corners and safeties and disguises his coverage (when he's got the players to do so). The Chiefs played 35% man coverage and 65% zone coverage in 2024, while the Bills played 25% man coverage and 75% zone coverage. So, they appear to be running a very similar system with the main differences being a 10% difference in man/zone coverage, a higher focus on getting off the field on 3rd down rather than getting turnovers, and Spags is a "wizard" with blitzes. (I'm not saying McD is as good as Spags, just trying to assess if they are running a similar system.) As far as turnovers, some say the Bills can't repeat the turnover ratio from last year, well, that is more on Josh than the defense as the defense has been 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, and 3rd in takeaways over the last 5 years. So, Sean's defense is very good at creating turnovers. But is the Chiefs philosophy on that better? And Spags may be a wizard at blitz packages, but it also helps to have a player like Chris Jones (which McD has not had). Hopefully Bosa can at least help in that category this year (what could have been if Von didn't get injured...he was playing really well his first year with the Bills). Plus, as I said, Sean brought in those two new coaches to help with the blitz packages/pass rush. He is at least trying to improve where we have been lacking (we'll see if it all works, coaching, new players, etc.). But, at the core, it appears they run a similar system. So, I don't think the Bills defensive system is incapable of winning in the playoffs or against good teams or needs to be scrapped, we just need to improve in certain areas (mainly rushing the QB). As far as third downs go, the Bills were terrible last year (30th place) and mediocre in 2023 (18th place). But how much of that was just adapting without Hyde and Poyer (and add in the weak pass rush). But, in 5 of the prior 6 years (2017-2022), they finished 11th or higher in third down percentage (with four top 10 finishes and a first place finish in 2021). So the system is capable of getting stops, we just haven't done it well the last two years (again, is that more personnel?). Obviously fixing the pass rush and adding a 1st round corner were the #1 priorities this year. Unfortunately safety may have to wait until next year (if Cole doesn't come on). But I don't think you can underestimate how much aging/moving on from Poyer and Hyde affected things the last two years defensively. The safeties at least won't be worse than last year, because even if we have to start Damar, he and Rapp will have more experience in the scheme and with each other (not ideal, but not a total disaster). Let's hope the pass rush works. But, yeah, having said all of that, I do not think the scheme (overall) is the problem. It seems more personnel to me. Not that we don't have good personnel, but we have not had that elite pass rusher and/or (for the last two years) the type of young, healthy safeties that allow you to take more risks. We can talk philosophy a bit in regards to Sean (amount and type of blitzes, emphasis on turnovers, etc.), but overall, over the last 8 years, I think Sean and the system have proven very competent and capable of winning. Yes, we have had let downs in the playoffs and areas we need to improve, but we have consistently been a good defensive team under McDermott. Of course, I'd take a little more aggressiveness...and hopefully we'll see that this year with the DL improvements.

You idiots feel for this crap too.

I hope Ravens play Jackson and all starters and run the plays that we’ll see in week 1.

It's not bad... Better at certain times of the year. I have a theory on how Father Baker knew there was natural gas under the Basilica in Lackawanna. He kept on drilling and praying until he hit gas... The Basilica generates its own natural gas to this day... Anyway... My theory is he knew of the "Eternal Flame" atop the ridge/escarpment. But let's give credit to prayer and hitting the gas field under WNY...😉 ...You can actually see the top of the Basilica and Bills FieldHouse from the toboggan hill @ Chestnut Ridge.