Thurman#1

Ngakoue's salary is $8 mill. 5 out of 16 games are gone, so that's $5.5 mill the rest of the year, which would put us a bit over the cap. And he'd be a one-year rental because he's going to be paid a lot next year and the Bills are actually already over the cap for next year. A 2nd for a one-year rental wouldn't make sense. Couldn't agree more that we're missing Star.

Jordan Phillips was NEVER a run-stuffing DT. Never. He wasn't especially good against the run. And Oliver's history is that he's terrific against the run, better than he is against the pass. Not so the past few weeks but it appears he's recovering from an injury. He's certainly not showing explosiveness like he normally does. As for big trades, it's not likely to happen. We don't have the cap space to bring in a big salary, we just don't. I can see a move or two with small salaries, though.

The offense looks better than the defense. But the defense isn't "the problem." They're part of the problem. Against the best teams, the offense has been pretty bad. "When the O can't score 25 we lose," you say? 25 a game is average this year. So yeah, when the offense is below average we're likely to lose. The defense hasn't been good. But since teams have started playing deep enough to make the offense start to play more of a short passing game, they haven't looked good. Hopefully they'll figure a way past this, but it's not looking like a sure thing.

Blitzing and playing press man is like handing Mahomes a get out of jail free card and the key to the city. He loves that. The game plan wasn't the problem. Bad play was.

Oh, nonsense. You're closer to Chicken Little than he is overrated. Not that this team is playing well right now. They're not. But they played two Super Bowl contenders and still have time to get a signature win.

So, the offense played great then?

Wouldn't go so far as to attack his whole character. But man was that frustrating to see. Yes, absolutely. Playing well? By no means, but that was the only quit I saw. Had the fat lady sung? It wasn't over. Yeah, the odds were wildly unlikely. Onside kicks these days are almost impossible. Almost, but not totally.

They sure aren't playing right now as good as they looked in the first four games. But they're also not likely as bad as you've got them. I don't see seven likely losses there at all. Seattle, the 9ers if they're healthy, and the Steelers all look like very likely losses. The Jets should be a win. Assuming the Fins play well the rest of the way, the rest should be winnable, but at the same time very loseable. Could go either way. There's no big dogs among the Pats, Cards, Chargers, Broncos and Fins. I certainly agree that if we don't improve a lot, we won't be beating the big dogs unless we get nearly every single lucky bounce along the way. Jeez, that was a depressing game.

Game plan wasn't the problem, which is true most of the time people say it's a bad game plan. Very true today, though. Bad execution. He'll be fine once he regains his explosion. I'm worried about a lot of the rest of the DL, though.

With Star here, we'd have looked less small. It's one reason McDermott's D needs a guy like that in the middle. On offense, less so, IMO. Dawkins is 6'5" 320, Ford 6'3" 329 and Daryl Williams is 6'6" 330, all according to Pro Football Reference. Morse at 305 isn't small for a center. Agreed that Tre looked lost a few times. The whole team looked lost, really.

See, you're confusing your words there. He hasn't been objectively bad. That may be what you think, but that's precisely what makes it "subjective." If it was objective, absolutely nobody would disagree with you. And most of the world does, though the injury certainly has him playing more poorly than he did last year. Most of the world, including McDermott, Beane, Lorax, Jeremiah Sirles, and a host of people who know the situation an absolute ton better than you and I do completely disagree with you, and that does mean you're probably wrong. And yes, Beane has misses. They all do, what with that "being human" thing. But so far his percentage is a lot higher than most. That's why they're 4-1 and a possible Super Bowl contender, something we haven't seen in decades.

Enough with the Edmunds outside nonsense. One of the few things we have seen this year is that when Milano is out, this defense is noticeably worse. They should do all they possibly can to bring back Milano. Might not be able to with their current financial situation, but it it's possible it should be done.

Nope, not even close, dude. It isn't "a select few" who can't be convinced he's playing poorly. That's the huge majority and includes all the people who know much more than us. The select few are you folks who simply won't admit that an injury can (and it's happening right now in Tremaine's case) affect performance. And that while he was making mistakes his rookie year that he cleaned up most of them last year and was playing very well. Add Jeremiah Sirles in as yet another who knows far more than you and thinks you're just wrong: "I think he's hurt. I played against Tremaine, I practiced with him for a year and a half, and the kid's one of the most physical specimens that you've ever seen. And watching the way that he's approaching his contact, I mean even getting off blocks or instead of trying to thud an offensive lineman and shed the block, he's kind of backing up and trying to more finesse-move it. I think he's hurt. I don't know what's hurt, I don't know if it's a back, knee, shoulder, but I think there's something wrong because I do think he's one of the most diverse football players on the defensive side of the ball in the league, with the things he can do. I mean the range he can cover it so quickly, with the athletic ability and the physicality is everything you're looking for in a player and let's not forget he's 22 years old. I mean the kid's super-young still, he's still got a lot of development to go. But I do think that you need to get him healthy. But the problem is that if Milano's out AND Edmunds is out, you're really struggling, so I mean if Edmunds can go I agree that there's a certain piece of 'we need him on the field' but at the same time you've got to make sure that he's gonna be available down the stretch and that this isn't going to be something that just lingers all year and hampers his development. That's on this week's "The Shout Podcast." And he's not just throwing bouquets out there either, he's willing to say some things that aren't positive. Says he doesn't see explosiveness this year from Oliver and that he's not a guy who can be effective without that, for instance. It's pretty much everyone pointing out that you and your little select few are wrong.

Oh, nonsense. Like ILB and OLB are well-known to have totally different times to learn. Fine, Mike Singletary's first two years he wasn't even close to what he became. Steve Nelson took a long time to get going before becoming an excellent ILB. Lawrence Timmons became great in about his fourth year, putting the pass game together with the run. Hardy Nickerson took forever to get started. Pepper Johnson. London Fletcher didn't get much of what was going on around him early, then caught on to the run game but really didn't have the whole thing come together till lateish in his third year and you could argue it was a lot longer than that. Keith Brooking, one of my faves from back in the day, really saw it come together in his fourth year. And ILB is getting harder and more convoluted as time passes and they have to get more and more involved in more intricate areas of the pass game. Bart Scott didn't even start his first three years. Tedy Braschi didn't see it come together till his fourth year. So, that's just nonsense. And as for his "lack of improvement," he ... is ... injured. Seems to be pulling it back together a bit as the year goes on, though. Through the first two years though, pretty much everyone has him as improving. As a person who knows more than Lorax and McDermott among many others, you may not believe that. Your disbelief should concern any Bills fan just about not at all.

Fair enough, I guess. It's possible. I don't worry about that, myself, but I do find other things to worry about.