Thurman#1

Singletary in the first 10 weeks of the season last year had these attempt numbers: Week 1: 4 Week 2: 6 Week 7: 7 Week 8: 3 Week 9: 20 Week 10: 8 After that they figured he got it and he never again had single digits. Does that look a bit familiar? Wait a bit. It'll come for Moss.

After Star opted out this year, we have three years left on his deal.

I believe it, but it's something new. We weren't even slightly predictable last year. Even Brady was consistently confused by us. So why are we not running the games anymore where we overload one side but back one guy out of the other side to cover the middle? Where are all the confusing pressures, where we schemed pressure rather than just blitzing? IMO the most likely reason we don't see those this year is they think that with the guys we've got now we can't run them well. Without Milano, maybe? Or with Tremaine's injury? Or without Tre consistently blanketing the other team's #1? I don't know what it is but my best guess is they think that they can't run all of their catalog with the personnel group they're having to field right now.

Hunh? Is this a pop culture reference I'm missing or autocorrect damage or something?

Oh, my God, yes. I learned who Warren Oates was and came to venerate him as an acting god well after I saw and loved Stripes. Till this moment I didn't realize that Hulk was Oates. Holy cow, you blew my mind! Who's this? "And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!"

Hard to call beating the Jet anyone's finest hour. But I hear you. Good post.

First, Mahomes says hi. So, no. And he turned out pretty decently. Jake Locker was also a top ten guy and only threw 66 passes his first year, mostly in games 13 and 14, not that he turned out that well, but there are other factors that bear in QB success than playing as a rookie, including talent, how well the team develops him, the team situation and in Locker's case, particularly injuries. JaMarcus Russell also didn't play till the last week of the season, though there's no question his holdout may have contributed, not to mention his sizzurp habit. David Carr for one is a guy who should've sat for a year. And second, yes, they most often do play as rookies, even if it is a really bad idea. The reason that it's so common is less that it helps the QB and far more tthat teams that pick top ten QBs tend to be overwhelmingly extremely bad teams with desperate coaches. Has nothing to do with whether the policy makes sense or hurts the development of many of the QBs affected. It's the opposite of lunacy, and while Allen appears to have survived it just fine, he might have gone into the 2nd season with a much better grasp of things and better honed mechanics if they'd been able to keep him on the bench.

Yeah, but QBs, hell, players, will always say this, whether it's true or not. And there's plenty of likelihood it's not true. Did Beane think it was enough depth? Or just the amount of depth he could manage with the cap situation as it was? IMO the latter. Everyone knew they had depth problems at LB, for instance. Pretty sure Beane was aware but couldn't do better under the circumstances. I have zero problems with Frazier, myself. Zero worries there.

He doesn't want to be one. He makes way more money and spends way less time, working human hours rather than coach hours. He's in a far better situation.

Same things that were wrong with them that we've discussed in all the other threads. Star was way more important than many thought and he opted out too late to replace him in free agency. Matt Milano is also way way more important to this defense than many thought and he's out. Injuries have reduced the effectiveness of two other key guys, Edmunds and Oliver significantly. And playing Oliver at 1-tech, as they did for much of the KC game is a sure way to make him much less productive as well. Playing him at 1-tech shows they're having real trouble finding a 1-tech. It's these kind of knock-on effects of the problems above that have consequences elsewhere. Injuries at CB have hurt, and people are ignoring it. Losing Levi Wallace hurts an awful lot. Now Norman has a hamstring. Tre has been in and out and hasn't been quite as effective even when he's in. That's a lot of injuries and at key positions. Pass rush blues as well. It appears that Hughes may be getting older, finally. And some of the new guys are not quite fitting in or doing their job as well as they'd hoped and also to the new holding penalty moratorium which values a certain type of rusher over others. The holding thing looks to me to be a huge part of this. Taron Johnson wasn't great last year but he seems to have regressed a bit and the Pats moved fast on Dugger, and Delpit was gone too. They may regret not taking Chinn in the 2nd round. He's playing pretty well in Carolina. The system is complex but the injury problems, the no Lotulelei problem, the CB problems especially seem to be causing problems that make players try to do too much. Ripple effect starts affecting everyone else.

As Joe pointed out, Tremaine played very well last year at MLB. The problem isn't his position.

According to Joe, Zimmer at 1-tech and Butler at 3-tech faced 10 designed runs and allowed 1.6 YPC. Wow!!! Whereas when they flipped them, with Zimmer at 3-tech, they allowed 6.8 YPC. This is worth looking at for the Bills.

Yeah, I've really noticed this too. I wonder if for some reason the new guys aren't as good at it or something? Or an injury problem? Or a Star not here problem, which Beane couldn't really address because opting out came late, well after the best guys were long gone in free agency? Or (and this is my estimation) is it complex, partly injuries, partly Star, partly personnel and partly failures one place in the D (Milano's absence, for instance) affecting other areas.

Jordan Phillips is listed at 341 and he sure wasn't a 1-tech. I'm just saying that weight alone doesn't make you one. Which is true. It's where you play and I guess how well you play the 1-tech role. Haven't had much time this year at all to watch all-22 to know how well Butler might be playing it. Here's Joe's explanation: "Oliver, Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler and Justin Zimmer fit best in the three-technique defensive tackle role, so something had to give."

Agreed.

Yes, this. https://www.si.com/nfl/chiefs/news/are-the-chiefs-blocking-downfield-illegally-on-rpo-plays-andy-reid-says-no-uN91b01mVUi1ZIqlF3p2rg "While the NFL rules state lineman can move no more than 1 yard downfield before the pass, officials often permit some leeway, usually no more than 3 to 5 yards downfield."

Stephen Colbert called. They want you on ZOOM. Phillips was a force, but on very few plays. He was bad against the run and had very few pressures outside of his sacks, which is kind of weird, but true. I liked his personality, but he was more lucky than very good. And his record shows the same this year.

Cox will receive $16 and $17 mill the next two years. Do you really want him as a one-year rental? And Philly wouldn't get rid of him anyway, it would be a huge dead cap hit. Ertz is affordable but will miss the next four to six weeks.

See, that is what we call an opinion. A fact is quite different. And again, a Pro Bowl in his second year says few agree with you, and that when healthy and in a working defense, he's a damn good player. Dude, he's killing you. You're looking like one of those fraternity recruits saying, "Thank you, sir, may I have another." There are things you can say about Edmunds that are real. You can say he's regressed this year, for instance, as it's clear he has. But that he's never had a game-changing play? Ridiculous. As he says, though, your choice. The first and most obvious one I come up with is the one against the Fins last year near the end of the year. Miami had beaten us with Allen QBing earlier in the season. In the first game we score on the first game. On their first they start to move, Edmunds intercepts and runs it back inside the 20. The crowd is now going nuts and on 1st and ten Miami is on their heels and Allen hits Zay Jones for a TD, we're up 14 - 0, and the rout is on. That was a huge play. Gonna say something sensible, "Well, yeah, good point, but this year he hasn't been playing as well"? I won't hold my breath.

Yes, his injury and lack of a 1-tech. And probably also the fact that our whole DL isn't playing as well as we'd hoped. And yeah, you could say he needs a good space eater to flourish, correct. Which is true of any MLB in this scheme and plenty of others. Except at 1-tech we're small and athletic on the DL. The 1-tech is a desperate need in this scheme. Again, Ray frickin' Lewis didn't thrive without a space eater in front of him in the middle of his career. I totally agree that he's regressed, and that the reason is what matters. But IMO except for the injury there's not too much we can do to fix things beyond hoping McD finds a way to scheme around the problems of this defensive roster. We'll see. Pro Bowl in his second year says you're wrong. Healthy, with a space eater in front of him, he's absolutely a stud. Not elite so far or anything, don't get me wrong. But yes, very very good. You didn't upset me. Your poor, evasive OP did certainly seem worthy of being called a poor, evasive, OP, though. Your post gave only a small part of the picture and then didn't put a link in so people could see what you'd done. Thankfully, the Mods stepped in and put a link in, which helped at least a bit.

He hasn't even lost his Jets job, much less his career. He came in in Buffalo using air horns to wake guys up at training camp like they were misbehaving 12 year olds. But he learned, got better. Like many or most Bills coaches since Jim Kelly retired, Greggo's problem involved bad quarterbacking and also a bad OL. They drafted Mike Williams at LT to work on their OL woes and he turned out to be a wildly unmotivated guy, couldn't even get to meetings on time, much less practice hard. The D was kicking butt and taking names by the end of his time here but the offense was bad. They had Rob Johnson as his QB first year, followed by Bledsoe as his legs calcified and nobody else to speak of. The OL had Ruben Brown, Jonas Jennings, and two guys who just weren't good enough and Williams, so the left side was very good, but the right was poor. Good D which steadily improved, no O, and bad drafting, although the draft his first year was really good. But after that, nada. He was paired here with a poor GM, Donahoe.

$6 mill isn't all that cheap for a TE. Considering the money we have under the cap next year, to me it"s too expensive.

Bledsoe: 764 rushing yards in 14 years. Nope.

Yeah, you don't want an MLB who runs well or wraps up with his arms. Oh, wait, you probably do. Or closes from depth. Oh, wait, you actually do. Or sees it and goes and gets it. Yeah, it's totally clear, these are all major negatives for an MLB ... in Bizarro Land.

And I repeat, if this were your defense, what you're saying there would matter. It's McDermott's. I do indeed see player rotating in and out. Do you see Milano or Edmunds rotating in and out? Exactly. Do you want them to? Fine. Buy the Bills and get yourself installed as DC. Frankly, though, I'm glad you don't have the money. Please, the problem isn't that they can see him. Any RB with even decent vision sees the LBs just fine about 95% of the time. The problem appears to be run fits, and gaps left open and it doesn't seem to be Edmunds who's especially the problem. There's plenty of blame to go around.