Thurman#1

Indeed. Nicely put.

No, he doesn't have one playoff win. The Dallas Cowboys have one playoff win. Wins are a team thing. Playing quarterback is how you judge quarterbacks. Dak has played quarterback well for a while and at a top 5 - 8 level for the last two years. That's how you judge a QB. Mahomes never won a Super Bowl. The Chiefs did. Watson is a top three QB, probably. Wilson didn't win a Super Bowl. The Seahawks did. Put Wilson or Mahomes on the Jets and they don't get close to a Super Bowl despite the fact that they're terrific QBs. You don't seem to get this, but teams win. One player doesn't, except maybe in tennis or golf, that kind of sport. Dak's a top 5 - 8 guy. Those guys get paid top two or three. Look at Cousins. Look at Watson. Is he worth not just #1 but way above the current #1? That's a question worth asking.

Then the world is insane. Top five money? He absolutely deserves that.

10x more? I'd have to agree with you if you're talking about the first four games. But I'd argue it's pretty comparable the last two. You're right that it could be because we played two very good, smart teams. But they figured out a way to play this offense better. That was always the likelihood, that someone would figure out a way to defense them. So far, they haven't made anyone pay, and so we'll likely see defenses play the Titans version of a defense for the Bills until our offense shows they can handle it consistently. And you're certainly right that in past years this defense played much better. The question is when (if?) they get healthy and adjust, can they significantly improve their level of play. I'm hopeful but not very confident, not with this roster, not without Star. He's not the only reason we're playing poorly but he's a lot of the reason we're playing poorly against the run.

That's on you. We run a platoon system. None of our guys played more than 65% last year. The only two guys above 53.9% (Oliver's number) were DEs (Murphy and Hughes). Didn't mean the DTs weren't important. He wasn't constantly taking on double teams. But very often and nearly always on runs anywhere near him.

Funny how the people who bring this up never bring up that in exchange the Bills gave him another year and a half of guarantee. Which is big for a player. Or that the pay cut was $1.5 million on a $50 million contract.

this

Good. Damn good Not at pass rushing. Not at penetrating. Not at quickness. But though often double-teamed on runs through the middle he was still able to not be pushed back, to go sideways in whichever direction the runner went, to keep blockers off the LBs. There's a reason they paid him a lot. McDermott's always had a guy like Star in that spot and always been willing to pay for it. He did a job well, a job that McDermott's defense requires be done at a high level. And there aren't that many guys big, strong and enduring enough to do what he does.

Again, we have $3.3 mill under the cap. And $1.2 mill next year. This isn't a good spot for a trade unless we happen to find one that's really cheap. And those aren't generally the guys people want to trade away, unless they suck. I wouldn't expect any big moves. Small one, maybe.

Plus kumquats au gratin is the cumulative principle with efficacy. You're really pouring on the sense here. Good luck to you.

Looks to me like 6'2 292, at least on profootballreference.com I'd argue 210 is a bit small for a DL. Looks to me like 6'2 292, at least on profootballreference.com I'd argue 210 is a bit small for a DL.

Dude, this is like arguing that the menu at a restaurant should have called for pancakes and arguing that therefore the menu was wrong when actually the menus and the food have all been stolen. The best game plan in the world won't work with poor execution. And game plans that aren't working due to poor execution should absolutely be changed on the fly. The Chiefs didn't get 40 minutes of possession because they decided they'd do that before the game. They got 40 minutes of possession because the Bills were doing a solid job of making passing difficult, but a horrible job of doing the same for the run game. They got 40 minutes because they were able to run so they did it and did it and did it. And we couldn't run.

I don't really understand how someone can argue we weren't in the game. Being in the game is precisely related to the score. We were in it even though we weren't playing well. I certainly agree that they far outplayed us, but that doesn't matter if you end up with more points than the other guy. We were right there till the last few minutes. We bent but didn't break much. But we couldn't score the way we've grown accustomed to. Good wrap-up, Shaw.

Looked to me like the Bills coverage was working really well, just as well as the Chiefs coverage was. But Mahomes had tons and tons of time back there on most plays and eventually someone got open. Whereas Allen had much less time. The 5 yard passes are because defenses are taking away the longer passes, which they will continue to do, as it's working and we can:t find an effective counter yet.

The 40 minutes of possession wasn't the problem. The bad play of the players during all 60 minutes ... that was the problem.

It would only put us over the cap right now by around $5 - $6 million. Then it would make us less likely to have money to roll over to next year and unless we cut Atkins before next year, we'd be already $9 or so mill over the cap for next year. The guy's great. The fit's questionable, since the McDermott D needs a space-eating 1-tech. The situation of bringing extra money contracts on board the year before a massive cap cut makes big moves very very very unlikely.

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.