Thurman#1

We're 6th in the league. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-third-down-conversion-pct Fans remember really good and really bad plays, but we tend to file successful 3rd down stops as "of course" and not remember them, whereas failures get filed under "I can't believe it," and are easily remembered. We could always get better, though.

Never thought I'd see that, but now, maybe. Lamar is really good, but the Cousins contract showed that even with a good QB you don't want to fully guarantee a contract. Carr to Baltimore would be interesting. Lamar's situation is why sometimes you really do need an agent. Not everyone, and not all the time. But sometimes and for some people.

If this is really important for all of you folks, there are a lot of teams out there for you to root for. Make the switch. But the Bills aren't changing. Nor should they. Statistically speaking it's really really hard to put a really good defense on the field with consistency. Defenses regress to the mean more quickly than offenses. Yet this team has managed really good defenses year after year. Deal with it. Or switch. If you're a Bosa fan, the Chargers would welcome your fanhood. Aaron Donald? The Rams won't reject your allegiance. If you want your best players on the field for as long as their conditioning allows, root for SD or LA. There are plenty of others. All the Bills have to offer you is a really good defense year after year.

We need one? Nah. Not even close. Do they kick us out of the playoffs if we only win by a bit? Do we play on the road the next game? It'd be nice. It'd help us and them relax a bit earlier in the game. But it's not anything we need.

Having read this thread, I now realize how absolutely awful our offense is. I only wish you guys could be the coaches instead of the ones we have. That way we'd be a bit better than we are now. Our passing offense must be way below average in DVOA, hunh? No? Oh, well, we'd be higher than #2. Maybe.

The guy was consistently breaking team rules and rolling up lots of fines and being a distraction. He wasn't re-signed here till he called us himself and said his mea culpas and that he wouldn't pull that kind of crap this time around. The Bills said the way he handled things was wrong, they didn't say that with words, they said it by not bringing him back till he called us and showed he had a new attitude. Looked like a new man at his PC this year. That's why he was back. Nothing wrong with expressing your opinion in a free country. But also nothing wrong with saying "See ya later, have fun expressing yourself elsewhere," when a guy is determined to be that way. He has 4 TDs. If you can't recall any big plays, that's your memory.

Beasley was available most of the year. To anyone. And finally we didn't call him, he called us. Humbly. Demand isn't overwhelming for the guy. Might have been a few years ago, but not now.

Doc, that was utter destruction of nonsense. Great stuff.

Dude, he absolutely was a big time player. Huge, actually. Was he elite? No, but he was excellent. Everybody gets their share of coverage sacks, but Von did not get more than his share. Only problem with him as a pickup was the injury.

They really do not need to draft all offense, whether you use a pronunciation mark word or not. Very very unlikely and by absolutely no means necessary. I doubt they even go all offense in the top three picks, myself. They've always tended to split nearly evenly between the units. Most likely they do that again. The franchise tag for LBs next year is predicted to be $20.9M, all on next year's cap. Again, not a good option. And yeah, they need to invest around Josh. But defense is also investing around Josh. A good defense makes it easier for the offense.

I'd argue that their first a couple of years back is Diggs, who is on the offense, obviously. My guess is WR/OL/S/Edge as biggest priorities, with a BPA philosophy.

Happy to see that, for Tua's own sake.

Yeah, and we're (some of us anyway) are debating signing Hopkins. Wacky discussions are kinda what many to most of us do. Tremaine leaving is a lot more likely than us picking up Hopkins but until it actually happens still a long shot.

You act as if there's a chance of this. I mean, it's not flat-out impossible, but it isn't the type of deal they do for many reasons, money, picks, and not enough balls for both guys. His age. The probability he'd be a very expensive rental, which they don't give valuable picks for. Likelihood extremely low. It's fun to imagine, so there's that.

We are in our window now, and it's not going to last forever. You're dead right on this. It's only going to last the next probably 12 - 15 years, up till Allen starts serious regression. We really don't need reminders. I don't think many are forgetting.

Yup. This. It's not how they operate, and that's a good thing.

No. It is not monopoly money. It is money from our future cap years. We can and will free up some money. But doing so does hurt us, and Beane is aware of that and doesn't go overboard on it. Yes.

This much I can totally agree with. They still look like a really tough team, but without Von Miller I'm considerably less arrogant about their chances. But yeah, I'm nervous every game the last half of the season even though they look really good.

Um, no. That's really not the question at all. One of many questions might be, does that stat from NFL LIve directly disagree with what Bill said. And the answer would be, "Um, no, of course they don't. Whoever tries to pretend they do is spinning like a centrifuge." Specifically addressing NFL Live's stat that you quote, there are about six or seven relevant questions. Question 1: The most basic question. Is it true that "Mac was 17-17 in their scoring drives." NO. That is false. Take another look at the play-by-play as I did. I've counted at least two INCs so far in those drives and I stopped there. So I guess that at least so far, I'd have to say that apparently NFL Live knows less than just about anybody about the stat they cited (or you misheard or misreported). Question 2: Even assuming they did well in the air on four drives, does that mean they did well in the whole game? Um, that's self-evident. Of course the answer is no. Question 3: How many drives did they have? Eleven. Question 4: If you did well in four drives out of eleven, does that mean you did well? Um, duh. Question 5: Did they do well in the passing game when they managed 234 yards on 40 throws with 3 INTs? Again, um, duh. Not awful. But certainly not good. Question 6: Did NFL LIve actually say @the Bills are going nowhere with the Defense playing like this"? Hard to say. You quoted them on two things, and the other one is wrong, and you've got no link for this. Can you produce a link? It's hard to imagine why anyone would say that about a defense that has allowed 17.8 PPG in the last five games and is DVOA's fourth best defense. The fact is they had four scoring drives, one of which started from the Bills nine yard-line. 23 points when you had one drive start nine yards away from the goal line just is not very impressive.

If you don't care what the stats say, it's because you've got an agenda. Stats don't say it all. But they absolutely do tell a lot of the picture. Jones didn't exploit the Bills secondary. Three INTs. 243 yards. This simply isn't especially good. Did they have some good moments? Yeah. But that's nearly always what even really bad games look like. Some good moments, but not especially effective overall. Saying they went through us like a knife through butter - which is what I was replying to - is just nonsense.

I know. Mac Jones carved us up like a knife through butter. You know how those knives are always throwing 3 INTS as they cut through butter. 243 yards!!! WOW!! Joe Montana-esque!!! I thought he was Dan Marino and Pat Mahomes combined out there!!! 5.85 Yards per attempt in the passing game. 75.3 passer rating. That's how the passer ratings look when knives carve through butter, isn't it? And 23 points scored!!!!!!!!! He was downright Peyton Manning-esque out there!!! It almost looked like they'd sneaked Brady into Mac's jersey!!! You are delusional. Seriously.

Teams have managed an 80.1 passer rating against our defense this year. That's 4th best in the league. Considering the injuries of Von Miller, Hyde and several CBs, they're playing exceptionally well. Hell, they're playing well even if you leave the injuries out of it. The ship doesn't need to be righted, but adjusting the set of the sails just a bit is a good idea for nearly every team.

They pretty much are the same, as McNasty pointed out above. Except more wins against a much harder schedule despite far more injuries. They pretty much are the same, as McNasty pointed out above. Except more wins against a much harder schedule despite far more injuries. Beside the point. You said we lost the first five minutes, and therefore, "There is no way we would have pulled that game out." You actually said that. Which was pure dumbosity, and he was right to point it out. The first five minutes of a game doesn't mean much unless after that first five minutes you're down 21 or something. We weren't. Sure, the Bengals tore our offense up early, but so did the Bears. So did a bunch of other teams right at the start. We had every chance to win that Bengals game. No way to know for sure, but I thought we would. You are right - no question - that if we play the Bengals in the playoffs, as it looks like we will, it shapes up as a tough game. But we'll be the favorites, and for good reason.

This is the worry for me. The rest of the team is really working. And when Von was healthly you just had the sense that they'd get a sack just when they needed it. This year their QB pressure is good at times but able to be handled often. I worry when they face Mahomes. Bad take on the defense. Particularly for all the injuries, they've played really really well. The one worry is that they haven't adequately replaced Miller's sacks when they needed them. But we're 4th in defensive DVOA. This is a very good defense.