st pete gogolak

I started a similar thread a month ago and was enlightened by many posters that, not only is he retired, but he has zero interest at this point in his life in playing football. Nothing wrong with that. Which is a shame, He would be a nice fit as guard - tackle backup, maybe even starter. Last year's play was better than what Saffold and Q have provided this year.

This isn't directly on topic but it's the most recently active concerning the Minnesota game. Last series. Diggs catches ball giving us a first down on the Minnesota 20 yard line with 1:25 left and two timeouts (I believe Vikings had two timeouts as well). Go for TD to Knox in endzone. Incomplete. 1:12 left on the clock. Let's say Allen threw ball away on second down with no one open (as many here believe he should have). Now's it's third and 10 from the 20. Incomplete pass followed by FG gives Vikings a minute and two timeouts to win the game. If the strategy was to at a minimum to come out of the game with a tie, we should have run or thrown a "safe" pass on first down to run some clock. Do Vikings call time out to preserve clock? Do we make them burn a couple of timeouts? It seems that the strategy, if you can call it that, was to win the game without any consideration for playing for a tie, fine. That's certainly aggressive. On the other hand, it just leads to more questions how strange the playcalling sequence was to end the game.

It's hyperbole, pal. Clickbait.

Kubiak won a Super Bowl? Must of missed that. For who?

You know, even with Hyde and Poyer, I don't think the Bills beat the '75 Steelers. Why do you keep referring to last year? I never said that last year's Bills should have been unbeaten. The Colts rolled them. Your argument is just nonsense. Again, with Hyde and Poyer, this team has a very, very good chance of being 9 - 0, or at worst 8 - 1. Do you deny that? Did you watch the games?

Have no idea why you keep referring to last season. My opinion is that with Hyde and Poyer they win both Miami and Minnesota. NYJ closer call but it's not J. Johnson taking horrible angles at running backs either. Yes, in all three games the offense left something to be desired but again, the thesis is that THIS YEAR, with Hyde and Poyer we would be minimum 8 - 1, very possibly 9 - 0.

Power rankings are worth about as much as mock drafts, but just for fun, let's assume this one is accurate. So far this season, Bills have (1) beat #1 on the road; (2) lost a heartbreaking game at home to #3 that they should have put away about six times; (3) lost to #4 on the road when half the team keeled over with heat stroke; (4) beat #5 on the road; (5) destroyed #6 at home; (6) lost a tough game to #9 on the road; (7) easily beat #19, #21 and #22; and (8) no games to date against #24 - #32. Despite all that, we still have games left against #3, #9, #12 (road); and #17 (2). This may end up being the most brutal schedule in the history of the team.

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? This year they lost to Miami by two in a brutal game where Bills players were keeling over with heat stroke. This is personal opinion of course but if Hyde and Poyer play in that game, they win. Granted, offense wasn't great even though they put up almost 500 yards of offense. NYJ loss, don't know. Again, offense wasn't great, not sure two safeties would have made that much of a difference stopping the NYJ run game. Minnesota? Absolutely convinced they win that game in a walk if Hyde and Poyer play.

wow.

I wasn't looking for a silver lining from this game but then the thought occurred to me, what if this had been a playoff game or - heaven forbid - a Super Bowl and to lose a game like this. This would have been 10 times worse than 13 seconds because we had at least 5 or 6 times when you're about this close to saying game over (scoring TD to go up 17, 4th and 18, 81 yard run, executing a QB sneak, and on and on). It would have been time to find the nearest bridge.

Why are Davis and McKenzie right next to each other? That can't be right. Somebody had to mess up.

I go back, yet again, to the Green Bay game. Not just the second half, but the whole mentality going into that game. We're coming off a bye and GB has one of the two worst run D's in the league. It was an ideal game to run the ball more and at least attempt to provide some balance to the offense. OK, really didn't do that in the first have but you come out with a 24 - 7 lead at the half. You're going to pound, pound, pound the ball in the second half, right? Nope, it's the Packers who do that!! We play like we're behind 24 - 7. This team hasn't looked remotely right since the second half of the GB game.

Point of the post is not revisionist history or wishful thinking. Some injuries are devastating, some not as much. If Hyde and Poyer play yesterday, we 100% win that game. Probably win in Miami as well. If Poyer can come back healthy and team with Hamlin, I think we'll be ok.

This is NOT an excuse. EVERY team suffers injuries. Baltimore's season was wiped out last year with injuries. Chargers this year. Pittsburgh lost the Defensive Player of the Year for half a season. But if Hyde and Poyer were healthy and played every game this year, I believe this team is 9 - 0, maybe 8 - 1 (possible would have lost Jets debacle regardless). It's pretty obvious that they are the heart and soul of this defense. Right now, forget about home field. Goals: (1) cross your fingers we are healthy as possible going into playoffs; (2) clean up the turnovers; (3) find a way to run for first downs on 2nd and short and 3rd and short.

Defense needs either Hyde (obviously he won't be there) or Poyer back there. It's a big problem when they are both out. It's kind of crazy but I keep thinking the season turned during a win. Leading GB 27 - 10, Cook carries it down to the GB 3. Second and goal. Run it twice and kick the FG or run it three times and score a TD or pin GB deep. Instead, incompletion , then Interception. GB makes it tiny bit of a nailbiter. Same type of thing happened over and over today. Refusal to run on second and short or third and short or when we did, couldn't make a yard or two. Aren't going to win a Super Bowl if you can't gain a yard or two on the ground when you need it. Oh, yeah Dorsey's play-calling is awful.

Last three second halves and OT; zero touchdowns, four field goals, five interceptions (four in the red zone), one fumble, outscored 43 - 9 defense gashed over and over by the run. Brutal, brutal, brutal.

This thread got me to thinking about 2023 (I still believe in 2022!) and what the Bills defense might look like and how resources should finally flow to the offense. So what could D look like next year: CB - White, D. Jackson, T. Johnson, Elam, Benford. You can't be any more stacked than this. No FA's, no draft choices. S - If Hyde is healthy (obviously, big if) I don't see them holding on to Poyer. Love Poyer but Hamlin can play SS with Hyde next to him. I'd like to see Neal backing up one of the spots. No FA's, maybe a late draft choice. Wouldn't mind not seeing J. Johnson on the field again. OLB - Milano backed up by Bernard. No FA's, no draft choices. ILB - I don't think they resign Edmunds. I'd like to see them try to pry Bobby Wagner off the Rams or someone similar. Vet with instincts and aggression but not the athleticism of Edmunds. Or resign Dodson as a cheaper alternative. Can Spector be a viable backup? DE - Miller, Rousseau, Epenesa, Basham. Let Lawson walk. No FA's, no draft choices. DT - Oliver (same deal as Edmunds this year - let him play out fifth year and see if it is worth resigning him), Jones, Settle. Let Phillips walk. No FA's, maybe middle round draft choice. That leaves a lot of room to upgrade at OL, WR, possibly RB. Defense should be fine.

What an incredibly bad take. Is this sarcasm? Bad awareness in the pocket? His right tackle was beat like a drum and he was trying to make a throw.

I'm looking at team disappointments rather than individual players, especially problems that have seemed problems for some time. I thought that the run defense was fixed with revamped D Line. Last two games were a tremendous disappointment. Offensive line and running attack. I really like Spencer Brown and the offseason maladies and the ankle sprain haven't helped but yet again, the offensive line is an issue and a consistent non-QB running game is a mirage. Couple that with a couple of lousy games from Josh and more injuries than we are used to (we've been awfully lucky in that respect for the last couple of years) and 6 - 2 seems just about right. Not giving up on this year by a long, long shot but (1) run D has to be fixed and (2) offense has to find some balance.

What sets me over the edge about a game like this is that after six games this season you could say a couple of things confidently about this team: (1) run defense is much improved and (2) our QB is front runner for MVP. Questions about the offensive line? Sure. Lack of running game outside of Allen? OK. But what lets us down in the last 2 games (run D) and last 6 quarters (QB play) are the things that absolutely aren't supposed to happen. I still don't get the run D. It wasn't just the stats (1st or 2nd in YPG and YPA in the league) but they were passing the eyeball test. Teams just weren't having any success running on them. Last two games? Poof. It all goes away. I'd be interested in any film study that could really break down teh difference between first six and last two games. Josh? Unless it's an injury, it's really inexplicable.

Have we lost 8 straight coin flips or do we not defer if we win the toss? I thought losing the toss (or not deferring) bit us in the rear today. Jets score late first half and control opening drive of second half. Both losses involve missed from Bass (yeah, 55 yards but it would have restored some momentum going into the half. Both losses have horrible plays from Q-Berry directly contributing to loss. Ugh.

Actually, I think Burris and Rogers elevates this in the decent category, let alone not "worst of all time". Marlo Perry and Lonnie Johnson has some moments as well. Not great, but far from terrible.

The title of the thread was more for effect than anything. Of course, Broncos' 2018 draft wasn't worst of all time. Many, many drafts were worse. I guess the point I was trying to make is that unless you have Allen, Mahones, Brady in his prime, etc. you have to evaluate your QB situation every single year. Someone pointed out that Keenum wasn't a Bronco at draft time. I didn't realize that but it makes the Broncos situation that year even more puzzling. At #5, they had firepower to move up (possibly) to get a QB. Did they do their homework on Allen (who played next door at Wyoming for goodness sakes) and didn't believe him worthy? Just puzzling draft from that perspective.

The GB game was just weird. I mean really weird. Run D has been absolutely magnificent all year long, including games against Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Against GB, they were absolutely gouged. No sugar coating it, both first half and second half. Offense looked great first half and first drive of second half (probably go in for TD without the holding call). Josh was fine in second half (Knox and Davis with early drops) until the play he was tackled OB on the drive that resulted in a FG. After that, he was pretty bad, missing throws he makes in his sleep. Add in some really questionable play calling and it amounted to a strange, kind of unsatisfying game. But a win is a win and in two weeks no one will remember anything but the win.

Didn't Baugh play DB as well and have at least one year with double digit INT's? Crazy stuff. Different era.