billsfan89

He's also 41 and coming off a torn knee. His leg is still good but he looks to not have the power he once did pre-injury at age 40.

2022 that team was both massively hurt (even beyond the Von injury) and flawed (Offensive line issues and no WR2 or any help outside of Diggs at pass catcher). Hyde went down early and that hurt the defense. Pretty much the entire D-line was hurt going into that Bengals team. It was the Bills "year from hell" they just had two star talents on offense (Diggs and Josh) and enough depth on defense to patch it together and go 13-3. But that team was just not destined to go the distance that year even if Von was healthy.

I don't get dicey on Prater until he gets past the low 50's. 50-52 I think he's got the leg to hit those pretty consistently, 53+ that's going to be a harder sell for me, he's probably not going to be able to even attempt anything much past 55.

Thursday games are very very funky. Teams don’t have the rest they need and these games just are always extra unpredictable. That being said yes it’s hard to blowout even the worst team in the NFL

It won't be as drastic, a mid 2nd round pick being out performed by an early 4th rounder is not shocking. Sanders looks OK which is not bad for a rookie. Walker looks like a steal but the question with Walker wasn't talent for the most part it was health.

Even just being a bit banged up is helpful. Pats are fairly healthy, Bills mostly healthy too outside of some dings and the suspensions and Mad Max injury.

The issue with Bass was that he was so piss poor at times where he just really felt very unreliable even when he was making shots they always felt like they would barely squeak in. But then Bass would go on hot streaks and hit kicks solidly and consistently. Prater feels more stable but I am not sure his range at his age is what it used to be. I personally would rather have a Prater type kicker whose going to have more stability under 50 than Bass whose got longer range but is more volatile.

Davis looks ineffective, Ty looks OK, but Ty last year went through spells where he was less than impactful and then every 4-5 games would pop off a big game. Davis on the other hand was always a consistently decent backup when called up. This year I wouldn't say he looks "shot" but he looks a lot less impactful. I know Cook is cooking but this team needs to find a way to keep Cook's touches down in the early going to preserve him for the post-season. And if Davis is not cutting it and Ty's a role player I am not sure what the Bills do at RB? A little too early to panic, lets see how the next two games play out.

Getting Ed and Milano back would be a nice shot in the arm for the defense. Dorian sitting is not bad either might need a mental reset after a really bad NOLA game.

This is a massively important game. Reminds me of the first Jets game last season in MetLife. Jets were 2-3 coming off some games they probably could have won. Bills were 3-2 coming after back to back losses after the 3-0 start. A win and the Jets tie the divisional race and get some momentum back. A loss for the Bills put them at .500 and in second place. The Bills won and got to 4-2 placing them 2 games ahead of the Jets, they made the Cooper trade a couple of days later and as much as people in retrospect didn't like the Cooper trade and didn't see the value in it, the offense was completely changed by the trade even if Coopers stats weren't the best. That was the pivot point for the season. Bills went 4-2 and then rattled off a bunch in a row and had the division sown up by late November. Jets lost 6 of the next 7 and went nowhere.

I'm also glad to in the third round take chances on a high upside talent who might need more developing. That's the luxury of being a talented team. The Bills going into the draft had Groot, AJE, Bosa, and Hoecht 4 pretty solid to good DE options either as starters or higher end rotation players. Then you also had Solomon a mid-round pick the year before coming in off a year of development. The Bills didn't need a prospect who could come in right away year 1. They were drafted at DE more so for 2026 when Bosa and AJE are likely gone and they will need someone to step into the rotation. Jackson is a physical freak he had a 9.88 (and by some estimates a 9.95) RAS score. He has a good head on his shoulders too so character concerns aren't there. So if he maybe doesn't know how to use his hands or attack tackles at the NFL level give him a year to learn and develop and a second off-season as well and let's see what this guy has in 2026. Bad teams desperately need rookies who can make an impact right away. So teams with more pressing needs likely are going to pass on high upside players who might need a year or two because they need competence now. Overall I am just not too worried about Landon. Now if in 2026 he's not even able to crack the rotation at DE then yeah he's trending towards bust.

Skyy Moore's porn name ironically is Pete Jones...

I also think fans kind of forget that Knox is one of Josh’s friends on the team and this team is also dropping a lot of 3 TE sets as the new “6th offensive line” wrinkle. Knox isn’t going anywhere this season and if he is willing to rework his deal next year he will probably be back

I am just saying that it is hard to write off a regular season that is still currently in progress and the fun fans have with that because the destination hasn’t been reached yet. There’s a lot of football left to be played and it is also about the journey enjoying the season as it unfolds and such. I remember a lot about last season not just the sad ending. Yeah it is bitter pill to swallow falling short but it is also still about all the ups and downs of a season not just the result

Going to this Sunday evening game, what is the best way to tailgate? What time do they open the lots for a SNF game? Any info would be tremendously appreciated!

This idea Vrabel has McD's number is not really accurate. The Titans were a bad matchup for the Bills not because they were masterfully coached (I would classify Vrable as an OK coach) but because they had two components that were a bad matchup for the Bills. Derrick Henry and a strong interior D-line. In the early Josh era 2020-2022 the Bills interior O-line was ok to mediocre and the Titans had Simmons and other good DT's that were among the better DT units in the league. And as you mentioned the Bills in that matchup were still 3-2 despite the mismatch.

The defense last year was ranked 17th. It did well against sub par offense, OK against OK offense, and bad against good offenses. This year with an influx of talent hopefully it can push at top 10 ranking which would be a substantial improvement. Thus far it is ranked something like 12th overall. We haven't seen this team play great offenses week to week other than week 1 against a healthy Ravens which the team did not fare well. Other than that the defense has faired from OK to very good against lesser offenses.

You have to win in the regular season to make the playoffs? I don't get this thinking that regular season is not important. I understand that in the end the seasons of most teams who are contenders are going to be decided in the post-season. But you for one have to get there and trying to get a top seed is important. So to think that while the regular season is going on it all doesn't matter is just silly to me. The Bills in the Josh era have never been the one seed, seems to me that would be a tremendous advantage?

The positions where I think the Bills could possibly be on the market for a player. WR- The Bills don't have a "go to" WR. It could be an issue, I would gladly take a chance on a real difference maker like Olave but I also just don't think the Bills would do it nor do I think any other actual affordable (cap wise) difference maker is there. Bills will have to hope Keon/Kincaid continue to develop. DT- For what seems like the 6th trade deadline in a row the Bills could use a true big run stuffing DT. But given the recent draft investment of Sanders/Walker and the vets in Ed/Jones and a returning Larry O I just don't see them doing this. Safety- Cole is playing better and I think will get better the more snaps he gets. But does this team think they could upgrade Rapp? Maybe acquire a safety and move Rapp to a "big nickel" niche role like he had in 2023? LB- Maybe more so a depth need here. Bernard is a solid MLB and Milano a quality player when healthy. And the Bills have seemingly found a nice vet in Shaq Thompson. But with the sudden lackluster performance from Dorian Williams (Buffalo Joe more of a ST ace and a third stringer) could this team maybe use some depth at LB? Milano has durability issues and Shaq is older. I think a smart move here could be a trade some depth at LB. CB- Mad Max will likely/hopefully be back at some point but if Tre gets hurt could this team go after a corner? Or even if Tre just struggles and Strong is a bit raw and Mad Max's return is later in the year does this team look to get more at corner? I think overall this team is going to make some sort of move on the defensive side. Not necessarily a massive difference maker (those aren't exactly easy to find at the trade deadline) but a Rasul Dougals 2023 acquisition the could add a good starting caliber piece to the defense to further solidify the unit. Bills can't fit Trey under the cap, the Bengals just gave him a boat load of cash to keep him happy this year. There's no major impact player that the Bills could likely acquire under the cap. I think the best the Bills could hope for is a Rasul Douglas 2023 type player, a solid to good starter to bolster a unit.

The opposite side of that coin is that none of the offense were all that good. The Jets have one of the worst offenses in the league certainly bottom 10, Miami's offense is mid-level (likely bottom 10 with Hill out but at the time the Bills played them they were a decent but not great offense) at best, and the Saints are another bottom 10 offense. Granted if you aren't going to "beat up" or at least play solidly against the bottom feeders who are you going to play well against? Also 5 key players could possibly be back at some point this season so its not like there aren't reinforcements coming. I also think if this team needs a piece of defense they will go out and acquire one maybe not a dynamic game breaker but a quality starter similar to how they acquired Douglas in 2023 (who say what you will about how he played in 2024 was fairly good in 2023). I think the truth about the defense is that by the time all is said and done it probably somewhat better than last years defense but we don't know if it is better by a big enough margin? Last year the defense was ranked 17th which tracks with how it performed (beat up on bad teams, OK against OK teams, and bad against good teams). This year if they ranked 15th that's not gonna cut it, but if they can be a 11-12th ranked caliber defense that could make a difference.

I would say that if the playoff format were still 6 teams that the Ravens are likely going to put themselves in too big of a hole to make it. But the AFC is likely going to put 9-8 teams in play for the final wildcard spot so I think if they can just limit the damage and float within a game or two of .500 deeper into November they will at least give themselves a chance at a wildcard run. If 2 out of the 3 teams let's up a bit AFC South Wildcard Jags or Colts, Pats or Second AFC West Wildcard Denver/Chargers/KC then the Ravens could find themselves only needing to go 9-8 to be "in the mix" for the 7th seed. The AFC just isn't a deep conference where you need to push 10-11 wins for a wildcard. That can change of course. I certainly think the Ravens are going to be rooting for the Chiefs and Bills this weekend to bring the Jags down to the pack and to hand the Pats a loss to keep them at bay. The fact that they could go 9-8 and be in the mix and at worst only need to go 10-7 to get a wildcard or their division is what keeps me from counting the Ravens out. They are 1-3 which while not good means they would only need to go 8-5 to get to 9-8 and 9-4 to get to 10-7.

Both things could be true, his lack of separation could be hindering him from being an elite WR but he's still a quality player contributing in multiple ways. The team doesn't need Keon to be a Diggs level superstar they just need him to be a quality boundary WR who can win outside matchups here or there.

Keon's having a nice second year, his stats outside of week 1 aren't eye popping but this teams WR's are going to some ups and downs stats wise. I think one thing that's underrated about Keon is the blocking he brings in the running game and YAC situations. It's not a glamours thing to be a very strong blocker at WR but it adds value to the team and opens up what they can run playbook wise. I think he will finish pushing 1k yards and 70+ catches with 5-6 TD's on solid but not great efficiency. That's right where this team needs him to be.

I remember watching the game in real time and thinking Brown was having a terrible game in pass pro but still doing well run blocking and then realizing half way through it was VDM. I think his pass protection was OK, but given that the ground game didn't skip a beat (and the All-22 reviews and somewhat smart people reviewing the film say this) I think his run blocking was good. If a swing tackle can give you competent play that's about as good as you can ask for and a true luxury to have even a decent backup tackle when many teams struggle to have two or even one decent tackle. I think largely what made VDM look bad in pass protection was that Brown is usually so good that it probably makes OK play look terrible. Kromer's development factory seems to be working. The only "major" investments in the line cap or draft wise since 2022 have been a late 2nd round pick in Torrence and a upper mid-level free agency signing in McGovern. The rest of the depth and signings have been lower level vets like Edwards (whose plugged in nicely as a starter) or lower level draft picks and UDFA's like Alec Anderson and VDM have been higher end backups/role players while SVPG and Grable are also developing along with Lundt. As I watched the game I thought Brown (and then later realizing it was VDM) was getting beat at RT in pass protection but the ground game was not suffering for the most part. I wonder was VDM bad at pass pro or was he just OK but Brown being so good makes OK pass protection look bad by comparison?

It's fun fan speculation to have these conversations week to week, but there's just not really much meat on the bone just yet. It is very hard in football for there to be a Bonafede MVP front runner 4 weeks into a season but it is still nice to have some fan speculation.