billsfan89

I am nervous that Williams will get picked on by McDaniels but I also think that McD also knows how to hide LB's if needed by simplifying the game and reads for them. So overall I think Milano getting a week off and the "mini-bye" is fine. Williams can get the start Shaq and Buffalo Joe plus a PS call up will be there for depth.

I think there was real critiques of Beane to be had as a GM but if we have to go all the way back to Benjamin that's a stretch. I think in 2021 and 2022 Beane missed a big window to take advantage of the rookie deal Josh was still on. Von Miller in 2022 was obviously a big whiff but that was more so due to a rather freak injury as Von was really good the 11 or so games he played in 2022. But in 2020-2021 I remember the Bills bringing in a bunch of JAG to OK D-linemen on big contracts. Mario Addition and Butler types. Where the Bills could have probably just spend more on one or two really good players to complement the players they had as opposed to having 5-6 OK players rotating in and out. I also think the in ability to address the interior O-line was frustrating at the time. However, I would say the Bills since 2017 even if you wanna cherry pick post Josh and say since 2019 the Bills are a top 5 drafting team in the league (Eagles, Rams, Ravens, KC are maybe better not sure if you can find any other team that's consistently been drafting better in that time period) and they have done a good job in free agency of supplementing parts even as Josh's contracts have tightened the cap and they have had to get out from under veterans and take big cap hits.

ST unit looked rusty week 1 but so did almost every single other teams ST unit. I think Special Teams across the league is sloppy weeks 1 and 2 because there's so little practice time in the off-season and one less pre-season game.

Funky things happen in the NFL, its an away game too. I doubt that's gonna happen but there is going to be one "funky" loss on the schedule, happens to almost every team every year.

The Bills need to be able to have a conventional ground game. As great as Josh is this team plays in the elements esp in the playoffs and deep in December. This team has to be able to do bully ball. Dorsey's offense was as if this team had a dome and could play a spread offense. It put a lot on Josh and I think the best way to utilize Josh is to not ask him to do everything all the time. Just because he can do it all doesn't mean he should, if he has to do it all consistently it means the supporting pieces aren't doing enough.

The issue with KC longer term is going to be can they generate a pass rush without blitzing? Through 2 games thus far it seems like the only way they pressure the QB is by blitzing. I agree, that offensively they will probably be OK once Rice/Worth come back. Hollywood Brown and Kelce as complementary vets plus Worth/Rice are enough weapons to keep the offense competitive. But their formula relies on good ST and a very strong defense to keep them in games and allow Mahomes to make the plays late. If the defense is above average but not elite then the whole thing puts more pressure on the offense and without all their weapons they are short handed. I think they will beat up on the Giants and look just fine but if they go 0-3 then we can bring out the panic meter because that's a big hole for any team to come out of let alone a team that dropped one of their easiest games on the schedule and dropped a game to their division rival.

I think what is going to be key for the Bills in the early going up until the bye is to be 6-0. I know that a loss to NOLA or ATL is not a huge deal but NOLA is a team that at home you should "get fat" and pile up wins against. The Fins and Pats divisional games are always key and you have to take care of business with two home games there. ATL away is probably the one you think is possible to drop and not be a "big deal" away NFC game against an at least decent opponent. But I think the Bills if they want the one seed are going to have to go 13-4 at a minimum and possibly 14-3. I think you really are home heavy in the first 6 weeks and against opponents you "should" beat and going 6-0 is something that a team looking for their division early and the one seed are going to have to pile up the wins while you can...

I would also argue that if you did a redraft thus far Bernard would also go in round 2. The 2022 draft is setting up this current run of success. 2023-2024 draft class development this year is going to likely make or break the success of this season. If Kincaid can continue to have a nice bounce back, Torrence continues to be solid as a rock, and D. Williams plug in when needed on defense that class which also featured two trade downs to acquire more picks in the future will be a nice piece of business. Then in 2024 if Keon continues to develop, Davis plays like a solid role player on offense, Solomon plays like a solid role player on defense, and Cole stabilizes one of the safety spots that's a solid draft too (and you still have Grable and SVPG as depth along the O-line from that class). Stinks that they couldn't get mileage out of Carter or Ulo as even just role players, but every draft is gonna have misses. 2025 early returns aren't terrible. Mad Max being hurt to start the year is a bummer, but the rookie DT's have plugged in when needed and Strong has been a decent piece on defense as well. Plus Hawes has come in on offense and been a role player.

The D-line even without Ed should be able to handle the Fins bad and injured D-line. If this game isn't a similar domination to the Jets game in terms of the defensive line then that is a disappointment

Serious question, Why? I am not aware of any bad blood between Daboll and McD. Coordinators leave to get HC gigs all the time nothing shocking there. Coordinators also fail as head coaches and come back to be coordinators all the time too...

I think the lack of practice has eroded the beginning of the season. I think the first two weeks of the regular season are almost teams shaking off rust and getting into form. Except the games count. Less off-season and camp practices plus one less pre-season game leads to sloppier starts to the season. But by week 3 I think teams with 2 games under their belts are sharp and the impacts of less practice fade. Teams in the 2000's were so beat up by mid-season they basically didn't practice much.

I've maintained that if the NFL is going to do Thursday games they should find a way to do them only when the teams have a bye the week before. Add a second bye week to the schedule (which I think will help with player injuries). The opening week Thursday Game is fine as is because teams get the rest/prep not having the last pre-season game. I would then have the team that plays in Brazil on Friday play one of the teams that played on Thursday. It would be 6 and 7 days between games for both teams with the team that played in Brazil being the home team for the following Thursday game. Afterwards I wouldn't have TNF in weeks 3 and 4. Then you start bye weeks in week 4 and any team that plays a TNF game will have had a bye week before. Given that each team has two bye weeks this would actually lead to higher quality Thursday games while still having an actual full second bye week in the season. Byes go from Week 4 to Week 16. No byes weeks 1-3 and weeks 17-19. No Thursday games weeks 3/4/18/19. Of course the NFL would never do this largely because that would mean they would have to lose 4 Thursday games and actually care about the quality of the product....

This is one of those things where it is likely going to come down to internal information. On paper I just don't see them going with an unproven play caller in what is supposed to be a Super Bowl window. Joe Brady had been an OC for two seasons at the NFL level before taking over for Dorsey and that was a mid-season take over where they couldn't do much else to jumpstart things. Curry has never been a play caller at any level. Whereas let's say Daboll is available and interested in being OC do you go with a guy that's done it with Josh before or do you go with the unproven up and comer?

Ronald Curry, only been here since 2024 and never been a play caller at any level. If Brady leaves in 2026 I would suspect they would want an experienced OC

I can’t speak for everyone else but I was talking about next season if Brady takes a HC gig elsewhere. I would love to see Brady here for a long time he’s made the game so much easier for Josh. But if this offense hums along this year like it already has Brady is likely to get a HC job in 2026 and the Bills will be looking for an OC.

He was asked to be a run stuffer in their 3-4 defense. He was great at it and might have been out of position but as a DE he was better than an NT in that scheme. Dont get me wrong there was a reason they moved on but he was decent there

Seems like from what Vikings fans say he was solid, not spectacular but a consistent and durable starting caliber player.

Respectable blocker doesn’t mean Kincaid is a good blocker but he’s a willing blocker and not bad at it…

I wouldn't say Knox is disposable, what I like about Knox is that he adds physicality to the pass catchers something that the Bills don't have much of (many of the WR's esp Shakir run hard and to contact but Knox is a big strong dude plowing over people when he gets the ball) but Hawes adds a wrinkle to the offense that great teams add each year. Last year the Bills ran the 6th O-line player and it was confusing to teams because teams don't do that often. This year they added a quality blocking TE who can flex around as a FB too. Having 2 TE's in Hawes and Knox that can block well as well as Kincaid who is a respectable blocker and it is a tremendous amount of versatility.

Teams draft guys on "traits" all the time. It's the intangible "feel for the game" and mental side of things that are always the variables. If you get drafted fairly high you produced well in college and you have good measurables. This happens in the NBA all the dam time. The Pistons drafted Stanley Johnson 5 picks ahead of Devin Booker. Johnson was longer, slightly taller, jumped higher, and was faster than Booker. In college Johnson also scored at a higher clip than his teammate Booker (Averaging 3.8 more points and 4.5 more rebounds as well as .5 more assists) and had about the same efficiency. Yet Booker developed into an All-NBA player and Johnson after showing good defensive capabilities his first few years is in the Euro League the last few years. There's an intangible feel for the game and elasticity to drafting. Elam was drafted because he was athletic and put out some good tape in college. He flashed here but never made a consistent impact. Whereas Benford while not nearly as good an athlete and coming from a smaller school just was a better fit for the system and produced on field more.

Franklin has looked like a nice core ST add and although there are some rough edges the ST unit to me is coming together nicely. The ST unit hasn't been a crisp good unit since 2021 or 2022 from what I remember. 2023 the Bills were ranked 28th in special teams and in 2024 they were ranked 13th although I question the methodology on that once because it felt like they were a below average unit not as tragic as 2023 but probably a 18-20th ranked unit if I were making the rankings based on the metric of what I think. So far the ST Unit in two games has been fairly solid. A couple of longer returns and a bad punt but considering most teams come out rusty on special teams that's not bad. I think adding Johnston not only adds a second Bill Burr lookalike to the team but helps with better consistency on punting.

I thought the team got out of the game with no injuries. Ugh, likely gonna miss the Fins game at a minimum probably see how he is after the "mini-bye"

Knox is one of Josh's closest friends on the team and one of his longest tenured teammates (only Dawkins on offense has been here longer than Knox). I think the issue with Knox is going to be that the be how much is he willing to rework his deal? The Bills can't afford him at a 17 million dollar cap number he is a solid TE but not worth that salary, they can cut him and save 10 million as his dead cap is only 7 million. If Knox is willing to restructure his deal to where the cap hit can be around 10 million (thus only costing the Bills 3 million on the cap to keep him) I think he stays another year.

People with money get off easier due to having better lawyers. Very unfortunate two tier justice system.

Kind of reminds me of the years the Brady era Pats would lose some games in September and October but would pull it together and look like themselves by December. The Chiefs played a good Chargers team in week 1 in Brazil on a Friday (very funky week 1 on top of week 1 already being funky) and then they played the defending Super Bowl Champs at home in a tight 3 point game. I'm not saying KC doesn't look like they have issues. But I think if/when they get Rice and Worthy back that offense will look different. I also think they will add a piece on offense via trade. This just isn't looking like a big deal just yet. Now if KC loses to the Giants this week then we can sound the alarms. I think the KC schedule will go something like this. They will beat up on Giants and go 1-2, then they will lose to the Ravens and go 1-3 but they will win 3 out of 4 between the Raiders, Jags, Lions and Commanders and be 4-4. Afterwards the Bills will push them back down to 4-5 and people will write them off and I think they go 6-2 to end the season as they will probably beat the Cowboys, Texans, Colts, Titans, and split their last Division games 2-2. KC will be 10-7 and make the wildcard.