billsfan89

Bills in good position to get the two seed, I think all the Bills need to do is win 2 out of 3? With the bad divisional opponents 2 out of 3 is a good margin for error.

Honestly the Bills have so many different weapons they don't always need Cooper to have big games. Cooper's presence on the outside makes teams less willing to constantly do coverages geared to constantly having 1 on 1 WR matchups. There's a reason why the offense has played so much better when he's been in there even when he doesn't put up a big number.

Johnson is one of the best play callers in the NFL but there was a pundit (I forgot which one) that mentioned that calling great plays doesn't make you a great head coach. There's so much more to coaching than having great play calls on offense and developing players on offense. The Lions have built a good system under Johnson and have gotten him great personnel to do so. On the Bills side of things I was pleased to see the defensive line play well. The defense made enough plays to start the game and the second half to allow the Bills to build a huge lead and the defensive line was a big reason why the Lions were not able to run the ball and forced into a lot of 3rd and 4th and long situations.

Josh Allen on offense has an amazing complement of weapons and one of the top offensive lines in football. Defensively the team has had some bad games but they have also been more than competent in most games. Josh Allen has the tools he needs on offense. The defense will need to play better but I also think that this game the defense was not as bad as the final score made them out to be. The Lions scored a TD with 12 seconds left in the game. The Bills were constantly protecting 2-3 score leads. The defense allowed the Bills to build up huge leads by starting the game with back to back defensive stops and ending the first half forcing a long field goal. The Bills defense also started the second half with a stop and a turnover. So while the let up a lot of points to end the game they made some plays when they were needed.

I thought he was decent in this game. I think he played OK against the 49ers but the snow maybe made his game seem less bad? Against the Rams he was among the worst defenders in a game where nearly the entire defense was terrible. But until he got taken out of this game I thought he was decent. Seemed to be doing his role and he got a fumble recovery. Seems like he's a bit slower but I hope that with some more games under his belt he can get his feel for the game back.

Bills currently have 5 picks in the first 4 rounds and 3 picks in round 6. The Bills are also projected to get 2 additional comp picks one in the 4th round range the other a late rounder. The Bills also only have 3 significant free agents in Douglas, Hamlin, and Cooper. The Bills also have cap space so they can resign 2-3 of those players or go out in the mid-level market to replace them. So going into the draft the Bills aren't likely to have many glaring needs and what glaring needs they do have they can address with 3 picks in rounds 1-2. So with the volume of late round picks they are likely to have (they already have 3 picks in round 6 and projected to get a comp pick in either round 6 or 7) I think adding a developmental QB behind Mitch in round 6-7 is not the worst idea. TLDR: The team has a ton of picks, is not likely to have many glaring needs they can't address higher up or in free agency, and can afford to spend a 6th or 7th on a developmental QB prospect.

In close to 25 years of being a Bills fan I have never felt as good about an offensive line short and longer term as I do about this team. All 5 starters are locked in for 2025, SVPG and Grabel also locked in for 3 more years on a rookie deal while Anderson and Van Denmark are ERFA's who should be able to be brought back on 1-3 year deals. That's 9 players on a good unit coming back and only one player (Dawkins) is over 30. Kromer and McBeane have recovered from the 2022 offensive line disaster and they have done so without having to invest drastically in the position group (the highest draft pick was pick 59 a late second in Torrence and the highest free agency contract was McGovern who was a mid-level at best signing, the rest of the group were relatively cheap acquisitions or reclamations of players on the roster like Brown). Now with the utilization of the 6th offensive linemen the Bills have a developmental process that might give them an edge in developing players at the position.

With Hyde back and Hamlin/Rapp playing well I don't think unless there's an unreasonable rash of injuries Cine is not likely to see the field. But I think they will look to bring him back next season and have him fully compete for job with a year in the system and an off-season under his belt.

Never considered the added benfit of developing offensive line chemistry and development. David Edwards in 2023 played 121 snaps last season which was 12.5% of the teams offensive snaps that year. I am sure that helped him develop chemistry with the other offensive linemen and made plugging him in the next season a lot easier. Now Anderson is getting that chance while Van Denmark got a games worth of snaps in.

I think AJE/Groot/Von are a top 5-7 DE combination and Smoot as a rotational role player has been solid and he will be back for a stretch run. I also think Solomon when given some snaps has shown he can be a back end of the rotation player. The DE group is not a concern for me. The DT group needs Ed and Jones to play better while i also think that Carter returning would be a big help to solidify the rotation there.

DT is probably the shakiest group on the team. Ed's been good but he's had some games where he disappeared and he's not as dominant as he was at times last season. D.Jones has looked like he's lost half a step, he's not bad but he's not the at times dominant player he was the past couple of seasons. Austin Johnson has been decent as a rotational player but he's not great either. Jefferson/Phillips are JAG rotational depth players too nice options if there's an injury but not exactly players at this stage of their careers you want to rely on heavily. Carter however was starting to look like he was starting to catch on before he got hurt. If he can add some quality play to that position group it would sure up a unit that while not bad has been a bit inconsistent at times.

New England is in my opinion the teams biggest threat in 2025. Miami is going to be in cap hell which is going to result in them having to errode talent on both sides of the ball and Tua as good as he can run that system is fragile and the team falls apart without him. The Jets are a mess and going to be doing a complete tear down or at least a major retooling. The Pats have the QB or at least a very good prospect at QB and the cap space and picks to invest around a QB. Not saying the Pats are going to be world beaters but they are likely the best of a bad bunch.

That's truly an immensely impressive stat and goes to show you how hard it is to be a consistent winner in the regular season in the NFL. 11-5/6 is a very good record but not that lofty of an achievement. Yet for all the great coaches in the league's history only 4 have been able to do it. I know McD had 2 of the seasons because of the extra game as after 16 games he was 10-6 in both 2021 and 2023 but if you extrapolate to how many coaches have had 5 (let alone 6 for McD as he had 10 wins in 2019) 10 win seasons in a row that list only add Don Shula and Chuck Noll two Hall of Fame coaches. All 4 of those other coaches won at least one Super Bowl so that's also a good sign!

The poor run defense seems less like a talent issue and more a product of the scheme which is having positive results.

I was camp 3, now I'm leaning towards camp 2. I think McD has managed this team close to perfect year in and year out in the regular season and now he just has to have that signature playoff run.

Rapp gives the Bills a credible starting caliber option the next two years. Hamlin may get a bigger contract so having the other safety spot locked in with a quality option if you let Hamlin walk is a positive. If you keep Hamin/Rapp as the starters next season it gives Bishop another year to learn the system and take over for Rapp down the line or Rapp is just too good to bench and Bishop is just elite depth, you need depth to win in the NFL so while that's a very high pick to spend on depth at least depth provides value.

I thought when they resigned Rapp in the off-season it was reasonable. Not a great deal but fair for what was a high end depth safety who could also flex into a specialized "Big Nickel" role was well worth what the Bills paid him in the off-season. And he was/is going to turn 27 later this season which for a 3 year deal with a low guarantee was also a good age to lock in a player. The deal has far exceeded its value. Rapp has played like a better than average starter and made many big plays and brough a physical edge to the back end of the secondary. Thought the signing was decent but it turned out to be even better.

Complete actual "garbage time" in the NFL is rare, teams usually don't pull starters unless they are down 4 scores with less than 12 minutes left or 3 scores with less then 4 minutes left. The Bills have had however a lot of time where they are griding out the clock and not playing pass heavy late in games. If I had to guess if you were to combine the true garbage time and the time the Bills spend grinding out the clock where Josh is taking snaps but in a passing deflated time frame I would say you easily surpass 60 minutes.

Bills got an easy win without him. Rams are a solid at worst average team at home. So the Bills taking care of the 49ers while getting Keon and Kincaid a week extra of recovery is a positive thing. Keon looked close to be able to be playing but I think with where the Bills were with the division they had the luxury to rest two of their more critical younger players for the stretch run where they above all else needs these guys as healthy as possible. I know coming off the bye week many of us thought the week off plus missing the week before would be enough to get these guys going but an extra week of rest can make a big difference.

First team since the 09 Colts to clinch with 5 weeks left in the season. Crazy stat, good to lock up a home playoff game and keep pace in the race for the one seed.

Much like Milano the defense is a lot different when Bernard is out there. Hopefully both guys can be healthy for the playoffs.

Jets are going to be in the top 10 most likely and they will be possibly trading up. So I don't rule out the Jets taking a QB. Miami is going to win at least 2-3 more games if Tua stays healthy and I think they will be spending draft picks on building the team around him. The Pats likely are going to do the same with Maye.

Given how Daboll/Schoen fizzled out with the Giants maybe teams will not dip into the Bills pool too much? I doubt that, because no matter how poorly Pats coaches and executives frequently did in other stops they always got poached.

I think KC is going to have 2 more losses in them. I think it is going to come down to can the Bills go 5-1 down the stretch? That still leaves a margin of error to lose the Lions game and possibly come away with the one seed. BUT the 49ers and Rams are legit decent teams and 3 division games could be tricky even if the Jets and Pats are ass. Right now getting a win against the 49ers is all the Bills can worry about at the moment. Worry about sealing up your division first and let the chips fall where they may.

While that's not that far off base you would also hope that if you are the Bills getting back Spencer Brown on the offensive line makes a difference in the ground game while getting Kincaid and Coleman back (while also having a more healthy Amari Cooper) leads to Joe Brady being able to open up the playbook more and attack the KC defense in different ways. Because with Kincaid and Coleman out and Cooper banged up the pass catching core was fairly depleted with Knox/Shakir/Samuel/Hollins being the primary core of healthy pass catchers. And while Knox/Shakir/Samuel/Hollins and a banged up Cooper isn't tragic it is still limiting as to how you can attack a very stout defense.