billsfan89

The defense travels but this is the playoffs. I still consider it a negative to be on the road.

The roster is good but beyond Josh's development and retaining the major 3 free agents (Phillips, Shaq and Spain, certainly have to keep 2 out of the 3) there does need to be some additions made to supplement the talent roster. Talent Additions in order of urgency. 1- A true WR threat opposite Brown and Beasley will set this offense to have enough firepower to more consistently move the ball against stronger defenses. I would say that given the strength of this draft at WR I would say this is probably the team’s top draft priority. 2- A Prime time edge rusher. Hughes is a solid player, Shaq is a quality player, and Murphy is barely above JAG level. The pass rush for this team tends to come from the middle as opposed to the edges. You need the ability to be able to generate pressure off all ends. Add a 10 sack a year edge rusher to this defense gives it that last piece it needs to have one of the best D-lines in the league. Given the market for DE’s will be decent this is probably the one big FA addition I would make. 3- A CB2 opposite White. This is probably the other large piece needed on defense and a starting caliber free agent add would be justified. White is a stud CB1, T.Johnson a quality slot corner, however Levi Wallace and Johnson are better suited as depth. This team could either dip into the Free agent market or spend a draft choice in round 2 or 3 to solidify this need. I think a mid-level free agency add would both be prudent and make sense given the CB market in free agency is solid. 4- A OLB to take over for Lorax. Given that Nickel is the base defense of the NFL OLB is not as huge of a positional need but there does need to be some sort of effort made to address this. Either a lower mid-level free agency signing or a draft selection in round 3-4. 5- A veteran Tight End. I love Knox but Sweeney is a depth player and Smith is a role player. I think they need to cut bait on Kroft and sign a vet tight end both to help out with depth and to take some pressure off of Knox. 6- A Between the tackles runner. I loved Gore in the beginning of the season but he is out of gas. A lower mid-level free agency add or a mid-round draft selection is a good way to address this need. 7- Quality Punting and Kicking competition. Bojo has been better as of late and so has Haush. But if this team has aspirations to have a longer run in the playoffs they need to push Haush and Bojo in camp with a quality kicker and punter. Kicking and punting are small facets of the game that can make a big difference. 8- Special Teams? This is super picky but could this team add 1-2 special teams specialists? The Special teams this year has been OK beyond punting and kicking. Roberts has solidified the return game but if you want to compete at a high level you need the ability to have as complete a roster as possible. Adding 1-2 high end ST players could be the difference between a mid-level unit and a top 10 unit. Overall needs 1-3 will require major resources. Needs 4-6 are more so depth needs that can be addressed on smaller contracts of in rounds 3-5 in the draft. Whereas need 7-8 are more so moves around the edges that don’t require too much in terms of resources.

The Texans defense is subpar and their offense while really good I think could be stopped by the Bills quality defense. I would give the Bills a slight edge in the matchup but I downgrade it to a coin toss due to the fact that it will be an away game.

Houston away is a coin toss. The big matchup everyone is going to talk about is the Bills top flight defense vs. Watson and the Houston offense. But the real question will be can the Bills offense move the ball on Houston's defense? I like our odds.

God dam that got me hyped.

Gase is a guy who will probably be known as a very good offensive coordinator but not someone who was able to hack it as a head coach. The Jets are in for a couple more years of mediocrity.

That's why the Pats just keep doing what they do. They are willing to risk a few million in fines and maybe losing some draft picks if they are able to game the system. But I do think that their reputation is probably their best weapon at this point. While I do think they do skirt the edges of the rules and sometimes outright break them there is a paranoia about the Pats exceeds what they actually do and ends up being a mind game that they aren't doing anything to accomplish.

I always felt like the Bill's coaches have never had the disciplined level of play to go along with a high talent level to compete with the Pats. This game will likely be a one possession game late and it is going to be that Parcells type game where it is the mistake that gives you the loss.

I agree completely, we tend to not generate pressure off the edge consistently. Phillips is the best pass rusher and he does it from the interior.. Hughes is a nice pass rusher if he has someone who can command a lot of attention opposite the other edge. Shaq is a good rotational player who adds value being stout against the run. Trent Murphy is either a JAG or just above replacement level as a rotational player. Johnson is a developmental player who is at this stage only should get limited snaps. This team does need a prime time edge rusher who can get 9-12 sacks a year and command a lot of double teams. The Bills in my opinion should make finding a big time edge rusher their only major 10+ million aav add to the roster in the off-season. Ngakoue would be the perfect add, resign Spain, Shaq, and Phillips while adding an edge rusher while extending Milano, Tre, and Dawkins would very possible given their cap situation and that they can add a WR in round 1.

I think Phillips is a must resign and I think Shaq you can justify a big contract for too. Although I would be more willing to have a limit as to what I would be willing to pay to keep Shaq (I think he is more of a rotational DE) but both would be a priority to keep. It would be great to keep Spain, Shaq, and Phillips while being able to sign another high end edge rusher.

Miami hasn't seemed to have given up on their coach and they seem to play hard. So anything is possible but I wouldn't give them much more than a 15% chance to win.

I don't think this team need 2 new WR's. Brown as a high end #2 and Beasley in the slot are good. I think they need one more starter, there might be a depth need but not sure they need to put major resources to add a 4th WR. As far as the ranking of this team's needs if they are able to resign Spain, Shaq, and Phillips I would put DE and WR as the top two needs. Now I think they can find a top DE in free agency (while still being able to retain the team's major free agents and sign other players to extensions.) I think then you can draft a WR in round 1 and a CB in round 2. Just my two cents.

The offense can only make marginal improvements at this point. Outside of Antonio Brown (Who won't be playing anytime soon) there aren't any free agents or players returning from injury who the Bills that will make an impact. There aren't any bench players (sorry Duke) that could be utilized much more significantly to make more than marginal improvements. The offense is what it is. It will move the ball a bit but it will also struggle at times. The offense has to play complementary to the good defensive effort. The offense will have to add a WR opposite Brown in the off-season and make other improvements after the season. Work around the offense the rest of the season.

I am starting to think that RT is less of an off-season need but that CB2 opposite White is becoming more of a need.

A WR opposite Brown and a front line edge rusher are the two biggest most glaring needs beyond resigning our own players. Besides maybe Amari Cooper I don't see any front line WR's on the market. However there are several edge rushers who could fit that Bill so to speak. I think that given that the team could have 100 million in cap space if they cut Kroft and Murphy (two players of marginal value) this team could both resign Shaq and Phillips, extend Milano, Dawkins and White while also adding a big contract and a mid-level sized contract (Might have to let Spain walk as something has to give.) But I really can see 2020 being a year where an already good team keeps its talent and adds the 2-3 key pieces they need to get over the hump. I trust Beane to add 1-2 pieces via the draft (along with depth) but I think they need to add one big frontline piece via free agency in order to complement what they do via the draft and what they already have on the roster.

Ngakoue would be the massive move I would make to add some talent to the team. I think against elite playoff teams this team has 3 big weaknesses. A WR opposite Brown that can command attention, A prime time pass rusher off the edge, and a corner opposite White. If they can retain Shaq and Phillips while adding a big time pass rusher like Ngakoue the D-line would be ready to compete against any O-line in the league while still having that depth that allows them to rotate players. I think they can find a number 2 corner for a mid-sized signing and then address WR in the draft early.

I loved the Ed pick and he has really come alive as of late. He had an OK start to the season. He was disruptive but not really making a huge impact, but he was a net positive. Then in the middle of the season it looked like while he was a positive as a pass rusher he was going to be a liability in the run game. But in recent weeks he has been very good both in the pass rush and run departments. I think he could easily be a pro-bowler in 2020. When the run defense was struggling I thought he was a bit of a liability as a run defender. I thought he should be flexed into passing downs and have his snap count decreased. But around the time they played the Broncos he has turned it on in the rush defense and continued to improve as a pass rusher.

Every QB is going to sail some passes now and again however completely missing 3 attempts (without pressure) out of 25 is sailing an inaccurate pass on more than 10% of attempts and that percentage is probably higher if you factor out pressured throwaways. That's not acceptable for any QB. Josh has been better at cleaning those up but needs to iron that out to take it to the next level. I didn't see many dropped passes that were on the receivers. Another poster (either in this thread or another thread) brought up the fact that the Bills receiving core while it ranks high in drops only has 5 more drops than the league average. Those 5 drops aren't the difference in Josh's inaccuracy. That being said I still love Josh and I think he is a solid middle of the pack QB with the potential to be a top 5 QB if he makes the necessary improvements. I also think that Josh is the hardworking guy that would make these types of improvements as he already has come so far in decision making, footwork and so many other facets of his game. Do I think PFF is too hard on Josh? Yes, they made their opinion that because historically no QB has been able to fix accuracy massive accuracy issues on a pro-level that it must mean Josh is a bust and will never be good. I think PFF was pushing back against the "traditional scouting" that they feel their numbers are better than (Traditional Scouts saw what Josh could become.) However that doesn't mean the stuff they specifically point out as negatives aren't negatives and aren't things that Josh will have to improve on. I do agree that this receiving core does need some more pass catchers. They need a true good threat opposite Brown and they need to get the tight end position going either by utilizing Knox and or finding a vet TE to add some pop to the position. But I also believe that Josh will have to improve his processing (he can't hold onto the ball so long), his footwork (as far as he has come he has to do better) his ability to hold onto the ball when running, and his long ball placement before he can take this team to multiple playoff wins and seriously contend.

I can't fathom jumping off a team you have been a diehard fan of as an adult. However I can understand having apathy over a team that has horrid ownership. It is one thing if the team isn't cheap and tries to get the right people in there but they just can't put it together consistently. But if you have a cheap owner who isn't interested in building a consistent winner you could easily get discouraged at following your team because they are at such a self imposed disadvantage. In the Chan years I really just started to accept that the Bills were never going to win more than 8 games in a season and that when Ralph died the team would move. I would still watch the games and root for them hard but my expectations were always low even that one year when they got off to a 5-2 start I just felt the bottom falling out. Ralph was cheap in his later years not just with cash to cap (although that is a big hinderance) but with the outside investments into facilities, staff and such. But then Pegula came in and 2014 the team had that elite defense and it looked like with a new owner willing to spend they could add talent to a talented roster and build the infrastructure needed to compete. The Rex years were up and down but they did restore my faith in the team because I felt like it was only a matter of time before they could find the right coach and get the talent around the coach. Well they found McBeane right after the Rex years and so far it has been a good run. So while I never condone jumping ship (unless ownership is completely disrespectful to fans) I get apathy towards a team if the owner doesn't seem to care to win.

That job he did in 2017 established him as a solid coach, even in 2018 winning 6 games was slightly above their talent level. Then in 2019 with a talent roster full of players who were fully built into his system he has flourished. And the team unlike the 2018 Bears is set up to add and retain talent in the following off-season building off of success as opposed to overachieving for it.

The Browns are the epitome of why coaching matters and why the "Burden of Expectation" is very real. I personally thought the Browns would win 9 or 10 games. I thought the Steelers and Ravens would have down years and that the Browns schedule on the back end was super soft. But the Browns were a bit overhyped from a talent perspective (they traded a lot to get Vernon and OBJ thus not necessarily adding talent, their only real addition that didn't cost them players and draft picks were Sheldon Richardson and Kareem Hunt who was suspended half the season) and the pressure of expectations was a lot for a young team to handle. I think the Browns need to just get their house in order and make it through the final 2 games. Get a win or two and reset for next year. They still have 70+ million in cap space, a talented roster and a young QB in place. Just beef up the O-line and add a piece or two to the defense and you should be able to compete for 9 or more wins. They have 6 wins with 2 games left to play, they aren't a tragic team despite their expectations.

Weed is mentally addictive just like anything. It doesn't however hold the same physical withdrawals and addiction that other harder drugs and tobacco have. But yes if you choose weed over an NFL career you are stupid and also not good at beating a easy to beat policy (Aaron Hernandez beat the NFL's weed policy they test you once a year right before training camp.)

Collinsworth did make that point on fumbles when the ball popped out just after Allen was down so it was a somewhat relevant point in that given context. In my opinion Allen does fumble a bit too much, are their worse QB's at fumbling? Of course, but that doesn't mean Allen doesn't fumble too much in his own respect. I think that Collinsworth was mostly fair about what Allen needs to do in order to improve and his criticisms were in context of what was happening on the field. For example. After Allen sailed that one throw to a fairly open Beasely (with no pressure in his face) that would have set up a third and short Colinsworth pointed out that Allen does have some easy misses that could hamper how effective he could be as a QB. Now I do think that Collinsworth also glossed over the progress and positives Allen has had. But overall Allen didn't play the best game and it showed the good, bad and ugly of his game. Something that I think any commentator would have been fair to point out.

I hate Collinsworth but while I thought he was negative on Allen it was at least within reason. Allen has a lot of work to do as a QB and Collinsworth was at least pointing out legit things about Allen (Fumbles, missing some key passes, his base footwork etc.) Also Allen didn't play the best game on Sunday night. Allen came through when it counted and made enough plays to support a fantastic defensive effort. But let's not pretend like there wasn't anything to be critical about Josh just on his performance last night.

I don't know how you could look at the Tyrod years and think of jumping ship. Compared to the JP Losman, Fitz, Trent Edwards, and post 2002 first half Bledsoe Tyrod was the best QB of the bunch and had produced a winning record. I get not liking Tyrod but he was far from the bottom of the pack.