billsfan89

One game does not a season make, any defense has bad games where they give up a bad clutch drives. Even the Bears defense (a defense most consider to be the best or among the best) got 30 points hung on them by the Giants with several long clutch drives last week, they also gave up 31 points to the Fins earlier in the year. When analyzing a defense you have to take a look at more than just one or two games. You can argue they are a good but far from elite defense and make a compelling case. However your argument has to be better than well in this one game they stunk.

People kind of forget with 3 games left there is very little a coaching change can accomplish. A coach has 3 weeks to implement new techniques and schemes, that just isn't likely to do much if anything. A change early in the season at least offers the team a chance to change scheme with months to turn things around. If this team was in a playoff push I would say they should fire the ST coach as you have to try and do something even if it is on the margins. But there is no need for such a worthless move in a lost season. Fire the coach in the off-season.

I have watched all 32 teams play this season in at least one game so I have at least given the eyeball test to each team once. You can look at defensive stats and defensive analytics to compare how the Bills grade out generally. I feel confident in saying that there aren't 10 defensive units better than the Bills. Right now I would say that the Bears, Cowboys, and Ravens defenses are better than the Bills. Then there are about 4-5 that are in that arguable similar range.

Is the defense the best defense in the league? No. Is the defense a top 10 unit in the league? Yes. Is the defense a top 5 unit in the league? Arguable. The defense to me ranks somewhere in the 4-8 range. Its a dam good unit maybe even a borderline elite unit, however it is not the best in the league. I think there is much potential as the young players get their wings this season to take the unit into next year and with an upgrade at one or two positions and some depth additions the defense can be firmly in the top 3 units in the league.

I see the McD vs. Jauron comparison and I don't quite see it. McD played uber conservative against the Jets, but he generally has shown to be much more aggressive than Jauron was in both game management and in scheme. McD's defense is much more attacking and aggressive in general. McD has also made more aggressive decisions too. So I don't see why these comparisons get brought up more and more.

The last step that separates a talented 8-8 to 10-6 team that hopes to win a playoff game from a 11+ title contender is closing out games. In the NFL if you have a high degree of talent games usually come down to a few plays towards the end of games. Super Bowl teams know how to close out games. McBeane is going to have to address the lack of talent on offense and patch a hole or two on defense while McD has to take a step up as a head coach and insure that his teams are prepared consistently for as many situations as possible.

Special teams has been below average all season, the spectacular play of Haush has kind of made things seem better than they are too. If the Bills had a mid-level or worse kicker they would be among the worst special teams units in the league. If the Bills want to make a big leap next year they have to address special teams in a big way, you have the kicker which is the hardest component to get so grabbing a new coach, new punter, and sprinkling in a couple of versatile specialists is fairly easy to in terms of resources.

The Jets game was kind of the perfect loss for lack of a better phrase The mistakes that lost the game were mostly on the special teams unit (which is an easy unit to fix resources wise, esp when you have a good kicker in place) and the game showcased a lot of positive features of the team (Although some negative ones too.) The loss of course not only helps with draft position but it also helps that the Jets get lower in the draft too. Overall I am not too distraught about the loss other than the Milano injury.

Holmes was a JAG who was older and pretty much was what he was at this point of his career. Better off for the Bills to let him go elsewhere and use those snaps on younger players. Glad to see he caught on as he might not have that much longer in the league.

I believe so, Miller and Groy are very expendable sadly I think Miller after a promising start to his career has been ruined by the scheme (Maybe he can turn it around on another team.) Mills I would like to possibly see back as a backup but I am not really going to hate it if they go with a younger player on the bench.

Penalties - Its not that amount of penalties (I don't know how you legislate lower amount of penalties without resulting in a bunch of missed calls) but rather it should be about consistency in the rules. Rules - Changing rules year to year is fairly common in sports leagues. I don't have an issue with tweaking things. The rules of the NFL and how they are enforced aren't set in stone they are subject to adjustment. Taunting and Celebrations - No one liked the No Fun League the loosening of the celebration rules are a good thing. It allows the players to have a personality. I think the biggest issue with the NFL is the Thursday Night Games and the lack of consistent enforcement in the games. The Thursday games have overexposed the product and resulted in most bad games played on Thursdays. The players hate it a lot of fans don't like it. It used to be that after Monday NFL football went away. If you are a college fan and an NFL fan it used to be that you got a 4 day break between Monday and Saturday games. Now football is just on all days of the week and its causing fatigue among the audience. I also think the lack of consistency and innovation in rules is lacking which is hurting in the product.

Jury still out? I think Allen has the potential to be a top 5 QB in the league. Allen has the size and mobility you want, he has arguably the strongest arm in the league, he also has a very quick and compact release. The question is will Allen develop his footwork and decision making? If Allen doesn't develop that decision making and footwork he won't develop the accuracy and approach to the game needed to be a high end starting caliber QB. I hope to see Allen take a step up next year when he has a year under his belt and hopefully the team massively upgrades the offensive talent around him.

The cap savings on Shady are significant, I think cutting Shady does give the team 7+ million in cap space. However you probably would have to give a upper tier free agent RB 7 million aav with a significant bonus anyway. Shady on a one year deal might be better since the backs on the open market that would fall into that sensible range (Basically anyone not named Lev Bell) might not rep[resent much of an upgrade over Shady at age 31. I think there does need to be a RB drafted in rounds 3-5 at the very least. This team can't go into the season with two older backs in Shady and Ivory without having a young high potential back behind them.

I am not shocked that some team would want to kick the tires on KB. Teams are very thirsty for WR play and there aren't many decent WR's on the market so bringing a guy in for a workout who just hit the market makes sense.

Zay will probably finish the year with about 50-55 receptions, 600 plus yards, and 5-6 TD's, that's with one of the worst QB situations in the league throwing to him. That's a legit NFL WR right there. Those numbers alone without any context are better than average WR3 numbers but factoring in the context of the season that's even more impressive. If Zay can be a solid WR2 that 2017 draft will have provided 2 good to great starters on both sides of the ball all at fairly critical positions.

Lorax should be brought back. I think he will probably command about 6 million a year and would be easily worth it. Dude has 6.5 sacks with 4 games left to play and he plays at the LB position for a lot of snaps. He also is by all accounts a great locker room guy and adds tremendous versatility to the defense being able to anchor the line backer position and play DE and DT in pass rushing situations.

I don't think Richardson fits the McBeane mold (Seemed to have issues on his way out with the Jets) and I think that assuming Kyle retires the Bills could resign Jordan Cameron and draft a mid round rookie to have 3 proven DT's in rotation and add a young player too. Personally my blueprint for the off-season would be to fill 3 or more offensive needs via free agency and add a starter to the defense via free agency. Then add as much offense talent early in the draft to supplement the improved offense. My targets would be listed below. Resign Lorax and Cameron (I assume Kyle retires, if Kyle wants back sign him too) the rest of the depth free agents can stay or go but those 2-3 would be critical to retain. 1- Matt Pradis and Rodger Saffold - I think you can easily justify 20+ million on signing two high end veteran starters on the offense. Yes they are older (which is why I would make sure both deals are easy to get out of after 2 seasons) but O-line players tend to play well through age 33 so its a position that you can justify signing a 30 and 31 year old at. 2- Tyrell Williams or Golden Tate - This is another position that is in desperate need of help. 10+ million should be spent to find a high end starting caliber receiver. 3- Trade for Mo Sanu or another veteran receiver - Much like the O-line you need a lot of help here. Mo Sanu was rumored to be available at the trade deadline and would make for a good steady slot receiver while Zay and your other free agent acquisition hold down the outside. 4- Sign EJ Gaines. The Bills probably would have spent 50 million or more to sign and trade for those 4 players on offense and resigning those two defensive players. However the Bills with 90 million in cap space (and easily another 10 million they can free up by cutting some fat on the roster) can afford to do that and go out and sign Gaines back to fill the CB2 need. If the Bills add Gaines and keep Lorax and Kyle/Cameron the Bills are looking at a very complete defensive unit. The Bills can and should draft defensive depth in rounds 4-6 with those extra picks. In the draft I would go BPA round 1 although if I had my pick of position regardless of prospect value I would love to see the Bills nab a RT high. Solidify the last starter you need along the O-line. Then in round 2 grab a tight end (I would keep Clay for one last year and let a prospect beat him out but I wouldn't be sad to see Clay go) and another young receiver in round 3. Grab a running back in round 4 to be the heir apparent to Shady (who I would keep for one more year) and then with the other 4th and your 5th round picks grab up some defensive depth (DT, Safety, DE/pass rush and LB are areas where defensive depth can be addressed.) That's the way I am approaching the off-season hoping to use the cap space to take several critical needs off the board (OL and WR heavily) and retain and add some talent to the defense. Then fill in the draft to address what needs remain. I hope McBeane is aggressive in free agency, the cap space is what you sacrificed a lot of talent for now you need to go out and use it.

Spending massively while you have a QB on a rookie contract is the best way to take advantage of a under market value QB and puts the QB in the best position to have success and develop. The Rams added Wintworth to the O-line, and Sammy, Woods, and Kupp to the receiving core all in one off-season. The Bears added Burton, Allen Robinson, Gabrielle, and DJ Moore to the pass catching core all in one off-season (While adding Mack a major piece to the defense.) The Eagles added Alshon Jeffery, Blount, and traded for Jay Ajai to an already pretty stacked team to make sure that Wentz had better offensive talent around him in year two. Even the Chiefs spent on adding Sammy to help make Mahomes have a more complete WR core. The Bills should be aggressive this off-season. Yes the Colts, Browns, Jets, Cardinals and some other teams will have cap space and a big need to surround a QB with O-line and WR talent. So the Bills will have to over pay heavily for O-line and WR talent and certainly at least 2 out of the 3 high draft picks will have to be spent on the offensive side of the ball. But I think that in order to make Allen be successful the team needs to pay up for talent.

Bodine and Ducasse can be dumped for low amounts of dead cap hits, neither are really starting caliber players so I don't think them being under contract matters. I wouldn't mind having them compete for backup spots but if the front office thinks 2 of them should start they deserve to see the offense struggle again. O-line players tend to play at a high level into their early 30's. The typical fall off is around 32-34 for O-line players. So I don't mind signing Pradis to a deal that is easy to get out of after one or two years. This team needs at least 2 impact starters along the O-line to make it into a top 10 unit and most of the top players on the free agent market at the O-line position will be between 29-31. Groy stinks (at least he does in this system) Bodine is a high end backup center and I would like to see him be off the bench. And Sirles is a bubble player who probably is best competing for a backup job. I suspect that Groy will not be resigned, I think odds are they move Bodine to the backup center/guard spot, and they have Vlad and a rookie compete for the RG Spot.

I doubt it but then I thought Lynn wouldn't get a coaching job and he did. Who knows what makes a coaching candidate hot on the market.

I wouldn't sign Trent Brown. NE signings don't typically play well on other teams. I also think that Dawkins is not suited to play RT. Dawkins play in 2017 at RT wasn't that great, his skillset seems to be better suited for LT. As far as O-line I think you need 3 starters in general from C to RT. I think out of the three need positions I would hope the Bills target Center first and foremost in free agency. I think it would help Teller's development in 2019 and if they go with a rookie guard having a quality vet center next to Teller and a rookie RG would be very helpful to the lines development. Overall I think the Bills should target two high quality veteran starters along the O-line. They can go with a rookie at one of those positions but they need to put as much talent around Allen as possible and the O-line is in major need of help to be able to provide good to great pass blocking and generate a push in the ground game.

The Falcons are not trading Julio. Matt Ryan will be 34 next season and you don't really rebuild with a Stud QB entering his mid 30's. The Falcons despite having Ridley will not trade away the player that makes their offense elite because they can't afford to wate Matt Ryan. Julio will be 30 next year, which means he will face 2 to 3 elite seasons left as receivers typically play at a high level into their early 30s. That's not something the Falcons can afford to pass on.

That play has a lot of moving parts, Allen did an excellent job getting a pass catcher to be in position to make a play on the ball. It wasn't the easiest play but it was one a player should have made. Yes if you run the play the exact same way 100 times there are many ways it can be done better. But that's also easy to diagnose in hindsight where almost every play can be done better. Allen did a great job on that play. Clay adjusted to the ball enough to be able to make a play on it but couldn't seal the deal.

Mayfield is having the best rookie season above all the rest by far. I think Allen might be number 2 but not by much, everyone seems to be kind of middling rookie numbers. Still 4 games left to play but some levels of optimism with this rookie class overall. Glad to see the Browns might have found a keeper at QB, hopefully the Bills did too.

If these single payer systems in other nations are so horrendous and result in such terrible wait times then why aren't these nations rushing to switch to free market systems? Why is it that the US has a horribly unpopular system despite having the most free market oriented system in the developed world? If the single payer systems were so horrible surly in Canada during the highly conservative Harper administration they would have begun to switch to a privatized system to get out from under the horrid single payer system? The answer is because single payer healthcare remains popular. Even a majority of American doctors now prefer single payer health care (54% for, 42% opposed.) I also never denied that scarcity exists in a single payer system. In fact your argument about rationing is destroyed by your own point about scarcity (every system will have rationing.) The bottom line is that in any healthcare system there will be people that can't afford treatment. In America we do not deny treatment to people on the basis that they can not afford it. Thus there are costs that are absorbed by the general system no matter what. So the idea that there are these 3 pillars and universality is one of them is absurd due to the fact that you can not ethically withhold care from people just on the grounds that they can't afford it. Thus everyone even those who can't afford it has access to care, thus you cannot have cost be a barrier to entry for extreme needs of care. I also brought up very specific points about billing, preventative care, profit motive, and drug costs that point to specific ways that single payer drives costs down whereas your only argument against it is the government sucks. Despite the fact that in the real world there are outcomes and data that show you otherwise.