billsfan89

Yeah but they got gashed by the Jets too, The Jets aren't a joke but they aren't a top-flight rushing attack or O-line either.

This team is missing Dareus badly. Getting gashed way too much up the middle.

Gallary started out as an RT his first 2 seasons in the league, he was actually pretty solid as a RT but when they moved him to LT in his third year in the league he struggled hard for 2 years. The kicked him back to Left Guard from 2007 to 2010 where he was a good player. So he wasn't a bust being able to play RT and LG at a good level but he just wasn't able to handle the LT position which was the position he was drafted so high to play. It's not your perception, due to colleges running the spread offense and running the ball a lot less O-line play in college isn't producing O-line players who have the fundamentals needed to play in the NFL. A lot of O-linemen in their early years go to camps during the off-season to work on their fundamentals. O-line in the draft has become a much riskier proposition than it has in the past. 10 years ago drafting a RT, Guard, or Center in the 2nd round was considered a safe pick with a 70% success rate. Now 1st round O-line bust at a higher rate.

Boxing took a big step back in the past 20 years or so because of corruption. Too many boxing federations mean no one knows who the top champions are. In MMA UFC had streamlined everything, there were other MMA promotions but everyone knew UFC was where the best of the best competed. Boxing, on the other hand, was too corrupt and too decentralized.

This is unfortunate Glenn helped turn around the run game for several weeks. At least if he sits out the Saints game they will get him a lot of time to heal up and get healthy for the next game. This team needs Glenn, he is the anchor to the O-line.

Supposedly Miller might not be a fit for the zone running scheme. The rest of the O-line seems to have picked it up but not Miller. I think they end up trading Miller for a later round pick, some team that runs a scheme more similar to the scheme that was run in 2015 and 2016. I can't see getting that much but at least a 6th or 7th at best a 5th.

Groy and Dawkins should clearly be the right side of the line. I too have no idea as to why this configuration hasn't happened. Vlad is mediocre at best and Miller just seems to not be a good fit for the zone system they are running. As far as RT goes Mills is clearly a backup caliber player and Henderson isn't all that good and might not be in proper shape either. From an outsider perpsective, it seems like that configuration makes sense.

Hard to say how successful any 2nd round receiver would have been trying to shoulder the load for this passing offense. Zay's case of the yips is bad but I can't say other rookies around that draft slot would have had that much better levels of success in this type of situation.

Zay looked a lot better, certainly played with more confidence. Hopefully, he isn't hurt long term. I think he will miss a week or two, rumors and unoffical reports say that Jones injury isn't season ending but he might have to miss some time. With Benjamin coming in it makes a short term loss of Jones a bit easier to take. But hopefully they can get Zay out on the field with Matthews and Benjamin as well as Clay. The skill positions could be really good if they are at or close to full health.

After the Dareus trade the Bills were rumored to have 39 million in cap space in 2018, after the Benjamin trade they added 8 million in 2018 salary. So their cap space is likely around 30 million but also don't be surprised if they restructure some contracts or cut players. Charles Clay and Jerry Hughes come to mind as productive players who could take a restructuring and that could easily free up more cap space. I suspect that Kyle Williams will likely retire, he will be 35 and has a bit of an injury history. That leaves three other major free agents that are starters 1- Jordan Matthews, 2- EJ Gaines, and 3- Preston Brown. Gaines to me will likely stay, although he gets hurt I think they can get him on a modest 4-5 million dollar a year contract with a low guarantee. Matthews will command 7-8 million a year not sure if he is worth that much or not. But once again it comes down to how much the front office likes him which I think they do like him a lot. Preston Brown is a curious case, he is a decent starting LB but not one breaking the bank for. If the market for Brown is hot then I suspect he is gone. But if he can be had at the right price I think they retain him. The Bills will have a chunk of change to work with in free agency. Even they resign Matthews, Gaines, and Brown they could still add another starting caliber player and 1-2 depth players via free agency and then have a ton of picks to address needs and depth in the draft.

That O'Leary fumble pretty much crushed any hope of a comeback. Down 24-7 late in the third you get some light and momentum trimming it to 24-14 if you can score on that drive. That being said I would now more than ever consider a chance to the college rule. More so because of the QB rules. QB's are so over protected that defenders are afraid of them but the down by contact rule kind of allows QB's to take advantage of their over protected status. That being said O'Leary made a bad play, just own up to it.

Great teams don't miss opportunities to get fat against lesser opponents. That being said it was a road Thursday Night game against a not so bad team and the team is 5-3. Fluky things happen in the NFL esp on Thursday's. Next weeks game is huge but they have a long time to prepare. Hopefully they can get back to playing the way they need to. Also Benjamin coming and a possible return from injury for Charles Clay lends hope that the offense could get some much needed reinforcements at the skill positions.

That's like going from bad to bad.

It's a trap game for sure. Thursday game on the road against a team that isn't completely terrible, that's not as easy as a game as a lot of people are making it out to be. A good team wins these games and gets fat. You win this you go to 6-2 with a mini-bye week coming up. That's the place you need to be if you are going to make the playoffs.

It's best for Luck that he take the year off, he has taken a beating so far in his NFL career, his body sitting out a season while he is still young might prolong his career. Hell if I were the Colts I might PUP him to start next season just to be safe.

The Jets run defense is even worse than Oakland's. But that being said this is the NFL things vary wildly from week to week and a road Thursday game is never easy. The Jets are a scrappy team, the Bills better effectively run the ball or else they might have a hard time on offense.

3-4 TD's is decent, 5 is really good, 6 or more would be insane. Benjamin is a very good receiver but not a complete game changer. I think he gets 3 TD's over the next 8 games. He is new to the offense, new to the QB, and the offense will still be run heavy and conservative. But 3 TD's would be solid, the team doesn't need Benjamin to come in and be a dynamic play maker. They need him to make some plays and be a factor for defenses to be aware of. Just being a consistent factor defenses have to pay attention to is enough to help out the offense dramatically.

Way too early for playoff talk. The team has had some hot starts before in 2008 in 2011, they were even 4-2 last year. Take care of business against the Jets on the road and then I think you can start to get a little more excited. The Bills could easily lose against the Jets. The Jets are 3-5, they aren't very good but they aren't a complete doormat and this is a road game, its always hard to win on the road in the NFL. A playoff team does not miss the opportunity to get fat and beat a divisional opponent. Division record is a huge tie breaker and it always hurts to drop a road game.

There is something extremely encouraging about the Bills ability to take cast offs and backups from other teams and turn them into good or useful players. Hopefully it isn't smoke and mirrors, it looks legit but things can always fall apart.

Goodell directly handled the Ray Rice and Anthem situations poorly to say the least. And both of those mistakes have cost the league dearly in recent years and is resulting in a ratings dip. Decades of ratings growth and now the ratings slow down after two very bad PR disasters? Also the general overexposure of the product can be attributed to the recent ratings dip. Revenue is coming from newly inked TV deals that were made when the product was more popular. The NFL's product might not attract an insane price for its TV deals that expire over the next decade if ratings continue to disappoint. They need to turn around the recent ratings slump quickly and the person to do that isn't the guy that made all the mistakes that got you into this mess.

I would love it if the NFL had a new commissioner. Goodell has bungled a lot of things. Goodell over exposed the product with the lame Thursday games and the London games. He !@#$ed up the Ray Rice situation and now isn't doing the best job with the anthem situation. Goodell also isn't effectively modernizing the game and utilizing technology effectively either. A new commissioner would allow the league a soft reset and allow new management to go forward in a much better direction.

I will respect the !@#$ out of Jerry Jones (Who I despise, !@#$ the Cowboys) if Jones can get Goodell fired. Jones holds a lot of sway with the owners and if he can convince them Goodell has been terrible and shouldn't be the commissioner anymore then my respect for Jones will be tremendous. Hell even if Jerry Jones can just get some owners to question Goodell he will earn a lot of props.

I think Dareus will have a good season in 2017, but I think his eventual lack of motivation will rear its head in 2018. Dareus didn't seem to like Marrone or McD who were both disciplinarians, he didn't seem to like Rex a whole lot either and Rex is a big time players coach. So neither a players coach nor disciplinarian could really reach him after he got his big contract. Kind of proves that the big contract gave him a big head.

I think Star would be a great free agent, with Dareus gone and Kyle likely retired (And even if he came back he would be 35 and has shown signs of declining, although he is still a good player) the team could use a new interior anchor. Star is about to be 28 by seasons end and this is his 5th season. Star at age 28/29 could hold down the fort at DT for 3-5 years while the team drafts and grooms players behind him. Cam is a pipe dream, why on Earth would Carolina want to get rid of a player with the talent to be the best QB in the NFL?

You get 46 active players, 7 inactive. Unless the Bills have 7 injured players and need Benjamin as a body out there I doubt he is active. Clay and Humber are likely going to be inactive due to injury. Poyer and Gaines could also be inactive due to injury but both stand a chance of playing. So at worst you have 4 inactive players due to injury. Miller, Henderson, and Connor McD were the other 3 inactives. So I think Benjamin is inactive because he will be far too limited and situational a player if activated. But it would be fun to see him out there even if it's just a limited set of plays he can run.