billsfan89

The NFL changes so much from week to week that you can get very high on your team after a win or two or very low after a loss or two. The Bills are the team that I thought they would be. Very good on defense limited and conservative on offense, solid on special teams. Lets see how the Bills defense stacks up against the Falcons, if they put up a good performance against that offense I think you can feel that much more confident.

I always liked him as a backup tight end, but I thought he would be a project and was honestly surprised he wasn't on the practice squad all year. But the depth at tight end was so bad that he made the 53. But this year he looks like an NFL caliber player and he looks to be getting better. Hopefully this trend continue.

Seems like a good move.

The Panthers game is a toss up for me. I think the Bills have a chance esp if Cam is banged up. But I do think that the Panthers are a bit more talented overall.

I think that even before the Jets game I felt that the new regime was being given all the tools that it needed to be successful. A new GM and coach were brought in and they were allowed to clear house. They amassed a stockpile of draft picks while still keeping the team competitive for the upcoming season. They got rid of a lot of the old regimes players while keeping the vets that are highly productive and bought in. So in philsophy the new regime is doing what it should be doing. Gutting the old and building a new team and culture. All with a clear vision in mind. Does this mean it will work? No it could fail. But at least the ownership is setting up the new regime for success with the freedom and decisions the team is making overall.

The Bills are a mid level NFL team, 6-9 wins is what we can expect from this season.

Almost criminally underrated. Such a good player, definitely one of if not the best Bill of the playoff drought.

Way too early to really get a good feel for how favorable the schedule is. I think that once you get to week 5 you can start to really get a good feel for how good or bad the rest of the schedule is. The Bills got an opening win that they desperately needed. Carolina won't be easy but if you can find a way to win this week I think you can start to feel much more optimistic about the season.

The team looked OK but they most importantly got a win that they should have. Defense looked good, Jets never got a run game going and their passing game was shut down for long stretches of time. Offense was able to move the ball when it needed to only major gaffe was the early INT that was nearly a pick six, a mistake that would have cost the team the game against a better opponent most likely. They needed to get this win to keep the season alive realistically. They got the win somewhat comfortably that's a good week in my book even if there were somethings you can nitpick and be legit concerned about.

Mills didn't look awful today. Kind of picked up where he left off last year, above average to good run blocker poor pass blocker. I think that if Dawkins isn't ready you can live with Mills as the weak link to the O-line for this season. Certainly wished that the Bills found someone better but at least Mills is solid in terms of run blocking.

I also thought Tyrod had a really nice rebound from that disastrous near pick 6 early on. Tyrod played within the game plan and made the plays that needed to be made. He guided the offense very efficiently making plays with both his legs and arm. He didn't get panicky when the game was closer than expected he just kept plugging along. I can't get too excited by beating a bottom 5 team in the league in a somewhat close game. But I can be optimistic that the Bills got a win against a team they should have. Parts of the team looked good and even the parts of the team that looked bad still got it done enough.

Dareus being the new whipping boy is hilarious. I might agree that he isn't always the dominant player his contract numbers need him to be but he is a good effective player when he is out there. I think it is also so knee jerk to claim that he is terrible and unmotivated when he played a part in a great effort by the defense. The Jets couldn't run the ball at all, the Jets QB didn't have a clean pocket to work with consistently, and the Jets couldn't do much else on most of their drives. It's also one game, can we get a bigger sample size before people pile on a player?

He didn't look dominant but he didn't look bad, he definitely was productive but needs to take it up a notch against better offenses. Rush defense was very stout up the middle and he was a big part of that. There seemed to be pressure coming from the middle at times and there wasn't a clean pocket consistently. I hope he plays better but he wasn't bad at all out there in fact he was pretty good. Not much to complain about from the defense. If he made 10 million per game he would be getting paid 160 million per-season.

The Bills looked OK. They won a game they should have won comfortably but they made a couple of critical mistakes that allowed a Jets team that is vastly inferior to them hang around much longer than they should have. Tyrod's near disastrous pick early in the game is what set the team back and prevented them from building a bigger lead. But the Bills certainly played much better the rest of the way eventually putting the Jets away with that third TD. But the defense played well, it certainly was a strong performance overall from the unit. The Jets could rush the ball much at all and their passing attack only got going on 2-3 drives with limited success outside of the scoring drive. Special teams was decent although the missed kick certainly stings as making that could have made things much more comfortable for the team. Overall the game went as I suspected. The Bills won but let the Jets hang around a bit longer than they should have. The schedule doesn't get any easier so getting this first win is critical to any hope this season holds. Get the W you should have gotten and then hopefully learn from your mistakes and tighten things up for the coming weeks.

It seemed like LT was the only position along the line where the bust rate for players taken in the first two rounds was high. That's why teams still take LT's very highly not just for strategic importance but because they can be hard to find. C, G, and RT 10-15 years ago were considered very safe picks esp in the first two rounds. But now those positions seems to require more development as the skills learned in college are only applicable to spread offenses. So back when colleges ran offenses that were much more similar to pro-style offenses you had a much clearer picture of what a O-line prospect could do and how good his technique and abilities on field were. Now a lot of these linemen are drafted more on their athletic profiles and raw ability, which paints a much more incomplete picture. Now you are looking at players at what was thought to be a plug and play position taking 2-3 years to really develop. That's why I think you are seeing more guards and centers taken higher in the draft because the supply of good prospects are so low. But as Jonathon Cooper and Chance Warmack showed you don't get a sure thing taking guards that high.

To me the Bills strategy was to take back less talented players who might be more productive given the factors of health (Watkins vs. Matthews) and fit in system (Gaines vs. Darby.) While getting a pair of high draft choices that give the organization flexibility to make a big move for a QB or simply have a loaded draft class to interject a lot of talent that fits what the new regime wants to do longer term. Prior to the 2 big trades I pegged the Bills at 7-9 or 8-8, after the big trades my expectations haven't moved much I lean more towards 7-9 so I don't think they downgraded much if at all with those trades if you factor in the context.

I still think the offense is going to be a bit conservative and "off" looking in week 1. There are a ton of new parts in the offense (mainly receivers) and a new offensive system overall. I think they will look better than they did in pre-season but still look like a work in progress.

I hope that the Bills defense completely dominates the Jets offense and the offense is able to move the ball consistently while not turning the ball over on a defense that isn't the best although not trash. I hope that the Bills can avoid having the Jets hang around late in the game and just put them away going into the 4th quarter. I expect that the Bills will win a game where the Jets hang around a lot longer than expected. That the Bills will have a single possession lead late in the 4th and then maybe kick a field goal in the last few minutes to get a 2 possession lead. I think the Jets defense will keep them in the game and I suspect that the Jets offense will play very conservative in an effort to keep the game tight hoping for a mistake from the Bills. I hope that the Bills offensively can control the game but I am not sure if that happens. Overall I expect the Bills to win but not in a dominating fashion.

It use to be right tackles and interior lineman were considered plug and play positions esp if they were drafted high. But O-line play in college is mostly built around the spread offense so there is a serious issue with O-linemen needing more time to develop their fundamentals. Hopefully as Dawkins develops he can help anchor that position.

Gillislee to me is an above average RB, he graded out excellently in all advanced metrics and led the league in yards per carry last year. I think the Pats wanted him since they didn't have a traditional between the tackles runner (And were not willing to pay Blount what he was asking.) I think they fell in love with a player and were willing to give up a decent contract and pick for him. I do not think the Pats were bluffing, I think they overpaid because they knew that was the only way they could get him. Had they paid him closer to a backup then the Bills were more likely to match. I think Gillislee does rush for 1000 yards (Although not much above 1000) and 10-12 TD's with a yards per carry of slightly above 4. That's solid production but nothing crazy.

Bills 21 Jets 10 A low scoring affair, I think the Bills play super conservative and win with defense and not turning the ball over on offense. Shady will make some plays and the offense will move the ball enough.

He is by far their best and only between the tackles runner. James White, Burkhead, and Lewis are more receiving options out of the backfield. I suspect that they might use Gillislee more in the coming week. He didn't have a great yards per carry but he was used in goal line and short yardage situations which brought down his average. I suspect he will be their traditional, goal-line, and short yardage runner. I think he will be a boom or bust fantasy option due to not always getting volume or catches.

Unlike what the Browns are doing the Bills took back good players in Matthews and Gaines. Matthews and Gaines are undoubtedly less talented than Watkins and Darby. However due to health and fit in system Matthews and Gaines have a chance to be more productive than Watkins and Darby. It is a calculated risk the trades and decisions they made but a series moves designed not to be worse this upcoming season but to rather stay competitive (and even possibly be slightly better) and get a series of draft choices in 2018 and beyond. Ragland might not have ever been a fit for the system so avoiding the sunken cost fallacy to get value for a player who is both coming off injury and might not have been a fit for the system anyway is a smart move. The Jones move was good, even a late round pick is good for a player that would have been cut most likely. The only puzzling moves that I think were a bit foolish were Seymour (who I thought could have been a productive nickle corner) and cutting J.Williams (Not a major move but thought he could be a good backup RB.) Overall I think the design of these trades and off-season moves aren't designed to punt away the season and make future moves. The trades are designed to make the team as competitive but have a boat load of future picks. The design of the trade might not work out but the intentions of the moves do matter.

There are exceptions to the rule and of course once you have a QB building a team is much easier. And you do need free agency in building a team. But free agency (and trades) is more of a way to complement a good core of players and get them over the top as opposed to being a way to turn around a good team. The draft and player development is how you are going to build the core (esp if you are a team like the Bills who have to pay players to come here.) Once you have that core you can then go after some needs in free agency to take your team over the top. Free agency can be a quick sugar high that fades shortly even by NFL standards. Look at the Jets in 2015, they were 4-12 in 2014. They had a decent draft and signed a bunch of veteran free agents and made a trade for Brandon Marshall. They got way better immediately going 10-6. However by 2016 The Jets were the oldest team in the league saddled with players whose production was subpar and on big contracts. They now have to rebuild and purge for a year to get back under the cap and have a chance at a QB at the top of the draft. So yes if you are a team like the Giants that has a QB and a lot of good skill position players and some defensive talent can "buy" a good defense with a few new big contracts. But big spending sprees are not the way to build a team. No matter what the Bills are going to have to nail the draft and player development process.

I think this is good, a little more motivation for the focal point of the offense. Not much good the current cap space can do the team. Plenty more room if they need to make a move down the line.