billsfan89

The offense was much better. They scored 17 in the first half and then scored a TD to go up 14 in the first drive of the second half. The offense also got a critical first down late in the game to Diggs which effectively forced the Bucs into a hail mary situation. The issue was they stalled after the TD drive. Three straight punts when all they needed was a field goal to take a three-possession lead. The Bills did a great job of getting Davis, Shakir and Kincaid involved while still getting Diggs his spots. They also got Cook decent yardage on the ground with 4.8 ypc. They just needed one more good drive but that blunder to close the 3rd really killed them. I think this game the offense looked more confident and attacking they just made a blunder at the end of the third that cost them the chance to go up 3 possessions with less time left. Both sides of the ball looked better, not great but significantly improved.

To all the McD haters out there I ask a simple question how many head coaches in the league do you genuinely feel are better than McD? You can and should have an argument that maybe McD isn't the right coach to take this team over the top. Fine, I think that remains to be seen but it is a fair argument at least. But to say McD is a bad head coach is just simply not accurate. Take a look at all the head coaches are the league and ask who would you for sure 100% take over McD? Coaches inarguably I would take over McD no particular order Andy Reid Mike Tomlin Sean McVay Kyle Shanny John Harbaugh Pete Carroll Coaches, I think you can maybe argue taking over McD Zac Taylor (although Bengals fans have similar critiques to him over-relying on Burrow/Chase and a stagnant at times offense) Nick Siriani Doug Peterson I know some will say Mike McDaniel but the Fins have yet to beat a good team this season and were 9-8 last season so call me a skeptic. Matt LaFleur is another one some may say but last year with Rodgers they missed the playoffs and this year Jordan Love has struggled. Others may say Billy B but his record post-Brady leaves a lot to be desired, you would be arguing on a past reputation. Dan Campbell is another one that I think some may bring up but I would like to see more sustained success with them before I put them over McD, he has not taken the Lions to the playoffs yet. That leaves McD comfortably in the top 10-12 of coaches even if you were to take a negative look at him. Would you honestly think McD is worse than the following list of coaches? Jonathan Gannon Arthur Smith Frank Reich Matt Eberflus Kevin Stefanski Mike McCarthy Sean Payton DeMeco Ryans Shane Steichen Josh McDaniels Brandon Staley Kevin O'Connell Dennis Allen Brian Daboll Robert Saleh Todd Bowles Mike Vrabel Ron Rivera There aren't many "good" let along great coaches in the league. Just remember that when discussing McD.

I get your point of view and I understand being "aggressive". But just to sum it up one more time, with the clock on your side and only needing a field goal to make it a three-score lead the risk of something happening on that snap (as it did) was not worth the reward of getting 5 free yards. Just let the clock run out and shorten the game by another 40 seconds. I think the 100% chance of grinding off another 40 seconds at minimum was a better thing to do than the 5% chance you may get someone off-sides.

I get being aggressive but that's not the time to try to do something "cute". You are up 14 you have the ball just outside of field goal range on a 2nd and short. A field goal plus a couple more minutes off the clock sets you up to really win the game with a 3 possession lead with limited time left and a defense playing well. McD and Dorsey should have just let the quarter run out. You then even if they fail to convert 1.5 yards on two downs shorten the game by about 90 seconds (80 seconds on the play clock plus about 10 seconds it takes to run the plays) instead they extend a game and make it a much more difficult conversion. Two QB sneaks should get you the yards and once again allow you to grind some more clock and put Bass into FG range. Easily could have been a moment where you look up and there's only 11-12 minutes left and the Bills are up 17. Instead Tampa keeps it two scores and made it more tense than it needed to be.

Cincy will have a sense of urgency regardless of whether they win or not. If they win they will still need to keep up with the three teams in their division that are in front of them that are currently 1-2 games ahead and will at best be even of 1 game ahead. If they lose they will be desperate to get back to .500. The urgency of the Bengals is high in either scenario. I am rooting for the Bengals to lose, a loss eats away at a teams confidence a win helps you gain confidence. You can see it with the Bills the last few weeks. After the Jags lost they played tight against a Giants team they should have been able to win comfortably against. That led to a tight performance against the Pats. The Bills played more confidently against the Bucs and got away with a win that was a bit tighter than it should have been. I think the Bills getting the "mini-bye" desperately need the few extra days rest. Josh's shoulder, Ed's toe, Morris's ankle, Von's long return from the ACL, and all the other dings that caused guys like Groot, Shaq and others to miss a game or be limited in practice get the chance to heal up a bit. Cincy has not played well most of the season, the Jets and Broncos home are very winnable games the only game that's tough is @ Philly. If the Bills can pull a minor upset against Philly 4-0 is legit possible. I would be fine with 3-1 as that puts the team at 8-4 going into the bye but if the Bills continue to get Shakir and Kincaid going on offense while maybe adding a reinforcement or two on defense via trade I don't see why 4-0 is that daunting. Get the win at Cincy and you can then see 4-0 being really a legit possiblity.

Football is not like basketball where you kind of know by mid-season if you really have a shot to win a title or if you are better off rebuilding or only making smaller moves. Football (particularly the NFL) is far more similar to the MLB or NHL where you can "get hot" at the right time and win a title or make a deep run. The NFL is also not a league where you can really "unload" contracts. Trading teams often "eat" money on bonuses paid. So even if you wanted to "attatch picks" to dump Knox or Von Miller the Bills would still be on the hook for a lot of dead cap as a result of the trade. The Bills traded Dareus in 2017 and still had to eat a 13.5 million dollar dead cap charge in 2018 the after trading him. Whereas had the Bills held onto Dareus in 2018 and cut him in 2019 off-season they would have only had a dead cap charge of about 3 million and had a cap charge 3 million higher in 2018. Effectively dumping Dareus's massive contract only saved the Bills 6 million in cap. The Bills are far better off trying to make a small addition or two like they did in 2022 when they added Hines and Marlowe at the deadline. If the Steelers are willing to dump Levi Wallace (and eat a small portion of his salary) for a 6th I would take it that helps with depth at CB. If there is a 1-Tech DT out there that can be had for a 6th (remember the Bills have three 6th-round picks in 2024) I would take it as the Bills need more depth there with Jones out. Bottomline you can't take this season by trading away bloated contracts and not end up tanking the next season with dead cap charges. The Bills are much better off getting some depth help on defense and trying to get it together without giving up too much draft capital wise.

It's not a "waste" of a roster spot. He is a backup safety on a team that has two older safeties. Rapp is the primary backup (and I think Rapp plays ST as well) at both safety spots and Lewis is a better Special Teams player. We saw that when Poyer went down they activated Demar to be the primary backup and backfill the ST unit where he is a decent player. He is a backup role player that can start in a pinch and is a willing special teams player. That's pretty good for a 4th/5th safety. Not sure where else the Bills could get better value from if he were cut?

I would argue Kincaid was the attempt to try to address secondary receivers this season, which along with the smaller additions in Hardy, Sheffield and Shorter was a decent attempt given the limited resources and the needs along the offensive line. But I do agree that there was a lack of investment going into the 2022 season (going into 2021 they signed Sanders to replace Brown which was solid). They were foolishly counting on Crowder and Mac to replace Beasley and Gabe to step up and replace Sanders production. They did add Shakir as depth and a developmental piece but he was not likely to have a big impact year one. The teams over investment into defense in 2022 was evident in how the offense performed having to over rely on Diggs and Josh consistently against better teams. They should have spent that 2022 first on an often linemen and used that Von money to sign a receiver but then again that hindsight as I didn’t hate the Elam pick at the time. I am just glad Shakir is getting his shot and they spent two high picks on the offense. I think with Diggs-Davis-Kincaid-Shakir as the top 4 options and an improved offensive line and better RB play Josh has enough around him esp when Knox comes back as a more supportive player and less of a focal point.

Shouldn’t have been trying to draw them off when you are up 14. I get the attempt but don’t extend the game when you are already up.

Wasn’t Tre’s ACL much worse than Von’s? Also Tre didn’t get back into the field until December whereas Von is out there now working out the rust and will have been playing for about 3 months when the playoffs come around. Hoping by the bye he is where he needs to be.

He looked better today, he was invisible at times but also he had a few flashes that he simply hasn’t shown up until tonight. That’s not saying much but it’s progress. I just look for steady progress, I think by the bye if he doesn’t look significantly better I will be concerned until then he just needs to be a serviceable rotational DE which he isn’t far off from being

Why doesn’t this team just win every game? What are they stupid?

That was the stupidest play of the game. You are up 14 knocking on field goal range and the clock is your friend why snap the ball before the quarter ends and effectively extend the game. At worst you let the quarter run out and just run the ball and tick 40+ seconds off the game. Instead you take a sack and the game is 40 seconds longer

Not to be that guy but they technically have attempted to replace vet WR’s that left the team from 2021 to 2022 (I assume you are referring to Beasley, Brown and Sanders). Gabe was also drafted in 2020 to develop behind Brown, Diggs and Beasley. In 2022 they drafted Shakir who is finally breaking out and they signed Crowder last season as a vet stop gap. In 2023 they signed Hardy, Sheffield and drafted Kincaid to be another pass catcher. I would have preferred they gotten a better stop gap slot WR replacement in 2022 than Crowder but once again the attempt was there to ease the losses at WR.

Knox will come back as the 5th option in the offense and doing a lot of the blocking and grinding work that he does well. And that’s a perfect spot for him to be in. Shakir and Kincaid and reliable slot options and Gabe may not be the stud WR2 we all hoped he could be but he still is a solid WR and adds that outside presence. Assuming Knox comes back in December I hope they use him as a “utility” player along with a second TE. Using him as a full back of lining up in more creative spaces where he can block or leak out for easy catches. I still think Knox has a place in the offense just has to be used differently.

Both teams players were bumping and there was heavy contact from both teams

The Taron play is a good point but the Hail Mary was not a non-call both players were battling for the ball and position.

They made it more tense than it needed to be but they came out with a win. They were in control of the game up until the very end. The complexion of the season is vastly different sitting at 5-3 with a “mini-bye”. The offense looked very good they just couldn’t get that final field goal to put the game away when needed in the third. They got the key first down to grind the clock to force the Hail Mary situation which was clutch. Been saying it since week 3 Shakir needs to be a factor in the offense. His snap count and targets were slowly inching up and he has his breakout. The Bills have 4 legit weapons in the passing attack plus Hardy as a gadget player and Cook out the backfield. Overall a well played game the team looked more confident and I didn’t see any major injuries which makes the extra few days rest that much more valuable

I wonder if they will bring up Joel Wilson (TE) from the practice squad to backfill for Knox and Morris? Wilson is the only TE on the PS and I doubt they would want to go into the game with only Kincaid at TE. I know they can flex Gilliam into TE for blocking but you probably want at least one backup TE on the roster. Not too bad an injury report, Knox we know is going to go on IR and not be back until late November or December. Morris and Spector are battling nagging injuries should take the week off. The only big and pivotal question mark is Ed Oliver, if they can get Ed back it would greatly help the defense.

Von has two SB rings including a SB MVP, he also was a key contributor to the 2021 SB title most recently. That type of resume commands respect, and yeah the guy is coming off a major injury playing limited snaps give him some time.

I trust Josh and the offensive line and receivers to get that patched up. The issue for me is when teams go two high zone can the offense stick to running the ball and adjust when needed?

It is pretty obvious he will be back on the PS, active roster maybe? I wouldn't hate kicking the tires on him to take snaps from Ford who has been a complete zero thus far.

DT is where the attention needs to be. I think Bernard is playing well at LB and I can live with Williams taking his growing pains in October and November as I think more experience will lead to a better performance. Dodson and Klein are also decent depth and probably about as good as any street free agent. But they simply do not have a DT that can replace what Jones did. Poona Ford is not that guy and Settle is a JAG at best. Phillips and Oliver are three techs and don't play well out of position. If this team only makes one move either via trade or free agency it should be to address the 1-Tech DT position. I would hope they can find more depth at the corner spot and get Josh another weapon in the receiving game but 1-Tech should be the top priority.

If I had to rank the Bills needs at the trade deadline I would say it would be 1- One Tech DT - Without Jones or another capable run-stuffer disruptor the defense just isn't the same, it would be very negligent to not try to get help at DT. It shouldn't be hard to find a solid One Tech DT. If the only move this team makes is getting a decent Jones replacement that will be good enough. 2- WR - I don't know if Hopkins would fit the Bills cap-wise or if Mooney from Chicago would be a more realistic option, but adding another playmaker to the offense would help. 3- CB Depth - I think Jackson and Benford with Taron in the slot is fine, Elam isn't the depth I would hope for but flexing him in as a dime back will work hopefully he gets better awareness in a more reduced role. But the Bills need to see what options they can do to bring in some depth at CB. I know LB may be a need to some but I am fine with what they have there. I can live with Williams getting baptized by fire a bit and plugging in Dodson and Klein as depth. There are going to be only so many move this team can make so you have to pick and choose.

Josh cost this team the Jets game and he has had some clunkers the past few weeks. Josh is not above criticism, he is one of the best QB’s in the league but when an offense is sputtering a QB has to take some of the blame.