Utah John

Gilliam might be called a fullback, but to me a fullback is a much bigger but slower player. Whatever. The game has changed so much that speed and space are what's critical. Would Jim Braxton or Sam Gash have a role on this team? There is something wrong though when 3rd and 1 is the worst possible down and distance for the Bills. I'd like to see Jordan Phillips get some chances as the RB on those plays. This is how strong teams get stronger, with drafts like that.

The first quarter last night, the Bills played sloppy, tight, too-juiced. When they figured out they only had to play the way they can play, everything turned out fine. The Bills just need to play Miami like the Ravens did the first three quarters. Mahomes/Hill/Kelce >>> Tua/Hill/Waddle But we're getting very thin at CB, now needing to start two rookies. If Micah Hyde is OK, though, the team D should prevail. Even if one of our CBs was man to man against Hill or Waddle with no safety help, that CB would KNOW he had no safety help and would play the receiver the whole way. That play was just a boneheaded rookie mistake PLUS a boneheaded safety mistake.

Last year's schedule was very soft, and the Bills had the top-ranked D that didn't scare anyone. This year, no one wants to play them. The concern of course is we're down to starting two rookie CBs, against the Dolphins passing attack. Fortunately we have this monster D line, and the fish have Tua.

Most of the AFC will be a tough out. The more the other teams beat each other up, the better. Whether Miami beat Baltimore or vice versa, the important thing is that someone got an L. The only real good news is that the Bengals and Raiders are 0-2 and the Colts are collapsing. I actually enjoy watching the Bills rip the guts out of the fish.

This is why we can record games and watch them later. The good news for the game you watch on Tuesday is that you can skip the commercials. There are far worse problems that this.

Maybe I'm just older than many on this board, and I remember how consistently excellent Shula was. And there was never any hint of controversy with Shula, no rumors (or facts) about cheating. And, he never had an elite QB until Marino, and then as I said Marino's best years happened to come when the Bills were so dominant for so long.

Yep, that's true, and it's a great accomplishment by the guy with the third most wins in NFL history.

If Belichick had handled Brady better, maybe Brady would not have left. That's conjecture but it's reasonable. But the rest of the roster was deteriorating, and Belichick keeps losing assistant coaches and coordinators. The Pats would not have been able to maintain their dominance even if Brady was still there. What would probably have happened is that Brady would have last a couple more years in New England, and then retired, rather than ride the Pats sled downhill. 328 vs 290. Belichick won't last long enough to catch Shula. Actually if you go on one of these talk shows, it's because people DO want your opinion.

Look at the bigger picture. Brady left when the rest of the Patriots roster was falling apart due to retirements and FA walkaways, plus the departure of so many assistant coaches and coordinators. The problem for the Patriots is that despite having a great head coach, they have a terrible GM, who happens to be the same guy. Despite all these problems, the Pats put a good team on the field last year, one that could beat the Bills in Orchard Park, and could make the playoffs. Of course that's as far as they went, but still, it's a great accomplishment. So, while it's true that the Pats headed downhill after Brady left, there's a lot more to their problems than the departure of Brady. Don Shula won 328 games. George Halas won 318. Belichick has won 290, so far. BB is NOT the winningest coach in NFL history. But he is still an outstanding coach, and has been held back only by his own incompetence as a GM.

Don Shula is the greatest coach in NFL history, and it isn't close. He won far more games than anyone else, and he did it with a consistently excellent team. The only reason Shula didn't win more SBs is his bad luck that the Bills got so powerful during the period when Marino was at his peak. Belichick is a great coach too but let's not overstate things.

I think Herbert is the best pure passer of the three. I'm not talking only about arm strength but also the ease with which he fires those darts. Herbert however is not the best QB. All the little things that a QB does to help his team succeed, he doesn't even know what they are let alone how to do them. As for Allen v Mahomes, I don't know how you pick one over the other. They're both great passers and great QBs.

When the schedule came out, with the Bills opening on Thursday and not playing again for 11 days, I thought it was too bad. But if this gives Oliver a chance to heal, it will be a good break for the Bills.

You're suggesting that the Giants won those SBs because of Eli. I think the Giants won them because Eli had good years -- much better than he usually played -- and the team kept finding ways to win. I'm saying they won the SBs with Manning, not because of him. I think Peyton Manning was a far better QB than Eli, but he had to go to a new team to win his second SB, and at that point it was Denver's D that won it for them. Peyton Manning spent all those years in Indy, lighting up the league, but Pats/Brady. That doesn't mean Peyton Manning wasn't great. Teams win SBs. QBs are often the most important factor, but not always, and a great QB is not going to win a SB on his own.

Yeah, the first game was pleasant to watch but this is a tough league, and the Bills will have things go wrong, as all teams do over the course of the season. First seven games: Rams - Titans - Dolphins - Ravens - Steelers - Chiefs - Packers I don't know which team it will be but at least one of them will catch the Bills on an off week, and it could be more than one. At the start of the season there was talk that going 4-3 or even 3-4 over the first 7 games would not be surprising. At this point, based on the mistakes they made against the Rams, I think 5-2 is probably the best we can expect. The Rams O line was not good, which made our D line and our overall D look tremendous, but against a better O line the Bills will have a tougher contest on their hands. The Rams game is not a guarantee of future success. The AFCE plays the NFCN and AFCN this year, so the Bills play only one game against the AFCW, which this year is a blessing, even if the one game is against the Chiefs. As for the Chiefs, they played a pretty bad Cardinals team, so we still don't know how good the Chiefs actually are. I'm somewhat more impressed by the Chargers beating a good Raiders team. I'm not that worried about the Titans. They have Henry back but they lost Brown, and the Bills D line is much bigger and stronger, so the Bills should win a tough game next Monday.

Maybe so, but this is still a good analysis. Not a puff piece. A really solid and accurate discussion of what Allen accomplished.

First of all, being rational and unbiased is an oxymoron for Bills fans... The point FilthyBeast is missing is the leadership that Diggs brought to the Bills, and how he worked along with Josh, really hard, to develop the chemistry that made them dangerous. Jefferson might be more valuable in the long run. He's certainly cheaper now. But what Diggs brought to the Bills as part of the big picture was far more than any rookie WR could have contributed.

So the Bills picked the Browns pocket on that one, but the Browns also benefited from the Bills giving up too soon on Wyatt Teller. Not sure if we can count this double theft as meeting the intent of the thread...

Jefferson will be completing his rookie contract at about the same time that Diggs starts to lose a step. Interesting opportunity for McBeane in a few years.

The Chargers had both Brees and Rivers, and had to pick one to keep. They chose Rivers, a very good QB, and they let Brees, who was injured at the time and who turned out to be even better than Rivers, leave as a free agent. I don't know why the Chargers didn't do something to get some kind of return for Brees, who had been their starter for a few years and had played really well in that period. But, that wasn't a trade between the Saints and Chargers. No, the Chargers won that trade by a mile. Except for a couple of seasons when Eli QB'd teams with great defenses, his career was pretty ordinary. The Chargers turned the picks they got for Eli into multiple All-Pro players.

This is the trade I was thinking about. The Chiefs got Mahomes for a first round pick that turned into Tre White, and then the Bills were able to get Allen. I don't think the Chiefs would trade Mahomes for Allen + White, and the Bills wouldn't trade even Allen alone for Mahomes, so they both feel like they got everything they wanted. That trade turned into the steps that made both teams powerhouses. I don't think so. Bailey was an elite player and remained one for years after the trade. Portis, like most RBs, didn't last very long, and he wasn't really very special even right after the trade.

I hadn't realized how well the Rams D played, and yet still got beat 9 times out of 10. The Rams covered everyone just like a coach would want, but the X factor that they can't overcome is Josh Allen. Unless the league creates a new category of QB, for Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, and maybe one or two others, that lets the D play with 12 men, the teams with one of those super QBs will win over and over.

You know, you don't have to have to attempt FGs and EPs the traditional way, with a holder and a kicker. The drop kick is still a legal play. I don't think there's been a drop kick attempted in the NFL since Doug Flutie did it (successfully) in his last game in the league (with the Patriots). But as a safety measure, in case your team's kicker or long snapper or holder is hurt, it wouldn't be a bad idea to train up someone on the team to be able to drop kick. Place kicking is a completely different skill from what most players know how to do. We all grew up punting the ball to our friends in the back yard. At least for EPs, which a relatively short, a drop kick should be more reliable than having an inexperienced holder or kicker attempt a very specific, tricky skill. Plus, since the drop kicker doesn't need a holder, that makes another player available to block.

When a center snaps to a QB in the shotgun, the ball comes up quickly but softly so the QB can grab it easily. The problem for the Bengals was the substitute long snapper couldn't get the ball to come back fast enough (on the missed extra point) or accurately enough (on the missed FG in OT).

No excuse for letting the TE do that. Some DBs and even LBs will try to take down a bigger man by hitting his legs, but you still have to aim at the body. It's football, guys, a contact sport.

Kupp is the best receiver in the game, but he kept getting open. Better CB play would have limited him at least a little. Neither Elam nor Benford has really proved they deserve the job. Against the Rams, our D line overwhelmed their patchwork O line and that helped the CBs. An opponent with a strong O line will give their QB time to pass, and that could be a problem for whichever rookie is playing. As things stand both rookies look like pretty good players, not studs. There's no other position on the Bills where being pretty good is good enough to stick around, let alone start.