BADOLBILZ

Oh, I think it's primarily an X an O thing. This isn't a "defend every blade of grass" style of defense. It's "bend, don't break". It's "we do what we do, we don't make broad schematic changes for different opponents". And needing 5-6 DB's to execute what they want means that the DL has more run responsibility than some other defenses......to make up for the lack of LB presence. Which detracts from the pass rush potential. And I think it generally makes them a less physical, less violent defense.......which leads to those gashes in the run game etc.. This all makes it appear that the requisite talent just isn't there. I know it won't happen, but if this defense has another playoff meltdown McD really should just bring in a high quality veteran defensive mind to run a different version of this 4-2-5. 8 years in, this defense shouldn't still have the same vulnerabilities/issues. They should be benefiting from being able to stay in the same system. That's not what's happening.

All the Bills needed to complete their throwback 80's Patriots attire was a neck roll on QB1. "Hey, let's dress in red like teams our fans hate!" Better dead than red.

The moment that woeful throw landed I instantly looked back at Allen to see what happened and he was holding his arm above the wrist area as he ran off the field. He was struggling with it for quite a bit more than several minutes. He was still trying to shake feeling back in it before he went on the field for the last drive. He wasn't really doing that on the field though so I don't know what the tv camera's were showing.

Yeah it's always been Elway to me. Right down to the trajectory that they throw/threw the deep ball. He didn't run for yardage nearly as much but that was a time when QB's could get destroyed running the ball past the LOS. Randall Cunningham had a huge arm but that's about it as a passer. Inaccurate, long windup, couldn't read a defense to save his life etc.. But he could throw those Russell Wilson moon balls. They resuscitated his career in Minnesota with Randy Moss. Allen can't really throw those. Very different players, IMO. Cam Newton was very similar to Josh as a runner but he never had the arm talent Allen has. Not even at his best.

I've never been more psyched about an offseason acquisition in my life than when the Yankees traded for Rickey after the 1984 season. RIP Rickey.

Yeah, I thought the same thing when I saw it. I looked for it briefly online too but didn't find it right away so I figured it was new and would pop up at BFLO store or Lids something. I have a lot of these different "Griswold" style script Bills hats. Late 80's, early 90's designs. Some that I wore back in the early 90's.

This really surprises me. As in shape and self-involved as Rickey always came off I really would have figured him to live into his 90's or something. One of the 10 most talented players ever, IMO. Maybe even top 5. He left a lot on the table too. For those who don't follow baseball I would say he was like the Randy Moss of baseball.

That's your gut perspective. It's just not supported statistically. I think a highlight reel of big hits taken in 2024 would look markedly more violent than 2020. Don't you? I mean, he took two huge shots on scramble throws in that Lions game. And fwiw, the Daboll offense was actually very much about easy plays. The passing game was deep routes and comebacks. The comebacks couldn't have been easier throws for Josh. There were so many of those easy-button comebacks that Diggs and Beasley were taking a beating catching the ball flat-footed with their back to the defense. But the defense had to respect those throws in front of the sticks because the talent was there to torch any defense over the top. Especially prior to John Brown getting injured. Cooper is very good still but he's not close to 2020 Diggs All Pro level.

I understand that 2020 was seen as an outlier at the time but league-wide average completion % is up slightly (65.3/2024 vs 65.2/2020) and yards per attempt is the same(7.2). IMO Allen has had exceptional pockets to throw from this season. I don't think an excuse can be made that he doesn't have similar protection. In 2020 Allen was 4th in completion % and in 2024 he is 21st. And in 2020 he was #1 in success rate as a passer while in 2024 he is 10th. That stat basically tells you how often a QB is getting what is perceived as good yardage on every down.......and that decline might be explained by his below league average completion %. I think the explanation is that there was just a lot more to be had from the pocket and in-structure because they had a top 3 WR room.

Yeah, ultimately/eventually Allen needs to be able to live in the pocket. What they have right now is good enough to be incredible so long as he can still evade every pass rusher, make incredible strong armed throws on the run and take massive hits and bounce back up. Or gash a defense running the ball. The sooner he doesn't have to do that for the offense to put up 30 points, the better. Love to get back to the trajectory he was on in 2020 when he completed nearly 70% of throws.

So that's 12 straight losses. Still 6 away from the NHL record. I mean, they ALREADY hold that particularly dubious record with 18 straight in 2020-2021......so it would be a bit of a hat on a hat, I suppose........but what say you all about @Mike in Horseheads idea that the one constant isn't to blame for 14 years of losing?

Because having a true WR1 changes how a defense has to deploy its players. Think of the defense the Bills used to stymie Lamar Jackson from 2020-2022. A key component of that was challenging Lamar to throw outside the numbers and downfield and cheating personnel to the middle of the field to take away his favorite throws. That was because it was presumed Jackson wouldn't make many of those throws outside and deep. When Hollins and MVS were the boundary options that's exactly what defense's learned was the vulnerability with Josh Allen in 2024. When Cooper came the windows opened up for the guys who run the majority of their route yardage over the middle of the field. And despite the windows getting tighter outside.......now the plays outside the numbers are being made when they are attempted instead of falling incomplete to Hollins or MVS and people debating whose fault it was. As for Cooper only playing 47% of the snaps.........he doesn't need to play a set % of the snaps to make the offense good enough to stay on the field and keep moving the ball. If you are better on 1 play every 3 or 4 downs that can be the difference between a long TD drive or a 3 and out punt. That's why they call players like Cooper "difference makers".

Might be the most ridiculous, nonsensical string of sentences written on TSW in 2024. No, it shouldn't be said in that context. Not even to a lesser extent. Samuel made some plays when Coleman was out and he got more opportunity. But he was part of the redundancy that plagued the Bills group of weapons to start the season. All of the better players needed space in the middle of the field to succeed. But there was nobody on the outside to open up the field for them.

The key addition doesn't have to be the "only reason". Quality at premium positions = difference makers. If you throw Myles Garrett or Dexter Lawrence onto the Bills DL the synergy created would have TSW'ers wringing their hands about not having AJ Epenesa and Daquan Jones signed for a longer term. Go back and look at posts from the offseason and you will see that it was assumed that any offense with a prime Josh Allen was going to be a top 10 offense. The goal here was never to be "top 10". It's to be #1. Especially for those of us who don't trust a Bills defense in the playoffs. If the Bills had Amari Cooper from day 1 they would probably be the #1 seed right now. And might be challenging for the highest points per game scored in a season. It's always been my contention that it could and should happen during Josh Allen's prime. A 38 ppg season.

DC's aren't spending time figuring out how to shut down any more than a couple players on offense. Realistically, more like just 1. Think of Belichick's defensive approach.......he took away the best player and challenged the opponent to succeed anyway. For the Bills, that guy is now Amari Cooper. If you are willing to attempt deep throws to Ty Johnson defense's will concede that matchup and hope the passes fall incomplete. Just like they let MVS and Hollins run free outside the numbers prior to the Cooper trade.

I don't think it's any concern. This has been going on for years but we forget because these late season releases rarely make much of a difference. I remember the Bills picked up WR Kenny Stills at the end of the 2021 season this way. Ended up not getting elevated. The criteria to be one of these releases includes having zero projected comp pick formula value. It's a pretty narrow group of players.

Hoo-ray for Hollywood!

Your anger is hilarious.😂 Thinking Oklahoma State was going to beat some #1 ranked SEC champion in a national title game? Was never going to happen. But yeah, use TCU as an example when they beat a Michigan team that didn't deserve to be there either. How did that TCU season end? 65-7 loss in the final to Georgia. Like I said, the best OK State teams stood zero chance in a national championship final under the pre-NIL NCAA. There were usually 2-3 championship quality teams between a group of Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State............and everyone else was miles behind them regardless their final ranking or if they were fed to the wolves with the 3rd or 4th seed.

Will Beane try it again with Khalil Mack in free agency this offseason? It's going to be a storyline here on TSW.

Well Cooper missed the Colts game and they only scored 23 points on offense. That definitely lines up. Were there other contributing factors to the offense being truly atrocious in Baltimore and Houston? Sure. But what we are seeing now wasn't happening without the trade for WR1. People are just questioning it because some weeks they aren't throwing the ball at Cooper. And just in the context of this thread title, now 14 games into this season the WR corps as a whole hasn't matched last year's per game production despite the uptick since Cooper arrived. It's a non-argument, IMO......... but I am glad I can say that because it means what they have NOW is working.

Did you just downplay the Houston game as Allen's "worst game in awhile". He was the first NFL QB to throw 30 passes in a game and complete 30% or less since 1992! (Stan Gelbaugh) It was a historically atrocious passing performance for the Bills. The blueprint was laid out for the entire league to see. Challenge the Bills to throw deep and take away the middle of the field. We knew this at the time of the Cooper trade. Even the "everybody eats" crowd had to admit it. But now they are trying to reverse engineer the solution. The threat of RB's getting open deep isn't keeping defense's honest, dude.😂

Just to clarify that you aren't just arguing for the sake of not admitting you were wrong from the outset: What you are saying is that this WR corps would have been better than last year's without the Cooper trade but that the Cooper trade has denied you a truth? Even though they've been greatly improved by Cooper's presence for 2 months and still aren't as statistically productive of a unit as last year? There just isn't a lot of support for the contention that it was going to work before Beane went and made it better. Refresher:

Solomon has been uselesss against the run. Miller has actually been pretty good against the run. That is why. But hopefully Solomon is improving and it would be great if he can make an impact down the stretch or in the playoffs. He brings a speed element they do not have.

This one. The Death Star set was another great one from that late 70's era but I chose this Sears exclusive because it was all about the great Cantina figures you couldn't get in stores and the Cantina scenes were probably the coolest part of the movie to us as kids.

The WR's and TE's they took into the season have performed about as could reasonably be expected. But Hollins modest 295 yards have been more than offset by the flops of Samuel and MVS. Subsequently passing yardage is down by about 10 yards per game and passing to WR/TE is actually down closer to 20 ypg over last season. That's significant and a lot of that poorer production preceded the acquisition of Cooper. We will call that the "nobody eats" period. Things are trending upward though since said acquisition. It was a CERTAINTY that Beane would be desperately in search of a WR1 in October. I promised you all that IN THIS THREAD. And it happened just as I said. Coleman broke out simultaneously.......and that combination spread out opposing defense's and created better matchups simultaneously. And that's where we are. Everybody eats as long as the WR1 is out there and if both he and Coleman are available even Ty Johnson can have a 100 yard receiving game. Everybody eats doesn't work when everybody is no more than a WR2/3/4. You were dead wrong thinking it would. Speaking of which, the unit that has benefitted the most are the RB's in the passing game. Rushing-wise they are about the same as 2023 but they are already at last year's receiving yardage total with 3 games left. * Also, I never saw it said anywhere that this was the worst WR corps the Bills had in 40 years. I referenced 40 years but don't intentionally conflate two points. What I said was that they had nobody in their WR corps who had even put up 900 yards in an NFL season for the first time since the mid-80's. Meaning nobody who defense's had to account for individually. As Cooper has proven..........that is imperative to have.