BADOLBILZ

When McD had a terrible team in 2018 he said plenty of ridiculous things.........like responding to the media questions about being the worst offense the NFL had seen thru 8 games since the merger with "Would we like to score 50 points every game? Sure." But when you are the HC and you try to re-direct shade for your losing onto the fans and media..........that's just absurd and it's only going to make your seat hotter.

When Josh tucks and runs.......I am just all in on it being a big play........I am not worried about injury. I was disappointed that he wasn't able to get in the clear on any of his runs........it was surprising/notable seeing him get caught and have to struggle and take more punishment than normal for yardage that he often has gotten with ease in the past. And I have never even thought about whether Allen should try to tackle the ball carrier after an INT. To me it's about making conscious decisions ahead of time to prevent yourself from making bad decisions in the moment.........running the ball 10x is far too much wear and tear for one game. As McDermott intimated.......it's probably going to be on Dorsey to call more plays where Allen isn't going to be enticed to run. As caught up in the moment as we all get in the opener........that was arguably the least important game on their schedule strategically.......an NFC road game.

It's hard to believe he said that........just idiotic on his part.

You are certainly correct that there is rarely ever any point in "worrying".............some are definitely worried........I am not...........if Josh Allen quit playing football today I'd still be on to the Titans game tomorrow. Being able to identify patterns/trends with the organization is part of being informed as a fan..........and Allen taking a ton of hits relative to guys like Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Herbert is a trend that has only increased in the past 8 or so Bills games..........not decreased as one would expect..........and yeah, precedent says that QB's who take this much punishment flame out fast. It would be a shame to see a QB with one of the greatest arms ever.......and who has developed to be able to make those dime throws he was making in the first half against the Rams..........lose his edge very prematurely from the physical/neurological damage that accumulates from taking so many violent hits.

Why do people continue to say mopey stuff like this? I know some Bills fans don't follow the rest of the league and have been caught off guard by the fact that the good teams get the primetime games.........but the Bills have been a good team for several years now. It's the cost of winning...........no different than saying you aren't thrilled with the Bills season lasting until late January/February because you were used to going skiing on weekends then.

One less year? There is no precedent for a QB being sacked and rushing the ball combined this often this early and still being a franchise quality QB even just 9 years into his career. Allen is in year 5........year 9 would be about when the new stadium would open........that isn't far away. Brady-like longevity isn't realistic but with a physically gifted and intelligent passer like Allen the objective should be to get DOUBLE that 9 year figure and little or no less.......like still being a worthy league MVP in his late 30's like Rodgers or Brees.

I don't worry at all about a serious injury with Allen running. I agree with the notion that such an injury is more likely to be suffered in the pocket than out of it. My concern is cumulative effect of the relatively incredible amount of hits he has taken and the potential for a drastically shortened prime as a result. And on Thursday........every hit was a big hit.........he didn't make it out of bounds or make it in the clear enough to slide on any of them. Some of them started out like plays where he has waltzed into the clear or into the end zone and not gone down hard in the past.........but in this game he wasn't getting away. Hopefully that's just a tribute to the Rams defensive speed. When QB's lose it.........it's not always easy to quantify why..........but when it happens prematurely it's often the guy who has taken a lot of hits.........and Allen is piling up multiple years worth of hits in each season.

Yeah as much as Diggs/Jefferson turned out to be a near direct swap.........Beane really lost the luxury of simply drafting a WR in round 1 in 2020 when they made the bad process decisions to select Cody Ford and Devin Singletary in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the 2019 draft. So I've never looked at it like it was either Diggs or Jefferson. Ford turned into a total bust who also cost them Wyatt Teller. But as much as I liked Singletary........I thought he was the best RB in that particular draft.........it made no sense to draft those 2 easy to address positions with early picks when they knew damn well they were going to struggle to ever get elite WR talent to ever come to Buffalo voluntarily. They were almost "lucky" to even get the opportunity to give Minnesota those picks for Diggs..........they already got laughed at by Antonio Brown when they tried to trade for him. It's pretty amazing when you think about it..........the Bills essentially traded away two like future HOF'ers in Patrick Mahomes AND Justin Jefferson(and gave All Pro Wyatt Teller away)........and have risen into the top "power ranking" team in the NFL. Further proof of the Belichick axiom that you gotta' be making bad decisions all the time to be bad in the NFL...........because making even just a few egregiously bad moves is not enough to doom you if you follow them up with good ones.

Yeah the Cardinals made a very bad decision signing him and expecting him to do whatever they asked of him (like most big men do). That's not the kind of player he is. There is a lot of former Bill Sam Adams in him........he just wants to shoot gaps.......dirty work ain't for him. Bills have very conveniently caught him on the rebound from bad relationships twice...........and even if he plays well the Bills might be able to keep retaining him cheap because he's a bit of a nut job whose attitude is a flight risk regardless of what you pay him if you don't let him shoot gaps.

Trading for a WR1 veteran was a must.........but let's not give Beane too much credit.......it was a must because they had already short-changed their young QB at the WR position for 2 seasons with some dubious draft decisions. They didn't have the luxury of developing a 1st round WR in such a big year for Allen. Now, had they drafted one of the stud WR's in the 2019 draft that fell...........instead of reaching for need for Cody Ford..............maybe the Bills end up with Metcalf/Brown opposite Jefferson.........with Jefferson being WR1 of course because he's the best in the NFL. It's no contest between he and Diggs and Diggs is great. Jefferson is just on a first ballot HOF trajectory. They got the lesser, but still great, player but they also have expended something like $50M on Diggs over the cost of having drafted WR's instead. There were questions on Jefferson but only in the same way that there are on any WR taken that late in round 1 or later............you yourself thought he was a slot-only option in the NFL.

Yeah if you miss........it should be flagged. I remember Bryan Cox years ago getting a penalty for such a punch. It stood out because players didn't throw punches like that. Tillman was great at the subtle punch........prior to that most such fumbles were caused by pulling on the arm and stripping the ball with an open hand to knock it loose because punching was clearly illegal. But it's gotten to the point where some players just think they can flail wildly and the league hasn't addressed it. Watt just hacks away on ball carriers because he can.

I know you were still a Broncos fan in 2017...........but none of the picks acquired in the Mahomes deal were used to acquire Josh Allen. Mahomes(and a second round pick) ended up netting the Bills Tre White and Tremaine Edmunds. Rivers was already with SD for a season with Brees........Brees signed with Saints as a UFA

The contracts were not the same. Phillips was a total bust with Arizona and got $18.5M gtd. Butler got $9.3M in guarantees. He was atrocious in a muddled role 2021(after taking a pay cut, which almost never works as a motivating tactic). But Butler did a fair job filling in for that turd Star Lotulelei as a 1T in 2020.........especially in the second half of the season when their defense improved dramatically. Both Phillips and Butler(and Star Lotulelei and Trent Murphy and on and on) were grossly overpaid. But let's not get revisionist with Phillips...........he was a total no-buy-in, non-factor in Arizona.........he was signed to be a run plugger in their 34 front and made no attempt to do that job. The Bills know he plays run D like he's 250# gap shooter and not his listed 350# or so.........so they just let him be a penetrator and that's why they've been the ones to get the most from him.

Yeah that's not a great example of him being a dirty player...........but he is never the least bit concerned that he may cheap shot someone. If it won't draw a flag there is no restraint with him. Example: for most players there is a difference between a peanut punch and punching someone like you are in a street fight.......there is a measured restraint...........Watt isn't afraid to punch another player full force in the junk if he misses. I'd be good with him on my team but as an opposing player I don't wish him well and I've always felt that he and JJ were roided up on another level than the average NFL player so these type of injuries eventually happen to heavy juicers, IMO.

In other news from that game..........Trubisky still sucks.

Yep and when he was given some 1 tech snaps in Buffalo he basically stood up straight and was on skates........worthless........he wasn't too interested in doing any of that grunt work. He played on the nose some at Oklahoma but his projection as a NT coming into the league was based mostly on his weight. Jordan Davis is a lot like Phillips physically.........I will be surprised if Davis turns into the great run stopper projected either. It's harder work for players that tall to play with leverage inside. They both got those track legs too......not the stumps like a Ted Washington.

Yeah I know. He's terrible as a blitzer. Greg Rousseau and AJ Epenesa don't look like they would have any success as blitzers either. Most impactful performance against a good opponent in the regular season in Edmunds career was probably the game at San Fran in 2020.........and that's one of the few times they've used him on the LOS. Playing off the ball is just way too much post-snap thinking for Tremaine for him to be able to make plays.

Oh yeah.......he certainly hasn't been able to blitz. He's built to play close to the LOS and rush the passer but even if he had been trained for that not all good pass rushers are good at blitzing.

You are just jealous that you didn't start this thread............and you would have put in some of your "you know what's scary about this?" goofiness.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coconuts-kill-more-sharks/

I remember being in shock when the Niners traded Haley to Dallas. Those Bills were a big preseason favorite like these Bills....and just like that a rising NFC power got MUCH better just weeks before the season. By losing 2 SB's.......the Bills had proven that they really needed that kind of guy........with the rings and big game arrogance to push their roster over the top. And somehow the Bills were so "not in" on Haley that the Niners had to trade him in conference to their biggest traditional rival and team their fanbase absolutely despised the most. For just what were obviously going to be very late 2nd and 3rd round picks! This is definitely where McBeane are on a different level than that asshat Polian with their "growth mindset" mentality. Losing and the subsequent media criticism only further entrenched Polian into not improving areas of the roster that were rightfully blamed by fans and media for losing. McBeane would have identified the fact that they had A LOT to gain from adding a ring carrying superstar pass rusher and all around badass to a defense that got stage fright in SB's and was a bit soft post-Leonard Smith.

In the day after media session with McD the media was like "we all drafted James Cook on our fantasy teams........don't you think that fumble was no big deal and you just gotta' put him right back in there"............and McD was "oh sure fellas........and also maybe he can earn playing time". Long frustrated Isaiah McKenzie fans know what that word means. I think our resident fantasy football RB fans and coddlers of early draft picks both might have to open themselves up to the possibility that Cook is closer to a spot in the doghouse than he is to becoming the RB1 anytime this season.

It wasn't the play that I chose to base my argument about avoiding contact on. I simply noted it was part of a beating he took in that game and someone else tried to use that as proof that there is no way possible for him to avoid a ton of violent hits every game. But there is a way..........other QB's do it. There were numerous examples of plays in the Rams game where he ran the ball and was taken down hard/awkwardly. I don't think he had a single slide or soft landing on any of his 10 runs. Overall probably the most hard mileage he's ever put on without getting concussed in any game in his career. It's lost in the celebration but it's notable that nothing was easy for him on the ground......every run was violently contested. Even the stiff arm run he ended up landing hard.

Cook is unique to the Bills offense but it's unique in the kinda' way that McKenzie is unique to the Bills offense. Doesn't mean that it's going to translate to much production or that it's even a net positive to have them on the field instead of a "less unique" option. As I've said..........the idea of Cook sounds a lot better than it is likely to translate to the field............putting Cook on the field takes Singletary off of it..........and the bar for being better than Singletary might not be Alvin Kamara/Christian McCaffrey-high but it is higher than it is credited as by a lot of fans.

Well.........the Niners had beaten the Rams something like 6 times in a row until they lost that battle of attrition to them in the NFC championship game last year.............so with 5 months to prepare was it not to be totally expected that they would steal tactics from a team that dominates the Rams? What we should see this season in general though is A LOT more nuance in the run game...........BD treated run plays like necessary body blows.......there didn't seem to be much expectation and they ended up getting too many meh results because of that mentality and lack of attention to detail, IMO. With Dorsey and Kromer I expect plays to be run differently than teams expect.........we saw it in preseason........the line was blurred between outside zone and inside zone with regard to target points for RB's. This challenges defenses to adjust mid-play. There was far too much pitch and catch in the Bills run game last year.........they blocked the play the way it was drawn up and the defense ran to where the play was drawn up and that lead to a lot of unsuccessful run plays. With most of the league seemingly trying to use that west coast/Shanahan outside zone running game...........and so many teams with so little experience at it.........I anticipate we will see a lot of teams disappointed in the result they get. Defense's are going to be used to defending those plays the way they are drawn up and inexperienced offense's are going to run them the way they are drawn up.