BADOLBILZ

If the argument is that the Bills WR room is very weak on paper after Diggs and Davis..........agreed........too thin for a team that expects to play a 20 game season. But Tavon Austin hasn't had an impact in an NFL offense since 2016. The definition of a "camp body" is much different since NFL practice squad rosters were expanded to include veterans during Covid. Austin was brought in as an emergency option if there are injuries..........he is exactly the kind of washed up vet that a team would sign in a pinch after multiple injuries or Covid test fails in the season.........so it make sense to bring him in now and let him learn the offense with the anticipation that he will be on the PS if things don't fall apart in preseason. Like I said, the Bills receiving corps is not as deep as it should be so it's not impossible that he makes the roster but I'd be LESS surprised if he retired between now and then than if he made the 53 coming out of camp.

Austin has been in Buffalo for a week, hasn't put on pads and and hasn't done anything of note in his entire 9 year NFL career.......even less since 2016......an absolute "draft bust".......but it feels different this time?

The Bills are the Super Bowl favorite............but not a typical one.........I believe they are seen as having only a 7% chance of winning the SB by Vegas because the field is much more competitive than many years. The point being that the Bills odds are not so great that they should totally eschew developing young players as reserves in the chase of the Lombardi this season. They need some young players in development who, ideally, can eventually fill starting roles.........ALONG with some veterans.

Speak for yourself.

He's correct, you are wrong. All you pointed out is the obvious fact that they are basically going to roster the same amount of offensive players. They LITERALLY lessened their 2022 cap investment offensively to make room for more defense. They replaced Beasley's 700 yards of production with the cheaper 450 yard Jamison Crowder. They replaced the more versatile but more expensive 16 game starter Daryl Williams with the cheaper, but less reliably available Rodger(learn the spelling) Saffold. Emmanuel Sanders was let go and his 625 yards receiving was not replaced with anything comparable.........they just hope to squeeze an extra 600 yards out of rookie-contract Gabe Davis or maybe from their RB/TE room. The TE group is the only one they really "added" pro talent to offensively.........and that was a very modest investment in a prove-it deal for OJ Howard. The draft value chart was again HEAVILY in favor of the defensive side as well.

I agree........if they miss on the QB pick after deferring the decision in 2017..........they likely don't even make it to 2020. That opinion may piss some people off.........but all it really says is that most regimes are only as good as their QB. The Patriots dominated the NFL for the better part of 2 decades with no better than a middling track record with regard to personnel. Being successful doesn't necessarily prove that you've been broadly efficient wrt your roster. I will say that the 2018 draft was excellent and that they've had excellent results with their round 1 picks (including getting Diggs). The pro personnel work has been extremely ineffective. Like I said, hopefully this UFA class pays better dividends. But if not, they may still remain a top team for some time. When you have a great QB and your coaching/training staffs are strong, your team is going to have a high floor.

Bruce didn't play a lot against him so probably didn't come to mind as readily. He did whip Jumbo for a sack/safety in SBXXV that Hostetler somehow didn't fumble.

I will say this...........there was no love lost between Boselli and Bruce. I saw every snap of #78's career and never saw any LT matchup as well against Bruce as Boselli. Boselli was also an extremely mean SOB and big time trash talker. He was incredibly unlikeable...........but I gotta' say, as much as I hated seeing him lined up across from Bruce....... Boselli passed the eye test as a HOF'er to me. Because when healthy he was a top 10 ever LT, IMO. Webb and Armstrong were outstanding but just good enough that they really NEEDED to play for a long time to separate themselves from the Hall of Very Good. Boselli was notably better IMO.

On November 20, 2000.......as a Redskin.......Bruce put up 3 sacks(including a safety) against Orlando Pace. It would be a bit self-serving to talk up Pace after he had done that to him.

If that helped you feel better about that loss back then, then good for you...........the result was not changed...........when you do something that looks like a penalty in real time, every time.........EXPECT a penalty. And let me clarify something for you.........when "the league" determines a penalty was incorrectly called.........that's a small group of officials(perhaps just one)..........not really "the league" as a whole. Their opinion on the forcible aspect and that penalty in general might be different today.......as it was in the initial days after the call.

The league can tell you whatever you want to hear after the fact...........because they can review it and parse out things like intent and how "forcible" the contact was. But if it's a penalty in real time EVERY time you do it........it's a penalty. It's still a penalty in the record books RIGHT NOW. Look at the gif of the play above your post. Do you think that goes uncalled EVER in a game in 2021 or 2022? Of course not. The rule was the same in 2019.

You see a player do this to a Bills defender in 2022 I guarantee you that you are screaming for a flag.

To me........the grip in throwing a baseball is a big issue with the ulnar nerve. It's very closed and focuses torque into the upper forearm. I still pitch BP to kids in youth baseball and my forearm is aching like an SOB after just 50-60 full force pitches or less. The wide open grip on the football seems to put A LOT less torque on the forearm. I have never felt that pain in the forearm throwing a football.

Gems.

He's been discussed here as an option for the Bills quite a few times over the years.........fits the high RAS profile that they have a lot of. Did not fare well in the drinking contest. Not leadership material. Solid backup though.

Only because it was later deemed "not forcible"..........which again, is not something you can realistically expect to be litigated in-game. A potentially dangerous shot like that is going to be called every time it's seen........just like contact to a QB's helmet..........which is why, "forcible" or not........you don't see this play not getting flagged in the NFL anymore.........and you rarely see anyone try it. Apologies a week later don't do you any good in the standings............things like not putting your hands in the region of the QB's helmet to prevent getting a penalty for what may later be deemed incidental contact or just reaching out with your arms and blocking someone instead of leading with your head or a shoulder are rather obvious choices.

I thought maybe you were sub-illuminating @Docthere. I actually thought Saffold was turning 35 at some point this year........the recent birthday mentions are why I knew. Yeah he's old and he was in and out of the lineup so much last year I think it made it easy for the Titans to cut bait. In signing a guy like that the Bills really need to plan on having one of the backups being capable of playing half a season worth of snaps.

It was "a flat out" correct call.......by the literal letter of the law. He left his feet to throw a shoulder block high into a defender. After 3 years of it being the rule we all know it's a penalty every time. That was just the first season where the league was calling it.......and as fans tend to do with new rules......Bills fans were still expecting refs to litigate intent. That isn't their job. It was just a dumb and ultimately season killing play by a player whose proven over and over to never be up to the task mentally.

Correct, he missed about 5 games worth of snaps last season going in and out of the lineup with the chronic shoulder issue. But he's not 32.........he recently turned 34.

Parrino last week. It was a bit of discouraging news that matched the scouting report from the former Tampa guy who came on Marino's podcast to talk about him right after he signed.

Don't get too excited about OJ Howard........he reportedly looked washed in OTA's. Couldn't get open. No burst out of his breaks. Which is consistent with what some of the Tampa Bay observers were saying about him.

He was good enough at LT in 2016 that a lot of people were thinking the Bills should move Cordy Glenn to RT in 2017. Really good, especially in pass pro. Kujo just couldn't play the right side because of that knee. Then he had the nervous breakdown or whatever where he was found naked on the highway. Then he got baptized in Lake Erie and he must have chosen a non-"process" denomination because the McBills cut him that day.

If Lot Lizzards looked like that we wouldn't have a national driver shortage.

Another dominating performance.........18-4 win over Cubs. Matt Carpenter has been a great addition......has looked like near-peak Cardinals version........always had a perfect Yankee stadium swing in those years. Best run differential in baseball...........almost 20% more HR than the next closes team in MLB(Atlanta)........and biggest divisional lead despite playing in toughest division. The fewest amount of runs allowed thru 60 games in Yankees team history. Next 13 games are all against the next 3 best teams in the AL.

Fortune didn't shine on Bill Belichick in his first HC job with the Browns...........he inherited a bad QB situation and didn't get any breaks to fix it...........then the organization went into complete turmoil the summer before his last season and he got fired at the end of the season. And he's arguably the greatest HC in NFL history. So some successful people aren't always lucky. Doug Whaley had similar misfortune getting a job with no QB.........having the outgoing GM pick the QB in a bad draft for QB's..........and then not being allowed any control over the 3 HC decisions and even more schemes he had to build for. Fortune was a huge boost to the McBeane regime. As for your second point..........the players that McBeane identified as the most important leaders were actually Eric Wood and LeSean McCoy. Two vocal guys who, combined, spoke to everyone in the locker room. The guys who just go about their business and the potential locker room litigators. Both got paid that summer to pimp "the process". I don't think they needed much input from players to decide who to move on from. The template they used was very clear........anyone with contractual leverage was a threat to "The Process". That's why it was all the talented young core that they let go. It wasn't about quality of character. It's just easier to get people without options to do exactly what they are asked to.