BADOLBILZ

No, I guess you will have explain to me how Beasley has not been more productive than Crowder in 3 of the last 4 seasons? He's literally had more catches and yards receiving than Crowder in 3 of the last 4 seasons. And obviously the last two. Just how far back do you want to go back to give the oft-injured Crowder credit for still being the same player he was? 1 season was fair. 2 seasons was decisive. I mean if you go all the way back to 2016 he and Tavon Austin put up over 1300 combined yards! Time in a bottle, baby! Yep.......Tavon Austin, Duke Johnson and Greg Mancz to the Jets for Breece Hall and a 3rd..........who says, no? Amirite @IronMaidenBills? Or are we afraid to face Tavon twice per year?

I'd settle for a 3rd. The reality is that the Bills outside WR options are: 1200 yard Diggs 550 yard Davis 28 yard Kumerow 578 yards is one of the lowest returning production 2+3 option combo's in the league. The Bills have a very distinct set of outside and slot receivers........on an increasing amount of teams there is a 3rd or 4th option who has the size and speed traits to succeed outside but also with the quickness to have potential in the slot. This is what the Bills clearly lack. When you weigh that with the reality that Davis has not yet proven he can get it done for 17 games without someone picking up half the slack or more.........this is why the Bills don't have an elite WR corps any longer. They are, on paper, clearly lesser than they were at this point last season. By about 700 yards of production on the outside.

Ok.......well Crowder has also missed 4 games per season on average due to injuries in those last 4 years. He's not been durable. Beasley, on the other hand, has missed just 2 games to injury and (like Gabe Davis) he missed one simply because he wasn't vaxed so he wasn't eligible to play(get your facts straight on that). It's a lot like the Rodger Saffold situation.........they traded availability risk to save money.........which they then mostly invested in giving 4 DL starting caliber contracts(Miller, Jones, Settle, Phillips). If you think Sanders was meh...........ok.........but his "meh" regular season was more receiving yardage than any other receiver currently on the roster had in 2021 other than Diggs. That's the point. They did not replace production. Sanders actually produced more than Davis in the regular season. Davis battled a foot injury in the first half so it turned out to be very fortuitous that they had that kind of production available. Jake Kumerow isn't that kind of option......you are just being willfully ignorant if you can't acknowledge that. I'm not missing the Kromer variable at all. Big Kromer fan. Hoping for the best. But the flip side is that there has been a lot of turnover in the offensive coaching staff in general. New OL coach, new QB coach, new OC. I hope for the best but anyone who doesn't think they were better positioned to repeat their success with the continuity of the staff that lead their dynamic 2020 offense is living in denial. There is an uncertainty there that didn't exist going into 2021. I'm not a fan in general of giving a new staff a lesser investment in offense. Which is most certainly the direction they've gone.

Yeah I think the lazy evaluation is to just assume that everything will fall into place and all ceiling reached because the Bills have Josh Allen. That's what you are going to get from national talking heads, IMO. What I see is a back 3-4 group that hasn't shown the ceiling to provide relief in the event of an injury to the top 2-3. If you know the significance of the numbers, there isn't a guy who you think, "this guy could put up a 700 yard season" if Davis or Diggs goes down for extended periods. It's a matchup league and that's what people forget in the offseason. Can guys like Kumerow get open against starting NFL CB's? On an individual basis this is a low ceiling group of reserves. Now one player could change that........but right now they are very thin on the outside, in particular.

Beasley has been more productive than Crowder in 3 of the last 4 seasons..........in the NFL it's about what you've done lately. Crowder got a cheap deal because he's declined the last 2 seasons. They didn't replace Sanders..........Davis was already there..........the question is can Davis stay healthy for a season, he has been limited for stretches by foot injuries his first two seasons.........and he also is an anti-vaxer and missed the Bills biggest regular season game last season due to Covid.........Covid will still sideline players this season. Last season at this time Daryl Williams was coming off a tremendous season where he was a top 5 starting RT in the NFL. He shut down TJ Watt in their matchup in 2020. Feliciano was seen as a solid starter/tone setter and Boettger had been good as a reserve in 2020. Bates was their cherished backup at center. Ford hadn't totally fallen off of a cliff like he did in 2021. On paper they looked pretty good, it's not a notably better OL in that regard than the one that ended up as the league worst in combined sacks and pressures allowed in 2021. They could end up being a lot better but signing a swing tackle who gave up the most sacks in the league(Quessenberry, 11) didn't really change that dynamic much.

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.