BADOLBILZ

You draft primarily for the long run.........the immediate needs should be addressed with pro personnel. I suspect they will pursue a stud interior OL and probably make another run at Gronk and then settle for a decent journeyman to back up Knox and then probably going back to the TE in round 3 or 4 (it's a good TE draft). WR should be a high priority in the draft, IMO. It's not an explosive group. Extremely low YAC. And with Beasley and Sanders likely gone(IMO).........and Gabe not yet putting together a full season of production........it's an immediate need as well.

It was a good win and an especially great day for the QB. But they still aren't blocking well in the run game and the defense can't get to the QB and remains too vulnerable in run defense.........which allowed a pretty feeble Patriots offense to convert 5 4th downs and produce a couple epic long drives and 3 TD's against them. They are playing with more intensity sure..........but they aren't yet totally rounded into top form. But after watching them steamroll teams for the last two months of the regular season in 2020.......and then struggle to be close to the same offensive team in the playoffs last year..........I'm not going to get too concerned about what they aren't just yet. Just keep improving......get there.....and get hot.

Daboll has made reference to this in the past. I think that changes this year. With the amount of great young QB talents as there are in the AFC the Bills can't really afford to do the Green Bay thing where they have drafted defense in round 1 almost every year for a decade.

As disappointing as it was for the Bills to pass up on a QB in 2017..........and in doing so trade a great one to a team in-conference that had been narrowly beating us and knocking the Bills down a peg almost annually ever since Andy Reid arrived............Allen has really exceeded even my very high expectations for him as a regular season QB.

On one hand you claim that I am expecting the impossible from Edmunds. On the other you say that a great player could make a difference there. The fact is that physically Edmunds IS that great player. Mentally, he is a journeyman special teamer/off-ball LB. I smh at all the people on this site who watch extraordinarily instinctive players like Hyde, Poyer and White perform at levels well above what their physical numbers indicate they should be able to. None of them would be out of place on an All Pro team in any year since they've been here. But at the same time Edmunds is CLEARLY less than the sum of his extraordinary physical attributes and people want to shout down that notion............while often at the same time saying he's not an extraordinary player. I can only say so many times that he's a top 10-12 ILB/MLB in the NFL.......I've never said he's bad he's just been very underwhelming for a guy with that much physical talent. If him not turning into a game changing, playmaking performer is OK with you then that's fine if you want to own that. Not me.

The Jets had a big game at the Raiders late in 2002 and down 6 points with 4 seconds on the clock and his foot planted on the 50 yard line as he stepped up into a clean pocket..........he couldn't even attempt a hail mary pass for his lack of arm strength..........instead he floated a duck 40 yards down the middle of the field for an incompletion to sink the Jets. That play was an eye opener for a lot of NFL fans who had thought the intelligent and accurate Chad Pennington was Joe Montana 2.0.

No but being in the right place to prevent the big play is the foundation the Bills defense is built on. They sacrifice small gains to achieve this all day. A very instinctive LB knows what that defensive alignment is vulnerable to........recognizes that the Patriots have a dangerous play called by the movement of the OL and the realization that it's a run play...........thinks like a RB at the hand-off and is available to help prevent a 30 yard run not washed off into a pile on the other side of the formation. Edmunds just doesn't think quick enough on his feet to put himself in position to make plays. People point to the Bills coaching staff praising his play as proof that he's doing everything that they want...........well you can't just tell someone to think faster and see the field clearer..........all they can do is keep feeding him information and hope that thru experience he develops a greater awareness. Around 70 games into his career it's getting past the point where you can just expect it though.

Yeah I'm fully anticipating a re-match with NE in the wild card round............and for there to be several people on this board who start panic threads to complain that it's not fair!

It will be interesting to see if Mac can improve his arm strength and athleticism. If not........he's Chad Pennington 2.0. That was a very comfy QB purgatory for Jets fans in the early 2000's.......but significantly less in the QB-robust NFL of today.

Oh I'm always open to it...........but anyone who doesn't even understand that many of the great individual plays you see on the field are the result of in-play adjustments is likely too narrow minded to provide much perspective. The fact that you call it "ad libbing".........which implies unpreparedness..........says it all. The key to looking instinctive is quickly identifying all of the possibilities.....which starts with preparedness..........and then choosing the best play to make.

The Bills haven't really put together a great game on both sides of the ball in some time. The offense was great yesterday but the defense gave up five 4th down conversions and yielded some very long drives and 3 TD's to a pretty punchless Patriots offense. Lot's of room for improvement there.

Oh we got a weak one here.......

This concept is very hard for a lot of the Edmunds apologists to reconcile. They are so caught up trying to be the polar opposite of the "Edmunds sucks" contingent that they don't realize that the answer is in the middle. He's the most physically talented MLB in the NFL. The size and athleticism combo is pretty unique. So being a top 10-12 MLB/ILB.........a devalued position.........is still a considerable underachievement.

No, that's not it. Nickel has been the official base defense of the NFL for years now.

Yep. Levi Wallace did too. Fortunately it wasn't one of those days where they needed plays made because the offense was scoring or burying the Pats against their own goal line on every drive. McDermott deserves a ton of credit for not just trusting his defense because it wasn't gonna' be their day if he did.

We are in total agreement on this so thou doth protest far too much. He WOULD be a superstar if he had the skills that would be defined as "instinctive" though. But hey, when the Bills D is playing the Patriots O..........if you are pleased that the most physically talented player on the field for either team is performing "above average" in a league where his position is greatly de-valued...........then you are free to love how that's paying off.

If there is one thing that opponents can count on with the Bills defense..........it's that Edmunds will be right where they expect him to be. He might hesitate a bit or take a poor angle, use bad technique or miss a tackle............but that's just a bonus because the important part is that he will always respond to what the offensive coordinator wants him to. Nothing more. There is no more physically gifted MLB in the NFL than Edmunds but a great MLB is also a reflection of the RB in the run game.........he anticipates the weaknesses in the front and anticipates the decisions the RB will make. Edmunds isn't that. He's an edge athlete playing MLB.

What he didn't do is recognize the potential cut back coming.........and that's a feel/instinct thing. Edmunds doesn't make plays because he lacks to ability to process and anticipate.........he's the embodiment of checker player at MLB. That hokey-pokey he played with the Pats RB in pass pro where the scrub just ran a circle around him allowing feeble Mac to hit him for a first down was another Edmunds gem. If he had the instincts of AJ Klein he'd be an NFLDPOY candidate.

Morse has had so many concussion issues he really can't afford to play that way. If he starts cleaning up piles in the open field someone is going to hit him from behind with a running start like Dawkins had........and then it's career over for Mitch. I would like to see the rest of the OL be a lot more aggressive with regard to pushing the pile forward when RB's get stood up though. This has become a way teams are gaining a lot of extra yards in the run game now that it's been established as legal to push a ball carrier forward for some time now. Our OL is not one of the more aggressive units in the league when it comes to this. Lotta' standing around in these situations.

I was totally unsurprised it was picked up. This season we are seeing a ton of plays where QB's are faking that they are stepping out and then using their "touch immunity" to tip toe for extra yards. Just putting your hands on the QB on the sideline isn't going to be an auto-foul any longer. Hughes tried to hold him up.........Jones slid to the ground trying to draw a flag. Play was called correctly. It was a standard officiated game........sometimes you get the benefit of a few calls and sometimes you have to make a few plays to overcome a few calls.....but almost NEVER does officiating keep the decisively better performing team from winning and a lot of you would enjoy football more if you understood this fact. If anyone in NE thinks they got jobbed.........what they should feel is lucky that the Bills failed to turn a couple more drives into TD's. They DOMINATED the Patriots defense. The Pats were lucky to come out of it only giving up 32.

That is incorrect. Beasley has a $7.6M cap hit in 2022.......but that becomes only a $1.5M dead cap if released after this season but prior to the start of the new league year. Given the distraction he's been........and yes, you likely don't run up around $100k in protocol violation fines without irritating management.........and his ghastly ypc production this year...........I'd say it's better than 50/50 he's slated for dismissal soon after the season.

You might get a few extra yards here and there but make no mistake........there is no more dependent position on the field than RB. Barry Sanders once had 13 carries for 0 yards in a playoff game. Derrick Henry last two playoff games(both losses): 18 for 40 yards 19 for 69 yards (and -8 receiving yards) Having a star RB in today's game takes the ball out of the most impactful player's hands too often.

It wasn't a hold though. You can be pushed to the ground if you get out-leveraged without it automatically being a hold. Now the clean-up job on JC Jackson is another story.........but at least that was in the context of the play. Dawkins did a really good job of moving his man without grabbing yesterday.......couple great blocks that were entirely open handed.......which is rare to see with ANY OL anymore.

I think he grew up with a father who was a NY sports fan. The couple years he spent ST with the Yankees weren't random either. I think he's wanted to be a star athlete in NY. And as far as choosing a good team...........it's not 2012 anymore........there are A LOT of really good QB's in the league now so it's not like you get to pick among a number of otherwise talented and well ran organizations to be traded to. Brady played out his deal and he had 2 good options with SF and Tampa when he hit UFA. Rodgers and Wilson aren't UFA's.........the teams that they go to are going to have to sacrifice talent to get them.