BADOLBILZ

Oh I blame the offense...........the discussion point was Edmunds lack of big plays thru 3+ seasons and why. If you are going to respond, read the posts that precede it or stay under your rock. Oh I don't care about that point so it doesn't matter that the Steelers created 4 or 5 turnover opportunities with their defense and ST's despite the Bills offense playing in favorable communicating situations for 4 quarters. 😉

I assumed Allen was still working on this. Instead he and Palmer just talked about improving on "in breaking" routes.........which are sure tightass throws when defenses are squatting on you and the field is congested with 7 pass defenders. The guy has one of the very strongest arms the game has ever seen..........being good at the deep ball should be a HUGE priority.

You can't win turnover differential with a ZERO in your column. But good to see we have a turnover differential truther on the board...........takes wrong people to make for debate.

I agree on the Allen throw. I had flashbacks to Sanders running wide open in the SB against the Chiefs and Jimmy G overthrowing him. I have been critical of Allen for those deep throws from the jump. He's gotta' put more air under it.........but when you're receiving corps is on the smaller side and doesn't have that extra gear to go get an other throw like the Bills WR corps is........he has to be reasonably accurate and that starts with better trajectory. But is the idea that Edmunds doesn't make big plays even debatable anymore? Turnovers are such a critical function of good defense.........there is *some* randomness in high numbers of turnovers but they are generally a function of good pressure/coverage/awareness..........so when you generate zero in an environment like that it's unacceptable.

Can I make it ANY CLEARER.........turnovers. The most decisive stat in the game..........and they lost that battle. The defense produced none despite the opposing offense playing in the roar of a jet engine for most of the game. Man there are some dense people on this board. When defensive coaches preach about "tips and overthrows" what they are saying is remain alert and attentive to the football until the whistle is blown. The Bills defense has gotten into a habit of not doing that. Edmunds has NEVER done it. It adds up..........people who still at this point think that it's a statistical anomaly that he doesn't make big plays are just being absurd.

Yeah Buffalo dominated them statistically but by the same token the Bills defense got a MAJOR assist from the crowd. It was deafening at times. On a neutral field the Steelers have much more success moving the football, IMO. It was a terrible waste of a huge homefield advantage.

C'mon dude.........they allowed 24 pressures.........there wasn't much time to throw the ball downfield. Daboll's solution to teams squatting on their empty backfield stuff is to hope that they can either dink and dunk their way efficiently thru it with perfect execution or make a very low % completion throw. I pointed this out when the Packers backups got the Bills first string offense into 3rd and 20 two weeks ago and Allen had to make an other-worldly throw to Davis for the TD to prevent being stopped by scrubs. Empty backfield football is dink and dunk football............you can say it has a place........but that place is as a change of pace not as half of your ***** snaps.

It was yards per play. When you bring defenders into the box you create more space for your receivers downfield. More space = RAC opportunities..........instead of every catch being followed by an immediate and violent tackle for no additional yardage. They have spent a fortune on veteran WR's who specialize at getting separation..........boxing them in with 5 options in the pattern and flooding the field with pass defenders and getting them beaten to a pulp on short passes is not the best use of the $ and draft pick compensation expended on Diggs, Beasley and Sanders.

I watched it live and I watched the replay from the reverse angle seconds later. There is always an excuse with Edmunds...........and never a big, game changing play. The Bills defense in general needs to be a bit more frenetic........when they were sharp and opportunistic early in 2017 under McDermott that was the style that made them better than the sum of their parts.

3. Tremaine still doesn't play thru the whistle.........he let up on a play where the ball was tipped and the delayed reaction cost him a much better chance of intercepting the ball. He always seems caught off guard when opportunity knocks. The big plays are what they need to start getting from him.

He meant Bo Levi Wallace. Think he might be a CFL fan. Or SMU.

As I responded to Happless...........they can solve it by using a RB in the backfield and/or extra blockers. Josh Allen likes to hold the football............3 pass rushers will get to him in an empty backfield set from time to time if he holds the football the way he does when he has 11 or 12 personnel on the field on the field. You wanna' move the football in 5 wide you gotta' be willing and able to dink and dunk............holding the ball for 4 seconds before throwing isn't congruent with that style.

They ran more 11 than anything and were very productive at it but if I recall correctly they were most explosive in the pass game out of 12 personnel. Time (to throw) and space(to get open). The concept works the same way with the running game............when you overload the line of scrimmage with blockers you really don't make yourself more effective running the football........there is a tipping point where you over-congest the LOS, give your RB nowhere to run and make it so unlikely that you will pass that it allows the defense to sell out for the run. Empty backfield is that point in the passing game.

@Chandler#81 @CSBill @Sammy Watkins' Rib Y'all still disagree about the empty backfield/5 wide approach turning your offense into dink-and-dunk? @GunnerBill said he disagreed to an extent because in theory the Bills would have a matchup advantage against the extra DB's.........but as evidenced today the reality is that the lack of time to throw and the congestion of the field consistently negates the perceived "on paper" individual matchup edge.

Despite being paved with explosive intentions........the 5 wide, empty-backfield course is by nature a dink and dunk approach to offensive football. Allen took some deep shots........but they were mostly covered and he was harried.........because deep plays take time to develop and in empty backfield the DL can pin their ears back and just attack the QB. Even if he took more check downs..........that's more opportunities to get receivers blasted and have the ball dislodged or tipped into heavy traffic by a squatting back 7...........and, as we found out today, more opportunities for officials to re-discover the holding penalties they had shelved last season. Not the best way to put a lot of points on the board.

What they can do is run the ball enough or at least keep a back in to play action fake and/or block to both take the starch out of the pass rush and provide help when they spring a leak. Empty sets all day make it more challenging to pass block.........days like this........against a team that's put up 50+ sacks 4 straight years.......the OL needs some assistance from their coordinator.

The empty backfield 5-wide dink and dunk ***** just has to go. Daboll made it very easy on Keith Butler. The threat of the run and the extra pass blocker are worth a lot more to a guy who likes to hold the ball like Josh Allen than running Devin Singletary out to the X receiver where he is not a pass receiving option that has to be taken seriously. 50 passes for 5 yards per attempt........sheesh........might as well just run the ball up the middle all day like Marrone year 1..........that's punchless offensive football.

A pay cut in exchange for guaranteeing his salary wasn't a win for Lotulelei.........he was coerced into taking less money(most likely with the threat being release). Guaranteeing his salary was basically a good faith assurance that they would not then still release him at a later date........because it wouldn't benefit the team to do so. By opting out he took his ball and went home on the age 31 season the Bills were willing to accept at a discount.........and instead gave them the option of taking his age 32 season........which they clearly were not planning to have.

Great start to the football weekend! Now Go Bills!

Yeah, it makes no sense if you buy his reason for opting out. But it makes a lot of sense if you are talking about someone who was embittered by being coerced into a pay cut and decided he could take or leave ever suiting up for that team again and was only concerned about getting every penny he can without having to earn it.

Important to note he didn't bail Beane out........he took a modest pay cut to stay with the team in exchange for guaranteeing salary...........which blew up in Beane's face when the league decided months later to let players opt out and have their 2020 contract terms extended to the 2021 season and 2021 into 2022 etc.. In pushing him into a pay cut it was made pretty clear that he was not in the plans for 2021.........but here we are with $12M in cap hit still unamortized. He didn't report to any activities this offseason because he had already been paid for that part of his contract in 2020..........including workout bonuses that he didn't actually earn but the league and NLFPA agreed to pay. That total was about $900K. Then he got $350K in found money for opting out. He milked the system for all he possibly could.......showed bad faith this past offseason staying away until attendance was mandatory.......and has done the bare minimum to get all of his remaining money.

And in the early 90's, yes.

I remember hearing stories about the workers at Foxboro dreading the arrival of Bills fans and comparing it to an invasion of Huns. The fanbase was totally obnoxious to opposing fans at that point. The worst part of the Patriots fanbase is that they were heavy bandwagonners............very few real Pats fans existed prior to them winning MULTIPLE SB's.

You should also doubt his impact on the defense. But the rest of your post illustrates the laundry list of issues with Star. Last year people were chastised for questioning why he opted out.........getting covid could easily kill a man with such underlying conditions!.......even though the proof of such was one seemingly false test he had in the draft process that showed something irregular with his heart that subsequent tests did not. OK sure, you might have an underlying condition......okay what are you gonna' say? Then he blows off all non-mandatory OTA's......displeasing the organization that supported him and welcomed him back..........well, ya' know can't risk getting Covid right? Finally shows up.......unvaccinated..........making the fears for his life or that of family members seem like a load of BS. As the list goes on his defenders keep backpedaling to defend each lack of availability..........they are running out of real estate at this point.

Like I said........if he goes on IR that will be $40M down the tubes on Star Lotulelei for two unproductive seasons of 45% snaps from the 1 tech position. Larry Triplett cost the Bills like $11M in bonus and salary over 2 seasons before he was cut so do your homework or stay out of the comp business........that's an embarrassing effort. Dockery is literally the only competition..........but he was cut because of salary and was immediately signed for good money elsewhere. As @Coach Tuesday said...........Star Lotulelei is an albatross..........a burden.........if he were cut he's out of the league. People expecting this guy to elevate the games of 2 former first rounders? It's utter nonsense. A fairy tale. A half interested Damon Harrison is far better than whatever Star has been for Buffalo...........and Snacks is a free agent and was on practice squads last year.