BADOLBILZ

Phillips has been less successful in later years? His Denver defense that beat McD's Panthers 11 months before he took the Bills job was great. The 2018 Rams defense played well enough to win that SB versus NE as well. Yes.......he's been around........his first #1 defense was with the Saints in 1983 and he had 5 more top 5 defenses between 86'-91' in addition to the time most of us remember him from in the 90's thru today.......but he was still outstanding in recent years. In traditional defensive rankings he's been great. And thru 2017 in the more "modern" measure of DVOA he was still the best DC of the past 25 years(and that didn't count his defenses when he was a HC so not even the best Bills defenses). Schwartz and McD have fielded a lot of bad to mediocre defenses between the two of them. Schwartz first 6 seasons as DC in Tennessee were bad to mediocre, his Detroit D's were bad. McD has had his ups and downs and even got fired for poor performance as DC in Philly.......and replaced by Juan Castillo. McD and Schwartz are good DC's but nowhere near Wade's class and even now I wouldn't take either of their defensive minds or systems over Wade.

Phillips. No question. That system was so adaptable to different opponents. They would frequently stun teams with very different looks without much time to implement them. I remember that Niners game in Buffalo in 1998.........they didn't know what hit them.........they would occasionally switch to a 4-3 and put up dominant performances.......and Wade stunned everyone putting tiny Antoine Winfield on Tony Gonzalez and shutting him down.........he could really mix things up. Phillips is one of the greatest DC's of all time.........he could take over a team with 4-3 or 3-4 personnel and make it work at a high level.........while a guy like Rex had to have certain personnel to run his inflexible system. Schwartz' system was basic and very inflexible and required a bunch of hard to find talent........it's tough to sustain. McDermott's system needs to become more diverse. If the only way to do that is to try to find a unicorn to play big nickel then it's not ideal. Need the "growth mindset" to apply to the defense as well.

I won't even be watching live on TV. It's not really very entertaining.......I will just DVR it and watch the Bills picks. Enjoy watching like 30 hours of commercials, human interest stories and chimpanzees making picks on day 3........I predict the highlight of the broadcast will be the "Trade A-lert major traaade A-lert" moments, brought to you by Wendy's, of course.

Ted Rogers punched out before Ralph did (and before Jon Bon Jovi was involved). I am sure Rogers assumed he was going to outlive Ralph.......he was much younger than Ralph........but it didn't work out that way..........and then basically only one of Rogers' numerous heirs had any interest in owning an NFL team. The Rogers fortune got divvyed up leaving the one Rogers kid in a position where he felt he needed a partner......so he took up with Bon Jovi. Ted Rogers wouldn't have needed a partner. It indeed was a very fortuitous series of mortality timing + the energy market for the Bills future in Buffalo.

You have stocked both the IR and practice squad all while managing to set a record for players cut from one draft class. Well done.........if there is a players strike they will be ready.

They switched up their blocking scheme in-season to help streamline their passing game........and the OL talent they had wasn't really acquired for outside zone and not that experienced at it as a unit. I think they will get better with experience in 2021........and maybe the Lamp/Breida adds will help their efficiency some......but I am not envisioning them becoming a top 10 rushing team. Getting in a positive rhythm......as opposed to the handoff/hard tackle at LOS rhythm they were in much of last season would be great but I still think they should rightfully be pass heavy.........so they might have to find a way to be more productive without getting a lot more reps.

If your front office is basing a player selection decision on how many players at that position had already been selected rather than how they stack up against the field............then they are incompetent.

From the start I really didn't like having Antonio Williams even consuming a spot on the PS.........in college he was just a straight ahead runner with no wiggle/nuance to his game who didn't at all fit what the Bills did(successfully with Devin Singletary) in 2019. But they changed their preferred run blocking style.......and the thing about running outside zone is you don't need agile, gifted backs. They gotta' run hard and be decisive. He does that.

Like most of the McBeane successes they failed first and then adjusted and done much better. Beane tried to get by cheap with the OL in 2018........that whole free agent class they brought in was a disaster really..........and then had to throw the kitchen sink at the job to fix it in 2019.........and that lead to a lot of inefficiencies like over-drafting Cody Ford and having to overpay for Morse and a bunch of reserve quality OL in UFA. I think they've honed down the decision making now...........the initial Daryl Williams signing in 2020 was great value and the new deal looks good.......Feliciano deal looks reasonable for the quality of player.........the Forrest Lamp signing is potentially oustanding for the money as well.

I've defended the running backs plenty but to me it started out as almost entirely a blocking problem.......but the blocking got so inefficient and the RB's got so used to getting stoned at the LOS by an unblocked defender(s) that they eventually started anticipating being met at the LOS and stopped hitting the hole as hard.........compounding the issue. You really can't be tentative running outside zone. We got a glimpse of it in the Miami game where Moss was tentative hitting the hole and left some yards on the table early in the game.........and then enter Antonio Williams hitting the hole hard like it's drawn up and some big plays followed. Obviously the Dolphins had one foot out the door during that game but I think we still saw an example of how the impact of months of poor run blocking took it's toll on the individual effort of the RB's. They gotta' clean that up. I am sure they think adding the athletic Forrest Lamp at guard is a very good fit. Obviously Breida is a proven 1-cut runner coming off a down year who projects nicely into the Bills system as well.

28 straight winning seasons........and that not even being a franchise record..........will do that. Pre-pandemic the team was generating $900M in revenue and more than half of that was pure profit.........utterly dwarfing the nickels and dimes most teams make.........in a league without a salary cap.........no reason for them to ever field a losing team so no reason to not feel entitled. The Yanks greedy owner didn't want to cross the luxury tax line and share $10M-$15M with the rest of the league so he decided not to let the front office make necessary changes.

Big deal........a few fans threw baseballs at a baseball game to show disgust with a season of pathetic effort and intensity. Stop fouling pitches off swinging for the downs when one whole half of the infield is wide open........and start squaring them up.......and they wouldn't have those baseballs in the first place. Now throwing rubber johnsons on the field..........that's harder to explain.

Stop me if you've heard this before: Preston Brown lead the NFL in tackles playing the same position for McDermott in 2017.

The shoulder excuse plays for tackling..........though he injured it blowing a tackle in the first place.........but it doesn't really excuse the results against the pass. Teams just started taking advantage of his lack of instincts and the fact that he just didn't make plays on the ball in the air in his first two seasons. In 3 years in the NFL he has proven that the worst thing that can happen when you throw at him is the ball ends up falling incomplete.

Oh it's not that he just isn't good against the run...........he had a horrendous 114.3 passer rating against last year. He was probably worse against the pass than the run. So no, the problem with the thread has nothing to do with expecting him to be a great run defender.

Travis Etienne is likely closer to Kenneth Davis than he is a superstar from an era when it was harder to run the ball like Faulk or Thomas. We need to accept the reality that the type of athletes that played the RB position 25 years ago aren't signing up to play RB anymore.........and it's not a new development............they followed the money to more lucrative positions in the passing game on offense or rushing the passer or at CB.

I love the ball skills that Marshall has for a big receiver. He tracks the ball, adjusts, keeps his stride........he's a dude in the pass game. That ability to adjust to a low thrown ball can make a huge difference in a receivers potential..........Gronk is unbelievable at it. People take it for granted. Love the scouts take on Rousseau........the Calais Campbell comp is interesting........he is not as powerful as CC but his pass rush potential is greater. The big differentiating factor might be those 11" hands..........Campbell doesn't have those. Rousseau tackles people from distances/angles that we aren't used to seeing. It's one thing to have length but those mitts make his length so much more effective. The question is does he have the makeup of a guy like Campbell........who was a very slow developing prospect at Miami and in the pros before becoming a star.

Some fast guys do not have the ball skills to be a downfield threat and can therefore be utterly worthless as a downfield threat. You see it a lot with RB's. I can remember people wanting CJ Spiller to be split out wide to take advantage of his speed..........but anytime a ball was thrown at him from more than 15 yards away it was just as likely to hit his facemask as his hands. Being able to track a long throw and catch it in stride without having to stop your body or feet........or adjust to it and make a difficult catch........ is a different skillset than what is required of a slot WR. That position is a lot of short catch and throws.

If he doesn't get credit for the 2 pro bowls then his number is $12.7M.........if he does it's the franchise tag figure of $14.9M. $2.2M difference. Like I said........for $2M difference it's a risk not worth taking a year and a half before the start of that season...........MLB's take a beating...........forget the catastrophic Cowart and Spikes examples.........see CJ Mosely for a much more recent example. I'm also a fan of dangling the free agency carrot for inconsistent or underachieving players to see what they've got and aren't yet showing for one reason or another. Either way I don't think either of those cap hits in 2022 would be tenable. You may be right about them working on an extension.....but I don't think they are as sold on him being a great MLB as some think. McD made the rare exception of saying that Edmunds had to specifically play better at mid-season last year. That was not insignificant.......he rarely even answers a question like that with a direct answer. They know he has left something to be desired at this point.

IMO real difference making speed for a modest sized player doesn't begin until you get below 4.4 now. Etienne is a 4.5 guy at the combine IMO. Not a Jonathan Taylor 4.39 type. Fast for the limited athletes that play RB now........but I think people envision this guy devastating NFL defenses with his speed and he's not actually that guy. I also think he has a relative ton of mileage on him. 800 touches is significant for the quality of athlete that plays the RB position anymore. I know he waited to come out because the RB position was deeper in the 2020 draft but he came back and his ypc dropped from 7.8 to 5.4 and just didn't look as explosive to me.

Yep.......you gotta throw a rabid bobcat because of the claws........dogs you punt

I could definitely see Barmore if this was more of a wide 9 front and Barmore played the Dareus role of playing 1 tech on first down, 2 tech on second down and 3 tech on 3rd down with Oliver playing 3T on all downs like Kyle Williams did. Barmore definitely has 3 down potential if used like that. I just don't think Edmunds could handle that kinda' traffic up the middle though. Need a physical MLB to do that. Seems the trade-off here is always having a big lump of immobility at 1 tech so Edmunds can just shuffle from side to side with his arms extended in Boeheim's 2-3 zone.

I think people tend to overuse or misuse hyperbolic terms like "force multiplier" and "weapon" and it exaggerates what the actual value is.

Yeah what isn't hard to quantify at all though is a QB averaging 8 yards per pass attempt. That encompasses all of the targets.........good and bad.