BADOLBILZ

Basically two plays depicting the Bills doing things that I've been advocating for: 1) Edmunds used as an edge player........being a hammer at the point of attack would suit Edmunds better. 2) Having a 1 tech who doesn't just stand up and dance with the blocker(s) at the LOS and then watch the RB run past and hope that the LB makes the tackle........Oliver actually does the basic job AND then splits the double to make a tackle. Not since the early 2017 Cover 1 clips of Dareus have we had an iso of a 1 tech doing that in McD's defense. You can't expect Oliver to give you 25-30 snaps at that intensity level but 10-20 of those and the rest at 3T is doable because of the rotation.

Edmunds playing the edge? Wwwwwwwhaaaaaat??

I think you skipped the tragedy and went right into the first stage of grief. If Daboll leaves and they don't find a suitable replacement it won't be because there aren't enough of them.........Daboll has a long track record of getting dead-last kinda' results from less than ideal talent situations..........so we aren't talking about someone who makes lemonade out of the lemons.

Yeah that free agent OL class in 2018 that Beane brought in was trash...........and as @Rochesterfan said if versatility was a factor Boettger had reportedly worked pretty hard to be able to play the other positions on the line.

He stood out in camp and preseason in 2018 when was physically man-handling the competition. When you are at field level in a quiet preseason atmosphere you can get an extra sense of who the more physical lineman are and Boettger was really roughing up the suspects. I was disappointed when they let him get away. He's been a bit more inconsistent than I'd hoped he'd be but Winters is on skates at this point. The flip-side of us being glad Boettger is still with the team is that Wyatt Teller is not. I blame that on the Ford pick though. Unless you are talking about a legit LT quality blocker or Quentin Nelson type interior blocker you can pretty much figure on it taking 3 seasons to develop an offensive lineman. Boettger is in year 3 but he hasn't had the in-game development snaps that Teller or Ford have been given. Good teams gotta' develop some cheap OL like Boettger.

Boettger had some really atrocious snaps tonight it certainly wasn't a performance worthy of exclamation............but at least he might get better.........Winters just looks shot.

They basically played this game like they had nothing to lose........and were rewarded. Getting Knox involved before the end of the regular season was a box I am sure they really wanted to check. They need help from that position and we've seen that Kroft isn't a playmaker. Knox has had his struggles but he's the only TE they have on the roster with the talent to be a difference maker.

Again..........it's not just the run game............he has been very poor in pass defense thru 11 games this season. Last season he was good there. But he might have "Thomas Smith" syndrome........the Bills shutdown CB who teams lost the fear of throwing at when they realized he couldn't intercept a ball to save his life. When the worst that can happen is a pass defensed......that's not a deterrent.

He didn't actually "make" a play though.......he was right there in plenty of time but he never located or anticipated the ball. Which is exactly the kind of thing that I talk about when I say he is uninstinctive at that position and why I wonder if teams are just starting to throw at him more knowing that the film shows he doesn't locate or make plays on the football. MLB in this defense should be more than what they've gotten from Preston Brown and Tremaine Edmunds. Need game changing plays and turnovers. At the same time, his talent would be better suited outside IMO. It's not uncommon for otherwise successful coaching staffs to play certain players out of position for years. The Bills stubbornly played Cornelius Bennett at OLB until his last season when they got wise and signed an actual pass rusher to play OLB and moved Bennett inside(where he was tremendous). Bennett lacked the pass rusher build.....he was built to run and hit......... and OT's had basically learned to just herd him outside and he'd run himself way out of the play. He had amazingly averaged just 5.5 sacks per year in the previous 6 seasons rushing opposite Bruce Smith.......and Bryce Paup immediately put up 17.5 sacks.

Don't tez me bro

Yeah he is fast and tracks the ball pretty well but he is otherwise kinda' bad.

Bill Polian gets credit for a lot of things that Norm Pollom did or made possible. Pollom helped build a Rams team that would win 7 straight division titles in the 1970's. In some ways the hiring of Chuck Knox eventually had an effect like the Browns/Ravens franchise hiring of Bill Belichick did........Knox got fired but the people he brought with him from LA ended up drafting key, HOF foundation pieces of that 90's team.

1) He's actually really struggled in coverage this season. Blown assignments, not turning his head and always seeming to be caught totally off guard when the ball conveniently bounces to him. As I said he has a 132+ passer rating allowed and has given up 4 TD passes himself. Last year that PR number was in the 70's. You almost have to wonder if teams have looked at the film and just don't fear throwing at him because they don't think he will make a game changing play on the ball. 2) Sniffing plays out are where his game has been lacking for 3 seasons. Those are the kind of situations that result in game changing plays that he has almost NEVER made. He's played better the past few weeks but still the big plays have been non-existent in his game.

Yeah he has the sickle cell trait so being a health-cautious organization they might have not played him anyway...........but fwiw there were split medical opinions on whether he could play at altitude in the past.......it wasn't an absolute either way so unless there has been a league policy change he might have been permitted to play if healthy and the Bills desperately needed the game. But a high ankle sprain should probably be a 6 week injury anyway for a speed and quickness guy like Brown.

Nice try with the hysterics, Over.... But... 1) Lorax was a LB who rushed the passer a lot........which is exactly the point of wanting Edmunds playing on the edge.. 2) The Bills do not use a "base" DE on the strong side. That player basically profiles as an "edge" player like most 3-4 defenses use. Trent Murphy was an OLB at Washington and is just a lean pass rusher. Lorax filled that role frequently. 6'2" 250# Jerry Hughes has been getting a lot of snaps there with Lorax gone and Murphy sometimes inactive. The assumption was that AJ Epenesa might be that "base" DE.........but he instead appears to be being groomed as the RDE of the future. I don't know for a fact that Edmunds will be a bigger TJ Watt on the edge in Buffalo and put up 14-16 sacks and cause a bunch of turnovers............but what I do know is that guys like Watt......or even Lorax at that spot.........can make a TON of plays and are worth a fortune on the open market. And that's the Bills biggest weakness on defense...........an individual play maker that they likely aren't going to be able to afford in UFA the next couple offseason. Replacing Edmunds in the middle........I don't think that's nearly as difficult..........Preston Brown literally lead the NFL in tackles in this defense in 2017......and in the games that Edmunds has missed entirely or left with injury he has been replaced with little or no drop-off by the likes of journeyman Julian Stanford and first year player Tyrel Dodson. The optics on how much of a difference Edmunds provides in the middle are not that great......it's decision time on his big $ option for 2022 after this season.......and the Bills desperately need a playmaker on the edge to help finish these games.

Lorenzo Alexander 2018 playing "some olb role that doesn't exist" 😆 2 interceptions 9 passes defensed 2 forced fumbles 1 fumble recovery 6.5 sacks 74 tackles 11 TFL 10 QB hits Now imagine putting a player there who can actually physically match up in coverage.

Preston Brown was a sure tackler............that's a pretty low bar.😄

That could be the case. I don't think we really know that his shoulder is "healed" really do we? If it was a rotator cuff issue that's not healing in the season that's a surgery. Maybe they just started mixing in some aderall with his toradol the past few weeks.

He's been a step slow reacting all season.........surprisingly more so in pass defense. His passer rating allowed is a ghastly 132+ and he's allowed 4 passing TD's.......including a play last week where he was all over the receiver but just seemed like he had no idea the ball was coming. The mental aspect of his game hasn't been where you'd expect and thus his reactions have been late and disappointing at times and it's costing him big plays that this defense should be putting him in position to make.

He moved around but 9 of his last 13 starts in Carolina were at MLB in place of Kuechly........he was Kuechly's backup the last two seasons.........his production there got him the contract in New Orleans.

The past few games are probably the only 3 game stretch of Edmunds career where he has played consistently well inside. He typically has a game here or there where he is excellent and gets people's hopes up but then disappears for a month. With his physical gifts he should be a DPOY candidate in this defense. But instead we are told to be overwhelmed by the ordinary. He's capable of creating turnovers and wreaking havoc, IMO. Yet he has 1 interception and 0 forced fumbles in his last 30 games........3 TFL's on the season(compared to fellow 2018 draftee Roquan Smith with 15). I mean he's more talented than this and people who say he's doing great at MLB are selling his talent short, IMO.

Sounds to me like maybe AJ just likes getting chances to rush the passer and shorter routes to wide bouncing RB's etc.. I doubt he wants to go back to playing MLB like he did in Carolina.

I agree with most of that.......especially the part about Allen. The synergy created by having a top QB is so great.........that's why it was so ridiculous for the Bills to be passing on QB's with their first pick for nearly 60 years. But I would not use another early round pick on an off-ball LB unless he had a crazy high ceiling.......those are very rare. I liked the Edmunds pick only because I saw his playmaking ability being a thing on the edge. Then in his first game he had that type play where he got outside and used his long arms to get a strip/fumble against Baltimore. But mostly in the middle he's been catching everything instead of being the one making the impact. He certainly hasn't looked like a $15M per year player that is for sure.

Green Bay hiring McCarthy was a shock in itself. In his last job prior he had been the OC of the 2005 Niners........who finished 30th in scoring and 32nd in yards. It would have been like someone hiring Daboll to be a HC right after 2018 or one of the 3 NFL OC jobs he had been fired from.