BADOLBILZ

Lotulelei, Addison, Klein, Norman.........all well paid defenders from Carolina who weren't brought in "middle of a season". While I agree in principle with your point it's by no means accurate to downplay their attraction to former Panthers............it's a real thing and its not yielded well at all. It might be time this offseason for McD to broaden his horizons defensively and for Beane to stop tryna' catch every stray Panther.

I agree that the Panthers weren't exactly a model franchise. They were an up and down team in an a division in flux. They got a league MVP talent and made a couple runs. Once the New Orleans franchise re-grouped the Panthers were outclassed in terms of coaching and personnel acquisition. Ron Rivera has had losing records in 7 of 10 seasons as a HC. I would hope McBeane have higher objectives than being Carolina north but the constant influx of former Panther players makes it seem to fans that they hold their former place of employment in a bit too high regard.

Because fighting isn't a game. Inflicting head trauma is the objective of fighting.

Sometimes those remaining games matter for development of a QB........or they might want to bring those players back so don't want them going elsewhere. The example would be the Texans........is it worth trading Will Fuller for a day 3 pick and undermining DeShaun Watson's performance for the final 8 games?

It sounds like cap space is a huge sticking point though........which is I believe what the OP meant. Not going to get much done for 5th-7th round picks if you want the other team to eat $3.5M of some expiring contract as well. Beane has been clumsy and careless with cap space.........$3M too much here, $5M too much there..........and that certainly limited what he could do now because the big motivation to trade most of these players is to save money and create cap space.

Because we don't yet have stats that measure the quality of decisions made in the draft........people like you can always say things like "every team missed on Tom Brady"............when the reality is teams that had Peyton Manning and Brett Favre etc.. made a much smaller mistake. The problem with the Bills decision was: -They had the worst WR corps in the NFL over the prior 2 year period. -The biggest issue was separation. -They had just drafted arguably the biggest armed QB prospect in NFL history.....but one who had some ball placement/accuracy issues. The Bills simply had a bigger and more specific need for DK Metcalf's base skill........a huge target who could separate deep. Instead the Bills chose a player at a low dollar value position with a skillset usually readily available in free agency........but also a skillset that most coaches say takes at least 3 years to get most players up to adequate. It was a really bad decision in real-time. I can all but guarantee that we will have "draft decision leverage" stats in the next couple years that will measure the quality of a front office's draft decisions based on criteria like I listed above........something like value of the position + ease of replacement + depth of team need + next gen expected results + actual results.

Can only help the Bills, assuming they win the division. Doesn't affect any of the #2-#4 division winner seeds. The Bills aren't getting the #1 seed and if they were to win their first game they quite probably would be heading to play the rested #1 seed.

The Pats LB flew in and cracked Morse on the dome to blow up a combo block before it could unfold. It blows my mind that Pats players will do things like that for their defense........the Bills defense really struggles just to buy-in to tackling ball carriers.

The Dolphins are the toughest defense in the NFL to score on this season allowing just 18.6 points per game..........they lowered their season number allowing just 17 yesterday..........but also allowed the Rams to run NFL record 94 offensive plays and amass nearly 500 yards of offense. There used to be a much better correlation between defensive stats and the old in-person eyeball test. Most defenses aren't really stopping much. Which is, of course, another reason I want to add offense at the trade deadline over defense.

Yeah he just looked like he was more ready than he was I guess. Certainly wasn't a lack of hustle.

I saw a guy at CBS was suggesting Hayden, King, Sheldon Rankins and Jacob Hollister as good trade fits for the Bills.........he had King going for a 4th not a 6th. Wonder if some of that was based on the rumors @MAJBobby was hearing. Personally.........I fix the passing game first. The #1 personnel responsibility of an organization is to support its QB........once you start forgetting that you are in trouble, IMO.

Could be.........but also could be that they had 9 guys within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage a lot and there was just a lot more traffic and made for closer plays as the Pats ran right into it. There were too many plays where the Pats passed and receivers were left "college open".........but that was the trade-off they were making. And still they allowed like 6 ypc and seemed poised to give up a walk in, winning TD if Cam hadn't fumbled. That one helps make up for the Leodis McKelvin kick return fiasco game in NE years ago so I will take it. Gotta' get lucky occasionally. I do expect them to start playing better later in the season.........that might be wishful thinking with all of the injuries........but I think we have seen stretches where this team makes some business decisions defensively for stretches and they've been in one of those.

Bills don't have one of those 4th rounders. Beane threw it in to secure Diggs in trade.

You don't have to be stout to prevent points. Turnovers and penetration in the red zone work well........especially if you don't have to play a lot of good offenses. Regardless of what McD had in mind with for his defense...........that has become their MO when it's worked.........limit quick, easy scores........get turnovers..........get penetration and set up situations where the offense feels they have to throw and try to confuse the passer with their (now less unfamiliar) matchup zones and hopefully they throw in front of the sticks or put the ball up for grabs.. Being stout is not giving ground........IDEALLY playing defense like the legion of boom Seahawks.........defending "every blade of grass". That requires a lot of matchup winning talent and excellent tackling which the Bills....despite expending 3 of their first 4 #1 picks on D........regrettably don't have enough of and don't do well enough.

It's been a mystery to me why he had never made it in the NFL. When the Bills originally signed him as a UDFA I thought it was one of those rare steals............not quite like Jason Peters.........but I thought he was going to be a really good penetrating DT..........a great find. Before training camp I remember Astro and I were both talking him up...........and then he did squat. Glad to see he is making it in the NFL now but still don't understand what has taken so long...........he had the measurables and enough tape to back it up.

Yet if I mentioned that pedestrian Preston Brown lead the NFL in tackles as the MLB for the Bills in that 2017 season..........and compared that to the disappointment that is the first rounder, all-eggs-in-and-no-safety-net that is Tremaine Edmunds.........you'd like that because you are very down on Edmunds. Reality is that the only time they were an all-around stout defense under McDermott was that brief period early in 2017. Try as they might.........be it trading up in the first round for Edmunds or giving Star a $50M contract...........they haven't been able to resolve the issues in the middle of their defense that ultimately leaves them vulnerable to destruction by good offenses. And frustrating to watch against inferior teams that are committed to the run.......even if that opponent can't throw the ball a lick.

I think we give him too much credit for being better the prior two seasons than this year. He still wasn't an instinctive player and he actually was less of a playmaker as a second year player than as a rookie. Even if he hadn't been injured I think we were going to see a regression...........the tape is out there.........teams know they can manipulate him and make him play slow. To me.........this guy was a very good prospect as an OLB who could potentially rush the passer or split out and man cover the best TE's.........maybe a more off-ball capable version of TJ Watt.......but in the middle he is a fish out of water. Said it before but I have to think his father looks at him in the middle and has to think about how beat up he himself got playing TE and how that shortened his pro-bowl credentialed career and he's gotta' be lobbying hard with his agent to get him outside where the money is and where there is a lot less inherent punishment.

Under McDermott this team has consistently been one of the worst tackling teams in the league..........obviously we haven't seen any improvement in that this year. It hasn't stopped them from at times being a good defense but on some days it gets really ugly. It might be that McDermott has to earn his stripes in the playoffs to get players to put their bodies on the line more.........a guy like Belichick gets a lot more investment from defensive players in this regard because I think they have known the pain will yield results.........or at least they knew it always did against the McDermott Bills until yesterday(which is why it was an important win regardless of how).

Not really.........you can win a division with 3-4 less wins than a team that misses them altogether. You also can't win a SB with a negative point differential in the playoffs...........so it's probably a good idea to try to be a "plus side of the ledger" team if you intend to be more than an also-ran.

4 years into a regime fans expect the team to not be winning by using their face to stop punches. They expect a contender and playing this way they sure don't seem like it right now. The reality is that McDermott and Beane have been the LUCKIEST regime since Polian. By a lot. Be it easy schedules or having the opportunity to draft the last two NFL MVP's(though they ultimately chose neither)...........the regime have had a lot of breaks so it's concerning that their roster doesn't look better and that they aren't executing better on both sides of the ball. The upside is that things can change..........maybe they find their stride and start playing better team defense and John Brown gets healthy and they get their passing game going again or maybe they make some trades or moves..........but I totally understand the frustration even if I think today's win was very important.

As with most players I think it's more directed at the guys who put that player there. Being uninstinctive and not built to hold up in the middle isn't really Edmunds fault...........it's that of the people who decided he was a unicorn..........a guy in a pass rusher's body who had the instincts and agility and elusiveness in traffic to mirror the RB position and also the toughness of mind and body to take the beating in the middle. Maybe they can try Bam Johnson out in the middle next. He's long and lean.

Yes you are wrong they weren't anywhere near top 5 against the run..........they struggled to defend against the run..........the Texans turned that playoff game by running the ball between the tackles........it's been an issue since they dealt Dareus.........so almost the entire McDermott era. Fortunately a lot more yards and points come from the passing game............and last year their pass rush was healthy, their LB's we're healthy and their secondary was healthy. That hasn't been the case this year...........but if they were healthy they would still be mediocre against the run because neither Star nor any of their 1T's have played well the past few seasons and Edmunds is uninstinctive and subsequently ineffective against the run.

Cover 1 protested too much about Zimmer that night. Tremaine Edmunds can lose 20 snaps in a row and they will find a way to claim he's not doing too bad.

Yeah he's hamburger out there(predictably). It was always going to be a major concern that a tall, skinny, long levered target was going to be able to protect himself in the middle.........there's a reason why you don't see those in the middle at LB. The fact that he is uninstinctive just adds to the disappointment. I suspect the experiment is over this offseason and he will end up outside next season(again, predictably). The position is too important in the McDefense to have a half-stepping, nail-not-the-hammer player out there getting lost in traffic.

That's about right. For the people who live and die with the national media's perception of the team a loss would be disastrous though...........the trendy-pick Bills will be stamped counterfeit by the more casual, big picture observers.