BADOLBILZ

Yeah they are an example of scouting/development/scheme working beautifully together. Their downfall is always those injuries. Because they don't have an elite QB to push them thru those.

Those numbers aren't correct, but yes Bernard has been the far superior producer. I'd buy into Edmunds improvement more if the improvement was across the board. The fact that he still isn't producing any negative play numbers around the LOS like one would expect from a massive LB tells me that modest upticks elsewhere might just be circumstantial. I still believe that he will underwhelm compared to his contract and not play it out........the Bears will cut him in a year or 2 when his cap hit blows up. But I also hold out some hope that the switch comes on for him in his late 20's like it did for DeMario Davis. The thing Edmunds has going for him is his huge frame and athleticism. He's built to play a LONG time. By contrast a smaller, instinctive guy like Bernard may have a career more like Shaq Leonard........a handful of great seasons followed by physical decline.

To @HappyDays point though, they really nailed the Kittle, Samuel and Aiyuk picks..........2 All Pro's and another likely top 15 WR with draft capital that's about equal to one late first round pick. They've gotten 4 years of the best LT in football for a 3rd and 5th round pick. Everyone thinks McCaffrey was a steal but he's the most replaceable of the bunch. They may not have invested a lot on the surface in these players but they've stacked elite talent on their offense. Even after wasting those picks on Lance they are money ahead.

Yeah I just don't know if that's the case with regard to this season. Before Allen was running the only consistent option they had was Diggs. Once Allen started running it's opened up something every week. Just look at the draw plays to Cook out of shotgun. Now it works. Their base 11 aren't as good with Diggs playing below expectation........but it's basically 11 on 11 now instead of 10 on 11 like it was thru the Denver game. It's moving the chains and putting points on the board for Brady. They might be a 10 point per game less team if they were playing with the "don't run Josh" mandate that Dorsey was........hard to say because they aren't throwing the ball as much. They'd become the best red zone TD scoring team in the league under Brady.......perhaps until this past game I haven't seen the updated stats. I'm not defending Dorsey, we are on the same page as you know, this is ultimately about not putting receiving talent around Allen. It's an apples to oranges comparison because of variables like Diggs decline, running Allen, perhaps the OL gelling more in the run game etc.. But I'm not especially impressed with Brady to this point either. They are just succeeding enough by taking the low hanging fruit that they didn't earlier in the season.

Brady hasn't had a WR1 in his brief tenure but he's getting to use and abuse Josh Allen, which wasn't the case for Dorsey this season. That isn't getting media coverage either. The reigns on Allen running really didn't come off until after Dorsey got fired. In the last 5 games Allen has had 8 rushing TD's........that's a 29 TD season pace. To put that in perspective he had 31 rushing TD's in his first 4 seasons total. There is some tush push stuff in there of course but when Allen is running it opens up things.........but the toll may also be harming him as a passer. His mechanics have turned to sh!t with Brady as OC instead of QBC and his accuracy the past two weeks in particular has been woeful.

As @HappyDays noted...........when modern defense's want to take away a RB it's not that difficult. That's what happened to Cook...........the Bills don't have enough weapons to keep defense's from paying attention to Cook. It gets tougher in the playoffs too because run defense is just about effort and technique.........and the intensity of defense's rises in the playoffs............you don't need a DL full of 300# guys to stifle a running game.

His draft slot is relevant to the discussion because the reason he went in the 5th round is that he was viewed as a slot-only receiver. Slot-only is a much less valuable result than being a boundary WR or position versatile. I don't think many, if any, teams that passed on him are surprised by 500 yards of production for him in year 2. Slot WR are like RB's........easy to find and well supplied.......they are expected to produce quickly and ideally be able to return punts and/or kicks. See Demario Douglas with NE yesterday. He has 548 yards receiving and was a 2023 6th round pick. As for offering more on the boundary than Beasley........maybe?........but that's not saying much.

In fairness.........he had a few gift-wrapped tips come hurtling to him when he was with the Bills.........he just reacted like the ball coming to him was an impossibility and got hit with the ball prior to it falling to the turf.

The Bills offense finished 2022 averaging 30 points per game over the last 9 games prior to the Bengals playoff loss. But the fan narrative all offseason was that Dorsey sucked. I've said it before, I don't think Dorsey was some special offensive mind and I didn't have any problem firing him to light a fire under the offense with the season spinning out of control...............but Dorsey was plenty capable and contrary to popular belief he had proven a number of times that he could adapt game plans for opponents. Brady hasn't proven to be as good on the whole.........the only improvement that's been consistently effective for him has been using Allen like a RB to extend drives. Again. Like they have every year since 2020 as the regular season has wound down and they chased home field and/or mere playoff qualification. Dorsey could have and would have been using Allen in the same way.........but Dorsey had closed 2022 a lot better than Brady has 2023. Basically, it hasn't been a particularly auspicious debut for Joe Brady as Bills OC.

Considering that Tremaine had gone like 77 games between forced fumbles you may be right..........he may have just lucked into it. Edmunds has been far inferior to the unheralded Bernard this season.......or the heralded Roquan Smith........whom Tremaine essentially replaced after the Bears traded the All Pro to Baltimore at the 2022 deadline (which has since helped transform the Ravens defense). And while Edmunds has actually has made some plays in the pass game this season.........he's otherwise been a disappointment..........his PFF grade has fallen precipitously and he's had some embarrassing moments.........like getting benched against the Chiefs. Only a dope would be trying to take some kind of victory lap for Tremaine under the circumstances.

Yeah I know we have a few still-bitter Tennessee fans here............but Pete Carroll was a clown too when he was a young HC with the Jets.........and he went on to win titles in CFB and the NFL.

Obviously, McD not getting fired. But for the people who look to the college ranks for an offensive minded HC...........Harbaugh is more defensive minded than he is offensive minded. The college HC who warrants looks is probably Lane Kiffen. He's in his prime, is with a good program but not one that can expect to recruit in the top 10 every season or have NIL money like the teams he is competing with.........so he might be poachable........and has been an NFL HC for the Raiders(briefly) and is a creative offensive mind.

If Shakir could play effectively on the boundary he'd get more chances. But if teams felt he had that potential he wouldn't have gone in round 5. With Kincaid basically serving as a slot receiver as well there is going to be a limiting overlap of snaps to some extent there. If Jordan Addison had fallen to the Bills in round 1 as they seemingly hoped........then maybe Shakir would have had a mid-career Beasley type season or something.

Fwiw.........he picked the Bills to win the SB in his his expansive, detailed full playoff prediction piece right before the playoffs last year. That proved dumb I guess but I wouldn't call him a clown. He puts in a lot of work on this stuff. The Bills have had a number of players with very good seasons but simply don't have a lot of "All Pro" candidates this year.

And they are going to need it if they are only going to pass for 150-200 yards per game and lean on the defense.

It was ridiculous that they even had to call that timeout..........it should have been a no-brainer to go to the tush push. Not only is the tush push easy money when you have a big QB..........you don't see pre-snap or holding calls on the offense on those plays. How many times do we see flags ruin 3rd down conversions? I actually preferred the tush push on the play that sealed the game with the last first down as well. They needed 2 yards so they went with a QB run play instead and then Allen gets smashed at the end. Much safer on top of the pile than in the open field where defenders can get downhill and put a helmet into you.

Fortunately I stocked up on OC killing pitchforks when the market was down post-Dorsey.........and will have kiosks ready to go post game this Sunday!

It would be nice if they had 2.........but yeah they haven't even had one with Diggs struggling lately. That's why the weekly passing yardage stats are resembling the Tyrod Taylor days despite the Bills having a stud QB now. Even more concerning is that they don't even have a single young boundary WR of note in development either. Both of their primary boundary WR's in 2025 might not be on this roster now and both could very well be in their first 2 seasons in the NFL. So yeah, it's a huge concern now and going forward.

Extend him now! posts incoming in 3, 2, 1............(even though they can't extend a player until after year 3)

Yeah and the other thing.........this year........is that he's catching the ball like Boyd. In 2021 Boyd did not drop a pass all regular season. Shakir has had that distinction in 2023 so far(after an awful, drop plagued camp and preseason). Boyd was a poor man's WR1 on a bad offense prior to Higgins and Chase arriving........I don't think Shakir is capable of that due to his physical limitations............but top WR1 and WR1B talent did allow the Bengals to use Boyd for more simple work in the slot like Shakir is getting now. The big-boy football at WR is played outside........if your offense is good out there it opens up the middle. Doesn't really work the same the other way around. So that's where some of the people like @SWATeamwho try to tally the individual value of guys like Shakir, Kincaid, Knox and Cook lose perspective.

I think they got a bit too fixated on defense at the expense of WR talent. I didn't hate the Von Miller contract and still think Elam will become a very good NFL starting CB...........but defensive talent wasn't the biggest area of concern for me going into that post-13-seconds offseason. It was WR. Job #1 is to make your QB look good. Putting their biggest chips into the defense was a gamble, IMO. They should have come out of that offseason with their future WR1........whether it were via trade or draft. What's frustrating is that they had already made this mistake in 2019 when they passed on a bunch of WR's in the draft in favor of trading up for Cody Ford.......then had to turn around and deal their #1 pick in an elite 2020 WR class to get a veteran WR1 because they'd fallen behind by passing on guys like Metcalf and AJ Brown. That should have told them in their mind that they were going to have to go back to the well at WR in round 1 in the next couple drafts........but they did not. Beane has been a step too slow at the position..........and because he was so terrible with the cap early in his tenure it's kept them a step behind.

Nah, c'mon. Boyd is a big rangy, long armed possession receiver. 6'2" with 32" arms. Shakir is a small target. He is about 6' tall but with arms the same length as the 5'6" Deonte Harty at 28". Not really an option outside because of that lack of length and when they've tried to use him on deep throws he's had trouble tracking the ball. So he is going to be a slot guy only. They've done a good job of keeping his throws short and intermediate this season and letting him do what he does best........run after the catch. He's like a RB with the ball in his hands. He's an unusual type.........it's hard to draw a reasonable comparison.

Yeah he's effectively filled the role as WR4 that Gabe had in his first couple seasons. He does it differently, with YAC instead of getting over top of the defense like Gabe.........but effectively similar results........he stacks up yards when defense's lose track of him. Problem is the WR2 Gabe continues to be a disappointment and Stef Diggs is playing like a shadow of his former self...........and the 3rd option is either Cook or Kincaid and a RB and possession receiving(at this stage) TE aren't as impactful in those roles if the 2 main ingredients aren't excellent. It's why, despite some promising young talent they have their worst WR corps since 2019.

It's hyperbole to say that Edmunds was considered "bad". He was just a huge underachiever in Buffalo........and Terrel Bernard is showing exactly why. McDermott's defense should make a star out of a MLB............it made Preston Brown the leading tackler in the league in 2017 for chrissakes.........but Edmunds could never do everything from the position. Bernard has restored what should be "the norm" at the position..........a ton of tackles and big plays of all sorts. Edmunds has astonishingly made some plays in coverage this season..........but that's the only change. His production around the LOS is still anemic.......tackle numbers still low........0 sacks 0 QB hits and just 5 TFL to go with 1 FF and 1 FR. Bernard has not only produced his share of INT's...........but 6.5 sacks, 10 QB hits 9 TFL and 3 FF and 3 FR. If a player with Edmunds' pedigree and Edmunds' body had done that he might be looking at first team All Pro. Bernard has only further exposed the deficiencies in Edmunds game...........trying to paint it any other way is foolish.