hondo in seattle

If I recall correctly, at one point in the offseason Shakir was the only wideout we had who had caught a ball in the NFL. Of course we should have signed him. We needed all the wideout competition we could get.

I agree with NickelCity that we all like to think we're immune to celebrity endorsements. After all, we're intelligent, independent strong human beings. Then again, the reason companies spend millions on celebrities is because their data show our purchasing decisions are influenced over time. At a minimum, celebrities get noticed so they help build brand awareness, though some of the impact is more subtle than that. However, I'm going to claim to be an exception. Not because I'm any more strong-minded than the rest of you John and Jane Waynes. But because pretty much the only TV I watch is football and I don't do social media. I don't actually see a lot of commercials or endorsements. I don't even know if anything I buy is endorsed by a celebrity. I lean a lot on online reviews.

I don't see how we have "far, far less talent." The OL is mostly the same as last year. Let's call that a wash. Josh is still the QB. And Josh says his mechanics were off last year because of his elbow injury. He just might be better this year. The RBs will still be led by Cook but the guys behind him, notably Davis, may be better than last year. The TEs are the same. But Kincaid was a rookie still learning the offense and NFL last year. Knox was hurt. The TEs should be better this year. Shakir is still one of the wideouts but it seems his career is on an upward trajectory. He may be better this year. Samuel is better than Davis (more versatile, higher catch %, more separation). Coleman is worse than Diggs. So is Mack Hollins, or whoever you want to count as Diggs' replacement. The backup wideouts seem to be an improvement over last year. The drop off from Diggs to Coleman/Hollins is a real concern but we don't know yet how good Coleman is. Everywhere else, we're either better or the same.

Agree 1000%. If he steps up, we'll be okay. If he doesn't, the Bills will be watching the playoffs on TV.

I have no idea what Brady is scheming up. But some thoughts... Gronk and Hernandez once combined for 2,237 yards. Maybe Brady plans on leaning on his TE duo. CMC once had over 1,000 yards receiving out of the backfield. Maybe Brady has big plans for Cook and Davis. I'm just saying, we have some other targets besides the wideouts. No doubt, a passing offense that emphasizes the backs and TEs would look different than the Daboll EP scheme that both Dabs and Dorsey ran. But it could work.

Not a beautiful throw but not a great attempt to catch it either. Look at his right hand. He should get his hands to intercept the trajectory of the ball. Instead, his right hand is moving overhand trying to grasp at the ball - and failing. It's as if he was expecting the ball to be thrown at his body/head and didn't adjust when he saw that it wasn't. As you say, not a 'clean attempt' at the catch. But not something I would damn him over. It looked worse live.

I don't have high expectations, but I am curious... How are the two non-football players doing: Gable Steveson and Travis Clayton?

I agree with this - for the most part. When we're good, I watch every game during the season. During the 7-9 years, I watched most games but allowed myself a Sunday off here and there if we had an interesting family adventure planned. Maybe it was a good thing Sunday Ticket didn't exist during the 2-14 era because I missed a lot of those games and don't regret it. Barring something unforseen coming up, I'll watch every game this season again.

Personally, I'm entirely invested in this season. The fact that Josh is our QB and McD is running our defense already makes us competitive. Josh is an offensive force of nature and McD is the kind of defensive schemer who can make lemonade out of lemons. I'm super curious to see what Brady will do. Daboll failed in his first stints as an OC but learned a lot through those, and other, experiences. He put a lot of points on the scoreboard with the Bills. Brady is young and smart. Maybe this is the year he emerges as a top OC. Maybe not. Whatever happens, I want to see it. I'm super curious about the receiver group. Are they as bad as the pessimists fear or as good as the optimists hope? How will Samuel do with a good QB? Will Shakir continue his growth? Will Keon prove he was worthy of a high draft pick? Will Kincaid breakout as a legitimate star? Will Kincaid-Knox be the new Gronk-Hernandez, minus the shootings? I'm curious about the secondary with Hyde, Poyer, and White all gone. In fact, I remain curious about nearly everything. And while I doubt if a Super Bowl is in the cards, I do expect a good (playoff) season.

Here's my Bills fantasy... Joe Brady has been around a lot of coaches, worked with different systems, and this is the year he puts it all together and emerges as the second coming of Don Coryell and Bill Walsh. Despite the shortcomings of the WR room, Brady is able to scheme guys open all over the field as Josh leads the most potent passing attack in the league on the way to a SB. Not likely... but a guy can dream. The Bills and their fans deserve some unlikely good luck.

His first game as a Bill, Josh was throwing to the likes of Kelvin Benjamin, Zay Jones, Andre Holmes, and Jeremy Kerley. Hopefully, things haven't become that bad. But, I agree, Beane should have done a better job and we're not opening the season with a stellar lineup. I had hoped between Coleman, MVS, and Claypool, one had stepped up and earned the third starting wideout position. In any case, I now have some concerns about Brady. I see three possibilities: 1. Joe does a stellar job and produces a lot of points despite the weaknesses in the receiving corps. 2. Joe does a midling job, doesn't produce a ton of points, but McD excuses and retains him due to the roster shortcomings. 3. Joe does a terrible job, leads an inept offense, and gets fired. #1 is seeming less and less likely with every injury but it's the only option I like.

I'll take a stab at this: (1) It's a passing league. Coaches and analytic geeks have determined that the best way to move the ball down the field in today's game is by passing the ball about 50% more often than you run it. (2) Josh is the best player on the team. By far. The coaches want the ball in his hands. Cook is a good back. But he is not nearly as talented at his position as Josh is at his. And Josh plays the centerpiece position of the modern NFL.

Yikes! While I agree that we shouldn't trade Cook, I find the commentary here is unneccessarily unkind. And I'll add this about Cooks' stats. He's a good back. But he also shares the backfield with Josh Allen. I think defenses see Josh as the alpha and omega of our offense. He's got a cannon arm, tremendous escapability, and is a fearsome running threat. I think they play a lot of two-high to frustrate Josh's and his desire to air it out. And I think they often have a containment plan for Josh and/or a spy. I don't think teams scheme much to stop Cook, and his stats benefit from him being an after-thought.

RBs are an easy position to fill. Heck, if the Bills want an RB, they can just call me. At 65, I may not offer much, but I'm reasonably fit for my age and will learn the playbook. For every position, even RB, there's a bell-curve of talent. If you want to win the SB, it's best to have players at the upper end of the bell curve. RBs may be a dime-a-dozen but good RBs are not. Cook isn't OJ or Thurman but he's better than average. He's also on a cheap rookie contract at 1.6M/year. Why trade away a player who's both cheap & good for a roll of the dice (i.e. the draft)? In two years, Davis will take over as the #1 RB and we'll draft Cook's replacement.

It's good to see (ex) players spending their money entrepreneurially instead of on fast cars, parties, and paternity suits as some do.

This is a fair, rational counterargument. However, I still feel like Beane undervalues the offense in general. Our O has been the Allen and Diggs show. Obviously, Motor, Cook, Davis, Kincaid, and others have made some meaningful contributions. But we've only had two standout players. The rest have been, to a greater or lesser extent jags - the kinds of guys every team has. This year, it looks like it's just the Josh Allen show with a cast of no names. And it might work. But it would work better with with more stars. Call me unrealistically greedy, but I long for days when we had HOFers playing wideout (Reed & Lofton) and more HOFers in the backfied (Thurm & Kelly). While we've recently run a two-star offense, Beane built, arguably, a six-star defense: Miller, Oliver, Milano, White, Hyde, Poyer. Ignoring injuries, it's been unbalanced.

It's popular to criticize McD but looking at our WR Room, for example, I wonder why Beane doesn't get more blame. Here are our top ten paid receivers for 2024: Diggs 31.0 Knox 7.7 Samuel 3.4 Kincaid 3.0 Hollins 2.5 Coleman 1.8 Harty 1.6 MVS 1.3 Shakir 1.1 Hamler 1.1 We're spending $32.6 million for guys who are no longer on the team. In fact, we're spending more on ex-Bills receivers than on current Bills receivers. We're also spending $7.7 million on a guy who's effectively our backup TE. The most we're spending on a starting ball catcher is $3.4 million. That's not good cap management. If Coleman, Shakir, and Samuel end up as our starters, we'll be fielding a wideout group at the bargain-basement price of $6.4 million per year. The Fins, on the other had, are determined to set Tua up for success. Hill is, of course, earning $32M, but even Waddle ($9.1M) earns more than all our starting wideouts combined. According to OTC, 10 teams have allocated over $40M to WR. We've allocated less than $20M. I think Beane did a reasonably good job putting together a receiver group on a budget, but the fact that he was forced to shop at the Dollar Store this offseason is a crisis of his own making. (Though I still hope Brady is able to scheme up some magic with this group - we still have Josh.).

The card said "Pink Zebra Moving" which AI tells me - shockingly - is a moving company. I guess when you're an unemployed punter, you have to earn your grocery money some other way.

I miss Reed & Lofton.

After recent events, I have to confess my optimism has suffered a blow. But I don't think we can look at the WR room without the bigger context. Josh's passer rating and YPG in 2023 were his worst in the past four years while he threw the most picks of his career. Something was off last season. So let's play Clue and look at the usual suspects... Offensive Line. I wish Beane emphasized the OL more and think some sources like PFF overestimate how good the line was last year. Nonetheless, it was clearly better than 2022 so the line wasn't the reason for the drop in performance. Coordinator. I'm going to give Brady a pass because he was thrown into the job midseason without the ability to change the scheme, playbook, or preseason preparation. There's a lot to debate about Dorsey's coordinating. Did he drill execution enough? Use presnap movement enough? Was he too predictable? Did he rely too much on wideouts winning on their own instead of scheming guys open? Quarterback. Maybe Josh's drop in performance was Josh's fault. It's not PC to mention here but, as great as he is, he's not infallible. Kurt Warner, among others, says Josh will do better when he consistently gets the ball out on schedule. And Josh said that his throwing mechanics last season were effected by nagging injuries. Receivers. Maybe Diggs and Davis were part of the problem. Diggs and Davis both only managed 2.8 yards of separation on average last year - below the league average. Davis's catch rate was only 55.6%. We all know that Gabe had long periods of irrelevance and Diggs fell off in the second half of the season. Some folks say Diggs lost a step. What I'm saying is that there a lot of variables that will determine this year's wideout production. I don't think this year's wideout group is as good as last year's but maybe the dropoff isn't as bad as we fear. And maybe we'll enjoy improvements in some of the other variables. Maybe the coordinating will be better this year. Maybe Josh will fix is mechanics and throw better this year. Maybe Joe Brady will convince Josh to get the ball out on schedule, as Kurt recommends. As fans, we can only hope. I also have doubts and worries, too, but I'm not ready yet to say the sky is falling.

Torrance's play is worrisome. I've been a frequent critic of Beane's for not giving Josh an elite bodyguard. This year we're challenged with Morse's departure and now, possibly, regression by Torrance. I am not excited. The wideout play is beginning to worry me, too. I was decidedly so-so (i.e. not negative) with the WR room during the offseason. I reasoned that Samuel and Shakir are legit starters. We just needed either Coleman, MVS, or Claypool to step up and fill the other spot. It seemed likely to me that one would. Then Claypool went out with a toe, MVS with a neck, and Coleman hasn't done much. I'm feeling nervous now.

What a snooze fest. Hard to pay attention. Rousseau and Andreessen looked good though. I viewed Frank Gore Jr as a charity signing but he looked decent.

I think its weird. Worse, we've had stars at all three levels of our defense: Miller on the DL; Milano at LB; Tre, Hyde & Poyer in the secondary. And they've all struggled with injuries.

Thin skin? Hmm. I guess those hundreds of philosophy & religion books I've read and thousands of hours I've spent in meditation were a waste of time! Damn!!! Or maybe you just read the tea leaves wrong. Having led soldiers in combat where a trained and heavily armed enemy was determined to kill us, do you seriously believe your silly anonymous argumentativeness on a fan website gets under my skin? Your sharp wit or a tank battalion - I'm not sure which I fear more. Let me reflect upon this as deeply as it deserves. I may not be able to sleep tonight. If you want to keep lobbing insults in my direction, go ahead. I won't lob them back because that's not what I'm here for. "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly."

4,000 is just a convenient benchmark, nothing more. But help me out here... I come to OBD to learn, explore ideas, celebrate, and sometimes commiserate with my brothers and sisters in the Bills mafia. You seem to have another agenda. Maybe I'm getting this wrong but it seems you like to 'prove' that you are 'right' and/or your arguments demonstrate more intellectual rigor. When I (or someone else) disagrees, your stubbornness in hammering your point home and dogged efforts to poke holes in the arguments of others is impressive in a way. In any case, I still don't believe the sky fell when Diggs was traded. Our WR situation is far from ideal, but if Brady is a capable OC (and I hope he is though I'm not convinced yet), he'll find ways to make this offense go. Maybe not at SB level which is the goal and dream, but at least at the playoff level. A bunch of smart jurors sitting in the same courtroom seeing the same evidence often come to different conclusions. Sorry if you disagree with me. Ultimately, it doesn't matter because neither of us will impact what actually happens on the field.