appoo

There's a reason Allen is all over the place. He doesn't get the protection, or playmakers, that Burrow has

I think that's the correct take, but not remotely what Joe was saying

Joe Bus (whom I'm a fan of), in his weekly observations athletic article, said Burrow had surpassed Josh Allen. Now, you won't ever see me denigrate Joe Burrow. Awesome QB, and it's possible he is a better franchise QB than Allen. But using yesterday as the basis for that observation is an absurdity. In the regular season Burrow and Allen had the same amount of TD passes (Josh added a bunch of rushing TDs). This is who Burrow was throwing to: Ja'Marr Chase (generational talent) Tee Higginns (Borderline #1 Talent) Tyler Boyd (possibly the best slot in the NFL) Hayden Hurst (top 5 TE) PLUS - Joe Mixon, a premier RB This is Josh Allen's cast Stefon Diggs - elite WR Gabe Dabis - wildly inconsistent, only caught 50% of his targets Cornucopia of sadness at the slot Dawson Knox - a TE the OC didn't really want in the game plan, but otherwise a top 5 TE PLUS - the run game, and I'll let that stand on it's own This is just unfair to Allen. Again is Burrow supremely talented, and is possibly better than Allen? Possibly! Using yesterday's game as evidence? Because Joe could simply operate the offense in a fairly easy way with an outstanding run game vs Allen having to play superman in overcoming horrible OLine play, and a hugely average WR corps, and an unused run game? That is the hottest of hot takes

I forgot to add OL in the first part of my post, but in personnel changes I said the OLine is the biggest problem. Need to add a minimum of 2 new starters IMO.

Hines' contract jumps to 4M next year, you can extend him and it'll drop his cap number. For me, the issue is the players not the scheme. Oliver sometimes flashes that first round talent, GR rarely does. I couldn't tell you if that;s down to the DL Coach. I've seen Frazier's scheme dominate way too often for me to think it's a scheme issue The logic behind Diggs has to do with the Bills likely being worse next year, and being able to add a 1st and 2nd to be able to draft some talent along the OLine. I was weighing this offense of Diggs W not much change along the OLine vs Upgraded OLine W no Diggs. His contract makes that an impossibility

Hadn't realized Dane was a FA! They might be able to get him super cheap, there's not gonna be much of a market for him IMO. I think the staff should know through the OTAs what they have with Tre. If you don't move him to safety, you'll have to start him off as the boundary corner to Elam's field corner. I don't see how they can afford to re-sign Poyer honestly. He wants to get paid, and the Bills can't afford to do that. And agree on the uncertainty on Dorsey. It's also really hard to find good, experienced talent. In general, those guys are already OCs, and you can't really hire lateral moves in the NFL. You might be able to find a legit college option though. Art Monken is someone I'd be interested in, for example. Penn State's Mike Yurcich is another lol that's like over half way through my post! So I had you for awhile then!

First off, this was a really fun season and I want to thank the Bills for that, as well as congratulating them for a good season. Winning 13 in the NFL against that schedule, with all that adversity is pretty special, so my hats off to the players and coaches. So on to the Assessment Offense QB - Josh had some bad moments, but overall he was the All pro type of stud his talent was made out to be. People harp on his INTs, but thats a natural function of his game, and are more than acceptable considering all the big plays and TDs he gives for being the gunslinger he is. Special Special player RB - I'll talk more about this in the coaching section, but I thought Singletary was adequate, and at times showed some real lead back talent, and James Cook showed some nice flashes, and finished the season playing good football. Given the system, they were fine WRs - Diggs is a stud. Perhaps one of the 5 most consistent WRs in the NFL. Don't really have to say too much about him. Davis was inconsistent, and he had some mental error stuff and drops, but also had some dominating moments. You continue to work with him in the hopes of consistency. The slot, I think McKenzie underwhelmed, and may have already been surpassed by Shakir. It's been fun lil' Dirty, but time to move on there. Need to find some depth for this position in the offseason, and 3 WRs behind Diggs, Gabe and Shakir TEs - Will cover this in the coaching section. Knox was wildly underused, and yet finished the season as a TD maker. I also liked Morris as both a secondary pass catching TE and a blocking TE Defense DLine - So in this league, my expectations for a 1st round DE is that offenses have to game plan around them. 2nd round pick you're effective enough to take advantage of 1v1s, 3rd and lower is basically we just hope you can be a situational guy as a 3rd or 4th piece of a pass rush. For the most part, this is how it played out. AJE & GR were both very effective when Von Miller was playing, and attracting the focus of the protection schemes, and these guys were playing against the back end of the protection. After Von went out, that effectiveness dropped considerably as protection schemes could just be base. The one semi disappointment was Ed Oliver, who I hoped would be good enough to be that game wrecker type, and open things up for others. Let's hope Von comes back as fully explosive as he was before the tear LBs - I don't want to cause a fight here, I thought Milano was a stud, Edmunds not too far behind him, and you do what you can to keep these two together Corners - The Bills are going to have a really tough conversation on what to do with Tre White. First, he is neither tradable nor cutable thanks to his contract. He simply doesn't have the explosiveness he had prior to the ACL injury. So what do you do with him? He doesn't have the short area quickness to be a slot corner, he doesn't have the speed to be a field corner, all you can do is put him on boundary...or do you move him to safety? He's a bit short, but I'd be super curious to see how he'd do as a strong safety - Poyer's OG position to Micah Hyde's FS. He can still move well enough to be a SS, has always been decent in run support, and excels in zone. Elsehwere, I do like Kair Elam, and you can play Dane Jackson on the boundary, while Benford is good depth. Maybe add a cheap corner or late round pick to round out that room. For much of the season though, this position was a struggle for the Bills Safeties - Oh boy. First off, we need to acknowledge the entire secondaries resilience. When we lost Hyde for the season, we lost TWO starters. Why? Because they shifted Poyer to FS (he's a strong safety), and brought in Hamlin as the Strong safety, He wasn't great there, but showed some flashes here and there and I thought was improving throughout the season. We can probably assume he's not going to be able to play ever again. You don't mess around with the heart. This unit was adequate, which is honestly pretty good, all things considered. OC So Dorsey was a rookie, and I think that showed. Great start to the season, but once teams realized how average the Bills were in protection, they defenses essentially swarmed Allen for the last half of the season. Dorsey never really adjusted to this, and the offense suffered for it, all the way up to the Bengals - not a great defense - dominating them earlier today. They had the OLine and size at TE to go to a full power, P/A game plan. They had WRs with short area quickness that they could have gone to a more west coast style passing game, similar to the Bengals. Instead, Dorsey didn't really change his bread and butter, and stuck with Allen holding the ball until longer developing routes broke. When they got the time, Dorsey had a lot of fun, and the team was fun to watch I liked the run game that Dorsey had going, even if it wasn't used enough Criminally under utilized Dawson Knox. That man should have been option #2 in this offense behind Diggs Do we retain him? Depends on if he's open to being much more varied in his attacks. Bills on O were far to predictable, and didn't adjust as teams adjusted to them DC Considering the various injuries, Frazier had this secondary running with tape and old glue. Then losing Von Miller, gave this man basically no good options. I know we want to throw this man into the Lake, but as a fan of 30 years, I have no Earthly idea how you adjust to losing all that talent in the secondary, and then losing a premier pass rusher. By the end of the season, he had exactly 2 high end players left - Milano and Edmunds. I didn't enjoy how he'd consistently use the first drive of the game as a throw away drive to see how the offense was gonna attack you. I like his nuances and variances as the game went along. He'd switch to man, he'd bring extra pressure, he switched up his zones, he went exotic, he'd go simple...generally the way the Bills defense worked was a slow start, followed by steady improvement until by the 4th quarter he pretty much had his D running the game. That obviously didn't happen against the Bengals, who simply outmanned his defense. Going Forward - Coaches Frazier, for me, is an easy keep, and get him an actual NFL quality secondary, and get Von back. I disafree with board Conventional Wisdom that Frazier rarely went out of base. He changed his coverages quite often, and when the front 4 wasn't getting it done, brought the blitz. The only reason you change him out, is if you want to goto a base 3-4, but if you stick with the base 4 man line, you keep Frazier, though he might get hired away Offensively, I touched on this above, but if Dorsey shows willingness to be more versatile with his offense, then I don't mind keeping him. I would perhaps lean towards getting a more experienced play caller who can run a variety of stuff Offensively, I'd like to also making use of the RB in the pass game, similar to what the 49ers do with McCaffery Personnel - Offense There's a small part of me that's curious about the Diggs trade market to get some draft capital, but balk at the minimum 18M dead cap hit if you trade him. Diggs is staying, I think you ride with Davis and Shakir as well, however Knox needs to be your 2nd/1st option in the passing game more often than not The OLine is a big problem. First, I don't think Dion ever fully recovered from COVID, or whatever the reason he hasn't regained his 2019/2020 form. He's still well above average, and you only save $2M by cutting him, and you won't be able to replace him. Spencer Brown can't be risked as a starter going forward. I just don't think he's quick enough to be an NFL Tackle, and you might even consider using him as a guard. Bills need to use a high draft pick on a tackle IMO. LG also needs to be replaced as you just can't resign Saffold. That's either going to be F/A or yet another high draft pick. Bates was decent, and Morse better than average, so you stick with them for another year, and hope the upgrades at RT and LG are enough to make them better as well. I don't know if you can fix this in one offseason, and I dont think the Bills have the cap space to make a splash beyond some depth here Sign cheap vet/low round picks on 2 WRs Need to sign a vet min RB and go with Cook as your starting RB, and Hines as your 3rd down back Personnel - Defense Resign Edmunds Give Poyer his due and then let him go Tre White would be someone I'd look to move on from, but his contract is uncuttable and untradable next season. Instead, you hope he regains some speed (he's gotta be a 4.6 out there at best) or convert him to strong safety With Kair finishing the season nicely you don't need another CB this offseason. Well you can find a cheap vet, but Elam as the field CB, Dane as your boundary, Benford a developing rookie, and Taron Johnson as a really good slot DB, you just need to some depth Get Von back from inury, That alone solves most of your DLine issues. So wouldn't really touch that unit Cuts - McKenzie (+2M)

I don’t even know what to say about that play other than it perfectly symbolizes this game and season

This is the NFL’s equivalent of a college 35 - 3 game heading into the 4th

That’s a TD

Ok now it’s over over

It’s not Dorsey who made Cook cut incorrectly on the inside zone

That’s called preserving a FG and not risking a TO when everyone is basically covered

Kick it. You need to get a stop anyways

Mad cook misread that zone

This is ALL Allen. If he had Burrows weapons and scheme he’d score 40+ a game

Yea it’s ridiculous. Entire line is struggling

Think he may have jammed his wrists against the wall?

There aren’t, but they’ll change some stuff in terms of which part of the game plan they lean on. They won’t change the who game plan install though

I’m pretty sure they care more than you do

Got a punt and FG forced. It’s been bad at times but they’ve been a lot better since about half way through the 2nd drive

And after all that, it’s 17 points given up

Haven’t noticed too many issues with Bates especially since about mid season

Theyre getting taken out of the hame as Burrow gets rid of it in 2 seconds. When he does drop back we actually get some pressure. Bills have much longer developing pass plays and it’s killing is

Yep. It’s glaring that they need an upgrade. Possibly both RT and LT. At minimum the RT, and LG