2003Contenders
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Posts posted by 2003Contenders
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Yes, OP, I am sorry for the loss of your father. And as others have also posted similar losses, know that I grieve with you as well.
I lost my beloved wife earlier this year, back in March. They say that time is the magical healer -- and that is true. It still hurts everyday, but my son and I are in a much better place than we were 7 months ago.
When we married almost 20 years ago, she was a Washington fan. She converted to becoming a Bills fan for me -- and mostly had to endure all those hard times during the 17-year drought. She actually grew to love the Bills -- and was especially fond of Josh Allen.
Her birthday is coming up this week, and I would like to think that the big game on Sunday night against KC was in honor of her. 🙂
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So he gave Dawkins the best overall grade? IIRC Dion was beaten badly on a couple of rushes in the 1st quarter.
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I would pass. He was not very good last year -- and this year was relegated to backup duty. Honestly, I like what we have (even behind Edmunds and Milano) better.
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I saw the piece. It was Steve Young who chimed in a few minutes later about Josh Allen -- and he clarified that he would place Allen in a different category than Herbert or Mahomes because both of them were outstanding right away, whereas everyone knew that Allen came into the league so raw. Young said Josh has grown by leaps and bounds and that he will continue to do so -- essentially said that he has a limitless ceiling.
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Wasn't it Bill Parcells who said "You are what your record says you are" when it comes to rankings. From that perspective, I would say that Arizona should be #1. I could make a case for the Bills being #2 though. They are the only team in the NFL that ranks in the top 10 in both offense as well as defense (#1 on defense). Figuring out the strength of schedule is a bit tricky -- but the Bills do have wins over three teams who have a combined 4 wins among them.
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I am hopeful that the hammy was just a minor ding that the trainers and coaching staff felt was worthy of sitting Milano only because of the quality of opponent we were facing in Houston on Sunday. If, God forbid, Milano is unable to go against the Chiefs on Sunday, I will say that I do feel better than I did last year when Milano was sidelined and Klein was pushed into regular duty. I think the coaching staff figured out during the course of last season what Klein's real strengths/weaknesses were and developed strategies to best utilize him.
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27 minutes ago, msw2112 said:
I take nothing away from Jackson, who is a great player. I think, however, that most, if not all NFL GM's would take Allen over Jackson. His skill set seems to be more complete. Jackson is a great runner and a decent passer. Allen is a very good runner and a great passer. Allen's size and style of play may make him a bit less injury-prone than Jackson. So I believe that Allen deserves to be paid more. That said, because Allen signed first, and the way things go, I could see Jackson getting the same or a little more. Given that the Ravens are a perennial contender in the AFC and are a competitor of the Bills, I hope they pay more, which hurts their ability to spend on other parts of the roster.
My comments appear to be in line with what's been said above.
This is exactly on point. I would also add that Josh's skill set is transferable, meaning that he could be the starting QB on literally any team running any offense. Lamar's skill set requires a more specialized offensive system tailored for him.
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The biggest key to me was watching how COMFORTABLE Josh looked. He never seemed to panic, was always under control, trusted his linemen -- and when protection did break down, reacted to it calmly with a little side-step here or there. I believe that this mindset also led to much better mechanics for him than we saw in the first couple of games.
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11 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:
Not sure about that. It seemed to continue in the Steelers game which contributed to the loss.
And finally finding the guts to go for it when you are up 21-0 doesnt instill much confidence that he has it figured out.
Hoping he does as the season goes on.
Well, let's recall that McD DID go for it on 4th down multiple times in the Pittsburgh game. The Bills went 0-3 in those situations, which is more of a testimony to the poor play calling (especially on the pitch play) and execution than to McD lacking the stones to go for it. And, if the Bills convert on any one of those plays, then the outcome of that game may very well (and probably WOULD) have been different.
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51 minutes ago, Tom Donahoe, GM said:
Unless we're essentially eliminating the position.
Maybe not deleting the position altogether -- but running a base run-n-shoot style offense may seem plausible. Which of the following receivers would you have preferred to see come off the field in favor of Hollister?
Diggs
Sanders
Cole B.
Davis
And that does not even take into account McKenzie and Kumerow.
For all the drops issues that Knox has, we all knew he wasn't really going anywhere. That meant a competition between Sweeney and Hollister for the other spot.
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24 minutes ago, PrimeTime101 said:
I have been to a couple different raven boards.. everyone thinks Lamar Jackson is worth 3+ mil more then Allen. That being said everyone agrees... they wish they signed Jackson first
Raven fans are free to think as they will. Lamar is a very talented and dangerous QB, but he requires a specific system that caters to his unique skill set. Josh is a generational talent that would be able to flourish in literally any offensive scheme.
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52 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:
Tyrod to Cleveland for a 2nd rounder. That’s what allowed us to move up for Josh (I believe)
Not to nit-pick, but the Tyrod trade to Cleveland was for an early 3rd rounder, which was used to trade up with our second 1st round pick in 2018 to acquire T. Edmunds.
The trade-up for Josh was very complex. Let me see if I can remember the sequence:
1. Traded with KC in 2017 to move down in the first and in return got KC's 2018 first rounder (plus more picks later in the draft). That 2018 first rounder turned out to be the 22nd overall pick.
2. After the 2017 season, traded Cordy Glenn to the Bengals and as part of that trade swapped 1st round picks. That moved us up from the #22 overall pick to #12.
3. The Bills had three 2nd round picks heading into 2018. I believe one of those was acquired from the Rams in exchange for Sammy Watkins the year before. I believe that the other came from the Eagles when we traded Darby to them. The other 2nd rounder was the Bills own 2nd round pick.
4. On draft day, the Bills traded up from that #12 pick acquired from Cinci (via KC) along with two of the 2nd round picks to move up to #7 overall to acquire Josh Allen.
Many things had to happen in order for Allen to still be there at #7. For once, the Buffalo Bills lucked out!
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8 minutes ago, P Riv said:
Pretty much every "2021 NFL O-line rankings" hit I got in a google search has them in the top 10, which we are not. Top three hits.
https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-line-units-entering-2021-season
https://thehuddle.com/2021/06/25/2021-offensive-line-rankings/
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/best-offensive-lines-in-the-nfl-ranked/3/
This site has them at #2 https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/06/which-2021-nfl-teams-will-have-the-best-and-worst-offensive-lines/
I did the same type of search for the other position groups, which is where I came up with what I stated previously. As a Bills fan, I feel you have to look for outside opinions to balance out the internal bias.
I'm not sure even the most optimistic Bills fan would argue that the Buffalo OL is/was elite -- or even good. There is a reason why the front office went heavy on linemen in the draft. Stats wise, the pass blocking in 2020 was very good -- but how much of that was due to Allen's mobility? Run blocking we know was a major liability. I guess the point I am making is that even with the OL being what it was in 2020, the Bills still managed to sweep the division. Hopefully better health and better depth will play a role in marked improvement in 2021.
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7 minutes ago, Bray Wyatt said:
I am also a big fan of the Kumerow one against Denver where it shows off his arm strength
My favorite came on the game winning drive against the Rams. Pinned deep in their own territory with 3rd and 23 (I believe), under heavy pressure, Josh threw a scorcher between two defenders to Beasley right at the sticks to convert the 1st down.
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All of this rehash about Dallas' 2nd half adjustments looks good now based on the outcome of the game -- but if things had gone differently, the Bills could have had a sizeable lead before Dallas ever touched the ball in the 2nd half. That may very well have put the Cowboys into more pass-happy mode, which undoubtedly would have been in Buffalo's best interest.
I think the biggest issue was that despite game-planning properly and dominating the Cowboys in the first half, they were only up 13-6 at halftime. As much as I love Thurman he really was a big part of the reason we lost that game. His fumble in the first half when the Bills were moving the ball, gave the Cowboys 3 of their 6 points. An INT (I think by Nate Odoms) late in the 1st half, set the Bills up nicely to go up by more than one score; however, questionable play calling down inside the redzone led to settling for a FG before the half. That is probably what led to the pep in the Cowboys' step versus the lethargy that Buffalo displayed.
When Thurman's fumble on the opening drive was returned for a TD, the game was effectively over -- even though the score was tied. The momentum was forever shifted -- and you could just see the "Uh oh. Here we go again" body language on the part of Bills players. It didn't help that Thurman wimped out, feigning a cramp, and stewed on the sidelines most of the rest of the game. I believe Marv said that his biggest regret as a head coach was allowing Thurman to sulk like that -- rather than motivating him.
Oh well. Can't change the past...
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3 hours ago, CSBill said:
Hindsight is always very good, but I do wonder if the Bills had certainty they would get Boogie B in the second round, if they would have passed on Rousseau and gone a different direction in round 1 ???? 🤷♂️
Water under the bridge, they have both now, here's hoping both become key pieces of a strong defense for many years ahead.
Actually, what I heard was that they never expected Rousseau to be there at 30 and that Boogie was actually their target in the first round. When both were still available at 30, they investigated some options to trade down a bit -- expecting that one of them would still be available early in the 2nd. That's why they took the full allotted time to make the pick. When no decent trade option materialized, they pulled the trigger on Rousseau -- and were dumb-founded that Boogie was still on the board late in the 2nd round. It sounds like Boogie was in their plans all along -- and they would try to do whatever they could to get him (even tried trading up in the 2nd). Rousseau was just icing on the cake. I know all of these team spin the whole "I can't believe he was still there..." thing. But in the Bills case, it sounds like that was true for both of their first two picks.
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2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:
Man, whatever happened to that Texas program?
Anyone remember about a decade ago when the Bills FO took all Texas players off their draft board? That was a Tom Modrak thing -- and how we wound up with Maybin.
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51 minutes ago, 1ManRaid said:
Imagine a lineup of Josh Allen with...
WR- Stills, Kumerow, Duke, Gentry
RB- Williams, Wade
TE- Becker? May as well also throw in Sweeney even though not technically PS
Would probably still be at least as competitive as some teams in the league, especially the Jets.
In all seriousness, that is a better lineup than we had in Josh's rookie season -- especially late in the season when the RB corps was decimated.
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1 hour ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:
Yeah I can see that now looking at your third image again as Allen is nowhere close to winding up yet. Looks like the bottom line is Allen threw the ball to Diggs way too late. The ball should be out a split second before the third image. My guess may be that Allen was deadest on going to Diggs at the snap seeing the look the defense gave him. Didn't anticipate the safety getting over and even though the safety did he thought screw it I can get it there and just incase I'll put a bit extra on it to make sure only Diggs will be able to get there worst case scenario. So in a way he put a little extra on it to make sure it definitely wasn't going to fall short where the safety could jump it. So I supposed it could be considered a semi throw away with the hopes of still being able to make a play.
I also think that Josh saw the CB getting "grabby" with Diggs and threw the pass expecting to get a DPI flag if it was not complete. I was pretty upset at the time that interference was not called -- but in hindsight, the officials were consistent about keeping the flags in their pocket and not over-officiating the game.
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Going back to that 2018 draft class, there was a wide variance of opinion regarding who should be the top selection.
Pure scouts and football guys loved Allen's off-the-charts physical attributes and limitless ceiling.
Analytics guys favored Mayfield, who was undersized but posted eye-popping numbers and won a college championship.
Darnold had played in a big-time program against quality opposition and posted stellar numbers his final year in school.
Rosen was viewed as the most polished of all of them.
(I ignore Lamar Jackson, because he was never in consideration for the first overall pick)
Josh Allen had a number of red flags associated with him -- primarily because he was viewed as so raw coming out of Wyoming. While these views were all certainly well-founded, it is evident now that Josh has worked his way through them and matured at an accelerated rate. It's hard to believe that such a raw specimen as Josh Allen was literally forced into action in his first NFL game -- playing behind a horrific offense line with a crew of no-name receivers. Can you really argue that any of the other 1st round QBs (including Darnold) were in a less enviable situation?
Now in his 3rd year, Josh Allen is a top 5 NFL QB by any measure. He is putting up Aaron Rodgers-in-his-prime stats (and lets remember that Rodgers didn't even start until year 4, had the benefit of sitting behind Brett Favre for 3 seasons and had an excellent supporting cast). Every receiver that has played with Allen -- Brown, Beasley and now Diggs --
If the 2018 draft were held again and all the teams knew then what they know now, Josh Allen would have been the first overall pick. Anyone who would argue any differently (Aikman, B. Jones, etc.) simply refuses to admit that they were wrong.
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ESPN is such a mess these days -- everything is always a double-standard with them. Remember years ago when they brought in Rush Limbaugh to provide an alternative view -- then immediately fired him when he did exactly that. Yet clowns like Foxworth remain gainfully employed.
I am not suggesting that ESPN fire him, just pointing out the hypocrisy of the network. Probably the best thing we can do as fans is ignore clowns like Foxworth and Jones, do not get tempted by their click-bait drivel, and tune out when they are on air. By being "provocative" and getting the responses they hope for, their behavior (and pockets) are being rewarded.
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Actually, the Bills were coming off a 9-7 season and had a pretty good defense -- a great front 4 -- so there was plenty of interest at the time. Remember, Doug M. had opted out because he had that $4M safety-net and was "certain" that he was going to get the Jets job.
I'm not sure that Gase would have been any worse than Rex, who came in and tore apart the one good part of the team. I wonder if Gase would have left the defense (run by Jim Schwartz) en tact? Word at the time is that this was the concept that Whaley had in mind at the time, when he wanted to hire Hue Jackson to be the head coach. Talk about a batch of losers to pick from: Rex, Gase, Hue... Yikes!
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7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:
I think on the question about the offense the plan had to change quickly. I mentioned in the week from watching the Chargers that the deep ball is there against them. It has been in most games they play but they are happy to tease you by leaving it open because they want you taking deep drops to give their edge rushers a shot to make a play.
I think the Bills were trying to take advantage of the deep ball in their plan. But after the first drive with the big PI the next couple of drives brought sacks and they switched to a concerted effort to run aggression beaters. The Chargers ends play the run on the way to the Quarterback so there was an emphasis on using run plays that took advantage of that with the plays where Josh moved the pocket before executing the hand off, the zone reads and then in the pass game the screens and the double pass. It was really well done because it definitely backed the rush off a bit. The Chargers only had one sack in the 2nd half.
Excellent point. It was clear in the first half that Bosa was going to be a disruption and that Josh would not have the time to get the ball downfield. That probably explains the play that resulted in the INT -- Bosa was out on the field for that play (after having just served up a TFL on the previous play), and the Bills decided to be more aggressive knowing he was on the seideline. Too bad the protection broke down with the the blind-side blitzer.
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16 minutes ago, JoshAllenReceipts said:
Ah, see, that's where u have it twisted. I am not just "some random dude on a message board"
Tyler Dunne KNOWS WHO I AM. We are even connected on LinkedIn.
I won't reveal my identity - but I can promise you Im not just some random message board poster
Tyler Dunne knows who I am. We are even connected on LinkedIn. I am not a stranger to Tyler Dunne.
Inside info for you.
Not doubting your insider status, as the reports at the time of the 2017 draft jive with your insistence that the Bills were not going to take Mahomes (or any other QB) with the 10th pick. The following are things I heard at the time (from reliable sources):
1. By the time of the draft, Whaley was a dead man walking. Everyone in the organization knew it.
2. Final decision for all picks really did go to McD.
3. McD badly wanted to draft a top CB in the draft as he felt it was a primary area of need and would jump-start the overhaul of the defense he envisioned.
4. McD had zeroed in on Lattimore with the #10 pick but was happy to trade down to 27 when the Chiefs offered up the #3 in 2017 plus the #1 in 2018.
5. McD agreed that QB was an area of need; he believed they could win with Tyrod but not get very far. But he was uncomfortable with the options at the top of the 2017 draft class -- and despite what Whaley and Manos claim in this article, there really was no consensus in the war room about whom the coveted QB was. (See next point.)
6. Whaley reportedly was all in on D. Watson over Mahomes. The article barely touches on this by stating simply that they "liked Watson, too."
The center point of the article appears to be correct -- that Pegula had a "man crush" on Mahomes and was not bashful about expressing it to the decision makers in the war room -- but in the end decided to yield to the "football guys". In fact, it was later mis-reported in some circles that the reason Pegula fired Whaley was because he had passed on Mahomes in that draft. This was untrue for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that Whaley's fate was decided well before the draft -- and McD was the one who had the final say with each pick in that draft.
I suppose it is possible, as Whaley asserts, that if Mahomes had still been there at 27 that they would have taken him there. But, given what we know about the original plan to take Lattimore at #10 over any of the available QBs, it is also just as likely that the team would have still taken T. White anyway. The scouts did not have White ranked significantly behind Lattimore.
The interviews with Whaley and Monos read to me as a sort of passive-aggressive indictment of McD's handling of that draft. That said, I did not take the article as a hit piece on Josh at all, as I thought it was fairly even-handed with plenty of favorable quotes from teammates and coaches.
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Week 8: Dolphins at Bills
in The Stadium Wall
Posted
I suspect that the personnel for the Tennessee game was very game-plan specific. They were worried about Henry breaking loose and Tannehill running around -- so they employed a defense that had less to do with getting pressure on the QB and more to do with stopping the run. Sadly, the net result was that Tanney had all day long to survey the field, was patient, minimized mistakes, and found mid-range receivers.
With little threat of a running game from Miami, I believe that the game plan defensively this week will revert back to what we saw pre-Tennessee, which probably means an active AJ. The key will be to beware of the screen game, which Miami can run well with Tua, Gaskin and Gesicki.