mjt328

Two of our D-Line free agent upgrades (Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht) were suspended, and couldn't help. One of our D-Line free agent upgrades (Joey Bosa) lost contain on Jackson a few times, but settled in later. Two of our D-Line draft picks (TJ Sanders, Deone Walker) were playing in their very first game. The third (Landon Jackson) was inactive. Our middle linebacker (Terrell Bernard), top cornerback (Christian Benford) and two safeties (Taylor Rapp, Cole Bishop) were injured a good chunk of training camp/preseason, and haven't gotten a chance to play together at all. Which leads to a lack of communication and knowing where each other will be on plays. Plus we had to throw a 6th Round rookie into one of the starting slots at cornerback, so I'm sure the coaching staff was focused on protecting him and making sure he wasn't put into really bad positions. Anyone who was expecting a huge improvement from the Defense in Week 1 probably hasn't been paying attention. This unit looks like one that will gradually improve as the season goes along, and hopefully peaks closer to playoff time.

Derrick Henry is undoubtedly a better player than James Cook. But the difference is not an infinite chasm the Bills fall behind in. Let's not forget that Cook has made the Pro Bowl the last 2 years, and has the ability to go the distance on any play from scrimmage. He did just that on Sunday night. Defenses have to stack the box against Henry. But it's not like they can just ignore Cook. Football is not just about individual players standing out. It's about how ALL the pieces work together as a whole. The Bills don't get a lot of individual accolades, but they play together as a TEAM better than almost anyone in the NFL. And their depth is exceptional when injuries hit. So people can say all they want that we don't match-up with the Ravens in terms of talent. But last year we scored 30.9 points per game, and they scored 30.5. Meanwhile, we gave up 21.6 and they gave up 21.2 ppg. It's not just a two-game fluke.

I understand the need for Bills/Ravens fans to argue over who is better. But at the end of the day, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are both incredible players who will almost certainly be 1st-ballot Hall of Famers in the future. Since coming into the league, they have similar records and similar team success. They have similar statistics and numbers. Jackson has two MVPs and Allen one. But both were close runners-up the years they didn't win. And both are struggling at the same thing in dethroning the Chiefs to win a ring. Jackson is faster and more elusive. Allen is bigger and more powerful. The play Jackson made Sunday night to escape the sack was only something he can do. But I've also seen Allen stiff-arm and truck over defenders for extra yardage, which is something only he can do. Both put defenses in impossible situations of defending both run/pass. Both can extend plays for almost infinite amounts of time. To me, there is one reason that Allen gets the edge. When defenses find a way to put the Ravens into situations where they absolutely must pass to win (which is very rare), Jackson's effectiveness does drop. In other words, Jackson can obviously pick apart a defense with his arm... but he usually needs the threat of his legs in order to consistently do that 30-40 times per game. Allen has proven more times that he can be dangerous from the pocket, even when teams aren't worried about his legs.

I recently heard someone say that Jackson is a sports car, and Allen is a tank. Jackson is setting all the QB rushing records when it comes to yardage. Allen is setting all the QB rushing records when it comes to touchdowns. Side note: I realize that Jalen Hurts is also rocketing up the TD list, but the vast majority of his are coming from tush-push sneaks.

The problem is not a talent disparity, but a scheme disparity. Buffalo's defense was constructed to be small and fast, so they are naturally going to struggle against big and powerful run games. It's actually funny when you think about it. This team was constructed with beating the Chiefs in mind. Yet we can't get past them in the playoffs to save our lives. The Ravens are easily the worst matchup for us in the entire NFL. And they have now lost two in a row to us, and are 0-2 against the Bills in the playoffs.

QB: Josh Allen > Lamar Jackson RB: Derrick Henry > James Cook WR1: Zay Flowers > Keon Coleman WR2: Khalil Shakir > Rashod Bateman WR3: DeAndre Hopkins = Josh Palmer (only due to age) TE1: Mark Andrews > Dalton Kincaid/Dawson Knox LT: Ronnie Stanley = Dion Dawkins LG: David Edwards = Andrew Vorhees CR: Tyler Linderbaum > Connor McGovern RG: O'Cyrus Torrence > Daniel Faalele RT: Spencer Brown > Roger Rosengarten EDGE 1: Joey Bosa > Kyle Van Noy EDGE 2: Greg Rousseau > Odafe Oweh DT1: Nnamdi Madubuike > Ed Oliver DT2/3: Travis Jones/Broderick Washington > DaQuan Jones/T.J. Sanders MLB: Roquan Smith > Terrell Bernard OLB: Matt Milano > Teddye Buchanan CB1: Christian Benford = Marlon Humphrey CB2: Tre White = Jaire Alexander CB3: Taron Johnson > Nate Wiggins SS: Kyle Hamilton > Cole Bishop FS: Taylor Rapp > Malaki Starks With 22 starting spots, I would say the Bills are better at 9 spots, the Ravens are better at 8 spots. The other 5 spots I would consider a wash.

Did the Chiefs win 13 seconds? Or did the Bills lose it? Did the Giants win Super Bowl XXV/Wide Right? Or did the Bills lose it? I've been watching this sport long enough to know it doesn't matter. We've been down this road too much to worry about what sport analysts think about our team. All that matters is who is hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February. And if it takes our opponent "losing" for it to happen, then so be it.

Yes, they look like the Lions. But it's not like there are thousands of unused color combinations they could go with. The Bills have to be some shade and combo of red, white, blue and maybe some grey/silver. Using the winter and snow theme is a fun idea, and a way to do something different. Our regular uniforms are already among the best in the NFL (especially the logo), and fans got the red helmets for the final game. Not sure why so many people want to complain.

If you could take a dozen of the greatest NFL minds in the history of the game (all whom have passed away and know nothing about today's stars)... then put them in a room with just game film... and give them no other context about the players they are watching (Super Bowl rings, awards, stats, etc.).... then at the end of the day, I believe most would say Josh Allen was the best Quarterback in the NFL. Of course, I would probably have said the same thing about Peyton Manning against Tom Brady 15-20 years ago. The problem is, most people are going to factor the Super Bowl rings and head/head matchups in very heavily. And that's an area that Allen and Manning have both fallen very short in, when compared against Mahomes and Brady.

DeWayne Carter would not really be a surprise at this point. The real question is whether another team liked him in the draft and jumps, or if we can just put him on the practice squad. Elijah Moore is probably less than a 50/50 shot to make the roster, and I think some people might be surprised. He's got athletic talent, but it can't seem to translate onto the football field. Longshot chance one of the vet tackles. DaQuan Jones or Larry Ogunjobi. Simply for the money savings. Then again, this staff does seem to like veteran leadership and that room is incredibly young. If Tyrell Shavers somehow gets cut, I'm never watching preseason again. It would be a sign the coaching staff has already made up its mind regardless of what happens in the games.

Typical Brandon Beane: - Drafts bust on Day 1 or 2 - Trades bust for a 6th Round Pick - Totally nails 6th Round Pick

I'm not the type of person that gets upset with negative opinions, or believes that fans are supposed to be overly optimistic. But trying to take a realistic/balanced look at this team, I'm just not sure how you think they have regressed. The offense is almost identical to last year's. The only real difference in the starting lineup is Josh Palmer instead of Amari Cooper (who had virtually no production with us). And all signs from training camp are that Keon Coleman has drastically improved from his rookie year. Then the starting defense has basically swapped Von Miller for Joey Bosa, and an old Rasul Douglas for an old Tre White. At safety, we are hoping that Cole Bishop is able to upgrade Damar Hamlin. Even if you assume that none of our rookies make an impact, or that Bishop sucks and we are forced to go back to Hamlin -- it's pretty much still the same Buffalo Bills team as last year. Same core staff. Same system. Same core players. And we don't really have any older players that we can worry about a significant regression in their play. Bottom line, the Buffalo Bills have been good enough to win the Super Bowl the last 4-5 years. There is every reason they will be good enough again this season. The only problem is that 4-5 other teams will also be good enough to win it, and we will need to get past them. Will it happen this year? Your guess is as good as mine.

Agreed. It makes the Bills defensive stats even worse when you consider they have the benefit of playing a weaker Wild Card opponent every season (Colts, Patriots, Dolphins, Steelers, Broncos), while the Chiefs usually get the bye and go straight to a top contender. No doubt, the Chiefs have definitely had some rough playoff games on defense. But they have also had some good ones against top offenses. McDermott's units have showed up twice against Lamar Jackson, but have done less than nothing in the playoffs against Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow. Maybe fans wouldn't be so critical if they actually did SOMETHING positive in any of those games. Nothing crazy. Maybe some pressure on the QB once in a while. Maybe a forced punt here and there. Or how about a turnover?

Yeah. Listening to the Sal clip, it definitely doesn't sound like a really serious injury. Tre White was apparently walking all over the stadium long after getting hurt, and then standing to watch the rest of practice. Getting "carted to the locker room" was basically him hitching a ride at the end... in the passenger seat... not in the back with his foot/leg elevated. Now that doesn't mean he won't miss some time. We are 16 days from the season opener.

My opinion is that rookies should occasionally flash, but any kind of real impact you get from them in Year 1 is a bonus. Second year players should become more consistent and dependable. Still room for growth, but making positive contributions. By the middle of a guy's third season, you usually have a pretty good idea what kind of NFL player they are going to be for the long-haul (in most cases). With that said, part of the problem with most of the Bills 2024 draft class is that almost all their picks haven't even gotten a chance to sniff the field. That's because much better players are above them, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Not much you can do when a Pro-Bowl player is already at the position. The only guy we've really gotten an extended look at is Keon Coleman. He definitely flashed as a rookie, and has been one of the stars of training camp. - The story with Cole Bishop has been injuries and missing training camps. The opportunity is there for him to take the starting role, but he's just lost so much development time. Hard to judge where he's at until he actually gets onto the field. - DeWayne Carter is probably the biggest bust of the group so far. Day 2 pick at a position where he could be making a real impact in the D-Line rotation. But he never did anything as a rookie, and is already getting outshined by the guys in this year's class. - Ray Davis was probably drafted as the heir-apparent starter at RB. He's looked pretty good in limited time. But then James Cook had a huge breakout season and signed an extension. So barring injury, Davis will likely be stuck as the #2 for the remainder of his time in Buffalo. That doesn't make him a bad pick. - Sedrick Van Pran-Granger and Tylan Grable are both stuck on the bench behind Pro-Bowl O-Linemen. And both have been injured this offseason. Maybe SVPG gets a shot next year if we don't bring back Conner McGovern, but it's hard to see Grable becoming more than a swing tackle with Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown above him. Like Davis, this doesn't make either guy a bad pick. - Javon Solomon and Daequan Hardy have both flashed as potentially decent depth players in this league. Can't ask for much more out of 5th and 6th Rounders. Overall, I think we can be happy if Coleman and Bishop develop into good starters. None of the other guys really have a clear path to even reach the starting lineup, regardless of how they play. Davis, SVPG, Grable and maybe Solomon can be important depth players going forward.

I still expect the Bills to win the AFC East easily, and to be a serious contender for the Super Bowl. That hasn't changed. But Free Agency and the Draft always bring a lot of hype. Sometimes it's justified. A lot of times it turns out to be B.S. The talk all offseason has been about the Bills defense making a big jump, and that being the piece that finally lands us the Lombardi trophy. And unfortunately, the last two preseason games has really put a damper on much of the the improvement talk. We spent a bunch of draft capital on the D-Line. For the most part, they don't look ready to play yet. Maybe that changes, but defensive linemen have a history of developing very slowly on this team. Joey Bosa can't stay healthy and has already been injured since joining the team. Our other free agent adds are suspended for six weeks. This pass rush is pretty much back to relying on Groot, Oliver, Jones and Epenesa. Tre White was one of the stories of training camp. But our only look at him this preseason was very underwhelming. He looks slow, and was getting picked on by the Giants passing game. With the time/reps Maxwell Hairston is missing, his rookie season might end up being a wash. Which leaves this unit about the same as last year when we had Benford, Johnson and Douglas. The plan at safety seemed to be hoping Cole Bishop developed. He's been hurt, and was terrible in his first appearance last night. Which pretty much brings us back to Rapp and Hamlin. All these moves, and the Defense looks almost identical to 2024. That doesn't necessarily mean we can't go all the way. But we know how the story has ended the last 4-5 years.

People are upset because either Bishop or Hamlin are expected to start at Safety, and both looked terrible. Epenesa, Jackson, Solomon, Sanders and Walker will be factoring heavily into the D-Line rotation, and all were invisible. Andreesen and Williams are our primary backups at the often-injured Linebacker position, and all looked lost. The score doesn't matter. But the fact that all these individuals played like trash is concerning, because all of them will absolutely be playing snaps this year.

Preseason is what it is. Our starters watched from the sidelines. Game planning was non-existent. But last night has to be a sad reality check for anyone who was optimistic this Defense was going to take a huge jump this year. Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin or possibly both (considering how much Taylor Rapp gets hurt) are going to start a significant number of games this year. People seemed to be excited about that Darrick Forrest guy, but I don't even know if he makes the team. If I'm Brandon Beane, my number one priority in the coming week is trading for a solid veteran who can hold down this position. Right now, safety is a huge liability. It also doesn't look like any of the young investments we've made in the D-Line are anywhere near ready to contribute. Which is bad news, considering how much we like to rotate up front (and because everyone knows Joey Bosa won't stay healthy for 17 games). Maybe we can get a splash play from Deon Walker here and there. But I haven't seen anything remotely promising from TJ Sanders, Landon Jackson, Javon Solomon or DeWayne Carter. No pressure. Out of position. Getting blown off the ball. As good as the Bills are with developing other positions (like CB and OL), it's the complete opposite on the D-Line. I think we need an overhaul in the coaching staff, because we are just spinning our wheels here year after year after year... Expect the media hype around "Buffalo Joe" to take quite a hit this week. People have been hyping him up like the second coming of Matt Milano. The guy looked absolutely lost out there. Hope we can stay healthy at that position (we usually don't though, because we are undersized). Combine all of this week's mess with how slow/tentative Tre White looked in coverage last week... don't be surprised if 2025 is another season of our Offense carrying an average/below average Defensive unit.

I understand what you are saying, but I do try to consider a person's whole body of work and not just performance in the postseason. Were Tom Brady, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw significantly better quarterbacks than Peyton Manning and Dan Marino? They performed much better in the postseason, but I personally I would say they weren't. Also, it isn't like Spags defense hasn't been regularly smoked by Josh Allen too. The difference is that he seems to create just enough pressure to force that extra missed throw (like when Chris Jones barely knocked Allen's throw off in the 2023 divisional game, on what would have been a touchdown pass).

Sean McDermott is a disciple of Andy Reid. Oddly enough, Andy Reid was the NFL's poster-child for 20 years for "almost" getting there and never being able to get over the hump. He started coaching the Eagles in 2001 and then moved to the Chiefs in 2013. In that 20 year period (before he finally won the Super Bowl), Reid's teams had 14 playoff appearances, 9 division titles, 6 championship game appearances and one loss in the big game. And no trophy to show for it. Wow. So what was the big change that happened in 2019? The answer you will get from 99% of football fans will probably be Patrick Mahomes, and they aren't necessarily wrong. But it should also be pointed out that Steve Spagnuolo was hired in 2019 as the team's Defensive Coordinator. Yes, the same guy who created the defense that stopped the undefeated Patriots way back on 2007 has also helped the Chiefs win all three of their Super Bowls. Hard to find it just a coincidence. Personally, I don't think Spagnuolo is a significantly better defensive coach than McDermott. The numbers from year to year certainly don't support that. But I do think Spag's strategy (particularly when it comes to pressuring QBs) just seems to work better in the postseason against the NFL's best passers. While Spagnuolo is more about creating chaos with blitzes, McDermott's strategy has always been to rely more on confusing coverage packages, and then pressure with four guys. And it just hasn't worked. Last year, the Bills defense started a gradual shift into being more versatile. More man coverage. Occasionally breaking out of the Nickel. The next step will be to bring more blitzes, and create more chaos along the front with stunts and shifts. There have been some reports out of training camp that we are doing exactly that. I hope it translates into the postseason. As many of us have been stating for 2-3 years, this team won't take the next step until we can significantly increase our pressure on the QB in the playoffs.

This is my first time watching Hard Knocks (I subscribed to Max for one month just to watch it). As a Bills fan, I thought the first episode was pretty good and fun. Josh Allen, Tre White, Dion Dawkins... But the second was pretty dull, because if focused mostly on backup players that either won't make the team or will only have marginal impact (Joe Andreesen, KJ Hamler, Damar Hamlin). Even the holdout with James Cook was quickly glossed over, transitioning immediately into a fun story about Ray Davis kicking field goals. Maybe I was hoping for more attention on our top players who for some reason don't get much national exposure... Christian Benford, Greg Rousseau, Ed Oliver, Terrell Bernard, Matt Milano, Spencer Brown, O'Cyrus Torrence, Khalil Shakir, etc. Many of these guys get snubbed annually for Pro Bowl/All-Pro honors, and it would be nice to see some focus on them. Also, I feel like the more important storylines around the team have been ignored so far. For example, how second year pros like Keon Coleman and Cole Bishop are progressing in their sophomore seasons. The pressure on Dalton Kincaid to have a breakout year. Can Joey Bosa stay healthy and return to his old Pro-Bowl days? The high number of injuries in training camp (especially the scare with Maxwell Hairston). To me, these are the stories that fans (not just in Buffalo) are more likely to care about.

The Eagles were a pass interference play away from winning the 2023 Super Bowl, two years before Barkley. It can be argued the defense was the biggest difference-maker this time around. And technically, the Ravens went a round farther in the playoffs the season before they signed Henry. I agree that RBs have been undervalued for most of the last decade. But we need to be careful not to over-correct the other direction. This is still a passing league. By far. Cook is a nice weapon. But even without him, this offense is still among the NFL’s best. And this team is still s Super Bowl contender.

That's a pretty big range, depending on the other parameters of the contract. How much is guaranteed? How many years? There is a big difference between 3 years/$10 million, and 5 years/$13 million. Most of the reports over the last couple weeks make it seem like the two sides were getting pretty close to a deal. So it would make sense that Cook has backed-off the original asking price of $15 million per (which was always ridiculous, and something he was never going to get from any team in the NFL). My guess is the Bills are maxing out around $11-12 million and 3-4 years. If Cook is willing to take an extension in that range, then I think he will be sticking around for the long-haul.

Teams in Buffalo's position don't usually make HUGE on-paper upgrades in a single offseason. Without tons of salary cap space, the focus is on bargain free agents. Not bid splash signings. And draft picks in the mid/late 20's are not expected to make a tremendous immediate impact, as opposed to the Top 5-10 prospects. But teams in Buffalo's position also don't NEED to make huge upgrades. We have won our division and at least one playoff game 5 seasons in a row. A play or two different, and we could easily have appeared in 2-3 Super Bowls over the last few years. All we really need is a few tweaks in the right areas, and luck to finally bounce our way. Whether we made the right moves this offseason remains to be seen. The idea that we needed some kind of major overhaul to suddenly have a chance at the Eagles or Chiefs is pure sportsfan ego talking. Anybody with a tiny ounce of football knowledge knows the Bills are right in the same tier as them. The Bills had one of the best O-Lines in football last year, along with the hardest QB to sack in the league. The Chiefs struggled blocking, and were shuffling guys around going into the playoffs. Just because KC struggled in that game doesn't mean it would have played out the same against us.

Honestly, I don't know what he's capable of doing. Can he put together another 7 seasons like the first half of his career? Can he be elite for another 4-5 seasons, take a step back and then just play at a high level for another 4-5 after that?