mjt328

Crazy. Only a few years ago, people were saying how much young QB talent there was in the league. It seems like a bunch of quarterback stars have either retired in the past few years (Phillip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees), or just suddenly hit the age wall this season (Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady). Many of the up-and-coming guys who showed early promise have since fallen-off (Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Baker Mayfield) or really started sliding backwards (Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott). Deshaun Watson's career has been totally derailed by off-field issues. Last year's draft class has been profoundly disappointing (Trevor Lawrence, Zack Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields). And this year's class was considered weak from the start. But possibly the biggest issue is that Patrick Mahomes/Josh Allen are playing at such a high level... everyone else seems weak by comparison. Justin Herbert is literally setting yardage records for his first 2-3 seasons, but STILL seems a couple tiers below those guys. Same thing with Joe Burrow and even Lamar Jackson. In the past, fans would feel pretty good about having young QBs like Tua and Mac Jones on their team. But in reality... what are the chances those guys are going to lead their team to an AFC East Championship any time soon?

I'm an old-timer who still has PTSD from the 90s Super Bowls. Guessing by your username, maybe you have managed to get over it. Until the Bills finally get that monkey off their back and hoist the Lombardi, I will be more worried about them blowing it. Doing that with Tom Brady would be the worst thing. Ever.

I'm going with Odell Beckham Jr. Christian McCaffrey would definitely improve our backfield and be an upgrade over Devin Singletary/James Cook. He would also provide a new aspect to our offense, giving us a huge threat coming out of the backfield. It's one thing we currently don't have. But OBJ gives us something better. Security. Our offense is already #2 in points per game and #1 in yardage. We barely punt already. We don't really need a boost on that side of the ball, as much as we need a backup in case of emergency. Our worst games passing happened with Gabe Davis hobbled and Jake Kumerow injured. If something happened to Davis again or Stefon Diggs, this offense would certainly take a huge dip. Along with Kumerow, we also have Jameson Crowder done for the season. Isaiah McKenzie has been very mistake-prone. And the coaching staff doesn't seem thrilled with putting a rookie Khalil Shakir into the starting lineup. So the place is already there for OBJ to slide into the lineup.

I voted for the Vikings. They are the only team on the list who hasn't won a Super Bowl. Can't believe how many people said the Bucs. The entire two weeks of lead-up would be torture, worrying about the possibility of losing to Tom Brady. Even if we won, how could anyone stand seeing Brady in yet another Super Bowl? And it sure would be tempting for the refs to give the old man a few breaks, so he could go out on top one more time. No thanks.

The Eagles are a good team, with lots of talent on both sides of the ball. Before the season, I fully expected them to win the NFC East and be a sleeper Super Bowl contender (mostly due to a weak conference though). Jalen Hurts has also taken a big step this season. With that said, I don't think they have been challenged much in the first six weeks. Almost every season a surprise team comes out hot with an early winning streak, and fades-off as the season goes on. Back in 2008, we started 4-0 with Trent Edwards and people were talking about us finally getting our franchise QB. We ended the season 7-9 and missed the playoffs.

I had some thoughts, but this post pretty much summarizes everything.

Every season, there are multiple "surprise" teams after the first 5-6 games. Things will start settling over the next month. The Jets are overachieving a little. But honestly, I don't think anything in the AFC East has been totally shocking so far. The Dolphins have been a 9-10 win team each of the last few years. Everyone should have expected them to be competitive and in the Wild Card hunt. And everyone should have expected them to struggle with their 2nd/3rd string QB under center. The Patriots roster lacks talent, but they know how to keep games close and scrape out more wins than they deserve. Reminds me of us with Dick Jauron. They looked like a .500 team that would need to rely on the defense and run game. They will win maybe 7-8 and fall short of the playoffs. The Jets have tons of young talent. Lots of people figured they could win 6-8 games this season. I still don't see it with Zach Wilson, and think they will drop back to Earth in the coming weeks.

I'm a fan of Isaiah McKenzie. But after yesterday, I'm done with him in the starting lineup. For every big play he provides, he also gives us some kind of mental mistake. In the first six games of 2022, he's already given us multiple dropped passes (including one that led to an interception, and one that cost us a touchdown), a fumble where he wasn't paying attention... and his failure to go down in the Miami game cost us a chance to kick the winning field goal. As Tony Romo said yesterday. There isn't a defense in the NFL capable of stopping us on a consistent basis. Almost every time we fail to score, it's because of a self-inflicted wound. Not because the opposition FORCED us into a mistake. If we fail to score 30 points in any game, it will be due to dropped passes, fumbles, penalties and other dumb errors. Not because the other team outplayed us. The Bills already have multiple explosive players. Josh Allen. Stefon Diggs. Gabriel Davis. Dawson Knox. What we need from our slot receiver is consistency. A guy we can count-on to make the tough 4-5 yard catches on 3rd/4th down and keep a drive moving. McKenzie is the type of player who could make a big 15-20 yard play in those situations. Or he might drop a catchable ball.

After watching yesterday's game, I'm convinced nothing is going to change significantly in how the Bills defense plays against the Chiefs. The Bills strategy is to keep everything underneath, and make sure they don't get beat over the top. Even without Tyreek Hill to worry about. They aren't going to blitz a lot. They aren't going to double-team the tight end. They aren't going to chip him at the line. The are going to go 95% nickel defense (some dime) and try to pressure the QB with 4 guys. Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier believe that by constantly forcing them into long drives, they will make just enough mistakes where our offense can outscore them. The Chiefs played very good, but Mahomes did throw two interceptions. We made two unforced errors (both on Isaiah McKenzie) and still ended up winning at the end.

Interesting numbers. They haven't exactly played a bunch of scrubs at the position either. Mark Andrews is possibly the next best TE in the NFL after Travis Kelce. The others are Tyler Higbee, Austin Hooper, Mike Gesicki and Pat Freiermuth. All guys capable of making plays in the passing game. As I said in another post... there is a domino effect when you upgrade the D-Line. Not only are they getting a better pass rush and more stops in the run game, but they are really freeing up the Linebackers at the second level. When Matt Milano, Tremaine Edmunds and Taron Johnson (we can throw him into this discussion) don't have to worry about what is happening at the line of scrimmage, it gives them an extra step in coverage.

I will just say it. DaQuan Jones has been just as important of an addition to the D-Line as Von Miller. You can easily see how the blocking attention that Miller commands is helping the pass rush. But the job Jones is doing at 1-Tech is allowing our linebackers to have career seasons, so far. Considering the Chiefs current (quick-strike, dink/dunk) offense, Jones may actually be more important for us on Sunday. Stopping the run without our linebackers cheating-up will help us keep them in 3rd-long, and allow our coverage to better contain Travis Kelce.

When I say "superior", that doesn't mean I'm expecting a guarantee blowout/beat-down victory. Not by any means. However, I do understand why the Bills are favored in this game, despite it being in Arrowhead. You are correct in saying the gap between most NFL teams is not very large. I believe we are significantly better than Miami, even with the injuries. But 3-4 mistakes on our side was enough to put them ahead in Week 3. If the Bills come out and play their normal game, limit unforced mistakes and keep the turnover battle even... I have no doubts they will win. Possibly even by double-digits. The difference between the defenses is just too lopsided, and I think we can get 2-3 more stops as the game presses on.

Didn't see it, but I guess great minds think a like. If the Chiefs are getting rid of the ball quickly, we probably aren't going to see many sacks. Regardless of how improved the D-Line is. That is just reality. My question is whether McDermott/Frazier will be willing to press-up on the offense a little this time. Our history against the Chiefs is to keep everything underneath and force them into picking down the field. Part of it was the fear of Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill. Part of it was just our own tendencies on defense. But without Hill, I think the Bills need to do more to challenge them on the short stuff.

Here is the way I see it: In 2020, the Chiefs were clearly the better team. More talent and more experience. I knew it going into both games (regular season and the playoffs), but hoped they would make enough mistakes for us to pull it out. That didn't happen, and they solidly beat us both times. Last year, I felt we pulled even. Going into the first regular season matchup, I think we had more incentive to get that monkey off our back and played harder. But the divisional playoff game was the definition of an evenly matched 50/50 game. This year, the Bills are the superior team. We have more talent on paper, and I've been more impressed with our performance over the first 5 games. In past years, I think Kansas City had the edge on offense. Losing Tyreek Hill brings the two teams back to the same level. - Quarterback play is about as even as you can get. Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes is a wash. - Both have elite #1 receivers (Stefon Diggs vs. Travis Kelce). The Chiefs have been stronger on the ground, but the Bills have more receiving weapons. - O-Lines are both solid/above average, with some inconsistent streaks against elite D-Lines. Where the Bills truly have the edge is on defense. The Chiefs have some good individual players like Chris Jones and Frank Clark. But overall, the Bills are way better on all three levels - D-Line, Linebackers and in the Secondary. The Bills defense is currently ranked #1 in points against, #4 against the pass and #2 against the run. For comparison, the Chiefs are ranked 23rd in points against, 24th against the pass and surprisingly 3rd against the run (despite getting totally gashed by Josh Jacobs on Monday night).

My thoughts exactly. The last few years, whenever Allen broke the pocket and rolled right, it almost always meant a big passing play downfield. This year, teams are clearly making an effort to keep him from rolling that way. It is making absolutely no difference, and Allen is actually having the best start of his career.

Yes, I believe you are correct. The only thing that could have changed was in the stat column. - Josh Allen would have gotten an INT instead of a TD pass - Gabe Davis would have gotten credit for a fumble recover TD, instead of a TD catch - Minkah Fitzpatrick would have gotten credit for the INT. I don't believe there was enough evidence to show that Fitzpatrick actually possessed the ball at any point though, since Davis had his hand on the ball and eventually was the one who came up with it. Ties also go to the offense.

Barkley looks totally rejuvenated this year. But with the NFC East well within their sights, the Giants aren't likely to trade him away. I haven't watched two seconds of Panthers football this year, so I have no idea how McCaffrey looks. He hasn't popped off the highlights (unlike Barkley), but maybe someone in Carolina can shed some light?

I would like to get some clarification on his contract. This is what Spotrac says: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/christian-mccaffrey-21749/ There are some on Twitter stating that we would only be taking on a $600K cap hit in 2022, and then could cut him with no dead cap in 2023. Based on my understanding of contracts, I don't see where that is coming from. His long-term cap hit is probably a bigger deal to the Bills, even more than giving up a high draft pick.

Think about last season. Despite losing Tre White (an All-Pro corner) for the season, the defense played great down the stretch. They didn't seem to miss him at all. Dane Jackson did a fantastic job filling-in, and most weeks we saw very little drop-off. Until Kansas City. There was a point when talent (Tyreek Hill in particular) finally won-out, and scheme fit wasn't enough to beat the opponent. I absolutely love how our depth is filling in. And most weeks, it may appear they are making our superstars expendable. But at some point, we are going to need White, Jordan Poyer and Tremaine Edmunds back. By the way... This is the main reason I also anticipate the Bills finally getting past the Chiefs this year in the playoffs. Most weeks that offense is still going to look amazing, regardless of what they put around Patrick Mahomes. They will probably win 12-14 games this season, easy. But when everything is on the line in the playoffs, the Chiefs no longer have that game-breaking ability that Hill provided. That's when it will make the difference.

When Doug Whaley was our GM, the attitude was... "just draft good players, and let the coaching staff figure it out." He often picked high-floor prospects from big schools, who were able to hit the ground running as rookies. It was then on Doug Marrone/Rex Ryan to fit those guys into their system. The end result was a somewhat talented roster, but mediocre results on the field. Brandon Beane's strategy is much different. The players he drafts are full of athletic traits that perfectly blend into Sean McDermott's system. High-ceiling guys that usually require a few years of development. Much of what we are seeing this season... Damar Hamlin, Jaquan Johnson, Tyrel Dodson, AJ Epenesa, Boogie Basham, Greg Rousseau... is the result of that strategy. These guys have been learning and developing (some for multiple years), slowly getting better and patiently waiting their turn. That's why the defense has been gutted by injuries over the first 5 weeks, but has managed very little drop-off with backups.

So we count the Miami game with our entire O-Line injured and the Baltimore game in the rain, but we don't count the Rams/Titans games. Got it. My original post was that expectations for Brandon Beane are unrealistic. This is exactly what I'm talking about. The Bills had two great games to start the season, followed by two average games due mostly to injuries and bad weather. This is pretty typical with the normal ups and downs of an NFL season, and they are still in the Top 5 in almost every passing category. But the expectation was them to set records and be amongst the highest scoring in history. Your complaint isn't they are struggling. It's they are struggling against what you are expecting from this team. You can't talk trends with sample size of two games. And my guess is that if they score 40-50 against the Steelers, you will just make an excuse of why that doesn't count either.

At his current pace, Josh Allen would finish the season with just under 6000 total yards (5991) and 51 touchdowns. The yardage record is currently Drew Brees with 5562. The touchdown record is currently Peyton Manning with 56. So he would break the yardage record, and be tied for 4th on the touchdown list. Considering he will probably sit Week 17, I think we can all agree he needs to pickup the pace. 😁

This is exactly where I'm at on the running game. I'm OK with us not being a run-heavy team, or even a somewhat balanced team. I think we can continue to be a successful offense with the current run/pass ratio. My only worry is that our O-Line's lack of consistent push kills us on a short-yardage situation at some point in the future. At some point, we may be lined up in a crucial 4th-1 or 4th-2 (like the Titans last season). I'm not confident we can pick it up. Last year, we struggled to run in all situations... even when teams showed very light boxes and dared us. We've done a slightly better job with that so far this year, and broken off a couple nice plays with Devin Singletary. I was optimistic after the Rams game. But it's gotten more troublesome with each ensuing game, and our inability to get anything going on short-yardage without Josh Allen running the ball.

As I stated. The expectations for Brandon Beane are totally unrealistic. Every early Day 1-2 draft pick must be an immediate star, or he's a "garbage" player. Every free agent signing must be a huge contributor, or he's a waste of money. Every position must be addressed with significant resources every couple years, or it's being ignored. We must be able to sustain injuries down to our 3rd-4th string, or we failed to get enough depth on the roster. Here is the reality. We are only given 7 draft picks each year. There is a salary cap that we must adhere to. Not every pick is going to hit. Some young players are going to take 2-3 years to develop. Not every free agent is going to be a good fit on a new team. Some vets will unexpectedly start regressing after signing a new contract. And there are times where injuries hit a single position all at once, and there is really nothing you can do about it. You don't say a Quarterback sucks because he threw an incomplete pass. Nobody has a completion percentage of 100%. You judge him based on how he compares to his peers. A great QB can throw for around 65-70% in a year. It's the same thing with a General Manager. You don't dog him because of the occasional Cody Ford and Zack Moss picks. You judge him based on how his overall roster building compares to other GMs in the NFL. And the opinion of many (if not most) people who cover the NFL is that Beane has constructed the strongest and/or deepest team in the NFL. In reference to the WR position... He traded a 1st Round pick for Stefon Diggs in 2020. He has used draft picks on Gabe Davis, Isaiah Hodgins, Marquez Stevenson and Khalil Shakir. In free agency, he went after Emmanuel Sanders and Jamison Crowder. Past flashes showed that Isaiah McKenzie deserved a shot. And Jake Kumerow has performed well in spot duty. The team has an All-Pro #1, an up-and-coming star at #2, two solid slot receivers and a rookie they are really excited about. Injuries may force us to make another move. But we can't act like this position was weak entering the season.

Our WR depth might end up surprising everyone. Just like we've seen at the CB, S and DT positions. Give them a chance. The team really likes Isaiah Hodgins on the outside. This may finally be his big opportunity. They could also bring up Tavon Austin to play the slot, and then move Khalil Shakir to the outside. Don't forget. The Bills were without Gabe Davis the entire Titans game, and the passing game never missed a beat. The team had faith in Jake Kumerow as depth, and he came through. Then he got hurt too. There are many reasons why our offense has lacked explosion the last two weeks. Not just that we lack WR depth on the outside. I think you are also underestimating how much the weather affected the Ravens game too. Guys were dropping passes all over the place, and the wind was blowing pretty hard in the second half.