mjt328

I can only think of two reasons a player would want a second opinion from a doctor: 1. The doctor gave him really bad news (season or career ending), and he wants to see if another specialist can fix the injury with less missed time on the field. 2. The doctor said everything was good to go, but he still feels like something isn't right physically and wants to double-check. It's hard for me to imagine a player getting a good report from the doctor, feeling great physically and still saying... "I need to miss practice this week and go get another opinion." Hopefully I'm wrong. But the vague way Sean McDermott apparently shut-down media questions about Hyde's absence yesterday also seemed really odd. My first thought was that something more serious was going on, and coach didn't want to talk about it. And that was before news broke about Hyde getting a second opinion. Of course this is all speculation, and maybe I'm just fearing the worst news. I'm getting post-Thanksgiving vibes, just like I did after we destroyed the Saints...but couldn't completely enjoy it, because of the coming bad news about Tre White's knee.

Just hope we aren't in the same boat as the Ravens come kickoff. No Tre White. Probably no Dane Jackson. Possibly no Micah Hyde.

The Bills just want a running game that can keep defenses honest. Where we ran into trouble last season, was when teams dropped 7-8 defenders... but we still couldn't generate more than 2-3 yards per carry.

My only concern about this game are the injuries in the secondary. It's almost a certainty that we have two rookie cornerbacks against Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. And it wasn't a promising start of the week with Micah Hyde not practicing either.

Even the best quarterbacks in NFL history have the occasional bad game. And even the best offenses have days where they have trouble getting in sync. That's pretty much what you need to hope for, because I'm not sure a scheme alone is enough to stop them for an entire game. At this point, Josh Allen has shown success against every kind of defense. Man, Zone, Cover 0-1-2-3. He can beat you with the short game. He can beat you over the top. Even when you do everything right, he can beat you with his legs. And with more experience, he is becoming tougher and tougher to fool with exotic looks and trickery. Like any great QB at his peak, the best way to beat Allen is to beat the guys around him. Specifically the O-Line. Find ways to get pressure with only 4 guys, leaving 7 in the secondary, and that's always a recipe for success. If you go back to last year, the common theme in our bad offensive games (Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, New England) was a breakdown in the offensive line. Each of those games saw terrible pass blocking, and an inability to generate any push in the run game.

The Bills aren't built like the Browns or Titans, who need the running game to carry them for 4 Quarters. If you are looking for a 20-25 carry, 100 yard game from an RB on this roster, you are probably going to be disappointed all season. That's just not us. All we need from the running game is the ability to gain 4-5 yards when the defense shows light boxes and plays heavy coverage. Doesn't matter if that comes from Devin Singletary, Zack Moss, James Cook or from Josh Allen. So far, I would say that Singletary has been very effective in doing exactly that. 6.0 YPC against the Rams. 5.4 YPC against the Titans. The Rams came out with plans to stop the deep passing game. So we picked down the field underneath, and broke off some nice runs with Singletary/Allen. The Titans seemed geared to stop Allen from breaking the pocket, so we hit them downfield.

I was thinking the same thing. What worked for Tua in the 4th Quarter against the Ravens, will almost certainly be a recipe for doom against us. He really needs to play the opposite way this week... patient and efficient, instead of looking for the big play. If he spends the day lobbing deep balls down the field, he may end up with 6 interceptions this week instead of 6 touchdowns.

Mentioned some of this in a different thread. I watched most of Miami's first two games. The Dolphins offense only scored 13 points in Week 1, against a less than impressive Patriot defense. They had only 7 points at halftime on Sunday, and only 14 points after 3 quarters. If you watch the Mike Gesicki touchdown, there were three Ravens around the ball that didn't even bother to put their hands up or jump to stop the pass. The deep Tyreek Hill touchdown was one of the worst miscommunication/blown coverages I have ever seen, where nobody was within 30 yards of him. Don't get me wrong. It was an awesome comeback, and Tua had the game of his life. But let's not pretend the Dolphins are suddenly some offensive juggernaut, after literally ONE quarter of great play, against a defense that had clearly packed it in. They have some really dangerous weapons on the outside. But it's not like they are the first team in NFL history to field two fast receivers at the same time. There is a strategy to stop that kind of attack, and we just happen to be VERY good at running it. The Bills defense specializes in stopping the big pass play, and forcing offenses to gradually work down the field with runs and underneath throws. After watching film from the Ravens game, this will be an even bigger focus than normal for Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier. Maybe our injuries play a factor, but I just don't see us allowing the same deep passes that killed the Ravens. Based on our recent play and the last several times playing the Dolphins, I would be surprised if our offense scores less than 30-35 points. Can the Dolphins operate efficiently enough to move the ball methodically, converting third downs, keep our offense off the field, and stay pace with us on the scoreboard? From what I've seen in 2022 so far, I don't think so.

Very interested to see the injury report this week. The Titans game was not the week to be short on the D-Line, but our depth came through with flying colors. The Dolphins game is not one I want to be short in the secondary (White, Jackson, Hyde). But who knows?

Mitch Morse returned to the game last night. He will probably get some lighter work this week, but I would expect him to be good going forward. Tim Settle practiced Saturday, so I imagine he is close. Everyone else is a total mystery.

There were many times last season, where the Bills clearly tried to coast against inferior opponents. They often struggled against teams that were very physical on both sides of the line of scrimmage (such as Tennessee). I want to see this team laser-focused on a weekly basis. This game will be a big test.

I think most of the Buffalo fanbase suffers from PTSD, from all these years of suffering and heartbreak. Can we not feel secure about our team's season, unless every other franchise in the NFL looks like complete trash? Half of this board went into a total panic mid-afternoon Sunday, under the sudden realization that one of our division rivals might win double-digit games this year. Hey everyone... It's OK if the Dolphins have a good team. It's OK if the Chiefs are still really good too. We can still win a Super Bowl if the AFC East and #1 seed isn't in the bag by Thanksgiving. Let's all try to relax and breathe. The Bills are heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl because OUR TEAM is exceptional. Not because everyone else is expected to suck. If we stay healthy, stay focused and handle our business, the Bills should still win the AFC East. Miami had 9 wins last season, and 10 wins the season before. Anyone who expected them to be a total pushover this season was in denial. They already had a strong defense. And having two weapons on the outside like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle was going to cause problems for quite a few defenses. With that said, I have watched a good chunk of both Dolphins games this year. Their offense managed 13 points in Week 1. They had 7 points at halftime yesterday and 14 points at the end of the 3rd Quarter. The Ravens defense started playing very soft when the score was 28-7, and their defensive backs barely made an effort to stop the touchdown throw to Mike Gesicki. They totally blew the coverage on the tying touchdown to Hill and he was open by about 30 yards in every direction. It was a great comeback. But let's not pretend their offense is totally unstoppable. Since Josh Allen became our QB, the Bills are 7-1 against the Dolphins. The only loss was the infamous Charles Clay endzone drop. In those wins, our offense has put up 42, 31, 37, 56, 31, 26 and 35 points. Our defensive scheme is built to stop the big play. Although it certainly won't be a given with (possibly) two rookie corners on the outside, there is no reason to be scared. They have shown zero ability to slow us down on the other side. Based on history, the Dolphins will need about 4-5 plays like that to keep up with our offense.

Taking off my homer glasses...Patrick Mahomes probably gets the edge over Josh Allen because: He has been elite for 4 full seasons. Allen took a few years to develop, and has been elite for the last 2 seasons. His team has a 4-1 edge in head-to-head matchups, including twice in the playoffs. He has a Super Bowl trophy and an MVP, while Allen is still chasing both. Herbert is well below both guys. He makes some great throws, and is clearly a QB on the rise. But there are times that Allen/Mahomes simply cannot be defended. I've never seen him hit that level. Not to mention, he still hasn't even led his team to the playoffs.

Thanks for this information. It's very important to note the difference between QB scrambles and the various kinds of designed QB runs. Telling Josh Allen that he shouldn't scramble with the ball would be a mistake. It's one of the aspects of his game that makes him special, and almost impossible to defend. Take that away, and yes he's still a good passer. But I don't think he's elite as a pocket-only guy. You can see the same evolution with Russell Wilson over the last 2-3 seasons. Once he decided to stop running as often, the level of his game went down a notch. He's still very accurate and smart. But defenses don't fear him like they used to. I think our offense would also miss the read-option plays if we cut them out completely. They have been a key piece to this offense (with both Daboll and Dorsey). If Allen starts handing the ball off 90% of the time, the defense will quickly figure that out. And then those plays become ineffective. I think the answer here would be to "limit" the read-option looks, and only use them in the more important games/situations. The pre-designed runs are the easiest to scrap, and don't seem to gain much anyway. Those are the plays that eventually ran Cam Newton into the ground. Hopefully our staff learned some from his quick decline, and takes notes for Allen's career.

The Rams game was a test for our upgraded pass rush, and they far exceeded expectations. The Titans game will be a big test for our upgraded interior D-Line. DaQuan Jones. Tim Settle. Jordan Phillips. I'll also throw in Shaq Lawson setting the edge. The key to their offense is obviously Derrick Henry... and then the play-action that results from teams selling-out to stop him. If our D-Line can stop the running game without much help from the linebackers and secondary, we should be in pretty good shape. Without AJ Brown, there shouldn't be any receiving threats we can't handle.

It's a long season. By the end, I would expect James Cook to be a major contributor to the offense. Right now, he's clearly not ready. He's not ready as a blocker. He fumbled his first/only carry of the game. He apparently ran the wrong route on another. Not to mention, Devin Singletary looked better than ever. The Bills can afford to wait on Cook and ease him into games.

I watched a good chunk of the Dolphins-Patriots game on Sunday. Not really sure what they are so excited about... or why they are suddenly so confident against us. They beat an average team by 13 points. We beat the same team (before they lost Josh McDaniels, JC Jackson, etc.) in the playoffs by 30, and scored a touchdown every time we touched the ball. Tua completed a bunch of underneath passes (which plays right into our defensive strengths), and their offense managed a whopping 13 points the entire game. Meanwhile, we played the Super Bowl champions and didn't punt.

It actually goes back to the 1940s. They just never use it on their helmets or merchandise, so very few people even know the character exists.

Here's the thing... The 17-game regular season is really about positioning for the playoffs. Just over half the teams are eliminated. A couple get first-round byes. Homefield advantage is established. I think we have the best roster in the NFL. But it really doesn't matter who the "best" team in the NFL is. Because once you reach the playoffs, it's one-and-done. No matter how superior we looked in Week 1, there is a LONG season ahead. And even if we blow through every single opponent on our schedule, we still need to win 3-4 games in the playoffs with no slip-ups. So... who scares me? Anyone that doesn't see the Chiefs as another 50-50 coinflip at this point...they are fooling themselves. That team is absolutely still a monster. The Ravens and Chargers also looked good enough to hang with us. The Bengals are dangerous, and always seem to claw their way back into games. That's just the AFC.

So just under 3 touchdowns per game, and just under 300 yards per game. I don't see any reason why he can't accomplish that. Our multiple primetime games is going to help in an MVP bid. Voters will be looking beyond just pure stats. Yes, he threw two picks last night. But everyone realizes the first wasn't close to his fault, and the second was pretty much his only bad throw the entire night. The rest of the game he was absolutely unstoppable.

The way Dane Jackson looked, both rookies are going to be watching from the sidelines a good chunk of the season.

They were pretty sloppy in the second quarter. No question about that. But this was the 3rd game (out of their last 5) where the Bills offense hasn't punted even once. That's going to make up for a lot of the stupid mistakes.

All this is 100% spot on. The question is whether the Bills are really the inconsistent 11-6 team that we saw last year. Losing to the Jags, Steelers and Patriots. Or were they playing down to inferior opponents, and didn't quite get mentally right until the last quarter of the year? I think most people believe the latter. Hence the high expectations for this season.

To be honest, this level of attention is making me a little nervous. It's totally new territory. As a fan of this team, I'm too used to disappointment. Yesterday, all of the NFL Network announcers picked us for the Super Bowl. Not a typo. Every single one of them. Even in the 90s, we were generally overshadowed by the 49ers and the Cowboys in yearly predictions. With that said... I agree with Von Miller. Burn it all. Forget about the past. This is a different team. The Patriots were losers for most of their first 40 years. Before Brady/Belichick, they were 0-2 in Super Bowls and had a grand-total of 7 playoff wins in their entire franchise history. Now they are above the Packers, Steelers, Cowboys and 49ers as the top franchises in the sport.

My feeling is that Ed Oliver is pretty much a lock for an extension. His impact goes far beyond the stat sheet, and the coaches see that. I think he's poised for a huge breakout playing next to Von Miller. If he starts hot, I don't think they will wait until the offseason to lock him up. Tremaine Edmunds is probably a 50-50 split. The coaches definitely value him much higher than the fans. But do they see him as irreplaceable? And what can he fetch on the open market? If he finally explodes this year, he may price himself out of our range. I hate to say it, but Jordan Poyer is most likely a goner. I think the Bills would be willing to extend him 1-2 more seasons with a decent pay raise. But I get the feeling he wants 3-4 years at top safety money. At his age, he just seems like the odd-man-out.