Bleeding Bills Blue

What did Barkley do for the giants? Side by side his stats with Motor/Cook and you get very similar production. NYG outgained Buffalo 2519 to 2232 in rush yards yards (buffalo had 1 fewer game), and had 90 additional carries. Moss was a tackle breaking machine in college. He just always seemed tentative in the NFL. Missing holes, and just generally not playing the way he was capable.

It's definitely not 0. He's a good timeshare back - most teams employ one... paying a back is never a particularly smart move as they all end up hurt eventually. I'd say.... Denver, Jets without hall (he's better than everyone else they have), Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina, Tampa, LA. He'd definitely get snaps for teams like KC, Cincy, Pittsburgh. He had more yards on fewer carries than Joe mixon, David Montgomery, and Brian Robinson. He's a pretty solid blocker and he has improved his hands. Him and Cook combine to put up better numbers than Barkley fwiw. I don't think he'll get 5.5 because of the amount of free agents. I think Atlanta will overpay for a top back and he's part of the replacement - so maybe Vegas, or Dallas.

18th in offense, 25th in defense. On a last place schedule. They are a good rushing team, in the same vein that buffalo is a good rushing team. Jones had 700 yards of their rushing. Barkley had 295 for 1312, and 57 for 338. Motor/Cook had 266 for 1326, and 59 for 460. They have 2 slot WRs in james and Robinson - so they can let shepard walk. Hodgins is alright for them - but he plays smaller than his size and is not at all fast. I assume they cut golladay. Slaytons a free agent. So are barkley and jones. On defense their pass rush isn't strong, and they don't have a strong run game. They had 6 INTs on the season, which is absurdly low - but this ebbs and flows usually. They recovered 13 fumbles which is sort of a lot actually. Really good on 3rd down and red zone... Which also ebbs and flows. They won a ton of close games, which usually are more coin flip than anything. I would put them at 4th in that division next year with their current roster.

Developing players isn't really... the job? It's getting your guys up and ready to execute play calls, understanding leverage, route concepts, etc. You can't teach a guy to run routes in his 20s, he knows how. You can't teach a guy how to catch a ball. Those are just drills. No amount of coaching is going to fix drops - its a concentration error. It's getting the x's and o's part of the game down pat, what are tendencies you see from defenders, what are the concepts we are going to use to attack this defense? Its being in the room with dorsey talking about what you think of a play concept, what you see that could attack a defense, etc. QB coaches don't just sit down with allen and tell him about footwork and do drills with him - they sit with him and talk about the offense, what they should see, what they should expect, etc.

Running backs wont sign a franchise tender. I know i wouldn't.

Thats a cap hit of 32.5M. They can make some space with extensions and restructures but thats a ton of their available cap space for a team that has needs all over the place.

45M AAV would put him in a tie for 5th in AAV with Mahomes. Rodgers, Wilson, Murray, Watson all have an AAV above 45. Mariota got 9.375M AAV as a backup. Cousins got 35. Stafford got AAV of 40. Same with Dak. Carr at 40.5. So 35 to me is not out of the realm of possibilities. There are no QBs making 15-20M. Wentz and Goff both got 30+ and that was in 2019. Top end backups are in the 6-12 range.

Looking at splits - Fewer RPOs than last year, despite similar levels of success. Similarly effective on Play action. He was less effective under center this season. Intended Air yards were way up Throwaways way down, drops up

I assume Tua is not going because of the injuries. But there are like 15 guys more qualified than huntley. Carr? Wilson? Mac Jones? Huntley had like 600 yards passing.

Why not just light up the outside of the clock in red or something - if the red hits before the ball is snapped - delay of game.

WR ended up a lot different than it started too - Crowder missed most of the year. Kumerow missed the year basically with numerous injuries too. I know people think he sucks and only plays special teams, not to mention hodgins doing things, but hes a big dude whos fast and can block. He's never played much on offense, but i think they were planning to use him a little bit this year. Mckenzie and Allen just never clicked this year for whatever reason. Davis runs a fairly limited route tree which teams picked up on as the year went on, not to mention his drop issues. Shakir didn't get first team reps until crowder went down, and then took a while to get a role. Diggs was still Diggs.

I think they need to adjust to the playoff mentality. Teams hold more and play more physically in the playoffs - and refs let it all happen. Not going to say philosophically what they need to do differently (zone vs man, blitz vs not etc), but running and stopping the run are huge in the playoffs, and we failed at both. That to me screams "soft", and they need to be more physical - especially in the winter weather.

Any thoughts on trades?

Not sure what he'd cost in picks, but I'd call Houston on cooks.

2022: Bernard's barely played so i can't just say he is a bad player. He is not edmunds replacement though, that i think was clear Elam seems to have some man coverage chops, mcdermott was on this kid for something all year - effort maybe? defensive responsibilities? Benford looked totally solid until he got hit with some injuries. Isn't fast enough to stick at corner in man though, i think with his size/tackling he would be a good fit at safety with a full offseason. Spector hopefully replaces matakevich as a core teamer on a budget 2021: Rousseau - one of the better pass rushers in his class, also a fairly sound run defender with length Basham - I like him better than AJ. He's not a good run defender despite having some size on the edge. Plays with some anger and violence. Probably a luxury pick in a situation where we knew Wallace was in his last year, knew morse had concussion issues, 2020: Epenesa - Looking at this similar to Rousseau - first round production but later round tape. Rousseau has some freak attributes that project though, epenesa is slow and plays small. Raekwon davis at the nose is what i was hoping for. Chinn would have been cool too. 2019: Oliver - Hindsight probably wilkins or lawrence? Joseph - Never played. Next 2 LBs off the board are Greenlaw and Van Ginkel. Pretty big swing and a miss here.

From what I could tell... there were easy pitches and catches. Allen either didn't have the time to find them, or was unwilling to throw them.

Other option is a trade, but i doubt they can fit much under the cap there. I wouldn't waste a 1st in a draft that isn't strong at WR, where we are picking 27. Go with best player available (within reason).

Gabe is just too stiff of a route runner to consistently get open in the offense buffalo currently is trying to run. I think he'd do well in something like Greg Roman's, or anything that is really play action oriented. He blocks well, likes to come back to the ball, and is a deep threat.

A lot of their team is high priced free agents, you can pull that off when your QB and #1 WR are cheap. That's I believe what he is trying to say.

And you're blaming Beane?

We have seen KC at least once a year for a few years now - and i think that familiarity helps. The bengals are a tough matchup against us - they're big on the defensive line, and we pass a lot. Both just... terrible for a bad weather game. Our linemen are backpedaling and slipping, their offensive line is pushing our small defensive line back. It's a lesson that the coaches learned the hard way. You may be able to just execute your offense against anyone, but weather IS a factor late in the season - and you can't have a soft team come playoff time. Poyer, Lawson, Phillips, Edmunds (maybe?), Bease, Brown, Motor -> not all symptoms of the soft problem, but its the end of that era of the bills and the time to get a bit nastier. You don't need to win 15 and get a bye to win the super bowl, don't put that pressure and expectation on yourself. Get a ticket to the dance, and get ready to kick some ass.

I still wanted the OT in round 1. Elam's athleticism will be key moving forward though.

I thought he had a nice game against Miami

Big Ben won 2. The Steelers beat manning and brady a total of once in those 2 seasons. Brady knee year was one, and the other was Jake Plummer and the broncos in the AFC championship. The colts lost to the chargers in one of the other ones. There's Herbert, Lawrence, Lamar, Watson, Tua as well... this isn't going to be easy any year. I do think that instead of prioritizing 1st round byes, and home field advantage, we need to get our team focused and ready for playoffs. This season was an absolute grind, and it ended up taking its toll. Lots of stuff happened, major injuries, blizzards, game cancellations, and one of the wonkiest schedules I can remember. I think the major takeaway to me is being able to adjust who we are and what we do on both sides of the ball. This needs to evolve during the year, as well as week to week. They did this more effectively down the stretch last season and honestly it helped Allen reset and be more prepared for the playoffs.

Yup. WR is going to be hard to get much out of without finding some trades like teams did last year. Brandin Cooks wouldn't cost much in trade compensation - but he does have an 18M salary for this year, and an additional year at 13M. Gone over 1000 6 times, and is fast and a good route runner who can move around the formation. He'll still be 29 going into next year Beckham has no trade compensation. But he doesn't want a short prove it deal, he wants to be paid so I'm not sure how wed make it work since other teams can and probably will overpay him. Hollywood Brown - Probably a bit rich trade wise- 5th year option, and would cost probably a 2nd round pick. Probably wants an extension and Buffalo probably can't afford him with Diggs deal on the books. DJ Moore - In Prime, will cost a fair amount trade wise. Annual cost is more than cooks, but younger. Basically it has to be someone who wants out, or someone who wants a payday.