Bleeding Bills Blue

Tougher to do a lot of that stuff on the road at least, especially with snap counts. Bottle up the run game. Force them into 3rd and longs. Kill the Quarterback.

Only way knox sticks is a pretty substantial paycut - which he will be getting on the open market anyway. His cap hit for money already paid out is 7.5, and he has a 1.5M roster bonus due early on, so i'd expect it to be a pre-FA cut. Adding another year can allow you to spread bonus money further to lower his hit in 2026, but you only do that if he's lessening the cap hit in 2026 with a void year in 2027. He does block quite frequently, and is pretty good at it. He's also been a solid playoff performer.

I think the draft and free agency acquisitions showed me that they didn't feel like the 2024-2025 team had good enough players to be a top unit. Douglas and Elam were awful in the postseason, and douglas was largely pretty poor all season. Replaced by Tre, Hairston, and Strong. Hamlin to the bench for Bishop. I don't think you should take someones job just to take it, especially when bishop looked poor in limited time last year. Smoot gone - replaced by Hoecht. Miller gone - replaced by Bosa. Spector gone replaced by Thompson. Jefferson and Johnson gone - replaced by Sanders and Walker. Carter injured again - replaced by Ogunjobi. Got another rookie in Jackson who will contribute this year as well. 2 rotational linemen are suspended, another lost for the year - so a position we were worried about who to cut, is shockingly thin to start the year. Milano with another soft-tissue injury. Get him right for later in the season, the depth is there. Something to think about in the first 2 picks this year might be a WLB. Hairston coming back healthy will be good, i don't know that i see another season ending injury for tre, but these guys all get banged up and he needs snaps to adjust to NFL WRs. TJ is also banged up. Safeties are still working it out, but you get better playing on the field together.

Oh yea- forgot we got a new ST coach

I'm usually 3-6. I avoid the home opener, but i try to make the playoff games. I kinda prefer the cold. I will be going this thursday though - Squish the fish!

Just never seemed to develop much at the position. Slow to get his head around in man, has some ball skills but those tend to show when he's in zone and has eyes on QB. Minus tackler. Takes penalties. My assumption is his speed made recovering much easier at the college level to get in position, and NFL talent around speed and separation is too good.

They scored 20 on their first 4 drives though. and 30 across 7. They had the turnover but other than that field position wasn't amazing. Just long drives. It probably would've been more of a beat down if knox pulls in a couple of those.

They have clear visors now. Also they are far enough away that they aren't really reading your eye but probably the stripe on the top of your helmet.

I think winning the turnover battle and controlling TOP results in more wins vs. passing more. The 403 yards would have been a top 3 average yardage total in the NFL last year. 30 PPG would also be a top 3 average. The defense played lights out, negative plays, snagged a turnover. Love to see it. But the offense grinded this one to a halt and in the 2nd half the D really didn't have to do much.

He doesn't see the field well enough to be a starter imo. There's too many throws he can't make with touch and timing. They aren't good whether he starts or not, and its not a long-term deal so i would assume they just play out the season and move on. PROS - Arm strength, athleticism, read-option to expand your rushing playbook CONS - Accuracy over the middle is bad, Accuracy while running is a bit scattershot, Sack magnet, and ball security. For an athlete too i don't think he operates that well out of structure.

While fields is an athlete, and a threat to run in read-option plays, he doesn't have the same throwing ability as LJ. Fields has a good arm, but is a bit more scattershot in his throws, isn't as accurate on the move, and his release is slower. He (like a young josh) struggles to throw people open, and will sail some. His pocket presence has been a weakness as well. As for hall, he's not derrick henry. Which is a good thing. Same as us - when your teams banged up in camp you tend to have lighter practice loads for guys and lots of guys skip padded days. Week 1 happens and i feel like the game-to-game preparation and practices ramp up a bit.

I mean... You can't not touch the guy on the edge either so It wouldn't shock me if it wasn't walkers fault.

Football is meant to be played outdoors.

He looked slower than Poyer, and his aggressiveness was again borderline reckless.

I think they will get better as the season goes on. The entire defense struggled with run fits, so its hard to blame any one position group. I thought rapp played worse than bishop tbh, and bernard and milano were pretty much invisible.

My issue with Burrow is sacks. Sacks tend to lead to more turnovers and injuries than any other hit, and they're drive killers. It also gets left off all the end of season QB stats comparisons they do - not factored into completion percentage, yards, anything really. Lamar (24) and Josh (14) combined for fewer sacks than burrow (48) in 2024. He's not like Rob Johnson bad, but it's a challenge to ignore.

Last year buffalo played the first ravens game without Bernard, Rapp, Milano, and Taron Johnson. It seemed to make a difference in the playoff game.

You're definitely given some lee-way on where you line up as a corner. But usually that far off the LOS is either - over man without help like a single high or blitz, or cover 3 and cover 4 where you're expected to find the deep crossers. It isn't a bad thing to line up off as well, playing press man for an entire game is a recipe for big plays which.. most teams try to avoid. If i know i need to stay deep behind a player whos faster than me... why would i line up closer to him?

The entire defense couldn't tackle or shed for long stretches of that game. I also feel like the eagles got away with a number of holds on Hurts scrambles. They did get a few TFLs in there that definitely made things more challenging for philly and got some punts. The turnover in the red zone and Lamb's several drops were the difference more than the defense. Just giving a physical team that amount of momentum is a killer.

Usually means they're in some kind of cover 3 or 4 scenario where they cover over the top and underneath is nickel and LBs.

I liked what the bills did in the most recent playoff game. They only had 273 yards, but managed 20 first downs and actually had greater time of possession. Couple of big turnovers that buffalo turned into points. Last drive before the half was huge - stretch the lead to 11 but also leaving 0 time for the Ravens. Would've liked a better 3rd quarter, and to finish that 4th quarter drive after the Andrews fumble with a score instead of a FG. I think baltimore is a team where you have to have some misdirection plays prepared for in some of those gotta have it situations. The trick play disaster last season shouldn't preclude you from doing this. I'd like to see some of those jet motion plays especially in the red zone - see how they follow.

Buffalo has definitely struggled with mobile QBs. Mahomes always seems to escape, same with lamar. Designed runs less so, but once its broken down it can get messy. Their run game is always going to get them ahead of the sticks in those 2nd and 4, 3rd and 1's that are just really difficult to stop. Explosive pass game.

Gotta make them march - no big plays. Fields has always struggled behind the sticks with turnovers and sacks.

They did a nice job with Fields when they played him in Chicago. It's a tyrod game strategy - keep him in the pocket, attack the mesh point, gap integrity in the run game, and get after the ball.

I'm not sure - when you sign and get a signing bonus possibly? But i doubt this changes his game checks for the season tbh. I know with Von his "pay cut" influenced how much he was fined because that is off of base salary, but I don't think moving cap space does much for actual cash flow in and out.