Rocky Landing

"... especially the black players???" Where is your head at?

Just as an organization, I suspect that Kim's health issues have had a much broader effect on the team than has been discussed.

I don't post on this forum very often, but I do come on here daily to: a) get current news on the Bills, b) gain perspective through debate on where the Bills are at, and where they're headed, and c) learn about football. a) News has been getting harder, and harder to find as one has to sift through the malarkey to find relevant information. I miss YOLO, and some of the other past contributors who really dedicated themselves to finding information and passing it along. (@Warcodered and a few others have been stepping up recently-- much appreciated). b) This is where this forum has really been faltering. There have been pages, and pages wasted on such things like a poster trying to argue his intellectual superiority, and success in life. And as obnoxious as that is, it's equally detrimental to the board to engage in such a conversation. There are overtly, and intentionally negative posters who seem to have no idea how little credibility they have on this board. Or maybe they do? Maybe they're Patriots* fans here just to troll? And there is an increasing number of posters whose flat attempts at humor add absolutely nothing to the conversation. Reaching hundreds of pages on DeAndre Hopkins is not a laudable goal. It doesn't make this forum better-- it makes it worse. c) Oof. There are a handful of posters (some of whom are posting less, and less) whose insights can really increase one's knowledge, and understanding of the game. But as a percentage of what's written on this forum, that number has dropped significantly. Quite frankly, most of the people who post on this forum need to post less.

The Pats* aren't even AFCE contenders.

I am not taking Cowherd's side here, seriously... but... Damian Harris is a lateral move from Motor-- at best. Murray is 33 years old (that's really, really old in dog years!!!). Sherfield is a little known commodity with a 56.3% catch percentage. That's just a hair above Gabe Davis. Kincaid should be great, but he is a rookie. Deante Harty has had four starts in his career. He's spent the bulk of his career as P/KR. Shorter is a 5th round rookie. The one thing I have confidence in are the additions to the O-line-- but all of it's just on paper. There is reason to be optimistic that the offense will be improved from last season. But such an ascendence is certainly reliant on quite a few "ifs" falling in our favor.

If I were to make an early prediction, I would say the battle of attrition will be the deciding factor in the AFC postseason (the biggest reason I was, and am against a single-bye team for each division), and the team with the deepest second string, and the more frequent rotations, will have the advantage towards the last third of the season. It would be an interesting exercise to juxtapose all the AFC teams' second strings, and see where they stack up.

I went into the off season with the belief that "fix the offensive line, and you fix the offense." I think there is certainly reason to be optimistic that we've improved the O-line. That being said, I don't see any major improvements to the offense beyond that. At WR, it still looks like we're rolling with Davis at #2WR-- or at least, there is no clear candidate to upgrade that position. He had a woeful catch percentage, and one of the worst drop rates in the league. Perhaps Harty will be an upgrade to McKenzie as a player, but I have a hard time seeing him really emerge as an effective slot. At RB, I'm happy with the addition of Murray as a third-and-short guy, but IMO Harris is a lateral move from Motor, at best. Their stats are very similar, but Motor has been running in our spread offense while Harris has been with a Belichick* team that had been built around their run game for a few seasons now (all the Mac & Cheese hype notwithstanding). At TE, I think we will at some point see a significant upgrade with rookie Kincaid. Basically, I'm optimistic that the offense will be improved. But, it's all on paper. I can't yet believe that they'll be better than they were last season.

So it probably won't be a big deal when the Bills move to Toronto...

According to Patriots* fans, Bill O'Brien is going to be the second coming of Jesus Christ.

I wish I could remember where I read the article, but there was one written on defensive line rotation about a year ago, and the Bills were indeed high on the list of teams that had a heavy rotation, but not the highest. IIRC they were somewhere around fifth. I'm definitely of the "it all starts in the trenches" philosophy myself, and the thing is, D-line a much more strenuous job than O-line. Having a competent rotation that allows your best players to remain relatively fresh going into the fourth quarter is a huge advantage. Also, having a rotation that can apply different players' strengths situationally is an asset, and the ability to line up different player combinations helps keep the opposing O-line guessing. I feel like we always go into the season with high hopes for the D-line rotation, but as the season wears on, that rotation slows down. They even carried 11 D-linesmen in '21. With McDermott calling the defense now, and the assumption that he's going to be more aggressive, I wonder if we might see the rotation speed up?

With our base nickel, Neal's role on ST after Taiwan Jones, and the rumor of McDermott running single LB formations, I could well imagine seven DBs this season.

Hope they don't put his locker too close to Diggs!

In my opinion, his biggest issue was between the ears. He’s a great guy, with great energy, elite athleticism, and speed. He was certainly capable of having great games, as we saw at the end of the ‘21 season. But his inconsistency was glaring. When he was dialed in, he was terrific. But too often he seemed to lose focus.

I too am of the mind that we will miss Motor.

You have a telling proclivity to cherry pick certain points, and ignore others. Example: Admitting to two big signings, and ignoring the numerous other moves that built a team coming off a 17 playoff drought, to a perennial playoff contender. Also: Quoting most of my post, but omitting the part where I called you silly (only to then immediately prove the point).

Seriously, what are you talking about? He's traded up in the first numerous times, traded for Diggs, and signed Von Miller. Criticize Beane if you want, but to say he doesn't have balls is just silly.

Cleveland showing interest, apparently. Not sure how Hopkins feels about DeSean Watson, but the dude can sling the ball. And Cleveland does have more cap space than us.

Chief's forum at a paltry 52 pages...

That's being kind. Chaos has not actual cited any examples of McD's, or Beane's "offseason whining."

13 seconds and the Cincy game has to be weighed against a slew of odd adversities (including Hamlin, Knox’s brother) numerous key injuries (including Allen’s elbow), a first-year OC, and still a 14-4 record. And you also can’t just discount the post Rex Ryan/Doug Whaley rebuild, which has become a league blueprint for how to build a winning culture. The Bills would have to experience an actual step backwards to put McDermott (or Beane, for that matter) in the hot seat, in my opinion.

They blew it with “The Commanders.” Washington Americans. Perfect team name for the nation’s capital. Bring back the Native American insignia. Everyone’s happy.

I just did it for the Bills. It had us going 9-8, and losing twice to the Pats*. Dang...

This is a disturbing little stat, but there does seem to be some context missing. The Bills have a much better three-year record than the other three. Does this stat include playoff games? And how many of these games were wins, or losses?

It's Mitch Morse's fault. Dion asked him if those shorts made his ass look fat, and Mitch deflected.

Youth flag football (pre-high school) has actually exploded in the last couple years. The NFL (along with their Play 60 program) has actually been doing a great job with this. Hopefully it translated to high school football programs.