BarleyNY

A whole lot is getting made of the Bills being top 10 in scoring offense so I'd like to explore that a little more. They were tied with Pittsburgh (generally considered an excellent offensive team) for 10th at 24.9 ppg. That's top 11 and very respectable. One more FG a game and we'd have been top 3, just ahead of NE. One FG less a game and we'd have been 20th overall, a little below average. So that's the range we are in. A little improvement would vault us into the top of the league, but a little drop off would send us back to average. We were also tied for 16th in defensive scoring at 23.6 ppg, exactly average. Improve by a FG a game and we'd move up to 12th. Give up an extra FG a game and we'd be at 29th! Yikes! Looking back on the O and D run and pass rankings (see my previous post) it tells us a lot about the Bills. We were an elite rushing team with excellent pass defense, but terrible run defense and poor passing game. The first thing that sticks out to me is that, wow, we can't fall off at all on defense. That'd be catastrophic. An improvement is obviously needed and I do expect it based solely on us running a competent scheme this season. But it'll take a big improvement (3.6 ppg) to get into the top 5. We were there before Wrex, so maybe we can get back - or at least close. As many have noted, the scoring defense needs to improve. Statistically that looks like it's all run defense, but one could argue that other teams ran on us a lot because they were ahead late in the game. Regardless, our run defense sucked. The second thing, as I noted before, is that the pass game has to improve. Our run game is so far ahead of everyone else that we really can't improve it. 8 of the other top 11 ranked offenses made the post season. There are times that we will need to pass to win and we haven't been able to do that. That has to change too.

They are, of course, exempt.

One huge reason bubble screens work so much better in college than in the NFL is that he NCAA allows blocking downfield prior to the pass if the ball is caught behind the LOS. The NFL obviously doesn't allow that as it'd be a pick.

That is not correct at all. Here are the facts: Offensive rankings: - 10th overall in ppg - 16th overall in ypg - 1st in rushing ypg - 30th in passing ypg Defensive rankings: - 16th overall in ppg - 19th overall in ypg - 29th in rushing against ypg - 6th in passing against ypg The team couldn't pass or stop the run. BOTH were huge issues. The worst was that late in games we couldn't pass to score or stop the run and get the ball back. And don't give me the "we're a run first offense" crap. If we could've been effective passing the ball, then we'd have done it a lot more.

"You must be 50! I specifically requested a cabana BOY!" BOOM! Really, who can blame him?

That's always a plus.

Thanks for the info. Nice work!

I think White will do very well in McD's scheme. What will get brought up is who we could've had instead: "We could've had Gilmore AND Player X and we would've been even better." That will happen over and over, but it'll be unfair to the current regime. They're dealing with the mess Whaley and Rex left them and they're doing pretty darn well so far, overall at least.

That's a great breakdown. The elite one-on-one guy's have the most value, but the new NFL rules have made them pretty much extinct. Gilmore is an excellent press-zone CB. I'm sure he'd have been great in McD's Cover 3. He isn't here because the Bills couldn't afford him. NE paid him well, but slightly under what he was worth. We will move forward and find new guys suited to our scheme. It sure looks like we already got one in round one of the draft.

Kind of off topic here, but I think Red Bull would be a great condom name.

It doesn't happen often and that's why someone with his physical ability was a day 3 pick. He did show that he was capable of excellent accuracy. The man made some spectacular throws. He couldn't do it with nearly the consistency needed, but he did show he could do it. He was a lottery ticket and it's smart to buy those in situations like we were (are) in.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/draft-pff-scouting-report-cardale-jones-qb-ohio-state/ Read that scouting report. I'm an OSU alum and I saw nearly every snap Cardale took there. It's as accurate appraisal of him in college as I've seen. His accuracy was highly inconsistent, but he certainly showed flashes of exceptional ability in that regard. Consistency is a must in the NFL and he was a long, long way from where he needs to be. Still, he was an excellent late round QB pick IMO. Physical skills galore and flashes of great ability, but he fell due to those severe accuracy issues. Fix those and you're looking at an elite level QB in the NFL. But if he doesn't dramatically improve then he can't even be a viable backup. His accuracy issues are that bad. So I'd expect our new coaching staff to evaluate him and try to correct his problems. I doubt they'll need more than this season to determine if they are correctable.

Yeah. Love how Rex blames the other guy for throwing his drink on him when it's the other way around. He and Rob are classless, clueless buffoons.

It truly is. Brandon Weeden is listed under "useful stand ins" at 5th overall. I doubt the person who made the list has ever watched a football game.

Damn. That's not good. Thanks for the insight.

I'd call bulls**t because the guy's drink is still full when the bouncer takes it out of his hand and puts it on the table..

Good grief, indeed. Wow.

Great call on that. What a joke.

A Ryan has to Ryan.

I do think that some free agents chose cities with the nightlife they want. Miami has had a lot of big free agent signings that wound up to be underperforming players for them. It can happen anywhere, but I think some places are a magnet for players who care a lot more about the lifestyle of a famous NFL player rather than working hard and winning.

Cost of living has to be a big one. That matters more to many of them than you'd think.

Ah. That makes sense.

It's possible, but unlikely. This is the 4th season for 5th options. In the previous 3 seasons only one player (Melvin Ingram) who had his option declined remained with his team in year 5. What I'm seeing is this: - The 5th year option was guaranteed for injury only until the first day of the 2018 league year (in March). - The Bills didn't pick it up either because they were worried about his injury history or didn't think he was worth paying a large contract to (the option year dollar amount would be a starting point in negotiations). - Taylor will be under center in a run oriented offense this season. To get that tag Watkins will have to stay healthy, get enough targets to be highly productive and perform. I think he'd do the last one of those if the first two happened, but I don't know that he stays healthy or gets enough targets. And then there's the long term contract issue. If this regime didn't think his option was worth picking up, I have a tough time believing that they'll shell out a huge contract with a bunch of guaranteed money. They're gun shy of him, probably because of his injuries, and I don't think they're planning on keeping him beyond 2017. It'd be nice if it all worked out and they did, but that doesn't appear to be happening.

Where'd you get your numbers? Spotrac has the Bills at $12.3M in space for the top 51 as of now. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/cap/ True until cut down day. Then all 53 and practice squad players also count.

Hoping for a competitive team that is well coached, fundamentally sound and aggressive. I know we don't have all of the talent necessary from a championship, but I'll be happy if I see that everything else is in place and that some of the talent is in place. Then I'll know we have a chance in the not too distant future.