GunnerBill

We have held Mahomes down in the regular season, we have held Lamar down, we have held Stafford down (though agree not last year), we have held Rodgers down even when he was still a Packer.... have we done it as much the last 2 seasons - no agreed, we haven't. That is talent. The talent on the D right now is not where it was with peak White, Hyde, Poyer, Milano, Taron etc as those guys have aged and got banged up. And we haven't come up big when it matters in the playoffs. Oh and while Lamar might not be Allen, Mahomes, Burrow he is MUCH better in the pocket now than you are giving him credit for. He is not an elite pocket passer but he is damn good. His improvement is consistently overlooked IMO.

Ah so if we are not allowed to count the games where the defense looked good against a good QB when did they last look good against a good QB? Errmmm well you sure got me there. 🙄 I have already accepted they have not got it done in the playoffs. There is no doubt about that.

He is a bust but the Niners are desperate. He lost his job in year last year in any event. A guy I liked his year coming out though. He was one of my Shrine Game stand outs that year.

They have not got it done in the post season, that's true but it is simply not true to say every time they play a good offense with a good QB they get exposed.

The Eagles definitely watched the Bills to learn something. Vic Fangio ran the 2021 (regular season) Leslie Frazier gameplan in the Superbowl.

Oh I did. They were both B+/A- players individually, extremely consistent and their partnership was absolutely A+ elite.

On all NFL teams the defensive linemen rotate. I haven't crunched the 2024 numbers - but I did for 2023 and the Bills were right there on a par with most of the top 6 or 7 teams in the league. Our #1 guy generally plays a tiny bit less - but broadly all the good teams have at least six guys getting 40% plus.

Sanders is gonna play. And play plenty. He probably won't start... but he is gonna be in that 40-45% range I'd guess.

I'd add professionalism the list of qualities that have helped him make his way. He really knows the job, works hard and executes his plays. He doesn't try and riff or freelance he does his job, gets up, moves onto the next play and does his job again. I completely agree with the rest of the post. He is your classic PS back. There will always be a guy "more talented" but if say Ray Davis got dinged up and the Bills needed to elevate Gore for a game or two they could be extremely confident in him not letting them down or doing something moronic to lose them a game.

I mean we certainly could lose week 1. It's possible. When the best teams play each other in the NFL they are flip of a coin games. I don't see us being blown out though. I would genuinely be surprised if we were. Yes, the Ravens blew us out last year week 4 - the only regular season loss by more than once score in almost 3 years - but everything that could have gone wrong that day for the Bills did, basically. Including their rookie DC having an absolute meltdown for the rest of the first half after the first play touchdown. I think looking purely at yardage in the playoff game is a bit of a misnomer. The Ravens were behind basically the whole game from 7-0 and in catch up mode and the Bills had two scoring drives where they started 20 yards further up the field because of Ravens turnovers that as a result didn't net the yardage they might have otherwise even though they netted the points. So game flow and field position were a factor. Would the Bills have won that game without the turnovers? No, probably not. But they did get the turnovers. They have been almost historically consistent over the McDermott era in terms of generating turnovers on defense. For a stat that generally has high volatility the Bills have shown remarkable consistency. It's Ravens - Bills. They are both excellent teams. One will win and one will lose. The result might make a difference to the one seed at the end, possibly, but otherwise it doesn't mean the winner can with the superbowl and the loser can't.

And I not only liked Worthy more than Coleman I liked Hicks more than Bishop too. 😔

They can't "claim" him for their PS. If they claim him off waivers he must go on the 53. Another team can try and sign him once he clears waivers, and sure, he could decide to go there. But generally the advantage there is with the club they are at. If the Bills wanted him on their PS they likely get him.

I very very much doubt a team is claiming him for their 53.

Oh he isn't here for the 53. He was a guy they met in the pre draft process. I think he is a potential PS add if he can prove he is healthy. Now Couch has gone their depth beyond the guys likely to make the roster at corner is thin.

Yep. That is a misunderstanding as to what a S&C staff does.

I like him. I liked him as a fit for our scheme too. I support this 100%.

This is pretty close. I think Carter is in at the expense of either a LB or a DB. I'd happily cut him, not sure they will though. But I reckon 52/53 here are correct.

There have also been a number of games up one score where the defense has got the stop. Including two wins at Kansas City (22 and 23) and the division clincher in Miami two years ago just off the top of my head. I accept there have been some failures too. Maybe just the way my brain works I find the successes easier to recall quickly.

I promise you there have been specific differences between the way Leslie called the D, the way McD called the D and the way Babich has called the D.

Bishop isn't just struggling because he is getting beat when asked to cover multiple seconds though. He is consistently misplaying his assignments still in coverage. I actually think he has the old EJ Manuel "slow eyes" I think he is slow to process what happens in front of him.

He was solid against the run. He got much better against the run the more he played last year. But he was not solid in coverage. That has been a recurring problem.

Fair, the Mac Jones game was a disaster class I have wiped from my memory. The Denver game is also fair, as is the Eagles. I forgot how far ahead we were in that Eagles game. It was a particular issue in 2023. I don't think it has generally been an issue, but yep, that season we were bad at holding leads.

Which games have the Bills lost late protecting leads? The only I remember was Vikings at home 2 years ago and the defense got the stop. It was on Morse and Josh botching the snap for a safety.

AJE might be swappable for a safety. RVD might too. But you'd be getting someone else's 3rd safety for either of those two players. Nobody is giving you a starter for a backup DE / OL. I doubt Anderson gets you more than a bottom of the roster player in return via trade and Carter and Eddie O are worthless in trade value.

Yep. I said that after last season. That we went into the 2024 offseason knowing those were the two weak spots... spent our top two picks on those two positions and came out of the 2024 season with those as the two weak spots. You are right we have now gone through another roster building period - FA and Draft - and are still in that place. It's really disappointing.