msw2112

There are two ways to approach this. One is to say it's a sham and a waste of time. The other is to say that it's an opportunity to get to know some of the guys out there in the marketplace that could benefit the team in the future. Maybe a guy impresses enough to find a spot for him on the staff, or maybe Brady leaves for a HC job at some point down the road and a guy you spoke with and liked is available at that time. And with the Rooney rule, maybe it gives a minority guy some exposure or interviewing practice that he might not have otherwise had. As to whether removing the interim tag would negate the requirement to interview, I have no idea, but it would certainly make sense. I don't think Brady is ready or going to get offers as a NFL head coach and I couldn't see him wanting to go to another team as OC, so the Bills should consider locking him up. What OC would leave Josh Allen unless it was to become a head coach? Brady is obviously acing the test so far.

That's true. But maybe Benford is a pretty good player who has played well above his draft status, and also played a similar scheme in college. While it's disappointing that the Bills have not gotten more out of their 1st round pick to date, they've gotten a lot of very good play out of their 6th round pick. Just because Benford is ahead of Elam at this stage of their careers doesn't necessarily mean that Elam is a bad player. (He may very well be bad, but the fact that someone else played better is not indicative of that.)

Every WR drops balls, including Diggs, who has several this season. Davis is a great run blocker, a hard worker, and a team-first guy. He's stepped up in many big moments over the years. If the Bills can keep him at a reasonable salary, I'm good with him staying on. That said, his big games on national TV (including the most recent Eagles game and multiple playoff games) have earned him a reputation and some team out there will pay him more than the Bills are offering, so he'll likely move on. I could see him signing with one of the teams that he's played well against.

No doubt. Some players/people are more private, for whatever reason. I just watched the Barry Sanders documentary this week. One of the best players in the history of the league and a beast on the field, but a very low key guy off the field. He HATED notoriety and and avoided the spotlight at all costs. I'm not comparing Elam's on-the-field talent to Sanders' in any way, but just citing him as an example of an NFL player who prefers to fly under the radar and may not really care what the outside world thought. Maybe Elam is that type of personality. And, as stated above, as a young player trying to make his way in the league, maybe he didn't want to come off as making excuses. Obviously, the Bills were aware of the injury and feel that Elam has some future potential, as they didn't trade or cut him. I think he still has a chance to be a productive NFL player. He has the athletic ability and there are no indications that he's lazy or not a team player (that I'm aware of). Maybe his lack of playing time is a combination of several factors: a) learning to play zone vs. man; b) Benford playing well and having the zone background; and c) more recently, the injury. And, given the theory that he's more of a private person, maybe he's chosen to quietly work on his game with an eye towards the future rather than making a lot of noise about a lack of playing time.

Not sure if this was brought up earlier, but the Chiefs have nothing to complain about. The flag was already on the field BEFORE Mahomes threw the ball. Toney was clearly offside and the official who threw the flag had no idea what the play would become. This is VERY different from a late pass interference or roughing the passer flag that comes AFTER the outcome of the play is known and can swing a game. Their frustration is understandable, but to blame the officials or say that it's an embarrassment to league is ridiculous and a bad look. I'd also add that the Giants traded Toney for next to nothing, after investing a first round pick in him and knowing he's an amazing athlete, because he was undisciplined. The Chiefs, being smarter than everyone else, took a chance on an undisciplined player, and put him on the field in a critical situation. It cost them this time. Toney helped them win a Super Bowl last year, so maybe it was worth the risk, but they have to take the bad with the good. McDermott is often criticized, including here on this board, for not playing the most talented players at times, but he is cautious about using undisciplined players. Sometimes that strategy pays off. There's no question that Elam is a better athlete than Dane Jackson or Christian Benford, but he doesn't see the field. I'm pretty sure that McDermott wouldn't be interested in a player like Toney. On balance, the Chiefs approach seems to have more success than the Bills' approach, but sometimes it can blow up in your face and it did on Sunday.

Also, rather than trying to imply that McDermott was a bad play caller or bad game day manager, Allen's intent was to say "you can criticize him for what happens on the field, which is fair game, but don't question his character, which is not."

The second half play calling wasn't great, but it's still better that what we had with Dorsey. The Bills were also on the road against a good KC team with a good defense in a very loud stadium. I didn't love the passes on the final drive, but it didn't look like they were going to be able to get the first down on the ground, so I assume they thought having the ball in Allen's hands was the best way to try and get it. Mahomes doesn't need much time to drive down the field (as we know all too well, unfortunately), so even if they ran the ball and KC used it timeouts up, there would have been plenty of time left for KC if the Bills didn't get the first down. Regardless of what we think/feel on this board, Brady will be the OC the rest of this season and, in my opinion, that will be enough of a sample size for me to know if I'd want him to stay in the role for next season. I'd be inclined to stay with him if I had to make the choice right now, but I'll wait and see how the rest of the season plays out.

Knox isn't the second coming of Travis Kelce, but he's a good TE that can block and who has made some big catches for the team in recent years. He's also had his share of drops and he's a little overpaid. I'm not concerned about him taking snaps from Kincaid. He's another weapon that an effective OC can use and Brady will use him. With the offense playing better the last few weeks, there are more snaps for the offense and plenty of opportunities for everyone.

I'm very sensitive to racism and have read Bills articles for many years (including this board), but this is the first I've heard this take. I don't agree with it. I believe that many pundits thought Allen would be a bust and publicly stated so. Years later, they don't want to admit that they were wrong and as such, take the opportunity to criticize his play to justify their narrative from back when. Further, there's some shred of truth to the Allen criticism here - Allen has turned the ball over a lot this season and the Bills have lost a lot of games. I think that Allen cost them the first Jets game, which had a huge national audience. Most of the other losses were not on Allen. As stated many times above, he scored critical points late in games to give the Bills the lead and the defense could not close them out.

Given his age and injury, I think that Miller is done as a productive player and he's a drain on the Bills' salary cap. That said, even if they could terminate his contract, the Bills need to be careful. For many years, they had to overpay to get free agents to come to Buffalo, or they would not come at all. In recent years, given the success of the team, the great facilities, the good culture, and the fact that Josh Allen is on the roster, Buffalo has become more of a destination. If they mishandle the Miller situation and alienate a HOF player who is well-respected around the league, it could hurt recruiting of future free agents. I'm not saying I wouldn't be happy to get out from under the albatross of a contract that the Bills have with Miller (I certainly would), but just citing a potential consequence of doing so.

I don't share the OP's optimism, but I do think it's possible. There's no single game on the schedule that they can't win if the offense plays as well as it did in Philly last Sunday. Let's start with the Chefs and go from there.

Officiating in the NFL is terrible these days, as we all can see. I don't know that there's outright fraud occurring, but a few things, in my opinion, factor in: bias in favor of home team/influence of the crowd bias in favor of star players bias in favor of high profile/influential coaches the speed of plays in real time desire for things to even out over time/makeup calls Many of these biases may be unconscious and are more human nature than the ref outright thinking "Let's screw over the Bills on this one" although I do think that it's the "even out" or "makeup" calls are a bit more conscious. If one team has gotten the lions share of the calls all game, they might throw a flag later in the game on a borderline call (or the opposite).

Now, I'd like to see Josh Allen take a knee....in victory formation to close out the Super Bowl. Not likely it will be this season, but you never know. It all starts with a win on Sunday. And congrats to Dawson on the engagement and please get back on the field soon. The team can use you. Perhaps Brady will do better with two TEs than Dorsey did.

I'm concerned about how he's pressing his wrist into his fiancé's forearm. He's needed back on the field and I don't want to see the injury aggravated. (And if the injury is the other wrist, I don't like how his wrist seems to be supporting her body weight). Perhaps his contract can be voided for this off-the-field activity....

That's a fair assessment. What I like about Wilson is that he's improved every year and he has become the team's #1 WR even though the guy ahead of him (Cornelius Johnson) is still on the roster. He makes most of the big plays for the team (as far as WRs go) and has shown a nose for the end zone. Hard to say whether it translates to the next level, but you can't coach speed, and he appears to be a team-first guy. Michigan runs the ball so much that WRs don't get a ton of targets, but there's no evidence of him ever complaining, and he makes the most of his opportunities. He's worth taking a calculated risk on with a mid-round pick. Back to the Bills - Shakir has come on recently and I'd like to see more of him. I assume that last year he was not seeing the field because he was not able to process the game at NFL speed. This season, he seems to have figured it out and is making the most of his opportunities. I can't recall his last drop, but he certainly has not dropped any more passes than Diggs or Davis have in recent games.

The Bills have lots of draft needs and I have no idea how the board will fall. If they do decide to go WR in the first round, I would love Coleman. I'm not a Michigan State or Florida State fan, but every time I've seen Coleman play (he started at MSU and transferred to FSU) he's been dominant and clutch. He's a beast. He'd look great in at Bills uniform. If the Bills wait until the mid rounds, I like Roman Wilson of Michigan. He's got decent size, great speed, has shown great hands this season (the replay catch on Saturday notwithstanding) and he comes through in the clutch. I have a Michigan bias, but it's the team I watch week in and week out, so I get to see their guys play a lot. https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Roman-Wilson-WR-Michigan for those who haven't seen this highlight, check out this catch:

I was a big Reich fan (as a coach) in his early days in Indy, but that went downhill fast and his team was a disaster in Carolina. So, no, I'm not interested. If Brady wasn't doing a good job, I'd have had interest in him as a replacement OC, but Brady's done enough to get a shot to finish out the season and if the offense continues to perform, keep the job next season. That said, if McDermott is fired, nobody on the coaching staff is safe.

I agree with this. It's almost like clockwork that teams promote their QB coach to OC, particularly after a few years of a successful offense and a productive QB. Hiring Dorsey was the right decision, and there's nothing out of the ordinary with Allen supporting it. The real question was whether they should have brought Dorsey back for a 2nd season, or whether they waited too long to let him go this season. Clearly, the offense is much better with Brady calling plays. The run game is working, guys' talents are being used, players are being "schemed" open, etc. The wheel route to Cook (which was perfectly thrown and was simply a drop) was a fantastic play call that took what the defense gave them, and was set up by prior calls. Cook should have waltzed into the end zone. Those types of calls were not happening under Dorsey.

I don't think the games are outright fixed, but I do think there's a bias that influences officials' decisions. Yesterday's game was extremely poorly officiated and the Bills almost overcame it. The one call they did get was the roughing the passer late in the game. Up to that point, it was horribly one-sided. If it was properly officiated, the Bills probably would have had the game well in hand. I give the Bills a ton of credit for overcoming it, but they still fell short in the end.

There's no question that the officiating kept the Eagles in the game. Without a number of horrible calls or non-calls, the Bills likely would have put it away much earlier. That said, the Bills overcame all of it - only to blow it in the end anyway. I think everyone knew that they HAD to score a TD in OT or they were not going to win the game. They had a good play call on the end zone throw to Davis that was obviously not properly executed. That said, I think the better play call would have been a hot read short pass to the TE or a WR over the middle. Get the first down, or get to 4th and short and go for it, or maybe there's some RAC and the guy scores. The end zone throw had a lower percentage chance of being successful. I'm just so disappointed with the terrible finish after they did so many good things during the course of the game.

I wonder what a Bills team could do with 20 seconds and a timeout, and a super athletic QB with a cannon, if they only needed to get into FG range?

I also remember it well. At that time, my family did not have season tickets (got them a few years later) and there was the NFL blackout rule for home games that did not sell out. So I was playing football in the street with my brother and the other neighborhood kids. We had the Bills radio broadcast going on a radio sitting on the curb. We stopped our game to listen to the final couple of plays and we went wild when this catch was made! I think it was the first time I had heard the term "Hail Mary" in connection with football. In fact, based on my religious upbringing, that was the first time I'd heard the term at all, so there was a time when, as a child, I thought that Christianity had borrowed it from football.

Thanks for this. Despite the Bills-Eagles being a national game, it's not on in my area (for the 2nd week in a row). I was concerned that my Sunday Ticket subscription would be an unnecessary expense this year, with all of the prime-time and national games, but it's actually coming through and paying off now, plus the "2 additional streams" are coming in handy for traveling/other family members.

I was going to post something along these lines. Incidental DPI or Roughing the Passer could be 5 yards and replay the down (maybe or maybe not an automatic 1st down), but intentional or egregious DPI would be the current spot foul and automatic 1st down, and intentional and egregious RTP would be the current 15 years and a 1st down. Yes, it will create some subjectivity, but it gives the officials an "out" when they have to technically make the call, but it's not egregious or intentional, and it wouldn't swing the outcome of games like it does today.

I think it's a combination of a few things: 1. The new guards - McGovern and Torrence - are an upgrade at the position. 2. The guys who remain (Dawkins, Morse, Brown) are more familiar with Kromer's scheme. Kromer has a proven track record, but maybe it took some time for guys to adjust to his scheme and coaching style. 3. Brown is healthier and more experienced than he was last season and is thus a better player. 4. Health - the OL has remained healthy and intact all season (although I don't want to jinx it) 5. Commitment to the run - a team needs to continue to pound the ball and wear down the defensive line. The Bills have not been willing to do that in the last few years. Having a QB like Josh Allen should open things up for the run game and the Bills need to take advantage of this.