HappyDays

Moore is getting a lot of 1st team work at every practice the media has attended and most importantly seems to have developed good chemistry with Allen... Still need to see what he does when the pads come on and defensive coverage becomes more complicated but you couldn't ask for more at this point. One player that I have not heard much about is Kincaid. Still doesn't seem like Allen favors him as a target. And Matt Parrino specifically pointed out Knox making a few plays today. Way too early to have definitive takeaways but it's worth noting.

A few updates from Matt Parrino:

7-9 last year IMO (I'll remove the final Pats game). I have us losing to Arizona, Jets on the road, Miami at home, Indy, KC, and Detroit with league average QB play. The 2017 team isn't a good comparison. The level of competition has grown significantly since then and we're playing a 1st place schedule. That team playing the 2024 schedule would not have even been in the wildcard conversation.

Couple updates from Matt Parrino:

He is honoring his contract. To the letter. He skipped voluntary workouts and now is present for mandatory minicamp. Nothing Cook has done has gone remotely beyond the pale.

Mandatory minicamp today and tomorrow, supposed to be Thursday too but usually the team cancels the last practice as a show of good will to the players.

Not even holding in:

I'm good with this as a vet option, almost certainly knocks Spector off the roster. Thompson has missed most of the last two seasons with injuries. Put him on ice and only bring him out in case of injury. Hopefully it's not an AJ Klein situation where he's lost all movement ability.

Shockingly only 31 years old. I thought he was a good bit older.

But it isn't. Gunner pointed out above they have plenty of cap space. They aren't extending Hendrickson because of his age and Mike Brown's cash limit. The choice was not Hendrickson or Higgins. Even if it was you could easily make the case that the 26 year old WR takes higher priority over the 30 year old pass rusher.

Another possibility worth considering is that Cook doesn't really want to be in Buffalo long term. I've heard Joe Marino hint at this without directly saying it. He might want more money to stay here than he would elsewhere. Bills fans don't want to admit it but there will always be some players with that mindset whether we like it or not. Cook who was raised in south Florida and played at Georgia and is known to enjoy the nightclub scene may be one of those players.

Yeah and that kind of counters your original point, right? Cincy will always have these issues until another owner takes over. Extending Higgins wasn't the problem. If they hadn't extended him they would still be reluctant to rip up the deal Hendrickson signed and they'd also have a hole at WR. Spending big money on two #1 WRs means they don't really have to spend draft picks or FA money on the position. They are good for the next 4-5 years. Locking up your superstars at premium positions is always good business. The problem with Cincy is they do a lot of bad business besides, but there's no crossover from one side to the other.

Yeah the new CBA makes that basically impossible. If he plays less than 7 games he doesn't even accrue a season towards free agency and he would lose a ton of money with no chance of getting it back. When Leveon Bell held out of the regular season it was a dumb move on his part but under that CBA and his contract at the time it at least made some kind of sense. With Cook it would make no sense. Really his only option is show up in the best shape he can, don't accumulate any fines, then perform to the best of his ability in the regular season so he can cash in next offseason. Him being at mandatory minicamp tells me he understands that.

I just don't think it makes sense for him to accumulate fines by missing mandatory minicamp, when it doesn't make it any more likely that we'll extend him. I expected him not to be there though so still a pleasant surprise. We'll see if he actually practices with the team, it could be a planned hold-in just to avoid the fines.

This account usually has good info so I take this as a good sign.

No I'm just saying we should be led by our defense more this season. The way that KC has been for a couple years now. I mean just about every major investment we made this offseason was on the defense... As you know that would not have been my strategy, but I get it. So now that strategy has to lead to a different result. The 3rd down defense has to be much better and we can't watch KC do their annual playoff thing against us where they move up and down the field at will. I'm not actually asking us to go 15-1 scoring 24 PPG, I am more realistic than that. But I think everybody should agree that if the defense lives up to the investments, the inevitable KC playoff matchup shouldn't come down to our offense having to score 30+ and score the last TD with seconds remaining. Because if that scenario happens for a third consecutive year, then what was the point of investing so much in the defense? In that scenario the only question that will matter is if one of our skill players made a clutch play to close out the win.

That's because Kincaid basically is a WR in this offense. Beane himself has made that clear. Every time someone in the media brings up WRs he says "well don't forget about our TEs." And yes any NFL pass catcher HAS to make that catch in that moment. Especially one we spent a 1st round pick on. I'll be honest Alpha, I am sick of this whole conversation. Everyone has had their say, no one is going to change their mind. Now we just have to wait and see. Beane and McDermott have planted their flag that the offensive talent is good enough and based on the investments they made this offseason the 2025 Bills really should be led by the defense first... Through their offseason strategy they are telling us they want a team like what KC had last year, a team that went 15-1 scoring 24 PPG. If things go according to plan we shouldn't need to put up 30+ points and score a TD with seconds remaining to beat KC in the playoffs, which is what was needed in each of our last two playoff defeats. If that exact outcome happens again this year I'll consider our entire offseason strategy to be a failure and I will again bang the drum to go all in on investing in the offense so we have the best chance of winning in that scenario.

That play was the result of Cook getting blown up in pass protection forcing Allen to throw the ball earlier than he wanted. That one isn't on any pass catcher. But on the next two plays opportunities were there and our pass catchers failed to make them, that's the reality. That 2nd down play is why I don't join in with the chorus of complaints that we didn't use Cook enough on that drive. I think in a do or die drive to win the game you are going to have to rely on your pass game... Cook if anything was a detriment in that scenario so I understood taking him off the field. We needed Cooper or Kincaid to make the plays that were in their hands. But because they didn't, we have to listen to a lot of people including many Bills fans say that Allen didn't get the job done. It frustrates me to no end. Yeah I just don't agree with that. He was going to catch the ball several yards behind the LoS and KC had second level defenders in position to come down and make the tackle. I don't know why there is so much over analysis of that 4th down play. To me it's very simple - the best DC in the game called a 100% unpredictable blitz that would have automatically beaten any QB other than Allen, Mahomes, or Jackson. Allen made a miracle happen finding Kincaid and getting the pass off. Kincaid then performed the equivalent of a muffed punt and that was that. None of the other analysis would have ever happened if Kincaid had just done his job... And no one would be saying "wow what a catch!" they'd be saying "wow what a throw!" Allen did the hard part, Kincaid failed the easy part. Man I don't know how you could say that. Cooper has wide open space in front of him... Honestly he might have picked up 20 yards on that play. The only reason Karlaftis was able to shoestring tackle him was because he slipped.

A better WR gets the 1st on the quick screen we threw on the previous play. Instead the older WR we were forced to desperately trade for slipped and got shoestring tackled which led to the 4th down attempt. Two plays where Allen gave his pass catcher the best chance they were going to get and both times they let him down. His legacy is being defined by the failures of those around him.

Keep in mind Schefter is a mouthpiece for agents so this is all coming directly from Cook's camp. Doesn't sound like he'll be at mandatory minicamp. I guess I don't really care when he shows up as long as he doesn't pull a Leveon Bell.