Logic

Try catching the game on the west coast 🥴

This one gets stuck in my head endlessly.

Reading an article on the Athletic just now, I had to share the following. I know there was some recent discussion about play-action on this forum so I had to contribute this factoid. I realize that four games is kind of a small sample size. Then again, it's a quarter of an NFL season, so it's not THAT small. https://theathletic.com/4926954/2023/10/04/buffalo-bills-stefon-diggs-josh-allen/ 1. Speaking of Dorsey, the way he’s incorporated the play-action passing game into the offense this season has helped this passing offense become one of the most efficient in the league through four games. Josh Allen has a 158.3 passer rating and is completing a league-high 81 percent of his passes when the Bills use play action. Last season, Allen was in the top five of passing attempts and EPA/dropback on play action, so it’s not a new thing that he excels in this area. But Dorsey said he and his staff put even more emphasis on finding different ways to lean on it heading into this season. He also said the way the team has been running the ball creates more opportunities in the play-action passing game.

Bills-Jags makes me think of two things: The first is the throw from Josh Allen in his rookie season against the Jags -- you know the one -- where I thought, for the first time "Hey...maybe this kid has something". That throw is STILL amazing to watch to this day. The second is the last time we played the Jags in London. I remember it because I was at a destination wedding week in Cancun. Everyone else was down at the pool, sipping free drinks and enjoying the gorgeous weather and laughing and having fun...and I was sitting up in the hotel room, watching this football game like a crazy person. Everyone knows what happened next. The EJ Manuel game, the Nickell Robey phantom pass interference, the crushing loss. All I could do afterword was hang my head and go join everyone at the pool, regretting the obsessive fandom that led me to miss out on Cancun pool time to watch THAT friggin game. Not to even MENTION the recent 9-6 debacle. Here's hoping for an absolute shellacking of the Jaguars on Sunday.

1. The word "composite" means the totality of the season. One can't say with a straight face that the o-line hasn't looked stellar for three weeks in a row. 2. The Commanders have as good a d-line as you're likely to find. How did their pass rush look? The Dolphins have Bradley Chubb, Andrew Van Ginkel, Christian Wilkins, and Emmanuel Ogbah. Decent to good pass rushers, all. How did their pass rush look? The Bills offensive line has played really well this season. The eye test tells us that, as Josh has looked very comfortable and the run game is producing. Now, the grades of an unbiased website are telling us the same.

I hope he hangs Arthur Smith upside down over a hotel railing by his ankles and shakes him until he agrees to make Kyle Pitts a featured part of the Falcons offense.

And he's right! When I watch a football game, I spend the first three or so drives for each team just watching the trenches. Seeing who's winning each battle, and by how much, more often than not tells you who's going to win the game. It looks like in the seventh year of his tenure, he may finally be getting his wish. This is as good as I've seen the OL and DL look since McDermott arrived.

Thanks for the writeup. Great, as always. The two stories of the game -- and of the season so far -- were the play in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and the controlled, surgical precision of Josh Allen. When the Bills are controlling both lines of scrimmage the way they have been lately, and when Josh Allen is playing this brand of football, the Bills are nearly unstoppable. I thought the game on Sunday turned on two plays. The first was the Diggs catch-and-run TD, where the two Dolphins would-be tacklers fell haplessly to the ground, Diggs went dashing, and the Bills were suddenly up 14 points instead of 7. The second, coming just a short time later, was the interception to Micah Hyde. Once the Bills went in to half time up 31-14, I felt pretty comfortable that they'd be victorious. An otherwise close game, that very well COULD have been a back-and-forth shootout, instead changed on two plays. Things snowballed from there. But going back to the stories of the game and of the season: If you have great offensive and defensive lines in the NFL, and if you have elite quarterback play -- and right now, the Bills have both -- you have not only a good shot to win games in the high double digits, you also have a chance to hoist a Lombardi trophy. So far, so good.

Very reasonable. Agreed on all counts.

So we know that the Bills are about to activate Von Miller from PUP. He'll return to practice, and a several week window will open up, during which time the Bills will need to decide when to elevate him to the 53-man roster. Personally, I don't expect Von to return immediately. Even once they elevate him to the roster, I think he'll have a game or two where he travels with the team, does pre-game warmups, but is inactive. I expect the Bills to use the "Tre White recovery model" from last year. I'm not saying that's what they SHOULD do, I'm saying it's what I think they WILL do. I expect Von Miller to suit up and return to the football field on 11/5 against Cincinnati. Knowing how cautious the Bills are with injuries like this and how much they need Von to be productive (both on the field and from a contract standpoint), I think the New York and New England games are a bit too soon. Then there's a short week against Tampa Bay on Thursday Night Football. But after THAT, there's 9 days until the next game, and it's a big time, Sunday Night Football AFC matchup against the Bengals. That's when I think we see Von Miller for the first time. How about y'all? When do you see Von Miller back in action?

Thanks for the reply. Respectfully, I think calling Juju a "top receiver" -- which was the phrase and notion to which I originally replied -- is a stretch. Juju had 933 yards receiving and 3 TDs in 16 games played. Gabe had 836 yards receiving and 7 TDs in 15 games played. If you're JUST looking at catch percentage -- and yes, I agree, actually CATCHING the ball is important, and is something Gabe has struggled with at times -- then I suppose you can try to make the Juju argument. But taking into account the totality of their production, it's hard to say with a straight face that Juju Smith-Schuster was significantly better than Davis, or that he was a "top receiver" in the NFL. His last three full seasons in the NFL saw him post 552, 831, and 933 yard totals. Hardly "top receiver" stuff. If you asked most defensive coordinators around the NFL if they view Juju Smith-Schuster as a "top receiver" or someone that they really have to gameplan for, I'm guessing most would say no. And if you asked most offensive coordinators which receiver they'd rather have on their roster right this minute between Juju and Gabe Davis, I'd bet the vast majority would say Gabe Davis. As is often the case with us, we can agree to disagree on the matter. 🙂

Just a few short weeks ago, Terrel Bernard was "too small", "looked more like a safety" and was a glaring representation of Brandon Beane's draft failures. Now he has HIS OWN APPRECIATION THREAD?!

Who was the Chiefs' second "top receiving threat" last year? It sure seemed like Travis Kelce and a bunch of JAGs to me.

Thanks for a great post. Everything you said is spot on. I don't have anything to quibble with. I'll just say that if you want to know who's going to win most NFL games after watching only the first few series, just look at who's winning the battles in the trenches. Control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and you usually win. So far this year, the Bills are controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The offensive line is NIGHT AND DAY different from last year. It is SHOCKING how much better this unit has looked. I expected run blocking improvement, but they've been downright fantastic in terms of pass blocking, as well. Much has been made of Josh Allen's 2022 season and "Good Josh vs Bad Josh". One thing that seems clear to me is that when given good protection -- particularly on the interior -- he is one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the league. So far this year, he's had that protection. Let's hope it continues. The defensive line is also, to my eyes, night and day different from last year. Leonard Floyd may have been the best free agency signing in all of football this offseason. Greg Rousseau is blossoming into an elite EDGE right before our eyes. Oliver and Jones, so far at least, have been about as good a 1-2 punch at DT as you'll find anywhere in the league. Even depth guys like AJ Epenesa and Jordan Phillips are making big contributions. Crazy to think that the Bills get to add Von Miller to this unit in the weeks to come! There's lots of other stuff to look back on with appreciation from quarter one and look forward to with anticipation for quarters 2-4, and you touched on a lot of it. But to me, the VAST improvement to both lines is the story of the season so far.

Nah. No one they can bring in right now is going to be better than the Jackson/Benford starting combo, with Elam as depth. JaMarcus Ingram will also likely be elevated to the 53-man roster, and a new corner will be signed to the practice squad. If they want to try to go out and get a vet like Patrick Peterson, I wouldn't HATE it, but I don't think it's necessary, and I don't think said player is likely to be any better than the in-house options. Lastly, this is a huge chance for Elam. 1st round pick, second season, about to be active for the first time this year out of necessity, has shown flashes in the past, has all the physical talent (and, apparently, the drive and work ethic) to succeed. It's now or never. A HUGE chance for the kid.

I haven't read through this whole thread, so forgive me if this has been observed, but... After the first couple of drives by the Dolphins offense, the Bills defense adjusted, and I saw the same three things over and over again: Tua double clutching when his first read was covered, The Bills' interior D-line pushing the pocket and not allowing Tua to step up, and the entire Bills' D-line getting arms and hands up into the passing lanes when Tua threw. When I saw these things consistently happening, again and again, I thought to myself "the Bills are going to shut down this offense and win this game", and that's exactly what happened. Against a timing and rhythm passer like Tua, who gets the ball off SO quickly and whose success is largely predicated on throwing to his first read (who, in fairness, is usually open, due to McDaniel's expert scheming and use of motion), making him go through his progressions, hurrying him up, and getting arms up in the passing lanes is THE recipe to stopping him. The Bills defense did all of it, and quite expertly. On the other side of the ball, all I can say is: Balance. That's what I've seen out of the Bills offense the past three weeks. Whether it be the balance between heavy and spread personnel, the balance between passing and running, the balance between dropback and play-action, the balance between short and long throws...Balance. The Bills offense is tough to defend right now because you can't key in on one thing against them. They're doing it all. Great win.

Unless they have the name "Gibbs" on their jersey, apparently.

The amount of "this might be a good thing" posts I'm seeing is kinda silly, IMO. The "Poyer is washed" thing is a bit overblown. I have a feeling that after Sunday's game, these folks are going to be quite eager to see him back in the lineup as soon as possible.

This is bad news. This is one week where you reallllly want to have your top safeties in place. Anyone thinking "it's not too big a deal" or "maybe it's a good thing because he's old now", well...I think you're dead wrong. We only lost one of three games to the Dolphins last year. It happened to be the one where we were missing one of our starting safeties. Let's hope Taylor Rapp is up to the challenge. Opportunity is, um...rapping at his chamber door? Sorry. I'll see myself out.

Saw Pearl Jam on back to back nights in Austin last weekend for the final shows of the tour. They put on a great show, as always. It was way less "greatest hits" and way more "rarities and deep cuts", which was PERFECT for me as a long time, diehard fan. I could see where more casual attendees would've hated it, though. I mean, they still played their five or six biggest hits, but the rest of the show was very much in service of the hardcore fan, which is awesome, because in recent years they've become much more of a "greatest hits" act. They still put on a hell of a show. Eddie's voice is still top notch. They performed one song that they've played less than five times total in their 32 year career. Typing that just now makes me realize they've now been around longer than the Grateful Dead existed. That's crazy to me. Wow. Next up, Billy Strings on back to back nights in Portland. Been a great summer for music, with five Dead and Co shows, two Pearl Jam, and now two Billy Strings. Live music is the ***** best.

Thank you. It's good to know the names of the people I'll be blaming Monday morning if the Bills lose.

To me, it's two things: red zone offense and red zone defense. The Phins are gonna move the ball against the Bills. The Bills are going to move the ball against the Phins. Whichever team more effectively holds their opponent to field goals instead of touchdowns likely wins. Tackle well, limit explosive plays as much as possible (there's only so much you can do...), and be sharp in the red zone. It's gonna be a close game.

LOL That post just made me google Brazzers at work. So...THAT'S in my workplace browser history now. 😆