Logic

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. 😆

Haha, thanks. I've been using it every week, but...sometimes their stream dependability leaves a lot to be desired. I totally understand why, and I have no cause to complain, it just...stinks sometimes when Josh Allen unleashes a frozen rope, and it freezes in the air and I get the "three dots of buffering death". And then I re-load the stream, close all the ads, and it's two plays later and I've missed both the play and the replay. After years of paying for Gamepass, which never dropped or buffered on me, I'm still getting used to this pirate life. It kinda sucks sometimes. And for a game as big as Bills-Dolphins, I'm thinking the drive and the bar tab might be worth the trouble.

Ugh. All of Oregon is showing the Raiders-Chargers game instead of Bills-Dolphins. I guess they figure that we care more about the Raiders and Chargers due to proximity, but...yuck. Absolute yuck. Might have to go to the Bills Backers Bar for this one.

While I agree with others that the biggest test of the season lies ahead for Tre White... I WILL say that when I watch Bills games, I'm not worried about Tre White. I'm not seeing him pop up a bunch on my screen, getting burned by WRs or routinely beaten on routes. How many times this season have the Bills defense given up a big reception, and you look on the replay, and it's Tre White that's responsible? Not often, right? I'm not saying he doesn't get beaten at times, but it's not often, and it's not badly. He can generally be trusted to take care of the receiver he's assigned to. Only elite WRs give him any kind of trouble. What we've all been waiting to see is the return of the splash plays he's been known for in the past. We finally saw one against the Commanders, and I think it will do wonders for his confidence as he returns to his pre-injury form, both physically and mentally. I still consider Tre White a very good NFL corner, probably right on the fringe of the top 10. At the very worst, he's CERTAINLY a more than viable CB1. I expect a good season from him moving forward. And if I'm wrong, well...he can always fall back on his goalie training.

Watching Monday Night Football last night, not only did I see Josh in multiple commercials, but also a commercial featuring a bunch of Bills merchandise being bought (a credit card commercial, I believe?). These are national commercials for big brands, not just local car dealership commercials or something. Josh Allen is singlehandedly making the Buffalo Bills more of a national brand. The type of team that a credit card company features prominently in a commercial. Crazy how much the drafting of ONE player has completely changed the fortunes, public perception, and national marketability of the Bills.

Why stop at large scale spectacle events? Why not roll up 10,000 strong to a local wedding, singing the shout song, dousing the bridesmaids in ketchup and mustard, and throwing the groomsmen through tables? THAT should be the pinnacle aspiration of #BillsMafia, if you ask me.

At least search the GIF, sheesh.

All I know is that he has a tiny wingspan that doesn't affect passing lanes the way that a giant pterodactyl might. He's also really old. Kidding, of course. I've been absolutely thrilled with Bernard's play so far. My biggest worry about the defense this year (MLB), seems unfounded. In fact, it seems that not only did the Bills not downgrade at MLB, they may have UPGRADED! By the way, the fact that Bernard did something that hasn't been done in 16 years (2 sacks, 1 INT, 1 Fumble Recovery), when Brian Urlacher and James Harrison did it, is pretty damned impressive. Bernard impacted that game in a big way yesterday, and getting impact plays from the middle linebacker position is a sight for sore eyes.

I hear ya. The problem is, I think that as long as Josh Allen is the quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, you're S.O.L. on this desire. I don't think "always take the easy throw" is in his DNA. If it IS in there, it's buried by much stronger strands of "I'm gonna throw this insane tight window throw into triple coverage" DNA. I just personally don't think Josh will EVER be an "always take the easy throw" guy. I don't think he's wired that way. I think he's Brett Favre until the day he hangs up his cleats.

I hear you, but.... That was NINE years ago.

Not enough credit being given to Dorsey and his staff for the way they schemed to neutralize Maxx Crosby and then an excellent Commanders DL in back-to-back weeks.

Mike Williams has been the most common name for NFL wide receivers in my lifetime. Just an observation.

I do actually want to contribute to the discussion here, because you brought up a point that I think is interesting. First you said that there were too many field goals and not enough touchdowns. Later you said that you didn't like Josh's shot to the end zone to Knox. I was thinking that maybe those two thoughts are at odds with each other. Some of what is leading to the lack of touchdowns right now is the new emphasis on playing smart, taking the short gains and checkdowns, and Josh's reads going short to long rather than long to short on a lot of plays. On the Knox play, he eschewed that philosophy and went for the throat. It was a bad but understandable drop in the rain that leads us to the conclusion that it wasn't a great decision. Better hands by Knox there and we're all lauding that play this morning. My suspicion is that the Bills offense -- and Josh Allen, in particular -- is trying to find the balance right now between playing smart and taking risks. In 2020 and 2021, Josh seemed to have struck that balance quite well. For much of 2022, he was out of balance. Trying to play hero ball too often, not being smart often enough. This season, after the wakeup call of week one, I think he's trying to re-discover the balance. Maybe it's the transition to a new playcaller, new players around him, new personnel sets, whatever...the end effect is that the training wheels have been re-applied, and Josh is slowly shedding them a little bit at a time as he regains confidence and re-discovers balance. My hope is that Josh continues to start out games by playing smart and taking short gains, building a little confidence and rhythm, and then turning into Killer Josh. That's when he's at his best to me. When he's taking small profits and being patient and frustrating the defense. Then, the MOMENT they start to creep down to cover the short stuff, he hits Gabe long for a score, or throws a rope to Knox in the end zone in a keyhole. I think we're seeing a necessary growth period and re-discovery of balance for Josh Allen and the Bills offense, but it's gonna take a little time for this offense to hit its full stride. Even so, they converted 9 of 15 3rd downs yesterday and scored 30 points. Not bad for a "training wheels" day.

Liar.

I haven't read through the entire thread, but I just wanted to say that I disagree with the OP. The past two weeks -- and especially this week -- are the LEAST disjointed I've seen the Bills offense look in a while. Last year, and in week one of this year, everything looked like a struggle for the offense. The past two weeks, that hasn't been the case in my eyes. The Bills offense is starting to move the ball with more ease and crispness and consistency. If anything, as @teef said, the offense has looked non-explosive. But I think that's what defenses are daring and begging the Bills to be. They're still doing that two-high shell, "you're going to have to dink and dunk to beat us" stuff against Josh Allen. The more the Bills are patient and commit to the run and take the short gains, the more the defense creeps down, and then big shots -- like the one to Gabe Davis for a TD and almost for a second TD yesterday -- open up. Further, I'd suggest the Bills are still figuring out the balance of exactly what they're going to be this season. The last few seasons, they were such a heavy 10 and 11 personnel team. This year, they've undergone a HUGE shift to more 21, 12, and 22 personnel. Finding that balance, learning which sets work best in which situations and in which sets the offensive players are most comfortable and effective, will take a bit of time. Personally, I've been the most encouraged about the offense the past two weeks that I've been since early last season.