Logic

I'll never cease to be amazed by the degree to which posters on an internet message board rate their own medical expertise ahead of that of trained professionals. Agree to disagree.

With all due respect, the Bills have one of the best, if not THE best medical staff in the league. They have shown time and time again that they prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to injuries. If they felt that Phillips was ready to play, then I trust them. Guys get re-injured, it happens.

From the Ringer article I posted above, I found this line pretty astonishing: "I’m not exaggerating when I say that an Allen-to-Davis post route might be the most effective play in the history of ball. The duo has been perfect on those plays, going 9-for-9 for 426 yards and four touchdowns. That’s 47 yards per throw." ---------- Needless to say, a healthy Gabe Davis is a game changer for the Bills offense.

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet. It is a fantastic article and I highly suggest everyone give it a read. There are tons of graphics and things that wouldn't paste well here, so just check it out if you're interested. https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2022/10/14/23403727/bills-chiefs-game-plans-schemes The Game Plans That Will Decide Bills-Chiefs The game of the year is here. Kansas City and Buffalo have electric quarterbacks, incredible offenses, and capable defenses. Who has the upper hand in a game that could go a long way in determining who wins the AFC? Everybody stay calm. It’s Bills vs. Chiefs. The greatest game of last season—of perhaps the last several seasons—was played between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs just nine months ago. You remember? The one in which Josh Allen scored the game-winning touchdown, and then Patrick Mahomes somehow came back and scored the actual game-winning touchdown—until, of course, Allen drove down the field and scored the final game-winning touchdown—that is, until Mahomes used all 13 seconds remaining on the clock to drive into field-goal range, send the game into overtime, win the coin toss, and (you guessed it) score the actual, final, I-really-mean-it-this-time, game-winning touchdown. Yeah. Pretty good football game. Entering Week 6, it would be unfair to expect the same fireworks from the rematch. But of course, there is still reason to get excited. These are the two best teams by expected points added per dropback by a country mile, as Allen and Mahomes have become the defining quarterbacks of this generation of football. And they’re both AFC contenders, looking to repeat as division winners and make the playoffs. Where they might meet again. And might meet every year. For the rest of time. OK, it’s very tempting to expect the same fireworks. There is no doubt that Buffalo and Kansas City have planned around this Week 6 matchup for awhile. So Steven Ruiz and I took a look at last year’s matchup—as well as this year’s versions of the Bills and Chiefs—to try to understand what each team will bring to this game. We’ll break it down on both sides of the ball; I’ll play the Chiefs, and Steven will play the Bills. We’ll start there: when the Bills have the ball. Ruiz, take it away....

That much I expected. Bryce Brown, Marquise Goodwin, and a middle finger emoji...those I did NOT expect.

This thread got weird.

Stopped by Chiefs Planet hoping to read a little insight as to what the enemy fans are thinking. I immediately remembered why I don't go there ever. That forum is an absolute cesspool. Some of the worst "football discussion" on the internet. It's weird, because almost everyone who has attended games in KC or hung out with Chiefs fans says they're welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable, etc. Whatever the case may be, the absolute worst of the Chiefs fan base seem to gather on Chiefs Planet. I cannot stress what a garbage den that place is. Makes me really, really thankful that we have a place as nice (and well moderated) as TSW to talk Bills.

I disagree. White tops with blue pants look like a jersey paired with blue jeans. The Bills' most soul-crushing road losses also always seem to happen in that uniform combo. Now blue tops with white pants....that's a good look.

Of the current Bills jersey combos -- not including the throwbacks... White-on-White is either the best or second best option. I don't make the rules. It's just science.

Snagged two tickets to the final two shows, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, and two tickets to both nights at the Gorge, which is such an awesome venue. Looking forward to one more Saturday night with the Dead (err...two more?) Now everybody's dancin' down the local armory With a basement full of dynamite and live artillery Temperature keeps risin', everybody gettin' high Come the rockin' stroke of midnight, the place is gonna fly

No Flaming, I see where you're coming from. The Bills are great at coaching up DBs, and they have a talented, young, up-and-coming group there with Jackson, Elam, and Benford. I'll only say this: Let's put a pin in this idea until after the KC game. Something tells me that nobody will be wanting to trade away an All Pro corner after the Chiefs game. As the saying goes, you can never, ever, ever have too many good corners in the NFL.

Great news. This is definitely the most sensible approach. Have him ease into practice today, then have the full bye week to ramp up. Hopefully he can be active by the Green Bay game. It seems almost unfair that the 2nd ranked scoring defense in the NFL gets to add an All-Pro corner at the midway point of the season. Pretty awesome.

Great post, thanks!

Built in Buffalo has about as much credibility as Dunkirk Don.

The injury status of the Bills roster is the defining factor of this game, in my mind. I am confident that if Buffalo has Poyer, Edmunds, Knox, and McKenzie on the field, they can win this game. If they are missing any or all of those guys, my confidence in a victory goes down significantly. At the end of the day, I have the gnawing feeling that last year's script will be reversed: We'll drop this game to KC in the regular season (largely due to injury depletion and missing guys like Tre White), but then beat them in the playoffs. I'd take that trade-off. One thing's for sure: This game very well may decide the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs. Big, big game.

For most teams, adding a UDFA safety to the practice squad wouldn't be noteworthy. However, for a team whose coaches have identified and developed 5th and 7th rounders Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, 7th rounder Kurt Coleman, got a lot of mileage out of UDFA Dean Marlowe, and seem to be developing 6th rounders Damar Hamlin and Jaquan Johnson into quality NFL starters.... Maybe this signing isn't nothing.

The things that pop off the tape for me with Shakir are his toughness/fearlessness over the middle and his run-after-catch ability. The play last week in the Ravens game where he caught it near the line of scrimmage and proceeded to juke a defender and run for 12 yards and a first down was a thing of beauty. For a team that has talked as much about getting RAC -- and has put as much effort into manufacturing it -- as the Bills have, they can't ignore what Shakir has brought to the table in this department. He's a legit RAC guy -- he was that throughout his career at Boise St, too. Almost like a running back once the ball is in his hands. I'm really excited for this kid's future.

Good for them. Let them get fat and confident off an easy schedule, then the Bills can whoop them up and down the field on Super Bowl Sunday.

You have the Panthers or Lions winning the Super Bowl?

As someone who's hugely in favor of adding McCaffrey, I'll say this: I fully realize that he won't solve the o-line blocking issues, and I still want to add him. For one thing, he's as much an addition to the passing game as he is the running game. Diggs and Davis out wide with McCaffrey and Knox underneath? Fuhgeddaboutit! For another, you can only fix one thing at a time. McCaffrey doesn't improve the offensive line. He also doesn't improve the cornerback depth chart or add safety depth. What he DOES do is improve the running back room and the passing game drastically. Simple question: Would adding Christian McCaffrey improve the Buffalo Bills roster? I don't see how the answer could be anything but "yes".

Based on what I read from Greg Tompsett of Cover 1, which I linked above -- it would cost the Bills only $600,000 in 2022 money to bring McCaffrey in, and only $1m of his remaining salary is guaranteed -- I would be fully, completely, 100% on board with bringing him in. You either have him for 1 year for a Super Bowl push, or you re-structure and keep the Bills offense unstoppable for years. Remember, Devin Singletary is a free agent after this year. Moss is just a guy. McCaffrey is a game changer.

For those saying his contract is cost prohibitive, it is very much not:

I understand that point of view. I'd point to a consistent body of work, beginning in the preseason, and continuing every time he's gotten an opportunity in the regular season. I think that, in actuality, he'll continue to trail McKenzie in snaps, perhaps slowly approaching a 50-50 split. Still, I trust my eyes on this one. Shakir is a star in the making. They won't be able to keep him off the field forever, because he'll continue to force their hand.