Logic

The Saints were trying to trade for Beckham, but they couldn't come to agreeable terms with the Browns based on the contract structure. I say he clears waivers and then signs with the Saints.

Note: "Quarterback wins" are not a thing. If you don't believe me, ask Dan Marino and Trent Dilfer.

I went over to the Jaguars forum just to see what their fans had to say about the game. I'd say the average score prediction came about to about Bills 45, Jaguars 10. And that's from Jaguars fans!

This x100. Whenever the "Whaley built a great team!" discussion comes up, I always have the same response: Whaley assembled a great collection of talent. I wouldn't say they ever resembled a great TEAM. It's why McDermott decided upon arrival to tear the team down to the studs and rebuild it almost from scratch. The culture and player mentalities in place when he arrived simply were not compatible with what McDermott viewed as being necessary to be a championship caliber football team. There are tons of great NFL rosters -- on paper. Tons of great collections of talent. But a bunch of talented players does not necessarily equal a great team. This is where Beane and McDermott deserve all the credit in the world: finding the right balance between acquiring good football players and assembling a group of hard working, selfless, team-first men who love the game of football and don't just view it as a job. Coach Jauron and his GMs, for instance, were able to acquire many of the latter, but few of the former. Conversely, Whaley acquired many of the former, but few of the latter. Urban Meyer (?!) said it best this week: This Bills team is one of the best builds in recent league history.

99% of the time I say I don't care how the team wins, so long as they win. Style points don't mean much. The only thing that matters is finishing with at least one point more than your opponent. HOWEVER... This is not one of those weeks. The Jaguars are SO bad -- so poorly coached, so devoid of game changing talent, so poorly ranked defensively and so inept offensively -- that I'd like to see the Bills absolutely destroy them. 42-9, something like that. I want to see the Bills passing game absolutely light it up. There is no good reason for them NOT to light it up. Josh Allen has never thrown five touchdowns in a single game before, and this seems like as good a week as any. Forget "it's a week-to-week league", "it's all about matchups", "any given Sunday", and all that jazz. I want to see absolute domination from the kickoff to the final whistle.

Fair. It seems lately that NFL teams are willing to gamble on a big leg, banking on the idea that they can -- to some degree -- teach hang time and accuracy, but they can't really teach leg strength. The Bills made this gamble themselves with Bojorquez, whose kicking power is great but whose accuracy and control are so-so.

Since you mention it... There's this fella Matt Araiza down at San Diego State: https://www.theringer.com/2021/10/29/22752437/matt-araiza-san-diego-state-punter-nfl-potential "Punters don’t try to make highlights. They try to be consistent, perfecting their motion so it’s the same every time. But Araiza has a rocket launcher for a leg, so for him consistency is making highlights. He’s hit 14 punts of at least 60 yards, two shy of the NCAA record for the most in a full season—and the Aztecs still have at least five games to go. He has 28 punts of 50-plus yards; the NCAA record is 32, set in 1994. He’s averaging 54.0 yards per punt, which would smash the NCAA and NFL records—51.0 in college and 51.4 in the NFL, the latter set by Slingin’ Sammy Baugh in 1940. Even if we factor in returns and touchbacks, Araiza is on pace for history: SDSU’s net punting average is 46.7 yards per punt; since the NCAA started including touchbacks in net punting average, no team has been better than 45.0. And remember, the Big Punt wasn’t even Araiza’s longest punt of the year. He also boomed an 86-yarder against San Jose State at sea level."

Tyler Bass is everything you could want in a kicker. One of the strongest legs in the league, accurate, "swaggy" (as his teammates say), and -- as time goes on and more and more evidence trickles in -- clutch. If you look around the league, kicking situations are awful almost everywhere. The teams who don't have a dependable long term kicker outweigh those that do. It's nice to have the Bills be one of the teams that have their kicking situation figured out, particularly since the Bills are now in a championship window. Oh, and by the way....the Bills drafted Tyler Bass AFTER the Patriots picked a kicker in the same round. The Patriots kicker is now out of the league. That feels nice. Lastly, let me just say: I am ALWAYS in favor of using 6th and 7th round picks on kickers and punters. The contributions you're going to get from a good kicker or punter (but especially kicker) over the course of their career likely FAR outweigh the contributions you're going to get from, say, a safety that only plays special teams.

Thanks for sharing this. I read an article on The Ringer the other day: https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2021/11/1/22757426/afc-leading-teams-titans-ravens-chiefs-bills It points out that, according to Sports Info Solutions, the Bills led the league last year in success rate on short dropback plays. This year, they’ve fallen to 16th. That’s quite the drop off! The short passing game, the “taking what is given”, the requisite composure to not try to do too much and to trust your playmakers…Allen seems to be having a harder time with these than he did last year. Im not really sure why. Perhaps how defenses are playing him? As others have already said, the key to winning a Lombardi lies in Allen re-discovering his 2020 form in these areas.

I'm not sure I agree with the need to bring in a "top end speed" WR, but if you're of that persuasion....DeSean Jackson was just released by the Rams.

So it's not just me! Someone set "p i e" to always auto-correct to penis. I claim innocence!!!

I swear, I've tried to edit that line several times now and it still shows as "penis in the sky". I can't seem to fix it. Ghosts, I tell ya. Ghosts!

@Hapless Bills Fan @nucci @Rc2catch @ColoradoBills Fair enough. You're all correct in the sense that trade deadline deals for offensive guards haven't happened at the rate that I would've thought over the past several years. I stand corrected. On the other hand, the Chiefs just traded away a quality starting level offensive guard. Granted, it's quite possible they wouldn't have traded with us for any amount, but the fact that this trade occurred showed that acquiring a starting level guard was not some totally improbable penis in the sky fantasy. It happened.

Yes. There are always teams looking to shed cap space or collect draft picks for future years. Especially losing teams. We see good players get traded every single year, including starting offensive linemen. Why would this year be any different?

Sure is looking like there won't be any Bills trades this year. I'd love an offensive guard and find it hard to believe that there are none to be had. On the other hand, with the number 1 scoring offense, number 1 scoring defense, and leading the league in point differential and takeaway differential, I'm not gonna freak out at Beane for being willing to stand pat. Note**:If we fail to win a Super Bowl this year, I'd be willing to bet that it's due to offensive line deficiencies. As such, I sure wish they would go out and get a Will Hernandez or Brandon Scherff or Andrew Norwell. Alas, it seems unlikely this late in the day.

I think we have the exact style of defense you need to win consistently in the modern NFL: Seemingly simple but, in reality, quite complex mix of Cover 3 and Cover 4 looks that show you one thing pre-snap and then rotate to something different post snap. Fast, sideline-to-sideline linebacker duo that often erases the middle of the field. The only thing we're missing is a consistent pass rush from our front four. Hopefully that changes as Epenesa and Rousseau and Basham progress. Add that in and you've got exactly the type of defense that the 2021 NFL calls for. Also, with a few years of results now in, I see this pattern: This defense consistently shuts down average QBs and inferior QBs, but more often than not looks somewhat average against high quality QBs. This defense consistently dominates the offenses that it "should" dominate". They rarely ***** the bed against teams they're "supposed to" beat. On the other hand, high quality quarterbacks are smart enough to crack our defense's code enough of the time that they'll usually produce yardage and points against us. This isn't a bad thing. If the Bills win the games they "should" win every season and dominate lesser QBs, that usually means 10 wins. The problem, of course, is that once you get to the playoffs, you're usually facing good quarterbacks. The Bills under McDermott have yet to limit those types of quarterbacks in playoff games. They shut down Jackson last year, sure, but he's not exactly a dominant passer at this point in his career. Watson, Rivers, and Mahomes all ate our defense's lunch.

Mitch Trubisky and Cody Ford to the WFT for Brandon Scherff and Ryan Fitzpatrick, please. (not saying I've heard that this could happen, just saying I wish it would)

When the dreaded R word (regression) was discussed in the offseason, some misunderstood it. Specifically, statistical regression is not necessarily a bad thing. While it can mean a downturn in statistical production for a given player, it can be a GOOD thing for the offense as a whole. Diggs is the perfect example. Statistically, he has not been as productive this season as he was last season. HOWEVER, Emmanuel Sanders presents a giant upgrade so far over what John Brown was last year. A big chunk of Diggs' targets and catches are going to Sanders. This is a good thing for the offense as a whole. Besides, Diggs is on pace for about 90 catches and 1100 yards. A downturn from last year? Sure. Still a very good season for a WR? Absolutely.

Exactly this. If the Dolphins have shown that they're going to keep trying to score -- which they did -- then you do what you need to do to ensure that they can't tie the game. Specifically, if the Bills had run down the clock and kicked a field goal, it would have been a two score game. However unlikely it may have been, the Phins could have won it with a touchdown, recovered onsides kick, and another touchdown. Instead, by doing what the Bills did (scoring a TD and going for two), the goal was to make it a three score game. The two point attempt wasn't just some "rubbing salt in the wound" thing. It was a strategic move aimed at making it so that the Phins couldn't score or win the game with two possessions, but would instead need three possessions to do so. I trust that if the Phins had shown signs of throwing in the towel, the Bills would have done the same. Instead, the Phins -- understandably -- continued to try to win the game. At that point, the most strategically logical decision for the Bills was to try to put the game out of reach in order to snuff out a comeback, however unlikely said comeback may have been.

I don’t see RB — even an elite player like CMC — as a smart place to invest big money…ESPECIALLY for a pass-heavy offense whose QB hates checking down like I hate Brussels sprouts.

As in you wish YOUR legs were like that, or as in you literally want to have those legs? Nevermind. Don’t answer.

Not to be a party pooper, but I think he’s playfully flipping off Josh. Josh had tried to wave that play off, knowing that Knox’s hand was hurt. Knox insisted that they stick with it any way. Given that fact and the fact that he’s facing Josh while flipping the bird, I conclude that #17 is the most likely target.