Logic

Obviously most of the world today knew Bill Walton as a great broadcaster and an all-time NBA great. I knew him more from Deadhead land. He was a close friend of the band, and claims to have seen over 1,000 Grateful Dead and Dead related shows in his lifetime. From when he was a still-active bearded redhead NBA player in the 70s until the modern day, if you were at a Dead show (particularly on the west coast), you could look out into the crowd on the floor and usually see all 6'11" of him towering over everyone, smiling and singing along, his arms outstretched in his massive condor wingspan. Imagine being behind THAT guy at a concert? Sheesh. Various words of love have been sent Bill's way by members of the Dead community the past few days. John Mayer, who plays with Dead and Co nowadays, said Bill's special talent was to reorient you so that you had the same relentless positive and optimistic outlook on life that he did. So that you always saw the light. Mayer said "I think it's pretty good advice that when times get tough, everything will be okay if you just pretend to be Bill Walton". RIP Bill. Thanks for bringing so much light and joy to so many for so long.

The amount of those yellow puffer jackets we're about to see in the stands come winter time this season is gonna be hilarious.

I already gave answers. I'm sorry you didn't like them. Let me try again. Christian Kirk posted an 1100 yard season and then was on pace for a 1200 yard season last year before getting injured. No current Bills receiver has EVER even eclipsed 900 receiving yards, let alone 1,000. Curtis Samuel's career best receiving yardage total was 15 yards better than Gabe's, but Gabe scored more TDs that year. Brian Thomas was ranked higher on every draft board everywhere than Keon Coleman. Had he been on the board when the Bills picked, they would have taken him over Keon Coleman. While we love Kincaid's potential, he has yet to post a 900 yard season, which Evan Engram just did. As for the Titans: DeAndre Hopkins has 12,000 career receiving yards and 78 TDs. Even last year, at age 31, he still had -- yep, you guessed it -- over 1,000 yards, which -- can you guess what I'm gonna say next? -- is more than any current Bills receiver has ever had. Calvin Ridley has 1,000 more receiving yards and 14 more receiving TDs than Curtis Samuel in two LESS seasons than Samuel. Tyler Boyd has played just one more season than Curtis Samuel, but has 2600 more yards and 9 more TDs. So yes. I think both the Jaguars and Titans -- based primarily on career production vs "potential" -- have better weapons than the Bills. Objectively speaking, the stats back me up. In some cases, HUGELY so. I'd be willing to be that if you were to poll most unbiased NFL fans, they'd agree. It's perfectly fine that you disagree with me, and perfectly fine that you find my opinions abysmal. I'll survive. Have a nice Memorial Day.

I'll miss you. Best of luck in future endeavors.

Yeah it seems as though Orlovsky's comment is based on a decent amount of projection. IF Coleman hits and IF Knox returns to his '21-'22 form and IF Shakir elevates his game and IF Kincaid takes a sophomore leap...then the Bills could reasonably be a top five group in the AFC. If we're going solely by proven NFL production, it's pretty hard to argue top five with a straight face.

I agree, and have mentioned a few times this offseason that I'd be fine with the "quantity approach", most effectively deployed by the Green Bay Packers last season. Until the addition of MVS and Claypool (and the realistic seeming possibility that the latter might actually have his head screwed on straight), I didn't feel that the Bills had accomplished the "quantity" goal very effectively, either. I feel better about it now. To me, though, having a deeper stable of decent to good players is not necessarily superior to having a shallower stable of very good to elite players, it's simply a different approach. Nor does it mean that one can't attempt to rank teams' respective offensive skill player stables without it meaning that one has some kind of vendetta against one's favorite team simply for not ranking them #1.

My responses in bold. It's not as if I said the Bills skill players are dog poop or anything. I said I'd rank them about sixth in the AFC, and listed who I'd rank ahead of them. YMMV.

For what it's worth (probably not much): My personal opinion is that the Bills would be JUST on the outside looking in of the "top five in the AFC" discussion. In no particular order, I'd list the Texans, Chiefs, Dolphins, Bengals, Titans, and arguably the Jaguars as having better weapons than the Bills. So I'd probably have the Bills sixth or seventh. A big jump from Kincaid and Shakir could change that, but that's where I'd have it now.

Absolutely. I'm higher on Davis than many might find reasonable for a 4th round running back. He seems to have a three-down skillset, a killer's mentality, and the experience level and age to hit the ground running right away. I don't think "oh, he may be good in a year or two". I think he's ready to be good NOW, and I think he's gonna challenge Cook for snaps more and more as the year goes on. I said before that it won't surprise me if he ultimately becomes a co-starter with Cook or winds up with the lion's share of the snaps by year's end.

More Bills positivity this morning:

I figured I'd give this its own thread, because this board could use a little hit of positivity going into the weekend. I've been as loud a critic of the Bills' offensive moves as anyone this offseason, so allow me to share a contrary opinion:

Good. Long overdue. Between the absolutely ridiculous surcharges and service fees, the "dynamic pricing" they've instituted, and the fact that they themselves are now ALSO scalpers -- not to MENTION the fact that they are the very definition of a monopoly... It is way, way past time for Ticketmaster/Live Nation to be reined in. No one who has tried to buy tickets to a concert of any renown through them in the past decade could reasonably reach any other conclusion. And yes, we all would have saved a lot of time and effort if we had listened to Pearl Jam on this issue 30 years ago.

Aside from all the little things he'll do ON the field throughout the season (special teams contributions, blocking, the rare big catch in a big moment that he'll pitch in), I think Hollins will make an even bigger impact OFF the field. The truth of the matter is that in the NFL, it's really beneficial to your team to have leaders in the locker room, to have "glue guys". Beane said that even this early into his tenure, you can just tell that Hollins is a glue guy. Setting the tone with his work ethic, his vocal leadership, his selflessness, etc. You need guys like that. So much leadership walked out the door with Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, and Mitch Morse. And we can all say what we want about Diggs, and certainly he was a mixed bag, but he WAS a leader in the Bills locker room during his time here. He was constantly going up and down the sideline, getting guys hyped. By my count, as far as leadership and great locker room guys go, the Bills have brought in the following: Mack Hollins DeWayne Carter Sed Van Pran Ray Davis Hollins, obviously, is the only vet. It seems like there's a void of leadership on offense (aside from Josh Allen), so he has the chance to step up and fill a big role there. Beyond him, Carter and Van Pran were both leaders and captains in college, and I'd bet they'll be setting the tone on their respective lines in no time. Davis just seems like a grown man. Not like a rookie or a youngster, but like someone who's ready to go be a killer NOW. And really, beyond all of it, I expect Josh Allen to become THE leader on this team, starting this year. He always has been, to SOME degree, but I think he deferred to Stef in a big way and let him be the loudest alpha in the room. Now that Stef's gone, it's 100% Josh's show.

I've seen a lot of outlets -- including Bills beat reporters -- list Curtis Samuel as more of a slot player, but my impression has been that he's equal parts Y and Z. That usage percentage under Brady would seem to confirm my suspicion. I don't think the Bills signed him thinking "he'll be our slot guy". I think they really like Shakir in that role. That said, while Shakir is primarily a Y, he's shown that he can play Z at times as well. I think we'll see a lot of interchangeability between Samuel and Shakir depending on matchups and personnel groupings. Going back to Claypool, though...If, in fact, he has never played much in the slot, it makes me wonder how the Bills intend to use him. With the two guys I just mentioned getting most of the snaps at Y and Z, and them clearly liking Coleman at X, where does that leave Claypool? Is he more of a WR4/5 that backs up all three positions? I'm intrigued by the IDEA of Claypool, I'm just not sure how/where he fits in the WR room, particularly after the addition of MVS.

Nope. Looks like you're reading it correctly, and I'm just flat out wrong in my recollection of how he was used in PIttsburgh. More importantly, thank you for that link! What a tremendous database of information that is. I've been looking for something like that for a while, but was not familiar with that site. I'm gonna get great use out of that. Thanks.

Given that they help set protections, snap the ball to the quarterback, AND help keep a clean pocket, I'd say "wrongly".

In an absolutely shocking turn of events, it appears that an American law enforcement officer wildly embellished his incident report in order to justify his inappropriate and extra-judicial behavior.

I hope the Bills give Sed Van Pran some early starter looks in camp, the way they did with O'Cyrus Torrence. I said this in another thread here recently, but the best thing that could happen to the OL this season would be for SVP to take the starting center role and never look back. It would allow the least upheaval/turnover to the OL, as it would mean McGovern could stay at LG, Edwards could stay as valuable depth, and only the center position would be different than last year. As a side note, I'll say it's funny to me that a player "only being a fit at center" is a thing that dings guys enough that they fall significantly in the draft these days. I get wanting positional versatility, but center is an important position, and if a guy can be a ten year starter there -- even if he can't play a single down at guard in his career -- then it's a great pick and worth more than a 5th round draft choice. I really don't understand how this guy fell as far as he did on draft day. I know he has shorter-than-desired arms for the position and that he's not considered a good candidate to be a guard in the pros, but...is that it? How does a three-year SEC starter, two time captain, two time national champion center with pro traits fall to the 5th round? There must be some other weaknesses to his game that us laymen are not aware of. Here's hoping that this dude proves to be a steal and softens the blow of losing Mitch Morse.

The major one I want to see changed -- which has already been mentioned to some degree in this thread -- is defensive pass interference. It should result in a either a 15 yard penalty, or a spot foul if the penalty occurred less than 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, and an automatic 1st down. The idea that there should exist any possibility for, say, a 43 yard penalty is ridiculous. The fact that it has become an actual STRATEGY to heave an underthrown 50/50 ball and instruct the WR to run back toward the LOS through the defender, who has no realistic possibility of avoiding the WR, is ridiculous. Get this nonsense out of the game. 15 yards max, automatic 1st down. Simple. If they're REALLY concerned that defenders are just going to purposely tackle WRs to prevent long ball completions, then have there be an "incidental" PI that results in 15 yards (this would cover most instances of it) and an "intentional/blatant" PI that results in a full spot foul, just like it does now. This is a less-than-ideal option because it leaves too much room for referee judgement to decide the level of foul. But if that's the only counter-argument people have -- "The defender will just tackle the WR" -- then do it this way. It would still be better than what we have now.

Stefan Diggs skips Texons OTAs.

Enough has been made about Claypool's off-field stuff, so I'll say this about his on-field success: If I'm not mistaken, when Claypool was putting up his two 800+ yard seasons with the Steelers, they were using him primarily as a big slot. A guy who can get free releases, run down the seam, and play bully ball against smaller nickel corners. I think that if the Bills plan to use him that way, Claypool can be successful here. MVS and Hollins play X, they've already stated they want Coleman to play X, and Samuel and Shakir can both play Y and Z. The Bills currently don't really have another situational big slot on the roster other than Claypool. Given that Claypool would likely be, at best, the WR5 or WR6, they'll likely only be using him situationally, in schemed up looks and specific packages. As such, I can see him succeeding in that role. The Bills could potentially have a pretty big personnel set at times if they wanted, with Coleman, MVS/Hollins, and Claypool at WR, and Kincaid at TE. Such a grouping seems like it would lend itself well to running the ball and to red zone production. If Claypool is to succeed in Buffalo and stick on the 53 man roster, it will take not only him having his head screwed on straight and playing well, but the Bills having a plan for how to use him. Based on Claypool's comments at OTAs, it seems like he likes the way they're deploying him so far. Here's hoping he can reclaim the talent and production he once showed in this league, because it would go a long way in helping and diversifying the Bills offense.

I was at the game as well, and I respectfully disagree that it was the correct call. The league effectively said "well he didn't follow the rule that we have for this situation, but we knew what he MEANT to do". They let the player off the hook for not following a clearly written NFL rule. That sets a dangerous precedent. As Shaw pointed out earlier in the thread, why did Dawkins not get the same leeway later in the game for the blindside block call? I understand why the NFL did it, I guess, but I will NEVER agree that it was the right thing to do. Should've been a Bills touchdown.

Utilizing the running backs in the passing game on more than just swing passes and checkdowns. It was always a sight for sore eyes to me when Cook would run a wheel route or split out wide and run a go against a linebacker. Yes, I realize Cook had some crucial drops last season. But he remains a mismatch against most linebackers and I think the Bills should continue to find more ways to get him creatively involved in the passing game. Additionally, there were times last year that both Cook and Johnson were lined up in the backfield together. I'd like to see more of this, but with Ray Davis. Davis had seven TD receptions in the SEC last season, so he's a more than capable receiver himself. Beane keeps talking about how when we consider the Bills' pass catchers, we should be thinking about tight ends and running backs, too. That said, having both Cook and Davis in the backfield seems like it presents options. One can stay in to block while one runs a route, one or both can motion out wide, etc. So give me some legitimate running back involvement and variety in the passing game this year. I liked it when I saw it last year, and I'd like to see more of it. Get Davis and Cook matched up against a linebacker and let them eat underneath.

I agree. As someone who has been vocal the past few weeks about our WR room not being up to snuff, I feel a bit better about it today than I did on May 1st. MVS, while not a world beater, adds some depth and downfield ability. Claypool so far is saying and doing all the right things, and if he actually has his head screwed on straight, has shown in the past that he has the ability to be an 800 yards per year type talent. I've been focusing more on what Coleman potentially CAN do than what he CAN'T do, and that has softened my apprehension about him at least a little bit. Beane talked up Shakir as being underrated on the Chris Long show, and I suspect he may have a big role this year. I said all along that if they weren't gonna have top quality, then I at least wanted them to have quantity and variety. With Coleman, Samuel, Shakir, MVS, Claypool, Hollins, and then a Shorter/Shavers/Hamler deathmatch....I think the WR group may be fine. I still don't think it's gonna make anyone's top 10 lists, but combined with Kincaid/Knox, Cook/Davis, and the way Brady likes to spread the ball around, I think the Bills still have a chance to be pretty good on offense. All of that said...I still hope they draft, sign, or trade for a dynamic WR in 2025, and I'd still be fine with them acquiring one post June 1st this year as well, though I give it an extremely low chance of happening.