blacklabel

A real pre-season quality barnburner.

And I don't wanna hear anything about, "Oh, the Seahawks have the worst defense in the league" I don't care, they came into the game 6-1. Josh Allen did exactly what a franchise QB does against a shoddy defense, took advantage and punched them right in the mouth.

I was eleven, and at this point in the year I was probably getting psyched for the holidays.

Yeah that's why I said numerous instead of all the time haha. Sunday was brutal. A number of plays where I was just like, "Is he weak or something? He's got guys wrapped up and they just run right out of it, ugh." Hopefully Milano is off the pitch count this week and is a full go.

I think the Ravens put seven or eight players on their COVID list today after Marlon Humphrey tested positive today.

You bite your tongue, Herbert19! AJ Klein is a Saint! A non-tackling, big time whiffing, ex-Saint! I'm sure Klein fits the personality profile they like, team player, selfless guy, good leader, etc. But yikes on bikes the guy is gonna give his coaches a coronary if he keeps schlubbin' it up out there.

Your comment on Bates wasn't something I considered. Hmm, I guess it depends on where they think Feliciano is most valuable, at center or left guard over Winters with Ford on the right. I thought Bates played well on that one drive he had. He came in with confidence, when he stepped in the huddle you could see a number of guys patting him on the back and asking if he was ready and he just seemed to be like, "Yeah guys, I got this." They obviously like him, they traded for him and he stuck on the team right off the bat and never seemed to be on the fringe this year. And your comment on Boettger, I was about to be like, you sure you didn't walk past Trey Adams? And then I remembered there were no fans allowed at training camp this year and Adams came in this year as well.

Vic Beasley has not had one single QB hit all year.

It'd be ideal, right? Klein has been rough, but it's not like he doesn't know what he's doing out there. We've seen him hit the correct gap numerous times and he's regularly flying around the ball...but he seems to be allergic to tackling.

I did indeed utilize the forum search function and did not find any threads pertaining to this. I know a lot of us don't put a whole lot of stock into the numbers from Pro Football Focus, but we seem to like when they praise our players. Anyway, G Ike Boettger came in off the bench on Sunday and had himself a game according to the 94.1 score he got from PFF. I know his previous scores this season weren't great in the few snaps that he took but perhaps he's been performing like this in practice and that's why they were alright with cutting Spain. Seems like Feliciano might be at center for a while which leaves Ford, Winters, and Boettger as the guards. I think both Ford and Winters have had their ups and downs. I think Winters has had a few more rough stretches so when Ford comes back, if I were McD, maybe I'd consider tinkering with the starting 5 to get Ike in there. Unless of course this performance was a one-off fluke.

I'm pretty sure they didn't expect he'd have to play this much but because Milano has been injured, they've needed him out there. Although, later in the game on Sunday, I did start to notice that Milano was out there for most of the last two Patriot drives. Hopefully he's a full go this week.

He's got talent for sure, so I'm willing to see how his third year pans out before making a definitive call on him. Definitely needs to cut down on the turnovers. He does some things we saw Josh do throughout his rookie year and a few games into 2019. Just trying to do too much and trying to force plays and it usually ends up in a turnover. Glad to see Josh knows now when to throw it away or bail to the sidelines and live for the next play. Sometimes it just isn't there, defenses will win their fair share of plays.

And that's the hallmark of a Greg Roman offense. He can beat you with the run nine different ways to Sunday, and will crank out wins if they hold a lead for most of the game. If they're behind by 10 or more and need to start throwing more than running, they're in trouble. Roman's passing concepts are relatively easy to defend and they really don't have anything special at WR. I mean, Brown is good but he can't do it all himself. His TEs are solid but overall their passing game isn't to be feared.

I commented on the Bills IG where I first saw this and just said I love how much of a team they really are. There aren't any selfish guys who only care about personal stats. They lift each other up and genuinely want everyone to succeed. At the end of the day, they don't care who makes the play, just as long as the play gets made. Kinda reminds me of 2018 (I think?) where the sideline went nuts after Tawain Jones caught a short pass and converted on a big third down. I like that McDermott said they know they can do better. They have a solid group. They do miss Star for sure and I do hope to hear about Beane swinging a trade this week. But, I'm also aware that they might be a piece or two away from serious contention. They have the roster that can get you in the playoffs but it might not be a roster that gets you deep in the playoffs. I could be totally wrong, too. They could get hot like they were in September and start scoring 30 points a game again.

This is EGREGIOUS, Cotton! It is absolutely unacceptable that Tremaine Edmunds did NOT lift Isaiah Wynn over his head and launch him into the 300s. Even more worse and not gooder than that is he didn't pull an Ant-Man and shrink himself down so he could slip between the two guys blocking him. He's so selfish with his superpowers. How dare he. He and his one arm.

Oh, we're at this part of the season now? How neat. Once again, no GM is perfect, and not every transaction always works out. They've drafted well so far. In 2017 McDerms found Tre, Dawkins, and Milano, three starters, two of which have already earned second contracts and the other is well on his way. Missed on Zay Jones, it happens. Missed on Nate Peterman but he was a fifth round guy. McDermott was also working with an entirely different scouting department. 2018 brings in Allen, Edmunds, Phillips, T. Johnson, Neal, Wyatt Teller, and Ray-Ray McCloud. They flipped Teller for picks and turns out, he's been a pretty solid player for Cleveland. McCloud has bounced around the league but has stuck on Pittsburgh as a returner. Not bad for a couple late rounders. Neal is a core special teamer, taken in the 5th, right where you find special teams guys. Taron Johnson has had good stretches aside from his injuries. Horrible Harry is struggling along with the DL as a whole. He's a talented player, they just need to figure it out. Edmunds is playing with a bum shoulder and without Milano most of the time. Does he need to get it together? Sure. Does Brandon Beane deserve to get fired if he doesn't? No. And then of course there's Josh, and as well as he's played this season I still think he can get better. 2019, Oliver, Ford, Singletary, Knox, Vosean Joseph, Jaquan Johnson, Darryl Johnson, Tommy Sweeney. It's too early to make a definitive call on these guys since their careers are all of 20-some games old. Oliver had a great second half to his rookie season. Again, the DL as a whole is still trying to figure it out, they need to find a way to maximize the skill sets these guys have, the only problem is they're missing a guy like Star who is a true 1-tech whereas Ed is not yet he has to line up there at times. He's also playing through an injury. Cody Ford had his moments at tackle last season, some good, some bad. Seems they like him at guard where he's done well in pass pro but not so hot at run blocking. Slowed by injury right now. I think he has the talent to be a solid longtime starter. Singletary has shown to be a solid player. Knox has shown flashes and so much potential but injuries have derailed this season for him. I think he'll be alright. Vosean Joseph didn't work out, 5th round guys get cut all the time. If you find a player in the later rounds, that's a bonus. Jaquan Johnson is a core special teamer and in line to compete for a starting gig in the future. Darryl Johnson has shown some moments and maybe he's a long-term project and he works out, who knows? Tommy Sweeney probably takes over for Lee Smith next season. 2020 - Epenesa, Moss, Davis, Fromm, Bass, Hodgins, Jackson. Incomplete grades for Fromm and Hodgins. And no pre-season for these guys to get acclimated to the game. Seems like they're bringing Epenesa along slowly but he was seen as a bit of a project and if they keep working with him he could be a steady, solid player for them. Moss had the slow start with injuries but showed today what he's capable of. Davis has also had some excellent moments and seems like he could be a steal. Bass has had some ugly misses but he did go 6 for 8 in a game so that's pretty good. Dane Jackson has one of what, like three INTs by a DB this season? And they're 8 games into their rookie year so it's difficult to grade these picks just yet. Aside from the draft, Beane also cleaned up a ton of bad contracts and brought the team out of cap hell to a team with a ton of cap space. He flipped players for picks that he eventually used to draft Josh Allen. He got a third round pick for Tyrod Taylor. Unlike some prior Bills GMs, he's not afraid to be aggressive and trade around in draft day. Before Beane and McDermott took over, Bills consistently had rosters with the fewest homegrown talents in the league. They've reversed that and found a really good balance between their own picks and free agents. He's also awarded second contracts to several of their picks, something that rarely happened beforehand where players would play their rookie deal and say adios. He reinforced the OL in 2019 by adding Morse, Feliciano, and Nsekhe. Reinforced the WR group by adding John Brown and Cole Beasley. Makes the flashy trade for Stefon Diggs, who's been near the top of the league stats-wise all year. Has everything been a winner? No, but again, no GM has a perfect record. So they've hit a rough patch yet they're still 6-2. They know they need to do better. They also know that they've got a roster full of banged up players at the moment. Things happen. Maybe they're still a piece or two away from serious contention. Maybe they turn it around and get hot like they were in September. Who knows. Let's let the season play out before we start trying to dismantle the team again.

He was rough today. He's played so poorly that Beane has gambled on Darron Lee. This defense has some pieces but they're gonna need reinforcements next season. We'll see if they swing a trade this week but next off-season I expect them to make some changes.

Coaching can only go so far. Throughout the day I thought they called a decent game, but that only goes so far when your players aren't executing. The DL had some good moments in the first half but got shoved around in the second. They're trying all sorts of different combinations with the DL so I can't say that's bad coaching, they're attempting to find a formula that works. They miss Star and don't really have a natural 1-tech DT, Oliver is way better at 3T and so is Phillips. They're trying to make it work with what they got. Offensively, this has been a team that dials up 40+ throws a game. Today, Singletary and Moss were clicking to the tune of 6.1 YPC for 26 and 5.8 for 20. And Josh threw it 18 times. So to me, that shows decent coaching as it would've been easy for Daboll to say, "Yeah, we've run it alright but we're a passing team, lemme dial up a buncha throws cause that's our identity, darn it!" But they didn't, they kept running and they did it well. Gabe Davis also dropped a touchdown, you want me to go chew out Chad Hall for that? I understand some people are frustrated, I am as well, the game shouldn't have been that close. But what's the alternative? Fire the coaching staff and start all over again? That's the thing I don't understand about the knee-jerk reactions. People want change but they don't know what the alternative would be. From my perspective, they're trying, they're tinkering with the DL lineup and I'm sure Beane is on the horn and has his eyes on the trade deadline this week. They're not complacent, they're always trying to work and improve. This season is odd, no one had a pre-season to better evaluate things so teams have been forced to figure things out as the regular season has played out. But some of the comments I see sometimes are just wild, yeah, let's dump the staff that's turned the team around and taken them to the playoffs in two outta three seasons. 🙄

Loved seeing him out there today. Sucks he's gotta play in place of Morse, though. If Ford can go next week I'd like to see Bates get a start over Winters, just to see how that works.

I don't think they were out-coached at all. Sometimes I think they roll with their normal a little too long and are a bit slow to adjust or even hesitant to change things up here and there, but I don't think they were out-coached today.

Can't have the mistakes. Can't let them hang around. Diggs was fired up just before the half. Pretty sure he said something along the lines of, "They flippin' suck, this is bull$#!+, let's go!" So hopefully they get angry and come out and slap them in the mouth.

And that, my good man, is why I watch the games on mute.

Hyde is a leader and a guy that younger players look up to. The amount of times I've seen him slowly get to his feet after a play this season leads me to believe he's playing through some injuries. I think a lot of guys are doing that right now. I can't see him being cut outright but maybe a restructured deal and more of a rotational role on the field if they find a better option to start over him.

Exactly what they pay Lotulelei to do. Funny how so many people were down on that signing but now that his absence is blatantly obvious, people are like, "Wait, maybe that WAS a good deal." Guys aren't always paid to be flashy and rack up the stats. Guys like Star are paid to allow his teammates to flash and rack up stats. And if this Shamar fella is a real option, I'd utter the age-old mantra of... "Get it done, OBD!"

They had plenty of chances to beat Brady and the Pats. They did it once or twice, right? I mean, I'm good with that because I reached my "Brady whoops the Bills" quota about 14 years ago so, I'm aboot done with all that. Times be changing, Pats on the downswing, Bills got their chance to go on top, gotta take advantage. 2-4 or not, Belichick will have this team ready. Hope it's a good one. As in...I hope Josh and the Boys rack up 35 first half points and blow 'em out of the water.