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Nice post, OP. I'd say Cleveland is more of a concern than Denver at this point. I'm pretty sure some players in Denver are already tuned out. They don't play with a lot of urgency or aggressiveness. I watched them against KC on Thursday night a few weeks back and they were down by two scores with four and a half minutes left in the game and they were still huddling, slowly getting to the line, using just about all of the play clock and seemingly not looking to stop the clock. Looked like all they wanted was for the game to end so they could get outta there. With Cleveland, the big key is definitely pressure on Mayfield. If he doesn't have time to throw, he's not very good. And if you keep up consistent pressure on him, he'll start to bail on clean pockets at the first sign of pressure, even if he has room to step up or sidestep, he just books it and tries to make a throw on the run. I know the Bills like to rush four most of the time but this might be the game for them to get creative with the pass rush and really dial up the pressure.

Beige on burnt orange.

Haha, that was my first thought as well.

It's hard not to respect Belichick because he is undeniably one of the greatest coaches ever. However, whenever I think of him, I'm always gonna think of the scandals he found himself in and wonder the things he did that we *don't* know about. Dude has no problem pushing the boundaries when it comes to the rules, even stepping over the line at times and then claiming ignorance. He'll do whatever he can to find any advantage. So yeah, great coach, but I'm probably always gonna be skeptical on whether or not the advantages they found were due to his coaching or due to his willingness to skirt the rules a little. Either way, Edelman has a great story about Belichick. It's on YouTube, I think Edelman actually has his own channel and somehow I ended up there. But he tells a story of the first time he ever spoke to Belichick. He also says in all the years he's played for him, he's probably only had maybe eight or nine non-football conversations with him. Belichick really personifies the whole Oz/man behind the curtain thing in terms of his coaching style. Anyway, I think Edelman said it was his rookie year or at least early in his career. He was putting in extra work so he'd come back to the facility later at night to get in a workout. He says one night he goes in there and sees Belichick in the gym, way off in a dark corner, working out on an elliptical, illuminated only by the tablet he has in front of him where he's watching film. Edelman, still feeling like one of the new guys, doesn't wanna bother him so he just nods and goes about his workout. Belichick steps out a within a few minutes. Edelman finishes up his workout and wants to hit the hot tub to recover. He heads over to the tubs and who does he find in the hot tub all by himself... Belichick. Edelman just says, "Uh, hey coach." Belichick doesn't say a word, just stands up, steps out of the tub, butt-a$$ naked and walks out. Edelman's like, "Uh, alrighty," hops in the tub for a minute, which, by the way, he makes a point to mention how the guys always wear trunks in the tubs, not ol' Bill, though. Edelman finishes up, packs up his stuff and is headed out to leave around midnight. As he makes his way to the exit, bam, there's Belichick again, also leaving. Edelman just says something like, "Working hard, huh coach?" And Belichick just shrugs and says, "Eh, beats being a plumber," and walks out. I thought it was pretty funny. What we see of these guys isn't always indicative of who they actually are.

They're still finding their identity as a team, still figuring things out on offense especially since they had a lot of roster turnover and have a young QB at the helm. I'd rather they go through more "growing pains" and coming together while winning games than while losing them. And yeah, there are legitimate criticisms you can point out, but you also have to temper expectations. If Josh Allen doesn't go out there and throw for 350 and 4 TDs a week, some people are gonna think he's a bust. If Tremaine Edmunds doesn't rack up 27 tackles, 4 sacks and 2 INTs, he a bum! Some people just have their expectations dialed up to astronomical levels. And in tempering expectations comes the realization that you're gonna have to live with mistakes and bad plays because they're gonna happen. Happens to every single team. It is getting a bit old to watch them win on Sunday only to see all the articles on Monday being about, "Yeah they won, BUT, Player A did NOT do this, therefore this win is hollow."

Quoting Lotulelei in Tim Graham's recent article on The Athletic: "I think guys need to do their jobs and not do too much more than they need to." He goes on to say that sticking to your job is very important in this defensive scheme and that it can be tough because guys wanna make plays out there. Everyone has a specific job on every play. This is why I chuckle when I see people losing their minds over Lotulelei or other guys who don't have crazy stat lines. Their assignment isn't always "go eat the QB" or whatever, but there's the gap stuff, edge responsibility, angles, positioning, etc. It's 11 moving parts that gotta be synchronized otherwise things can fall apart. When they are all on the same page, they are a very tough defense.

That was more or less my attempt at coach/player-speak because if you asked any of them, they're not gonna point fingers and blame one or two players or position groups. They all take responsibility for getting beat up by the run these last couple weeks.

642. Don't ask again, fella.

They basically let Mayfield pick Kitchens as HC. Mayfield p*ssed and moaned about Jackson and then when they had some success with Kitchens calling the shots, Mayfield expressed his desire to see him be their HC. First time head coach with a team full of monster egos, not the greatest recipe. People point to the success the 90s Bills had with all the egos on that team, but the difference there is that those guys wanted to prove to their teammates that they could back up their talk and show that they were leaving it all out there for them. That doesn't seem to be the case with Cleveland. I can't say I'd be surprised if they miraculously "put it all together" against the Bills this week, sometimes that just seems to happen against them. Bills need to roll the film of the 49ers game that Cleveland lost 31-3. SF just pressured Mayfield all game and never gave him time to throw.

He hesitated on that Philly run and then got smacked in the chops as Sanders zipped by him. I dunno if he's thinking too much instead of trusting his eyes and reacting or what's going on. Collectively, I'd say everyone on defense has been responsible for the big runs in one way or another. Hard to saddle it all on one guy. After a rough first half, they seemed to shut things down in the second half but that was maybe because they put eight in the box since they didn't really have to worry about Haskins throwing it. They probably won't be able to do that against better QBs but it worked for Sunday. Hopefully they continue to figure it out.

That's neat. It's just that standards for the passing game have elevated so much since '93. Back then, yeah, Kelly's stats looked good. Today, people look at Allen's identical stats and think, "He a bum!" I think he'll get there, though.

I'd rather see them move to a city starved for an NFL team, or at least a city that will give half a crap. Chargers home games right now are a joke. Watched them against Pittsburgh a few weeks ago and the stands were plastered with Terrible Towels. Caught some of their game against Green Bay this past Sunday and it was definitely a GB crowd. If they do move to London, I'd imagine it'd be a tough sell to draw in free agents.

The offense is still a work in progress. Nine new starters, lot of turnover, continuing to game plan so that your QB has room to improve while limiting opportunities for mistakes at the same time. It's a delicate balance. The defense has been pretty good, they keep this team in games, but the offense still isn't at a point where they can afford a pick or two and still overcome.

Schedule this, schedule that, blah blah blah. They didn't make the schedule. They didn't hire Crazy Eyes Gase, they didn't twist Miami's tiddies into tank mode, they didn't hire Zac Taylor, they have exactly zero to do with the teams they've played being dumpster fires this season. I'm convinced that they'd still be perceived exactly as they are now even with a victory over the Pats, Eagles, or both. Analysts have zero belief that this team is for real even if they'd been ripping through teams this season and winning every game by 30 points. It'd go like this.. *Monotone delivery* "The Bills beat the Patriots today, 67-9. They picked off Tom Brady eleven times and held Julian Edleman to one catch for negative 84 yards. The Bills are now 14-0 and have yet to allow a touchdown this season. They are well on their way to winning their 59th consecutive Super Bowl. *With all the excitement of a five-year-old who just got his first Nintendo* "Let's talk about Tom Brady's cleat choice!! Good gravy, did you see those pretty pink sneakers glitter and shine under the lights?? What a miraculous, amazing, incredible, godlike, tremendous, phenomenal, amazingly brave, courageous man to have the skill to wear those cleats so splendidly! Good lord, I'd let the man slap my face and steal my wife!" Something like that. I can't wait for the endless discussion this week about Baker Mayfield's f'n facial hair. What's more important here, is who in the h-e-dubble-hockeystix names their kid Baker?

This might be the first time I've seen this kinda sentiment on this or any of the Bills boards I've been around. I have a hard time with "fans" that constantly trash players. Instead of just saying a guy hasn't played well you get people calling him trash, waste of space, waste of money, worthless, etc. And usually it's coming from someone who probably wheezes when they peel themselves off the couch to go get another fistful of pizza.

Bad things, maaaannn.... Not a Browns game, but one of the more weird things I've seen in a Bills game is that Pats game from 2008 where the wind was so bad the goalposts were bent over. I can't recall if that 6-3 turdfest had high winds or if that was the 8-0 blizzard. Browns are hangin' by a thread in terms of the playoff picture. I just don't think Kitchens has enough buy-in and trust from that team to get them to rally. Lot of egos, lot of aggravation when things aren't going their way, etc. I wonder at what point players will start checking out and looking towards next season where they might be hoping they'll be playing elsewhere or at least under a different staff if they stay in Cleveland. A weird thing I'd like to see happen is an all-out dominant Bills victory. No hanging on by the opponent, no tripping over themselves at the two yard line and going backwards for three straight plays, etc. Also, no overly-cutesy/creative stuff from Daboll. Don't get me wrong, I think he has some creative play designs and the pre-snap motion seems to be effective at times, but at some point they really need to define their bread and butter plays and build around that in order to create an identity.

He may not rack up a ton of sacks but he routinely provides pressure. He might be having a bit of a down year but clearly they think he can still be effective. Also, and I've said this before, some players are here for more than just their on field performance. Hughes is one of those guys. He may not have a C on his jersey but he's a locker room OG, he's a guy that other guys can go to for advice and he's a guy that can communicate with coaches to give them a read on the locker room. This staff also loves his energy, his work ethic, and his approach. They want guys like him on this team so younger players can see how this staff wants things done. On top of that, McDermott's defenses, save for a season or two in Carolina when they had some beasts up front on the DL, have never been the type of defenses that rack up crazy sack numbers. They consistently rush four and they don't do a whole lot of blitzing, stunts or other types of disguises to create pressure. They depend on their guy beating the guy across from them. I get it, people wanna criticize the team. People find concerns and come here to voice them, as silly as some of them seem. But they're 6-2... I'm really not that concerned if they don't have a pair of edge rushers with 15 sacks apiece already. These guys also have specific assignments from play to play. They aren't told to go get the QB on every single play. They have gap assignments, edge responsibility, etc. But for some people here, if they aren't seeing astronomical numbers and stats from some of these guys then they're crap. "He only gots 4 sacks, he crap! The other dude make too much money and he only got two sacks, he crap! He's stealin' money from MAH POCKET with his under-performing ways and DANGNABBIT I am gonna piss and moan like an impotent jerk all over this board!" Yeesh. Yeah, I admit it'd be nice to get a bit more out of the pass rush but as it stands, they're middle of the league in terms of sacks/pressures right now so that's not really a major concern. Run defense was shaky to start yesterday but definitely shut things down in the second half. That'd be my main concern for the defense, continuing to stop the run.

He spilled his chocolate milk a few days ago a d is still sore about it.

I'm not gonna kick any tires. They didn't do anything to me, you know? Moncrief is JAG, don't know that he's an upgrade over anyone in the Bills WR room right meow.

Imagine being lil' Joshy McDaniels, grinding away year after year for like 19 seasons now, stuck with the organization because he believes he's being groomed to take over once ol' Bill retires. But then Bill says, "You know what, I feel pretty good. I was gonna hang it up at 70 but I think I'll keep going." Then Bill hits 78 and says, "I'mma give the reins to my boy, Steve. Sorry, Josh." Couldn't happen to a douchier douche than McDaniels.

Yay, go me! Haha. This Taylor kid looks like he has some real potential. I gotta assume he's a definite upgrade because I can't see him doing any worse than Peko. And speaking of him, I'm sure he'll wind up back on the PS.

I think I mentioned it in another thread but yeah, word coming out of DC is that he's had some difficulty in picking up the playbook. Earlier in the week there was a report that said Peterson had a talk with him and told him to really dive into the playbook. As Yolo explains below, the offensive system they're running is pretty intricate and now that the guy who ran it is no longer the head coach, they've been trying to tweak it and simplify it a bit for Haskins.

Hopefully this won't be one of those instances where an inexperienced/backup QB catches fire. We've seen that happen before. Read some stuff the other day that said Haskins has really struggled to learn the playbook. So much so that they're having trouble finding ways to teach him. I don't think that bodes well for their game plan, seems like they'll be limited to pretty standard/basic designs. Bills should be ready.

Never encountered any Philly fans, but on the flipside, I was at the big victory over Green Bay in 2014 and sat next to some GB fans and they were super nice. Even when the Bills had a good play they'd be like, "Aw man, that was just a really good play." They congratulated us after the game and I said the Bills were lucky Jordy Nelson dropped a deep one that he would've likely taken to the house untouched.

I love the nightlife... I got to boogie...