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blacklabel

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Everything posted by blacklabel

  1. I think it's been pretty clear that this team is rebuilding/reshaping/reforming, whatever term you wanna use. Their first step was constructing a locker room with players that have the type of character they're looking for. Players that didn't wanna buy in, or players that were more about personal achievement than the team were shuffled out. After that they unloaded contracts that were killing their cap. The next step was putting themselves in position to draft who they believe is their franchise QB. They did what they had to do and pulled the trigger. In the midst of this, they lost two players they didn't expect to lose with Wood and Incognito (although you can argue that they were prepared to move on from Incognito due to them asking him to take a pay cut) and so the OL is not where they want it to be. But, I think it's also been pretty clear since day one is that they want to build their defense first, which makes complete sense. A young QB's best friends are a strong defense and a strong running game. They *could* be a top 10 defense this year if everything comes together. And McCoy, despite numerous scheme changes and different OL personnel in front of him, has managed to rack up over 1K yards in two out of his three seasons here. They knew they weren't going to be throwing the ball a whole lot with Taylor yet they still invested in Benjamin and Jones. Maybe Jones turns the corner, maybe Benjamin finds his 2014 form, maybe not. They are addressing needs based on their priority list, not ours. Perhaps they felt the players they had in the OL room would be able to step up and replace Wood/Incognito. It's been a rough pre-season for the OL but again, it's pre-season. I mean, regardless of how they wanna rebuild this thing, it's gonna take time. There are gonna be growing pains. There are gonna be a lot of busted TV remotes this year as they go flying across the living room while fans rage. It's been said since the early off-season, not many people think the Bills are contenders for 2018, but moreso for 2019 when their cap is cleared up and set to provide them with plenty of space to fill holes via free agency. I'm good with the process, it just takes patience. The one part of the process I'm not so good on right now is the constant personnel shuffling, especially with the OL. At a certain point they have to make up their mind and name their center and guards. We know the tackle spots belong to Dawkins and Mills. Who's playing interior OL then? Is it Groy, Ducasse and Miller? Is it Bodine/Ducasse/Miller? Is it Bodine/Groy/Ducasse? Bodine/Groy/Miller? Does Teller find his way in there? I dunno but they need to figure it out and name their top five and let those guys start working together. All the penalties and miscues last Sunday can be attributed to the fact that the five OL that started the game have not had a substantial amount of reps together. And then from series to series they're trying this guy here, that guy there, flipping guard spots so those players have to switch up their technique in the middle of a game. Yes, they're pros and yes they should be able to adjust but if you're playing one position for most of a game and get flipped to the other side where things are opposite, it can definitely throw you off your game. It could be a long season for us fans but hopefully it's all for the best. I just need to not see "FIRE ABSOLUTELY EVERY SINGLE MOTHERFRIGGIN' PERSON IN THIS ORGANIZATION!!!!!!!11111111" after every loss or rough game. Anyone thinking that McBeane is gonna be shown the door after this season, think again. The Pegulas absolutely love those guys and are willing to let them see their vision through for quite a long time. Let them do their work. Can't fix everything in one or two seasons.
  2. I'm with you on that. Felt bad for the dude.
  3. I think both players will be alright and have decent seasons. It's been said umpteen bajillion times already but Lotulelei is here to eat up space, occupy multiple blockers and free up the linebackers. That was his role in Carolina, that'll be his role here. As described by McBeane, he's a selfless player that doesn't mind doing the dirty work. He's not gonna show up in a big way on the stat sheet each week but hopefully the work he is doing allows the guys behind him to make plays. And prior to Murphy's injury, he racked up 9.5 sacks and was second overall in the league in QB pressures. I know he's still coming back from the knee and now a groin but beyond his abilities as a player, he's here because he's 100% a process type of guy. His work ethic is off the charts and he wants to win which is exactly the type of guys McBeane want in their locker room. We know yesterday sucked, honestly, not just the OL, but most of the team looked unprepared and uninterested. I gotta think a little bit of that is on the coaching with the constant switching up and substitutions. I know they wanna get a look at certain guys in certain spots but sooner rather than later they need to construct the starting lineups on either side of the ball and let those guys start gaining chemistry together. Name your center, name your QB, etc. Let these dudes start working together exclusively during practices and see if they can get it going.
  4. Henderson, I believe, won the starting RT job in Houston. However, yesterday after that debacle, many an analyst were proclaiming the Bills the worst OL in the league. Several people chimed in with, "Houston would like to have a word" so, sounds like they aren't in any better shape than the Bills are at this point. And Kouandjio is a back up in... Denver now? And they had a pretty rough OL for several seasons. Kouandjio also couldn't catch on in Detroit which also has a less than stellar OL. I felt like Henderson could've been a pretty solid player if he had his head on straight, which he did after his rookie year here. Injuries and illness and the suspensions really derailed things for him but hey, maybe he'll turn it around in Houston.
  5. Glenn's health had to be a major factor in deciding to trade him. He dealt with kidney issues throughout '15, had the foot/ankle issues all through '16 and '17 and Dawkins played well enough in his place to make him expendable. He played two series' yesterday and went out with a shoulder injury. Glenn's been a productive player during his career but he's reached a point now where his dependability is always a concern.
  6. Ducasse was particularly horrible. On that play where Atkins drove him into Allen, Ducasse looks unprepared from the snap, he lifts his head up way too high, loses leverage, Atkins gets under him, literally lifts him off the ground as he walks him straight into Allen's face. Aside from the OL, it really kinda felt like the whole team went into yesterday's game seriously unprepared or went in with a mindset of playing it safe to avoid injury. Too bad for them the Bengals were 100% ready to throw down.
  7. Keep in mind that Daboll's scheme requires the OL to be multi-faceted and able to execute a number of different blocking schemes from week to week based on their opponent. Combine that with the fact that they've been tinkering with the starting five all summer long. Dawkins has been the only "for sure" guy at his position. Newhouse has battled Mills a little bit for RT but at the end of the day it's gonna be Mills. They still haven't decided if they want Bodine or Groy at C. Because of that, they haven't decided if they're settled on Miller/Ducasse at G because if they go with Bodine at C, they may want Groy at LG or RG. At a certain point, they have to make up their minds and stick with the same five guys for a full week of practice and a game to see how they gel. Pre-snap penalties as well as in-play penalties can be a result of these guys not having enough reps together to understand how to best work with one another. Right now it's on all of them. I'm not a huge fan of Castillo but the constant switching around and not naming their best five has set them back. All the while they're trying to run multiple schemes under Daboll and it's just not coming together right now. The best way to combat a sketchy OL is the run game and a short passing game which plays to Peterman's skill set... so, at this point, unless something drastic happens, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be Peterman under center in week one.
  8. Didn't he retire? I know he came here on a FA visit when Whaley was GM and turned down their offer so he may not wanna play here.
  9. Philly gave Warmack a contract extension and a raise just before the season last year. They had signed him in May to a one-year deal for $1.51 million and then re-upped that deal with another one-year contract for $2.5 million... that, to me, would say they felt pretty good about him. I wonder if they have someone younger and cheaper pushing for the starting job... even so... $2.5 million for a starting guard isn't a lot.
  10. Teller has had some issues picking up the X's and O's which is why he hasn't had any time with the ones. But if Ducasse or Miller keep playing the way they have, coaching staff won't have a choice but to let Teller get in there just to see how he does. What was up with Dawkins? I don't recall reading about him being hurt or anything. Were they resting him and just seeing what Newhouse could do at LT? It was rough. They need to get their sh!t together. I've never really felt great about the Castillo hire but we'll have to see what happens.
  11. Holy geez... This OL is abysmal. I didn't think they'd be this bad but so far Miller has three penalties, Groy whiffed on a sack, Bodine got walked right into Allen's lap for a sack, Newhouse on the left is getting zipped by nearly every play, Ducasse can't sustain a block... Is it really Mills right now who's played the best of the OL so far? Cripes. If this carries over into the regular season, adios Castillo, who I've felt since day one was one of McDermott's "bleh" hires. What's up with Dawkins? Did I miss something with an injury or did they wanna see Newhouse out there? Damn. One way to fix these OL issues is a short, quick passing game which plays better to Peterman's skill set than Allen's.
  12. Teller still has some developing to do. This coaching staff values experience a lot which is why they go with Ducasse. Teller will make this team but I wouldn't be surprised if he's a healthy scratch for many games. The four interior OL are Groy, Bodine, Ducasse and Miller. Having Groy start at center but being able to shift to either guard spot if needed gives them that versatility they like. If Groy wants the job though he's gonna have to do better than what he's showing so far vs. Cincinnati here. Caught nothing but air on that last Allen sack.
  13. Benoit recently tweeted out that while he thinks highly of Aaron Donald, he said, how does a guy who's part of the 30th ranked run defense run away with Defensive Player of the Year? The ensuing thread was the first Twitter thread where every single response vehemently disagrees with his take. Several other analysts shot down his take as well. Someone pointed out how a strong run defense doesn't correlate to wins. Another point was made that some defensive coordinators don't worry too much about having a strong run D so long as their secondary is stout. Another individual pointed out that Mack was DPOY in '16 while part of the Raiders 24th ranked rush defense. It was a pretty awful take all around. A year or two ago he went up against Chris Harris, Jr. for an article. He wrote that he legitimately thought he beat Harris on several routes...until teammates told him, "Dude, if Chris didn't want you to catch any passes, you wouldn't have, he was letting you have some fun." So, he knows some stuff but I also think he's a bit full of himself and as Shaw pointed out, he definitely seemed to approach his article on the Bills with his own subjective opinion that they'd be bad this year then went and found data to specifically back that up while refusing to look at an analyze things contradictory to his own point.
  14. Maybe a little bit. As someone else pointed out, it may just be the product of maturity and understanding the business side of it a little bit more. Usually have ball games going all day every Sunday in the fall. I think what has changed most is my respect for the guys that play this game. When I was younger it was easier to be like, "Oh man, Player A is a piece of crap, he gets paid to make that play and he misses? He's garbage, get someone else in there!" And now it's just much easier to understand that they're all human beings trying their best. None of them are perfect and seeing some fans get so insanely upset over certain things just boggles my mind. Obviously I want my team to win, I want the players on my team to succeed and have awesome games every time they take the field, but if that doesn't happen I'm not gonna let it ruin my day or cause me to throw my remote at the wall. That type of behavior gets so old and obnoxious after a while. I'm obviously not as vested in other games as I am for Bills games but I can definitely sit down and watch two other teams face off and enjoy it. Really, this era of football is probably the greatest ever, just because of how the sport has evolved. I mean, how many active players are we watching right now that are surefire Hall of Famers? Probably a record number. And we're seeing records broken or set almost every season. It's a good time to be a fan of the game.
  15. I think what they'll do if they choose Groy to start at center is still dress Bodine for games and if either Miller or Ducasse have to go out, they'd shift Groy over to guard and bring in Bodine at center.
  16. I see where you're coming from and I don't disagree. There have been a couple of other things he's hit on with the Bills, nothing too major, and I can't recall it at the moment but over the years, I've gone from, "LaCanfora? This is clearly crap" to "Eh, I'll take it with a grain of salt but maybe he's onto something" so, yeah, a lot of these dudes are throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks but I'm sure he has a source of some kind. Probably an agent.
  17. Well, technically what they're saying is true, some of it, anyway. Yes, he did play under two defensive-minded coaches... but when the time came to go out there and cut it loose, dude could rarely rise to the occasion. Had what, one, maybe two 300 yard games over his three seasons here? I'm not really all about the stats, but with the way the league is geared today to favor the passing game, you'd think he could've had a couple more big games like that. And what's his record when he had to throw it over 30 times in a game? Like, 2 and 12 or something? I think what you see is what you get with Tyrod. He's a hard guy to dislike because he's a true pro, very respectable and respected by teammates, handles adversity well, works his tail off, etc. But I think he's hit his ceiling. He's a "see it, throw it" passer so he can't really throw with anticipation or throw a receiver open, or throw to a spot that the receiver is supposed to get to. He has to see the guy open before pulling the trigger. This is why his time from snap to throw was the longest in the league. On the positive side, he will dazzle you when he somehow escapes what looks like a sure-thing sack and either hits a target for a nice gain or takes off and picks up 20 yards with his legs. And he typically throws a nice deep ball, although he seems to wait just a tick too long to throw it and when he does, a lot of times his man has to slow up to catch it. On the negative side, dude is just too careful with the ball. Yeah, it's great not to turn it over but his hesitance to throw into tight windows or toss up a 50/50 ball and let his receivers try to make a play can drive you nuts. A QB has to be able to take those risks sometimes. And now the guy has Todd Haley as his OC? Haley worked with Big Ben who has the nads to sling it anywhere. I wonder if Haley is gonna try to instill a little bit of that with Tyrod, maybe tell him to take some more chances and whatnot. Either way... Browns fans will be chanting for Mayfield by halftime of their season opener.
  18. I'll take the gift card but I dunno about the look at Brandon's office... lord knows the debauchery that happened in there, haha. What a doofus that dude was, glad he's finally gone. For once, us fans don't really have any higher-ups or executives to B word about.
  19. I sometimes wonder what the heck happened with Dri Archer. Did he truly get sick of football and decide to hang it up? Or was he so PO'ed about Pittsburgh letting him go and Buffalo signing him that he took his ball and went home? Hasn't been a peep about him since it was revealed that he had refused to show up after being claimed off waivers by the Bills. And for those players that get cut/re-signed numerous times, man, I can't imagine the friggin' stress that comes with it. Imagine you're on the bubble but cut day comes and goes and you didn't get a call, so you're like, "Woo hoo, I made the team!" But then, the next day, as teams scan the waiver wire looking to pick up other teams cuts, you get a call that says, "Hey sorry, I know we made it seem like you made the team but uh, we just picked up this D-3 clipboard holder. We wanted to sign him after the draft but he went to Philly but now he's with us so... anywho, good luck!" *Two weeks later* "Hey, Player, it's the Bills. Clipboard guy got a paper-cut, no time-frame for a return so we shelved him. You available? Sweet, c'mon back and sign with us." *One month later* "Hey guy, Captain Clipboard is ready to roll so, see ya." Just back and forth like that, that would be incredibly tough to deal with.
  20. I used to immediately discredit just about anything I read coming from LaCanfora, especially if it was about the Bills. However, he had the Rex firing news weeks before it went down and also had the Whaley firing news around that same time. Since then he's also hit on a few other Bills news-bits before anyone else had. He's clearly got someone in the know with the Bills that tips him off so, while this rumor isn't exactly earth-shattering because it's been floating around for a while now that Mack might end up on the trade block, it's interesting to see an "official" source name the Bills as an interested party. I gotta imagine the asking price is astronomical at this point, plus whichever team lands him is going to have to keep him happy by sending a fleet of loaded Brinks trucks to his house and unloading a few bazillion dollars onto his lawn.
  21. OP - just a heads up, Keenan Robinson retired yesterday so you may want to remove him from the form, just a thought. Maybe add another section for practice squad?
  22. Man, you're quick. Just saw this pop up from the Bills app. Last I'd heard on Robinson was that coaches were impressed with his coverage ability but if he's retiring, he probably sees the writing on the wall that he was likely to be cut.
  23. I think Coleman makes this team. I think they have a plan for him and if it's gonna take some time to get him where they want, that's fine. They needed speed at the WR position and he provides it. Yeah, McCloud and Clay are fast but they're also small. Coleman is just as fast and has a bit more size to him. McCloud could get bumped to the PS.
  24. I can understand if some people find it hard to feel a little empathy for the guy but the "glad this POS is off the team" and "this guy is a worthless !@#$" comments are just ignorant as sh*t. Has the man done some stupid and insensitive things in his life? Yes. But he's still a human being. After the whole Miami scandal he went into treatment and found out a lot about himself. He was diagnosed with several mental health disorders, I won't name them because I don't recall specifically what they were and I don't want to spread misinformation. But, while he was still out of the NFL, nearly a year after the scandal, he did an interview where he talked about these issues, his therapy and the coping mechanisms he had developed to keep his symptoms at a manageable level. With that treatment, he revived his career and put in three straight Pro Bowl seasons with the Bills. Not once did he have any off-the-field issues and I don't recall him getting any major in-game penalties. Within the last six months, the dude has lost the two most important things in his life: football and his father, who was his idol. Combine that with the fact that he already has a difficult time handling stress and he's bound to find himself in situations where he loses control. What I'm saying is not a defense of him but an explanation, which, I think is a fair thing to consider before writing him off as a "worthless POS" or whatever ignorant BS someone wants to refer to him as. I hope he can get his sh*t together and find a direction in life. And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was already suffering from early signs of CTE.
  25. Schopp's a arrogant friggin' weenie of the L-7 variety. First, I can understand how a lot of radio hosts would get burned out on taking calls from uninformed or clueless callers. And it certainly seems like they take those types of calls more often than not. So I can see them getting snippy or snotty with someone who calls in with a ridiculous suggestion or just flat-out has no clue what they're talking about. What I can't see, is how often guys like him double down on their opinions when met with a solid counter-argument. Case in point, several years ago when I would tune into the show during my drive home, a fan called up and simply said, "I tried telling this to Jeremy this morning but he didn't like it, so, I wanted to know what you guys think ab-" *click* Schopp hung up on the kid and said, "No. Uh uh, you do not call into MY show and take a shot at one of MY guys on MY station. No way." I was like, WTF? All the kid said was that he had a different opinion than White and Schopp sees that as "taking a shot at one of his guys?" Completely ridiculous. So that there pretty much sealed it for me and I quit listening to them. Many of these sports personalities, whether it's radio, TV, journalists, etc. come off very arrogant and egotistical in a "I have this job so obviously I know more than you, peon" type of attitudes. Time and again I see quality tweets wherein a fan has a great counter-point to an opinion posted by a "well respected" writer or analyst and they'll completely ignore tweets like those and instead engage with the trolls or get all up on their high horse and call out the easy targets (i.e. the uninformed fans that post nonsense). And he can bandwagon with Lamar Jackson all he wants but thusfar, Lamar has been the one that has shown the least amount of promise out of the five first-round QBs that came out this year.
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