Rochesterfan

Kroft is already on the roster - we do not need a spot for him. I don’t think they can get rid of an Olineman right now with Feliciano hurt and Ty getting banged up weekly. You need the Oline depth and you should be ok activating either of the guys on the Dline to fill in for Harry.

Is he learning or does he actually have more horses on offense now so going for plays have a higher percentage of working? For people that think he is conservative or a mini Jauron- just look at last year later in the season as Josh progressed and the Bills went for more 4th and shorts with his athleticism. McDermott is a good coach and he has a pulse on the team and makes decisions based on team and situation and he has a pretty good feel - even if not everyone agrees.

Then with all the itching of the Bengals coach and the McDermott patting - you get this: What a way to shake hands - hope they don’t do it in the shower - might get awkward. ?

Just to add to his takedown of the Ryan brothers ???????????

The Jet sweeps were the direct result of the Bengals weakness. They struggled mightily to have edge contain and maybe you remember their ILB - Preston Brown - when he was always to slow to the outside rush game. To me this is a great sign from Daboll- he recognized the Bengals weakness and put together a plan to attack it even without their best stretch RB in Motor. Against the Giants - they struggled against Play Action - he attacked with a bunch of Play Action after using Zero against the Jets. The Jets weakness was the CBs and they attacked the Jets with a ton of passing to the edges early. I do not care what anyone says about the offense - I think Daboll and that staff have done a great job of recognizing weakness and exploiting it and therefore teams cannot just expect a singular offensive focus. It also means that we are running different plays week to week which is why some of the execution falters, but they will get better as the year goes on. Preston Brown talked about multiple times that things they saw on film in weeks 1 and 2 ended up being misdirection in this game and it took a while to adjust. Hence the ability to move early and then teams adjust during the half and Daboll adjusts again in the 4th.

I didn’t think it was a punch - looked like a forearm shove, but yeah hit him right in the throat and the guy stayed down. Then comes back back in to get destroyed by Knox. Should of just stayed in the blue tent.

That would be my guess - he was brought in to be a steady veteran that McDermott wants in every position group. It seems that whatever he is brining the young DLine seems to like and they are all playing better. They can cut him next next year or keep him as a veteran back-up depending on what Vincent Taylor or whoever else they use to fill in goes. His playing time has dwindled as these guys show more and more. People should be happy with that.

Stinks that the injury occurred on Ezra’s day with his family around. Harrison really seemed to take to that cause and the family. Very Sad!

Saw that with my wife - we were dying and the kids are like what happened. It was just a weird day overall.

So maybe that means the Bills will be ready for a tough game and NE which has coasted - won’t be as ready. The game will come - let it play out and start the thread next week. Starting it it this week after another victory is just crazy to me unless you are trolling. You seem to keep coming in and doubling down on your take so have at it - the game will be played whether or not you have already put it in the loss column.

Whoops combined 1 win - that is more than NE right now does that mean we are better?

Is it warranted? I don’t know, but based upon playing time and the fact that his percentage has gone up - it seems the coaching staff seems to think that it is. Duke did make contested catches against guys that are no longer on rosters. He got little separation from those guys - is it expected that he will be better here or if he does not get separation does that mean he will not get used? Yes Tre had on a red limited jersey and they said he had a sore neck so he was not doing full coverage at even half speed. He couldn’t look back and run. Zay is an average lower tier receiver that has caught more passes this year than he has dropped. You mention replacing him with Foster a guy with 0 catches and the same number of drops as Zay. Then you say teach him how to block - like every receiver can block. You already have a guy in Zay that can do it from either the slot on LB/Safety or wide on Corners. The one chance Foster had to block and he missed and caused a play to fail. The other thing is Foster and Duke play the same position and can only play outside. Zay can play all 3 and has done it at a higher level than either Duke or Foster so far. Is Zay a good receiver- not really, but the staff seem to think he is better than anything else. The final thing is you say “Zay is bad and it’s year 3 too late”, but Duke is in year 4 so why are we expecting improvement from not being in the league. I don’t think Zay is going to get great, but to be fair right now he is in on 40% of the snaps and targeted on very few throws. I just think any any kind of logic dictates that Duke and Foster play the same position and neither can fill the roles Zay does. Foster can’t block and only has speed and limited routes, Duke can block, but has limited speed and a better connection with Barkley. Therefore - I can see if the bring Duke up cutting Foster, but you are still going to see 30-40 % Zay before seeing much of Duke.

Exactly how long long did it take to give up on Peterman? His Rookie year he played a Half when TT was struggling badly and the team needed a change. His second year in preseason he outplayed a veteran brought in to compete and a rookie. He started played a half and was done - they switched to the rookie and then played the rookie until he was hurt. They worked on signing a veteran and he got 1 more start and was cut. So your definition of forever is 1.5 years and 3 starts. Good to know. That is just a terrible argument - you are better of arguing about their commitment to Benjamin which was longer and more games. The fact is this staff has had no issue getting rid of underperforming players and bringing up new guys to fill in - see Dareus, Benjamin, Clay, Ray Ray, etc. If they thought Duke was better at this point they would bring him up. I expect them to do it either with an injury or if Foster continues to struggle and they can use Roberts as some speed.

Zay can’t establish himself as a top 3 on an average WR Corp? Really? Isn’t he the # 3 right now? Duke didn’t beat him out in Training Camp because of Zays flexibility and ability to play all WR positions. Duke on the other hand has already failed off one team and had to go play CFL ball to get a second chance. Why is there any assumption that Duke could suddenly become a better player than Zay right now? Duke is much more limited in his routes, where he can play, how he helps the team. The Bills are trying to give him a chance to learn more stuff and once he gets to the point of being ready - why would you think he is replacing Zay. They like what Zay can do and his ability to fill in anyplace on the field. Duke will get a chance when when someone gets injured and they need the spot. Pop Gun - not sure any of that is true - it can be your opinion, but I do not believe we should assume that the Bills do not get worse losing Zay and Foster. I also do not assume with Josh that Duke makes the team better at all. Maybe if Barkley is in - as they seemed to work well together, but I am not sure Duke would prove to be much different than Benjamin was with Allen.

The first payment is due this coming Monday. The detrimental to the team clause will need to be decided by an arbitrator if NE refuses to pay and AB demands payment based on the collective bargaining agreement. So at this moment- NE is on the hook for the money.

Gross - still LOL

Agreed and with the schedule they have - basically the same as ours - there is no reason to think they are much different than where we are. Their tough part is early - ours is in the middle - everything for the Jets will depend on how the team holds together if they start 0-5 and/or 1-6 - do they have the togetherness to go 7-1 down the stretch or do they shut some things down.

Nice work here. If that is truly all the targets - he has caught the ones that got to him on time. 1 over throw in double coverage, 1 batted pass when he was wide open, 1 slant pass behind him on a blitz, 1 slant pass he was held and the throw was not on target, and the throw to the end zone that is the argument. None are as bad as the drop by Foster.

Yep, but you seem to forget the previous drive at 1:49 where the Giants started getting pressure and got a huge shot on Josh as he was called for intentional grounding. They ran 3 plays and the Giants blitzed guys and got pressure, an intentional grounding/personal foul called, and a tackle for loss leading to the punt and a huge chance for the Giants to get it to a 1 score game. The smart thing was to say - let’s go make some adjustments and see what we can do in the second half with a big lead and the ball. I really do not get the false narrative that they went conservative. They threw the ball just as much in the third and early 4th quarter as the rest of the game. The difference was the incompletions and the penalties not a conservative plan. I just think you are so totally wrong and if the Giants had scored because of a fumble or strip sack - you would have been complaining about that also.

Ok ok - this has just gotten crazy. Let’s first start by asking ourselves why did Zay make the initial roster over and already older and more experienced Duke. Zay provides position flexibility and offensive knowledge that no one else on this roster has. Not Duke, Not McKenzie (McKittrick), Not Foster, Not Roberts, Not even Cole or Smoke. Therefore he provides something that this coaching staff loves - the ability to fill in and move around formations to help set-up coverages. Foster is a great speed guy and an average outside receiver. He has shown that he struggles to block and run routes that are not in the deep third of the field. He is getting limited reps and even fewer throws and even when thrown to - he has zero catches and dropped a more catchable ball than the one Zay had in the end zone. For 2019 - zero catches, a drop, and some missed blocks. McKenzie is their little gadget WR. He is in because of his speed and his vision as an RB coming around on Jet motion. He like Cole gets open from the slot with suddenness and then a quick burst. He has been the most productive of the back-ups and continues to earn a spot on this roster. Cole and Smoke are your 2 starters and are seeing the majority of the snaps and throws. They are your 1-2 and that is exactly what they were brought in for. Roberts is our returner and once he is back in game shape it will be interesting to see who sits as he can play some WR also. My guess with his speed he takes more plays from Foster and some from Zay. Now Duke is interesting - first we have to remember he is already older than most WRs on this roster and has more experience and more failure at the NFL level than even Zay - so the fact that he is finally starting to make plays is a sign as to how growth can continue- for those that want to mock Zay for being inconsistent- here is a guy that was even worse for longer before getting it together. Duke brings size and toughness- something totally lacking with the current WRs, but he lacks speed and the ability to get open from multiple positions on the field. His best ability is his ability to go up and get the ball and that is not a throw Josh is good at yet - see training camp and high corner throws. Duke played his best getting passes from Barkley - who to be honest at this point - puts the ball in some better positions than Josh does around the end zone. I personally do not think there is anyway Duke makes the end zone catch that Zay dropped because I don’t think Duke can lay out lengthwise at speed like that. I also want Zay to make that catch, but recognize there is a reason he is getting only 50% or less of the snaps. He is not your #1 or #2 WR - he is your 3 or 4 - fill in guy that fills a specific role on the team. He can block and run routes - so teams can’t focus on him and say - oh this is a run or this is a pass, but he is just another guy. Watching the All-22 and seeing the routes they worked on in training camp - I think the throw to Zay in the end zone was the wrong throw and it was a very difficult catch that really only Beasley and maybe Brown make with any consistency. I think the correct throw that Dabol would have wanted there was a touch pass to the sideline/corner - drop it in the bucket - throw. I watched several days of training camp and they must have practiced that touch pass every day from that exact spot - throwing into buckets in both corners of the end zone, throwing to WRs trying to drag toes. It was something like 20+ passes each day dedicated to that exact throw. You could see in TC that Barkley was comfortable with that throw and it showed in the preseason with some similar throws to Duke. You could also see that Josh was not comfortable with that throw to WRs and he tended to use less touch and more force on the throws. We will see what happens, but I really do not think Duke is a great fit for Josh even in the red zone and if they do call him up - I think Foster is gone first over Zay. Finally - I think the Bills feel they can get everything that Duke can give them from Knox and Kroft and that no one can give them Fosters speed or Zays flexibility.

Saw that, but Foster was still only in on a fraction of the total snaps compared to Jones - especially on offense. He also seemed to run primarily deep routes only as opposed to Zay that has run routes from multiple WR spots at multiple depths. I don’t think they I’ll get rid of either as both are still young, but based upon percentage of offensive plays and what they have each player doing - Zay is a bigger part of the offense and still well ahead of Foster at this point.

It will go up more with a new stadium - especially downtown. The stadium deals are why some teams like Dallas are so valuable- it is about more than the team.

There isn’t talent left, but at least 1/2 of the players currently on the team - will be on the Fins again next year - along with a lot of draft picks. If the players that survive the purge are not all bought in - then that can infect the next group of picks before things even start. They really need a solid 3-5 year plan and to me it starts right now by firing the GM and hiring a young GM and letting him know we are firing the coach after the season and I want a young Offensive HC candidates. If they let Flores survive after this year - the tanking and rebuild will fail because you will switch regimes in the middle or come out of this with a coach with like an 8-40 record by the time you can compete.

The difficulty for the Fins becomes the Front Office and Coaching. They are going to be historically bad this year. Do they keep the HC and FO and draft with them in mind? I think they are still going to be super bad next year - so if they make a change at that point - now potentially all of the picks are wasted with new schemes. If they keep them - they are still going to struggle and potentially have 2 years of multiple picks wasted. This is where the Browns failed - they didn’t clean house and put together picks at the same time - so draft picks failed one after another with scheme change and coaching change. I can see the Dolphins doing the exact same thing because the HC seems like he has lost the team and the FO has been poor on evaluations, but the owner is letting them utilize this vision for tank and rebuild. I think they change course half way through and the rebuild becomes more of a failure.

Watching the Play - God I love having this type of video available now. I think this incompletion is actually more on Josh than Zay. Watching the above I think Josh is late on the throw making it much harder to complete. Josh hits his drop at 3 seconds in the video and Zay has cleared his defender and is at a much better angle to make a catch. Josh takes a small hop forward and then throws a ball low and away that Zay is able to get his hands on, but that is a very difficult catch - especially for guys that are not number 1s on the team. I think Cole catches that most of the time - as we saw with his earlier catch. I think Brown struggles with that catch, but makes it half the time. Zay that just is not going to get caught except maybe 1/4 of the time or less - which is why he is not starting. The other part of this that I blame a bit on Josh is that they worked similar plays in Training camp this year and once he cleared the middle of the field - the throw they had the QBs work on was the touch pass to the corner of the end zone and dropping it in so the WR could go get it. That was the throw needed there. Over the top of the defender to the back corner/sideline and let Zay go get it. Throwing a low throw on that angle is a safe pass, but is much lower completion percentage and we saw that in the work this training camp. All that being said - Josh put the ball in a perfect place to allow Zay to make a catch and ensure the DB had no shot - good for Josh. Now Zay needs to get his head together and make that type of play or all the blocking in the world does not keep him on this team. The problem is even with not making that play - Zay is doing a ton more on this roster than Foster - so for everyone suggesting that they cut Zay and bring up Williams - I think Foster goes first - so I still do not think you are getting what you want - unless Foster really picks it up at some point.