Rochesterfan

Honestly - I think the policy will change starting the first week of the season. I think they made the policy with the hopes of getting as many players vaccinated as possible and wanted the designation of testing to help drive that. Once we move toward the regular season - I expect them to acknowledge the changing climate and go to daily testing for everyone, but I still expect they will make it easier for vaccinated players with exposure to come back as a last enticement to push toward upper 90% levels. The NFL was not shy about changing policy last year as needed to get every game played and I anticipate this year will be similar.

I don’t disagree, but he also played more snaps in that game than he will probably see in weeks 1-5 combined. The biggest takeaway is how these guys need to find the right weight to speed ratio. It took AJ most of the season to find that last year and then the entire offseason to redesign his body to be more explosive. Basham is going through that now - he is not the tall, lean player that Groot and AJ are - he is significantly more mass and muscle and his body right now looks like he has mass, but hasn’t developed the muscles to win consistently yet. He may never amount to anything, but much like AJ last year - people need not to write him off when he is inactive early in the season. The team will continue to work on him and he is a different build - so they will need to utilize him differently and like Klein last year - that may take some time. He isn’t big enough or strong enough to hold up inside right now, but for a play or two he showed some ability. He is just such a long way from a finished product.

Then just prepare to be unhappy because the guys that have been to practice continue to say Knox is the #1 TE and will be getting the majority of snaps. The injury to Hollister and the fact that Knox outplays him in practice seems to be keeping the TE group in the same order. Hollister deserves more plays based upon what we have seen, but we are only getting a small portion of the plays.

Your right that AJ is going to be a spot of disagreement. He played a limited 12 snaps and although Groot only played 9 - he came back out in a later series after AJ had already been pulled. AJ’s sack was against their starting tackle and he planted on his butt. I think it says a lot more that Vernon Butler was out there in the 4th quarter and logged many more snaps. I think they are very happy with AJ, but expect him to log limited game time as Jerry will be manning that spot come the regular season. I think Basham had himself an impressive game. He made tackles in the run game, got a sack, blocked a kick and in general made some really nice plays. There was a ton to like in that game. I think Sal said it best today - think of him like AJ last year. His body is not in NFL shape and he is going to struggle to get to the correct playing weight and learn how to be an NFL pass rusher. He was strong enough in college, but needs to get in proper shape and learn before he will be a true player. Expect him to be inactive early in the season and come on late when they need a fresh body.

Agreed - although Sal did say when McD talked about the injuries he put Harrison into a 1-2 week timeframe - suggesting he should be available come week 1. He also did say he was still waiting for some info from trainers, but Sal basically made it sound like he will miss this PS game and should be ready to go for Pittsburgh.

Sal said Williams was present at yesterday’s walk through, but it was a very limited and light - shorts and tee shirt day. Today they were off. Sal didn’t say what Jackson’s injury was - only that he was dinged early in the game and didn’t return. It sounded like shoulder, neck, head because he talked about him walking about, but I heard no specific body part. it sounded like Sal did not expect either to play this weekend - although it might be Williams last chance to make the roster. He also said the staff was reaching in the Chicago game because they didn’t want to give Singletary or Moss any more touches and therefore moved Gilliam to HB, but if they are thinking Gilliam is more of a lock - they wanted to limit him a bit more this week also. Wallace did not play versus Chicago - Sal said the staff was very happy with how he has been playing and really wanted to see the other guys.

They were talking about this on OBL today - Chris Brown said he doesn’t ever remember a punt where the receiver had nearly 30 yards when he caught the ball. He thought they were working on directional kicking and the punter was supposed to put the punt out of bounds - because the gunners both did not get off and pursue like you would expect with a normal punt and then he kicked it long, but low to the sideline. He remembers that happened to the Bills punter back in the Marrone era - the play was to punt it out of bounds and prevent a return and it came off the punters foot toward the middle of the field and the entire special teams unit was out of position. Maddy said once the return started that Stevenson had 2-3 different lanes to turn it up for a TD return.

Sal said he thought these guys were specifically signed due to injuries and guys they will not be playing in the last game. Specifically Singletary and Moss will most likely not play and need to limit Williams. The injury to Jackson along with not wanting to play White and Wallace brings along Harris signing. He was surprised because they have to make 5 moves and he thought Duke and Lamp might start the 5 moves.

Lamp was injured heading into Training Camp. Lower Leg - I believe. McD was talking about guys injured in the Chicago game.

I heard both Harrell and Benenoch were picked up and Ankou was brought in for a tryout. Yep - Benenoch to Saints, Harrell to the Panthers, and Ankou was signed by the Falcons. 3 of our 5 cuts were immediately signed by other teams.

Agreed, but the the Bills had 3 guys they cut last week got picked up by other teams and if even 1 of those guys makes a final 53 - the NFLPA gets what it wants with early cuts. Now we have 5 more guys that are probably better than some other teams guys. Plus it allows a team with injuries to scrape up some needed help prior to each game. None of these guys most likely make it, but it gives them a better chance to get on roster or a PS than if they sat with the original team until the end.

Does this push Macaroni and Cheese Jones up to number 1 when your QB misses rules prior to the game?

The other piece I don’t get is that Haack is slow and is going to have kicks blocked. In 4 seasons with well over 300 NFL punts, Haack has had 1 kick blocked - a 0.3% block rate. He is due to have another, but compare that to BoJo. BoJo in 2.5 seasons and 165 NFL punts has had 2 blocked - a 1.2% block rate - about 4 times higher than Haack and he is also due for a block. The fact that both these teams were AFC East teams meant - both played similar schedules and both played NE multiple times. I won’t disagree that Haack seems more deliberate back there, but his timing must be alright to have nearly twice as many punts as BoJo and half the blocked kicks. Sorry @GunnerBill I was addressing this as you responded - I wanted to look up the data. I agree, but remember - Haack kicked for 4 years in Miami - so the Hoodie has had 8 games against Miami and has not regularly found a way to block his kicks in the past. If it is going to happen - then it is on our staff to block as well as Miami did because they managed to protect him.

I am still trying to figure out why people think Cory B should have been re-signed. He was a booming punter with absolutely no control. Shanks, touchbacks, and long , low kicks down the middle allowing returns were common. The biggest issue was holding - he was terrible and cost the Bills points on both FGs and XPs because he could not get the laces right and consistently place the ball. BoJo almost singlehandedly cost the Bills our Kicker - as everyone was blaming Bass for the misses - when quick film review showed it was BoJo many times not getting the laces out and Bass was kicking the laces. Haack will not kick them as far, but even in the Chicago game - we saw multiple punts right on the sidelines (along with directional kickoffs) and he has much better height and control to allow his team to down the ball inside the 20. The biggest improvement is in holding and Bass looks amazing because he is getting consistent holds from his kicker. I would give up punt yardage easily to get better holds on kicks as that is points. Not only do I not think Beane missed out - I think that may end up being one of the biggest improvements in the off-saeason.

I believe the idea is to get guys a chance to get to other teams with time to still evaluate them. We had several guys picked up to get a look and have a shot versus weaker guys on other teams.

Really hard to engage the o-line sitting on the bench. We have not seen 1snap of Edmunds playing in this more aggressive defense. I don’t think Tyler holds up at all trying to play that role. If Edmunds is out - I still think Tyler is not the replacement - One of the other LBs go in and Tyler is purely fill in when needed.

It is interesting- Sal has talked about this and thinks they may adjust active RBs and gameplans based on specific teams to attack weaknesses. If a team lacks LB speed - us Brieda more. Smaller faster team - use Moss to wear them down. This could be a fascinating year. Also depends upon Jones making the roster or not.

Totally agree - the only thing I would say is cut down the snaps - I think 8-12 snaps and about 3-4 touches a game. I think he is a between the 30’s back and in specific drives where you want to challenge the edge or force the defense to adjust. The thing about pre-season is you are not running designed plays for people - so the Bills have not used him the way they will during the season - to attack the edge.

I don’t know if they will be able to find a trading partner for Addision. I still think after a long discussion he is cut and added as a PS player with the new rules. The same thing goes for Butler. If they can get a trade - even for a 7th - great, but I think they are bubble candidates to fill experienced PS spots. I don’t think Nsekhe was ever an option - he was hurt on and off the last 2 years and with his age - it made no sense and he is hurt again - so that would of been wasted money.

We will see 7 of the last 10 stadiums built have been covered stadiums with tons of amenities. The last 2 open air stadiums built - MetLife and Levi stadium both already have had complaints of being outdated feeling. I think the Bills will struggle to create an updated and viable stadium that will be a lasting site because of cost. I think it will be an upgrade over what we have, but I don’t anticipate cutting edge and much like the Sabres arena that was built new, but on a budget - it will not age as well as fans will like. We already know that with sight lines at a premium and no roof - they are going to be limited in replay screens similar to now where to provide good screens - end zone seats will have to be removed. They can’t hang them over the field with no support above. It will all come down to design and I give them credit that they will do a good job, but my gut tells me it will feel more the the new Cleveland stadium than a new updated plan.

The gigantic screens all over the place for replays and HD and 4K capabilities. Enhanced top end WiFi to be able to watch and stream things all over the stadium. Advanced capabilities to order food and beverages to be delivered to seats based upon your mobile device and the enhanced number of vendors that they can pack into open areas because they are not open air. Huge advancements in cellular coverage and cellular capabilities to again help fans in-game experience as you watch or listen to your game or a myriad of other games. The amount of tech crammed into these new stadiums is unbelievable and it is developed with an eye toward the future. That is what I want to see out of the Bills designs. How are they going to handle the need for multiple levels of wide band tech to allow the newest wifi and cellular data to get everywhere and what kind of advances are they going to make for all types of in stadium experiences? Then you have things like ingress and egress points and tickets and funneling fans around the stadium from all points to speed up entrance and exiting, getting to restrooms and vendors, and getting around the stadium to party with friends. We will see how much they put into the initial bid and how much goes in by the end.

It might - or it might be fairly bare bones to save money. It is going to depend upon where these negotiations go. I would not expect it to be packed with tech and features that we see in many other newer stadiums like LV or LA or even Minnesota from a few years ago. The choice of open air and OP both were made with cost in mind - so what other choices will be made with the bottom line driving the decision.

Basically - we don’t know what new advancements are coming - so can they build the field with the ability to handle future technology as things change. The current stadium has been known to lack the ability to handle the full crew associated with prime time games because many of the cable pathways built into the cement could not be increased to handle more camera locations around the stadium. We also saw huge leaps in lighting and scoreboard technology, but they have struggled to upgrade the facilities to handle the new upgraded technology. They also struggle to get powerful wifi around the stadium due to the sheer amount of concrete and metal and those are just in recent years. we don’t know what tech is coming, but building a stadium with some built-in flexibility will help. The old stadium was great for about 30+ years and the last 10-15 the lack of ability to upgrade even the showers and locker rooms in the opposing teams areas and the concourses to fit more choices have really hampered the overall experience.

The intentional grounding was on the RB not Webb. The screen was read and destroyed and the RB decided to break his route and start downfield. Webb threw the ball purposely into the ground right where the RB should have been. I actually thought he stayed composed for his first real action against a different team in years. I think it is obvious he does not have Josh’s or Mitch’s talent level, but it sounds like he is a great guy and someone they all like and he is smart - so I still see him as a valuable PS player.

Yes there will be improvements to get it in line with what is needed today, but you are not changing toward the future - you are taking the existing idea and placing it in a new location- hopefully with enough room to grow in the future.