Rochesterfan

Why would they cut a high profile unvaccinated player. It won’t play out like that at all and won’t lead to much discussion. There will be some camp body that isn’t sure and if that is one of the people putting you above the threshold- they will be gone for a variety of reasons. Players like Josh would just keep coming and going as a star.

Washington was a football destroyed because they are the Washington “Football” team. Not exactly clear. Chiefs was ketchup - I am assuming it is a play on Mahomes and the ketchup on the steak. BBQ sauce would of made more sense. Jets - Tasker was destroying apples for “The Big Apple” moniker. There was nothing wrong with it and I enjoyed the idea - really could have been a bit better done. At least they were in order so it made sense.

I enjoyed the Falcons as well - Josh plays a prominent role.

Not near as good as many other teams. See the Chargers thread. Here is Atlanta - Josh Allen is prominent.

He is allowed his position and if he is going to make it public and put it out - then he deserves everything he gets back. Twitter is a toxic place and people dumb enough to post anything highlighting an opinion are going to get hit. He has every right to voice his opinion and others have the same right to voice theirs back at him. If he can’t handle it - Twitter is not where he should state it. If he is fine with the dregs coming at him - then he does not need us.

Time to move on and find someone with the right priorities. LOL 😂

I think they are all terrible - can’t listen in my car anymore at all.

I totally agree with what you are saying. The biggest issue is: the OP and original point was that the Browns by virtue of the off-season have supplanted the Bills and are right now #2 in the AFC. The title of the thread is literally 1.) Chiefs 2.) Browns 3.) Bills. So while I totally agree the pundits seem to have the Browns 5th in the AFC and Vegas have them 9th or so in SB odds - the original point of this thread seems to be focused on the Browns via the draft and FA signings - now being the second best AFC team. I went through the rosters via position groups and do not see a huge advantage either way. The best player on either team is Allen by a wide margin. The second best player is either Diggs or Chubb. Myles Garrett is the best Defensive player on either team for what that is worth. My feeling is last year the Browns played the schedule that the Bills played 2 years ago - “easy path” and nearly screwed them selves up with a late season loss to the Jets. They squeaked into the playoffs and then by virtue of catching a very depleted and dejected Pittsburgh team got a playoff win. This year that cupcake schedule becomes the juggernaut schedule the Bills faced. They will need to be better just to get a record near as good. The Bills on the other hand played a juggernaut schedule with the most playoff teams in the out of the contenders and produced a better record and were a significantly better team. That schedule should back off significantly this year and the team has now dealt with some degree of expectations. They should be ready to go. Talent wise the 2 teams are close, but the #1 difference is the best player is Josh by far and that supersedes any minor talent gap in other places. The coaching is also better and more attuned to today’s NFL in Buffalo.

It still isn’t photoshopped - it was a photo on the official website by the team. No reason for them to photoshop. It is as others have said - forced perspective based on camera angle. You can tell its not photoshopped because McD eyes are looking right into his eyes. The angle was not altered at all or he would be looking in the wrong place.

I know COVID is 5X more likely to kill you than drunk driving and is easier to prevent with a quick shot. Now football related Beane is 100% correct - The coaches, staff, and FO are all getting vaccinated or they can not meet with the players. No reason not to do the same with the players - those that aren’t can not get together with the rest of the team. Consistent rules with the rest of the staff.

That could be - I think Williams versus Conklin is a wash - Conklin is a bigger name, but struggled early. He got better when they went to a run first game. As I said - for each team the OLine is a better fit to do what they want. Even if you go with Cleveland having a better OLine and I can live with that - I think overall the talent is a wash. I just can not get behind all of the statements telling me Cleveland has far superior talent to the Bills and I can not get behind them clearly being the most talented team in the AFC. Cleveland is a very talented team and should make the playoffs and be one of 3-4 teams that need to be reckoned with, but if I am ranking AFC teams at this moment it goes: Top Tier 1) KC 2) Buff 3) Cleve Next Tier Baltimore, Indy, LA

I keep hearing how they are more talented across the board and I just don’t see it. They have some bigger names, but I am not sure they are better. QB - Bills better by a ton RB - Cleveland Better by a ton OLine - Bills Tackles are better, Cleveland better inside - Bills are a better pass group and Browns better run blocking group. - wash WRs - Bills more talented TEs - Cleveland most likely - they have a higher user rate DLine - Cleveland by a ton - although this group is a lot of name other than Garrett the rest have done little in years LB - Bills by a small margin - I think Milano is the best of the bunch but could go draw DBs - I would give it to the Bills I think White is better than Ward and the Bills safeties are a hair better. Overall I think the talent level is very close and the Bills are better than the Browns off the ball (QB, LB, DB, and WR), while the DLine, TEs, and RBs are clearly an advantage for Cleveland. I also think the Bills have a coaching advantage. I think in the modern NFL - high quantity passing attack - the Bills offense is set to be far superior and the Browns defensive scheme makes them better and they will rank better because the offense is a running clock control offense. I just do not see significantly more talent across the roster - I see some positions that are more talented, but those are the same groups that were more talented last year. Not sure Clowney is better than Vernon whom he replaced. Clowney has done little and been injured even more.

Except most current rankings by the talking heads have the Bills #3 right behind KC and TB and now ahead of GB until the Aaron think is figured out. So therefore I think most unbiased observers and even the biased observers that like to put the Bills down think Buffalo is a tier ahead of Cleveland. Could Cleveland win the AFC - of course, but as many of us rightly pointed out - the turning point and best thing to happen to Cleveland was OBJ getting hurt and going out. With him back - it puts pressure on the offense to throw more and that is not a good thing long term. We will see where it goes - I just think the entire thread reads - the Browns picked the guys I really wanted in both FA and the draft - therefore they have supplanted us.

I do not understand the GMs thinking - I would assume they talked compensation, but even a 6th or a 7th would be better than straight up cut. I have to think they are hoping to do a trade still and get something next year, but this borders on complete incompetence. I mean Beane got a pick from Atl for Smith - I just do not understand the thinking here. I agree, but even a late round pick - even next year - clears more cap and gives a minimal return - compared to outright cutting him.

They certainly play a lot of Cover 4 also, but that leaves the same issue - the MLB has significant coverage responsibility and it is much less aggressive toward attacking the LOS. The Bills especially are very focused on keeping pass plays in front of them and for years have given little thought to stopping the run as a primary goal (they give it lip service, but over the years - teams that want to run over and over can).

I totally agree - the issue becomes - will they change it up and risk the big play. I am all for it now that we have the offense - changing up the defense and getting after people. What we know is the offense (and Josh) became super explosive last year and it was even more than expected - they exceeded the wildest dreams of most Bills fans (and my guess is FO and Coaching staff alike). The hard part is they did not get quality practice time and free time together to modify the defense completely- especially as they were still trying to figure out personnel. My hope is with the acquisition and drafting of these bigger DEs that can play inside - we shift the focus to gap attacking DLine - and essentially 2 LB playing more outside to attack edges and a physical safety - maybe Poyer in the middle with a split safety look. Then attack and if you get beat once in a while - so what - let Josh be the hammer and you go right back out and get it. I don’t think Edmunds can be a strict MLB in that defense, but if they play a 4-2-5 (3 Safety) look with essentially 2 hybrid LBs playing both outside and short zone coverage - I think they can be more aggressive. It also requires the off corner to be a bit more physical and able to stay with a WR. We will see if Dane Jackson can get some time in that type of roll or is there a cheap vet they can bring in.

Nice Post. I believe the biggest issue people have with Edmunds and Oliver’s play is related to the style of defense. The Bills play a very passive more traditional Tampa Cover 2 with a MLB they use in a specific deep cover roll. Therefore - Edmunds first and primary responsibility is to get deep enough to prevent easy throws to the deep middle. He then plays from back to front to move forward and make tackles on shorter middle routes and then running plays. This design makes it fairly easy to attack short to mid range and also allows DL men to get off double teams and get a hold of him because he is not attacking run first. Traditional old school LBs - attack run first in responsibility and therefore are in completely different positions relative to the LOS and the DL. The Bills also seem to give their DL more responsibility- rather than just attack. Jordan Phillips was a guy that played out of scheme and attacked and it got him sacks (great), but left holes that got exploited by teams (bad) to the tune that they were not aggressive in trying to re-sign him. I think Oliver is doing more what they want, but it is a more passive role and ends up stifling his greatest attribute of quickness. I would love to see how this team would change given a change in philosophy to more attacking and more pressure, but to be fair - their passive style did lead to the #2 and #3 defenses and they were for those 2 years a top passing defense and were tops against TEs. Last year was more of an outlier without Star and with Harrison recovering and then both Milano and Edmunds getting injured in game 1. They had to really adjust the team and I don’t think they found a rhythm until the second half - where they became a top defense again. The biggest issue with being a passive defense is that good to great QBs and OCs know how to attack you and it takes a near perfect game to be successful. A super aggressive defense can sometimes overwhelm a spot and be disruptive for large stretches - see Buffalo versus NE during the Rex years - but a good to great QB can also adjust to that. We need that change and they got that the 2 prior years - where suddenly they would slide into an amoeba front and bring pressure, whil still dropping 7-8 into coverage. They had less practice time, different players (no Zo that was great at that), and injuries at the second level. I think these caused them to be more passive and make a guy like Edmunds even less likely to make those impact plays (TFLs, sacks, etc.).

I think @Shaw66 pointed this out, but it appears to me the primary request of this coaching staff for Edmunds is deep middle drops. They play him deeper off the ball and his first steps mostly seem to be side or back. It does not appear that they are asking him to attack the line of scrimmage the majority of the time or shoot gaps immediately. They also have him covering the middle of the field and allowing the safeties to split out into a 2 deep shell. That forces him into a lot coverage choices and windows that a good QB can utilize. Based upon the expectations and roles of the 2 LBs - I would fully expect that Milano would be more impactful. He is their wildcard. He has some coverage responsibilities, but he is the flow and attack LB and therefore expected to turn people back to the middle and attack downhill. Edmunds role appears to be keep things in front and make tackles and prevent deep middle passing. He does not play a traditional downhill attacking MLB. I agree sometimes his instincts get tricked - he attacks a hole and the RB takes a different hole. He also gets blocked by lineman too easily. In the end - I would love to see them make some changes and split Edmunds and Milano out and have a true Safety sitting in the middle, but then you really need to control the run with the DLine.

So then we shouldn’t have to worry about KC right - I mean 9 points, mid 200 yards passing, 2 Ints, 11 penalties, and 3 sacks given up in THE most important game. I mean their offense must totally suck going forward. Ridiculous!

Agreed - the only thing I will say is if the Bills feel they can get an extension done on Edmunds prior to the season and it will help mitigate the cap hit next year - I expect them to push that through. I think the mid 12 cap hit next year is higher than they would like and if they can get it down to 9-10 million with 3 year extension to free up more money in next years tight cap.

Not really worried about it. They have enough guys right now to go ahead and play and be just fine. They have weeks and months still and Vet guys to sign if they want more competition. They have young kids, UDFAs, and others to mix in. Most of all - I am not worrying about other teams DBs because they need more DBs to cover our much more talented WRs. There are very few AFC teams that can roll 4-6 WRs to match what we are putting out and none in the East. I would say relax and enjoy the ride.

We will see, but with the DEs they drafted - I am wondering if they are going to go smaller, quicker, and attack gaps by formation and worry less about a big 1T tackle. If you fill the gaps and tackle RBs on your way to the QB and you do it right from the snap - it can clog inside lanes and force more outside runs where athletic LBs and Safeties can make tackles. I think Beane was considering larger, quicker DEs with inside ability to be a larger priority.

As does Basham and Obada. You have some real flexibility on DEs right now.

I really think they saw the way teams slide DEs inside to force quicker pressure. I am expecting this means guys like Butler and especially Star may be in trouble as I could see them going with extra DEs and 3 techniques for DLine and maybe 1 space eater. Clog the middle by attacking gaps with speed and size. Let the LBs roam outside and use a 3rd Safety as run support/coverage. Run something similar to what was done to us to try and stop teams.

Biggest issue is he struggles with a shot gun snap - not sure you want that in a center for the Bills. They run shotgun so much.