Shaw66

Sorry. I get you. And I don't disagree with some of what you say. However, I have never thought McKenzie was the answer. And I think he's an example of where stats are misleading. Probably a third or more of his career catches were on jet sweeps, so of course his receptions to targets are great. He wasn't a real receiver until last season. I know you don't think every veteran is better than every rookie. I said it because the only argument you gave the first time around was that McKenzie had put up bigger numbers in his career, so it made no sense to say Shakir was better. The clear implication of that argument is that every veteran is better than every rookie, so I said it to demonstrate to you that your argument meant nothing. And that's why I said it's all just about our opinions. Obviously, none of us knows whether Shakir will have a better career than McKenzie, we just have opinions about it. As Gunner or someone said, maybe it was the OP, some of it is just the eyeball test. For me, there's something about how he runs routes and how he finds his way to open space. I don't believe that many receivers in the league are truly good at getting separation - most just run routes. Shakir doesn't get separation, but he seems to have a great understanding of how routes work and where to go to make himself available to Allen. That's why people compare him to Robert Woods, because Woods did that, too. Anyway, I apologize for being so sharp. I reacted because you seemed to be dismissing my opinion simply because you thought it was too early to tell.

Wow. All you have to do is look at the Chiefs and the Bills. That's damning.

Well, I don't agree generally with the OP. They ARE a dime a dozen. I kept reading because I thought he might convince me. I stopped when he said look at Josh Jacobs last night running behind a "not good line." Did anyone see his touchdown "run" from the 1 or 2 yard line? He took the ball and got behind the right guard and literally walked into the end zone, as the right side of his offensive lineup pushed the defensive line three yards into the end zone. He walked into the end zone. Devin Singletary would think he was in heaven if he could run behind that line.

McDermott's approach continues to amaze me. He wants a lot of players who can play all styles. The result is the Bills o and d lines aren't as powerful as some and aren't as quick as some others. The running backs aren't the biggest or the fastest, but they're big enough and fast enough. There are only a few constants. Competitiveness, commitment to team and winning, intelligence. And so, he expects his team to fight like hell on every play, because they aren't the biggest or the fastest. That fight has been emerging over the past three seasons. The hitting and tackling has improved season after season, and the never-back-down attitude has emerged. What's so unusual about this team is the QB is the leader when it comes to that tenaciousness. Brady may tell his guys to be tough. Allen doesn't have to tell them anything. - they're all motivated to keep up with him. I always think about how Mike Tomlin said he hated lining up against McDermott in college practices, because McD did everything he could every play. I thought of it Sunday when Davis ripped the ball from Fitzpatrick. Pure, endless determination.

Thanks for your comments. Frankly, I don't want McCaffrey. Apparently, he'll cost a lot, so that's one reason I'm not interested. But that's for Beane to figure out. Second, he seems to be injured a lot. But, I don't care about that much either. The real reason I don't want him is that I think running backs are overrated. If the offensive line was good enough, Motor, Moss, and Cook would be good enough. If the line isn't good enough, McCaffrey will be neutralized. More importantly, the Bills are never going to give a running back enough touches to be a real star. With Allen's passing ability, the Bills are going downfield with the ball. Sure, they'll throw it to McCaffrey once in a while, but he is not going to be the feature guy in the offense. Titans have been trying to win with Henry, Panthers try to win with McCaffrey, Giants have had four seasons with Barkley. Cowboys and Elliott. Featuring a running back is simply the wrong way to go in the NFL these days, and paying a lot to get a fragile all-purpose back seems like a bad idea.

Look, everyone has an opinion. I stated mine. All you've said here is that my opinion is wrong because I don't have enough data. So, when my opinion after one preseason game that Josh Allen was the franchise quarterback was wrong because I only saw 20 snaps? Your opinion is that EVERY veteran is better than EVERY rookie simply because he's a veteran? That makes no sense. I've watched McKenzie drop balls long enough to know that he is not a first-rate receiver. He was on the bench behind Beasley for a reason. The Bills signed Crowder for a reason. They drafted Shakir for a reason. I've got more data than I need to think Shakir should be the slot guy. You can have your opinion. I might be wrong. But you can't prove that you're right, so I don't see why you need to argue as though I'm an idiot.

I agree. It was not a ball I wanted him trying to catch.

My response to "Based on what?" is that Shakir has found open space more consistently than McKenzie while running from wide out as well as the slot, and he has shown better consistency catching the ball - McKenzie's hands have been suspect for years. As for the punts, yes, McDermott wants more punts caught, but number 1, by far, for McDermott is that he wants the play to end with the Bills possessing the ball. If Shakir is too conservative making plays on the ball, well, they can work on that. If a guy is too aggressive, he's going straight to the bench, but McDermott doesn't want to risk losing the ball. I concluded a month or two ago that I don't care how many yards the return man gets or doesn't get; I just want no turnovers. I'm happy to have Shakir run away from five punts rather than fumble one. What I like about Shakir is that he gets the ball security issue.

I agree that at worst it's an INT and fumble, but I don't think that would have been the correct call. Watching the end zone view, the ball lands in Davis's right hand. He carries it briefly and then his left also grasps the ball, at about the same time as Fitzpatrick's right hand lands on the ball. Gabriel's left hand never left the ball, and if his right hand came off the ball, it was only for an instant. That is, from the time Davis first touched the ball, he never lost possession of it. Minkah may have gotten two arms around it, but Davis never let go. Both guys had possession, and the play continued until either (1) they went down, (2) they went out of bounds, or (3) one got clear possession. Clear possession is what happened. Reception. For sure.

I don't pay much attention to personalities here. If I did, I'd put myself on the ignore list.

I agree with all the positive comments here, and I disagree with the negative. Really. 1. I've never been a big McKenzie fan. Not great hands, not an intuitive route runner. Love his speed, but that's it. 2. Someone said Cooper Kupp. Not to say he's as good as Kupp, but he's the same style - get open, good hands, run after catch. 3. Crowder was good, better than McKenzie, more like Beas, but now he's gone, at least for several weeks. 4. Shakir is tough. He doesn't shy away from those quick slants over the middle that Allen likes to rely on. 5. Shakir's drop was part of his learning process with Allen. Allen's anticipation is so good, and his velocity is so good, that receivers need to turn for the ball quickly and expect that the ball will be there when they turn. On the drop, Shakir was a little slow, and when he turned the ball was on him. He didn't get regular first-team reps with Allen in training camp or preseason games, although he spent some time with the ones. It really wasn't until this week in practice that he practiced regularly with Allen. I'm confident Shakir will learn to play at Allen-speed. 6. The punt he let go was a great decision. There's only one thing I want from a punt returner - don't lose the ball. Especially with an offense that can score from the two-yard line, having the ball is more important than where you have it. So, when the ball was coming down, Shakir would have had to make a running catch, and the wind was making it tougher. The smart move was to get out of the way, rather than to try to make a difficult catch. Ravens got some good bounces and then made an excellent play on the ball. Still, Shakir did the right thing. I also like him back there because every punt I've seen him catch, beginning in preseason, he was really sure-handed. No bobbles. Ball comes into his arms and stays right there. That's what I liked about Crowder back there, and that's what we always saw from Hyde. 7. Decent speed, good open field running ability, at least based on what we've seen so far. I think the guy is a keeper. Three weeks ago I was saying there was no need to call him up. This week there was a clear need, and he showed that he belongs out there. I think he's the starter, even when McKenzie gets back. A great find by Beane. Well, to be honest, I'd say that even Beane would say there was a lot of luck involved. He's always said Shakir was a no-brainer where they got him. The great move by a GM would have been to have taken him earlier. Beane and everyone else let him fall, and finally Beane knew he couldn't wait any longer.

I really don't get this. I don't have the advanced splits on the Steeler game, so I don't know what his defensive passer rating was, but it had to be pretty good. Why? Because he gave up 0 TDs and had one pick. So far as I remember, he didn't get beat for a completion deep the entire game. That's his number 1 objective. He was around the ball all the time. That's why he had ten tackles. What he didn't do well enough is find the ball when it was arriving, because if he'd done that he would have had some passes defended. He missed a few tackles, but he always slowed the ball carrier down or got him to change direction, both of which make it easier for others to make the tackle. If he had stunk, they would have scored on him. They didn't come close to scoring on him. Look at it this way: When his man caught the ball, he was closer to the receiver than Levi Wallace used to be, and then he made the tackle. That's doing his job, not stinking.

I don't, either, but it was fun to write.

Maybe not Moss, but as soon as I saw I thought Singletary might have made the same run. But, first it was good to see Cook make a play, and second, I think he made it more easily than Singletary. I'm beginning to think that Cook's special skill is running in the open field. He's not lightning quick with his change of direction, but he's smooth and flows to the open space nicely. It's why his real value probably is catching passes, because that's where he can find that open field. Problem is, he has to be good enough carrying the ball on traditional running plays. He's not going to be a true wideout, and if all he does when he comes into the backfield is run patterns, the absence of the run threat makes him one dimensional.

Yeah, yeah. I said I wouldn't write these every week, and here I go, for the second week in a row. I actually wrote two this week. FIRST DRAFT “You Call that Football?” How long are we going to have to put up with this sorry excuse for football? I mean, year after year, it’s the same old story. Turnovers, miscues, bad clock management. When will the Bills get a coach who will eliminate the mistakes, and players who do more than ask the crowd to make noise? Look at their game against the Steelers. Where should I start? Well, let’s start at the start: Taiwan Jones butchering the opening kickoff. Caught it, dropped it, picked it up, dropped, picked it up again and got tackled at the two. The two! Three plays later, the Bills’ offense was back to the bench and the defense was on the field. All game long, the Bills struggled to put together those long, clock-eating drives that all the best teams use to control the game. It was embarrassing: Three possessions that lasted just three plays, four possessions of just two plays, and one possession for one play. Eight possessions of three or fewer players! Really? And when they finally put together nice-looking long drives, nine- and ten-play drives into the red zone, they gave the ball away, once on an Allen interception and once on a goal-line fumble. If you think I’m exaggerating, look at the stats: The Steelers had 23 first downs compared to the Bills’ 21. The Steelers dominated time of possession 36 minutes to 24. The Bills are going to wear out their defense, asking them to be on the field all the time. The Bills have to learn to be opportunistic. They can’t let great opportunities turn into missed opportunities. The Bills had only two takeaways and squandered both. The first was a fumble recovery at the Steelers’ 21. They managed to get into the red zone for one play, then bumbled their way out again and missed the field goal. The second was an interception when the game was already out of reach, and after the pick they managed -6 yards before giving up the ball. Pitiful. It seemed every player bungled something. Dion Dawkins had his customary procedure penalty, Von Miller jumped so far off-side he practically needed a timeout to return to the defensive huddle. Kahlil Shakir had a long run called most of the way back because – get this: he stepped out of bounds. And he let a punt get past him and roll inside the five. Gabriel Davis had only three catches on six targets. Tremaine Edmunds was invisible, literally; I didn’t see him make one play all day. James Cook had four measly touches, and Zach Moss had one. By halftime, the crowd had given up and stopped making noise. They did come alive for an occasional play in the second half, but most of the time they just stood around laughing, like they thought they were at a party or something. They weren’t taking the Steelers seriously at all. Some people will say I’m just too critical, but everything I’ve said is absolutely true. At least the lady who sang the national anthem was great. SECOND DRAFT “Now, That’s What I Call Football!” Have you ever seen such amazing football? The same old story seems like such ancient history. Turnovers, miscues, bad clock management, nothing matters. When you’re good, you can overcome your mistakes and still dominate.. Look at the Bills’ game against the Steelers. Where should I start? Well, let’s start at the start: Taiwan Jones butchering the opening kickoff. Caught it, dropped it, picked it up, dropped, picked it up again and got tackled at the two. The two! Three plays later, Josh Allen drops an absolute dime on Gabriel Davis for a 98-yard TD. And that wasn’t even Davis’s best play of the game. All game long, the Bills struggled to put together those long, clock-eating drives that all the best teams use to control the game. Why? Because, get this: The Bills had a three-play touchdown drive, TWO two-play touchdown drives, and one ONE-play touchdown drive. Add in two kneel-down possessions (to end the half and the game) and two three-and-outs in the second half, and the Bills had eight possessions of three or fewer players! The Bills had only three long drives – one for a touchdown and two that ended with turnovers. The game was so lopsided that some of the statistics were upside down: The Steelers had 23 first downs compared to the Bills’ 21. The Steelers dominated time of possession 36 minutes to 24. The Steelers ran 72 plays compared to 54 by the Bills. The Bills are going to wear out their defense, asking them to be on the field all the time. Of course, some other stats were equally lopsided: The Bills averaged 10.2 yards per play! The Bills gained 552 yards and would certainly have gotten to 600 and maybe even 700 if they hadn’t taken their foot off the gas in the third quarter. The Bills have to learn to be opportunistic. They can’t let great opportunities turn into missed opportunities. When the game was still in doubt (which wasn’t long), the Bills recovered a fumble at the Steelers’ 21. They managed to get into the red zone for one play, then bumbled their way out again and missed the field goal. There wasn’t much else to complain about. Kahlil Shakir looks like he’s a keeper, even with a drop of a picture-perfect Allen throw. He had multiple sure-handed catches, including one for a touchdown. I don’t like having a rookie return punts, but he looked like a veteran back there, with a solid fair catch and with a really smart move to avoid fielding a wind-blown ball (even though the ball eventually was downed inside the five). Gabriel Davis almost had a one-handed catch, but as he pulled it in the defensive back grabbed it, too, and both ran with the ball for several strides before Davis ripped the ball free for his second score. James Cook had a scintillating touchdown run, taking advantage of a big hole and then running away from the defense. Kair Elam had an interception. Stefon Diggs was Stefon Diggs, and Stefon Diggs is fabulous. Josh Allen deserves his own paragraph. By halftime, the rout was on. The Steelers had no answers for the Bills defense, and they couldn’t stop the Bills’ offense. All things considered, rookie Kenny Pickett played pretty well. Our old buddy Levi Wallace got finger tips on what would have been a beautiful long completion, and maybe a touchdown, to Diggs. It seems too good to be true. Even the lady who sang the national anthem was great. GO BILLS!!! The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

I saw the title to this thread and knew this throw was coming. He got flat-footed when he pumped, so it was a pure arm throw. In other words, it was one of those throws where his mechanics were wrong. Didn't matted. Just dropped it right in there like it was no big deal. Amazing throw.

I said this early in the summer, not so much about doing this season but about doing it for 2023 when Poyer likely will be gone. He has the brains, and he'd be an extraordinary cover guy to move around. Like you, however, I have doubts about asking him to take on the kind of run-stopping role the Bills want their safeties to play. You've come to this idea because the Bills seem to have two rookie corners who can play, plus Dane Jackson, so they could afford to move White. That leads me to a different conclusion: Leave White at corner where he has a simpler run stopping role and can be a true shut-down corner when needed, and move TARON JOHNSON to safety. He has the cover skills, he's a better and more durable run stopper than White. Benford would be a great slot corner, and Jackson would be my second choice. One thing that is so good about this notion that one of the corners should move to safety is that in the nickel the Bills would have FIVE guys on the field who had proved themselves as starting corners in the NFL. FIVE cover guys. Plus, Hamlin has held up pretty well, and I'm not writing off Jaquan. All of this thinking together convinced me months ago, and I'm more convinced now that we've seen all these guys on the field, that Poyer is in his last season in Buffalo.

Oh, cool. I missed the point of your observation, and it was a good one. It was one of those little coaching details that we often miss or don't understand. It DID take some balls to keep him on the sideline, from many different perspectives. First, just as the coach, you're always thinking you want your best players on the field, so why not Miller? Second, Miller may come to him and ask, "Coach, why aren't I in? Put me in!" You have to be able to deal with that. Third, suppose Jackson had taken a normal drop, looked around while Shaq was tied up with the offensive tackle, and thrown a touchdown pass. For the next day or week or more, people would have been saying McDermott and Frazier blew it and maybe even calling for someone's job. (After all, Miller showed in the playoffs last season and late in the Dolphins game that when you want to pressure the QB, there's none better.) Instead, they were looking at a situation they had prepared for during the week, when the pressure wasn't on and when they could actually think about who the best players were to have on the field. Then, when the time came, they knew what to do. And as we watched the play unfold, I wasn't asking, "Where's Miller?" I was thinking, "We have Jackson contained." And, if you really want to pass the credit around, let's give a nod to Beane for getting a guy he knew was an edge protector but who still could get after the QB. He already had one in Rousseau, and Shaq was the perfect matching bookend. Not AJ, not Boogie, not even Von Miller. So, during the week, when the coaches were talking about who they wanted on the field in the red zone with the game on the line, they looked down the bench and called Shaq's number. I love this team.

Hey, Einstein. If you had a different screen name, I wouldn't mention it, but "Flashback in Time" is redundant.

Thanks for this. It's one of the important responses to all the complaints about the running game. Last season was instructive. McDermott understands that his team has to peak late in the season. It's part of being a great team. So, one thing he does is that he platoons the running backs early in the season, not to see who can do it best, but to try not to burn out whoever might turn out to be the best. Late in the season, he wants whoever is best to be relatively fresh. He also seems to like tall, athletic offensive linemen instead of roadgraders. He thinks the tall, athletic guys can handle all aspects of the position well, instead of being good at some parts and not so good at others. That means that his running game will have to be based more on finesse than power, and even so, they won't be the best finesse blockers. Since they won't be the best, McDermott doesn't want to show off his run blocking scheme too early. He wants his linemen to grow into it. So, I think the Bills will continue to struggle in the run game until November and December. That's when we'll see heavier doses of Motor and less of Moss. And they're hoping, I'm sure, that Cook will mature into a change-of-pace contributor.

You know, when I looked at the replay and saw that it was Shaq instead of Miller on that side, I wondered about it, too. Players have different skill sets. Defenders are put on the field based on the offensive package on the field, down and distance, time of game, lots of factors. In that situation, it was essential that the edge rushers contain Jackson - in fact, containing Jackson was more important than sacking him, although a sack would have been nice. So, the question was who are the two best edge rushers who maintain edge discipline? The answer was Lawson and Rousseau, and they did what they were supposed to do. Jackson kept dropping because he could see that he couldn't get to the edge on either side. Why pay all that money for a guy you take off the field on the biggest play of the game? Because in the other 16 games of the season, the quarterback will not be Lamar Jackson, so edge protection won't be as important as getting to the QB. So, in those 16 games, Miller will be on the field. The Bills wanted Miller because he can rush the passer, not because he can set the edge. The Bills were not going to spend the summer trying to make Miller into a premier edge-protection guy. That would be like trading for Tyreek Hill and making him your slot receiver.

What's this? Top five buffoons, all-time? Or what?

I agree with you. It's a little odd to have so many different categories, separating just six QBs at the top, but I think you nailed it. Mahomes and Allen haven't had the careers of Brady and Rodgers, but right now, if you had to pick a guy to be your QB for one game for all the marbles, I think you have to pick Allen or Mahomes. And, as you say, I think taking over games is what separates your top 4 from Herbert and Burrows. At the end of the KC-Bills playoff game last season, you top four are the only QBs you would have wanted on your team. If you asked a Ravens fan with four minutes left on Sunday, would you rather the Bills had Allen or Herbert, the Ravens fan would have said, "Are you kidding?" Allen and Mahomes are the super heroes in the NFL.

I plead guilty. Actually, I'm writing or not depending on my travel plans and some other things. I was sitting in a hotel room last night, so it was easy to bang away on my laptop. As to teams blitzing Allen, I'd say this: 1. Allen already has demonstrated he can read and react to defensive strategies. He's not getting surprised by much. And I expect he'll continue to improve. I think seeing that skill emerge last season is what convinced me he can be truly elite. 2. That means it's up to the OC to give Allen the tools he needs to attack the blitz. He needs protections, hot reads, escape routes, etc. that can be built into the game plans. Escape routes, particularly, because he has the physical ability to move out of the pocket. If teams want to blitz from the edges, either the flats are open for passes or the middle is open for runs - defenses are not going to survive if they rush six and also spy Allen. The OC has to have the responses, because if the responses are available, Allen will execute. As for Cook, I agree. Put him on the field and force defenses to pay attention to him. Put him in at running back, then motion him out wide to force the defense to decide whether they want to cover him with a linebacker. Make him the hot read on blitzes from his side. I don't know what all the tactics are, but if he's supposed to have the speed to challenge defenses, the Bills need to put him on the field and get him the ball. AND - he has to catch the ball when it's thrown to him.

Yes. Week 6 doesn't determine the outcome. Every win is a big win, but the identity of this team will be apparent as we approach week 16, not week 6.