Shaw66

Maybe Shakir could be an Allen or a Cobb. I'd say that's his upside. Those guys were consistent and valuable contributors to their teams. But your point about Coleman and Cooper having to produce to keep the underneath stuff open is exactly my point. Really good players, like Diggs, create opportunities for themselves. Shakir isn't one of those - Shakir needs his team to create opportunities for him. He can be really valuable when his team does that for him, but the rest of the time he's just another guy. Good player, but just another guy. Might he continue to develop? Yes, he could, but I don't expect him to get a lot better. Why? Because he is a smart, dedicated player and hard worker, that's the edge that got him to the NFL in the first place. We're seeing the results of his brains and dedication already, and I don't think there's a lot of upside left to see. I'm rooting for him, but I think we're seeing about the best of Shakir now.

I agree completely with this. When I want to know how the team is doing, I look at yards per game offense, yards per game defense, points per game offense, and points per game defense. Yards per game tells me how well the bills are controlling the game and points per game tells me how well the bill should be doing in the win and lost columns. I like where we are in all of those categories, and I think the Bills will stay there and perhaps improve. Every upcoming opponent opponent has the Bills game marked on their calendar. The Bills are always a test.

Good stuff. I hear you. I'd say Kahlil will go over 1000 yards three times in his career, if he plays 10 year. He isn't a 1000-yard guy; he's a guy who, when things fall right, will get 1000 yards. When the defenses evolve to slow down all this short-yardage passing, I think Kahlil will have trouble getting targets.

I think the Bills could go two ways. One, the most likely, is as you describe. The Bills will be a nice team, with a nice record, but they'll lose to the best teams, teams that are just as disciplined as the Bills but with more talent. Less likely, but I think a possibility, is that we haven't seen the real Bills yet, and won't until December. If the Bills start getting the play out of Coleman and Cooper and Shakir that as is possible, the offense could be really tough to stop. Taron Johnson gave the defense a clear boost when he returned last week, and the Bills have Miller, Bernard, and Milano - all difference makers - coming back. If injuries fall the right for the Bills, they could be one of the favorites down the stretch.

I was at the game, and I remember thinking something like that at the time. It felt like the Bills always had an answer. "If we can't go here, we'll go there." The defense had that same feeling. "We'll play you tough, we'll play you tough, and if you can get to the ten, we're going to execute so well that you won't get the touchdown." It felt like a team, not just a collection of stars. Among the best teams, that's the feeling they're all trying to develop. Bills seem to have it. We'll see what happens on Sunday.

Thanks for this. So, it means the Bills need to get it done on the road, too. I'd like to see the number of times the Bills have gotten penalized when they've had six offensive linemen on the field. Seems like they've gotten a lot - false starts, uncovered tackles and covered eligible receivers. Spencer Brown is second most penalized in the league among offensive linemen. Dion Dawkins is 7th. On the other hand, if you're scoring a lot of points, penalties don't seem to be a problem.

Yeah, i loved that about him.

Yes to Edelman. Edelman played maybe 10 years, had three years over 100 yards. No to Welker. Welker was a major threat, a guy went well over 100 yards five times. Those guys were the same style, size, yes. What do you mean, scratch the surface? Is he ever going to lead the league in reception yards - like 1500 yards? He might have a year like that, but he's not going to be a top 5 star. He's not going to be as good as Diggs was. He's playing in a scheme designed to get him the ball, and against defenses that give up the short pass in order to stop the deep ball. So Davis and Kincaid are stars now? They're ordinary NFL receivers. Nice to have, but not stars.

Yes, he had more yards per catch last year, but he was way, way under 1000 yards. He wasn't a feature receiver. This season he's being used differently. Yes, he's doing more, and yes everyone is happy with him. I'm just saying he's no star. He's a guy who has skills and a scheme that allow him to take advantage of defensive schemes designed to stop deep balls.

Sorry, Dawg, I don't buy all this Shakir love. He's a nice solid player, but relying on stats like his catch percentage and his YAC to prove he's great is misguided. His catch rate and his YAC are high because he's a punt returner/ball carrier, not a true wideout. Why is his catch rate high? Because the Bills run a lot of plays for him designed to get him the ball around the line of scrimmage with running room. He's an extended part of the running game. So, throws to him are easy, because he's supposed to be open to take what is an extended handoff. His YAC is high for the same reason. The Bills want him to get the ball in space, because he has unique ball carrying skills, with excellent change of pace and direction. That's what makes his numbers high. He isn't creating his numbers by running the routes that Diggs or Coleman or Kincaid or Cooper or any of the other true receivers run. He's not catching sideline balls, he's not catch back-shoulder balls, he's not catching deep balls. He's excellent in this offense, and he's a real weapon, but when defenses begin to focus on playing him tight off the line of scrimmage, I think he will struggle. I think he's always going to be a complementary receiver. He's never going to be a high-priced free agent.

I agree about Williams. As for Miller, the book is still open on him. I'm expecting some big sacks from him in the next three months.

If the question is "Who has been more productive," I don't think there's a lot to discuss. Many people have demonstrated that Mario had the better career in Buffalo, at least to date. That could change, of course, with one timely sack by Von in the Super Bowl. But the question was which was the better signing? To that, I'd say they were equally good. Mario never turned out to be worth all the Bills paid him, but it was an important signing in Bills' history. It made the Bills relevant for the first time in a long time. The conventional wisdom at the time was that no top-end free agents would sign with the Bills, because no one wanted to play in Buffalo and Buffalo was consistently cheap - good free agents LEFT Buffalo, they didn't go TO Buffalo. The Bills sent a message to the league when they signed Mario - "We ARE relevant, and we WILL be good." Of course, the message was premature, but it still marked something of a turning point for the franchise. The Miller signing was great for another reason. The Bills looked like they were one player - an impact player - away from the Super Bowl, and there was no greater impact player available than Von. In fact, the Rams acquired Miller for that reason, and to the surprise of the league, the Bills took him away from the Rams. It hasn't worked out as the Bills had hoped, but who knows what would have happened if Mario hadn't torn up his knee? In both cases, the Bills' GM went after a great player and got him. Both signings were great, among the best in Bills' history.

Sad news. Always enjoyed his posts.

Some stats are performance stats. They tell how productive a player is. Total yards, passer rating, etc. Some stats are analytic stats. They may relate to productivity, and they help coaches figure out how to make players more productive, but in and of themselves they don't tell us how good a player is. However mich separation the Bills receivers have been getting, they've been productive lately.

Exactly. Definitely a good showing, but let's not overstate it. When they made noise, Seahawk fans were MUCH louder than Bills fans. The reality is that the Bills let all the air out of the stadium with their opening drive. Seattle fans never got their energy back after that. They got quieter, and the Bills fans could compete with that quieter Seahawks crowd.

That's when the defender is in you back pocket. Sure it does. Separation is important, and stas like this are important to coaches when they're trying to improve performance. However, when you're one of the beat passi g teams in the league, it isn't cause for concern. EVERY team has some negative stays on one category or another. KC is about 20th in passer rating.

No way. 20%, tops.

Guy was a stud for the Bills. And for Damar.

This is one of those cherry-pucked stats. Yes, it would be nice have more separation, but Bills are 4th in passer rating. That's fine me and much better than 4th in separation and last in passer rating. Last season everyone complained about YAC. Cherry-picked stats don't mean a lot.

$14.00 to Stef's foundation. I'm in. https://www.givesignup.org/DonationWebsite/TheStefonDiggsFoundation/Donate

True. There always are visiting team fans around me in Orchard Park, and they celebrate wins there just like we do on the road.

Many Seahawks jerseys are same color blue. There were more blue Hawks jerseys than Bills jerseys. A lot of the blue jerseys are 12th man jerseys with the number 12. I kept thinking they were Kelly jerseys. No. There also were more than a few Kelly 12 jerseys.

I think the 5th year option is valuable if you don't want to extend him, like Edmunds. If you want to extend, it will get done in the 4th year either way.

I agree about the vision, at least as compared to Cook. But he attacks holes with a good burst and some power. He is an effective runner but less of a break-away threat.

And Atlanta.