SCBills

QB - Bills OL - Bills RB - Tie WR - Bills TE - Bills DL - Jets LB - Jets CB - Jets S - Bills Both OL’s have question marks, but ours is better on paper, with more potential. If our OL can keep the Jets DL from taking over the game, Bills cover.

If you need to feel better, watch this compilation of Mazi Smith, the guy Dallas took when we jumped them for Kincaid. Im sure he’ll get better, but yikes…

Seems to be a common theme amongst those digging into the tape.

Confirmation bias. Even with some podcasters I like, you saw this come out before they watched any tape. One glaringly bad rep that was just awful. OT equivalent of being posterized and took away a huge play, thus drawing more attention to it. A play we should be applauding, got flagged (wrongly), which led to even more criticism as we couldn’t even run a play with flags raining down.

Flip the colors and this isn’t just a local media story.

I mean.. what did you see from him before his injury that makes you think his best years are behind him? At least “behind him” in the sense you seem to be implying. He was on his way to being one of the top pass rushers in the league prior to that. Same as he’s always been. Is he prime Bosa or Parsons right now? No.. but he’s in that next tier. At least, was.. we’ll see how he returns.

We should be using the Brown pancake block as an example of how good he can be if he figures it out.. Instead it was incorrectly flagged and led to more confirmation bias. Not to say he isn’t a concern, but how that play was wrongly officiated unfairly dug in perceptions of his play.

AFCN may end up being the toughest division in the NFL, by far, if the Browns get anything from Watson.

I can’t get there… it’s not just bad luck. It’s not armchair QB’ing to say they could have had Dawand Jones. 75% of the fanbase was clamoring for him on draft night when we came up in RD3. We chose to give money to Oliver, Floyd & Poyer on defense. Some of that money could have brought in a top tier Tackle… like one the Bengals and Chiefs made sure they brought in for their QB’s. It’s simply been about allocation of resources and their true (or forced) belief in Spencer Brown. Fans also pointed out Dawkins drop in play last year. They chose not to address it. They could have. They didn’t. It’s not just bad luck.

This is hell.

Meh… McGovern, Bates and Torrence are all locked up long term. You can find top tier Centers where we typically draft in the 1st and 2nd. Tackle is an issue. Especially if we end up needing two of them after this year. Worst case scenario, we may need to let Gabe, Dawkins, Floyd, Daquan, Hyde and Poyer all walk so we can to bring in some new, proven Tackles. Backfill WR, S, DL with draft picks and/or vet FA’s willing to take cheap deals.

Agreed about preseason .. we can’t just say oh well it’s preseason when we dislike things and then hype when we do. That being said… The way he moves and catches the ball is different. It’s noticeable. When it comes to skill position players, some guys just jump off the screen and he does that.

Does this match up?..

Completely agree. Good OT’s aren’t just floating around but you can find high end blocking TE’s if we need to resort to giving help to Brown/Dawkins frequently.

This is the correct answer. MLB is an issue.. but it’s also one I’d expect McDermott to be able to scheme around in real games given the talent on this defense. We also don’t know if Bernard is, at least, serviceable. Dodson is what he’s always been… a backup… and given his reported temper flares and evident game struggles, I have to wonder if he’s even a lock for the 53 at this point, given we may need to start Klein until TB is able to be given a shot. Dawkins/Brown have to be better. We can whine all we want about it, but if they’re not.. our offense will struggle because there’s likely not many options to fix it at this point. We can keep Knox in to help one of them, but not both. Kincaid/Torrence look like smash hits. It’s early, of course, but the ceiling for both of them is All-Pro level. Much, much needed if we want to keep this window open long term.

Eric Wood with comments about the OL in the thread

Not going to go overboard based on a preseason game, but I will say his interviews become more annoying than funny when he plays like this.

That would be wild given the talent on that side of the ball. Imagine what the top DC’s could do with this group .. There aren’t any excuses for McDermott to not field a top 10 caliber defense.

I expect most of the issues we saw tonight to be fixed by Week 1. That said… Brown and Dawkins were straight up getting beat. We can scheme up to help one tackle if they need it. We can’t have two of them being dumpster fires.. especially one being paid as much as Dawkins. Seems pretty clear Dodson ain’t it at MLB.

I think you’re right… Coming out flat in a preseason game normally would be brushed off. After the Bengals game, it brought back a lot of bad memories.