Richard Noggin

sonofaba

nottatuddy

My clan celebrates Bourbon, specifically.

I hope for exactly this end to the game, where starters are off the field almost entirely. BUT I don't think the McD PLAN will be to put the Saints away early and get his essential personnel out of harm's way. Seems more likely the PLAN will be to possess the ball, establish the run, and proceed with only as much offensive passing balance as needed. Controlling the game and keeping the football out of harm's way seem to be the offensive foci so far, except when absolutely forced to pass aggressively against Baltimore. WHAT IF THEY TOOK THAT APPROACH at times when it's less compulsory? Sprinkle in the up-tempo, spread-out, horizontally and vertically aggressive passing attack whenever it's favorable. Even if for just a couple plays against vulnerable defensive personnel, like almost any time when a defense has only 4 DBs on the field. Gotta be able to make LBs and Ss and CB2s pay, the way teams do to us often enough. Edit: I can't say for certain the Bills haven't tried this at all to date. But generally it sure does feel like they are keeping it VERY close to the vest and are 100% willing to sacrifice that inevitable snap when the defense finally adjusts to stop the running play the Bills had been calling with success for several snaps in a row. So rather than change it up a snap early and call the downfield shot play designed to counter the defense's inevitable adjustment, the Bills have been content to keep it horizontal and short to medium in depth of target more often than not.

Walker ahem Jameis is NEVER inactive

Never heard of him.

They'll probably also try and test the center of our line. Not sure what you typed.

Lots of good stuff in here. However, the section I emboldened and enlarged is really dissonant. "Cover zero" is not a way to "keep everything in front of you." AT ALL. So I agree that teams are throwing all kinds of aggressive defensive schemes at the Bills offense, including cover zero pressure packages that are the OPPOSITE, philosophically, of backing off and ensuring the offense operates underneath. Those 2-deep shells we started to see often a few years ago are still prevalent, but are by no means the primary way defenses play the Bills, and especially 6- and 7-man blitzes are not at all similar to those previous deep "shell" coverages designed to put a lid on deep passing attacks. Defenses are utilizing a variety of approaches, including ultra aggressive looks that leave one or zero deep zone defenders. The Bills/Allen have chosen thus far to NOT challenge these looks with passes over the top. I don't disagree that the Bills have some WRs who COULD get behind such aggressive defensive looks, to be fair. But for whatever reason, aggressive man coverage is effectively discouraging any on-time, deep/intermediate passing game.

I've seen the future!

First to mention Thompson I think. #45 kept catching our eyes tonight. Subbing in and out with #7 all game long. Showing up here and there. Sticking a tackle or two. Flashing. Love to see it. Just adding Thompson posts to celebrate that nuance of noticing. Yup.

Are we going to pretend like ZERO of his throws against Baltimore were at all dangerous/lucky? Half of me LOVES this statistical distinction a lot. Such fundamentally sound, effective, consistent performance on the field. The other half of me HATES how deliberate/predictable and frankly boring the Bills are overall (outside of Allen's penchant for magnetically entertaining football). I get that it works. I love that it works. I want them to win. But I HATE when they lose because that's no way to go down.

I have no evidence to prove you wrong about Rousseau's quiet, mostly stat-less effectiveness, but it immediately reminds me of how some fans defended Tremaine Edmunds for years.

While I don't think panic or anger (over the passing game) is warranted, I DO think an objective reviewer could acknowledge the team's consistent scoring success and STILL have concerns about the lack of verticality to the Bills passing attack. Right now, the Bills DOWNFIELD attack is actually handing off and throwing short to James Cook and letting him break it (or damned-near break it but get tripped up, as we saw several times tonight). The fact that the Dolphins sacked Allen twice, which seemed like "coverage sacks" (at least one of em), and the Bills sacked Tua exactly zero times, tells me our guys were better covered than their guys for the most part. Except over the middle, where I thought Allen and Co. could have feasted through the air on nearly every snap. Attack Tyrel Dodson and whoever else plays up the middle ON EVERY SNAP *****. It was there over and over. Bills offense should have put away the Dolphins in the 2nd quarter tonight. They had several chances to. When the Phins lost yet another CB, who else thought the Bills should have targeted that and been more aggressive tonight?

Tua's postgame presser response about THAT play at the end was kind of impressive imho. He gave a TON of credit to "the/that linebacker" and the play he made. Several times he referenced Bernard's impressive read/play on it, reiterating that he'd (Tua) make that same read and throw 10/10 times. He DID mention the flash of "color" in front of him, which he had to deal with, but his biggest takeaway was Bernard coming off his primary responsibility to jump Waddle's route.

I have a feeling we'll see Hancock out there at some point this season. And we'll like what we see. Kid flashed in preseason (and practice) then banged up his shoulder right before the season started, unfortunately. He was finally back healthy as of Tuesday or Wednesday of THIS WEEK, so I wouldn't read into tonight's scratch too much. (He might be caught in a numbers game in the immediate future, but I suspect there will be injuries and/or critical personnel evaluations that end up with Hancock on the field in some capacity.

@Sierra Foothills above with new record for most quotes in a single post. Congrats!!! You really did it. Genuinely impressive. (I couldn't bear to actually quote it, myself.)

Bernard gave props to LB coach Holcomb in his postgame presser. Apparently they ID'd that exact play as an opportunity for Bernard to get his hands on one. Coach told him if Bernard saw it pre/post-snap to trigger and go get it. Worked perfectly (with a HUGE assist by Walker absolutely beasting on that snap).

To be fair, he's still only _____ years old. Or whatever we always said about Edmunds.

Walker started the game, didn't he? Did NOT expect such early returns tbh. Good for him and them and us!

Miami could spring a few explosive plays against a banged-up, NOT super fast Bills D. I expect the group of Achane, Washington, Waddle, and/or Hill to produce several 20+ yard plays, with enough annoying little misdirections and draws and screens and slants mixed in to keep us more frustrated than we'd like to be. Turnovers, yet again, will be YUGE. Bigger picture for me is that the Bills offense should absolutely dictate to the Dolphins D. If Allen and Co. can aggressively stack scoring drives, then our defense's job gets simpler by the possession. Might even be able to inspire some quit on the visiting sideline.

75-man rosters plus some rules changes, elimination of preseason, and more, will be necessary to grow the season beyond where it is currently without seriously turning the NFL into a battle of attrition and "load management."

This might also speak to Beane's habit of NOT aggressively adding to a position of strength when a potentially special prospect is inconveniently available. He has often seemed to reach around (forgive me) higher graded players at positions of lesser immediate "need" in order to address more glaring needs with potentially lesser prospects. And then when he does double-dip, we get an ahemboogiebasham that doesn't seem like great fit or value. That's just one example, but BPA is NOT AT ALL Beane's draft philosophy. Which is a mistake imho when your team is successful and therefore perennially at the back of the line. Gotta grab BPA year over year in order to hit more home runs and wind up with more difference makers. Again, in my humble and limited opinion. Edit: this is not intended to characterize Beane as a bad drafter. Far from it. Just not someone playing the long game year after year. And I mostly get the reasons for that IRL wrt to cap and roster management. But you have Josh Freaking Allen, so why not swing for the fences more often.

That's what the Bills invested in Diggs, without question. If this is a draft pick investment thread, then the specific picks used to acquire WRs should be what's considered. So just because someone else seems wrong, we shouldn't slide our thinking into "wrong" territory.

Will be finishing my remote workday on a laptop while parked on someone's lawn. Go Bills!

It's just not 100% true the way you're framing it. They "invested" PART of a 1st round pick in Coleman, if you insist, because they got another player or two out of that trade back. They literally spent a 2nd round pick on the guy.