Avisan

He played snaps that counted last season. He was fine. Did he piss in your Cheerios or something?

Where does this stuff come from with you folks? Andreessen is a very good athlete, and made a ton of fast physical plays last preseason. His main sin so far is not dropping back deep enough in his zones, which has very little to do with athleticism and very much to do with comfort and experience. If you're gonna trash talk our own players, at least do so with some kind of basis in reality.

Yeah, the three big returns all involved Shenault failing his assignment in some way iirc.

No, but when healthy, he's extremely good. His season-long health is a question mark, but his in-game impact for Week 1 shouldn't be in doubt here.

Special would be overstating it. Lacks the physical ability to be special. Knows how to play football, though.

I actually agree about Dane looking rough, with the amount of experience he has in the league you would hope for a better showing from him against edge-of-roster or non-roster talent. He looked like he belonged and made a couple of "NFL" plays, which is... NOT quite what you want from a dude a couple injuries away from a start when he's up against well-below-starter talent.

Good football player, may or may not have NFL talent but clearly knows how to play the game. Players like him are always fascinating to me, they demonstrate how much of a physical specimen you have to be in order to play in the NFL. He's a very large, insanely athletic dude by normal-person standards and there's a good chance he just can't hack it against NFL 1s and 2s.

Ciarlo is a football player, good instincts. Not sure he has NFL roster physical talent but definitely knows how to play the game. Ditto on Frank Gore Jr., may not ever make a 53 man roster to begin a season but will likely be a practice squad mainstay. Shavers' one-handed TD grab was sick, worth trying to find a highlight clip of. Some good plays from Walker, and Bishop looked solid early. Buccs' TD celebration was elite, handspring into full flip. Very impressive. Shenault with some major ST errors, which you don't like to see. Hardy abused by fellow likely cut candidates. Carter a non-factor against same. Dane Jackson does not stand out physically against backups, he knows the system but if he's anywhere near a starting slot due to injury we're in trouble for that game.

And if the Bills win?

He's listed at what, 6'2 and 225 lbs.? Toward the low end of weight for a modern linebacker but still quite a large human being

When has McDermott ever said he is a defensive genius?

Our DL was good last season. Our secondary had trouble holding up, though.

Life is a gray abyss of probability, fam. The need for the illusion of control to try to assuage our own anxieties is understandable, but ultimately unproductive.

They didn't play scared, they went with the high-percentage play and got the yardage. They made the right call. Not every decision that doesn't yield the ultimate outcome you want is "playing scared".

They were shorting us on spots all night, it is what it is. They're a dynasty team, they're difficult to dominate and they very rarely lose. On playcalls specifically, it's hard to fault the Bills' coaching when they were, in fact, getting the yardage they needed, despite officiating judgements spotting them consistently 0.5-1 yard short of their actual spots all game. It happened very obviously on several James Cook runs, where he was still well past the first down but not given his full yardage. Those little amounts add up. To be clear, this isn't a statement of intent on anyone's part, it's simply an observation of the trend of spots throughout the night. For whatever reason, the Bills were not being awarded quite their full yardage on a consistent basis.

The playcalls worked, they literally got the first down on both 3rd down and 4th down and got hosed on the spots by the refs both downs. They don't need to be better than their playcalls if their playcalls are getting the necessary yardage.

The Bills' D consistently gets turnovers. They don't wait and hope, they make it happen. You aren't a top 10 defense in takeaways every year without deliberate coaching and scheming to achieve them.

I mean... have we tried it, yet?

Bills DL had pretty good winrates last season, our secondary was too porous for the DL to get home, though.

It's the guys. Our secondary nosedived in quality last season, which gives opposing QBs more opportunities to successfully get the ball out quickly.

Genuinely, it's American entitlement at its finest. Have something amazing, decide it isn't good enough with no regards to objective comparisons or what it takes for things to be this good in the first place, and lash out for not giving us the immediate emotional gratifications we deserve.

Fair, we are certainly making assumptions here, Beane doesn't have a history of lowballing, though.

We're fine, we're a month out from the regular season and have plenty of bodies that can step up if need be. Y'all need to remember we're a perennial Top 5 team in the NFL and stop freaking out every time someone gets dinged. Next man up.

Wait, why? What pessimism-inducing news have we received? This "bad football player" is a professional football player with worlds more talent and dedication than you will ever possess.

Dang, his goofy pressers really got to you, eh?