Rew

I would say FO is looking up this week. We just saw a good chunk of our offseason moves (FA and draft) in action for the first time. It looked good. Without Bosa/Hoect/O..../Hairston/Hancock/Thompson we are a bottom 10 defense. With all of them in we are probably a top 10 defense. We absolutely needed to turn over the defense from last year and we didn't really get to see what was done until yesterday. Obviously it needs to continue, including against top tier competition, but that defense looked better (this year and forward looking with youth) than we have seen since Von's injury/hyde.

Every team (especially true this season) has areas that need improvement. Despite the warts we are still on of the better teams in the league with one of the easiest schedules.

This has been a good reset of reality. We're not definitively the best team in the league. The gaps that we have in depth (like every team has) are becoming clearer. There are things to work on. However..... The bills are 4-2 this season, have one of the best consistent offense for multiple years running, and play many teams that are far more flawed than we are. They are going to win more games than they lose by a significant margin, most likely win the division, and still be competing for AFC champ. I still see us between 11-14 wins.

I didn't see the comments you're referring to. Everything I've heard from Josh is on players (himself first and foremost) executing better. If you have examples of him blaming coaching or talent acquisition, I'd love to see/read what I missed.

The whole premise here is that Josh feels McD and Beane are a problem. I don't think we've seen anything to believe that is the case. Josh looks internally for the areas that he didn't execute on and sees the best of the team and people that he is working with. I don't see a scenario where Josh goes all hardball/Diva, first because it's not in his nature and second because he doesn't see the problems that a minority of loud posters here see.

We're also missing Kincaid and Samuel...

I know that Kincaid has been playing well, but today is his absence is surprisingly obvious. Him as a weapon with some of the blocks that he has sprung is sorely missed.

Anyone going to make some absolute comment on how the defense never gets stops and the falcons will score every drive?

I wonder if they aren't getting open because they are held?

Did anyone notice that Rapp sat on Bernard's injured ankle?

Guys, the half just started. Wtf is all the clock commentary about?

What is everyone complaining about. Baring injury neither of these moves would have helped us this year, they would have been pure depth. Neither would improve this defense if replacing Rapp, and we need to give an improving Bishop the season to see what we have. I could understand a call for a man CB to battle with White in case hairston can't secure the starting role. But we really need LB support with the Milano situation, not another PS safety.

I think the general feeling is more about the volume of individuals, as opposed to any single skill set. The combination of Oliver, Milano, Hoe, Ogun, and Hair were all supposed to be starters or significant contributors. When you are out 5/15 top defenders, 5/15 are regressing, and the last 5/15 are meh to begin with you are in a bad spot. There is no silver bullet in here, but it will likely be better.

Prater is our savior. A wide right and wide left cancel out. We're free!

Agreed, but no complaint. We did the same thing against the Ravens in Q2 and it worked perfectly. It will work out for us more often than not.

I thought hill would have been a reasonable challenge. Probably a 50/50 type of play. Given how early in the game it was and that it was non definitive I was alright with no challenge. After the drive was over I wish we took the chance, but live it was the right decision. Allen's slide would not have been overturned. They have been calling slides like that for years and Allen knew he screwed up. It would have been an awful call for McD to challenge that.

That was the most mundane game I've ever attended (I've seen most jersey homes games the last 15 years). I can say that watching cook live is incredibly impressive. You don't really get an appreciation for his combination of vision, wiggle, and drive on broadcast coverage. Also, shout out to the party at F-9

Initially I was critical of not challenging this, but after reviewing I think it was called correctly. They've been calling it this way for a decade in the interest of player safety. There was a major point of emphasis on this a few years sgo. All the guidance to officials and teams has been that the ball is dead and the QB is protected as soon as he begins a sliding action. He doesn't have to be air borne, he doesn't have to have a knee touch the ground, he doesn't have to do anything other than look like he is sliding. While I think this could have been a first down, there is no way it would have been overturned. You could also tell by Josh's reaction that he knew he goofed. Silver lining is that Josh is protected from a lot of damage when he's at the end of runs.

Is it a stretch to say that solid defensive fundamentals were the difference this game?

It's amazing how quiet it gets on here when we have a decent shot at winning.

Not happy with Palmer giving up on that play

Not sure how you can effectively evaluate the scheme with execution this bad.

We used all 3 of them once the Ravens hit the 30ish to preserve time to try and do something.

Which worthless one? All 3 timeouts were used to preserve clock at the end.

Seriously wth are you talking about. McD started preserving time for the offense even before the fumble. The entire end of that drive was aggressive time management with intent to do something.