HamptonBillsfan

Agreed, never get ahead of yourself predicting success for your sports teams. Most young posters experienced this kiss of death.

How can you question Brady off these two games? Let’s go Jets first, his decision to run Cook and Josh set the stage for domination of the play clock and continual scoring. Having Trubisky come in and throw a perfect drive sustaining 3rd down completion was huge. All and all , after two years of struggling at MetLife with Josh getting hit around by a swarming defense, we dismantled this team after they were brimming with confidence after a big offensive showing against Pitt. The Ravens miracle only happened because Brady dialed up chunk plays using different receivers( Cook, Coleman, Palmer and of all people Hawes. There will be opportunities to criticize Brady but with Josh with Brady’s play calling , I truly believe the Bills are the only team that could’ve pulled off the Baltimore miracle.

The Ravens miracle is something that has catapulted the Bills into the public perception of being on a level with the Eagles as favorites to get to a SB. The Jets obliteration showed that this team has a multi dimensional offense that can win in different ways. The schedule seems conducive to getting a path to vital home field games in the playoffs but some teams will be challenging( Bucs,Chiefs, Falcons, Steelers, Eagles) especially if we have injuries. My worry is that all these teams will look at the Bills as their SB and play above their pedestrian level and we will not be adequately prepared on a week to week basis.

Is your grammatical style an attempt at comic relief or is that the way you communicate? If it’s you being serious it disqualifies you from being taken seriously. By the way it’s not funny.

Oliver is the one irreplaceable player on our defense. He plays with an edge and physicality that circulates through the defensive unit. His pressure up the middle makes our edge rushers more effective. Eddie is an All-Pro even if he is not classified by the voters as one.

Nice take, you made some solid points especially about the PED suspensions coming back and Strong being fairly solid in his first game. My concern is that we can’t adequately defend Henry and Lamar. Henry breaks off big runs every game and remember Flowers didn’t play in the playoffs. Defending Lamar is tough on everyone Our defense gives up too many yards and points with only Oliver getting pressure up the middle. Again, Allen is a nightmare to play against and he is the only QB that could have pulled that game out, but at 40 to 25 with 4minutes left I acknowledged they are a bad matchup for us.

Forget the heroics after the fumble and I’m not diminishing Josh, Cook, Palmer and Coleman, they were awesome, how did you feel about our ability to stop the Ravens for the first 31/2 quarters. You want to depend on Mark Andrews dropping an easy 2pt. completion or Henry fumbling to win a big game? When a team runs at will against a defense that knows what’s coming and gets up 40 to 25 with 4 minutes left, you have to be concerned about your defense. Not saying Josh can’t pull miracles out of his rear end, he’s that great but these kinds of games(the last regular season Ravens game and last night’s contest) is not a formula going forward for success.

If the Bills play the Ravens in the playoffs with the same roster I wouldn’t be optimistic. Even with Josh’s heroics, we needed a freakish tip drill TD by Coleman, a fumble by a sure handed Henry, and play calling that insured Josh having a minute twenty five to get a game winning FG. Our defense could not stop Henry,, Flowers or Lamar before they were able to score 40. They have a young kicker with plenty of leg and an O-line that didn’t allow much pressure and opened gaping holes in the run game. Our secondary is lacking at safety and corner. Adding to our roster to fortify these two positions with quality would be a reason to be confident going forward.

I’d be fine with Peppers/ Simmons ,if that can’t get done, Hancock and Poyer.

McDermott is a good coach, not great, but with a transcendent QB that has gotten us to a high level of production and then our championship hopes have leveled off. He’s a defensive minded head coach whose defense has been the reason why we’ve not gotten to the big game. His game time decision making has been suspect and the draft selections in concert with Beane have been underwhelming. I’m in the camp of fans that believe a good motivator and a defensive oriented coach will not be able to maximize arguably the best QB in the sport. When he tries to temper expectations that’s a sign that this team has weaknesses that he does not have real fixes for. He looked like a coach who is doing a lot of wishing and hoping after protecting starters from injuries and seeing depth players struggle mightily in the preseason. If he struggles out of the gate and gives up home field expectations , that’s a sign that his time is coming to an end and even if they don’t want a big change with the new stadium coming, he’s a dead man walking.

Right now he looks like a vertical threat and a guy who can catch contested balls. He’s hungry and provides excellent depth. He’s going to make the roster barring a late acquisition of a veteran who will be a cap hit. I’m rooting hard for him.

I would take Gilmore or Douglas over what they have back there, but I’m thinking that by offering a Moore or a Trubiske to a team desperate for those positions, might net us a player.

Beane has to earn his money now acquiring a realistic corner to play opposite Benford for the first four games until Hairston can play and Tre recovers. Dane Jackson, Ingram, are not the answer to any questions and Strong is a raw rookie who is a work in progress. There will be plenty of cuts in the next week and corner and safety is an area of weakness that will be exploited by teams for sure. The guys that have been victimized in the preseason will be on the field unless we can sign and incorporate some better options immediately into our system. Isn’t it sad that we made all these acquisitions for the D-line in the offseason and did nothing to fortify the secondary.

How did the d-line rookies look, or your rotational veteran d-lineman. How about your starting safety(Bishop) or your rotational O-lineman. Presnap penalties, no running game or quality pass protection. I know you’re indifferent to preseason, but God forbid Josh misses a few series or a game, you still laughing at the prospect of the backups holding down the fort? How did Dorian and Buffalo Joe look in the short and intermediate passing game? With Milano’s history and how hard he plays, it’s probable these guys will play a lot. Finally, I don’t care when you take the field, you can’t have receivers consistently in another time zone on obvious passing downs, That shows a lack of concentration and grasp of the scheme. I’m sure you’re confident when a recovering Hairston gets back and Tre White(4 teams in 5 years) plays opposite Benford, we’ll shut these vaunted passing attacks down. Keep laughing,,we spent most of our offseason money and draft capital on defense.

It’s nice that you’re enjoying the undisciplined, disorganized mess that was your team’s performance. You didn’t mention the feedback from observers of the joint practice for the week leading up to the game.It was sloppy, mistake filled Bills play. The Ravens are being dominant with their depth players and we play them in 21/2 weeks. Did you see any positives from players who supposedly are playing for roster spots and playing time? Did you notice a deficiency in fundamentals (tackling, presnap penalties, pass protection, etc)? Was Sean’s reaction to the game and the massive tryouts conducted since give you the impression that our personnel is trending towards playing at a high level. Everyone handles disappointment differently. Some people go into denial mode. I’m not saying that Josh and our starters can’t beat most of the teams on our schedule, but football is a game of attrition and our young players must give us quality depth. A team with legitimate SB aspirations can’t play like we did with little pride or purpose.