[Bills Sign Boogie]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Is his salary paid in Bitcoin.

Hopefully in raw meat!  The D needs a guy with an edge.....lol

[Steps taken to solve last year's problems]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

We lost the AFC Championship game because:

* Their OL man handled our DL giving all the time for Mahomes to get to the receivers 

* Their DL man handled our OL making Josh run around for his life, taking bad sacks. 

* Our OL provided no help to the running game to shorten the game and take the pressure of Josh

* Our DL provided no help in keeping the QB (a hurt one) under check. 

 

I think the Bills saw the issue and shored up both the lines.   Their theory - Improving the lines will help fix their weakness in the Run game and getting after the QB

Good points!  Additionally, Beasley and Diggs were both hurt and struggled to get open.  This forced Allen to hold the ball which led to some sacks.  Hyde didn't have a great game.

[Please put in. Claim for Kerryon Johnson]

11 hours ago, BruceVilanch said:

I may be in the minority, but I really liked the Brieda signing, and I can't think of anything Kerryon does that Brieda can't do.

He is a stronger inside runner than Brieda, otherwise I'd agree with you.  Ongoing knee injuries are a major concern as well.

[A Few Thoughts About the Ravens Game, in no particular order]

 

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

If I'm being completely honest, I didn't expect the Bills to win this game for most of the week.  Like many others, I bought into the hype of the surging Ravens who were playing like the 14-2 team they were last season with the MVP at the helm.  With the playoff win monkey off their back, their defense back at full strength, and windy conditions that favored the running game, I expected a close game where the Bills game up just short.  However, when I woke up Saturday morning, all of that went away and for some reason, expected them to win.  I didn't care about their depth at defensive back or Lamar's scrambling ability.  I thought about the entire season from when we were able to contain Kyler Murray and what we've done against top rated defenses, and I found myself incredibly calm for the rest of the day.  Win or lose, I was incredibly proud of the season we've had.

 

1 - The Play - Let me set the scene leading up to the pick six.  The game was tied at 3 going into the half, where most would argue the Bills should have been up by more.  It was the kind of first half where the BBFS reminded you of previous teams that couldn't take advantage of early opportunities and it would come back to bite them.  The Bills did come out of the half and drove downfield for a touchdown, continuing their 3rd quarter resurgence.  However, not to be outdone, the Ravens put together a drive of their own and made it into the Bills red zone.  On the play before, Marquise Brown was wide open on a crossing route and Lamar missed him as Hughes was right in his face.  The next snap occurs, Lamar drops back, and my eyes are all on Mark Andrews.  Lamar slings it in his direction, and I honestly can't see who caught the ball, as Milano and Hyde were also anticipating the throw.  I jumped up and yelled, scaring my unsuspecting daughter, as I saw a blue jersey emerge from the crowd.  In that split second, before he crossed the goal line, my cowardliness mentally screamed out for him to take the knee so that we could get the ball at the 20 and not be pinned against the end zone.  However, this is a team that plays for each other, so Milano knocks Andrews out of the way, and Tre takes off downfield to block Lamar out of the way.  And just like that, we are up 17-3 on the pick six after Taron Johnson returns the interception 101 yards.  On the replay, TJ played this ball perfectly, sitting in the underneath zone, watching Lamar's eyes, knowing he could take off at any moment, and staying just out of his field of vision.  As Lamar released the pass, TJ broke on the ball immediately and cleanly picked it off.  While he had a lot of great pressures in the backfield and was solid in coverage, this may very well be the defining play of his career.

 

2 - Frazier - Besides the broken coverage play against Hurst last year, Frazier had a pretty good game plan against Lamar and the Ravens last season; enough to give you hope against them going into this game.  Even early in the week, the Bills defenders talked about how they had a good game plan and were ready for the Ravens.  But, this was a defense that turned over major components of their defensive line and a Ravens offense that finally got over the playoffs first round hump.  The result?  An absolute masterful performance in one of the most dominating defensive showings we've seen in a very long time.  The Bills defense completely shut down the Ravens high powered college-style (sorry, couldn't help myself) RPO offense in a way that I don't think anyone saw coming.  Frazier bunched 4 at the line to cover the gaps and had them rush from the inside out, taking away a scrambling lanes and creating pressure at the same time.  When he did send an extra rusher, it was a DB from the blindside who usually got home clean.  Outside of the two drives, the first and almost TD drive, the Ravens were only able to make gains on broken plays.  All week you kept hearing about how physical the Ravens played and how their defense was going to be the star of the show.  Frazier; he took that personally.

 

3 - Wind - The 3rd most important factor in this game had to be the wind.  Watching on TV, you could see some of the flags in the stadium not moving at all, while others were completely blowing sideways.  For those who weren't around in the earlier days when they talked about the swirling winds in January, this is what we were talking about.  The wind wreaked havoc on both kickers, leading to a 2 for 6 performance.  Both QB's missed wide open deep shots that are believed to have been lost in the jet stream.  There were even a few shotgun snaps that you could see the wind affect it's path.  The strong legged Bojo punted one into a wall of wind.  It affected both teams, so that advantage was neutralized, but it did make me think about one thing.  If this is going to be the Bills offense for the next 15 years, do I dare say we want a stadium that isn't going to slow us down?  We aren't a Thurman led team that can rely on our rushing attack in these conditions.  If it truly were the wind, wouldn't you rather have a dome and have Allen hit Diggs early on that touchdown bomb?

 

4 - Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to do.

Nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free.

Feelin' good was easy Lord, when Bobby sang the blues.

Feelin' good was good enough for me, good enough for me and Bobby McGee.

 

5 - Milano - Pay that man his money.  I have a lot of respect for Mark Andrews and thinks he will command a solid contract this off-season.  He's got the speed, hands, and physicality of an elite tight end and has been a focal point of this Ravens offense.  While all of that is true, Matt Milano beat the absolute ***** out of him.  Milano was a man possessed on the field in both run protection and pass coverage.  He didn't just cover Andrews, he leveled him the moment the ball touched his hands.  He played fast, he played hard, and he was consistent all game.  I've always been a Milano fan and really don't want to lose him in this cap-reduced off-season, and this game was a perfect resume for his extension.

 

6 - Hughes - Against the Chargers, I kept wondering what it would be like to have a Bosa on our team.  A guy that would absolutely dominate an opposing teams offensive line when only sending four.  Against the Ravens, Hughes answered that question.  I don't know if he was drinking a Code Red Mountain Dew while applying his Old Spice before the game, but Hughes was an absolute man on the field.  He was credited with 2 sacks, but was in on another and was chasing Lamar all over the field.   You want your stars to show up in the biggest games and that's exactly what Jerry did, he showed up and he shined bright.

 

7 - Tip of the Cap - There's two players I've been incredibly hard on this season and mainly because of the expectations I have of them due to their draft status.  Edmunds and Oliver are guys far enough in their careers where they should be making a consistent impact on the field being top 15 picks.  In this game, both of them made significant contributions and had a strong impact on the game.  Oliver was fast this game and made some great pursuit tackles.  Edmunds was fast with his decision making and wrapped up all of his tackles.  He played his role in the defense exactly how he should have.  Both were fundamentally sound and allowed others to play more aggressive because of it

 

8 - Smoke - After the game against the Colts, I was curious was Brown's role in this offense was going to be.  With Humphries and Peters covering Diggs and Davis (right?!) most of the game, Smoke stepped up in a big way by becoming the safety net Allen needed and used in the first half of the season.  I'm not sure if Beasley was hobbled out there, but Smoke was our clear number two in this game and contributed on numerous first downs.  Brown also gave us our traditional "Allen scramble and finding a toe tapping receiver downfield" play.  If nothing else, any team planning for the Bills have four legitimize receivers they need to plan for.  Good luck with that.

 

9 - Allen - How would Allen handle the cold, windy conditions against a often-blitzing Ravens defense?  First off, the ice in Allen's veins makes the cold air seem like a warm ocean breeze.  The Blitzing Ravens dropped 4 into coverage on most plays trying to keep Allen underneath only to find Allen taking shot after shot downfield.  When they did blitz, they got to him a few times, but it didn't shake him at all.  Unlike the opposing QB on the other sideline who didn't know what to do when his gimmick was shut down, Allen kept his focus on the game, took what was given to him, and walked off the field a winner.  Allen didn't have a flashy game, but he also didn't make any mistakes.  He made adjustments and worked through his progressions.  Just an overall solid game, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about the flops.  I hate them in the NBA and MLS.

 

10 - McD - Coach has been the butt of many jokes for his sideline clapping, cliche' post-game speeches, and overall vanilla personality to the media.  However, if you haven't been paying attention the past few weeks, we are seeing a very different side of McD lately.  If one thing's been made clear to me, it's that McD had a very specific goal in mind with this team and he wasn't going to celebrate the little victories along the way.  When they won the division, he got emotional in the locker room.  When they won last week, he got loud in his post-game speech. In this game, you could see him bursting on the sidelines.   McD was going to be happy until he had a Super Bowl contending squad, and as that vision has started to become a reality, I think we are finally seeing the real McD.   With a 17-3 win, it's a beautiful thing. 

 

**Notable Call-outs:

--Harrison Phillips was great against the run and in penetration

--Trent Murphy is the Lamar's scrambling kryptonite.  His containment in this game was masterful and worth all the cap space sitting on the bench in recent games

--Knox wasn't flashy in his catches, but also didn't make any mistakes.  He was great in pass protection

--Wallace with some great pressure on DB blitzes

--6700 fans really did sound like 75,000 strong

 

 

With that, we are off to the AFC championship game.  It feels surreal to even type that.  We heard people call us Super Bowl contenders, but now that we are in the final four, it's starting to become real.  No matter what happens going forward, this team has proven everyone wrong this year.  Well, except one man.  In the 90's we had Chris Berman.  This Bills team has Kyle Brandt.  The hype and support this man has put towards the Bills has been absolutely amazing and he's created a fan out of me.

 

This one’s for you @Gugny  Go Bills!!!

 Great summary Virgil !  I always enjoy reading your observations.  In addition, I thought the o-line played a good game and looked prepared for all of the stunts run by Baltimore. It's a lot of fun to be a Bills fan these days.

[DEFENSE, missed tackles]

Besides the missed tackles, we need to remember the guys that bit on a fake and left their jock strap lying on the turf as they watched the runner pick up another ten yards.  This happened more times than I want to think about.  The Bills have made some pretty average RB's look like super stars.  They can't afford to play like that against Baltimore or their season will end poorly.

[Anonymous Dolphins players: not sold on Tua]

Living in Florida, I've had a good time poking fun at the Dolphins fans.  A pretty common theme among them is that they should have drafted Herbert.  After watching their rookie seasons, I have to agree.  There are even a fair number of people here that believe that letting Tannehill leave was a big mistake.

 

I've also watched most of the Miami games this season.  Tua's accuracy stats are heavily skewed due to the high percentage of really short passes that he throws.  He has a fairly long throwing motion which gives D-linemen a chance to react and deflect passes.  His longer passes seem to lack the velocity that you see from successful QB's in the league.  He acts as though he doesn't see the field well, which could be a function of his stature.

 

Many Miami fans want their team to use the third overall pick to take another QB to create a competition in training camp.  Most don't think it will happen because the owner (Ross) is enamored with Tua and his Alabama career.  It's great to watch all of the controversy.

[If we lose Daboll - Would Brian Schottenheimer be a good replacement?]

I believe that Dorsey will be the replacement.

[Devonta Freeman visiting Bills]

This is not about not playing Yeldon this week.  This is about making sure that they replace Moss and get the guy through the COVID protocols in the event they beat Baltimore and advance.  If they don't add a running back this week and lose another guy on Saturday, they'll be in trouble.  Beane is doing exactly what needs to be done.  Too bad the JESTS haven't released Frank Gore...lol.

[The best run defense is scoring 30+]

18 hours ago, Houston's #1 Bills Fan said:

Which one? Espensa or Klein? I'll hang-up and listen...

Klein

[The best run defense is scoring 30+]

McD may have to give up on his "Big Nickel" approach to defense.  People are apoplectic over the Bills run defense but we all need to remember that they play the vast majority of plays with five DB's on the field.  In many instances they stay in that defense even when they are facing two and three tight end sets. Taron Johnson plays tough but is over matched when taking on large run blockers.  I expect to see more of A.J. on the field for first and second downs.

[Brian Daboll interviewing for HC with Jets & Chargers. [Edited]]

Teams can and have denied coaches the ability to interview for promotional jobs until their seasons are over.  I'm not sure why McD and Beane permitted this but I think it was a bad move. Maybe there is something in Daboll's contract that permits him to interview.  We'll probably never know for sure.  As others have pointed out, the game plan and play calling was poor.   

[3rd down defense]

Too much zone and giving receivers free release off the line of scrimmage was a bad approach.  Tackling today was also poor.  Dropping Hughes into pass coverage didn't fool anyone.  After it didn't work, why repeat it multiple times?  This was a below average game by Milano and Tre White.

[What Was Your Initial Reaction To Sean McDermott as Bills HC?]

38 minutes ago, Ta111 said:

No nonsense, straight shooter who appeared to be the opposite of Ryan-thank goodness.

I had this same impression.  I also believed that he was a really good defensive coordinator that got the most out of the talent that was on his team.  I expected him to fix the defense first because it was the best part of the team that he inherited.  I also expected him to followup to improve the rest of the team in a steady methodical manner.  I greatly underestimated his ability to assemble a talented coaching staff.  

[Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson]

3 hours ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

Beane knows his own players. Literally the only slip up of his is Wyatt Teller. Even that wasn’t a total loss, Beane got a pick back for Teller. 

At the time, Teller was still developing and was the odd man out.  As you point out getting a pick for him was a good move.  Teller is a good run blocker but still struggles with pass protection.  He's also missed some time with injuries.  In the overall scheme of things, I'm okay with the way it worked out for the Bills.

[The fallacy of establishing the run]

Teams still need to show an ability and willingness to run the ball when the numbers in the box give the offense a big advantage.  Conversely, it doesn't make a lot of sense to run into a stacked box.  Defenses have to be forced to defend the entire field.  Occasional runs also slow down the pass rush and give o-linemen a competitive chance.  With all of the passing game rule changes in recent years, teams don't need to have 40 runs a game to be successful.  It's still a distinct advantage for a team to run the ball successfully in a four minute offense to close out a game to preserve a small lead.

[Davis Webb elevated from PS: our new backup QB?]

If they get a lead and go run heavy, it doesn't make sense to risk injury to Allen or some others.  I think this is about McD being prepared for various game scripts.  In any event the Bills won't allow caution to put the game at risk.

[J E T S blow first pick]

I wonder if the JESTS front office views Lawrence the same way that their fan base does .  It would be such a typical move by their front office to hang in with Darnold and hope that he can turn it around.  My expectation is that no matter which course of action they take, they''ll screw it up.

[Mike Tomlin on physicality of Bills]

One of the great physical performances of the game came from Williams on TJ Watt.  He basically took Watt out of the game.  Watt only was a factor on a few plays where Allen held the ball much too long.  Having watched almost every Steelers game this season, I haven't seen anyone handle Watt as easily as Williams did.  I have to admit, I was expecting Watt to have a big game and it just didn't happen.

[Many Pat fans believe P Jake Bailey is team's best player...sounds familiar?]

5 hours ago, MJS said:

I feel like JC Jackson is better than Gilmore this year. Or maybe Gilmore isn't putting in the effort.

I can't disagree.  Gilmore has been hurt for the last few weeks which may be impacting his play.  He may also be making a business decision to avoid more serious injuries.  He has had a front row seat at practice to see how bad their offense is and realizes that they are just playing out the string this year.

[Is there a cap for coordinators in the NFL?]

6 hours ago, MJS said:

If Daboll deserves a head coaching gig, he should absolutely pursue it and I'm sure McDermott and everyone else in the organization would be happy for him.

 

McDermott knows this day was coming. He has a plan. He is very well thought of around the league. He would have no trouble getting another bright, young coordinator to come in and do a great job. Or that person is already on the staff.

You're exactly correct. I believe Ken Dorsey is still on the staff as the QB coach and will probably be the replacement.  They shouldn't miss a beat.  As you indicated, getting a good young coach to back fill the QB coaching job should be easier given McD's reputation.

[Confirmed: Moss benched after fumble]

11 hours ago, IgotBILLStopay said:

and yet in the official stats that fumble goes on Allen. smh @ nfl stats guys

I saw that stat also.  When you watch the video of the play from the goal line camera angle, you can see Moss reach for the ball with his hands and not allow the ball to be placed into his stomach.  This video confirms that the mistake was on Moss.  NFL stats generally charge the QB with almost all hand off fumbles.  In this case they got it wrong.  McD apparently realized the cause and took the appropriate action.  I'm sure that Moss learned a lesson that he will not forget.  Better days are in the future for Moss and the Bills will be glad that they selected him in the draft.

[Feleciano replacing Winters at RG in the game]

Mongo rocking baby Beasley after the touchdown was the best.  

[Black Monday is coming (UPDATE: is here!).....]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

He looks like a Service Manager at Midas in Sheboygan, WI.

 

 

Maybe... but he kinda looks like the mayor of Bad Axe, Michigan.  Just sayin'

[Lions fire HC Matt Patricia and GM Bob Quinn]

35 minutes ago, Beast said:

This is a long-time organizational problem.

 

The Lions have sucked my whole life and I'm 53 years old.

 

This is a Ford family issue. Not a GM or HC issue. Always has been always will be.

I lived in Michigan for several years and couldn't agree with you more.  They've had a bunch of talented players and have nothing to show for it.  Bad ownership selected a long string of very bad GM's that have kept the team in a constant state of turmoil.  This won't change until the Ford family steps away from the team.  It is a very similar situation to the Bills during Ralph's last few years of owning the team.

[Could Darnold end up backing up Allen in Buffalo?]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:05 AM, dneveu said:

 

I'd think SF would be choice number 1.  New Orleans would be in that 2nd tier with TB and Indy.  He needs to go somewhere a- that he can at least compete to start and b- that isn't terrible so he might be able to re-establish his value.  

You may very well be correct.  Unfortunately for Darnold, the Jests probably won't just release him so that he can pick his team.  A trade scenario will be a bit more complex because of his contract situation.  I don't believe anyone will give the Jests much in a trade which could only amount to a short term rental for the receiving team.  Signing him to an extension and trading him doesn't seem likely either because he really hasn't shown enough to warrant a pay day.  The only real hope for the Jests is that a couple of desperate GM's get into a bidding war and over pays in a trade and recognizes that they may have to over pay to extend his contract down the road.  That would be quite a gamble and the kind of move that will get a GM fired.  I often wonder how the Jests continue to get themselves in these kinds of situations.