quincy

I think that eleven wins will be required to make the postseason in the AFC this year and the forseeable battle for the number one seed is Denver versus NE. At the moment it is ten teams contending for the seven spots and I have LAC, Houston and Pittsburgh missing out in the simulation I ran, all at 9-8. Baltimore and Indanapolis winning their divisions at 11-6 and Jacksonville, Buffalo and KC being the wild card teams also at 11-6. In this simulation Buffalo is at Baltimore for the wild card, as the the 6th seed at the 3rd seed then either Indanapolis or Jacksonville. KC as the 7 potentially taking out Denver and then NE or vice versa to reach another AFCCG is just 🤢🤮 - the rest of the AFC has got to unite and keep them out of the playoffs this year - but the championship game has a shot to be KC at Buffalo as the 7th seed at the 6th seed. This is such a weird AFC season so far.

I was meaning Taron Johnson and not Ty Johnson in my original post but it looks like I need to look at dead caps for all players.

I didn't consider the dead cap at all, thanks for the reminder. I just wanted to replace some veterans, thinking that we could get some new talents and voices in the locker room for 2026. Looks like it is easier said than done!

For 2026 there are some big name players that I think we should move on from. Dawkins - his play doesn't seem to warrant what he is being paid and the more he talks the less impressed I am with him. Knox - he has gotten enough $ already from the Bills, I don't care that he is buddies with Josh, we shouldn't keep anyone for the sake of "harmony". Shakir - it is less about him, more about I want to see other options in the slot, no problem if he stays but his ceiling has been reached and we need more. Bernard - I just cannot see what he brings, always injured, only had one good year, he will be a liability going forward. Johnson - Father Time is calling and he has been a great Buffalo Bill but we need a replacement for him as a starter. It seems like McDermott and Beane will be here next year no matter what so I would expect all the players to be back next year. I would replace all of them even if we win a miracle Super Bowl this year yet I am going to root for all of them whilst they are still Buffalo Bills.

Going to be interesting for the O-Line, will it be stability or transition? For example, next year, would we risk an line that consists of RVD-Grable-SVPG-Anderson-Brown? Those 4 guys would have waited at least 2 years for their opportunity to start on a full time basis, plus Lundt as OL6. Dawkins should go after this year, his play is in decline unfortunately and seems to be becoming a distraction. I would let McGovern and Edwards hit FA. Torrence might be our only trade chip in the offseason and he will be due a big $ contract after his rookie deal. We just don't look that good in pass protection, I believe Morse was well respected in helping call the protections. What should be our strength isn't looking that way at present and we need Coach Kromer to elevate the new talent.

Honestly (unfortunately) NE are in a great position, a 9 game win streak, 10-2, got the Giants at home for MNF in week 13. Followed by a Bye then another home game against Buffalo. So they are going to be 11-2 going into the Bye unless Jameis throws for a 455 yard miracle game, he got 350+ againt Detroit and lost. Then there will be some talk of "adversity" and I am sure Vrabel will get some extra motivation from somewhere. Our DL outside of Walker is just playing at a mediocre level at present, the NE OL will probably sleepwalk through the week 15 game.

Plus even if he was a rental and it didn't work out the acquiring team would be getting a compensatory draft pick I believe should he leave in the off-season? He got banged up and wanted to come back in as well so he looks motivated and maybe a change of scenery was all that was needed, at least for now.

Wow it looks like Morgan Fox might be needed at Pittsburgh - not good if Solomon is veering into ST only territory.

That Madden video in other threads suggest that we currently only run 5 offensive plays in any case, no problemo, arise OC Josh Allen. Brady demoted to waterboy.

I think the only thing that might have changed from a Thursday to a Sunday is that Keon might have had the chance to not be inactive and I would assume most fans would say that is not a needle mover. We lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball and you cannot overcome that on most Sundays unless Allen and/or Cook go nuclear, even less so on a Thursday. You can say that Houston's DE's are elite and they were as advertised. You would want to categorize ours as good and they were absolutely disappointing against an average o-line and a backup qb who isn't a runner/scrambler. The score was only relatively close because Mills took a while to get going. Why we didn't play the 6th OL and have Hawes in on 75% of snaps I don't know considering no WR is separating and Josh is under duress in 1.5 seconds. In contrast Houston had number 57 play a big amount of snaps as the extra OL. The established AFC teams just seem to be struggling for that intensity and fire this year so far, playing down to opponents and just squeezing out victories or losing by a touchdown or less.

There is the option to put Gabe Davis on the 53 man roster now given that one of Bernard or Brown will seemingly go on IR. There is time to get in sync with Josh before Pittsburgh and he is the closest thing to a number one receiver we can have this year and given what we have seen so far this year is the best option and yes it isn't ideal but here we are. Pray that Keon is motivated to put in the effort and turn the corner and bounce back. Use Kincaid more - play him all over the field - X receiver, big slot, FB - make him into a true difference maker.

I assumed it was just missing the bus but Lamb mentions being out late. I just posted this because we have got Keon being inactive for being late for a meeting for two whole games and then you have Dallas slapping their two receivers on the wrist by making them inactive for a series and their "mistake" appears to be a lot worse. I wonder whether Keon gets fined for being late for the meeting. Personally I can understand Keon being benched against Tampa, I cannot for the Houston game given we had lost Hardman and Samuel and Shakir was on the the injury report the previous week plus being a new father and Palmer and Davis just returning from injuries. If anyone got injured during the game there would be nobody to step up.

I have 33 guys I would like back next year - 25 veterans plus the 2025 rookie class. Josh Allen Reid Ferguson AJ Epenesa Gabe Davis Greg Rousseau Spencer Brown James Cook Khalil Shakir Christian Benford Dalton Kincaid O’Cyrus Torrence Dorian Williams Keon Coleman Cole Bishop Ray Davis Sedrick Van Pran-Granger Javon Soloman Tylan Grable Josh Palmer Mitch Wishnowsky Joe Andreesseen Alec Anderson Tyrell Shavers Ed Oliver Michael Hoecht plus the 2025 rookie class (8 guys) Rousseau and Benford I want to see bounce back and play well for us. Want to see what Oliver and Hoecht can do together in 2026. I am not enamored with Shakir at all but he is the only competent receiver that Josh has chemistry with and I would bring back Gabe Davis next year as well. I would be really tempted to have Kincaid as the full time big slot if that preserves his health. The problem we face is that any impact players we have outside of Josh and James are just always banged up in some capacity - Kincaid, Oliver, Brown, Shakir, Bishop, Benford, Hoecht. Bernard had one good year and I am totally out on him. Dawkins seems to be coasting on his laurels and has no fire. No to Dawson Knox at any $ next year irrespective of anyone's feelings. Same with Milano. I would seriously try Hawes as TE1 next year.

Cowboys' Stephen Jones says Pickens benched for missing bus Pickens and CeeDee Lamb were benched for the first series by coach Brian Schottenheimer for disciplinary reasons. Lamb told reporters Thursday that he and Pickens were benched for missing the team's 10 p.m. curfew Sunday after having dinner and drinks at a casino.

NFC West is a very tough division - SF and Seattle are always in the mix. Currently the three teams are the 2, 5 & 7 and I would expect all three to make it to the postseason this year. I don't see the JA to the Rams storyline as being a dead cert. McVay is always under speculation as to whether he wants to give up the grind of coaching. Stafford I think had 12 full years in Detroit and he currently looks good and why wouldn't you want to keep playing for a successful franchise? I can understand the notion that Josh would want to be coached by McVay but I don't think relocating to LA just for marriage/practical purposes is a realistic thing. Hailee is making movies and she wouldn't be in LA full time I'd assume. I wish Stafford plays at least another 5 years, that wouldn't be shocking to me.