MasterStrategist

Same here, I'm north of the city about 30 minutes. Great area/community. 😁, yeah definitely need a PGH branch. We used to have a Bills backers in Cranberry, met at NPL...but that was a long while back, not sure if anyone is doing that nowadays. Great point about the Buffalo and Pitt connection. McDermott definitely has a trust with Narduzzi and the Pitt staff; especially defensive guys. Not a Pitt fan per say, but nice to see some success for their program in recent years.

https://triblive.com/sports/damar-hamlin-day-in-pittsburgh-celebrated-with-cpr-awareness-event-at-pnc-park/ Pretty special the journey this young man has been through, not to mention the great awareness/resources these events and his charity bringing to local communities. (*you'll see a Diggs & Dane mention for attending the softball event). Certainly noticing a growing number of Bills fans in and around the Pittsburgh suburbs, great to see 😁

League wide: 1. Dallas wins the NFC championship 2. Chargers win the AFC west 3. Only 1 AFC East team (us) makes the playoffs 4. TJ Watt leads NFL in sacks Bills: 1. Ed Oliver leads the team in sacks 2. Josh leads the NFL in passing yards 3. Bills score 5 total TDs, from defense & S/T 4. 6 players eclipse 500 or more receiving yards

10 Interesting/cool snippets from the interview: 1. Fast food junkie (at times in offseason), "can't pull fat" lol. Big Mac is high on his list, burgers at In/Out Burger (stopped short of ripping on their fries) 2. Whiskey lover (as Josh says "brown water") - obviously Josh can afford the high end stuff: Pappy, WL Weller, etc. Favorite "common whiskey/bourbon" (go to is an old fashioned out) is Woodford Reserve. "Don't take the top right shelf items without permission", classic 3. Sushi guy, would like to travel to Japan someday 4. Playing style: trying to adapt to prolong his career, as more of a pocket passer, but won't happen overnight...hint hint, expect same Josh this year 5. The past 2 Offseasons, he has rested/used recovery time, more critical to entering camp in peak condition (as opposed to offseason strenuous workout regimen). Remember him saying as much LY during a Simms interview...his legs are clearly jacked. 6. Diggs situation overblown by media, loves his man Stefon. Diggs gets ultra hyped on gameday, giving credit and criticism when due....helps lift gameplay of his teammates 7. Becoming more vocal, leadership role is something he's focused on. In his own, genuine way, as he's not a critical/yell at other players type of guy. 8. "Homebody", likes to invite the guys over...keeps everyone out of trouble/enjoys the camaraderie and just hanging out. Also he'd like to go the retirement "route of Tim Duncan" (basically similar to Aaron Schobel too)/exit the spotlight, when his playing days are finished. 9. Team chemistry: confirmed Lewans statement about the team just "having fun/great chemistry". Guys like Dion, Micah, Jordan, Von, etc who just love the game. Lewan said seems like a "high school team" (in the positive way, chemistry having fun, etc). Credit to Beane/Coach for building that culture. 10. "Milk check": funniest part of interview, worth the listen for this alone...and Josh's comments about Milano 😁

Who cares? Statistical fact, unlike everyone's opinion... YPG: #2 in NFL PPG: #2 in NFL #1 team KC and #3 team Phi, we might not matchup player by player, but we are just as strong as a group.. Our biggest difference has been OL play, something KC, Phi much better than us...and doomed us in the playoffs in 2020, 2022, and would have in 2021 if not for Josh playing out of his mind. These hypothetical rankings are fun, but better suited for Fantasy Football. Nobody knows what an improved IOL will do for Josh, or having a better running attack/etc. We keep our star players healthy come playoffs, none of these media/fan position rankings will matter.

STH codes were sent between 9am-9:15am

I found a free article from Harmon, stating the following: 1. Vs man coverage: Median approx 65% / 75th percentile approx 73% So while 35th percentile sounds horrible, seems to be a "tight band", fairly low differential in percentiles. All this to say, I'd love to see our collective teams slot #s against Zone last year (when Diggs aligned outside). I'd be willing to bet big $s we were a bottom 10 team, likely hovering around bottom 5. I've repeated this a million times since February, but that was our biggest issue LY (combined with poor IOL play, questionable playcalling, and some poor decision making by Josh). Seems to be fair that Beane likely agrees with some of this; given his offseason approach to acquisitions. Dorseys offense going to look alot more efficient (less volatile) IMO.

We just invested a 1st/4th round pick, to me that should answer your point about "lacking a top end talent". Beane tried to address it. Back to Gabe, to me this offense is going to have more "mis matches" this season. Kincaid/Shakir/Harty should be MUCH better than what we rolled out LY. In addition to improving our IOL, Josh should have more time, a better run game/playaction, and allow more freedom for Knox/Cook to get into routes vs chipping. So, it's not about who our #2 target is. It's about feeding Diggs, and having a complimentary offense that can take advantage of a mismatch. If that's Gabe some games, or Kincaid/others, or the running game, etc...thats what we missed at the end of LY. Beane specifically mentioned being able to attack the middle of the field. Lots of ways to accomplish that. But Gabe has his role, excellent deep ball player, we need our 2019/2020 Beas to let this offense be more dynamic. So maybe we're all agreeing, to an extent, that Gabe should be less of a focal point, but that doesn't require us to bring in a better outside WR. We need better play in the middle, starts up front on the Oline and then slot play.

I was being facetious, re: my comment about Davante, that should have been clear. My point continues to be that Gabe is used as a non-traditional #2, aka: MVS for KC. Which is a valuable component to our offensive success. I'd agree and have said numerous times, that he's a bit limited in his route tree...due to lack of suddenness/burst/movement skills. But Dorsey could be using him more often on slants/dig routes, etc. and I think we'd see his catch rate/overall stats improve. But due to above, it's unfair to throw out catch rate stats...when knowledgeable fans should see he runs routes that will bias that statistic, based on playcalls/offensive strategy. On the flip side, Im equally critical when Gabe does drop catchable passes. I just don't think it's enough to warrant this outrage, and people continuing to use the 51% catch stat. We will see what Beane does with Gabe long-term, but we don't need Stef 2.0 or a Dhop, with the diverse weapons we now have. It would be nice, but not a necessity like some seem to believe. Our issues last year: 1. IOL 2. RT 3. lack of slot/middle of field targets IMO, that's what Beane has seen as well. Complimentary pieces on offense, difficult to beat Cincys cover 3/4 scheme when they gave us mid level options and we had McKenzie and a semi retired Cole Beasley as our primary options there.

The 51.6% catch rate is an overblown stat. Better to look at catchable passes. And yes Gabe had drops, that he should have made...but please keep hanging their hat on the 50% stat and it's just misinforming. Davante Adams was also in the 50%s in 2022 as well. See its easy to drop a stat and make a story around it...guess Adams is no good either. Josh could be better with ball placement too on his throws, and a certain amount of Gabes targets are "throw aways" by Josh (tends to be a higher % of passes, given the routes Gabe is asked to run). No excuses, Gabe needs to improve but I prefer looking at the whole picture, than cherry picking stats that are misleading. Perhaps Dorsey should be improving/adapting too, on a more efficient passing game that isn't so deep ball dependent. https://www.billsfans.com/forums/topic/2689-gabe-davis-caught-an-abysmal-516-of-his-93-targets-update-high-not-catchable/page/2/

I remember this too, and will say that Ty Dunne isn't "Mr spot on". He's got his own subscription service business. What better way to generate clicks? Let's not run with 1 man's story and call it gospel. That's all I'm saying. Too much trying to connect the dots going on right now. Some people have nothing better to do, that's great and fine if that's what they need. But it's a fruitless exercise, unless you're someone who believes that strongly in your own opinion without knowing all the details.

Thanks, great info. Doyle practicing already, even if not full practice, is a bit surprising. Perhaps it was just speculation, but thought he'd be a PUP candidate. Shakir news continues to be very positive, he has sneaky RAC ability/speed. Definitely a different looking pass attack than LY, if he and Kincaid meet expectations.

cap=lying big dawg= literally any social media post/person making comments about him This doesn't mean anything related to what Josh, Von, or Coach said. Ppl need to stop over reacting/reading into social media posts from players. Has no one learned their lesson from the Dhop drama, or how about Ed's posts? Ed actually laughed off a reporter, who asked him about his contract related social media post, during his extension press conference... Moral of story....don't overreact, but that won't stop those who crave the drama

Agree, its definitely not panic time. Fans are obviously doing that, this thread is evidence of that (not all fans, but alot). Absolutely concerning. Which is why I appreciate Coach's response. We are a group of a well educated fans, mostly, and I'd be more upset if Coach downplayed what is happening. That has been what I was responding to. That said, I mentioned earlier that I'm confident this gets worked out before camp. It's coming to a head today, it will get better more these discussions occur. Too many smart leaders, players and staff/coaches. to let something "non football related" (Josh's words), get in the way of a potential SB run...I'd honestly be more concerned if this was $$$/contract related.

Panic is because fans are making it a panic.

I mentioned already, but I disagree. My opinion isn't popular on this. But I'd rather Coach not downplay this. Diggs is clearly upset, and Coach downplaying the situation with media might just further irritate Stef. Again, just my opinion, but all Coach's comments did was stir up the media and fan gossip. The real issues with Stef/team exist regardless and maybe this acknowledgment by Coach is a step in the right direction to help with that. I'd add, Coach lies/downplays responses to media questions ALOT. This was a calculated comment, time will tell if it backfires or helps.

I could care less these guys are running around in June, but I get your point. My general comment is not specific to today's practice, but the overall mindset this team's needs to take moving forward. Stef is a fierce competitor with a huge edge, these situations happen (not good for Stef or team), but he also raises the bar for every WR/CB and surrounding teammates. This is all hypothetical. Nobody has all the information, is the main message right now. Speculate sure, overreact and act like you're done with Diggs, Coach, or whomever is just childish/snap judgment behavior.

Josh being a leader and supporting a teammate, an important one at that. That's how I read into it. Josh is very diplomatic with public comments, I think he's genuine most of the time, also realizes he's the most important player voice...so he's careful/calculated with his comments. Too many ppl (media) reading into him taking blame/etc, he's just bringing perspective and saying everyone can do better. Josh and Von both trying to help ease/support Stef, that's a captain or leader taking responsibility upon themselves, different than what espn was trying to headline

It's a 3 day mini camp in June. Call me when he misses any training camp/real time. This is just another "snap judgment" thread, free realm for speculation and pointing fingers. Speculate away, but seeing alot of ppl placing blame mostly on Diggs or somehow McD. McD was asked directly if he was concerned, I think his direct response (albeit unpopular for some here), let's Diggs and his camp he's taking their discussions seriously. Blowing it off/dismissing it/lying/downplaying the situation, isn't a good solution when you know a player is clearly upset. On Diggs side, who knows what's bothering him...it could be a combination of everything speculated, and maybe he's bottled up/not communicated well with the staff and front office. That communication goes both ways. One thing for sure, I'd take a Stef Diggs caliber player/competitor at every position on our team. I have faith that whatever the rift is, gets sorted out, given the other player leadership to "bridge" the situation to help as needed, and his dedication to the team.

If we ran a 3-4, sure...when is the last time we ran 5 DL personell? I'd say our best pass rushing grouping, is what @NewEraalready said.

Agree completely. I'd predict in this order: 1. Denver -prior GM connection/starter recovering from torn acl 2. Chicago - they have a nice RB room, but Cook was done dirty and could see him trying to stay in division/they also have cap room 3. Tampa - FL connection, game 1 vs Vikings, Fournette no longer there 4. Chargers - this would be a bit surprising, but would give them a great 1-2 with Ekeler / insurance policy, continue use Ekeler in variety of ways

Great take! Benford has been receiving alot of hype so far, the battle at CB#2 will be fun to watch. Back to your point, that would be a top 5 secondary to go along with 4 pass rushers who I have alot of faith in (Von, Flo, Groot, and Ed). Mix in Milano and others, and we finally have a SB caliber defense....just stay healthy this year 🙏!

Fair enough. Like I mentioned before, I tend to agree with alot of your takes, and your points are well stated above. Thanks for the info. I'm seeing something different with Ed and like him at that $$ number, as opposed to potential alternatives next year. But can understand your opinion and where you stand.

Again, like I said at the very start (which you chose not to address), Beane has a very good track record on extensions. He's hit on a lot. Nothing wrong with what you said/believe, but it's just your opinion. I have my opinion on what the Bills/Beane see in Ed....and I like him as a player, and much better than the alternative of using a high pick next year or potentially more $s to chase a FA. Re: Gabe, sure you can call it an analogy. Again, let's see what our GM decides to do longterm with him. He's been vocal and clear on what he thinks of both Ed's and Gabes future here. One down, we'll see if Beane follows through with the second.

I'm not disputing your math, I know how you did it. I obviously did a poor job making my point. Which is: 70% snaps: this is doable for him going forward, based on him doing it over 2nd half of season (yes cherry picked, but credible 8 games)....AND We don't know how Coach plans to use him, with him taking over playcalls. Beane might be projecting 70% of snaps into that contract, is my point. You'd say that's a bad projection, given past results...but none of us know yet how it will play out. The Gabe comment is an unnecessary dig on him, just to further your agenda on him....has nothing to do with Ed Oliver.