FireChans

You want a guy who will do anything to get on the field.

Preach

I disagree hard with your first paragraph. i think there’s a little Stockholm syndrome in Buffalo about the second round. teams absolutely do rely on their second round picks every year to contribute. we seem to treat the pick like a red shirt year for the most part.

? I think the issue was that everyone was blasting it out of bounds and taking the touchback. Moving up the touch back made it so that teams would be incentivized to keep the ball in play.

Was the logic to make it safer or to save the play?

I think you are. I think the odds the return team screws something up or takes a penalty or fumbles is a lot better than giving them the ball at the 35 guaranteed. Sure, there's a risk they take it to the 40, but who cares? That's an extra 5 yards and great position either way. A muffed catch or a penalty or a great tackle pins them anywhere from the 15 and under. That's a 20+ yard difference in field position. That's the difference between starting your next drive on the 50 or the 25.

Its early and he's playing the same position as Oliver which after week 1 were big shoes to fill. Its not ideal that Oliver is out right now, but the silver lining is that the kid gets some more reps. I'm hoping he flashes a bit more going forward. To my eye, I didn't see really bad play out of him, just nothing truly impactful. DQ Jones is actually disintegrating before our eyes. Tua looked like he was running Tyreek Hill speed away from him a few times last night. The sooner the two kids take his snaps away, the better imo. TJ is not yet on my list of concerns.

The Dolphins run blitzed us all half and dared us to beat them over the top.

I mean this is all correct, but that's not really fair play. If you wanna say "Well Rousseau's cap hit is low the first two years, then we pay for it later" that's fine, but the fact of the matter is that we should be comparing apples to apples. Micah Parsons' cap hit this year is $9M. His hit next year is $19M. Is Rousseau's contract still considered "cheap" when he costs only $12M less against the cap over the next two seasons?

Well I guess that's a larger discussion about the way he's being used and if that was their vision when they gave him $80M. Can't say I'd be shelling out that kind of cash for setting the edge on a defensive system designed in part to allow some rushing success.

I think the more disappointing drop off has been Ty Johnson. I get he has 3rd down skills that gives him some role on the team, but he seems like a little bit of a waste. Ray Davis at least is on a rookie deal and has had moments as a backup getting 20 plus carries. Ty Johnson is at a blistering 1.6 yards per target

Cook looks amazing this year and imo is having his best stretch as a pro. His short yardage running and wiggle is actually crazy this year. You watch some Cook plays from 2022 and he looks like 2 different players. Don't look now, but he's leading the league in rushing. Subject to change when everyone else gets a third game

That and Josh basically not turning it over any more. Bad teams can hang with good teams with a couple TOs. Josh playing this way makes it a million times harder for the Bills to drop one that they shouldn't.

Me and the stat sheet guys are having the same problem I suppose. How would you grade his performance thus far? Worth every penny? Serious question

That’s not entirely accurate. TJ Watt has 2 QB hits, 2 TFLs and a pass defensed in one less game. If you think Beane and co are hunky dory about Greg’s performance thus far because of the circumstances surrounding it, so be it. I don’t agree but that’s what it’s all about!

It is 3 games. Gun to your head, are Beane and McD really pleased behind closed doors about Rousseau’s performance these 3 games?

I will add a disclaimer to my every post that that the Bills will win 11+ games and the AFCE and be generally pleasant to watch and that’s great. But I still think there’s some other flaws to discuss. Ultimately “the Bills are still really good, let’s not talk about anything negative” is not a fun or insightful conversation to have. I think folks really just view things differently. I love watching this version of the Bills and I really want them to win it all. I also love discussing players’ performances, and gleaning insight from maybe more knowledgeable folks. And really, the unfortunate part is that I think ALL viewers find it more engaging to discuss flaws vs discuss successes. If someone posts a sick Spencer Brown block, it’s awesome. It will get a bunch of likes. But there’s nothing really to say, besides “great play.” If someone posts a bad rep by a DB, there will be 4 pages of whose fault was where, and what was the responsibility and the leverage and etc etc. you are kinda fighting human nature, imo.

We are so bad on third down. I think there’s a bit of a perception issue, because in the last 6 years or so, the numbers of the Bills on third down haven’t looked nearly as bad as the way it “felt.” But now, it looks AND feels really really terrible in back to back years. And I know they were good last week, but Justin Fields ain’t an NFL QB and McD and co are good enough to make him look silly. Not sure what the answer is, to be honest.

So I totally think there’s an argument for it, sure. I guess that’s how drafting for need kinda works though. You can always justify it. But it ultimately ends up being bad process over the long haul.

Daniel Jones has had a great first 3 games. We will see if it continues. Based on his body of work, I don’t have a super high opinion of him, so I doubt it. Greg Rousseau has basically been invisible for the first 3 games. We will see if it continues. Based on his body of work, I don’t have a super high opinion of him either, but I thought he was better than his play this year would suggest. And now that he is presumably one of our best defensive players (and paid accordingly), I think the expectations surrounding his play during our SB window have risen as well. Whats wrong with those takes? Too scorching hot?

Hey listen, if Greggy goes on a tear later in the year, I’ll be the first to cheer for it. So far, his impact has been minimal compared to a Joey Bosa, agreed? So far, when Bosa hits FA next year, we have a massive need at EDGE rusher despite paying Greg Rousseau, agreed? it’s pretty telling that the defense of Rousseau’s performance the first 3 games is “it’s a long season” lol.

I know! 3 solo tackles on the year! 0 TFL. 0.5 sacks. And it only cost us $80M!!! Most teams would’ve given $120M for play like that

What’s very fun is that Greg Rousseau is currently our highest paid defender and our EDGE cornerstone for the foreseeable future and I’m not sure I’ve seen him yet this year. Nothing like another $80M locked in a position that we basically need to address again going into next year. Big baller!

This is all the definition of drafting for need btw. Which hey, we did NEED a boundary CB asap. Just like we did this year. Media master Beano has everyone believing he's coincidentally drafting massive team needs with his first pick as BPA

The NFL is rigging everything against the reigning MVP