FireChans

Shortening the game by emphasizing the run =‘s less plays =‘s less passes =‘s less numbers. Its really no surprise. Josh Allen threw the ball 483 times last year. Do you know how far back in Tom Brady’s career you have to go to find a comparable # of attempts? 2016, when he played 12 games and then 2004! Everybody eats was really nobody eats. It worked, because Josh was more awesome than ever and because the role players are well suited for their roles. But it’s not a situation for anyone to put up numbers. And when Dalton Kincaid can’t stay on the field for health reasons, and is unlikely to grow more in his role because he’s already gonna be 26 next season, and isn’t as good of a blocker or as physical as Knox, it’s not surprising he’s disappointing.

Meh. Not to me. part of that is usage. It’s not a coincidence that most YAC eaters live close to the LOS. it’s the same reason folks got all excited that half of Kincaid’s “YAC” abilities because half his yardage was YAC in 2023. When you are making a living on short passes designed to get you 3-4 yards of YAC, that number is going to go up. Put another way, Brian Thomas Jr’s 562 YAC yards on an average depth of target of 11.4 yards is much more impressive to me than Shakir’s 597 on an ADOT of 5.5.

They may have brought more heat. I don’t know if they stuff Lamar at the 20 doing so. What I do KNOW, for a FACT, is they drove 88 yards so quickly, they left us 1.5 minutes left lol

Maybe. what I wouldn’t say is Baltimore was incapable of getting 99 yards when we have proof they got 88. 11 yards ain’t making or breaking.

They drove 88 yards with the game on the line immediately after.

I guess if there were 32 Shakir’s, and they were on each team, how many teams would think “Shakir is the most dangerous guy we have with the ball in his hands?” Some teams? Yes. This Bills team? Definitely. Teams like Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Dallas, Detroit? No.

Shakir is really good. He has an elite wiggle imo when it comes to getting some extra yards or slipping past the first defender. I don’t think of him as an elite YAC guy still. Elite YAC guys to me are the guys with the threat to take a crosser or quick slant for an extra 10 or 20 or 30 yards. 1 play TD threats with the ball in their hands. Chase, Lamb, even Deebo before he fell apart would qualify as elite YAC imo. It’s kind of a philosophical discussion imo. Is the big play YAC better than the death by a thousand cuts YAC? I think there’s a decent argument either way. I would lean big play but if you wanna say Shakir is one of the best in the NFL when it comes to turning a 2 yard pass into a 8-12 yard play, I wouldn’t disagree.

Do you think anything of his YAC and the way he’s used? For example, Achane actually had more YAC than Shakir. Do you think that number may be more of usage factor than being the third best /elite YAC guy in 2024?

Bobby wouldn't have been fired with a disappointingly mediocre offense. He was fired because their offense was legitimately terrible.

??? The Texans were 19th in points and 22nd in yards. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/htx/2024.htm They were a disgusting 25th in yards per drive and 24th in points per drive. 20th on 3rd downs, and 26th in RZ. They were terrible.

Waiting also has some risk. The NFL is hard to predict. Sure, Joe Brady running it back with Josh feels safe. It probably is. But the Commanders job opened for Ben Johnson, he turned his nose up to it and they are in an NFCCG with a QB who appears well on his way to franchise status. Now Johnson may have a good opportunity in Chicago, but if both jobs were free tomorrow, the Commanders is the far better one. The Saints have an uphill climb for sure, but they are willing to spend and I don't think their ownership meddles (it is kind of dysfunctional). Personally, if I was a good OC with multiple offers, I would pick a team willing to spend money that is going to give me a year or two leash to reset things. If the Saints want instant playoffs, with their finances and Derek Carr, I would have no interest. If they would allow you to reset a year, take you medicine, and target a highly drafted QB, I'd jump on it.

They got to the divisional round and lost to the defending champs. This was about the Texans offense being downright bad. Not falling short of a conference championship.

Correct. a lot of the folks criticizing this move probably didn’t watch a lot of Texans games. Their offense was downright bad, and Stroud looked worse even pre- massive WR injuries. They scored 30+ points just twice in the regular season. They had that Ken Dorsey feeling of 1 very good offensive game, and then several slogs in a row. Their playoff games were much of the same. Before Herbert’s meltdown, their offense did next to nothing for the first half. And that “barely cross midfield then punt” offensive performance vs KC was their season in a nutshell. 20th in 3rd% and 26th in redzone% tells you all you need to know about their playcaller. my take is that Slowik got that Shanny bump that all of his former pupils get, then when good teams get wind of what you are trying to do and can stop it, the good ones can adjust and the mediocre ones can’t.

Weird hire. Kinda see the Raiders needing a culture reset guy, but feels like they are gonna have a different HC 3 years from now. Maybe they will pick Pete's chosen successor?

This news came out after the Tampa OC said “no thanks.” It’s a disaster.

So Jacksonville They fire their HC, try to conduct interviews with good HC candidates with the contingency that Baakle stays (which of course limits their pool considerably) then fire Baalke after missing out on everyone lol. Brutal. Jags gonna Jag.

You’re not alone. A lot of folks think what an Amari Cooper adds to the pass game is more valuable than what a Mack Hollins adds to the run game. Most of the NFL agrees too, which is why Amari is approaching $140M in career earnings and Mack is approaching $11M in career earnings. So when you see the Bills continue to heavily feature Mack, even after trading a significant day 2 asset for Amari Cooper after demonstrating just how badly we needed a boundary WR threat, you start to wonder why. I get not throwing to Amari all the time, philosophically. I don’t get his snap count. Personally, I think there’s three options: #1 - There’s something else going on with Amari that is being kept from the fans. You don’t trade a third round pick midseason for a guy to barely play. We traded similar comp for Douglas last year and he basically was locked in as our starter for 2 seasons. Whether it’s a nagging injury or what is anyone’s guess. #2 - the Bills think that Mack Hollins/Keon Coleman is more valuable playing snap to snap than Amari. To this I would ask, why trade for him? I would also think they are, respectfully, wrong. #3 - Amari is kinda washed. Maybe all he had in the tank was a couple good games left and he’s been really bad in practice.

Everything happens to every team. Even great players sometimes fail to separate. Great OC’s call bad plays. Bad defenses can force TO’s and good defenses can fail force TO’s. The difference at the NFL level is the frequency of which those things occur. To my eye, there wasn’t a lot of separation by any Bill on Sunday. It was eerily similar to the last meeting with Baltimore (except on the defensive end where we managed to flip the script and forced Lamar to make some mistakes and play from behind). The idea for trading for Amari Cooper made a lot of sense to shore up our weaknesses on that front, but we have seen them go away from that more and more. He had 53 targets in 6 games with Cleveland and 36 in 10 games with Buffalo. I don’t know what the deal is. I’m resistant to blame Brady because he did use him to good effect to start. I almost wonder if there’s a behind the scenes thing or hidden injury thing going on. Ultimately, I’m hopeful it matters less this week because while KC has a better team defense than the Ravens, I don’t think they have coverage guys on the level of Hamilton/Humphrey/Wiggins. They have McDuffie, but as only 1 guy with that level of talent, his impact is lessened imo. He can’t cover everybody. The way Hamilton was flying around to stymie even the quick WR screen was probably the best individual DB play we will face the rest of the postseason.

Correct. Even back in Lamar's first MVP season, the engine that drove them was their running game. Flashback to 2019, the Bills held the future MVP and his offense to 257 yards, 139 passing yards and 118 rushing yards on 33 attempts. Now, we lost that game, in large part because Josh wasn't the QB he is today, but the formula has always been there. And Lamar is a MUCH better passer than he was back in 2019. But for whatever reason, when it gets cold in the postseason, they can be had living and dying by Lamar's arm. They doubled down on taking things off Lamar's shoulders with Henry but that's a mistake. They are mirrors to the Bills in a way. They need to invest more successfully to elevate his passing game, because that's where they are going need that impact come January.

I want it on record, I’m invoking “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”

Some. Very often you see those types of passes either broken up, tipped, or picked as well.

It’s Tuesday. By Sunday, you will be frothing at the mouth.

Ohio state fans ready to fire Day after the Michigan debacle to celebrating this win is almost too much to bear

How’s that for positive, Mr?

He actually thinks McD is terrible and will go to any length to annihilate him on any given post, even when it borders on annoying and completely unproductive. Yin and yang. You guys complete the board.