Billl

With Star, 13.5 PPG and 87 rushing YPG allowed. Without him, 27 PPG and 120 rushing YPG allowed. He absolutely makes a difference. Even if you waive the numbers away due to sample size, you’re talking about a defense that already has depth issues. They played 19 games last season and are hoping to play 21 games this season. His absence puts a lot of stress on the D line, as those snaps have to come from somewhere. I think it’s clear via the eye test that you’re a better run defense with him. If he remains out, teams like New Orleans, and the Patriots (twice) are going to game plan to run power sets all day. Indy ran 44 times out of 66 plays. Belichick may run 65 out of 66. That’s a big ask of a defensive line to go without Star when they’ve already had very few snaps from Basham and Epenesa. You don’t want Basham playing inside or Epenesa at DE against power sets anyway, so your options without Star dry up pretty quickly. You become predictable, and that is a problem with 4 games coming up in the next 5 weeks against Payton, Belichick, Arians, and Brady. Buffalo can roll their helmets out and beat the Falcons, Panthers, and Jets so they’re going to the playoffs. What they do in the other 4 games will determine their road when they get there. If it’s me, I want Star out there giving me 35 snaps a game and more if needed.

This is a talented team hitting a wall. I still think they're the biggest threat to unseat Kansas City in the AFC, but they do have some issues. There has been a ton of draft capital spent on defensive players and RBs in recent years that hasn't really delivered and it's putting stress on the rest of the players. Boogie, Groot, Edmunds, Epenesa, and (to a lesser extent recently) haven't produced anywhere near their draft slots. AJ in particular looks like the most easily blocked player on the field. The team just looks physically worn out, and the Colts are maybe the most physical offense in the league which makes for a rough matchup. They're too talented not to rebound, but I do think you're going to see teams try to play smash mouth football against them fight forward, so you'd better get used to it.

The Bills are a good team in a slump. Today’s game makes getting the 1 seed more difficult, but that’s about it. Lot of football left to be played, and things can turn around in a hurry. 4 weeks ago, Kansas City was left for dead after being embarrassed by the Titans. Now they look like the clear favorite in the AFC. As a Chiefs fan, Buffalo is still the one team I don’t want to see in the playoffs.

Young QBs have never seen the cover 2 shell that's suddenly back en vogue. We'll see who can figure it out.

That’s such a lame attitude to take. He earned his status by being great. He’s not Kim Kardashian who is famous for being famous. If he complained that valets were joy riding in his car, would that be no big deal because that’s what it’s like having an awesome car? Leave the guy alone when he’s out and about.

Good luck y’all. Hope for no injuries. Have a feeling this one isn’t going my way, but I’ll watch just in case.

I put a couple of large bets on Buffalo 2 seasons ago for them to go over the win total and to win the division outright. Started hanging out here during that season. I read the Chiefs board but don’t post. There’s some good football talk, but it gets drowned out by alt-right extremists who can’t discuss a Left Tackle’s performance without turning it into a political poop slinging contest. 🤮. Shame because it used to be a great board. This is a better place for football discussion, so you’re stuck with me. Also, we’re your biggest hurdle to reach the Super Bowl, and you might be our biggest hurdle, so most of the conversation is relevant to my interests. I try to keep the trolling to a minimum. Some days I’m more successful than others.

I agree, and the Bills aren’t even my team. Enjoy the ride, guys. You’ve got a really good squad that played a mediocre week 1 game.

What happened in the game to make you think screens would work? Pittsburgh wasn't blitzing. They were getting home with their front four and dropping 7. Screens don't work against that.

The talk about blueprints is way overblown. There isn't a defensive coordinator in the league who doesn't know that being able to drop 7 into coverage and still dominate with your front four is a recipe for success. Being able to pull it off is another matter altogether. This is a classic case of Jimmies and Joes vs Xs and Os. Yesterday, Pittsburgh executed better. Josh missed some throws that he has to make against great defenses, and he continued to display horrible ball security. He's a hell of a player, but teams can absolutely get inside his head. It happened against Kansas City, and it happened again yesterday. Josh made some great plays, but he left some on the field as well. The only genuine concern I would have about the game is that it was at home. QBs get rattled in the NFL, especially week 1. That it happened in front of a sympathetic crowd is a little alarming because 70,000 drunks screaming at him would have made things a lot worse. That said, this is nothing new. We've all seen him go through this before, and he's always managed to bounce back. Buffalo is going to win the division by multiple games. The only thing this loss really hurts is their chances to get the bye.

Don't be surprised if you see him October 10th.

Davis makes plays his measurables day he shouldn't be able to make. Impressive

Kansas City. In the two games between the teams last year, KC was better in all 3 phases. I don't see how you can now say the Bills are suddenly the better team when the last time Buffalo laced them up they got slapped around and claim objectivity. The Bills swept 3 teams last year. Not one poster here would predict any of those teams to suddenly be better than Buffalo. The Bills are absolutely title contenders, but trying to pretend that the Bills are better than the Chiefs because of what happened during the Superbowl is silly.

Downtown stadiums are great for baseball and terrible for football.

He is a fine backup in his current situation because he's had a full off-season to study the playbook. Nothing he's ever done suggests that he could take over a 6-2 Green Bay team if Rodgers breaks his collarbone and go 4-4. There are better options for a team in that position. Rivers or Fitz would be great options. Trubisky isn't the guy who comes to anyone's mind when looking for a guy who can learn the basics of brand a new offense in a week. He may have higher long term upside, but that doesn't matter to a team looking for a plug and play guy as a bandaid.

Why would Mitch be a good option for a team in that situation? That team would want someone whose walked into similar situations before. Foles, Fitzpatrick, Mariota, Dalton, etc. would all be better options and cost basically nothing. Even if they have less potential overall, they can handle walking into a new team and getting up to speed quickly. Mitch hasn't exactly shown himself to be a quick study. He's a good fit for his current role.

That's way, way more than anything would give up for MT...which is literally nothing.

Look at Peyton Manning. The guy broke his neck then came back and won a Superbowl and an MVP. If broken necks are so dangerous then why was he even better after his injury? On the other hand, you've got people like Nicole Simpson who never even wore a facemask yet that didn't save her neck. Look, I'm not saying you should be forced to play dirty. I just think players should be able to decide for themselves whether they choose to follow the mask rules.

Mahomes wears pads and has an offensive line to keep him healthy. What's the point of having pads and blockers if you're still going to ban something that has a 99.75% chance of not breaking your neck? Have you even done your own research, or do you just trust what ever GODell tells you?

Given that this is a football board and political discussions are banned, I thought it was pretty obviously about facemasks.

Everyone knows that the NFL has a rule against grabbing the opposing team's facemasks. It results in a 15 yard penalty. Supposedly the thought process behind the rule is player safety. According to the league, players are at risk of sustaining serious neck injuries if they are jerked by the facemask. That sounds reasonable enough until you dig a little deeper into the facts of the situation. I did some research and found that nearly 400 such penalties are called on average each season. But did you know that only about one player per season suffers a broken neck? You read that right. Out of 400 "dangerous" plays, there's only one broken neck per season. The odds of having your mask grabbed without breaking your neck is about 99.75%. What's more, is players can break their necks in other ways unrelated to facemask grabbing. So why then do we have the facemask rule if it's not really about safety you may ask... CONTROL The league implemented this bogus rule under the pretense of player safety in order to get players to comply. Since then, they've added additional rules about not hitting with the crown of the helmet, not hitting the QB low, etc. But if pads work, why do we need all these rules? It makes it much harder to tackle when you can't grab a facemask or launch yourself at a WR coming across the middle, but you nearly never see players die as a result of these "dirty" plays. I'm not saying that players should have to start spearing QBs or swinging opponents around by their facemasks. I'm saying that each player should do their own research as to how dangerous it really is and decide for themselves. If they decide that the risks are overblown, then I support their right to do their jobs they way they see fit. Whether you agree with them or not, you should support players who don't just blindly follow these tyrannical mask rules like sheep.

Hard to imagine a team in the Jets position would trade away future picks for a 34 year old whose production has fallen off a cliff.

Would you want to raise your hand and ask "What's wrong with Tommy Sweeney? Is Tommy Sweeney okay?" No, I don't believe you would.

If there's one fanbase that should have learned this lesson by now, it's the Bills. Nothing is given to you in this league. Beane has done a ton to make the team a contender, but there's still work to be done. The one thing I think he still needs to prove is that he can add talent without using premium picks/resources. To date, almost all of the premium players have been acquired with high first round picks (Allen, White, Edmunds, Oliver, Diggs via trade). It'll be interesting to see if he can find gold in the later rounds.

No team can pay everyone, but the Chiefs are in very solid salary cap shape. Hell, they offered $23 million a year for Trent Williams before trading for Orlando Brown. There's still plenty of room to be had, and a big part of that is because they've hit on so many draft picks. There are three rookies starting on the offensive line alone. You can pay big money to veterans as long as you refill the pipeline with cheap talent. There are only 3 starters on offense who aren't on their rookie contracts. Relying on well run organizations to implode under the weight of the salary cap is a losing proposition. The Mahomes contract for example is a huge asset, not a liability. Yes he's going to make a ton of money, but so will half the QBs in the league...and most of them don't belong in the same league as he does. If and when the Chiefs come back to the pack, it will be the result of injuries, poor drafting, etc. It won't be due to giving big contacts to all the homegrown superstars they keep drafting.