P Riv

No idea how you could pull delusional out of that post. Its probably beyond explanation....

Pretty much every "2021 NFL O-line rankings" hit I got in a google search has them in the top 10, which we are not. Top three hits. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-line-units-entering-2021-season https://thehuddle.com/2021/06/25/2021-offensive-line-rankings/ https://www.profootballnetwork.com/best-offensive-lines-in-the-nfl-ranked/3/ This site has them at #2 https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/06/which-2021-nfl-teams-will-have-the-best-and-worst-offensive-lines/ I did the same type of search for the other position groups, which is where I came up with what I stated previously. As a Bills fan, I feel you have to look for outside opinions to balance out the internal bias.

Its not my personal opinion per se, its what I found at most sites around the web. Their O-line is rated at least 10 spots ahead of ours. Their RB group is rated higher also. As far as defense goes, all of their position groups are rated higher as is their defense overall. Some groups are really close, but overall this seems to be the common outlook: https://sportsnaut.com/nfl-defense-rankings/

As I recall the running joke during that period.... Which QB had the most home wins in Buffalo? Tom Brady..... 🤪

There's many scenarios, but what I keep coming back to is that we have a superstar QB1 and WR1, solid WR's overall, and NE is better at every other position group on both sides of the ball. All of our eggs are in one basket (passing game, JA17 being a superstar). To me, thats pretty one dimensional and fragile. If NE gets somewhere between decent and "good" QB play, they will be a very tough out. I expect to win the division, but its going to be tough and a lot can go wrong.

Relevant? They don't need us on a Bills board for that. People outside of NE are picking them to win the Div: Which team wins the AFC East this season? Which team wins the AFC East this season? | First Take - YouTube (edit-link not working???) Newton is likely to be better than last year, he's already showing that in camp apparently. I know in our Bills mafia world that 2020 is Josh's floor and 2020's stats are Newton's ceiling though, right? lol This brings back warm memories of August homerism on BBMB, where Brady was too old to play about 10 years ago. Just you wait they said. Its going to be a great season, we're going to win a tough division and the past doesn't mean squat.

The first measuring stick of whether or not Jones is worth anything is whether or not he can beat out a guy who is a shadow of what he once was. With that defense they've built and solid running game, all they need him to do is not turn it over and distribute the ball within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. They literally used the same game plan 20 years ago to great success. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess, but I'd bet it doesn't create dynasty 3.0

Agreed on all. I haven't seen it pointed out yet, but to me the most obvious coaching issue was the overall gameplan going in to all 4 match ups. If you have a smaller, fast defense that is going against the road grader O-lines of the NFC East... WHY TF do you run a no huddle offense and leave your defense out there???????????? The Bills O-line was just as good, just as big and just as capable of smash mouth as the NFC East teams and Levy couldn't identify the obvious. The obvious being in the Giants game, we got in the red zone and ran a conventional offense with a FB (Mueller) and deliberately rammed it down the Giants throats and they couldn't do a damn thing about it. We should have beat them at their own game and forced them to pass to keep up. The Redskins game....They were on a different level of physicality than us, not talent. They punched us in the mouth and we complained rather than punch back harder. Again, coaching and preparation. Go to YouTube, see for yourselves.

I concur, maybe it was at some point, but not in my last few visits. Way too much vinegar taste in their hot sauce, totally turned me off. Its seems cliche for natives to say that Anchor Bar is all reputation and no substance, but their wings are better than Duffs. Best Buffalo wings I ever had were actually Saratoga at a place called "Druthers" (micro-brew).

ESPN has a compelling argument for White and Bruce isn't even part of it. http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=whitlock/041230

Charlie the Butcher!

The best wings in Buffalo is the worst reason to miss Beef on Weck. You can get wings anywhere in the country and beyond, but true blue Buffalo Beef on Weck??? Tell out of town people before they get average wings somewhere and miss the good stuff. Jus sayin.

I like when their LB body slams Jim Mcmahon, otherwise not interested. I used to like when they played TB back in the day and Pete Axthelm called it the "Bay of Pigs" game. lol

Not ignoring your point, its just that I went and watched a lot of the games in question on Youtube last night just for fun. I'm going with what my eyes told me and not empty stats from some guy on a forum. NE shut down the run, tried mostly successfully to take away the deep ball and appeared to double Kelce. The last 5 out of 6 times they played KC they've shut them down in the first half like no other team, that's called a trend. It was pointed out during one of the games by Jim Nantz actually. An article that lays it out nicely: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article246149130.html Linked the wrong article: " Luckily for the Chiefs, that was enough to get the victory, but that doesn’t change the fact that New England’s defense played about as well as anybody previously had against Mahomes. Only five times with Mahomes as starting quarterback, the Chiefs have gone an entire half without scoring a touchdown. After Monday night, three of those instances have come against the Patriots. That makes it fair to ask how exactly New England was able to play that well against the Chiefs offense. The answer is really a mixture of talent and scheme, as well as Bill Belichick’s familiarity with Andy Reid." https://slantroute.substack.com/p/how-new-england-slowed-down-patrick

Exactly, its a somewhat delicate situation when you get all of the right people in the right scheme and reach a certain balance of talent. There's a dynamic that develops when you get all the right chess pieces. I think if the run game develops we'll see a drop if the passing game too, buts that's actually a good thing.

Fair points, but I still thinks its scheme. NE almost completely shut down the run, took away the deep ball in the first half, held the Chiefs to 9 pts in the 1st half and built themselves a lead. KC stayed in it with a few big plays, otherwise NE's defense held them down pretty well. KC got a 97 yard kick return to set up a 3 yd drive for a TD, then there was a 67yd pass/run to a RB and a 75 yard pass to Hill. Aside from 2 big plays, KC went the whole game with 300 yards of offense. I watched a few minutes on Youtube, it looks like the Chiefs were on the ropes most of the time against that defensive scheme.

You left out the number of pass attempts vs. run attempts. The production wasn't as bad as you portray it, but it was bad and Brady could not possibly have willed them into the playoffs (which I think is why he left actually). Had he stayed and sucked it up for a year, I think they'd be contenders this year. I'd say he did ok though...

I checked 2021 O-line ranks and I didn't realize that Pittsburgh was ranked near the bottom. No wonder Big Ben got leaner and "faster", he may be running for his life. Maybe that 11-0 start last year was a mirage.

Ya, what's his name, Ernie something... He was replaced by failed HC Patricia. Maybe he sucks at Intel too.

Fair enough, I see your point.

A sloppy game for sure, NE had 4 turnovers and were within one score early in the 4th. Whenever they play Mahomes they are able to hold the Chiefs down better than anyone else (aside from TB obviously). So what's the deal with that? Its obviously scheme, so why can't we template it? They don't need to be smash mouth, just balanced. Injuries derailed their momentum last year and we're getting them week one, so I expect they will be healthy and pretty potent offensively. Thus the tough test on opening day comment.

What changed? The Steelers have been talking about getting back to the run game, balance, etc. all offseason. Then they drafted Najee Harris with pick 24, 6'2' 230lbs, 4.45 sec 40. type of guy. I'd say their planning to run it, a lot. There's that and also the fact that they don't lack talent and were averaging over 30 points a game before injuries, etc. caught up to them after starting 11-0.

The whole Defense concerns me, personnel, scheme, all of it. We have a championship caliber offense and special teams, but the D is our handicap. This article is telling: https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/scoring-defense-the-key-stat-for-super-bowl-contention The severely overmatched Patriots held Mahomes and Co. to 17 points last year and probably would have won with even decent QB play. All because of how they played the Chiefs offense from a scheme standpoint. Why can't we crack that code???? https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20201005_NE@KC/ That and they ran the ball all over them...

Considering how little we did to improve the D overall that's pretty concerning.

True, I was more or less thinking about the shoot out scenario.