jahnyc

Have to say that Cook dropping the pass that would would have gone for a TD changed the complexion of the first quarter, and maybe the game.

Some thoughts below: 1. This should have been the year for the Bills to win the AFC championship. The AFC has been not as strong as many thought going into the season. The Bengals are likely done because of the injury to Burrows, the Chiefs are weaker offensively and better on defense, the Dolphins have not beat any good teams, and the Browns lost Watson. I think the Ravens and Jags are good but not great, and the Steelers have been lucky. Chargers have a lot talent but can't get it together. Seems relatively wide open this year, but the Bills may not make the playoffs. 2. I have no idea what is going on with JA, if anything. Weird that there seems to be a narrative developing that he does not prepare enough or that he is emotionally checked out. Never would have expected this stuff from him, and I hope that it is not true. His demeanor has seemed off, at least with his interviews (post-game and Dorsey). 3. If McD gets fired, does Beane depart as well even if Pegula wants him to stay? My sense is that McD and Beane are a package deal (they both go if one goes), but I would hope that Beane will stay if McD is let go. Wonder what the contracts provide? 4. Injuries have had a significant impact on the Bills this season, but I hope that Joseph and Douglas will be at least adequate replacements for the remainder of the season (and I think they will be). The loss of Milano has hurt, and it will continue to for the rest of the season. 5. With all the negative stuff that has happened so far this season, Bernard's play has been a bright spot. Many seemed to think he was a draft bust, but he has played exceptionally well and I am looking forward to the combination of a healthy Milano and Bernard next season. He seems to have all of the things that were missing with the play of Edmunds. Another surprise this season has been the play of Dawkins. He has played much better than last season and much better than I expected. 6. Weird that there is so much drama associated with the Bills. The Bengals were 5-4 before their loss last night to the Ravens, and I don't think I have heard any soap opera kind of stuff out of Cincinnati. 7. I think we need a lot more than Diggs at WR. A vertical threat and a WR that gets YAC would make a big difference for the offense and JA.

Hard to characterize McD's comments as weird or bizarre other than "I have my own thoughts, but I won’t go there right now." That statement is unhelpful to JA, the team and the fans. JA has seemed different this year in terms of his demeanor. There has been a ton of pressure on him the entire time that he has been here, and maybe it is catching up to him, particularly when you only have Diggs to help on offense to relieve even some small amount of the pressure. Make no mistake. The City, the team, the coaches and the fans need JA a lot more than he needs us.

A couple of quick points. 1. The injuries to our starters on defense are awful and incredibly significant. We likely will be missing six starters on defense when we play the Broncos (Jones, Milano, White, Hyde, Benford, and Bernard), with Rousseau and Floyd nursing nagging injuries. If we can hold the Broncos to under 21 points, it will be a miracle. There should be no expectation that the defense will perform well for the remainder of the season, and the offense will need to step up and be consistently strong to fill this gap. 2. I recall that prior to the drafts in 2022 and 2023, information filtered out that the Bills really liked McDuffie (KC) and Addison (Vikings). I now understand why, and it would have made a significant difference to this team if we had been able to draft both of them. 3. I like Cook, but I am not convinced that he is a RB1. Really good as a pass catcher out of the backfield, but he does not seem to have break away speed or the ability to run through tackles. His blocking on pass plays also is not great.

I believe that Torrence was the lowest rated member of the o-line against Cinci (with a very low rating of 50.5 by PFF). Not sure if he is hitting the rookie wall or something else, but our upgrades at OG have not been meaningful, which may be a part of our inability to have a consistent rushing attack.

It just seems to me that a lot of the guys surrounding JA on offense are just okay (not terrible, not great), other than Diggs. Sure, the offensive play calling has been bad at times (maybe far too often), but the offense is way too dependent on JA playing at a very high level all of the time (too make up for the deficiencies in the offense).

This shouldn't even be a discussion. JA is the most talented QB we ever have had. He really is a generational talent. As to to what this thread has become in terms of our prospects for this season, I am not optimistic about the remainder of the season. The injuries keep piling up on defense and many of them are of the variety that will not allow the players to return this season (Milano, White and Jones). Losing to the Pats and the Jets (with Wilson at QB) and what should have been a loss to the Giants informs my view.

His progress seems to have stopped this year after the injury to his foot, which apparently he can play with but with pain. Seems that this might be what is affecting his recent play after a strong start to the season.

Does seem like we are taking a step back this year, some of which is due to injuries, particularly on defense. What is most disappointing is the lack of consistency from the offense from drive to drive and game to game. First drive looked great, and then we seemed to revert to the dreadful play calling that we have seem much of the season with a bunch of running plays on first down that get minimal yards. We do also need more playmakers on offense. It can't be only Allen and Diggs. Kincaid is a nice addition, but we clearly need more at RB and WR. Not optimistic about this offseason or next season. We will need to make cuts and also let our players with expiring contracts leave because we will not be able to afford to re-sign them (i.e., Davis, Espenesa, D. Jones, Floyd and Hyde) We also will have little or no flexibility to be active in the player free agency next season.

I thought he just looked old.

Elam is a potential example of the high cost of missing on first round picks. We traded a 4th round pick to move up in the first round to select him and we needed to use a 3rd round pick to find a replacement for him this year (mitigated by receiving a 5th round pick back). We also need to consider the opportunity costs of selecting Elam instead of selecting a more productive player with that pick. I understand that Benford has been able to hold down the CB2 spot and the acquisition of Douglas really is to replace White, but it would be a reasonable expectation for Elam to be at least be CB2 at this point (and not inactive for a number of games in his second year).

Can we trade Elam this season? Not sure the cap ramifications will allow us to do so.

I have Cook as one of my starting RBs on my fantasy football team. We can't let this happen.

I am not ready to blame the coaching staff at this point. Maybe the guy is just not good or lacks the ability to pick-up and play in a system. I recall that there were concerns with his tackling coming out of college, and he does seem to have a tendency to grab and hold receivers, as evidenced in both training camp and during the season, even with his limited playing time. Whatever is going on, it is not good. We need our first round picks to be, at a minimum, solid contributors, particularly in their second season with the team.

He is a captain. I don't think they trade him even if they make a trade for another WR.

I am usually an optimist, but I think the injuries on defense are too much to overcome. Maybe our offense shows better in some games going forward, but it is not consistent enough to outweigh a weakened defense in all games, particularly since we will be facing the tougher part of our schedule.

Some thoughts below: 1. Not sure I understand the repeated up the middle running plays by the Bills using Cook (not just this week, but last week as well). Is he the right type of back for this? Are the current players that we have on our o-line the type of players that will wear down a defense? Is Cook that type of player? There was no creativity in our play calling on offense in general, and specifically our rush offense. No rushes outside, no WR sweeps and no screens to take the pressure off of JA. 2. The D. Jones injury has had a negative impact on the defense, but this happened at the end of last season as well. Overall, our rush defense is poor. I believe McD and Beane knew that an adequate back-up was needed, but P. Ford is not the answer, and the defense will struggle because of the failure to address this need in a meaningful way. 3. Why is Kincaid only running short routes? If he is being used as the second or third option for passing plays, why is his usage being limited in this way? 4. I am a supporter of McD. but it is disconcerting that the Bills have been unprepared and out coached for three games in a row. We should be 3-4 at this point of the season after completing the easier part of our schedule. 5. I am pessimistic about seeing improvement any time soon. We hit the same rough patch last year with our offense and whatever the problems are, they have not been remediated. Our defense played poorly today, and this was against a team that had been struggling to score points and move the ball. The effects of losing White, Milano and Jones seem to be too much for our defense to overcome.

Not clear whether he is actually available, but Jaylon Johnson from the Bears would be a good CB pick-up.

For 1), does this mean that the first read is not open (at least that is what Allen thinks)?

I am just thankful that Bernard has played well so far this season (and clearly he is not a bust, which many on this board feared). We can hope for Williams to improve throughout this season as he gets more experience so that he is at least an adequate (or more than adequate) replacement for Milano. Evaluating our recent drafts has become more complicated with the play of Bernard and others (such as Moss). I do like our most recent draft with Kincaid, Torrence and Williams all performing well as rookie players.

I would love to see Adams in a Bills uniform, but I think the most pressing needs are on defense with a quality DT and CB being at the top of the list.

I am certainly unhappy about the injuries. Hard to have Milano, Jones and White all out for the season, particularly since they are three of my favorite players on the team. Wish the offense would show some consistency, and I am concerned that we saw similar issues with the offense at different points last season. Team should be 5-1 given the strength of the teams that they have played so far, so 4-2 is a bit disappointing.

Giants also get the ball to start the second half.

I think opposing teams will find a lot to exploit with our LBs and CBs. Benford, Williams and Bernard are inexperienced and while I like Jackson, he does seem to be a step late on many plays. Our DL will help, and getting pressure on the QB in passing situations will be even more critical now. I think the loss of Jones will hurt significantly with our run defense and I don't see a reserve defensive lineman on the roster that can fill that role.

I don't know if there will be a player or players available to the Bills that they would trade for, but this year does feel like the year to do something given our injuries and a conference that may not be as strong as anticipated before the season began. The Chiefs don't look invincible and the Bengals are off to a slow start. Miami is good, but we have beaten them once so far. Even with our injuries, I still think there is a path to winning the conference and getting to the Super Bowl.