jahnyc

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.

Very interesting question since he is a free agent after this season. Can AJ play RDE? Groot is entrenched at LDE and I expect that he will be signed to a long-term contract at some point. If AJ can play RDE, it may depend on what the Bills think for the timeline for Miller with Buffalo.

This will be good news if Milano didn't tear his ACL (or other ligaments) and does not need surgery for that. I assume if it is a broken bone in his leg that he will have a full recovery and return to form.

I don't think Poona will be the replacement for Jones. Poona hasn't been active for any games. Must be a reason for that.

Some post-game thoughts: 1. I doubt we will find any replacements, by trade or otherwise, that are upgrades at this point for the players lost for the season due to injury. If we could, not sure which position is most critical to prioritize. All seem critical, which is really unfortunate going forward. 2. Elam did not play well in coverage and missed tackles. Ingram replaced him late in the game. At this point, I am not optimistic that we will see improvement and there is a reason he has not been on the active roster in prior games. I don't think he will be with the Bills at the start of next season. 3. I don't think Cook is a three down back. He is not blazing fast around the edge and he is not a power back. He is a good receiver out of the backfield. I know he had good stats up until this game, but I think we can do better at RB1. 4. Bernard has been a pleasant surprise so far this season. Interesting how well Moss has played for Indy. Maybe Beane deserves less criticism for some of his recent picks, other than Elam (although it was clear that the Bills wanted McDuffie (KC), who has been great). 5. I have not understood the Kincaid pick, particularly given his use so far this season. Still think that a fast #3 WR was needed for the offense to open things up. Unfortunately, Harty does not seem to be that guy. 6. The injuries so far this season are incredibly depressing. We only have played five games and we have lost three top defensive players for the season and maybe longer. 7. I think McD has done a great job with the defense overall. Given the injuries today and the players that missed the game due to injury, I thought the unit played about as well as they could have under the circumstances. 8. The offensive play calling was poor today, or there was poor execution, or both. The offense continues to be frustrating the way it is so up and down. The offense was the reason we lost today.

We are five games into the season and we already have lost two of our top defensive players (White and Milano) for the year (if not longer), and maybe a third (Jones). The defense will be negatively impacted for the rest of the season and the offense will need to be prolific to overcome these injuries. The offense wasn't today.

This was on the offense today and the play calling was just terrible. Penalties also hurt. Really can't blame the defense for this. With all of the injuries and how often our offense failed on their drives, I thought they hung in there pretty well . Elam does not look like a player. I now understand why he hasn't been suiting up.

Looked bad to me. Also seemed to miss some tackles.

Yes, it is a great thing that we now have Josh as our QB. I remember the times before Kelly and before Josh, and it was depressing. I know that we need to get to the Super Bowl with Josh, but it does feel like another golden age with the consistency of winning, overall media coverage and global fan support and recognition.

Wish him a good recovery. Also had him on my fantasy team. Who replaces him? Is it Palmer or Johnston?

Cook is listed as questionable for Sunday. I have not seen for what reason.

I will be interested to see how much the Bills use 12 personnel today. It was used 66% of the time against the Jets. The offense may need an adjustment period, but I am not sure I fully understand the necessity for such a significant transition in the offense given its overall strength over the last number of seasons. I assume that this is primarily the result of wanting to utilize Kincaid in the offense, but he is a rookie and his blocking seems to something of a project. I am certainly no expert on the various personnel packages used on offense, but does the use 12 personnel to this degree make sense at this point of Kincaid's development? Do we have the right RB, offensive line and TEs to take advantage of the potential mismatches that may be created for the running game as a result of using this package? I don't have the sense that the strength of our offensive line is run blocking. Also, I have thought that Josh's ability to improvise and buy more time are some of his greatest strengths. Would using a strong WR3 be more consistent with those skills?

DT and S also will be big needs (I think Oliver is the only DT signed for next season and Hyde is a free agent after this season).

I am getting a little tired of hearing as an excuse that the Jets defense is great. Our offense is supposed to be great, and I feel like our offense played scared last night. To be great, an offense needs to be able to play more than one style. We did not show that we can be a physical offense last night, both in terms of protection and the running game, and until we do, the results will be the same as the second half of last season.

One game and the first game, but something was wrong with the offense starting with the GB game and it continues now into another season. I don't see that the supposed upgrades made any difference on offense, but it is hard to know whether this is Josh, Dorsey, the o-line or a lack of playmakers on offense, particularly at WR. A combination of all of these things, but I have to think that without Josh, even when he plays poorly, this offense would be bad every game and all of the time.

Definitely on Josh and he needs to be smarter with the ball, but Dorsey had the whole offseason to prepare for the Jets and I thought the game plan on offense was a mess. Josh only seemed to be looking for Diggs, or maybe Diggs was the only WR getting open, but we didn't upgrade our WRs after last season when it was obvious that another WR option was needed. The Harty swing passes didn't do much, and I don't think Harty caught a pass from the slot. Hope that Dorsey has more creativity in future game plans than what he showed tonight.