BigAl2526

Is there anything harder to predict that a kicker's future importance? I've forgotten the name of the kicker Buffalo drafted one year (Gary something or other). He was 0 fer in preseason and Buffalo felt forced to release him. He signed shortly thereafter with Pittsburgh and had a Hall of Fame career. Bass is struggling right now. It's probably a mental thing. Who knows when or if he'll snap out of it. Sometimes a team change will help. Same thing with Havrisik. Maybe with a fresh start on a new team he'll be better. There are no guarantees though.

His personality is the opposite of Diggs. Diggs was a solid contributor as a Bill and I'm happy for the time he's been with the team. I won't miss the drama.

He's been solid. No, he doesn't have the instincts and understanding of the nuances of the defense that Milano has developed over the years of his career as a Bill. I'm OK with that. If Milano comes back healthy Buffalo has great depth at the Will spot. If Milano is done, Buffalo is still in decent shape moving forward. They'll just need to develop a new player to back up Williams.

Josh will call the play and then say to Cooper, "You line up wide on the right, fake an inside move ten yards out, then head toward the side line at midfield. You're the second read."

Even if current personnel are not functioning perfectly, McDermott is notoriously slow to pull the trigger on change. Preseason injury denied Cole Bishop the opportunity to get completely up to speed on McDermott's very complex defense. McDermott trusts that Hamlin and Rapp know what they're supposed to do. Athletically both are limited, but they are a known commodity and McDermott draws comfort from that. Frankly, I think it would take an injury holding Hamlin or Rapp out more than a couple games to give Bishop a chance to start moving forward this season.

He had a lower than desired percentage of made FGs on attempts under 40 yards (83% vs 90% or better). Also had a fairly high percentage of kickoffs that did not make the endzone. The trajectory of his kicks tend to be lower than is thought desirable. Let the buyer beware. Still, he has some potential.

Agreed. It's tough to say for certain. Rodgers' arm was moving forward as if he was going to pass, but then he didn't release the ball when it normally would be in a pass. He let go when the ball was moving toward the ground. If I were to guess, I would say Rodgers was starting to pass the ball, changed his mind, but then lost the ball as he was hit. But once the officials finally agreed to call it an incomplete pass, there was not enough evidence to over overturn it.

Yeah, the Jets got a problem. With a 40 year old QB, they are all in this season and still are starting out 2-4 on the season. A somewhat dysfunctional Bills team beat them on their own turf. Who knows how long they can keep Rodgers healthy enough to keep playing. I haven't followed their cap situation, but They've got a bunch of big name players who are going to want to get paid at some point. What happens to them when they fail to make the playoffs this season?

Interestingly, Taylor Rapp timed far slower than Hamlin coming out of college. Hamlin ran kind of an average 4.63 40 for a safety. Rapp's 4.78 40 would have been slow for a linebacker or even a defensive end. I'm pretty sure the Bills are hoping that Bishop will continue developing and replaces one of these guys sooner rather than later. They will probably be looking for a safety in the 2025 off season. McDermott can use slower safeties in his zone system, but the Bills do have to make adjustments to compensate for that lack of athleticism. At some point it would be better to have safeties who are smart, disciplined AND athletic/speedy.

No, I don't think that away versus home accounts for the Bills' funk. It may be a small factor. I think Buffalo had huge matchup issues versus Baltimore to go with their injury woes. I think that the lopsided loss to Baltimore was a shock to Buffalo's psyche, and Josh Allen's in particular. Even with all the troubles Buffalo had against Houston, they were just a few plays/mistakes away from winning that game. They still have a bunch of key players dealing with injuries so there is no guarantee of a Buffalo win against a Jets team that can be trouble. It is important for the Bills to get healthy. If they can do that, they'll be OK.

Of course, why would we want depth?

Overall, the injury report is decent news. I'll feel a lot better if Shakir is at least limited tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about the Bills not having Cook available, but I think Ty Johnson is a pretty good back. He's actually the fastest Bills RB. Also, Darrynton Evans is back practicing and he had a few nice moments in preseason.

A few years ago, I stepped on the edge of a sidewalk with a two inch drop off. I lost my balance and fell face forward, hitting my forehead hard on the sidewalk. I got up and was fine. Everyone was worried, so to calm concerns, I went to the hospital and had a CT scan. No problems. I had no headaches and no symptoms of any kind. Sometimes a person can hit his/her head pretty hard and not have a problem.

Allen's accuracy was off yesterday, especially early. At this point I regard that as a short term issue. I think the tendency to run less has more to do with trying to let his left hand heal before taking more chances.

I think the biggest issue in the Bills loss today was a shortage of mental toughness in the first half. Yeah, there mistakes in the second half too, but in the first half, after the first Bills drive, they looked entirely hapless. Josh couldn't throw on target. When he did get the ball to the receivers, they couldn't hold on. The defense had numerous breakdowns. More often than not, it appeared to be a breakdown of discipline. Stroud made some great plays to be sure, but Buffalo was off their game. I think there are some coaching issues. One think I've noticed is that If Buffalo runs the ball successfully on first down, they will almost always run the ball on the next play. Against the Texans at least, they were almost always unsuccessful running the ball the second time. I think the Texans knew what was coming and defended against it. Late in the game, when Buffalo had the ball deep in their own end, I thought Buffalo should have tried to get a first down using higher percentage plays, short passes perhaps. The odds of Buffalo scoring in that situation were slim. If they had made a first down, it would have been far more difficult for the Texans to move the Ball into long flied goal range. Just my thoughts.

A tall glass of crude? Uh, maybe not.

The Bills have a good draft situation. Their cap situation should be better and I don't think they're in a position where they expect to lose nearly as many key veterans as they lost this past off season. If they win the division this season, they are certainly in a position to do so in 2025. Still, it's Super Bowl of bust.

I understand that part of the problem has been the fact that opposing teams disrespect the potential of Buffalo's wide receivers to do damage on the outside. That lack of respect for receivers on the perimeter leads to defensive coordinators shifting the weight of the defense to the middle of the field. Either the Bills have to figure out how to make defenses respect the outside passing game, or they need to figure out how to get Kincaid (and Knox) open running some routes to the outside.

It's kind of ironic to think of the Bills going "heavy" with Nicholas Morrow, a 216 lb linebacker. And if a 216 lb linebacker isn't quick enough to defend a running play, what good is he?

Yeah, the Bills have mostly slow to average DBs. The only guy with real speed is Elam. Cole Bishop isn't bad for a safety, but he's not the burner that some are. The zone defense that the Bills use is predicated on keeping the play in front of you. It allows slightly less athletic DBs to control speedy receivers most of the time, but if one gets past you, look out.

Yes, the Jets have a problem. The problem is, they're losers.

I think the Jets bungled badly in their efforts to develop Darnold. It's just part of a pattern with the Jets. Credit Darnold for not giving up.

What I want to know is, can they play on the offensive line?

In all seriousness this is one of the more boring call ups I remember. Clapp has moderate starting experience, so if the Bills have to play him it shouldn't be a disaster. Still, an undrafted rookie, Tylan Grable, beat him out for a roster spot at the start of the season. Clapp is a short term band-aid for O-line depth on the roster. He likely never sees the field.

Offensively, for the Bills, I think the game plan is probably similar to the game plan versus the Jaguars. The Bills are not going to try to pound the ball in the run game. On defense, I really don't know, except they will try and use discipline in gap control in the run game. The Ravens will be able to run the ball, but Buffalo will try and limit it so Henry and Jackson don't have a bunch of long runs. If Buffalo can go up a couple scores early, it will put a lot of pressure on Baltimore to pass more and run less.