BigAl2526

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.

I'm guessing the price would be higher than I would want to pay for a 32 year old receiver, both in draft compensation and contract.

I think the Bills have had some consistency issues, let downs at crucial moments, especially in the playoffs, but also in the regular season. Clean those up and the Bills will be an even tougher out in the playoffs. So far this season, they seem to be doing exactly that. Looking forward to the game Sunday.

Bills - 33 Dirty Birds - 24

Small school prospect who is much shorter than the ideal for an edge rusher. He had lots of sacks in college but it was against a lower level of competition. I can absolutely understand why he slipped down to the fifth round. The Bills picked him because he is pretty athletic with good bend around the corner. He's got some explosion off the snap, he's strong and he has unusually long arms for his height. It was smart for the Bills to make the pick when they did.

I think observers are giving the Cowboys too much credit and by extension overinflating the value of Baltimore's narrow win over the Cowboys. The Cowboys struggled to get by a mediocre Giants team tonight. Yes, it will be a challenge to defend what Baltimore can do with Jackson and Henry on the ground, but I don't think there are any teams in the league better than Buffalo at strategizing to contain an opponent's best weapons as long as the team executes the strategy well.

I think they also heal up a bit quicker than a more serious fracture. It's a matter of how soon the medical staff signs off on him once the crack disappears from x-ray images. I wonder if he could play with some kind of splint to protect his arm at some point.

I doubt that Williams is as smart or as effective as Milano yet, but he's developing and no longer the liability that he was as a rookie. His athleticism is a strong plus and I think he is a quality starter going forward. The notion of trading Milano is worth considering, but the Bills will want to be sure they have quality depth behind Williams if they do. The Bills' depth chart shows that Baylon Spector is actually the backup for Dorian Williams. Obviously, the Bills trusted Spector to step in at MLB when Bernard went down, rather than the listed backup, Nicholas Morrow. The other linebackers on the roster are Ulofoshio and Andreeson. Both are rookies. Ulofoshio had injury issues in training camp, so we didn't get much of a look at him. His college scouting report suggests he's athletic if a bit short, and that he's got some football smarts. In short, it sounds like he's a developmental prospect with good upside. The downside is he's a rookie who needs development time before the Bills can depend on him as more than a bit player, and it's not certain he will develop. Not all rookies do, even athletic ones. We saw a more of Joe Andreeson. He's a little less of an athlete than Ulofoshio, but acquitted himself really well in the preseason. Nevertheless, he's no more ready for extended action than Ulofoshio. The question is whether or not the Bills will think either one is enough of a sure thing to part ways with Milano.

Josh has been playing great, but it should be noted that receivers are dropping very few passes. I don't think Shakir has dropped any. Having sure handed receivers can only help a QB's completion percentage.

I like crab cakes. Maybe I'll get a couple.

That may be true, but Arizona happens to have beaten the LA Rams, which in turn has beaten San Francisco. Both Miami and Jacksonville were rated higher in the preseason than they are now, and a major reason Miami has dropped in the power rankings is the fact that Tua is concussed and out for several weeks, with doubts about his future. If Buffalo beats Baltimore, Baltimore will be 1-3 to start the season. I can't imagine that will do much for their power ranking. Will Buffalo's doubters then discount Baltimore and need Buffalo to beat Houston to be regarded as legit?

Baltimore is good against the run and poor against the pass. Buffalo seems serious in its "everybody eats" philosophy on offense. That makes it hard for a skill player on offense other than Josh to get AFC Player of the Week honors unless the Bills have another week where they greatly overweight the run again as they did versus Miami. That makes Allen the strongest candidate if not the only possible offensive player of the week when the Bills overweight the pass.

Buffalo knows how to defend Derrick Henry. They also know how to defend Lamar Jackson. They have never had to defend against both at the same time. That complicates matters. I'm picking the Bills to win, but it will be a chess game. I don't think that Baltimore can stop the Bills' offense.

I thought it might take a bit of time for the offense to get cranked up this season. It's funny. It didn't feel like Buffalo was an offensive juggernaut in the first two games, but the still ended up with 30+ points. That did include a defensive pick six in one game. The game against Jacksonville demonstrated that an explosive passing offense has not disappeared from Buffalo's arsenal. What it all means is that Buffalo can be effective against pretty much any defense that focusses on stopping either the run or the past. Defenses have to respect both against Buffalo. Defensive coordinators are going to have to engage in a guessing game from one play to the next and hope they can confuse Buffalo about where their focus is. I like Buffalo's chances against just about anybody in any guessing game. Josh Allen has become really proficient at reading defenses.

I'm sorry I did not clarify. Wallace is certainly a far better athlete than the average American. His athleticism is less than average for a starting NFL CB, maybe even less than average for all NFL cornerbacks, starter or backup. Yes, he started for the Bills, several seasons and by all accounts played pretty well. Yet there was always a hope among many fans that the Bills could upgrade from Wallace because he was vulnerable to big, fast, physical receivers.

Zone defense in general and Sean McDermott's system in particular places a premium on mental sharpness both to anticipate what receivers and QBs are doing and to coordinate with other defensive players. Athleticism is always good, but the scheme can still work with players who are average to good athletically. McDermott has even made do with less than average athletes. Levi Wallace played a few years for McDermott. Wallace was underweight and could be pushed around and ran about a 4.7 as a cornerback, yet he managed to start for the Bills because he knew what he was supposed to do. Buffalo looks for guys who have the football smarts and instinct. Some can get up to speed quickly (Benford). Others (Hamlin, Lewis and Ingram) have needed some development time, but McDermott saw something in them that he liked. I'm glad it paid off.