BigAl2526

I imagine Buffalo will call up Joel Wilson to give them two bodies at TE.

Jones was a huge loss for the Bills IMO. He was the one defensive lineman the Bills had to really anchor against opposing teams' running games. Ankou is not nearly the defensive tackle that Jones is, but at least he has the size Buffalo lost when Jones went down.

I am surprised, and pleased.

I'm guessing that this stat has to involve a certain amount of conjecture. I'm sure there are times when a really good QB will look off their first read initially in order draw coverage away from him. What might look like a checkdown could in fact be the intended target all along.

I never approach a game with zero concerns. As for the game against the Patriots, I am mainly concerned about the fact that Buffalo will be missing close to 40% of the starters Buffalo began with on defense. The four they are missing are arguably too best four among eleven defensive starters at the beginning of the season. That said, my concerns are minimal because Buffalo has great depth and New England's offense is anemic at best. Despite Buffalo's lack of a dominant performance on offense the last two games, I'm really not worried about Buffalo's offense in this game. I don't think New England can stop it or even slow it down that much.

I agree that this will be NE's game plan on offense. It will be a challenge for NE to pull it off. Stevenson's ankle injury probably is a non-issue, but the Patriots have real problems on their offensive line, particularly at right tackle. To pound the rock, you need more than just a couple of physical runners. You need an offensive line that can get some push and open holes. The other side of the equation is Buffalo's offense against a Belichick defense. Recently, Belichick has been pretty much helpless in trying to slow down Josh Allen and the Bills' offense. I don't see that changing. If Buffalo gets up by a couple of touchdowns or more in the second half, they will be more than happy to let the Patriots keep trying to pound the ball.

Ty Johnson does have nice measurables. His yards per carry over his career have been ordinary though. Not bad, just ordinary.

Somebody will draft him high in the first round. Then there will be a long holdout. If I were to bet, I'd bet that he never gets his share of ownership. The team that drafts him will regret it and he will be an epic bust.

Let's hope he isn't inclined to be nice to the Patriots because he has made mistakes that hurt them.

He has a completely different skill set from Milano. If you stick Miller in Milano's spot, you've got nobody to do many of the things you depend on Milano to do and you have to figure out how to compensate somewhere else. I don't know that it's worth the effort to rework your defense so that it can function effectively with Miller in that outside linebacker spot.

Jeremy Chinn is listed as a safety/linebacker. How well could he handle being a full time linebacker? He was listed as 6'3" 221 lbs coming out of college. That's not far from Milano's weight. He would be one of the fastest linebackers in the league.

I refuse to try and define a formula for how many yards the Bills have to gain on the ground. However, they do have to demonstrate the ability to gain yards on the ground with some kind of consistency. There were other things that went wrong in the Jacksonville game as well, that might have changed the outcome.

The game was an experiment. The NFL wanted to see if they could take what should be home field advantage and turn it into a disadvantage. They succeeded.

Another defensive tackle out there for the Bills to consider is Carl Davis. He's on Seattle's PS, 31 year old and has started NFL games. He was drafted in the third round in 2015 and has good athleticism to go with good size.

Oliver and Phillips play the same position - 3 tech. Lots of fans continue to think that Phillips is a nose tackle because of his size, but his game is not well suited to the nose tackle position. Ford and Settle will rotate at 1 tech, Settle getting more snaps than Ford. Phillips mostly rotates in to give Oliver relief.

I get the "familiarity with the system" criteria, but I can't imagine that he adds anything to the effectiveness of the defense.

He could give Josh the opportunity in practice to hone his skill at vaulting over linebackers.

If Dorian Williams has learned the defense well enough and is comfortable playing without having to think too much on the field, he would seem to be the obvious starter in Milano's place. He's a hair bigger and even faster.

I hoped the Bills would win, but I thought from the moment the schedule was announced that the league was screwing the Bills over big time.

With Rousseau injured this weekend, McDermott has a little more incentive to play him.

The earth is not flat! Who knew?

You're right about that. Just last week Hill was downplaying the Bills Mafia, saying there were the same as any other fan base.

Off the top of my head, Edwards-Helaire and Pacheco come to mind. Pacheco is averaging 4.9 yards per carry in 2023 and is on a pace to gain 1,000 yards this season. I did have to look up to learn McKinnon. KC ranks seventh in the league in rushing yards so far this season. I'm not saying teams need to maintain even close to a 50/50 balance. I am saying that teams need to have a legitimate ability to run successfully in order to enhance and maintain an effective passing game. Kansas City does. So did New England during the Brady era.

The problem Miami had with Marino is that no matter how hard the Dolphins tried to build a complementary running attack, they always ended up over relying on Marino's gifts as a passer. It made them one dimensional. As good as Marino was, if your team is one dimensional there are ways that smart defensive coordinators with good defenses can control the game. Buffalo has struggled with their running game the last few years, but that seemed to be mostly the result of weaknesses on the offensive line combined with the lack of explosiveness in their running backs. Cook gave us some glimpses las season, but it seems like it's really starting to take off now.

Could he be Von Miller's love child?