Sierra Foothills

Some context from yesterday's The Athletic: "While it’s true the Bills play zone most of the time, so does almost every other team in the NFL. As they have added defensive talent since the start of the McDermott era, the Bills evolved into calling man coverage at the 11th-highest rate from 2019 through 2021, according to TruMedia and Pro Football Focus. (However against the Rams) Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and a revamped defensive line ran zone coverage a whopping 92.4 percent of the game. It was a 32.1 percent increase from the Bills’ regular season zone rate in 2021 (60.3%)." As far as your concerns about drafting a situational player in the first round, the Bills obviously don't view Elam as a situational player. They view him as a player who will excel in the 40% of man coverage snaps and a player with elite traits who they can coach up to excel in zone schemes. Most Bills fans view McFrazier as "defensive back whisperers" who have a long track record of taking "average talent" and moulding that talent into productive secondaries. As a first rounder the Bills expect to develop Elam into a starting shutdown corner who can excel in zone as well as "travel" with opponents top receivers and win that matchup.

A word as long as abbreviations oughta... well, you know... NM = nonmetallic aka Romex

Salute!

And as posted in the related thread, the interception to McKenzie happened at the 24 yard line whereas the fumble by Moss happened at the 16 yard line. There's no plausible scenario where those two drives end in punts.

Thanks for finishing the drive. 👍 Upthread I mentioned that based on something I had read, the occurrence of one team not punting occurs about 2% of the time. That number and the number you calculated are pretty close so yes, going puntless in 3 of the last 5 (and 4 of the last 6 when including the playoffs) is an amazing accomplishment for the Bills.

When you look good you feel good. When you feel good you play good. There's a third thing but I can't remember what it is.

Well rather than sharpshoot my spoon feeding attempts, just do the math brother. I drove the ***** ball down the field, put it in the end zone.

And I'll mention again that the Titans will be without arguably their two best run blockers from last season, Rodger Saffold and David Quessenberry. I'm a bit concerned that Oliver and Settle are not practicing but I don't expect we'll see the Titans rushing attack of 2021.

In fairness it again needs to be mentioned that Bates is playing right guard this year after playing predominantly on the left side last year. Also we're judging his play in week 1 versus a very tough assignment. Isn't it actually likely that Bates' play will improve? I would think it would.

Indy GM Chris Ballard who assembled the roster is not at least as culpable as Reich? He hired Reich. It'll be interesting to see what Irsay does when the wheels come off. At least it had no deck chairs seeing as it was a blanken ship.

The schedule scares me. I've bolded the games which I think will be particularly difficult (notice the Lions are bolded) but even Cleveland, the Cheatriots*** and the Jets are gonna come out swinging and are minimally trap games. Only Chicago is a gimme IMO. 09/19 TITANS 7:15 pm 09/25 @ Dolphins 1:00 pm 10/02 @ Ravens 1:00 pm 10/09 STEELERS 1:00 pm 10/16 @ Chiefs 4:25 pm 10/30 PACKERS 8:20 pm 11/06 @ Jets 1:00 pm 11/13 VIKINGS 1:00 pm 11/20 BROWNS 1:00 pm 11/24 @ Lions 12:30 pm 12/01 @ Patriots 8:15 pm 12/11 JETS 1:00 pm 12/18 DOLPHINS TBD 12/24 @ Bears 1:00 pm 01/02 @ Bengals 8:30 pm 01/08 PATRIOTS TBD

The Eagles definitely have a lot of playmakers/difference makers on their roster.

https://sports.yahoo.com/espn-announces-broadcast-crew-titans-180046633.html

The Indy GM and the man who hired Frank Reich is Chris Ballard. I think a big part of the explanation for Hughes' "close but no cigar" play is that sacks are more a function of team play than most people think. As for Jerry Hughes he's probably still better than Epenesa but he's making a lot more than Epenesa and is at the end of his career.

You're on a roll... To the OP, thanks for posting this,

I made it up. Actually I read it somewhere... I've tried to find where but in the meantime here's a link documenting 32 occurrences in the last 4+ seasons: https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/least-amount-of-punts-in-a-nfl-game edit: According to the above link the game on 11/23/17 was week 12 which means that there have been 32 no punt games in the last (approximately) 672 games. That calculates to about 4.76% of the time. Good enough?

Yep. Dallas is the 5th largest US metro area... Philly is number 8. Even if it was flexible, they would not flex from this game between traditional NFC East rivals who both reside in large markets.

Further perspective: A puntless game by an NFL team happens about once every 50 games or 2% of the time. The Bills have not punted in 3 of their last 5 regular season games (60%) and 4 of their last 6 games including playoffs (67%).

Regarding the 4 turnovers vs the Rams that some have mentioned to cheapen the fact that the Bills didn't punt : The interception caused by McKenzie occured at the Rams 24 yard line. The fumble by Moss' occured at the Rams 16 yard line. So in any event, the Bills were not going to punt on either of those two possessions.

For those who aren't aware of Tom House's background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_House If you read till the end of the entry you'll be rewarded with lots of very cool facts including an epic moment in baseball history. Also the site for his QB Academy: https://www.train3dqb.com

I'm not by any means a faint-hearted person but... When Josh runs I get a bit distressed. As he approaches contact I get more nervous. If he's in a scrum I'm damn near freaking out. As for tackling after throwing an interception I'm against Josh doing so though knowing him as a football player, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried for the tackle. While I despise the anorexic metrosexual who plays QB for Tampa Bay I wouldn't hold it against Josh if he followed the coaching to avoid contact at all costs in that particular situation.

I asked another poster this question and he didn't reply: It's one thing to "worry" as we discuss Josh's style of play but I'm very curious what Bills fans feel when they see him pull the ball down and start running downfield. Personally my heart is in my throat and has stopped beating. Also, I'm holding my breath. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. Here's a second question for good measure: When Josh throws an interception, do we want him to try to tackle the ball carrier?

No Steelers anywhere?