dave mcbride

THis is actually my thinking. Outside of perhaps Morse, who on offense is a top-15-at-his-position player? I can't think of anyone.

Why the laugh? They're a talented team that won it's final 3 home games last season. They're not going to be easy at home. What's your reasoning?

I don't think he's elite, so no, I'm not interested. The Bills' stable of running backs is pretty good now anyways.

Last year, they were 10th in defensive DVOA, 10th in points allowed, and 11th in yards allowed. And they played better on D as the season progressed. Even more important, they signed Justin Houston, who when healthy is one of the best pass rushers in the league. He is healthy now. Eberflus is a good coordinator too. Teams with top-level defenses don't start out 1-7. Defense is by definition equally as important as offense.

The overall Indy roster is INFINITELY better than it was in 2017, and I also think Brissett has probably grown as a player. He's really not THAT bad. The 2017 offensive talent was lousy, and it's simply better now. That said, their early schedule is brutal: at SD, at TN, vs. ATL, vs. Oakland (that's a win), and at KC. They're going to be 2-3 at best. This is crazy talk. They have a really good roster top to bottom.

Fyi, I'm in Park Slope.

They are all important, but they're not all winnable. The Bills are not going to win in Pittsburgh and they're not going to win in NE. They're probably not going to win in Dallas on Thanksgiving either. You get my point. It's good to value every game equally, but it's better to be a realist. This is a game the Bills need to win. They're going to have to win four road games to have a shot (this is presuming a 6-2 home record, which is fairly optimistic), and this is one that's actually achievable.

Kinda disagree in that if the Bills are to make it to 10-6, this is one of the games they're going to need to win. There are six probable losses waiting for the team: NE 2x; at Dallas; at Pitt; at Cle; vs. Philly. Of course, they may win one or two of those, but they still have to play at TN and have to face Baltimore.

Great piece. Thanks!!!

Murray is the ultimate case in point here. Who knows if he would have even made the majors beyond a few September call-ups? In the NFL, he is already starting!

A lot of people seem here to seem to think that the best athletes in the NFL were playing SS in HS (hence—and contra Gil Brandt, who knows a little something about evaluation—the shaky “correlation does not equal causation” claims). News flash: most weren’t. None of the D-linemen were, and many of the most famous WRs/DBs were failed basketball prospects (too short, basically - Moulds, TO, etc.) who were playing in environments where baseball wasn’t really a major talent sponge at the HS level. I also expect that very few of the TEs and almost none of the LBs/RBs were either. Moreover, you have to be able to THROW HARD AND ACCURATELY to be any good at SS. You do not have to throw hard and accurately at ANY position in football except the QB position. Footwork is one thing, but if you can’t throw really well, you are worthless as a baseball player. It’s just as much about throwing. You can have the best footwork in the world, but if you can throw accurately and with velocity, you won’t be playing SS. Yeah, i think so, but also having the ability to throw accurately off balance. Good baseball programs teach that relentlessly at the SS position.

Well, virtually every qb quoted here - and there are a lot of good ones - said that playing SS helped them immensely, and Gil Brandt seems to think it helps ...

What was unique about Kelly coming out of HS is that he was a genuinely elite HS defensive player, evidenced by his being recruited as a LB by Joe Pa, the coach at Linebacker U. Playing LB at a high level also brings a highly useful skill set to any prospective qb.

He was a good pitcher, throwing in the low 90s in HS (which is really fast for HS).

My pleasure! Did you see the Gil Brandt quote about always avoiding right fielders (a big-arm position that requires a wind up)? Josh A played RF (along with pitcher and first base). ? (I don’t read too much into this factoid!)

https://torontosun.com/sports/football/nfl/kryk-most-top-nfl-qbs-played-shortstop-growing-up

He was 10-22 for 131 yards, was sacked 6 times, and lost a fumble in his own end zone! How is that anything but a bad game? This against a pass D that was 20th in net yards per pass allowed, 25th in td passes allowed, and 27th in passing yards allowed. The Tennessee D was also 15th in points allowed and 17th in yards allowed in a 29 -team league. And those numbers were goosed a little by playing an expansion team in the second week of the season and smothering them.

They don’t devote much salary to the position though.

I read it all, and I read it twice. Another factor that created the bitterness between the two was the command by Wilson to Phillips to start Johnson - who went on to perform terribly against TN in a game the Bills should have won going away. That, I suspect, was the straw that broke the proberbial camel’s back for both Butler AND AJ Smith. That decision was all Wilson.

Evidence? I know that was what was said, but the story was, as we shall say, quite one-sided. Even if it is true, the reason it happened was ENTIRELY the fault of Wilson. Butler was a good gm, full stop. You pay guys like that market rate.

That was what Wilson said. Caveat Emptor. Wilson, who hated paying gms and coaches - he fundamentally didn’t believe in it — before Donohoe, offered him a laughably below-market salary that would have made him one of the lowest paid gms in the league. Butler got the hell out because the offer was a joke. Let’s be careful about romatincizing Wilson, a lousy owner who lucked into Polian — and then fired him for the stupidest of reasons!!

This. I’m a little more hopeful than you, but this is a team with *zero* upper-tier offensive players except maybe Morse, and he’s shaky given the concussion issue. I like Brown, but he’s no AJ Green. Yeah, I like them for the SB too. They are a good team.

BUtler did a great job in SD and set that team up for a long time. He was good in Buffalo, basically rebuilding the team so that in 1999 it was a legit super bowl contender. Also, anyone who criticizes him for “quitting” is playing fast and loose with the truth given Wilson’s narrow-minded pig-headedness during that whole episode. I appreciate Wilson for a lot of things, but he was a poor owner overall. Just untrue. The proof in the pudding? What he built in SD from nothing.

I understand the decision, but honestly, on passing plays last season (and in this preseason), McCoy emphatically showed that he had NOT lost a step. I will say it again: a lot of people really don’t understand how epically terrible the Bills run blocking was last season. Worst in team history, in my opinion.

That’s why all drafts should happen on Labor Day.