dave mcbride

Good post, but i would argue that the bills’ starting talent level on defense today was between 30 and 32 in the nfl.

The injuries are huge. Think.

Terrible loss, but I hope thinking people (emphasis on “thinking people”) realize that the Bills five best defensive starters were out for this game. But I really do hope that people actually think. Not a given, I know.

Good post, but I would argue that their best four starters on D at the beginning were out. It was a practice squad-level unit out there today.

I think that may have been because the DTs are so poor and couldn’t generate any consistent interior pressure on their own. Jones crumbles when faced with good interior pressure, but at this moment the Bills don’t have any DTs capable of bringing it. Gotta blitz instead because you can’t let him just sit there. It’s not a great option, but the Bills are so talent deficient on D right now that they have to take risks.

This was a disgusting loss, but the Bills were missing arguably their five best defensive players. They have a serious talent problem on defense at the moment.

Absolutely agree. You always have to consider the larger context too -- in this case, the sorry state of the Giants' offense. Don't give them anything in the form of a break or breather.

Just to be clear, the Chiefs ran 11 plays for 114 yards AFTER the Bills scored with 13 seconds left. It was pretty even through the first 59:47.

They are indeed frauds but they have six highly winnable games left: Bears, Giants, Jets at home, Vikings, Colts, and Broncos, plus maybe they get lucky at home vs the Chargers. They could very conceivably win 9-10 games and get into the playoffs, and you just know that for McDaniel, that's everything. It'll save his job. He's not trading their best player!

You’re focusing on numbers rather than his inability to separate, his shaky hands, and the fact that his numbers are mostly a product of the most talented QB in the league throwing to him because he’s (unfortunately) the second option.

Murray has had two fumbles on his last 866 touches. That’s at the very least — he had one fumble on 231 touches in 2017, and I’m too lazy to look up when it happened. Let’s just assume for a second that he has fumbled 2 times in his last 1,000 touches. That is INCREDIBLE: a 0.2 percent rate. And I have no idea if they were even lost fumbles. Suffice it to say, though, that he holds onto the ball. By way of extreme comparison, Joe Cribbs fumbled 28 times in his first two seasons on 655 touches - a 4.3 percent rate. More recently, Devin Singletary has fumbled 13 times on 861 touches (a 1.5 percent rate). Rushing plays are low yardage plays on average compared to passing plays, but one of the presumed benefits is a lower turnover rate. Murray brings that.

Oliver being out would be huge. The other DTs on the roster are poor. Daquon and Ed are well above average; everyone else sucks and teams can exploit them. None of these games don’t matter. They all do. Losing to TB would be very bad considering that the next couple of opponents are Cincy and KC on the road.

Yeah, but none--and not even an assist--with that many snaps?

Totally. He didn't register a tackle or an assist vs the Giants, and I have to wonder if that's a product of extreme overuse. He played close to 90 percent of the snaps, which is too much for a DT.

Diggs' last four games vs. NE, with the most recent first: 7 catches for 104 yards and a TD 7 catches for 92 yards and a TD 3 catches for 60 yards (in the playoff game blowout) 7 catches for 85 yards and a TD

Can you link to it? It’s not on the main page and I can access it with a link.

Gotta ask - does coaching a son’s flag football team in a very competitive league for 3 years (ages 12-14) count? Asking for a friend.

Fans ALWAYS respond well to that sort of signaling from coaches. 😬

Haven't all of Allen's injuries, including the shoulder on Sunday night, come from plays in the pocket? And weren't almost all of Newton's injuries pocket-based?

LOL!

It was less of a mess when they had a real slot receiver capable of running option routes all game long and who had the QB's trust - Beasley. They need Kincaid to become that player sooner rather than later.

There are definitely ebbs and flows over the course of an NFL season. All teams go through ups and downs for any number of reasons. It's still quite early even though it's the beginning phase of midseason.

I think some of it can be chalked up to the fact that it was one of those weekends: Cincy, Buffalo, KC, Philly, and SF (five of the league's six best teams; the other is Miami) all failed to score 20 points. Cincy should have lost, SF and Philly did lose (due in part to stupidly aggressive play-calling on their final possession), and KC failed to get 20 points at home against a historically bad Denver defense. Just a weird early-part-of the-midseason weekend.

As to your point, check this out. It's pretty funny (and true): https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nfl/profootballtalk/should-giants-have-run-on-final-play-vs-bills

Totally. To repeat what I said above, the final pass to Waller was perfect, but since they had already called PI the play before, they weren't going to call it again. And the Bills probably knew that.