dave mcbride

The thing is, a $6 million player who might be more productive than Miller will be next year will free up more cap space than keeping on the deadwood that Miller might become. So yeah, if the trade is for a decent player with promise while jettisoning a player who is done, it can certainly make financial sense.

My take: the loss of Daquon Jones has been a disaster for the Bills. His absence from the Bengals playoff game last season was a clear sign of how important he is to the success of this defense. With Oliver down too, the Bills interior d-line is simply not ready for prime time. Historically, Mac Jones has completely crumbled in the face of good interior d-line pressure, but there was none in this game--the DTs were terrible. And the DTs couldn't handle the run game either. The lack of any threat from the interior d-line led McDermott to rely on blitzing to get pressure, but that just created easy short, quick throws for Jones all game long, who had probably the best game of his career. The result: seven Patriots scoring drives, one punt, and one turnover (after a completion by Jones; Poyer punched the ball out in a very nice play). The Bills had seven scoring drives vs. the Pats in the January 2022 playoff games, as it happens. Even on the one punt, it was fourth and less than one near midfield in the first quarter, and I was mildly surprised the Pats didn't go for it. The offense had its ups and downs but in the grand scheme of things it was fine. It came through late and put them in the lead with less than two minutes to go.

If you cut him after June 1, 2024, there is a dead cap hit to be sure, but the cap savings will be $6,790,000. It was always my understanding that the deal was really a two year thing that the Bills could get out of after two years. https://overthecap.com/player/von-miller/2#:~:text=Von Miller signed a six,million roster bonus in 2023.

I have gotten the weird sense that Allen started looking away from Davis after the fumble. Maybe he's been directed to; McDermott is supermely intolerant of non-quarterback fumbles.

Yep. I don’t have a good feeling about this defense going forward. McDermott needs to do some serious self-scouting to get this defense to average-level through superior scheming because the talent is bad right now: no interior d-linemen who are any good, JAGs at the boundary corner position who don’t make game-changing plays, and a total question mark at outside LB. The DE rushers are still above average relative to the rest of the league, but it really concerns me that 3 games in Von Miller is playing 6 snaps in total and none on NE’s pass-heavy game winning drive. You shouldn’t be rostering him if that’s all you’re getting from him. The safeties are above average too. Overall, I think they’re currently well below average at DT (and I fear Oliver’s toe issue will be a nagging one), below average at boundary CB, above average at DE, and moderately above average at safety. That spells “mediocre NFL defense,” right in the mix with all the average-level teams whose defenses occasionally get steamrolled. McDermott is blitzing a ton to cover up for the bad interior pressure situation, but the result over the last two weeks has been to make Tyrod and Jones look like pro bowlers. The Patriots had SEVEN scoring drives - the same number as the Bills had in the Bills-NE playoff game from January 2022.

Well, it’s kinda correct to blame the mash unit because they are the reason the Bills lost. The Bills offense was at least up and down over the course of the game - some good, some bad. The defense was all bad all game except for one play (poyer’s forced fumble, a very nice play). They gave up SEVEN scoring drives to Mac Jones, who had the best game of his friggin’ career. The larger issue is that they spent a LOT on d-line depth and what they have to show for it on the interior is some of the worst DT play in the league. Mac Jones’s biggest and most obvious weakness is that he crumbles under interior d-line pressure, and the Bills put NONE one him. Ford, Settle, and Phillips are not league-minimum salary guys; collectively, they’re making $9+ million. Yet they suck.

Not just 29 points, but 7 scoring drives.

The offense won the game at the end. The defense then allowed the worst offense in the league (until today) slice through them with utter ease. But it is worth acknowledging that the best four Bills’ defensive players were out. It’s just not their year because of injuries, which absolutely sucks. But it’s real life.

I am talking about the defense. The Bills D has gone in three short weeks from being one of the most talented(and experienced) in the league to one of the least talented (and lesser experienced) in the league. It is what it is.

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.