colin

the difference in the d performances was obvious. i was interested to see that brady attempted like 5 passes to WRs, and two of them were junk balls that got penalties! they just rode the TE and RB to frustrate the kc D, and used play action. they decided to lower the degree of difficulty as much as possible, while dabol made some goofy errors just forcing the ball to WRs who could not get open due to health and being roughed up all day.

schematically we have a coupe issues on D, but i have faith that our D minds can fix them. mccoach knows his entire d relies on winning match ups up front, that's why we blew the wad on the DL. he likes a deep rotation w fresh legs, but instead we have a deep rotation of no ones with old tired legs. On O we have simply zero balance. OL is solid at T (assuming we keep williams) and below average in the gut. we can't run at all (combo of blockers and backs and TEs) and we just have such a dearth of talent at RB and TE that all we can do is press the game going to our WRs, of which only diggs is special. the good thing is, our special teams is pretty solid, and we won 15 games and lost in the conference chip game with such glaring and obvious holes. the majority of that is due to one Joshua Ichabald Allen. he's a force of nature and can do things no one else can. the TE/RB situation is an easy fix, they just have to bring in via draft or FA some kind of RB talent (moss a better guy and yeldon or williams is miles better than having slow motor out there). on OL, i think we need to keep williams and one of Morse and mongo, and draft high at least one guy who can play nasty w balance and athleticism. our D has always had a smoke and mirrors element to it. we didn't fall off so hard without milano because he's some kind of all pro, but because the drop off to the next guy given what we ask that position to do behind a weak DL just makes our D easy to attack. getting Star, and some kind of premier guy to rush the passer will make a world of difference. Edmunds i still think may need to move outside, but he just makes too many mistakes for my liking at MLB. anyhow, our FO needs to earn their bonafides this off season and get a nasty G (i think first round, 2nd latest), find some kind of OLB (or move edmunds and sign an MLB), and get a pass rusher. #2 corner may be on the roster, but mcd seems to have a nose for dbs so im not worried about that. TE and RB will have the biggest impact (along w G i think) and i really think we are so thin there that a large number of guys can come in and make us better.

im torn on him, i still think we can ditch morse and go w mongo at c, which is a better value. if an upgrade is out there, then i'm for that too. we need to get better in the interior OL, i think are tackles are solid. i think the biggest impact is drafting one or two guys, at least one of them in the first two rounds, who is talented, athletic, and nasty. i think one savage can make the whole line better, and ford is at the least a body and they drafted him high so he may have potential yet. with josh and at least one better RB on the team (don't really care where he comes from ) i think we can go from just useless in the run game to making D's pay dearly for keying in on the pass, if our overall line play improves.

Elway and EIl asked for trades before signing a contract, there was that OT who dallas took mad late who basically said that's the team he wants to play for, kinda lame but not after signing. Peters wanted more money from us after signing a contract, and we traded him (and what a mistake that was). Stafford signed a while back, and that's also lame. and you are just way off on the contracts. nfl contracts aren't insane like other sports, but there is plenty guaranteed (like the hundo or so for watson). i can see the ax you have to grind here, and it sucks. players are already on the big side, if they get fully too big it hurts the game and makes it suck for fans, which is what i am and all that i care about.

lol, i don't care dude. you aren't in the union w watson bro, he's a guy we watch on TV. I think a balance has to happen for good football to be watched (which is all i care about, and all that matters, the league is for the fans, no fans, no NLF). i want the bills to win and the football to be of a higher and higher level. i think NBA style players being bigger than the game will be a bad thing (FOR FANS) and we are already flirting with that with certain players getting the long or short end of the stick with respect to calls.

we need one nasty run blocker, and i think things fall into line

i don't doubt the FO situation in houston is awful, but Watson signed the contract. it's tight, but i think it may be better for the league (for fans, we are the only ones who matter) if houston punishes him. players getting bigger than teams is a bridge too far.

different qbs do different things well, and it's a team and scheme game, not tennis. looking at mahomes last night, it's pretty clear to me that given goofy matchups and breakdowns on the line, no body but no body can do what allen does. i forgot until he caught a ball that watkins was on kc. he's overpaid and we all know about him, but just a threat like that on the bills, playing in place of an injured brown vs kc, would have made a whole lot of things possible. the bottom line is QBs, while the most important person on a team, are still way way overrated wrt their impact on the game. the big uglies get paid for a very good reason.

well, looking at that game and how the bills played really the whole playoffs, my gut is no. the bills match up better w tb than we do w KC, and better than how the KC team we saw last night matches up. We are far stronger on the edges in pass protection, and TBs sick run d would impact us less since we basically only run w josh. assuming our WRs would have gotten a bit healthier, i think we score a few touchdowns. kc's dirty tricks didn't work without the home cooking last night. on the other side, i think our d scheme vs kc was horrible, and the bills would have played a much more confident game vs TB. i think it would have been similar to the Indy game for the d, where they play solid most of the time, but would get trucked a couple times too. mahomes clearly can't do what allen does, allen scrambles and makes plays more than any other qb i've ever seen, so i think we woulda had a shot, but not a great one.

i don't watch sports media or read nearly any coverage so i don't get as bothered by the spin as much as i used to, but brady laid a huge egg in GB and still won. he's obviously a much better qb than winston, but tampa did what the bills shoulda done, gotten the best power and speed back for cheap who was available, and had talent and physicality up front on both lines. tampa's corners shows why you don't sign the gains and norman's of the world to take burn from your improving young players, and they got their D line up w some pass rushers who bring power, which is exactly what we lack. their LBs are also miles better than ours. for all the talk of edmunds not being protected by the scheme and the DL, and there is truth to that, i can't help but notice how david and white were able to execute in 1 on 1 situations where we see edmunds just make simple mistakes all the time.

josh seems to be palls w him and to provide continuity. mongo played at c, and was decent. morse can have whatever report card some website produces, but he gets smashed around by more physical lines, and that's our entire problem right now. as said above, i'd only want mongo to stay at a value price. also, while losing morse creates a cap hit it clears out his salary and future costs, so you have a cheaper and imo no worse line the following year.

id be ok with all of that, although i'd want ot keep williams. mongo would be a good signing if he isn't too expensive, and allows us to cut morse and move mongo to C

im torn on this because brown is a nice weapon when he's healthy. we have too many OK/Decent players soaking up cap and playtime from our young guys, so that would lead me to wanting to cut him. if they don't think he helps them win a super bowl in 2021-2022 season, he's gotta go. also, how much of a cut/restructure would he accept?

he flashes very good ability, and fairly regularly when he's not hurt. the issue is he gets fooled way way too much, and his mistakes offset enough of his positive plays to make you wonder if he's worth the money he will cost. i think a large part of this is that our scheme combined w the players we have is just too limited and predictable. clearly mcd knows that his DL is what matters the most, but we've had 4 giant misses (5 if you count star being out) on that front. i agree w people who talk about edmunds playing on the outside. i think we need a couple more upgrades at DB, or have our back ups improve, so we can vary up our scheme a bit. we need edmunds to make fewer mistakes, but more than anything we need a real impact at our DL. i have honestly never seen a team that would improve more than a young bruce smith being on it than ours.

i was really down on him, but he proved me wrong. like our kicker, and hopefully knowx, ford, edmunds, etc, he has athletic traits that he honed over time into solid performance.

Normally i'd say you are high! but, i think some of what he does looks a bit like John Randle, do you know how the hand size and arm length compares to Myles? it's a different position, and i don't think oliver is every gonna be what myles was walking off the bus, but maybe!

he might be a great piece along w a sick edge rusher on the other side, but on his own while he has the chance to be a solid part of the D, he's not going to be a difference maker. more than anything, we need just savages up front on D. throw a bosa (remember what dude did to us in the Chargers game?) or some such on the line and we are talking a big change on 3rd downs. 5 years ago watt would be a massive impact, i just don't know that he has it in the tank anymore. also, we need to get younger at premium positions. wayyyy to much age on our DL

presuming we can find replacement level players at replacement level prices, i'd ditch them all except houghs and hyde. morse to me, is no better at center for us than two other players we had last year. our issue is a guard. if we sign mongo and flip him to C, ford comes back healthy, and we keep our RT, i think we draft a solid OG in the first 2 rounds and our OL is better in every position in the gut, or at least no worse, and we are paying less or equal for better talent. On DL, some young hungry guys a la phillips can be brought in, they won't produce any less than the 3 stiffs we drug in last year, and at a cheaper number. I'd restructure houghs and possibly hyde as well. we need an impact up front. a top flight pass rusher would go MILES towards that. star coming back, phillips and oliver getting better w experience,health, and better guys around them (star and whatever star rusher we can bring in) will help our DL. if im really picking, id' add two studs to the DL, letting star and houghs walk after a year or so, and replacing all else w draft or street guys

crazy! seems to me josh, the system, and diggs are what makes that possible. it's weak that the best wr team in the nfl, with a deadly running qb, can get stymied with the scheme kc put on us. it's just a glaring hole we have at RB and TE, not to mention internal blocking. the good thing is that is a low cost/value position grouping, so we SHOULD be able to get better there with a quickness

a good poster on here pointed out how our ability to cover tight ends was poor prior to star and our DL cleaning up for 2 years, was solid during those two years, and was cheeks (near the worst) this year. it's pretty clear the difference is made by the DL in this scheme. we pay the most for a reason, we just brought in a bunch of old duds. in carolina, when short and hardy were balling out of control, their d was a monster. they lost luke for a bit and it was still solid. they lost hardy because frankly he may be insane, and it fell off hard. also, beane is reading my posts (lol) because he knows he needs a super star or stars at premium positions to win the big one. we have our CB (fell off a touch this year, but was hurt), our qb, or WR, they think they have their LB in edmunds (MLB in this scheme is set up to cover all kinds of stuff, so when it's not in a good protected position it falls off hard), and they need IMO two just studs on DL. add those studs, milano or 20 guys can look great at WLB. take em out, and you get what we got last year. solid at times, very good once in a while, and just gaping holes too much of the time.

well, im going to keep up my star player design crusade, and say this is a smart move for the rams. they scheme to get super stars in as many positions as possible (important positions anyhow). they fill in the rest as needed, and use their stars as a weapon/focal point. i like that model, and i think our bills can make like 3 moves and have as many stars as anyone else and win our chip. i think goff is actually a solid qb, but as is often said here the greatest ability is availability. goff is physically slight, and small dings take him out, stafford is a hoss and has played at a high level while legit hurt (shout out to physically small beez, who balled on a broken leg. he's just a different breed). as hapless showed, stafford is also a legit deep ball threat, goff is simply not.

i hope i get proven wrong, and he just burst out soon. he was a 5 star DE (how many of those every year?) and had huge college production, he just measured horribly on the athletic metrics, but sadly i think you are right and he just wasn't a good enough guy. i honestly think if you stick a premier pass rusher on our DL, fix our 2nd cb situation (not a star, just a good guy) add in a top 12 TE (which IMO can be signed for less than what we pay murhpy and kroft combined) and a solid back (and the nfl just seems to be awash in these guys) we walk out of KC w a W. chris simms broke down the game, and said "there is no difference maker in the front 7, diggs is special, and beez is good in his small role". given our WRs were hurt, and our best rb (who is like JAG level+ at this point) was out, that's a shocking star "star" differential. the more i think about it, since we have this like mesh D where every part has to be in place, and we won like 5 match ups all night (where guys flew buy mahomes cuz they were not confident and were pressing) i don't think our D is anything but a liability unless we can get 1 or 2 actual pain bringers in the front 7.

AJ was a non factor this season, which is not acceptable for a 2nd round pick at a position of need. obv he has lots of room and time to improve, but this does speak to the new wave idea of building a team with absolute super stars, and filling in everywhere else w the draft and the odd value FA. because we had this silly notion of a super deep DL where we just rush the passer and blow up run fits with fresh legs, we had players like murphy (8mm a year inactive player) and butler/addison (sub replacement level production at ~9MM a year) taking burn away from the young rookies. if we had a Rams/KC approach instead of a few stars and then everyone else, maybe we'd have a difference maker DE or DT in FA (seems like TB was able to get both of those with Suh and JPP) and while you'd expect the rookie to struggle at first (our over priced Jags did too, and kept it up!) by the end of the season you have a real asset on the cheap. we've signed 5 DL on bigger FA contracts recently (star, murph, and the 3 stiffs last year) and maybe Star is good, the rest not. we signed 2 TEs on not small contracts (klien being expensive, smith being meh) and they blow, we've signed 2 i think linebackers at over 1mm a year (klien over all was not a good fit IMO vs his cap, rest is depth). we signed our two safeties for fairly cheap contracts, total home run. we signed beez and brown to a total of like 12mm a year or so, great (even tho brown is always hurt and will likely walk). williams was a great 1y guy at OT, hope it keeps up, morse is a slightly above average starter payed all pro money, spain was an ok signing, bad extension. if instead of trafficking in all of that trash, we focused on getting stars, and getting max value otherwise, i think guys like epenessa would be better today, and at the very least we'd know more about him.

lol, i wasn't even being sarcastic (can be hard to tell). i legit think he can be a weapon for us. i remember cordale patterson, huge and fast and brings literally nothing else, the pats used him as a change up on O and it stole for them first downs and the odd big play. more than anything, that's what we miss out on as a football team, go to match up breakers that decrease the level of difficulty of what we are trying to do.

i really don't know anything about him, but this thread has me sold! draft him in the 1st, OG in the 2nd, pass rusher and TE in FA, figure something out at LB (i predict milano walks), and get RB and DB help in the draft!