colin

i agree he coached badly, we got out coached harder than we have all season last night, but i don't think we had a shot to win that game anyhow. as a team, we put all our eggs in one basket on either side of the ball and don't really adjust. we throw to WRs and have josh make miracles happen, and we play a zone nickle on D and hope for mistakes and the odd dialed up blitz pressure. coaching at the HC and OC level improved this season, regressed on D. we need to hit on some draft picks and FA upgrades and scheme better to get over the hump next year.

The bills, ravens, and indy could beat GB or Tampa more than 6 times out of 10 if they played enough times. the afc is head and shoulders better than the NFC this year, i expect KC to trounce tampa.

i agree wholeheartedly with the drift of this chat. one thing that sticks in my craw: the bills coaches are really really conservative to swap in and out skill players. davis was in no shape to play, brown was dinged up, and beez was in and out (heroic effort from him) but we didn't throw in Stills and barely put mac in. meanwhile KC dumps their 1st rounder for a guy who was driving UPS trucks and smoked us with him. On D, we have corners alternate, have nearly 10MM a year DEs not suit up, and rotate all game. they have unlimited flexibility to move guys around on D, but treat skill positions on O like they are rocket surgery. makes no sense! part of me wonders what our practice breakdown problems are. i feel like we don't spend enough time on situational plays that we can go back to and maybe change up over time to TEs and RBs. i dig some might be due to lack of talent, but KC took our bread and butter away (helped by injuries) and we had no answer. on the flip side, their whole O were the two most obvious players they have, and we didn't even seem to try to stop it schematically.

in that case, the execution was PERFECT!

he's better than the TRASH we had before him, sure, that's why i'm 50/50 on it. he has a lot of heart, but not as much talent.

What was that about? so, players who im like 50/50, where losing them creates a hole at least on paper, but these guys aren't really difference makers: Brown (not over all super dynamic, speed and some ability, but hurt too much too) Milano (i like the way he plays, i think he's an above replacement level guy, but he's hurt way too much and is not a game breaker, i could be convinced he needs to stay though) Mongo (love the guy, but he's clearly a lesser player than teller, who we sadly let go for cheap. has been hurt and is over all a replacement level guy) Josh Norman (just done at this point) Levi Wallace (a tad better than Norman, but a weakness at corner) Klien (had some solid games as a pass rusher, but had more negative impact overall) all the DL they brought in this year (Butler, Addison, Williams) didn't even manage to equal the guys they replaced, who aren't stars. Motor (not as good as a JAG 3rd stringer, rookie deal so we don't need to move on from him) Guys who losing would make a real hole and we aren't likely to get a solid replacement for Morse (paid like an all pro, plays just above average) Edumnds (sick talent, just a bad angle and mistake machine, although he brings some good plays sometimes. could be out of position, cheap contract so he obv gets at least another year) Knox (clearly not a great player, sick athlete, has been improving at least some tho, on rookie deal so whatever) and there you have it, we don't have enough playmakers (diggs, allen, white) and the guys we have around them are just not good enough. There was an athletic article on the final 4 teams, the bills had more free agent players than any other team. a couple of those have been decent, but look at who TB brought in on D (suh and JPP) and who we did (a bunch of no ones, including Murphy who barely plays) and it's obvious where the issue is

yelden was a clearly superior player, with the possible exception of pass blocking (don't know either way, just could be something i missed) than motor. the two play combo, when we were up 9-0, where we ran power right and had good OL execution and motor gets 3 yards, and then he drops a sure fire first down and more lob pass on the screen (again to the right) just shows me he's at best JAG. the saddest thing about the above is Yeldon is a career 2nd or 3rd guy in the NFL, who doesn't really stay w a team for too long at a time. he's a pure replacement level player, and aside from Moss having some solid power running late in the season (im gonna hope he recovers and is a solid back going forward), he was better than what we saw at RB all year. our line stinks at run blocking, we are a kinda smoke and mirrors finesse team on both sides of the ball, but it's overly evident that we simply do not have good players at RB and TE, KC knew that and rolled us in a laugher.

i was anti dabol for the longest. he really turned a corner this season, but had regression this post season. didn't pass enough early vs indy, scheme was unbalanced and ineffective vs baltimore (im willing to say weather and the baltimore d was the bigger part of that tho), and vs KC i do think he was hamstrung by injuries to our best RB (out) and our 2 and 3 and 4 WRs being dinged up or basically to hurt to play (beez was in and out, davis was basically a no show w his injuries, and brown was somewhere inbetween). if the bills coaches had billicheck in game adjustment ability, the would have let josh make one or two reads and just run the ball, he could have run for like 150 if he kept it more, and on d they would have done something to disrupt kelsey getting free releases. still woulda lost the game tho. we got out coached, and badly, but with who we had healthy and who we have overall, we just weren't going to beat KC where KC was playing hard and dirty.

normally i'd say this is insane, but mccown is known as being one of the best qb's in terms of knowing the game, and has over shot his talent by miles. my assumption is that watson likes him and would stay if he's corch, which would make a ton of sense. if watson doesn't like it, or doesn't care and won't stay anyhow, then it makes me wonder if they can't get anyone else to sign, or they have just lost their minds. if he's a passing game and qb guru, and they get a vet former HC on staff for DC (frazier would be ideal, good thing he's already a senior DC on a much better team!) and a solid guy for OC, and watson stays because of it, it's a good idea. put another way, if hiring this guy kept watson, if im the texans i do it.

he's an ahtletic freak (see post above). i mean, really really better than most DTs. His issue is partly his still set (small, not as polished) and some of his other athletic traits (short arms being the biggest) hold him back in a modern NFL setting. he's got more talent than kyle ever had (who also had burst but wasn't tall and long enough) but kyle had just outstanding skills. LSU DT is generally a great place to learn the trade, and he grew in the NFL too. If he can polish up his ability, he and oliver in the gut can be a nascar package for passing downs.

38 27 bills. we close the game out early in the 4th, they have a scary drive to make it closeish, but then we score an extra FG and ice them on D.

from what i've seen in this thread, jets, bears 9ers and panthers make the most sense, based on what i think is cap room and what they can offer/need. perhaps a 3 way w NE sf and houston. a dark horse i'll add: dallas. if dak is too hurt, or if things have gone sour between him and jerry, i could see jerry pushing for the block buster trade to get the best qb in the state of texas. watson is a national brand, and being in big D would suit him. also, the nfc least is a pushover division, so he alone and a decent draft can put him in the playoffs. beyond that, if i were him, i'd want to go to carolina. some decent young players, and w brees retiring, matt ryan getting a bit older, and brady has what, 2 years left? he could be the leader there.

imo, as long as our O gets the ball enough times to figure whatever they have to out, they are gonna put up points. 31 points scored would not be a big day for this O. This game is gonna come down to avoiding the back breaking mistake, and to our D. our D has to play well enough to limit balitmore, i think early in particular. the D was nicely solid in the first 3 quarters vs the colts, and was decent on the final game winning drive. those two particular drives in the 4th getting just trucked for long TDs flipped the day from a solid one to a trashy one. the athletic did a good breakdown, some bad play, some bad calls, and indy noticing we abandoned our run focused D. i don't think we do that at all vs baltimore, so i think we can tie or win the rock paper scissors game, so it's up to the D to ball out.

it will be, but it will largely be deserved. clevland has a sick and complete O w talent all over, but they ain't winning on D, so they need ball out on O. we are favorites on the spread, but spiritual underdogs w everyone seeing the ravens as hot and the bills as not, and the ravens as a power match up nightmare, and the bills as a smoke and mirrors finesse team. we are gonna see what is true on saturday, but we control our own narrative. win the games and be a champion forever.

a center named colon is taking his name to heart.

so obviously i want the jags to lose because they are a team in our conference, but i think out of all of the college guys, urban has the best chance to succeed. ive always been very impressed with how players come out of his program self motivated and ready to be solid pros. i think his skills will suit the nfl better than most. He still has a big fat chance to fail, but i do think he's better for the job than most his sociopath all that matters is winning and people are to be used towards a goal might actually be an asset in the cut throat world of pro football. reminds me of a coach in our division.

lol, that's a bit of a bad omen when you think of not flight college coaches going to AFC teams in florida! big time football really does have a club, doesn't it?

of course, i could be wrong, but i think he's a big media guy who will have a warm reception in NJ but will spiral a bit once things go wrong, which they will. i don't think young coaches get the fawning media treatment he has without working the media to their advantage. very smart from a career perspective, but it makes me wonder where their focus is and if they have a different set of personalities for different people. Mike Ditka in chicago comes to mind.

i hope they trade darnold for a back of tape and draft a bust.

41 31 bills. goes back and forth a bit in the first half, but the bills put together some drives and go up 24 17. in the second half the bills O catches fire and the D stymies the ravens o just enough for the bills to get a commanding lead, ravens put together a couple good drives to make it respectable, but we win holding the ball and closing the game out

best fit for him is Chargers, but obv i hope he stays (imagine that, i was so hard on him before!). i think saleh to the jets is the match made in heaven. big media team, big media DC, he's great on camera and is popular. and i hope he crashes and burns and stinks.

he's scary as a blocker, and gets passes because he's basically not covered. he actually doesn't break many tackles, but on 3rd or 4th and short, is just another weapon for the ravens (another guy you gotta watch). the ravens O is the ultimate gregg roman dirty fantasy, lol. a tiny qb who's not great as a traditional passer, but runs like a cheetah on meth, a few giant TEs who can block and catch, pretty sick OL, a couple burners at WR, and giant physical RBs. Picard is just an extra freak for his match up circus. they get you scared of the power run game out of so many formations, but really their best asset is using misdirection to get easy passes for lamar, or get your d going the wrong way and then either have a power back going full speed the other way, or lamar basically returning a punt w two tacklers between him and the end zone. the downside, as we saw first hand in buffalo, is that they are not dynamic, have trouble hurrying up, don't have as much of a green light to change up plays, and if you keep them honest like pitts does, you can turn them into a power run team that struggles on 3rd and passing downs. im worried about our guys over pursuing one wan and getting burned the other, because our DL just isn't going to win a lot of match ups in this game. more than ever, a hot start and big pressure by our O scoring is our key to victory. i hope we have a schematic wrinkle in the bag so that instead of our usual D making deep outside passes hard and giving up the middle, we can make lamar pause and read the D, which turns him from the MVP into a below average NFL qb. i don't think we can present a good physical match up like we did last year, and nearly had a shot to tie it even though our o was pretty putrid.

you make a good point, but it seems to be game to game. i think sick rushers still have value, but i hear you on like 2 1sts and 25mm a year for one might not make sense

simms had a good take, we have to guess correctly what the d is gonna do for our scheme to work, because we just lack the beef upfront. and the simple passes that beat us when we weren't in position obviously burned us. all that said, our D took a dump entirely on 2 drives, badly timed drives, but just two back to back drives. they made necessary adjustments and stopped them twice in one drive (thanks refs) right after, so i really think if the d coaches can get that figured out, our d can look like it has for the past 5 weeks. might get trucked in the odd drive, but slow them down enough to frustrate, and score on O. as far as baltimore goes, they beat tenn cuz ten had 200 yards total O. that's awful.

this is a great question. i really think the D played well, but got figured out the 3rd and 2nd last drive where we got absolutely trucked, but righted the ship late. i really think our D plays rock paper scissors, and if we get caught off or have a couple back to back bad plays, it falls apart some. vs baltimore they really need to add some wrinkles, have to stop lamar running, but on any obv passing down they have to not have predictable pass offs, or else we will see a lot of TE completions.