BillsVet

Sometimes I read posts on TBD and think that the SNL Superfans skit was just previewing where fan-hood was going. "We're not talking a repeat, a three-peat, or even a four-peat. We're talking minimum eight-peat."

Because they've linked their identity to this team and to admit being wrong is a direct blow to their fragile ego. That, or they think mom's basement must be insulated from the challenges of the outside world.

Reminds me of something discussed here seemingly every off-season. There are starting guards available at pretty decent bargain prices each year in free agency. Rarely though do you find physical type WR's with excellent speed when the new league year begins. Positional value has long been disregarded or flat-out not taken into consideration during free agency and the draft on TBD. Because, when Metcalf and Ford are up for their next contract, a guard of Ford's level isn't getting paid more than a WR like Metcalf.

Defense is overrated in the 2020 NFL. No one's marching to the post-season as a 1 or 2 seed with a top defense and an average offense. With slight exceptions for a few games, Buffalo hasn't had a strong offense that can regularly score big points in 25 years. Sure, they need to make stops in certain key situations, but it's not the critical requirement some are making it out to be. Out-scoring your opponents like their LAR game is the best way to reaching elite team status in the NFL of today.

With an avatar like Brick (EDIT: Tamland) and a thread title in all caps I expected more. As in, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT!" OR "LOUD NOISES!"

Bill O’Brien’s spectacular fail this year after that off-season doubling down on bad moves means his career above position coach is likely over.

I'm glad Buffalo isn't on that list because new HC's mean new schemes, which often require new personnel. That said, Buffalo has had consistency among their HC and coordinators to instill their scheme. I'm not the biggest Daboll fan, but I believe Josh has grown enough that he could work with a new OC or perhaps an internally promoted candidate. At this point I do believe he can be replaced.

The herds at Yellowstone descend from the last ~200 remaining at the end of the 19th century. Hiked in Glacer NP a few weeks ago...no bison but that is an amazing place.

Wait, Commandant Lassard plays for the Packers?

The context for how these teams employ the player needs to be talked about. Tre is playing a lot of zone and he was a 1st Team All-Pro last season. No minimizing that because Buffalo hasn't had many with that accolade in the past 20 years. Still, guys who largely play zone are not gonna get paid like M2M types who can hold down their man as Humphrey does. A contract extension for positions like CB have a lot do with how a team uses them. That factors in to how the deal is structured and its size. For the record, Humphrey received 11M more in guaranteed money over Tre's deal, which is how I view NFL contracts, not in AAV.

Kroft had 4 catches for 24 yards with 2 TDs on 5 targets against LAR. That moves Knox down the depth chart? 1 game? I wish there was a knee-jerk emoji to use here. I'd go with Kroft's career, which shows 77 catches on 114 targets through 65 games. Knox has more potential and should not lose his position unless his level of play falls off. Buffalo didn't invest a 3rd in him to push him behind Kroft after 1 game.

I'll give the league's 2019 MVP more than 1 game to demonstrate he can no longer be dynamic. Josh is the better passer of the football right now and may always be. What is funny are the people who pronounce something is so with regard to players, league trends after one or a handful of games. It takes a much bigger sample size to identify what is happening across the NFL or how a young player does or does not progress.

ieatcrayonz must be back IN a big way.

We're going to find out. Spain, Winters, and Ford represent their top 3 active guard options and 2 will line up on Sunday.

Typically, it's the other way around to begin the season as offense requires more precision and coordination. This is particularly so in the passing game. Both defenses and offenses were inhibited by the lack of a training camp and pre-seasons like most years. Perhaps this is merely a phase and things will change. But Tennessee rode Derrick Henry to the AFC Championship and Baltimore was strong running as well. I'll assert that teams are seeing defensive weaknesses, particularly those who loaded up to stop the pass and were smaller and/or less talented along the front 7. Time will tell. EDIT: I do agree that as film emerges of teams there will be further adjustments and I'd like to think McD and Frazier can effectively adapt their defensive scheme.

It's reasonable to be thinking about the division. Teams draft in some regards to address their divisional opposition, so it's a good question to be thinking about NE. NYJ and MIA are lackluster, but the path to winning the AFCE runs through NE. There's nothing wrong with looking in the rear-view mirror and that LAR win should be celebrated given how it happened. But you gotta keep looking forward at what may be around the corner to prepare adequately. I'm confident this week there's gonna be an emphasis on being more stout against the run.

There's been a huge emphasis on throwing the ball over the past decade plus and running games took on less priority. Teams, like Buffalo, (not making a pro or con statement) focused on defending against the pass, but that opens up an opportunity for teams to attack on offense differently. Perhaps this is just a short phase, but I'm seeing teams like Las Vegas, Tennessee, and LA yesterday make running the ball more of a priority. For teams that prioritized stopping the pass, it can be a huge vulnerability. It's real early, but 6 teams are average 150 yards rushing and 14 125+ per game: https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/team/_/view/offense/stat/rushing/table/rushing/sort/rushingYardsPerGame/dir/desc Interesting to see if this becomes a trend and how defenses react.

I'll put it another way. If someone is promoted up a rank at your work site and then a few months later is demoted, how is that to be viewed? As a positive? I'm sure it'd be mystifying to others in the office/site. Look, I get that people aren't going to condemn pro personnel because TBD is an echo chamber in many respects. Spain being benched 2+ games gives me pause in other pro personnel decisions in how they assess whom to keep. Tre hasn't been looking all that great since his big pay day, but it's early. Dawkins just began his extension. Allen and Singletary are on their rookie deals. Allen isn't up until after 2020 and Singletary isn't up until after 2021. What's your point?

And that could be. Someone mentioned, I (think it was @Simon) that Morse was getting away with holding all day. The NFL is always evolving, but rules changes over the past 10-15 years have significantly favored offense. I'm not sure if that'll ever change and teams are taking advantage, hence the high-scoring to begin this season.

It's a personnel issue and less of a financial one. Pro Personnel or the leadership at OBD decided Spain was worthy of an extension, yet 3 games in he's on the bench. If that isn't concerning about their talent evaluation, then I don't know what to tell you.

Good thing they just re-signed Spain to a contract extension. https://overthecap.com/player/quinton-spain/4612/

It's well-known that offenses typically take more time to round into form. There's a certain level of coordination that goes into offense which defense doesn't require. It's also not as if most of these guys on defense haven't played together. The secondary, LBs, and most of the DL are all veterans of the McD scheme, so it's not a new unit that's playing. I think the weak schedule last season is a factor, but it's also other teams seeing weaknesses on Buffalo's defense. Particularly up the middle with Edmunds. He's not a MLB in the NFL and still has meh instincts. Teams had an entire off-season to review other teams. Either McD and Frazier adapt or this will continue to happen. Yesterday a better HC almost beat McD's defense because he adapted better. Same thing happened during the WC game in January.

Don't want this thread to devolve into revisionist history, but McD has not been good against playoff teams or in the playoffs. From 2017-19, he's 3-17 against that group and 22-8 against non-playoff teams. Last year I believe they were 1-5. That said, I know McD was transitioning the defense from RR's scheme to his and that required new players in those years. I just think he went overboard and neglected the offense until the 2019 off-season. It's why whatever happened is now in the past. Josh is the force multiplier and I hope McD has the sense to place more trust in him and less on that defense he's been investing so much in. It's also hard to depend on defense week in and week out to provide the margin for wins.

We're basing the defense's play largely against one of the league's easiest schedule last season. Los Angeles has a very good offense, but the league is built for teams to score and defensive rules changes suit that. It was a mistake to invest so many resources in 2017-19 into defense with the league trending in this direction going back at least 15 years. This team lives or dies based on how the offense performs...just like most of the NFL's top teams have fared going back more several seasons.

In 2 of the last 4 games, a McCoach led team has blown 2 TD+ leads in the second half. The difference today from the WC loss is they've finally added talent (or had it mature) which can win shoot-outs. Today validates why teams need must be able to out-score their opponents. Going with a strong defense and pedestrian offense is a scheme which doesn't work in the NFL anymore. This team no longer lives and dies on McD's defense. It's Allen and the offense now.