BillsVet

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.

Career 3-17 against playoff teams or in the post-season.

He's young.

I did OCS at Benning one summer and I saw very fit guys struggling afterward just standing in formation after a 5 mile fast march. That was a 90 and 90 day. Company commander got reamed for pushing us in those conditions.

All I know is the leading passer through 2 weeks is a Buffalo Bill and averages 9 yards per attempt. And their off-season WR acquisition is tied for 1st in receiving yards.

The players have a right to exercise their 1st Amendment right. No one is harmed by remaining inside when the Star Spangled banner is played. Still, no professional athlete was standing in their locker room 19 years ago because we were all on the same team. How quickly people forget.

This concept was talked about when the run pass option became prevalent back in the early 2010s. You had Kaepernick (no political statement intended) running roughshod over the Packers in one playoff game and Wilson had excellent mobility, along with Newton back then. Eventually in the NFL, defenses contain those QBs in the pocket or they the player keeps running and get banged up. Newton's back now, but he's dealt with a lot of injuries. Wilson is more polished and, well, the other guy is not in the league (no political statement intended). If those QB's want to take off, it's got to be in the right circumstances and, like Murray, cognizant of protecting oneself better.

Oliver is a 9th overall pick. Hard to understand why some are sensitive to criticism being leveled if he doesn't show up on a stat line, particularly when he's a 3T. Epenesa not playing is a bigger deal. That he couldn't overcome a former 7th rounder at DE is something to talk about. Then again in both cases, homers gonna homer.

It's days like this I remember the absolute panic in March 2018 when people here were clamoring for Beane to do something when NYJ traded 3 second round picks to move up from 6th to 3rd overall. At the minimum I'm content with the decision to make the move to 7 for Josh. He's certainly looking like the better QB over Darnold, but this comparison still needs more evidence pro or con.

That's not my point at all. It's that not all lives matter as much, indicated by the lack of athlete/celebrity protest against the inner city brutality and death that is not ever discussed. If all Black Lives truly mattered to the protestors and players, they would be demanding that inner city violence be addressed, along with the murder of thousands of African-American babies. But they're not. Meanwhile, the NFL, like other many major corporations, has aligned themselves with BLM now to avoid public condemnation. Because the last thing any corporation wants is pressure applied which may result in revenue losses. And the organization that applies pressure noticeably does not condemn those other forms of violence they allege happens frequently in America by police. Money is behind the league's message. That and placating certain players, who at last count had demanded and won millions from the NFL to ostensibly fight racism. And no matter what the league does, it's never enough.