Cash

IIRC the articles when we signed him the first time, seems like he might be looked at as a Smoot replacement? My recollection is that the plan back then was for him to play edge-setting DE in run situations and 3-tech DT in pass situations - which is the role Smoot has had this year. My recollection is also that injuries resulted in Jefferson playing a mix of 3-tech and 1-tech DT and never playing at DE.

I mostly agree with your sentiment here, but our MLB who is the green dot player and team captain is a premium position. We've seen a major difference between him and Spector so far this year, particularly when it comes to defensive alignments/pre-snap recognition, as well as post-snap recognition/falling for misdirection. I like what I've seen of Carter so far, but our backup 3-tech is hardly at the same level.

I think the max we could get is a 5th rounder, due to Cooper being a 10 year vested vet. Going from memory and didn't look up the specifics, but it's been reported by pretty reliable sources so I'm going with it unless/until proven wrong. Tim Graham had a good article in The Athletic this week that talked about the possibility of re-signing Cooper. My initial impression is that it's somewhat of a long shot but not unrealistic. Cooper is openly a warm-weather guy, which doesn't help our potential case. And I doubt we'll have the salary cap-ability to outbid anyone for him, and maybe not even match any offer. A lot of that depends on how he does this year, obviously, and can get a little paradoxical. The better he does, the higher the price tag, obviously. But the lower the price tag, the less likely that we actually want him back. My best case hope is that he finds that playing with Allen and for a contender is worth enough to overcome both the weather and the money, and signs a 1-2 year deal for an amount we can afford. In summary, I'm glad that Beane announced that there will be no contract talk until the season is over. Let's see how it plays out, see what the market for Cooper's services looks like, and see if there's mutual interest from both sides.

Idle thought: Would Pittsburgh take Hamlin + a pick in exchange for a safety upgrade? (Do they even have anyone that would be an upgrade and they’d need willing to part with?)

Exactly. The price would’ve been higher for the Bills than it was for the Chiefs, because: 1. (Major) We would’ve needed TEN to eat more salary, and they’re not going to do that for free 2. (Minor) The conditions to make it a 4th are both making the Super Bowl and Hopkins playing 60% of snaps. In TEN’s mind, the 6-0 defending champs are probably a better bet to make the SB than the 5-2 team that’s never beaten Mahomes in the playoffs. On #1 alone, I think it would’ve cost the Bills about as much for Hopkins as they paid for Cooper. For the record, I’m HOPING that Hopkins is washed. I’m EXPECTING that he’ll show his age and be nowhere near the destructive force we saw in Houston, but still be pretty effective at times. It’s hard for me to envision him failing on a crucial 50/50 ball in the playoffs. But I also don’t think it would’ve been worth it for us to trade for him. IMO, if we’re gonna spend more picks, let’s get someone who’ll help this year AND in the future.

Thanks for posting this - nice to see some realistic targets floated about. With the exception of Honey Badger, I basically have no idea who any of these guys are, but that doesn't mean much. My days of following non-fantasy players on other teams are long gone and I'm not wistful about them. As for Mathieu himself, I don't think the Saints would consider trading him. He's an LSU legend and immensely popular with the fanbase. Even when the team stinks, they still need to sell tickets and merch, and he's probably the #2 draw on the team right now after Kamara. I don't think they'd part with him for anything short of a massive overpay. (If I'm wrong, then by all means, Beane should go get him.)

Who would you put above him? I’m looking for names whose offenses were notably better than the QB and weapons they had.

Good to know our luck is holding strong.

Do we just stink now?

Hear me out - how about a guy who sucks? I'll pass, thanks. I don't know the safety situation around the league, but it seems like our only viable trade target would have to be an aging-but-not-washed veteran, on a bad team, probably in the last year of his deal or otherwise on a cheap deal cap-wise. And probably the price we're offering is around a 6th round pick or a little more. I'm not sure if there's anyone around the league who fits that bill and represents a clear upgrade over our starters, but if there is I'm all for it.

I haven't given up (yet?) on Bishop being a plus player this season. Keep in mind that he wasn't able to practice for the vast majority of training camp and all of preseason. So from a rookie development perspective, he's something like 6 weeks behind. There are a lot of rookies that need like 4-6 weeks of the regular to start acclimating to the pro game and contributing positively on a regular basis. There's a very realistic scenario where Bishop gets better every week until he's ready to be a plus (or at least not-minus) starter. If he hasn't gotten in the lineup by around the bye week, I'll start losing hope for Bishop contributing this year, but not until then.

Those questions are the worst, yeah. I assume it’s always because the reporter in question has written about XYZ player in his gamer already and needs a quote to fill in for a placeholder. I understand where they’re coming from in terms of making their job as easy as possible, but there’s a reason I don’t read many gamers any more.

Speaking of Madden, the screenshotted play is basically 9 Velcro with “coverage deep” on, except that in the game your D-ends stay on the line pre-snap. As for the Hail Mary itself, I hated the play call as soon as they lined up after the defensive timeout. I didn’t need the TV montage to know that Rodgers is the best HM thrower in the NFL. The key is that he throws it super high, so if his receiver posts up at the right spot, it’s basically impossible to knock down. I expect McDermott and Babich to also know this. So, knowing this, how best to defend Aaron Rodgers? I’m not sure, but I’m sure that the worst thing you can do is give him time to wind up unmolested and throw the exact ball he wants to throw. The 2 man rush guaranteed that Rodgers would have exactly that opportunity. I could have lived with a 4 man rush, a 3 man rush (especially if a 4th comes on a delay), or some sort of blitz (like send 5 or 6 and everyone else is in the end zone), but that plan was unacceptable under the circumstances. McDermott said in his halftime interview that they were playing the sideline. That’s dumb. Let them have the sideline. They’re already at a perfect distance for Rodgers to reach the end zone, and you can live with a 50+ FG attempt in swirling winds if you have to. Job 1 needs to be defending against the TD.

I'd even take that a step farther. Everything I've read about our two losses (and the eye test) suggests that opposing defenses are having great success clogging the middle of the field and daring us to win outside. To date, we haven't done much winning outside, and there's no reason to think we were going to start. The only guy who plausibly might develop into an outside threat this year is Coleman, and even if he does that's probably not enough. If Cooper works out, it should hopefully force defenses out of the "cover 0 or single high with a spy" defenses that have worked well thus far. Even if he doesn't work out, you're still looking at Allen's desperation heaves being thrown at Cooper instead of Mack Hollins. That makes me feel even better about the price we paid. Dotson is young, but also he sucks. Being young just means he'll get to keep sucking for a while before falling out of the league. Cooper is barely on the wrong side of 30, but looked great last year and shouldn't hit a wall for another year or two. Realistic possibilities: -Cooper plays well for us and re-signs to a 1 or 2 year deal. I would still want to draft a WR next year; just wouldn't have to be 1st or 2nd round. -Cooper balls out this year and we can't afford him. In that case, we're getting maybe a 4th round comp pick in 2026? We still need to draft a WR high, but this also makes the trade cheaper on our end. -Cooper is just okay or sucks, and has to sign a 1 year "prove it" deal somewhere. This would suck, but is also a risk well worth taking.

Agreed. Some people are pretty flat or down most of the time - low energy - but can flare up when they get angry or whatever. That's kinda worst of both worlds when it comes to a leader/boss. I wasn't around Dorsey day-to-day obviously, so I don't know if he fits that bill. But it's definitely a personality type that's out there, and it seems like it might've described Dorsey during his tenure as OC. I wasn't bothered by the meltdown at the time... with the caveat that if that's a pattern that persists, it's really bad. Having one (1) meltdown after a legitimately brutal loss in one of your first games as OC shows fire & passion. Having a second meltdown, pretty much no matter what, means he didn't learn from the first one.

Or insist that Thursday games come ONLY after a bye week or another Thursday game - so you could play TNF and Thanksgiving in back-to-back weeks but otherwise would need to be coming off a bye. The owners wouldn't want to do it, but it's the right move whether they want it or not. Not everything needs to be about increasing revenue IMO.

I noticed that too. The other possibility is that they think Clapp can play OT in a pinch, but I can't recall hearing about Clapp liniing up at OT at any point of training camp.

I dunno, what does “that tough a catch” mean? I already said it has to be considered a drop; there’s no disputing that. But Saquon’s drop on that 3rd down last week? That was way worse. Saquon’s drop came on a a catch like Cook’s 4th down conversion last week - wide open; just jogging; and a quick but soft throw that the receiver could see the whole time. Compare that to Cook’s drop on Monday: still wide open, sprinting all out for 5+ yards, not knowing if he’d get there or not; and having to spot a much faster ball over his shoulder. There’s no disputing that’s a harder catch than the one Saquon should’ve caught. If Cook has another one of those drops this year, I’ll be way more worried than I am right now. As long as he keeps making the easy ones every single time, I can forgive the hard ones.

Pretty significant improvement from last year to this year, IMO. Allen has always been pretty shaky on those WR screens - one of the reasons we never got much traction is that Allen often put the ball at the WR's feet - and that hurts RAC even if the WR catches it. Through 3 games, he's been excellent at throwing them quickly and with great ball placement. (Having improved blockers at WR in Hollins and Coleman also helps, as does having better RAC players catching in Shakir and Samuel vs Business Decision Diggs last year.) I remember after the playoff loss last year, I was chatting with another Bills fan, and the topic of Josh's game came up. He semi-rhetorically asked how Josh could get better at this point. I took it seriously, and came back with screen passes, deep shots, and risk-based judgment. So far this year, Allen looks way better than last year on 1 & 3, and about the same on 2 although the sample size is extremely small there. Still TBD are his RB screens; I don't think we've run one yet this year.

It should be! But I've seen teams come out looking like their top priority is keeping the other team's offense off the field. Sometimes that leads to scores anyway, but more frequently it leads to run-run-pass with no margin for error on 3rd down.

Agreed. I class it as a tough catch that still counts as a drop. Great effort to get to the ball, would've been a major highlight-reel if he caught it, but ultimately the ball went through his hands and that has to be counted as a drop. Much less concerning than his TD drops last year.

Agreed! Ravens look scariest when they play 2 TE with Henry in the backfield, and they can run Henry, run Lamar, or do playaction. But they take Henry out when they're in passing mode. If we get up 2 scores, I think we see more Justice Hill than Henry. I don't care how much time we take, or whether it's on the ground or through the air, but the priority on offense should be scoring TDs every time out.

Per the first 2 websites that came up when I googled, tonight's referee is Shawn Smith. I have no idea if that's good or bad.

I stopped listening to his podcast once it moved from a dialogue to a monologue, but even in the dialogue days it was getting to be a tough listen sometimes. Back when we were still fairly inept through McDermott's first couple years, it was a great listen. But Joe never seemed to fully adjust from "the Bills are a national joke" to "the Bills are legitimate Super Bowl contenders". Example: he kept using the same post-game awards (nearly all of which were for negative things) well into Allen's and the team's ascendancy. It was cringy listening to him give out 3 awards mocking Bills for playing bad or not showing up when the game was like 41-10 Bills.

Ed O!