Paup 1995MVP

We have beaten up on the bad teams with regularity. But when it matters in the playoffs, we have fallen short especially on defense. And that’s all that really matters. The Chiefs have been in 5 SB’s. And we have been in 0. Ouch that stings.

He can disagree all he wants. Wood was a solid player over his years. No disrespect there. But I don’t think he ever had the top end ability that McGovern showed last year. And I think McGovern is just a bigger more imposing player.

I have been disappointed in his play on the whole compared to what I was expecting of him coming out of Utah. Really thought he dominated his senior year there. And he has not shown any domination at the NFL level so far. Lets hope he figures out the pro game, and can put some size on him. You would think with an NFL training staff, that they could muscle him up some. Lift a bunch of heavy weights, and eat a ***** ton of food. It doesn't seem that hard.

Interesting thoughts on Bernard. Was very surprised that he wasn't top 32 in the league. He had a great 2023, and an OK 2024. I think he is an above average athlete with great instincts on what is going on around him on the field. Is he Fred Warner? No. But he is certainly light years ahead of Tremaine Edmunds as an NFL LB. Your opinion on Bernard being #5 on who you pay of the guys up for extensions is interesting. I think his 2023 season was much better than any season Rousseau has put together. Rousseau has been consistently above average. But not consistently great by any means. I think Bernard has a higher ceiling as a football player than Rousseau. But overall keeping both is good for the team. Bernard just needs to stay healthy. I wish he would put on an extra 10-12 pounds. LB's should weigh at least mid 230's to take the pounding they get week in and week out.

I thought he was tremendous last year. The best play at Center since Kent Hull retired.

McGovern and Cook are both very good NFL players. However, McGovern's position is more important because it is much harder to find a top Center, than a good RB. The Bills would be stupid not to extend McGovern and pay him as a top 5 center. That doesn't mean we should not try and extend Cook. But he is likely pricing himself out of what the Bills will pay a RB long term regardless of who that runner is. The offense goes through Josh Allen. We don't need James Cook to have an excellent offense. The Eagles needed Saquan Barkley. The 49ers need Christian McCaffrey. We will be fine if Cook doesn't play. We have the same O line, and Ray Davis Ty Johnson and whomever else suits up will make plays running the rock.

Good analysis of the secondary. Tre White may not make it to training camp based on the tidbits I heard from yesterday's practice. Sounds like he was running in mud trying to cover Elijah Moore. The guy has not been good since Thanksgiving night 2021 when his knee unfortunately gave out on the Superdome turf. There comes a time for all athletes... Tre's may be this summer. The report on Bishop sounded good from yesterday's practice. Hopefully, he is ready to play NFL football at a starters level. And will be a big upgrade to the back end of our defense. With all the additions in the secondary, the competition should be pretty intense. And when the dust settles, I think we will be a much improved secondary from last season.

Football is a violent game. And even if you are not getting serious trauma injuries every other week, your body is constantly getting beat up. Almost noone plays every game every season in the NFL...unless you are Bruce Mathews or Brett Favre. And Favre's career ended on the cold University of Minnesota turf on a Monday Night in December 2010 against I believe the Bears with him laying on the ground half conscience with a purple left ankle that was mangled and a concussion. (I was a big Favre fan and was in Vegas watching at the Mirage Sportsbook. My girlfriend and I were both like, its over for him.) My son played football from when he was 6 through college at Georgia Southern. He played O line, D line, TE, LB and QB. He got beat up all the time from about the time he was 9 til he finished in college. His main injuries in high school were a broken foot from getting stepped on, when blocking for a punt. His ankle got rolled up on his junior year in HS catching a pass, breaking it and tearing ligaments. And in college he got his knee rolled up on in a scrum against LSU and tearing the hell out of his knee in the first game of the 2019 season. He probably had a few concussions throughout as well. But nothing that messed him up for too long and too severely. And he played most of his senior season with a mangled shoulder. And then at his pro day in the Spring two years ago, he severely sprained his hamstring, and for all intents and purposes his career was over. My point is that football is a very violent physical game. My son was not particularly injury prone. But he played in the trenches mostly with a lot of big dudes. And my son was a tough hombre who would mix it up with everyone on the field. You are going to get injured. That's part of the game. Lets not crush Bosa just yet. I for one think he will be a big addition. He likes to mix it up. Guys who do that tend to get hurt more. It could be worse, we could have Mike Trout. LOL

When was the last time anyone on our D line had a monster year? Maybe Mario Williams. Did Jerry Hughes ever have a monster year? Kyle Williams was pretty dam good in his prime. But probably not monster years. Aaron Schobel had some good years. (but did it even matter with how bad some of those teams were he was on in the 2000's?) Probably Bruce Smith for god's sake. That's been a while. Bosa will bring a fire if he can get on the field. He plays with some anger. Can it last a whole season? Doubtful. But he plays old school football. Wouldn't mind seeing a little more chippiness, a little more edginess out of the defense as a whole this season. That is allowed in 2020's football isn't it?! (A little Leonard Smith, a little Darryl Talley out there)

17th feels a lot more like where we were just watching us play all our games versus 9th, without even looking at the true numbers. Rushing we seemed like a top 5 unit. Very dominant most weeks. Had a 70’s or 80’s feel to it at times. With Josh Allen we should never be out of the top 10 in passing yardage. But Joe Brady’s offense played heavily into a dominant run blocking O line. And for the most part it was very successful. However, you still have to be able to stretch the field vertically. Because teams will eventually figure out what you are doing. Brady really needs to include some route concepts that make for open throws 20-25 yards down the field on a consistent basis. All of our receivers this year should be able to do that. Because you can not go into a season with the exact same offensive scheme from the year before. There have to be wrinkles and variations.

Thanks for the numbers Folz. That’s awesome. Our yards per attempt last year was very high. I am surprised we were that high in the league in yards. I just never thought of our team as an aerial circus. Josh didn’t seem to throw for 300-400 yards every week like Burrow and some other guys. (He certainly could have if our offense was predicated on that ) Can you give me the stats for the 8 teams above us in passing yards last year? A big factor of late has been how defense has changed the past couple years. Lots of prevent type two deep safety looks making teams throw a lot of underneath stuff around the league. I find that boring. I remember years ago on any 3rd and long teams would rush 6-7 guys and try knock the QB out. Now everyone lines up at the 1st down marker and plays prevent giving up 9-11 yards on 3rd and 17. That works a lot, but teams go for it on 4th down a lot more now. So you still need some tight D on 3rd down. With the defensive schemes today, You just don’t see as much deep passing week to week. We do have a lot of weapons. Letting Cooper go was fine. He basically sucked last year and is pretty much shot. He can’t outrun anyone. Hollins had some big plays in the AFCCG. But certainly isn’t dominating anyone week in and week out. Palmer and Moore should be upgrades. I just can’t wait for some real football by this time of the offseason.

Beasley was tremendous for us. Guy could always get open. And always got the first down. He got the most out of his ability his entire NFL career. And that was at a very high level for what he did. What more could you ask for? A guy on today’s roster who I get a similar vibe about-though not in not quite as prominent a role, but still gets the most out of his abilities every play is Ty Johnson. Always makes plays when called upon. And is just a very good football player.

Thanks for responding w a nice analysis. a couple questions: Where do our passing numbers rank last year and over the past 3 years overall in the NFL? What about a bigger role for Elijah Moore? The guy has been a good receiver on some teams with bad QB’s. Was a high 2nd round pick. And still may have upside to his game. I wish we threw the ball down the field more having such a special QB in Josh Allen. But understand that our O line is a really good run blocking line. And I think the run game overall seems to be more back in vogue in the NFL. Let’s hope for some breakout games and seasons for Kincaid and Coleman.

That’s quite an analysis of Coleman and the other rookie WR’s. what kind of numbers do you hope/expect Coleman and Kincaid to put up this coming season?

I sure did. Its not like we sat down and had dinner and drinks together. But I let him know I was a big time Bills fan. And my girlfriend, who was there with me and is originally from Detroit was talking up the Lions as well. Its good when we both have good teams to root for. We were hoping for a Lions-Bills Super Bowl. But that unfortunately did not happen.