Paup 1995MVP

That's a fair assessment. But what do you think we built the defense to do then? Other than the Jets, teams have been able to move the ball on us. Yes we are 4-0, but we have not played the league's better teams, other than the Ravens. (Even though they are 1-3, they still have a lot of talent-I do think their defense is overrated though.) I will be real interested to see how we match up against the Patriots on defense.

Has his name even been mentioned even one time in any of our 4 games for making a play? We traded up for this guy in the second round from a decent SEC program. Between him and Landon Jackson we are basically getting nothing so far. What the hell is Beane looking at when drafting these guys? At least Boogie Basham got on the field and made a few plays. And everyone wanted him gone too.

It’s my buddy Kirby. We haven’t communicated since our long debate on Garett Wilson. lol. I am in total agreement on your assessment of Ray Davis. I was losing my mind when we ran him into the line on 3rd and 1 against the Saints in the 4th qtr near midfield. And I wish we had your namesake right now to play boundary corner opposite Benford. He actually had some game when he played. More than Tre White has now.

I agree. Ray Davis looks terrible. I see no reason for him to be on the active roster. Let’s give Gore Jr a chance.

I agree Bear. I think Williams is injured. So hoping it’s Milano and Bernard starting at LB, w some help from Shaq Thompson, who I think has looked pretty solid when on the field. And maybe a little Buffalo Joe as well. I would like to see Hancock getting some reps at safety for Rapp. And hopefully Hairston is back by the second half of the season. He and Strong splitting reps opposite Benford would be good to see. Eventually I would like to see a starting secondary of Bishop Hancock Hairston and Benford. And put Strong at slot Corner. Taron Johnson looks washed. And will likely be injured again shortly.

Knox has shown to have a low ceiling and a high floor. I thought Williams would be the same with a little higher ceiling then Knox. Based off of what I have seen this year, his ceiling and his floor seem to lowering. If he is going to continue playing like he did last Sunday trying to corral Spencer Ratler, he should not be active going forward. If Daquan Jones is improved this year, why are we last in the league against the run? I am not saying this tongue in cheek. I seriously would like some answers as to why we can not consistently stop the run. Are our guys too small? Are they too slow? Do they just pretty much suck against the run other than Walker?

Interesting conversation about Landon Jackson. I never watched him in college. But I heard good things when we drafted him. And living in the South I have seen a lot of SEC football over the past 3 decades, so I was pretty excited when we drafted him. That being said, he looked lost in the preseason. And to not dress when you have Epenesa Salomon and Rousseau in front of you-(none are making a lot of plays so far or are super dynamic players) is a bit concerning. I expect Hoecht to replace Salomon. And barring injury, he could sit the entire season. We need more from our D line from someplace. And it needs to start this Sunday against a good ascending Patriots team.

Both deep throws did not look like they were planned plays. It was Josh rolling out to his right under pressure and heaving the ball down the sideline. Coleman certainly wasn’t open on the pick. And the ball to Samuel was tailing to the right, and he collided w the DB as the ball was approaching. It was close to PI on the DB. The entire football field should be used by the offense. Not just the first 10-15 yards past the line of scrimmage. It makes us more difficult to defend. As bad as our defense looks at times. When we play the better teams, our offense will be under more pressure to make plays. So some vertical passing game will be needed.

Knox is ok. He is a good teammate and blocker. Makes a few big catches every year. But doesn’t have real good hands. He can be replaced if he doesn’t take a big pay cut after the season. The love that he gets on this board for being an overall mediocre NFL player is curious to me.

That’s a real short sighted approach. The defense has dominated one game out of 4. The Saints went into Seattle and were curb stomped by the Seahawks 44-13. We were 2 inches from losing the lead in the 4th qtr after Rattler’s pass was a smidge low to Cooks who pretty much waltzed between both our safety’s who had no idea what they were supposed to be doing. That is ***** defense. And for whatever reason-be it talent, scheme, motivation we play ***** defense a lot. Our offense is good because we have a ridiculously great generational QB, a great RB, and an excellent run blocking O line. However, we run an offense that isn’t using the talents of our QB or our receivers to the best of their ability. Throwing only 2 targets to Kincaid is inexcusable. As is throwing no targets to Coleman in the second half Is inexcusable. We have Palmer Shakir Kincaid and Coleman. All are good players and are being underutilized. Yes we are 4-0. And it’s a close team oriented group of guys. But the coaching and playcalling on the whole is average at best. And eventually mediocrity will get you beat.

I think we did well drafting Jackson Hawes. He has been a solid contributor. Dionne Walker looks like he belongs on an NFL field. I haven't heard Sanders name mentioned much. Hairston is injured. Jackson looked bad in the preseason. I was surprised given he was a starter on a mid level SEC team. He should be used to going up against good competition. Strong looked decent when he played. And I think Hancock could be very good if he can stay healthy and is given the opportunity. I think we all would like several of these guys' play to just jump off the screen where you are like right away, this guy is a baller!! Kind of like Sam Cowart. Remember him? He was playing lights out in 2000 when he suffered that terrible knee injury on that wet field in Tampa. But I am not sure that was his rookie year. And we did sign Matt Prater. LOL

I would try and extend McGovern and Edwards for 3 years each through the prime of their careers. My god we paid Rousseau, and he is nowhere near as good at his position as McGovern and Edwards have been at theirs. And yes Kromer must be a hell of an O line coach. The proof is in the results. Sure would be nice if some of our defensive coaches could make a difference like that with their position groups. Whoever our LB coaches have been seem to have done a pretty decent job with the talent we have. But can't say the same for the secondary and D Line coaches based on our performances. I did like John Butler at DB coach. I think him leaving after the 2023 season was a big loss for us.

I appreciate your reasonable optimism about the defense. I am excited to add Hairston and Hoecht to the mix. I think they both will add a good bit. As for Ogunjobi, I hope he is better than Daquan Jones at this point in their careers, and can provide a spark in the middle of the line, if and when he gets a chance. And we are better with Oliver and Milano on the field. I think the big problems is the secondary compared to some of the other top teams. Benford is a good, but not a great cover corner. He holds up real well against the run. But does not have especially twitchy athletic traits that make him elite covering real good receivers. The rest of the secondary seems problematic to me. Tre needs to sit. I personally would cut him because he has no upside left to cover NFL receivers. (I know a lot of people on this message board worship the man. But this is not pre injury Tre White) And I think our starting safeties suck. No team gives more room in the secondary then us. I wish Damar Hamlin could move some. Because from a technique standpoint he is probably the best we have back there. But he can't run. Lets hope Hancock gets a shot sooner than later. He at least looked to have a nice amount of upside when he was on the field in the preseason. (I think he has more potential than Cole Bishop-has Bishop even made one important stop since we drafted him?)

Kansas City has great coaching. And their defense still looks pretty darn solid to me. I sure wish our defense was in the same conversation as theirs. Speaking of defense, I sure like the Lions defense. They have some talent there. Not sure what's wrong with our defense. Is it the lack of talent, or the scheme is just too difficult to play where guys can just fly around and make plays? Maybe both? Because the way the Lions went at the Ravens last night was completely different then the way we played the Ravens.

Those grades are interesting. I find it painful watching Tre try and play CB in the NFL at this point in his career. He just doesn't have the movement skills or foot speed to keep up with NFL receivers any longer. And I wish the coaches would figure that out, this week. Perfect game coming up against the Saints to start Strong opposite Benford. And Taron really doesn't do much in pass coverage anymore. He is just another injury waiting to happen. The guy plays hard, and his body is beat up at this point. Overall we have a lot of mediocre athletic guys on the defense. And the defense seems to be very difficult for a lot of guys to understand. But I am excited for Hairston and Hecht to come back. Both are super athletic, and will hopefully give us some juice against the better offenses we play.

Your points are all valid balln. We don't stop the run consistently. Its been like that for awhile now. And they can't sack the QB. Very frustrating. And we give up so much in the flats. Is it scheme or just guys being slow and not reading plays quick enough? I was watching the NFL games yesterday, and I will say that Cleveland has an excellent defense. They get after the QB and are relentless. And the Giants athleticism on the edge with Burns Thibodeaux and now Carter who they drafted from Penn State is ridiculous. We have noone close to that. That we gave Rousseau all that money is concerning. For whatever reason the Bills do not get anyone who is twitchy playing D Line. Heck, I would love to have a guy like George Karloftis, who may not be twitchy, but is tough and can make plays off the edge.

I thought the D (while not totally sucking) did not look very good last night. The offense moved the ball well because we have a great offensive line when it comes to run blocking, and our receivers are good in space when we get them the ball. But we do need to open things up more vertically. The offense seems constrained to a 12 yard area vertically from the line of scrimmage, and across to both sidelines. That seems counterintuitive with a QB like Josh Allen. I think Miami would have ran the clock down if we did not make the interception (a hell of a read by Bernard btw) causing us to burn our TO's and probably would have scored with less than 2 minutes to go. And I think they would have gone for 2 to try and win the game, the way our defense was having trouble stopping them in crucial situations. That being said, a huge play by Bernard to make the pick!!

I agree with you on the spot on Josh's slide. He was clearly past the 1st down marker in live time. It was a terrible spot. Terry McCauley in the NBC booth, (who usually sides with the refs) said it was clearly an erroneous spot. Someone on the Bills sideline should have seen the initial replay (or even in live time) told McDermott to challenge.

That's pretty frightening when you think about it, that the Bills had a 1st round grade on Elam. Not sure what traits they liked about him. Just watching him on the Cowboys the first two weeks of the season, he plays way off his man and looks like he has no confidence.

Not dismissing Von’s career. He admittedly had a very good distinguished career. He was just never one of my favorite players. Never was wowed by him is all. We all have our guys we loved to watch play. Von will be in the HOF. I just love the physicality of how Bosa plays when he is healthy.

I think Fields is just lousy. And looks scared on the field. He has not improved one bit since his rookie season. The narrative that this guy should be a starting QB in the NFL is just false. This is year 5. And he misses guys all over the place and is super tentative. He doesn’t elevate the guys around him. Never has. Hard to win with that as your starting QB. The Jets should have signed Jameis Winston over Fields for the half the money. Certainly a better investment. At least Jameis gives you a chance every week. And doesn’t play scared.

Disagree. Bosa is way more of a physical presence than Von ever was as a Bill. He is 5 years younger too. At their best Bosa as a player overall is better than Von as well. Let’s just hope Bosa stays healthy. The man is a big dude playing w a lot of attitude. Hopefully Epenesa and Rousseau can learn a lot about playing DE from Bosa.

It’s time for Jimmy Ciarlo. Enough w the Buffalo Joe talk. Ciarlo is a much better athlete.

I agree with you about Cleveland this weekend. They played a feisty game against the Bengals and should have won but for their rookie kicker. I think the Ravens defense is overrated. If we were not so conservative with our play calling in the first half after the first drive we would have been a lot closer late in the game. When they let Josh play like an all timer, the Ravens could not stop him. That needs to be our offensive MO every week. Conversely, what in the name of good defense is wrong with the Bills run defense every single year? Is it the scheme, the players, or a brutal combo of the two? This game was certainly not an outlier of our run defense the past few years. It has happened numerous times. I certainly hope that Jordan Hancock is active this week. Give the kid some opportunities. He at least looked to have some athleticism in the preseason. I can't believe he would not be an upgrade from what we saw out of Rapp and Bishop. And do NOT go back to Tre White. Keep Strong starting. And then when Hairston is ready go with a combo of those two opposite Benford. No way Tre can keep up with the speed of today's NFL offenses. Just not happening.

The TD catch off of the Knox deflection took a lot of focus and awareness. Pretty nice catch. I see a big season from him this year. A game like Sunday's has to give him a lot of confidence. Same with Kincaid. He had some jump out there as well. And lets not forget Knox. I have been somewhat hard on him at times. But I thought he was a presence for us all game long.