5 Way-too-Early picks from CBS

[1st Ammendment NoMas]

Got to love this from CBS La Confora...  https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/way-too-early-nfl-week-1-picks-patriots-ravens-among-five-to-back-in-new-era-of-betting/

 

Quote

The Bills are probably going to start AJ McCarron and they are very much playing for the future. I suspect the Bills will be in shouting range of the first-overall pick when it's all said and done, which won't be a bad thing for their continued rebuild. In the meantime, they have lost 60 percent of the offensive line, the run game might not be nearly as robust, the defense has lots of holes, still, and they don't have playmakers on offense. Baltimore is a solid-enough team with the coach and QB playing for their future there, and the receivers are upgraded from a year ago. Joe Flacco is finally healthy again and plenty motivated, and the Ravens at home early in the season are usually a safe bet.

 

This isn't some Lindsay Lohan body switch Freaky Friday with last years Browns. The Bills need to use all this crap as fuel for the fire. I honestly think we win no less that 7, but may end up with 9-10 wins if we can get out of the first half at 3-5 or 4-4.

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by BillsRdue

[oldmanfan]

Given the source,  it's pretty much a guarantee then that the Bills beat the Ravens and win about 9 this year.

[US Egg]

4 minutes ago, BillsRdue said:

Lindsay Lohan body switch movie

 

Hmmm......? ?

 

Can't avow I ever watched a Lindsay Lohan movie

[aristocrat]

we just have no idea what this offense is gonna do.   But we had the 29th offense by yards and 22nd by points last year and still managed 9 wins. Our pass offense was so poor that's where we can make the most difference this year and hopefully with that threat our run offense can maintain or even get better.   Our run defense was so poor last year that's where our defense can see the biggest improvement.  No more jets running for 200 yards and New orleans for 300 or whatever.  

[FLFan]

Not sure where all the holes are on the defense, but whatever.  The offense is certainly a giant question, starting with line, unknown at WR at best, and new OC.  That said, I am not willing to write of the offense like many are until I see how this all comes together.  Could be worse (hard to believe given how bad it was last year), but also could be appreciably better with the addition of Dabol alone.  This team could well be competing for a playoff position, or be 6 and 10, depending on the breaks.  Either way, they are nowhere near the first overall pick.

[Kirby Jackson]

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

[elroy16]

What are all these holes on defense?

 

Last year they had a poor run D, but then they added 3 pieces to the front 4 and a high pick to replace the MLB. They replaced the lost starting CB with a proven vet while adding depth in the draft. You can question the depth, but "lots of holes" is not accurate.

 

 

[BurpleBull]

When an outsider tries to speak as a diehard: 

 

"The defense has lots of holes...".

[H2o]

Holes in the defense? Yeaaaaahhhhh, not so much. If Edmunds is as advertised we will have a top 10 unit. Shady is still gonna be Shady. Offseason click bait at it's best. 

[Stank_Nasty]

is it just me or does anyone else think the ravens have been extremely overhyped year in and year out since their title run? they've made the playoffs one time since then right? I mean come on. its every freaking year they are picked to keep winning games and they never do.

[corta765]

I agree we will be around 5-7 wins but the defense does not have the holes some say which is frustrating because if they actually researched they'd see our D has the potential to be Top 10ish. The D line is solid enough to not get run over anymore, the LB core is fine assuming Edmunds is the real deal, and the secondary is the strength of the team. IDK just gets tiring at points that analysts are so lazy. I wouldn't be surprised if heading into next year the narrative is "Buffalo's defense has a lot of talent if the offense can just take enough of a step they are for real"

[aristocrat]

7 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

is it just me or does anyone else think the ravens have been extremely overhyped year in and year out since their title run? they've made the playoffs one time since then right? I mean come on. its every freaking year they are picked to keep winning games and they never do.

 

they always have a nice d and a decent offense but that offense has fallen off the past few years. 

[corta765]

30 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

 

That's where I am. I want to just see the defense and Edmunds look like a Top 10 unit while Allen shows potential to truly by into. The rest of gravy.

[sullim4]

Honestly my biggest worry on defense is whether Kyle has regressed due to age.  The secondary should be strong and I expect Edmunds to have improved the LB corps.

 

On the offensive side... lots of question marks.  The OL is worrisome, QB is a huge question mark, the WR are still weak, and Shady is a year older.  The passing game is likely to do better at the expense of more interceptions, but I bet the running game will be notably worse with Taylor gone and McCoy having to deal with a weaker OL and age.

[Stank_Nasty]

1 minute ago, aristocrat said:

 

they always have a nice d and a decent offense but that offense has fallen off the past few years. 

just checked. one playoff appearance in the last 5 seasons. yet every year its "watch out for the ravens". nah, i'm good.

[aristocrat]

1 minute ago, sullim4 said:

Honestly my biggest worry on defense is whether Kyle has regressed due to age.  The secondary should be strong and I expect Edmunds to have improved the LB corps.

 

On the offensive side... lots of question marks.  The OL is worrisome, QB is a huge question mark, the WR are still weak, and Shady is a year older.  The passing game is likely to do better at the expense of more interceptions, but I bet the running game will be notably worse with Taylor gone and McCoy having to deal with a weaker OL and age.

 

if ivory is a nice backup our run game could look better. subtracting tolbert might be the biggest addition lol.  

[mileena]

1 hour ago, BillsRdue said:

Got to love this from CBS La Confora...  https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/way-too-early-nfl-week-1-picks-patriots-ravens-among-five-to-back-in-new-era-of-betting/

 

 

This isn't some Lindsay Lohan body switch movie with last years Browns. The Bills need to use all this crap as fuel for the fire. I honestly think we win no less that 7, but may end up with 9-10 wins if we can get out of the first half at 3-5 or 4-4.

 

 

 

 

Title should be rewritten: "5 Way-to-Early Picks from CBS", so as to avoid confusion.

[CommonCents]

23 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

is it just me or does anyone else think the ravens have been extremely overhyped year in and year out since their title run? they've made the playoffs one time since then right? I mean come on. its every freaking year they are picked to keep winning games and they never do.

Last year their win total was set at 8 and they won 9, 2018 projection is 9. They are a well coached team in a soft AFC, maybe that’s why they have stuck around so long. The defense is old, this should be the year they fall down.

 

The only thing standing in the way of that is a motivated Flacco trying to keep his high paying job. 

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

50 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

 

This is where I'm at as well. I'm fully prepared for a "down" year, and have been for a couple months now. And that's not because I'm simply going off of what the pundits are saying, but by looking at everything and thinking logically about what to expect. I guess my view falls in line with what they're saying to an extent, because they're seeing the same things (I don't think they'll finish with a bottom 5 record, though). That being said, many people had the Bills as a 4-5 win team last year, which I strongly disagreed with (I didn't see it as "tanking"), but they certainly exceeded my expectations, so perhaps they do it again this year.

 

I would honestly be surprised if they win more than 8 games this year. But as long as we see true flashes of what the future holds, I'm ok with a down year. Sometimes, that's a part of the process. Maybe the defense improves enough to keep games closer, and the Bills squeak out an extra win or two, but I won't be calling for heads any time soon, barring some drastic regressions.

[FLFan]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

Agree with this.  I am not concerned about the final record, but I do think they will be competitive.  Next year will be when we should begin to see it all come together.  (if they hit on Allen and Edmunds that is)

[Rigotz]

I think a lot of Bills fans are going to be disappointed if they dont lower their expectations for this year.

The roster is not that good and we're starting either AJ or a rookie at QB.

[TPS]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

9 draft picks too.

[Wagon Circler]

1 hour ago, Stank_Nasty said:

is it just me or does anyone else think the ravens have been extremely overhyped year in and year out since their title run? they've made the playoffs one time since then right? I mean come on. its every freaking year they are picked to keep winning games and they never do.

But they always seem to beat us early in the season.

Let's make this year different. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

I'm sure last year no one thought the Giants would end up #2 overall, so who knows but do agree he's way underselling the overall talent

[MJS]

Deja Vu from last off-season. Everyone thinks the Bills will be terrible.

[aristocrat]

15 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

I think a lot of Bills fans are going to be disappointed if they dont lower their expectations for this year.

The roster is not that good and we're starting either AJ or a rookie at QB.

 

it depends if we have allen play like wentz did or if mccarron can play as well as keenum did.  If either of those situations occurs we will be ok this year

[1st Ammendment NoMas]

1 hour ago, mileena said:

 

Title should be rewritten: "5 Way-to-Early Picks from CBS", so as to avoid confusion.

 

I was waiting for that response. I couldn't figure out how to change it after I posted, but I knew someone in the bunch would point it out and go full blown grammar over football. But I think I got it to work.   BTW, are you a school teacher?

 

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by BillsRdue

[corta765]

30 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

 

it depends if we have allen play like wentz did or if mccarron can play as well as keenum did.  If either of those situations occurs we will be ok this year

 

Wentz first season for as decent as he was he plateaued and hit the typical rookie wall. People reallyyyy need to slow down expectations for a rookie. It is incredibly rare a guy comes in and things go well enough to be .500 let alone playoffs. McCarron playing well enough would be more believable if we had better WR's and the O line was more known.

[aristocrat]

4 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

Wentz first season for as decent as he was he plateaued and hit the typical rookie wall. People reallyyyy need to slow down expectations for a rookie. It is incredibly rare a guy comes in and things go well enough to be .500 let alone playoffs. McCarron playing well enough would be more believable if we had better WR's and the O line was more known.

 

typically qbs dont come into 9-7 teams.  i would say also that if a qb gets picked at the top of the draft it's a new coaching staff and gm as if you're picking that high the previous guys are all out. We happen to have all that in place.  

[mileena]

50 minutes ago, BillsRdue said:

 

I was waiting for that response. I couldn't figure out how to change it after I posted, but I knew someone in the bunch would point it out and go full blown grammar over football. But I think I got it to work.   BTW, are you a school teacher?

 

 

 

Thank you! No, the title was just hard to read for me. Glad you fixed it.

[John from Riverside]

Our defense has lots of holes?   Really?

[JerseyBills]

Idk why we're lowering expectations. The same reasons everyone said would get us 4-6 wins last year is the same reasons being said this year. Whoever is QB week 1 has a good shot at being better than Tyrod,who was overall pretty terrible

[HomeskillitMoorman]

4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

As crazy as it sounds I’m less concerned about the 2018 record than I am the future. If we see that Allen and Edmunds can play, I am good. 2019 is the year where they should be loading up and will have a strong young core and a ton of cap space. If we look like the 2016 Eagles that’s fine. A year from now we could be looking at a real contender. 

 

This is where I am. I honestly think the playoffs last year was a little flukey for this group, it's probably a mediocre at best team right now. Which is fine.

 

Edmunds is a big deal but obviously for this regime it's going to be all about Josh Allen. None of the other stuff matters if he's a bust. If we win 9 games again but Allen looks horrible, I'd be way more alarmed than if we win 6 but Allen shows a lot of promise. 

[1st Ammendment NoMas]

2 hours ago, aristocrat said:

 

it depends if we have allen play like wentz did or if mccarron can play as well as keenum did.  If either of those situations occurs we will be ok this year

I think both are quite possible. Maybe I'm overoptimistic about DaBoll, but Dennison's JV play calls were horrendous and TT couldn't throw down the field and we still won 9 games. To me the wild-card is the line, but I don't think the drop-off from Wood is going to be as severe as some thought and Richie was one step out the door last year, and I think Teller will be a mauler soon enough.  

Scheme, team, attitude and coaching can go a long way with this talent. I think that talent is pretty close all over the league. People always gloat that this team is stocked and some other team sucks on paper, but to me its so close. These guys are all the best in the world athletically. Being coached up in the right scheme to take advantage of their talents is what separates the All-Pro's from the All-Blows. 

For the first time in a long time, under this regime, I Billieve we are going to be a very good team for awhile. I don't buy any of this bottom 5 team BS the media are serving. 

[Kirby Jackson]

12 minutes ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

 

This is where I am. I honestly think the playoffs last year was a little flukey for this group, it's probably a mediocre at best team right now. Which is fine.

 

Edmunds is a big deal but obviously for this regime it's going to be all about Josh Allen. None of the other stuff matters if he's a bust. If we win 9 games again but Allen looks horrible, I'd be way more alarmed than if we win 6 but Allen shows a lot of promise. 

Agreed

 

The only reason that I included Edmunds is because I think that the Bills could be an elite defense moving forward. He will be the “QB” of that unit and the key piece. If he’s an All-Pro LB moving forward the Bills will be tough. I expect them to add a pass rusher this offseason as well. 

 

If Allen can play the Bills will have a QB and a defense. It’s easy to be a good team from there. The Panthers were 15-1 with that recipe a couple of years ago. It feels like that is the model that they are trying to replicate. 

[aristocrat]

9 minutes ago, BillsRdue said:

I think both are quite possible. Maybe I'm overoptimistic about DaBoll, but Dennison's JV play calls were horrendous and TT couldn't throw down the field and we still won 9 games. To me the wild-card is the line, but I don't think the drop-off from Wood is going to be as severe as some thought and Richie was one step out the door last year, and I think Teller will be a mauler soon enough.  

Scheme, team, attitude and coaching can go a long way with this talent. I think that talent is pretty close all over the league. People always gloat that this team is stocked and some other team sucks on paper, but to me its so close. These guys are all the best in the world athletically. Being coached up in the right scheme to take advantage of their talents is what separates the All-Pro's from the All-Blows. 

For the first time in a long time, under this regime, I Billieve we are going to be a very good team for awhile. I don't buy any of this bottom 5 team BS the media are serving. 

 

what we don't want to be is the bears. they actually had a nice defense last year but their offense was non existent. trubisky threw for 2100 yards...dear god.  we need benjamin to be the 1000 yard guy he can be, clay be the 7-800 yard guy, and zay to be decent as the second guy.  but we obviously need the qb to be able to get them the ball. 

[baskingridgebillsfan]

holes of defense ?  Seems to me they should put a league average or better at every position.    To me it looks like a flip a coin game 

[bopper2]

This guy obviously doesn’t trust the process.

[artmalibu]

The "holes on D" is a bad statement and also lost 60% of the OL is bad to.  Yes Glenn is gone but was replace by the rookie who played over half of the season and did well.  

 

Some of the media guys need to get a life!!

[Fadingpain]

5 hours ago, MDFan said:

Not sure where all the holes are on the defense, but whatever.  The offense is certainly a giant question, starting with line, unknown at WR at best, and new OC.  That said, I am not willing to write of the offense like many are until I see how this all comes together.  Could be worse (hard to believe given how bad it was last year), but also could be appreciably better with the addition of Dabol alone.  This team could well be competing for a playoff position, or be 6 and 10, depending on the breaks.  Either way, they are nowhere near the first overall pick.

Funny you don't mention the QB! 

 

The biggest impact this team will have this year, by far, is a new QB.

 

And here's the kicker.  Our QB play is likely to be worse, perhaps substantially worse, than last year.  It could well be AJ, and AJ could well end up being a substantial downgrade from Tyrod.  

As much as I totally support the decision to move on from Tyrod.