What are some things that flew under the radar this season (good or bad)?

[Rc2catch]

1 hour ago, klos63 said:

Why is anyone concerned about the cap for next season? We have no reason to release a player unless someone better is found.

Exactly. We bring 90 into preseason you don’t cut people until others win the job over them. Unless you’re strapped for cap which we clearly are not 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Rc2catch

[123719bwiqrb]

3 hours ago, ProcessAccepted said:

 

 

Not dropping a punt or kickoff and finishing top 10 in returns. @D. L. Hot-Flamethrower you are correct sir crazy levels of negativity out there.

Not being overly negative, I am trying to improve the WR corps.  Maybe Duke would have been in the lineup and caught that skinny post that Brown didn't against the Ravens.

[123719bwiqrb]

1 hour ago, klos63 said:

Why is anyone concerned about the cap for next season? We have no reason to release a player unless someone better is found.

That is true, I am sure we could afford him.  That just locks you into only 5 other WR spots.  Brown, Beasley, Duke should stay.  McKenzie is cheap and versatile, so he should stay.  that leaves you with only one spot (Foster's) to find a new WR.  I'd prefer to have 2 new WRs on the active roster (draft & 2nd tier FA).

 

Would McD ever consider 7 WRs on the active roster?

[klos63]

35 minutes ago, ScotSHO said:

That is true, I am sure we could afford him.  That just locks you into only 5 other WR spots.  Brown, Beasley, Duke should stay.  McKenzie is cheap and versatile, so he should stay.  that leaves you with only one spot (Foster's) to find a new WR.  I'd prefer to have 2 new WRs on the active roster (draft & 2nd tier FA).

 

Would McD ever consider 7 WRs on the active roster?

Brown and Beasley only WR guaranteed a spot.

[BuffaloHokie13]

1 hour ago, klos63 said:

Brown and Beasley only WR guaranteed a spot.

Roberts is probably like 95% too, unless one of the kids we draft completely outperforms him.

[klos63]

Just now, BuffaloHokie13 said:

Roberts is probably like 95% too, unless one of the kids we draft completely outperforms him.

Yeah, I really wasn't thinking of him as a WR, but would like to see him back.

[DCbillsfan]

This rookie draft class played well and contributed heavily.  Looking forward to seeing Oliver and Ford with a full off-season under their belts.  Also, Singletary getting more touches.

 

I was concerned about the oline coming into the season.  So many new faces and Morse missed most of preseason.  Still some work to be done, RT, but they are headed in right direction.

[BuffaloHokie13]

1 minute ago, DCbillsfan said:

This rookie draft class played well and contributed heavily.  Looking forward to seeing Oliver and Ford with a full off-season under their belts.  Also, Singletary getting more touches.

 

I was concerned about the oline coming into the season.  So many new faces and Morse missed most of preseason.  Still some work to be done, RT, but they are headed in right direction.

Nice to need 1 and not 4, right? Re: OL

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 hours ago, warrior9 said:

Now that the season is over, I wanted to reflect on some things that I think flew under the radar both positive and negative. I'm curious everyone's thoughts. I'll start with a few:

 

1.) I can't say for certain if it's our analytics/ sports science department but our injury report this year (aside from the current Hughes news) was absolutely incredible. I think it was week 15 and we didn't have a single person on our injury report. The health of this team this year was amazing and I think it gave us a leg up. It seems as though since McDermott has been here, this has been common place. I think it's time we start giving kudos to him for being somewhat advanced in this category. I'm unsure how this has flown under national radar. 

 

2.) It seemed as though we thought our depth has gotten better but it's definitely still a weak point of this team in several spots. Our depth at LB, WR, DE, RB, and TE is pretty shallow. We have decent depth at CB/S (I think Marlowe actually played well and Kurt Coleman is fine), OL, and DT. This is something that will get better as our younger guys develop but it seems as though we need depth horribly at DE and LB. 

 

There are a few more I have on my mind but I wanted to see where the board may take this.

 

I think the depth showed up during the Jets game when we were playing the backups.  Backup D did OK including Corey Liuget and Vincent Taylor at DL, Darryl Johnson at DE, and Julian Stanford and Corey Thompson at LB.

 

Backup O, especially backup OL, kind of bit.  Long at C, Bates at T, and Boettger at G seemed like a significant drop off.  Foster and McKenzie did not look good running Brown and Beasley's routes.  Williams and Sweeney of course did well.

 

I think the players appreciate the sports science department and the training staff, but I also think part of the "no injury report" has to do with McDermott doing his best to be close-mouthed about it and keep things under wraps.

[BADOLBILZ]

5 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Yes and at 10-6, with 2 playoff appearances in 3 years and a fun, developing young QB etc. You'd think we were back in the mid 80s with back to back 2-14 years. Will people learn to enjoy that it isn't just the final outcome and a rush to get there. Enjoy the process, and most of all you don't know everything and it's Ok to admit being wrong.

 

 

I like how all the people who were young in the 1980's equate that stretch to the low point of being a Bills fan.   

 

It was 3 years stop being such pathetic whiners about it.

 

They won 3 division titles in the 1980's....one in 1980 and then 88'/89'...........they haven't won one in the last 25 years!

 

The old timers with their "there are starvin' football fans in Africa" nonsense on this board toward anyone who is unsatisfied with the production of this organization is laughable.

 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Billy Buffalo.  Draw your own conclusions.

?

[frostbitmic]

We lost both games to the foxboro sky cams ... time to at least take one from them.

[Stank_Nasty]

i'll give this a try..... I sorta hated our punter. But one positive there would be Bojo finished 3rd in the entire league in punts downed inside the 20 with 34. That surprised me.

[Michael1962]

6 hours ago, warrior9 said:

Now that the season is over, I wanted to reflect on some things that I think flew under the radar both positive and negative. I'm curious everyone's thoughts. I'll start with a few:

 

1.) I can't say for certain if it's our analytics/ sports science department but our injury report this year (aside from the current Hughes news) was absolutely incredible. I think it was week 15 and we didn't have a single person on our injury report. The health of this team this year was amazing and I think it gave us a leg up. It seems as though since McDermott has been here, this has been common place. I think it's time we start giving kudos to him for being somewhat advanced in this category. I'm unsure how this has flown under national radar. 

 

 

I thought that I read somewhere one of the players mentioning that the admin's approach to injuries was more preventative/proactive and that person at least attributed that approach to their overall lack of injuries.  I practice acupuncture and in one of the earliest classics it says that treating an illness after it has arisen is like digging a well when you are thirsty (obviously not so good for PR).  IMO the approach of treating something proactively/before it becomes a diagnosable problem makes a lot of sense although obviously in some situations like trauma to a joint, etc. this is not an option.

[GoBills808]

The good: Dawkins' evolution into a legit franchise LT, the kid balled out this year.

 

Tha bad: Harrison Phillips losing a year. Needed to get in synch w/Oliver in hopes they can anchor interior of the line. 

[RiotAct]

I thought Bojorquez had a solid season

[Freddie's Dead]

Bodork's crappy punting flew under the radar, and McBeane did nothing about it all season.

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

At the midway point, Hauschka was having a really bad year.  After going 0 for 2  against Cleveland, Hauschka hit 17 of his last 18 field goals.

[JoPoy88]

Underrated bad? Bills, with all their culture and “process,” were still in the top 1/3rd of the league in penalties in 2019 (9th). Not sure at this point if that’s a result of a lack of talent or lack of discipline (or both.) 40%(!) of their penalties were of the pre-snap variety - in other words, totally avoidable.

 

 

https://www.nflpenalties.com/index.php?year=2019&view=reg_season

[Locomark]

My biggest take away was how different our red zone ability was from the first half of the season to the 2nd half of the season. Once teams saw our jet sweeps and Josh runs and clamped then down they realized we didn’t really run well inside the 10. Coming into the year I figured that was where Gore would help the most. He didn’t. It is why we need a bartering ram back in the draft.

[MJS]

My radar didn't detect anything, so I can't say for certain.

1 hour ago, JoPoy88 said:

Underrated bad? Bills, with all their culture and “process,” were still in the top 1/3rd of the league in penalties in 2019 (9th). Not sure at this point if that’s a result of a lack of talent or lack of discipline (or both.) 40%(!) of their penalties were of the pre-snap variety - in other words, totally avoidable.

 

 

https://www.nflpenalties.com/index.php?year=2019&view=reg_season

9 new starters on offense...

[atlbillsfan1975]

9 hours ago, warrior9 said:

Now that the season is over, I wanted to reflect on some things that I think flew under the radar both positive and negative. I'm curious everyone's thoughts. I'll start with a few:

 

1.) I can't say for certain if it's our analytics/ sports science department but our injury report this year (aside from the current Hughes news) was absolutely incredible. I think it was week 15 and we didn't have a single person on our injury report. The health of this team this year was amazing and I think it gave us a leg up. It seems as though since McDermott has been here, this has been common place. I think it's time we start giving kudos to him for being somewhat advanced in this category. I'm unsure how this has flown under national radar. 

 

2.) It seemed as though we thought our depth has gotten better but it's definitely still a weak point of this team in several spots. Our depth at LB, WR, DE, RB, and TE is pretty shallow. We have decent depth at CB/S (I think Marlowe actually played well and Kurt Coleman is fine), OL, and DT. This is something that will get better as our younger guys develop but it seems as though we need depth horribly at DE and LB. 

 

There are a few more I have on my mind but I wanted to see where the board may take this.

TE is not an area of weakness. Kurt Coleman and Dean Marlowe leave you feeling ok? I’d say Knox, Kroft, and Sweeney are going to be a bright spot heading into 2020. 
Kroft was hurt and Knox was too for a large part of training camp. I actually think this is one of the Bills better position groups.

[That's No Moon]

9 hours ago, Utah John said:

I don't think Spain got any props at all during the season.  And I believe he didn't give up a sack.  The Bills ran to the left more effectively than to the right.  Sounds to me like Spain did well, also since we never heard his name called.

Spain was brutal. Absolutely brutal.  If he's not one of the top three things that are fixed this off-season we had a bad off-season.

[JoPoy88]

2 minutes ago, MJS said:

My radar didn't detect anything, so I can't say for certain.

9 new starters on offense...

and? They’ve been towards the top of penalties since mcdermott got here. Last year they were 6th. Not an excuse.

[That's No Moon]

3 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

i'll give this a try..... I sorta hated our punter. But one positive there would be Bojo finished 3rd in the entire league in punts downed inside the 20 with 34. That surprised me.

That just means we punted from midfield a lot.  How many did he get inside the 10 to where it was an actual weapon for the defense?

1 hour ago, JoPoy88 said:

Underrated bad? Bills, with all their culture and “process,” were still in the top 1/3rd of the league in penalties in 2019 (9th). Not sure at this point if that’s a result of a lack of talent or lack of discipline (or both.) 40%(!) of their penalties were of the pre-snap variety - in other words, totally avoidable.

 

 

https://www.nflpenalties.com/index.php?year=2019&view=reg_season

I agree.  They still can't lineup properly an unacceptable number of times.

[Stank_Nasty]

5 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

That just means we punted from midfield a lot.  How many did he get inside the 10 to where it was an actual weapon for the defense?

I agree.  They still can't lineup properly an unacceptable number of times.

Bro, don’t shoot the messenger. I already said I’m not a fan of his.... I was just surprised to see he had the third most inside the 20. 

[MJS]

29 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

and? They’ve been towards the top of penalties since mcdermott got here. Last year they were 6th. Not an excuse.

It's absolutely an excuse. There's been major roster turnover since he got here. Young contributors. New schemes.

[Real McClappy]

9 hours ago, Rc2catch said:

Best under the radar for me was Lawson. He’s been talked about a lot cause of the 5th year option declined and his free agent status. His stats don’t jump off the page and I think it’s overlooked what he actually accomplished this year. All the Yannick talk i dug deeper into stuff and was looking over snap counts. Shaq had like 480 snaps played. His QB hits and TFL were very impressive. Had he played over 700 snaps like Murphy did his numbers would be approaching elite levels. The trick though was he wouldn’t have the same numbers in Murphy’s spot. I think Lawson has developed a helluva game coming in for Hughes matching up against left tackles. I could not find what % of snaps he played at each end spot. 
 

I started browsing Chandler Jones who was amazing this year 

1069 snaps 
19 sacks 

53 tackles 

11 TFL

26 QB hits 

 

then Khalil Mack who was a little down this year 

925 snaps 

8.5 sacks 

47 tackles 

8 TFL

14 QB hits 

 

the new kid on the block nick bosa

783 snaps 

9 sacks

47 tackles 

16 TFL 

25 QB hits 

 

Lawson 

483 snaps 

6.5 sacks

32 tackles 

13 TFL 

18 QB hits 

His numbers really jump when you consider how little he played compared to others. There’s of course other factors and I’m not calling him elite but his stats this year in a limited role were really impressive. 
 

I don’t want to get into the sign him or let him walk or any of that stuff it’s on tons of other threads. I just wanted to give a little insight since I had done a little homework about Yannick and people saying what an upgrade he is and this qualified as under the radar to me 

You need to pop this in the Lawson thread. Thanks for pulling the data, I knew my eyes were not wrong. 

[Real McClappy]

3 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

The good: Dawkins' evolution into a legit franchise LT, the kid balled out this year.

 

Tha bad: Harrison Phillips losing a year. Needed to get in synch w/Oliver in hopes they can anchor interior of the line. 

I almost forgot about H.Phillips,  I bet it gives Jordan more of a leash for FA. 

 

I really like were Dawkins is going as well. Future is bright my friend!

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

 

We had 11 combined turnovers in 3 games(Both Jets games and the first Pats**** game).

 

Including the Playoff game we only had 9 turnovers total in other 14 games.

Edited January 11, 2020 by LOVEMESOMEBILLS

[JoPoy88]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

It's absolutely an excuse. There's been major roster turnover since he got here. Young contributors. New schemes.

for all 3 years though?

[CSBill]

17 hours ago, BuffaloHokie13 said:

I may be wrong, but I think we finished the year with 0 non-offensive TDs

 

Yeah, that is luck as much as anything. But a few of those sure do make a big difference. Only place to go is up next year.

[CSBill]

7 hours ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

TE is not an area of weakness. Kurt Coleman and Dean Marlowe leave you feeling ok? I’d say Knox, Kroft, and Sweeney are going to be a bright spot heading into 2020. 
Kroft was hurt and Knox was too for a large part of training camp. I actually think this is one of the Bills better position groups.

 

I agree on the TE position group, I think Lee will be gone and Sweeney will step in and replace his role.

[atlbillsfan1975]

1 hour ago, CSBill said:

 

I agree on the TE position group, I think Lee will be gone and Sweeney will step in and replace his role.

Exactly how I see it. If Beane does too, then we were right.?

[Gray Beard]

A lot of emphasis was placed on getting promising guys for the tight end position, but the result was disappointing to me.  I didn’t see much use of a tight end as a safe, reliable slant receiver for a quick 5 yard gain. I didn’t see tight ends with reliable receiving skills in general.  

 

I wonder if the brain trust at OBD think that they addressed the tight end position sufficiently last year, so no significant attempt will be made to address it this year.  There’s a belief that somebody (Knox) will step up big next year, but I’m from Missouri on that theory. 

[Steve O]

19 hours ago, ScotSHO said:

While Andre Roberts did not drop a punt or kickoff, he is a non factor anymore.  No breakaway speed.  Cap cut for me, 100%.

6 direct quotes as well as a few other reply's directly related to this, but not one "He's really not a punt returner, he's a punt catcher" 

[Cripple Creek]

19 hours ago, warrior9 said:

Now that the season is over, I wanted to reflect on some things that I think flew under the radar both positive and negative. I'm curious everyone's thoughts. I'll start with a few:

 

1.) I can't say for certain if it's our analytics/ sports science department but our injury report this year (aside from the current Hughes news) was absolutely incredible. I think it was week 15 and we didn't have a single person on our injury report. The health of this team this year was amazing and I think it gave us a leg up. It seems as though since McDermott has been here, this has been common place. I think it's time we start giving kudos to him for being somewhat advanced in this category. I'm unsure how this has flown under national radar. 

 

2.) It seemed as though we thought our depth has gotten better but it's definitely still a weak point of this team in several spots. Our depth at LB, WR, DE, RB, and TE is pretty shallow. We have decent depth at CB/S (I think Marlowe actually played well and Kurt Coleman is fine), OL, and DT. This is something that will get better as our younger guys develop but it seems as though we need depth horribly at DE and LB. 

 

There are a few more I have on my mind but I wanted to see where the board may take this.

3.) Brian Daboll is a questionable caller of plays.

4.) Devin Singletary can in fact touch a football 25 times/game, even more. 

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

McDermott took the team out for ice cream during training camp. I think it was after the Panthers scrimmage. When asked at a press conference what flavor he ordered he said “the Peach” 

[SCBills]

14 hours ago, Michael1962 said:

I thought that I read somewhere one of the players mentioning that the admin's approach to injuries was more preventative/proactive and that person at least attributed that approach to their overall lack of injuries.  I practice acupuncture and in one of the earliest classics it says that treating an illness after it has arisen is like digging a well when you are thirsty (obviously not so good for PR).  IMO the approach of treating something proactively/before it becomes a diagnosable problem makes a lot of sense although obviously in some situations like trauma to a joint, etc. this is not an option.

Yea, it may have been Micah Hyde, or one of the more veteran players who have played elsewhere.   
 

In addition to our medical facilities being top of the line under Pegula, apparently if you have any sort of issue, McDermott trusts you to know your body and tells you he doesn’t want you at practice until you get right. 

[123719bwiqrb]

3 hours ago, Steve O said:

6 direct quotes as well as a few other reply's directly related to this, but not one "He's really not a punt returner, he's a punt catcher" 

Chris Watson, now he was an all-pro punt catcher.