So, is Elam playing this week?

[Gunvald's Husse]

11 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

And people wonder why I question this GM and coaching staff so much....

Absolutely no one wonders why you question them 🙄

[Doc Brown]

10 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

Does anyone remember the last Bills first round pick that was a healthy scratch?

Shaq Lawson week 1?

[LeGOATski]

37 minutes ago, Gunvald's Husse said:

Absolutely no one wonders why you question them 🙄

I only wonder why people still respond to FilthyBeast. He's a known troll and admitted Dolphins fan. I blocked him over a year ago.

[machine gun kelly]

13 hours ago, Logic said:

I saw on Twitter that the benching of Elam last week was likely due largely to gameplan.

The Bills played 80% zone against the Pats. That is definitely a strength of Rhodes and a weakness of Elam at the moment. That, combined with the fact that Elam doesn't play on special teams, and they wanted all hands on deck there against the dangerous Pats returner Marucs Jones, is likely what led to Elam being inactive.

If he continues to be inactive going forward, I'll start to be concerned. 

That’s an excellent point, and instead of captain overreaction you injected common sense.  How dare you?  Don’t you know this can be at times the chicken little board.

 

Elam’s strength as many know is Man Coverage from his days at UF.  Rhodes has years more experience at zone, and where he lacks in youth and speed, he makes up in intellect.

 

Elam will continue to grow in his zone skills and will eventually develop into a lock down CB.  Just imagine in one to two years where we have Tre and Elam opposite each other.

[CEN-CAL17]

13 hours ago, Victory Formation said:

McD has traditionally seemed to ease rookies in slowly over the course of the year and by the time it’s Playoff time, they’re ready for the postseason. I don’t think Elam is in the doghouse nor do I really feel that way about any rookie on the roster. McD brings the young players along slow.

You say that but Benford, a rookie, started over him day 1….. there’s more to it then “bringing him along slowly”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by CEN-CAL17

[LeGOATski]

15 minutes ago, CEN-CAL17 said:

You say that but Benford, a rookie, started over him day 1….. there’s more to it then “bringing him along slowly”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't Elam then get the start in the next game or soon after? It was all about matchups. They came in with different skill sets.

[Eastport bills]

Just a frustrating scenario with a 1st rd pick that should be contributing with White missing all those games. This is becoming a colossal embarrassment for Beane and his scouting dept. The secondary is the weakest unit on the team and this guy was counted on to at least be a depth contributor but sadly he can’t get a sniff of the field in week 14. Congrats to all those delusional homer fans who suggested Elam was better than Sauce Gardner.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

14 hours ago, Victory Formation said:

McD has traditionally seemed to ease rookies in slowly over the course of the year and by the time it’s Playoff time, they’re ready for the postseason. I don’t think Elam is in the doghouse nor do I really feel that way about any rookie on the roster. McD brings the young players along slow.

Edmunds and White started as rookies. I believe Cody Ford did as well.  Bass won the kicking job as a rookie. 

 

[RunTheBall]

WE ARE DOOMED!!!

 

My god the bellyaching here is getting to epic proportions.

 

Yeah, it would be nice of Elam developed as quickly as White did. We knew he’d take some time to develop zone skills. They picked him because he has a high ceiling and has the drive and intelligence to work to get there (like Josh, like Edmunds, etc).

 

Like the rest of you, I have no idea why McD benched him for a game. I’ll be concerned if he get benched again tomorrow.

 

My GUESS is that it’s a combo of zone heavy scheme, rookie wall management, more rest for the ankle injury, maybe a little kick in the azz that we know McD likes to do from time to time (McKenzie was benched, Cook got benched early, etc).

 

 

[HOUSE]

2 hours ago, LeGOATski said:

I only wonder why people still respond to FilthyBeast. He's a known troll and admitted Dolphins fan. I blocked him over a year ago.

Because he is funny, he truly believes he can get under our skin.

Ain't happening 

[Arkady Renko]

1 hour ago, Eastport bills said:

Just a frustrating scenario with a 1st rd pick that should be contributing with White missing all those games. This is becoming a colossal embarrassment for Beane and his scouting dept. The secondary is the weakest unit on the team and this guy was counted on to at least be a depth contributor but sadly he can’t get a sniff of the field in week 14. Congrats to all those delusional homer fans who suggested Elam was better than Sauce Gardner.

I forget, was Sauce Gardner on the board when we picked Elam?

[Dopey]

15 hours ago, Logic said:

I saw on Twitter that the benching of Elam last week was likely due largely to gameplan.

The Bills played 80% zone against the Pats. That is definitely a strength of Rhodes and a weakness of Elam at the moment. That, combined with the fact that Elam doesn't play on special teams, and they wanted all hands on deck there against the dangerous Pats returner Marucs Jones, is likely what led to Elam being inactive.

If he continues to be inactive going forward, I'll start to be concerned. 

Come on man, you’re not making it easy for the McDermott pitchfork gang here. What will they complain about next? 

[Dopey]

2 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

That’s an excellent point, and instead of captain overreaction you injected common sense.  How dare you?  Don’t you know this can be at times the chicken little board.

 

Elam’s strength as many know is Man Coverage from his days at UF.  Rhodes has years more experience at zone, and where he lacks in youth and speed, he makes up in intellect.

 

Elam will continue to grow in his zone skills and will eventually develop into a lock down CB.  Just imagine in one to two years where we have Tre and Elam opposite each other.

He’s a bust already to some on this board. It’s really weird how rookies aren’t allowed to develop here. Annoying, actually. 

[cwater10]

15 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Too slow and sometimes unnecessary.  Stop coddling some of these guys and let them fly. The days of holding clipboards are over. Sink or swim.

Just a hunch, but I don't think it's coddling at all.  McDermott is firm in his culture of nobody being handed a job regardless of draft status or how they arrived on the roster.  In the immortal words of The Smiths;  "You just haven't earned it yet baby".

[artmalibu]

He might play due to injuries at other positions.  We know Phillips is out and not sure about Milano.  He might dress due to the numbers game...  

 

And if he does dress he might play in man coverage situations.  

 

The good news is that we have a corner of his ability that might not be active on game day...

[27yanks]

Do we really believe that the team will be 100% accurate with their reports? Ike had the German Army in WWII mesmerized with Patton that they didn't see the end run. They weren't totally prepared to handled D-Day. Never show your hand, especially when going for an inside straight. Never let the enemy see your medical reports. 

 

[Eastport bills]

2 hours ago, Arkady Renko said:

I forget, was Sauce Gardner on the board when we picked Elam?

No he went before but that didn’t stop some of the over exuberant fans from comparing them. 

[HOUSE]

Elam is not playing because Buffalo has veteran player options.

It's not that hard to figure out

[TC in St. Louis]

My guess, which qualifies my comment, is that they wanted to get Rhodes some serious game time, and thought Elam could use another week of rest on his injury.  I foresee Tre on one side, and Elam on the other as the future of this pass defense.  Having Benford, Dane, and Xavier coming off the bench makes this one of the top secondaries in the league.  

 

Don't forget that Tre White sat for a few weeks after being declared healthy.  

 

P.S.  We won the game, so that counts for something.

[JerseyBills]

Crazy because the week prior he gave up either 0 or 1 rec on 14 coverage snaps as he was eased back in lineup and overall is allowing 1 of the lowest QB ratings when rargeted. 

No clue what's going on 

3 minutes ago, TC in St. Louis said:

My guess, which qualifies my comment, is that they wanted to get Rhodes some serious game time, and thought Elam could use another week of rest on his injury.  I foresee Tre on one side, and Elam on the other as the future of this pass defense.  Having Benford, Dane, and Xavier coming off the bench makes this one of the top secondaries in the league.  

 

Don't forget that Tre White sat for a few weeks after being declared healthy.  

 

P.S.  We won the game, so that counts for something.

Ya but Elam played vs Detroit.. 

[Donuts and Doritos]

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

I hope so.  Receivers are never sure who he has an eye on.

*
I hear Belichick is demanding an extra conditional draft pick because of the tactical advantage for the Bills. 🤔

Edited December 10, 2022 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[BADOLBILZ]

17 hours ago, The Wiz said:

And that's fine. But going from, out one game limited the next and then a healthy scratch and no injury designation all week didn't sounds like he was still hurting from the previous weeks.

 

 

I had the feeling at the time that he was pressed into service whether he was ready or not against Detroit........and his limited snaps didn't do anything to change that..........so maybe getting Rhodes up to speed and Tre back to full snaps allowed them to rest Elam and get him closer to full health.    

 

Whether some feel it is warranted or not the Bills have a rep for erring on the side of caution and giving players extra time to heal when other organizations might have expected those player to be out there.  

[Einstein]

All I know is that McDuffie looks like an absolute stud in KC and I really wish Beane gathered the testicular fortitude to do the move up that Veach did. And quite frankly, judging Beane's reaction when KC moved up in that behind-the-scenes draft room video, I think he was pissed they took McDuffie.

 

No matter what some posters try to convince you of, Elam has not been good. He's been "okay" at times, but he has not been good. It was evident before last week but him being inactive last week really thrust that reality into the limelight. 

 

And the worse part is that he is becoming WORSE as the season goes on. Between games 2 and 6 it looked like he may have turned a corner, with an average coverage grade of 68.3 - Then the last 3 games happened, where he had an average coverage grade of 50.9 and an average tackling grade of 33!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Wiz]

28 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I had the feeling at the time that he was pressed into service whether he was ready or not against Detroit........and his limited snaps didn't do anything to change that..........so maybe getting Rhodes up to speed and Tre back to full snaps allowed them to rest Elam and get him closer to full health.    

 

Whether some feel it is warranted or not the Bills have a rep for erring on the side of caution and giving players extra time to heal when other organizations might have expected those player to be out there.  

That's a very good guess of what was happening over that span and makes a lot of sense based on the teams history with rookies.

[Orlando Tim]

21 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

Good to know we spent a 1st round pick on a DB that can only play in certain situations/schemes/gameplans/etc.

 

And people wonder why I question this GM and coaching staff so much....

Ed Oliver was only used in certain situations his rookie year- good to know you think he sucks

[Augie]

5 hours ago, Orlando Tim said:

Ed Oliver was only used in certain situations his rookie year- good to know you think he sucks

 

He thinks everything sucks, except for the things that are about to suck. 

 

The Bills like “specimens” like Josh, Edmunds, Brown, etc. Elam is a guy like that with size, speed and length. They can teach him different techniques to better suit what we do. He’s got all the tools, they just have to refine how he uses them. They knew what they were getting into IMO. 

 

 

.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Augie

[Orlando Tim]

12 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

He thinks everything sucks, except for the things that are about to suck. 

 

The Bills like “specimens” like Josh, Edmunds, Brown, etc. Elam is a guy like that with size, speed and length. They can teach him different techniques to better suit what we do. He’s got all the tools, the just have to refine how he uses them. They knew what they were getting into IMO. 

I know who he is and his takes are hilarious in the " I just started watching football this year" kind of way

[Hebert19]

Wasn't Oliver a healthy scratch as a rookie. And I think AJ was several times.   I think it's just an attitude adjustment.  He will be back this week. 

[WyoAZBillfan]

23 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Too slow and sometimes unnecessary.  Stop coddling some of these guys and let them fly. The days of holding clipboards are over. Sink or swim.

Mahomes -“Hold my beer”.

[BigDingus]

I just don't think McD believes he's the best option for the job. 

 

We fans want to see him & have high expectations due to his draft position, but I gotta think Frazier & McDermott also would want him playing IF they thought it was best for the team. 

[JohnNord]

23 hours ago, Logic said:

I saw on Twitter that the benching of Elam last week was likely due largely to gameplan.

The Bills played 80% zone against the Pats. That is definitely a strength of Rhodes and a weakness of Elam at the moment. That, combined with the fact that Elam doesn't play on special teams, and they wanted all hands on deck there against the dangerous Pats returner Marucs Jones, is likely what led to Elam being inactive.

If he continues to be inactive going forward, I'll start to be concerned. 

This is a good point thought it was pretty baffling to find that Elam was benched.  While he isn’t a natural zone corner, the stats show that overall he was decent. 
 

In the past, we’ve seen players like Isaiah McKenzie made to be a healthy scratch and then become of a focal point of the game plan when necessary.  I would be surprised if Elam is a healthy scratch for both the Jets and Miami game but we’ll see

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

Elam is a guy like that with size, speed and length. They can teach him different techniques to better suit what we do. He’s got all the tools, the just have to refine how he uses them. They knew what they were getting into IMO. 

 

The Bills are not perfect though.

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that had one of the best Guards in the NFL on their roster and couldn't see it, so they traded him for a 5th (6th?) round pick. And the same duo that gave up a 3rd(!!!) round pick for Kelvin Benjamin. And the same duo that picked Cody Ford over DK Metcalf.

 

Im not sayng they're a bad duo (even the best make mistakes). I'm just stating that the Bills thinking they know what they're getting doesnt make them right.

[Augie]

20 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

The Bills are not perfect though.

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that had one of the best Guards in the NFL on their roster and couldn't see it, so they traded him for a 5th (6th?) round pick. And the same duo that gave up a 3rd(!!!) round pick for Kelvin Benjamin. And the same duo that picked Cody Ford over DK Metcalf.

 

Im not sayng they're a bad duo (even the best make mistakes). I'm just stating that the Bills thinking they know what they're getting doesnt make them right.

 

Who, exactly, said they were perfect. Nobody I’ve seen. This was non-responsive when it comes to my comment. It was just another opportunity for you to take a dig and put a negative twist on things. Does that exhaust you? It does for many of us. 

 

Throwing in “I’m not saying they’re a bad duo” does not take away from the obvious slant you carry with you, Eyore. Wyatt Teller is gone, and 13 seconds is in the past. We learn from our mistakes, so we can move on and be better.  

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

 

Who, exactly, said they were perfect. Nobody I’ve seen. 

 

Any criticism is met with some version of "trust the team", veiled or otherwise.

 

1 hour ago, Augie said:

Does that exhaust you? It does for many of us. 

 

Not nearly as much as the perpetual "Bills are good and trust what they do and DO NOT DARE CRITICSIZE THEM" theme that runs through your an others posts.

[CheshireCT]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

 

The Bills are not perfect though.

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that had one of the best Guards in the NFL on their roster and couldn't see it, so they traded him for a 5th (6th?) round pick. And the same duo that gave up a 3rd(!!!) round pick for Kelvin Benjamin. And the same duo that picked Cody Ford over DK Metcalf.

 

Im not sayng they're a bad duo (even the best make mistakes). I'm just stating that the Bills thinking they know what they're getting doesnt make them right.

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that drafted Josh Allen when everyone said he would never become an accurate passer.

[Einstein]

3 minutes ago, CheshireCT said:

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that drafted Josh Allen when everyone said he would never become an accurate passer.

 

That’s true. 

[Augie]

13 minutes ago, CheshireCT said:

 

This is the same GM/HC combo that drafted Josh Allen when everyone said he would never become an accurate passer.

 

…..and built the team that is a favorite in Vegas to win the SB. Yet I have seen nobody claim we are perfect, as he would leave you to believe. We ALL know there are many faults and thin spots. Loudly claiming we are imperfect is merely agreeing with the rest of us. We get it. 

 

 

[Solomon Grundy]

5 hours ago, Einstein said:

All I know is that McDuffie looks like an absolute stud in KC and I really wish Beane gathered the testicular fortitude to do the move up that Veach did. And quite frankly, judging Beane's reaction when KC moved up in that behind-the-scenes draft room video, I think he was pissed they took McDuffie.

 

No matter what some posters try to convince you of, Elam has not been good. He's been "okay" at times, but he has not been good. It was evident before last week but him being inactive last week really thrust that reality into the limelight. 

 

And the worse part is that he is becoming WORSE as the season goes on. Between games 2 and 6 it looked like he may have turned a corner, with an average coverage grade of 68.3 - Then the last 3 games happened, where he had an average coverage grade of 50.9 and an average tackling grade of 33!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tariq Woolen looks even better and could've selected him in the 2nd. 

[CoudyBills]

23 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Arm chair HCs & GMs are so very clever,  telling folk what they would have done in the past. Thats some low hanging fruit right there,,,.

Low hanging fruit, like this post...