Dorien Williams, your mission should you choose to accept it?

[Big Turk]

I thought he played OK...obviously some mistakes but made a few nice athletic pass breakups...Dodson played mostly Ok as well too. Likely we are going to see a platoon between them.

[Shaw66]

32 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Was that after Johnson was injured?

 

Dodson just doesn’t look the part for me. Williams flies around. I would rather have him out on the field over Dodson. Let’s see if the game will slow down for him.

Yes, after Johnson was injured, but then he came back and was playing regularly. They were going with three lbs for tactical reasons, I think, not to save Johnson.  

 

And yes, in plays I noticed Williams more than Dotson. Flies around is right.  But Dotson as quick, too.  Just less instinctive, I think.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

6 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yes, after Johnson was injured, but then he came back and was playing regularly. They were going with three lbs for tactical reasons, I think, not to save Johnson.  

 

And yes, in plays I noticed Williams more than Dotson. Flies around is right.  But Dotson as quick, too.  Just less instinctive, I think.  

I’m a little disappointed that McDermott didn’t have a 3 safety defense ready to go in case of injury. Or just for different looks. Rapp played ZERO snaps. 
 

When Johnson was hurt I expected to see Rapp on the field some.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Buffalo_Stampede

[Alphadawg7]

4 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

I watched the game everyone said he balled out in vs USC. He immediately got juked by Caleb Williams and whiffed on a tackle. I turned the game off.

 

Yesterday I saw the same thing. I don’t know what the Bills were thinking with this draft pick. He plays faster than his mind thinks. Hopefully he can learn to control it.

I’ll compare him to another Bills LB. Nigel Bradham. Also flew around playing faster than his mind could handle. He learned to control it and become a solid NFL linebacker.

 

 

Come on, no disrespect but that isn't fair due diligence.  You intentionally watched a game where he reportedly had a big one but immediately turned it off because you didn't like what happened on one play?  That feels more like you were looking for confirmation bias of your skepticism than actually trying to watch the game and see what his potential might be.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

13 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Come on, no disrespect but that isn't fair due diligence.  You intentionally watched a game where he reportedly had a big one but immediately turned it off because you didn't like what happened on one play?  That feels more like you were looking for confirmation bias of your skepticism than actually trying to watch the game and see what his potential might be.

I did finish it later. Nothing spectacular. A lot of tackles after decent gains.

 

No confirmation on anything. I saw 1 game in college and 1 game in the NFL. He was out of control and had a bad missed tackle in both. 
 

Doesn’t mean anything really.

[Alphadawg7]

1 minute ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

I did finish it later. Nothing spectacular. A lot of tackles after decent gains.

 

No confirmation on anything. I saw 1 game in college and 1 game in the NFL. He was out of control and had a bad missed tackle in both. 
 

Doesn’t mean anything really.

Fair enough, I was only commenting on what you wrote in your first post where you claimed to have turned the game off after one early play.  

[NoSaint]

12 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

I saw A LOT of Dodson out there. Was it in place of Dorian? Or were the Bills running a 4-3?

dodson had 50 some odd snaps and Dorian 30 some odd…. Milano was 11 of the 88 total so seems Dodson had the heavier lift yesterday 

[RG Murdock]

Everyone loves Milano, but face it, he just can't consistantly stay on the field. He misses games EVERY year. This injury souns brutal. Next man up sounds hollow. Dorian looks promising, and remember Milano was a 5th round pick, and looked like a steal almost immediately. Coach Babich is noted as one of the best LB coaches out there. We have no choice but to just see how this plays out. Bills will still be favored in everyone of the next 6 games. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 minute ago, RG Murdock said:

Everyone loves Milano, but face it, he just can't consistantly stay on the field. He misses games EVERY year. This injury souns brutal. Next man up sounds hollow. Dorian looks promising, and remember Milano was a 5th round pick, and looked like a steal almost immediately. Coach Babich is noted as one of the best LB coaches out there. We have no choice but to just see how this plays out. Bills will still be favored in everyone of the next 6 games. 

 

He looked good but he didn't seem like a first team all-pro type player til several years in.  Elite level instincts, but you need time on the field and in the film room to really use them.  I hope they use Williams more once he gets a full week of practice with the 1's, dodson just doesn't have it to play will.  

[Brand J]

1 hour ago, RG Murdock said:

Everyone loves Milano, but face it, he just can't consistantly stay on the field. He misses games EVERY year. This injury souns brutal. Next man up sounds hollow. Dorian looks promising, and remember Milano was a 5th round pick, and looked like a steal almost immediately. Coach Babich is noted as one of the best LB coaches out there. We have no choice but to just see how this plays out. Bills will still be favored in everyone of the next 6 games. 

Milano didn’t look like an immediate steal. There were even reports out of camp saying fellow rookie Tanner Vallejo was having a more noticeable impact. Ramon Humber also started in front of Milano and Matt didn’t get his shot until Humber was later injured. Of course we know he took control of the position and never let go.

Williams definitely flashes more than Dodson and is certainly the more athletic player, so I’d be willing to take the lumps of him learning on the job, but I’m not so sure McD is willing. Dodson out snapped Dorian, shades of Ramon Humber.

[Success]

Ya know, it may just be that McD knows how to get the best out of defensive players.

 

Milano is obviously a great player.  But he's just one of quite a few mid-to-late round players that have excelled here.  Benford may be our best starting CB right now.  Bernard is playing great.  Wasn't Dane Jackson a 7th rounder?

 

William's won't be at Milano's level - but he doesn't need to.  He needs to play solid, disciplined football. 

 

[SCBills]

We need Dorian Williams to be the answer. 

 

I don't expect him to be amazing right away.  I do expect a learning curve.  But this team NEEDS to take a page from the KC playbook and let young guys develop over the course of the season. 

 

We know what Dodson is.  He's a backup.  We drafted Williams in RD3 for a reason.  Given we lose Milano in Week 5, by the end of the season, Williams will no longer be a "rookie".   

 

Unless he's Elam levels of unplayable out there, we need to let him learn on the job.  I will be pretty disgusted if Dodson is out there next to Bernard.  That's just accepting a major downgrade at LB, whereas the development of Dorian Williams over the course of the season could lessen the impact felt.  

[theRalph]

How about getting his name right? DORIAN. SMH.

[TheBrownBear]

I saw him in on a lot of plays early. While not great, I thought he was generally reading and filling well enough.  Then he sort of disappeared.  Next thing I knew, I was seeing a lot of Dodson in the fourth quarter turning his head as Etienne ran by him.  I'd much rather watch Williams take some lumps out there than seeing Dodson do mostly nothing.  But I'm not the coach.

[26TrapDraw]

14 hours ago, Dr.Sack said:

Dorian is flying out there. He has great instincts and explodes. Perhaps a bit too fast on a RB swing pass today. I’d rather have a guy arrive early than a guy who can’t get there. He is going to be a really good player. Now he must mature rapidly. 

He'll get his chance. Think the kid will be fine he has some good read and react instincts. It will be interesting to see him and Bernard flying around out there. This will be the " new" nfl linebackers.

[wvbillsfan]

If he’s going to play he needs to stop missing tackles in space 

[26TrapDraw]

He'll have some growing pains but its going to be fun watching him and Bernard playing. they can both fly around out there.

[Ga boy]

On 10/9/2023 at 12:15 PM, JayBaller10 said:

Milano didn’t look like an immediate steal. There were even reports out of camp saying fellow rookie Tanner Vallejo was having a more noticeable impact. Ramon Humber also started in front of Milano and Matt didn’t get his shot until Humber was later injured. Of course we know he took control of the position and never let go.

Williams definitely flashes more than Dodson and is certainly the more athletic player, so I’d be willing to take the lumps of him learning on the job, but I’m not so sure McD is willing. Dodson out snapped Dorian, shades of Ramon Humber.

Hope this is Dorians shot to be the man.  Go Bills!

[MPL]

Wait, why would Dorian not accept the mission? 

[hondo in seattle]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:16 PM, JayBaller10 said:

I saw A LOT of Dodson out there. Was it in place of Dorian? Or were the Bills running a 4-3?

 

A 4-3 wouldn't be a bad idea versus the Giants.  We went to a 4-2 because the NFL has become a passing league.   But with TT under center, the Giants may run more than pass - and be more effective rushing than passing.  

[Punching Bag]

On 10/8/2023 at 10:20 PM, bills6969 said:

He seems to have a good motor and is usually where he needs to be, but has to be a better tackler

 

Learning to tackle is not a task for regular season games unless Bills are comfortably ahead in 4th quarter.

On 10/8/2023 at 11:11 PM, RyanC883 said:

I think he will be great.  In the grand scheme of things we added Miller and lost Milano for Williams.  If you had to make that trade you likely would.  I don’t expect the front to regress from this.  (and yes, of course I’s rather have Milano and Miller!). 

 

The secondary is somewhat more concerning, IMO.  But that is a different thread.  Williams should be fine.  

 

I would not trade Milano for Von Miller.

[without a drought]

I hope he plays well enough that people start to spell his name correctly.

[No_Matter_What]

Just now, without a drought said:

I hope he plays well enough that people start to spell his name correctly.

I doesn't matter how well he plays. AJ Espinoza is playing out of his mind this year and people still misspell him all the time...

[billsfan89]

Dodson will likely get the start but I wouldn't put it past them to get Williams some meaningful snaps in. I think Williams missed some tackles coming in for Milano. I think he showed dam good speed and instincts out there but he might need more seasoning before taking on a bigger role. Whereas Dodson against the Jags mostly made the "ordinary" plays and showed to be decent out there. 

[CSBill]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:53 AM, Buffalo_Stampede said:

I’m a little disappointed that McDermott didn’t have a 3 safety defense ready to go in case of injury. Or just for different looks. Rapp played ZERO snaps. 
 

When Johnson was hurt I expected to see Rapp on the field some.

it is interesting that Rapp did not play at all, he played really well against the Dolphins. And we had heard in preseason that the Bills were practicing a 3 safety look. Maybe we’ll see it this week. 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

Remember when everyone thought we were screwed when Edmunds left and how the middle of the field was going to be wide open? Bernard might turn out to be the better player of the 2. Not saying he’s even close to Milano’s level bc that would be blasphemy, but he showed some a lot of promise which was ultimately forgotten about bc of the big fat L we took. 

[QLBillsFan]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:02 PM, Aussie Joe said:

No pressure on the 3rd round rook out of that powerhouse Tulane right ?  …

 

Good luck Dorien .. hoping for the best ! 

His college program has actually been on a huge upswing. While BC remains pedestrian at best. The point is who cares where he went to college? The bigger point is he did not play well against Jax but he has talent. Can the Bills develop him? I think yes! 

[QLBillsFan]

8 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

Learning to tackle is not a task for regular season games unless Bills are comfortably ahead in 4th quarter.

 

I would not trade Milano for Von Miller.

Absolutely would no NFL GM currently trade Von for MM. MM is at top 2 LB and a top 5 D player in the NFL!!! Von is a very good 10 sack DE.. in a spot where Bills have great depth. 

8 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

Dodson will likely get the start but I wouldn't put it past them to get Williams some meaningful snaps in. I think Williams missed some tackles coming in for Milano. I think he showed dam good speed and instincts out there but he might need more seasoning before taking on a bigger role. Whereas Dodson against the Jags mostly made the "ordinary" plays and showed to be decent out there. 

Dodson was outstanding. MM is one of the 2 best lbs in the NFL. Bills won’t fall off the map, but MM is next level. Jones at DL is almost as big a loss… unless Ford steps in that’s a similar situation… 

[Spiderweb]

On 10/8/2023 at 10:00 PM, Warcodered said:

Don't know if I have a good read on how he played today, from people's reactions and just watching the game and not looking for him. Seemed like he made some plays made some mistakes, so kind of hit and miss, which wouldn't be terrible for a rookie kind of thrown into his first game.

More misses as he did get pulled. Too raw.

[In Summary]

Glad the Bills insisted on bringing him in as an OLB. 

[balln]

DW still Had a pretty nice pass breakup on a deep in breaker over the middle. 
 

more than I can remember any pbu edmunds made 

[ganesh]

On 10/9/2023 at 7:51 AM, streetkings01 said:

He looked bad out there from what I saw, but I think a lot of that was due to him being thrown into the fire unexpectedly during a game in London. With a full week of practice I think expect him to look alot better Sunday night.

Are you telling me that he was not prepared for the job?  That is against McDermott's philosophy.  Go Bills !

[Doc]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:28 AM, QLBillsFan said:

Dodson was outstanding. MM is one of the 2 best lbs in the NFL. Bills won’t fall off the map, but MM is next level. Jones at DL is almost as big a loss… unless Ford steps in that’s a similar situation… 

Dodson was outstanding?  That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone say that. 

[Solomon Grundy]

On 10/14/2023 at 1:28 AM, QLBillsFan said:

Absolutely would no NFL GM currently trade Von for MM. MM is at top 2 LB and a top 5 D player in the NFL!!! Von is a very good 10 sack DE.. in a spot where Bills have great depth. 

Dodson was outstanding. MM is one of the 2 best lbs in the NFL. Bills won’t fall off the map, but MM is next level. Jones at DL is almost as big a loss… unless Ford steps in that’s a similar situation… 

Etienne broke off 2 of his biggest runs with Dodson on the field

[DCofNC]

46 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Etienne broke off 2 of his biggest runs with Dodson on the field

In fairness, those were runs late in the game when the D was shot.  They still count, but the D was on the field entirely too long for the game.

[Don Otreply]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:09 PM, No_Matter_What said:

I doesn't matter how well he plays. AJ Espinoza is playing out of his mind this year and people still misspell him all the time...

I thought it was Espinisa 

[QLBillsFan]

5 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Etienne broke off 2 of his biggest runs with Dodson on the field

All on the LB I guess ? PFF says he graded out at 86.. 3rd best on Bills D. Thought he played pretty well. But nobody replaces MM. And sometimes the grades by PFF are 🤷🏻‍♂️

5 hours ago, Doc said:

Dodson was outstanding?  That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone say that. 

I thought he played well. You disagree. He wasn’t the biggest problem on D certainly. 

[Doc]

1 hour ago, QLBillsFan said:

I thought he played well. You disagree. He wasn’t the biggest problem on D certainly. 

I didn’t watch the game, so I have no comment. Just thought it was interesting that you thought he was outstanding and nobody said that he even played well. 

[John from Riverside]

8 hours ago, Doc said:

Dodson was outstanding?  That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone say that. 

Got to agree with my PPP Compadre

 

I don’t think anyone has ever said the Dodson is good

Edited October 15, 2023 by John from Riverside