Diggs traded to Texans for picks

[Ya Digg?]

37 minutes ago, CirclnWagons said:

Riddle me this, in an obvious rebuild year, why not let Trubisky take several more snaps to save Josh’s body and build trade value for himself in the future? With Josh’s physical style of play, taking serious body blows in a season not setup to see more than 4-6 wins just doesn’t make sense to me. Crazy take but what else can you say 

This is 100% the dumbest thing I’ve heard since the trade was announced 

[jethro_tull]

Tyreek Hill.  

[Orlando Tim]

This is not the shot as Diggs some will take it as but the facts are that we started winning when Diggs stopped being the main target. He is clearly a great player but last year he was not a go to guy, he was just another receiver. His stats were middling for the entire second half of season and when it was time to step up he was not that guy. I wish him well but if we did not have the salary cap hit I would be glad to get a second for him. 

[Green Lightning]

1 minute ago, Ya Digg? said:

This is 100% the dumbest thing I’ve heard since the trade was announced 

At least it's the strongest contender...

[PBF81]

1 hour ago, Returntoglory said:

It's a long Journey my friend.

 

Longer than it should have been to be sure, particularly now that we've lapped ourselves with Allen spinning his wheels.  

 

  

 

 

1 hour ago, JGMcD2 said:

Oh no, a perennial contender that’s in striking distance of a Super Bowl. The horror. 

 

You think that this team as it now is has a decent shot to win the Super Bowl this year?  

 

 

55 minutes ago, BillsFan2313 said:

 

Does the season start today?

 

Hence my statements "as of today" or "currently" as I'm careful to state.  

 

Having said that, barring us taking a WR in round 1, give us your take on how to propel ourselves forward given what's been laid out.  

 

It's great that you think that the trio of Shakir/Samuel/Shorter isn't going to make much of a difference over last season, I actually envy you for being able to think that way, really.  That's a minority opinion however.  

 

 

[Reed83HOF]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

I actually think it may take pressure off Allen. 

-In the talk piece I linked with Shady et al, one of the hosts (Acho?) made a big point of the pressure it puts on a QB when you have a top receiver demanding the ball, that it can influence the play calling and the QB's decision making.  Shady disagreed.  But it's a point: Josh has said he's a bit of a "people pleaser".  Are some of the times when Josh was forcing the ball to Stef or to Gabe with poor results, influenced by his desire to "get them their bag"?  Did it influence play selection?  Was Diggs "don't listen to him" (referring to Dorsey) because Josh was trying to follow progressions and not look to Diggs first?

-Josh has said he doesn't like to "be an #######" and "call people out" about performance.  IF it's true that Diggs was "going off" on Josh not only on the sidelines but in the locker room and sometimes practice to the point where it was detrimental to the team, does it take confliction away from Josh if he doesn't have that in his face and need to make that decision?  Or was that "in his face" actually helping Josh?  Maybe it helped initially in 2020 and 2021, but now it's a weight on him?

-It's been notable to me when Josh has talked about new receivers coming in, he's repeatedly mentioned "works hard, doesn't complain".  Now Diggs has always been noted for working hard.  But maybe there's been a lot of complaining, and that's been Josh's indirect way of calling that out (and not getting through)
 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm on my phone, so I hope I left the part I wanted lol...

 

10000% on board with this and I think that is what Beane was dancing around with yesterday in talking about Diggs being a fierce competitor and that whole comment....

[since79]

1 hour ago, PBF81 said:

 

 

BTW, Allen ran twice as much under Brady.  His rushing attempts went from 4.7/game to 9.1.  

 

 

We were in a must win situation.  Anytime that is the case including playoffs, expect Allen to run more. It’s our cheat code

[Success]

Nick Wright really is the culmination of where sports media has been heading for the past couple of decades.

 

Obviously, a sad thing for anyone who values real sports journalism and intelligent analysis.  But he is the model now. 

 

[Mr. WEO]

50 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

Greg trying to start trouble in Houston! 

 

how is a simple observation starting trouble?  Diggs is the only live human who might think that Collins is not Houston's WR1 this season...

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, PBF81 said:

 

I suppose, but our wins were not all impressive.  Remember, we needed unlikely defensive TDs to beat Miami and NE.  

 

I'm in the minority on thinking that Brady's not going to be good.  

 

Also controversial, although for the life of me I don't know why, is the take that we should be doing everything that we can to build around and support Allen, particularly the passing game.  (WRs/OL). Rather, we have a coach that insists on focusing on the D and running game whether that running game is provided by a RB or QB being indifferent.  Remember, Cook doesn't run on 3rd-downs.  

 

Our current situation is very unsettling.  

 

BTW, Allen ran twice as much under Brady.  His rushing attempts went from 4.7/game to 9.1.  

 

 

 

Again though - 6-6 going into that last stretch and its basically like all playoff games.  I'm not counting carries/touches/whatever.  

 

Did the defense really play that much better down the stretch?  In some ways yes - in others... we carried a considerable advantage in time of possession in all of the games except the chargers game which... was the game we almost gave away as both sides of the ball played pretty poorly.  

[SCBills]

I think a strange, yet accurate, way to describe Diggs is a WR2 who is so elite at WR2 skills that he ascended to one of the top WR’s in the league.

 

Hes not a burner.  He’s not big. He’s not a contested catch guy.

 

He just became such an elite route runner with good, not great, size and good, not great, speed, that he ascended to Top 15 WR status in Minnesota and then Top 5 when paired with an elite QB. 
 

But for the entirety of his time here, he never really stepped up in the playoffs.  Never seemed to take over a game (I’ll give him 2nd half of Pittsburgh a few years ago) and we always had jealousy watching the speed of Tyreek Hill, DK and Chase or the contested catch/big body ability of AJ Brown or Justin Jefferson. 
 

I do think he has some good years left in him physically, but as a dominant outside WR1, not so much. 

 

Edited April 4 by SCBills

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 minutes ago, since79 said:

We were in a must win situation.  Anytime that is the case including playoffs, expect Allen to run more. It’s our cheat code

 

Yeah - i feel like cook ran considerably more too fwiw.  We just ran more in general.  

Just now, SCBills said:

I think a strange, yet accurate, way to describe Diggs is a WR2 who is so elite at WR2 skills that he ascended to one of the top WR’s in the league.

 

Hes not a burner.  He’s not big. He’s not a contested catch guy.

 

He just became such an elite route runner with good, not great, size and good, not great, speed, that he ascended to Top 15 WR status in Minnesota and then Top 5 when paired with an elite QB. 
 

But for the entirety of his time here, he never really stepped up in the playoffs.  Never seemed to take over a game (I’ll give him 2nd half of Pittsburgh a few years ago) and we always had jealousy watching the speed of Tyreek Hill or the contested catch/big body ability of Chase and Higgins.  
 

I do think he has some good years left in him physically, but as a dominant outside WR1, not so much. 

 

He's good in the same way that Adams and Kupp are.  He's very quick, has good hands, and is a superb route runner.  

[major]

I’m busy and unable to check TBD as much as I want; therefore, I’m going to ask a question/make a comment I’m sure someone has asked somewhere since yesterday:

 

1. Was this the value for Diggs? A future 2nd rounder?! If so, I guess teams didn’t want him. 🤔 

 

2. I feel sorry for stroud having to deal with mixon and Diggs. Stroud seems like a good guy and these two won’t be great for him

[Sweats]

14 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Thanks for all this.

 

Just a little nit, the pick swap is next year's 2nd that Houston received indirectly from the Vikings, but the trade-back is this year's 6th and NEXT YEAR'S 5th (which is considered equivalent to a 6th round pick this year).

I kind of wonder if uncertainty about Tank Dell's recovery from his broken leg plays into this - if he's not 100% early in the season, they can put him on a snap count or even IR him and expect more from Diggs, but if Diggs does the mid-season vanishing he's done for the last 2 seasons, Dell should be up to speed and they can cut Diggs snaps, then move on the following year if he beefs.

 

I frankly thought in his presser, Beane seemed a bit nervous and defensive, with good reason.  He acknowledged that the team isn't as good right now after the trade: "This is by no means the Bills giving up or trying to take a step back or anything like that. Everything we do, we're trying to win, and we're going to continue to do that. It's April the 3rd, and we'll continue to work on this roster and make sure we're ready to play come September" "I mean, are we better today? Probably not," Beane admitted. "It's a work in progress, and we're going to continue to work on that. I just hope people know I'm competitive as hell, and I ain't giving in, we're going to work through this and continue to look and I'm confident in guys on the roster, and confident in the staff we have upstairs that helps me, that we'll continue to find pieces to add, and we'll be ready to roll when it comes time in September."

Did someone on NFL network really express something like "not have to worry about an aging cancerous boat anchor"?  Wow if so, Just Wow - do you remember who might have said that?  

 

 

 

 

Sorry, i was para-phrasing.......i forget who said it, but it was along the lines of, " whether by design or character, Diggs performance trailed miserably last season, which as a WR1, you never want leave your QB in that position. If it was by design, then Brady is showing maturity and character by not allowing Diggs to dictate HIS offense and allowing JA to distribute the ball around the field as he sees fit. If Diggs decline was from his character, then it shows that he should no longer have a place on the team by tossing the boat anchor out and limiting the growth of the team around him".

 

You know, something along those lines.

[SCBills]

3 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Yeah - i feel like cook ran considerably more too fwiw.  We just ran more in general.  

 

He's good in the same way that Adams and Kupp are.  He's very quick, has good hands, and is a superb route runner.  

 

I feel like Adams has quite a few jump balls thrown his way.  That's not something Diggs does particularly well. 

 

Kupp is more of an elite slot.

[Avisan]

13 minutes ago, PBF81 said:

You think that this team as it now is has a decent shot to win the Super Bowl this year?  

 

Yes?  Why would we not?  Diggs does nothing in the playoffs and our defense was a M.A.S.H. unit and we still had a decent shot at it this past season.

 

You don't need the best roster in the league to win the Superbowl.  You just need to win 3-4 games in a row at the end of the season.  Having a better roster makes that easier, but the Giants did it twice with merely decent teams and guys stepping up at the right moments.

[boater]

Just now, Avisan said:

Yes?  Why would we not?  Diggs does nothing in the playoffs and our defense was a M.A.S.H. unit and we still had a decent shot at it this past season.

 

You don't need the best roster in the league to win the Superbowl.  You just need to win 3-4 games in a row at the end of the season.  Having a better roster makes that easier, but the Giants did it twice with merely decent teams and guys stepping up at the right moments.

Yep. ..and if you have Injury Luck, you can go far.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

Just now, SCBills said:

 

I feel like Adams has quite a few jump balls thrown his way.  That's not something Diggs does particularly well. 

 

Kupp is more of an elite slot.

 

We tried it in the red zone, never really worked but jump balls are as much a QB thing as a WR thing.  Reading corner leverage, etc.  

 

They move Kupp around quite a bit, especially with Nacua.  Also didn't realize Kupp is on his age 31 season.  

[GoBills808]

14 minutes ago, Success said:

Nick Wright really is the culmination of where sports media has been heading for the past couple of decades.

 

Obviously, a sad thing for anyone who values real sports journalism and intelligent analysis.  But he is the model now. 

 

He's not wrong in this tho

 

 the Bills have underachieved

[PBF81]

42 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

I get the concern about turning him into a ball control passer, but I wonder if that’s the way to trend a bit more given how defenses play him.  We’ve seen a ton of two-high shell, and maybe the approach to that is to run the ball (Cook is dynamic) and get it to guys who can break a few tackles (Shakir) or do something on a bubble.  

 

I completely agree with the point that we cannot abandon a deep game. I’m also of the mind that YAC is overblown, and that if we have guys catching the ball 15 yards downfield with their backs to the end zone I’m totally find with that.   But that type of passing game probably isn’t going to be available with the way teams are playing us.  So I’m all about getting guys who can break a tackle or run a corner over on completions underneath the shell.  

 

Thanks for a decent response!!  

 

It is a somewhat complex analysis to be sure, with a bunch of variables.  Here's the thing, that's not Allen's strong suit.  Wouldn't it seem logical to play to his strong suit in the interests of getting all that we can from him, instead of trying to turn him into a game-managing ball-control passer?  That seems patently illogical.  

 

Last season, 9 of Allen's TD passes were 20+ yards.  Without looking, and knowing stats from years of analyzing the NFL, I'd venture to say that easily that's more than any QB playing today and likely even way back.  15 of his 29 were 15 yards+.  19 were double-digit TDs.  

 

Let's contrast that with Mahomes, considered to be the best in the game today and since Brady.  Mahomes had 3 of 27 over 20 and 5 in double-digits.  

 

It doesn't add up.  Call it The Process or whatever, but things are not aligning with what they've said since they drafted Allen.  They drafted him for his athletic ability and ability to make every throw and for his strong arm, right.  But you're suggesting that they're now trying to turn him into something contrary to that.  

 

Call me crazy, but good coaches take their strength(s) and figure out how to shove them down the opponents' throats.  Belichick didn't try to put a cap on Brady, neither is Reid trying to put a cap on Mahomes.  But it seems that McD, via Brady now, is trying to do that with Allen.  

 

The types of receivers we have, whatever their design by McBeane, are what we have because that's how we've planned.  Just as they say your as good as your record says you are, so too, your roster is as good as you've made it.  

 

In desperately looking to find some sort of plan or methodology here, all that anyone can offer is to blindly trust The Process, but seemingly not realizing that this Process isn't even identifiable for the most part and has otherwise never been articulated as to what it is.  And now on the cusp of us going from one of the league's best passing teams to some version of the Ravens.  Allen's better than Jackson, but not if he's not going to be used to his strengths.  

 

We seem to be taking a square peg and trying to force it into a round hole.