Christian Benford Apology Thread

[Rigotz]

Feels necessary.

 

The guy was unbelievable the past several years and we all crucified him when he got off to a slow start.

 

Dude is a stud. 16 coverage snaps against Jamar Chase, zero receptions.

 

Touchdowns and INTs in back to back games. Come on now!

[Goin Breakdown]

Never was down on him. Dealing with injuries. I knew he'd be back to form, but he's even better than expected. Glad we have him back there. 

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

The most irrational fans crucified him.  Most of us knew all along he’s our best defensive player.

[Matt_In_NH]

2 minutes ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

The most irrational fans crucified him.  Most of us knew all along he’s our best defensive player.

Exactly.  People have to have their hot takes

[NewEra]

@SoonerBillsFan so how’s that Benford extension looking now?

[BillsShredder83]

2 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Exactly.  People have to have their hot takes

Hot take Bernard injuries are significantly worse than what Benford had going on.

 

Thompson has been awesome, so no need to tinker there, but should we need to i feel good about Bernard with the continued time off. 

 

Dude didnt all the sudden suck because he got paid. Hell be fine (should we need him this year), especially if we can continue to let him heal. Next year will sort itself out 

[Matt_In_NH]

4 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Hot take Bernard injuries are significantly worse than what Benford had going on.

 

Thompson has been awesome, so no need to tinker there, but should we need to i feel good about Bernard with the continued time off. 

 

Dude didnt all the sudden suck because he got paid. Hell be fine (should we need him this year), especially if we can continue to let him heal. Next year will sort itself out 

Thompson should be the starter… that is not a hot take.  

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Why apologize? Don't.

Benford wasn’t playing great at the beginning of the year and now he has been playing better and making some amazing plays. He was never really playing poorly but he did give up more yards and catches than you would expect from your #1CB.

Nobody called him to be benched. Most on here never even really criticized his extension.

Bernard has been terrible. If he comes back and makes some plays in the playoffs doesn't erase how bad he was earlier in the year. 

Rousseau has been nonexistent all year. If he gets a strip sack in the playoffs it wont change the lack of plays he has made in the season so far.

And here is another one. I love Cook but his fumbles cost us one game and almost cost another. He is arguably the MVP on the team but he needs to hold onto the ball. 

 

 

[Rousseauisnoschmo]

Benford did not have a good first half of the season and deserved the criticism he got. He's been great the past two weeks and deserves all the praise. Welcome to the real world.

[Cray51]

Benford we knew was injury.  My personal concern was the accumulation of head injuries, was he just going to be reacting slower due to a series of them.

 

Fortunately, Benford has been incredibly good the past 3-4 weeks.  If Hairston continues to develop, it really forces teams to attack us between the hashmarks.  Let's us dial up more blitzes and use safety help in the middle of the field.

 

Really hoping Benford can stay healthy on this playoff run.

[colin]

i was a bit down on him early, and im still worried cuz he got hurt in our last two playoffs, but when he's on he's a top 10 defensive player (any position) in the nfl.

[T master]

51 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

Feels necessary.

 

The guy was unbelievable the past several years and we all crucified him when he got off to a slow start.

 

Dude is a stud. 16 coverage snaps against Jamar Chase, zero receptions.

 

Touchdowns and INTs in back to back games. Come on now!

That's just the Mafia's way to crucify those that are winners it seems no matter what they can never be happy I can only hope and pray that McD & company can bring a Lombardi to B/Lo because what the complainers here didn't read in the fine print when they signed up as Mafia members is .

 

If your complaint percentage is over a certain amount and the Bills win the SB you get excommunicated to the Browns camp and have to wear a I Love Deshaun Watson T shirts for every game .

 

So God please give the Bills a trophy 🙏 !!! 

[SoonerBillsFan]

Injuries are his only issue.  Further reason this dang Strength & training staff, and every thing needs to be looked at hard this offseason. We keep losing too many people esp. to soft tissue injuries

[BADOLBILZ]

 

There isn't any reason for anyone to "apologize".    Benford was bad thru 11 games.   The eyeball test showed his coverage wasn't good, the physicality wasn't there and statistically he had an abysmal 110-115 passer rating when targeted.   The argument that he wasn't bad was just that he hadn't given up a lot of yards in recent weeks.......but the Bills haven't given up yards in the air all season.   They were #1 in the NFL in that regard but we all know they are not the most dominant coverage unit by any stretch.

 

I suspected Benford rung his bell again very early in the season and was playing tentatively.   The Benford criticism is different that the Rousseau criticism because the tape shows Rousseau doing his job well.  The tape wasn't kind to Benford (or Bernard).   Hopefully Shaq Thompson manages to stay healthy for at least a couple more weeks so Bernard can be healthy when he returns to the lineup.   And then maybe he starts making plays again too.

 

I will say though.......one of the more frustrating defensive plays of the game involved Benford and took place after the Bills called that defensive timeout with the Bengals at 3rd and 4.   The Bengals split the back out wide and Benford came off of Jamar Chase and took a couple strides out wider to cover the back and Cam Lewis dropped down on Chase.  That lead to an easy pitch and catch conversion to Chase.   And it wasn't a bang-bang switch.......it was a failure in slo-mo.  Benford has to identify what they are doing there and not leave the All Pro for Lewis to cover.

[without a drought]

"We all crucified him"

 

Must have missed that.

[Coach Tuesday]

I continue to think he hit his head in the opener and wasn't the same for weeks.

[HOUSE]

Another Brandon Beane 6th round trophy 🏆 

[Donuts and Doritos]

I sorry. 

[Mango]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

@SoonerBillsFan so how’s that Benford extension looking now?

 

Meh, some people want to deal in absolutes.

 

I like Benford. He's a very good player for us. 

 

Criticizing your best players for playing bad when you need them to be your best players is fair game. Benford was very bad to start the season. That's not a hot take.

[bubba2018]

i’ll eat some crow. He looked awful early in the season and i thought his contract was another Beane Masterclass. I was wrong and happy I was.