Cosell's Comments on the Bills

[MasterStrategist]

54 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I really don't think the Bills have a strong defense. I think at best we can hope they come up with timely stops and create turnovers. 

 

Bishop coming into his own really helps the secondary. Poyer is serviceable as is Tre. The pass rush is outright terrible. Could be the worst in the league. I believe this will likely lead to a Bills playoff exit. I think you are over estimating the Bills D. Imho, it's probably the worst it's been in several years. 

 

The Bills best hope is Allen being Superman. He's capable of it but it's a tall task and a hard way to win. Teams will absolutely force the Bills to pass. No way will they not try to take away Cook and Allen's legs. Perhaps it's harder to do than say. We will see for sure. 

 

Let's not pretend like the Bills offense is a well oiled machine. For several recent games the offense played like dog poop. They were major contributors to the Bills lack of success. They even struggled in the first half vs a bad Cincinnati defense. 

 

Like others stated the AFC seems wide open and the Bills have Allen. Hopefully, the Bills can hoist that elusive Lombardi trophy. 

I think you might have misread my comment ---- I don't think we have a strong defense by any means.  Our pass rush is suffering without Ed and Hoecht, both key pieces to what we were trying to do.

 

Our secondary is inconsistent at times too.  But the hope is we continue to improve with the pieces we have left and some of the younger players (Walker, Sanders, Max) can step up at critical times.  I'm very encouraged that we have started to "sure up" the run defense --- more passing/leads to more turnover opportunities, and getting teams into obvious passing situations.

 

But the key thing --- is winning the turnover battle.  That's the ultimate differentiator

[No_Matter_What]

14 hours ago, Rousseauisnoschmo said:

If trubisky was our starter we might have three wins. Cosell spot on per usual.

No offense but this is extremely bad take.

 

First of all it's not true. We'd win more even with Trubisky against other teams with their starting QBs.

 

Second it's sort of logical, isn't it? When you start backup, you win much less games. That's the point. Starters are starters for a reason.

 

Third, if you want to make a valid argument, then you need to start Trubisky (or any other backup) on EVERY team. How many games we'd win in such case? Still three?

 

Fourth, it's logical that we have worse team than an average one when you take starting QBs out of the equation. We are paying a lot to Allen (so we can pay less to others) and were are drafting lower than anybody else except the Chiefs thanks to Allen.

[Buffalo Boy]

21 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

He has been saying this for 3 seasons now.  

Me too🤷‍♂️

Josh and the JAGs

[foreboding]

Allen, Cook and Dalton are play makers.

 

The rest of the team is c+ to b+ players, with maybe 1 or 2 offensive lineman and our CB1 just this side of A (and our one year rental DE, when healthy.)

 

With Josh Allen, you have a chance as long as those B players have the right mindset. 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by foreboding

[Amorgus]

The thing that makes me want to scream is how there always has to be a huge asterisk next to the majority of our top players that says "when healthy" next to it. If you're never healthy more than a few games, you're as much a liability as an every-game JAG. Durability is the biggest problem this team has, year after year.

[newcam2012]

25 minutes ago, MasterStrategist said:

I think you might have misread my comment ---- I don't think we have a strong defense by any means.  Our pass rush is suffering without Ed and Hoecht, both key pieces to what we were trying to do.

 

Our secondary is inconsistent at times too.  But the hope is we continue to improve with the pieces we have left and some of the younger players (Walker, Sanders, Max) can step up at critical times.  I'm very encouraged that we have started to "sure up" the run defense --- more passing/leads to more turnover opportunities, and getting teams into obvious passing situations.

 

But the key thing --- is winning the turnover battle.  That's the ultimate differentiator

I think the run defense has improved with Shaq Thompson being inserted in place of Bernard. Bernard must have been injured because he was playing like dog poop. However, Shaq is not a very good pass defender. 

 

Very good post too. 

[newcam2012]

21 minutes ago, No_Matter_What said:

No offense but this is extremely bad take.

 

First of all it's not true. We'd win more even with Trubisky against other teams with their starting QBs.

 

Second it's sort of logical, isn't it? When you start backup, you win much less games. That's the point. Starters are starters for a reason.

 

Third, if you want to make a valid argument, then you need to start Trubisky (or any other backup) on EVERY team. How many games we'd win in such case? Still three?

 

Fourth, it's logical that we have worse team than an average one when you take starting QBs out of the equation. We are paying a lot to Allen (so we can pay less to others) and were are drafting lower than anybody else except the Chiefs thanks to Allen.

I don't think many teams can consistently win games for a longer period of time with their back up QB. 

 

It's especially difficult to get a top notch back up when you are already paying your existing QB substantially. 

 

The Bills have been very fortunate that Allen has been very durable. I don't even wanna think about Allen going down and Mitch taking over for a significant stretch. Most would agree the playoffs would be a long shot. 

[JP51]

22 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

Just listened to Greg Cossell in the Colin Cowherd show. He was asked about what he thought about the Bills. I think this guy really knows his football.

 

Here's what he basically said. Not a great listen as a Bills fan. They aren't one of the most talented teams in the league, they aren't that good overall from a talent perspective, they lack  play makers on both sides of the ball, very poor WR core and Kalir is more of a WR3, , have to scheme up offense, and rely on Josh being Superman which is hard to be sustainable and win like that. 

 

I know it's just one guys opinion but this guy really knows his football. Doesn't mean the Bills can't win it all. Nevertheless, this was pretty eye opening and deflating. What do you think? 

I dunno, pretty much what I have been saying most of the year... as well as many many other posters ... not a revelation... quite honestly, if you gave McD truth serum I suspect he would say the same thing... 

[behind a post WMS69]

21 hours ago, Walking Tall said:

Hey, don’t monkey with Howard!

I see what you did there!

[Nihilarian]

I don't buy it. This team has enough good players on it to beat any other NFL team, "IF" everyone is healthy. The problem is and has been all season, the injuries with something like 38 players being injured over the course of this season. Yes, all teams have injuries, and the difference is that this team keeps winning.

 

Josh Allen doesn't need to be Superman every game as the Bills have the #1 rushing team in the NFL and are currently #5 in points, #2 in yards. The defense is 14th in points allowed and #10 in yards allowed, and if you hadn't noticed, they are shutting down teams in the second half. The run defense has improved with Shaq Thompson starting. 

 

The New England Patriots just started getting hit with the injury bug, and because they played a 4th-place schedule is the reason as to why they are leading the division.

 

Hopefully, this team gets healthy going forward and keeps winning in the snow/cold. 

[Rat-boy]

23 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

Just listened to Greg Cossell in the Colin Cowherd show. He was asked about what he thought about the Bills. I think this guy really knows his football.

 

Here's what he basically said. Not a great listen as a Bills fan. They aren't one of the most talented teams in the league, they aren't that good overall from a talent perspective, they lack  play makers on both sides of the ball, very poor WR core and Kalir is more of a WR3, , have to scheme up offense, and rely on Josh being Superman which is hard to be sustainable and win like that. 

 

I know it's just one guys opinion but this guy really knows his football. Doesn't mean the Bills can't win it all. Nevertheless, this was pretty eye opening and deflating. What do you think? 

 

Cossell has an axe to grind with Buffalo. He’s been saying this exactly for several years and while perhaps true at one time, this year the facts don’t support his claims as many other posters have already noted.

 

Of course, nuanced takes are not really the primary objective of football pundits these days — or a large number of Bills fans it seems.

[MasterStrategist]

1 hour ago, newcam2012 said:

I think the run defense has improved with Shaq Thompson being inserted in place of Bernard. Bernard must have been injured because he was playing like dog poop. However, Shaq is not a very good pass defender. 

 

Very good post too. 

You're 100% on Shaq.  He should be in for early downs / Bernard in obvious passing situations at a minimum.

 

Bernard is a better blitzer and much better in coverage.  

 

There were so many plays we had defended against Cinci last week --- I'm thinking of the deep dig Burrow hit to Higgins in our territory.  We blitzed, Max played it perfect with outside leverage (knowing Shaq was dropping to take away the dig), however Shaq got too "wide" and let Higgins inside him.  Horrible peripherals on that play.  Many more examples to choose from --- close to the LOS is where Shaq belongs on early downs.