Buffalo Bills 2018

[OttoinGrotto]

Holy cow, Bills fans, you're at 38 pages and the season hasn't even started?

Well done.

 

[longislandcuse]

McCarron almost breaks his collarbone.

Allen possible concussion.

**** this OL - I’m about to turn on the coaching staff a bit for sticking with Castillo and thinking this line personnel was acceptable.

That was the worst half of blocking I’ve ever seen, on any level.

 

[longislandcuse]

I think Peterman is going to be our Week 1 starter.

I hate not playing Allen because of our OL issues, but Peterman has looked phenomenal all preseason.

He also has a quick release, reads the defense and diagnoses really well... all necessary when your OL is a dumpster fire.

 

[MSOrange]

 

[longislandcuse]

Wood and Incognito, yes.

Drives me crazy when people include Cordy Glenn though. Technically, sure, we had him last year and don’t this year, but the guy never played and, shocker, already got hurt today.

 

[Melancer46]

Agree with him 100%. As much as I like the Bills, I've been trying to tell people that the O-Line is a huuuge issue and all I've gotten is "It's not really a downgrade from Wood to Groy/Bodine, Ducasse was fine last year, John Miller was good a couple years ago, etc."

It's a terrible unit and it, combined with the lackluster group of WRs, is going to make it very difficult to have an average offense.

On the flipside, maybe they purposefully did this to make it feel like home for Josh Allen. He spent last year running for his life on every play too.

 

[longislandcuse]

I guess someone should do a positives take?...

-Croom.

-Murphy/Ivory plus Shady is going to be a great RB Unit.

-Peterman continues to impress.

-Edmunds looks to be finding his groove - made a bunch of plays.

-Run defense was very good.

Hard to find any good though as three fatal flaws have been exposed and will blow up the season if not corrected.

-Interior OL. OBVIOUSLY. Pressure up the gut will singlehandedly destroy the offense unless A) they gel together or B) they “man the **** up”.

-Middle of the field routes. Wayyyy too many chunk plays/slants to open WRs and TE’s.

-Pass Rush?.. Anyone care to do something here or we just gonna give every QB all day? Would be super cool if Murphy ever decided to play.

Waste of a preseason game. Zero ability to evaluate anything on offense and the defense (supposed strength) was absolute trash as well.

 

[JeremyCuse]

LIC is pretty much spot on. Biggest issue right now is pass rush (non existent) and OL (also non existent). Obviously the loss of Wood is really showing up now as both Groy and Bodine looked bad though Bodine seemed to look a little better if thats any consolation. As I stated last week the Bills need to make multiple moves here ASAP. Find a Veteran that some team has soured on or doesn't want to pay and bring him in, we could use a guard or Tackle so it doesn't really matter. The Incognito ship has sailed out of port, caught fire and sunk so that longshot is gone. Clearly we need a healthy Dawkins on the field because Newhouse while a decent backup is no starter at LT in the NFL or any professional fball league for that matter. As we start to see some cuts I am sure Buffalo will bring someone in but at this point I think we need a trade to get a solid guy in here to either pair with Dawkins or replace Miller or Ducasse both of whom look completely lost and thats being kind.

As for the defense I wont' read to much into the game but as LIC noted the lack of pass rush is staggering. Shaq Lawson is pretty much a bust at this point. I didn't like the pick when it first occurred and its reaching an Aaron Maybin level of frustration at this point. Murphy being hurt isn't a surprise but I was hoping we could at least get into the season before his issues started. Clearly DE, OL and WR are going to be the three main areas we are going to have to address in FA and the draft next year with LB an CB probably not far behind. Going to have to dial up some blitzes or QBs are going to be dicing us up all year, already dreading the Cousins/Rogers back to back nightmare.

In some positive news Peterman continues to look good and I like the RB depth the Bills have developed. Safety continues to look really strong but I worry a bit about Davis at the other CB spot. Really hope Murphy gets back or someone can break out at DE to help this defense.

 

[longislandcuse]

LIC is pretty much spot on. Biggest issue right now is pass rush (non existent) and OL (also non existent). Obviously the loss of Wood is really showing up now as both Groy and Bodine looked bad though Bodine seemed to look a little better if thats any consolation. As I stated last week the Bills need to make multiple moves here ASAP. Find a Veteran that some team has soured on or doesn't want to pay and bring him in, we could use a guard or Tackle so it doesn't really matter. The Incognito ship has sailed out of port, caught fire and sunk so that longshot is gone. Clearly we need a healthy Dawkins on the field because Newhouse while a decent backup is no starter at LT in the NFL or any professional fball league for that matter. As we start to see some cuts I am sure Buffalo will bring someone in but at this point I think we need a trade to get a solid guy in here to either pair with Dawkins or replace Miller or Ducasse both of whom look completely lost and thats being kind.

As for the defense I wont' read to much into the game but as LIC noted the lack of pass rush is staggering. Shaq Lawson is pretty much a bust at this point. I didn't like the pick when it first occurred and its reaching an Aaron Maybin level of frustration at this point. Murphy being hurt isn't a surprise but I was hoping we could at least get into the season before his issues started. Clearly DE, OL and WR are going to be the three main areas we are going to have to address in FA and the draft next year with LB an CB probably not far behind. Going to have to dial up some blitzes or QBs are going to be dicing us up all year, already dreading the Cousins/Rogers back to back nightmare.

In some positive news Peterman continues to look good and I like the RB depth the Bills have developed. Safety continues to look really strong but I worry a bit about Davis at the other CB spot. Really hope Murphy gets back or someone can break out at DE to help this defense.

It did look, and sound, like Buffalo ran a basic vanilla defense all game. I do think we'll see a very different defense Week 1 against the Ravens. I wish we could generate a conistent pass rush with 4, but that's not going to happen without Kyle and Ghost Murphy out there. Most teams can't do that unless they go against our current iteration of an OL.

Defense I'm willing to watch a regular season game to evaluate but I'm officially in panic mode with the OL and if McDermott was truly "evaluating things and running contingency plans" on the OL during Allen's first preseason start then I don't even know what to say about that.

 

[ForCuseSake]

I know Peterman played mostly against Cincy's second string Dline but he made very quick decisions and got the ball out twice as fast as Allen did.

Edmunds is a freak and is a fun player to watch. He blew up a number of run plays playing smart and fast. Might not have been the guy making the tackle but he killed plays with quick diagnosis and penetration.

Vontae recovered well from that brutal first Cincy TD - Ross burnt him 3 times on one play.

I really like watching 45 run the ball. I hope he's used more to spell Shady than Ivory.

 

[MSOrange]

LIC is pretty much spot on. Biggest issue right now is pass rush (non existent) and OL (also non existent). Obviously the loss of Wood is really showing up now as both Groy and Bodine looked bad though Bodine seemed to look a little better if thats any consolation. As I stated last week the Bills need to make multiple moves here ASAP. Find a Veteran that some team has soured on or doesn't want to pay and bring him in, we could use a guard or Tackle so it doesn't really matter. The Incognito ship has sailed out of port, caught fire and sunk so that longshot is gone. Clearly we need a healthy Dawkins on the field because Newhouse while a decent backup is no starter at LT in the NFL or any professional fball league for that matter. As we start to see some cuts I am sure Buffalo will bring someone in but at this point I think we need a trade to get a solid guy in here to either pair with Dawkins or replace Miller or Ducasse both of whom look completely lost and thats being kind.

As for the defense I wont' read to much into the game but as LIC noted the lack of pass rush is staggering. Shaq Lawson is pretty much a bust at this point. I didn't like the pick when it first occurred and its reaching an Aaron Maybin level of frustration at this point. Murphy being hurt isn't a surprise but I was hoping we could at least get into the season before his issues started. Clearly DE, OL and WR are going to be the three main areas we are going to have to address in FA and the draft next year with LB an CB probably not far behind. Going to have to dial up some blitzes or QBs are going to be dicing us up all year, already dreading the Cousins/Rogers back to back nightmare.

In some positive news Peterman continues to look good and I like the RB depth the Bills have developed. Safety continues to look really strong but I worry a bit about Davis at the other CB spot. Really hope Murphy gets back or someone can break out at DE to help this defense.

Excellent breakdown. Agree with everything after watching yesterday. I actually really liked both the Maybin and Lawson picks at the time they were made - so just ignore any assessment I make about a def player we draft going forward. I don't even believe me at this point.

I too am worried about Davis, particularly because I just don't have any confidence in Gaines after watching him in KC. KC starters couldn't even stop the Bears 2nd string this weekend and they don't even want Gaines back. I think Taron Johnson has some promise though.

 

[pattycuse]

The question I have, and I don't mean this to be as incendiary as it may come across- how could anyone look at the options the Bills have on the OL during the preseason, training camps, etc and not think this was a huge issue that needed to be addressed? McDermott can spin the last game all he wants as some type of "combination test"...I ain't buying it. The first half of that game was an unmitigated disaster regardless of who was out there.

This is starting to remind me of last year's RB situation where anyone with eyes could tell that Tolbert was not getting it done.

In Beane I trust, and I don't want to overreact to the preseason... but I really don't think they should put Allen in a situation where he is under attack like that the first few weeks of the regular season. Make the 15 year play, not the 2018 Weeks 1-6 play.

 

[longislandcuse]

The question I have, and I don't mean this to be as incendiary as it may come across- how could anyone look at the options the Bills have on the OL during the preseason, training camps, etc and not think this was a huge issue that needed to be addressed? McDermott can spin the last game all he wants as some type of "combination test"...I ain't buying it. The first half of that game was an unmitigated disaster regardless of who was out there.

This is starting to remind me of last year's RB situation where anyone with eyes could tell that Tolbert was not getting it done.

In Beane I trust, and I don't want to overreact to the preseason... but I really don't think they should put Allen in a situation where he is under attack like that the first few weeks of the regular season. Make the 15 year play, not the 2018 Weeks 1-6 play.

There are teams that get it done with patchwork lines. I'm guessing that's where their heads are at. You can hide an OL's deficiencies with scheme, playcalling and QB reads. It looks like they can run block, which is definitely a priority on this team.

Clearly we'll run more in the regular season. Should have Shady and Dawkins. Will scheme/playcall differently BUT I agree... the OL should've been more of a priority in the offseason unless we see a dramatic transformation come Week 1.

For sure the play of our OL will be viewed in contrast with what Star and Murphy bring to the table as guys we spent money on in lieu of addressing OL.

Greg Cosell does have a good piece on the game however. Doesn't absolve the OL but shows how Josh Allen didn't do them any favors and a Nathan Peterman/AJ McCarron, with their experience/ability to read defenses pre-snap, would've looked a lot different. It's just being young in JA's case, but given the state of the OL, he may not be the guy yet, which is frustrating given his crazy potential.

 

[bpo57]

McCarron almost breaks his collarbone.

Allen possible concussion.

**** this OL - I’m about to turn on the coaching staff a bit for sticking with Castillo and thinking this line personnel was acceptable.

That was the worst half of blocking I’ve ever seen, on any level.

Good old Juan Castillo. I remember him as the Eagles OL coach under Andy Reid. Then Andy decided to make him the DC and that was the beginning of the end for Andy and Juan.

I've read that the Eagles are willing to deal surplus OL talent (Chance Warmack?). Maybe the Bills should connect with them.

 

[JeremyCuse]

There are teams that get it done with patchwork lines. I'm guessing that's where their heads are at. You can hide an OL's deficiencies with scheme, playcalling and QB reads. It looks like they can run block, which is definitely a priority on this team.

Clearly we'll run more in the regular season. Should have Shady and Dawkins. Will scheme/playcall differently BUT I agree... the OL should've been more of a priority in the offseason unless we see a dramatic transformation come Week 1.

For sure the play of our OL will be viewed in contrast with what Star and Murphy bring to the table as guys we spent money on in lieu of addressing OL.

Greg Cosell does have a good piece on the game however. Doesn't absolve the OL but shows how Josh Allen didn't do them any favors and a Nathan Peterman/AJ McCarron, with their experience/ability to read defenses pre-snap, would've looked a lot different. It's just being young in JA's case, but given the state of the OL, he may not be the guy yet, which is frustrating given his crazy potential.

Bills were in a tough spot with limited cap space this off-season. With Kyle seriously considering retirement and Washington having struggled they had to address the DL and we were never in it for the few high end OL that were available. I think what hurt was not addressing the OL earlier in the draft due to the tradeups. Had we been able to hold onto one of those extra second or third rounders we could have added a tackle to pair with Teller which would have put us in a better spot. At this point as BPO noted we should be calling teams like the Eagles with surplus OL and seeing if a reasonable trade can be worked out. Getting another Guard in here has to be a priority as its probably to much to ask for a Tackle at this point and Ducasse and Miller are bigger issues then Mills (hard to believe I had to type that). I like Teller a lot and wonder if the staff has to give him a look with the 1's just to see what we have. Obviously Dawkins has to get back on the field as well.

 

[Alsacs]

Is Corey Coleman a roster lock for Buffalo?

 

[longislandcuse]

Is Corey Coleman a roster lock for Buffalo?

I'd be shocked if we cut him.

KB
Zay
Holmes (due to special teams)
Kerley
Coleman

Drop Off

Reilly
Ray-Ray

Drop Off

Proehl
Foster

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I'd be shocked if we cut him.

KB
Zay
Holmes (due to special teams)
Kerley
Coleman

Drop Off

Reilly
Ray-Ray

Drop Off

Proehl
Foster

What about Streater?

 

[longislandcuse]

What about Streater?

Ah, forgot about him. I'd think he's in competition with Reilly and McCloud for the 6th WR. I doubt we keep 7, especially since I think we may keep 4 TE's.

 

[shandeezy7]

Ah, forgot about him. I'd think he's in competition with Reilly and McCloud for the 6th WR. I doubt we keep 7, especially since I think we may keep 4 TE's.

How many RB's do we keep? 3? If so, who is the odd man out?

 

[longislandcuse]

How many RB's do we keep? 3? If so, who is the odd man out?

If they cut Murphy, Bills fan will lose their minds. Has to be Shady, Ivory and Murphy. Not sure the point of keeping Cadet and Taiwan Jones is a special teams player so maybe that helps him? I don't know what DiMarco brings to the table tbh... Keith Ford cut or practice squad.

 

[shandeezy7]

If they cut Murphy, Bills fan will lose their minds. Has to be Shady, Ivory and Murphy. Not sure the point of keeping Cadet and Taiwan Jones is a special teams player so maybe that helps him? I don't know what DiMarco brings to the table tbh... Keith Ford cut or practice squad.

Yeah it's gotta be Murphy. Think the RB depth is huge upgrade from last year.

 

[MSOrange]

Yeah it's gotta be Murphy. Think the RB depth is huge upgrade from last year.

Agree it's Shady, Ivory and Murphy and not sure I really care beyond that. Huge upgrade from Tolbert for sure

 

[Toga]

McCarron currently has a 0.0 QB rating late in the 3rd quarter. That's no way to end pre-season.

 

[NateW]

Whacky game. Most fun 4th PS game in years.

It’ll be interesting to see what they do w AJ after that. He showed some guts.

I wonder if they think he has any value as a QB3/classroom/lockeroom guy over a trade or cut/salary dump.