Buffalo Bills Onto Week 3 at Miami

[Dubi Doo]

It's a final roster spot for a position that will see more special teams work than anything. Could being friends with Josh be a factor? Sure. So could being a great locker room guy, playing special teams, and not carrying a massive contract. By all accounts Sweeney is beloved in the lockerroom whereas for whatever reason Howard was struggling to fit in. Neither of them were very good in camp/preseason and I refuse to have a strong opinion on them pickingthe guy that people likes and is young/cheap over the new guy with a big contract that is old and broken.

Cutting Howard and him signing elsewhere also came with a cap credit next year, so Im fine with letting him go.

You know things are good when our biggest debate is a depth TE.

 

[SundherDome]

Houston has no weapons, so it is not surprising to see OJ Howard get the ball. It is one game. Let’s see what he does the rest of the year.

Lets also not overreact to the two touchdowns. They were his only two targets of the game. Even the great Tommy Sweeney has had multi-catch games (3 of them last year).

They have Cooks, Cooks is a great receiver. Beyond that, it is suspect.

 

[valet]

Cutting Howard and him signing elsewhere also came with a cap credit next year, so Im fine with letting him go.

You know things are good when our biggest debate is a depth TE.

i didn’t know we would get credit in this scenario. guess it’s really just a giant nothing burger. alls well that ends well

 

[Husko]

Cutting Howard and him signing elsewhere also came with a cap credit next year, so Im fine with letting him go.

You know things are good when our biggest debate is a depth TE.

And helps with possible comp picks since Howard was a FA signing that is no longer included in that calculus

Morris CLEARLY outplayed him in camp and the preseason.

It'll be interesting to see who plays when Morris is healthy -- will Sweeney be scratched or will Morris continue to be scratched?

Morris was clearly the #2 by the end of training camp. Those that are hyper focused on Sweeney v. Howard are either not paying attention or missing the truth: it was Morris that stole the job from Howard, not Sweenet

 

[Buffalo Norsemen]

Every time I saw Howard in a highlight he was making a key block on a play. It was not a good sign for him to be playing so far into preason games. I think this is more about the locker room. I hope Morris can flash when he gets a chance to play vs 1's. Sweeney's lack of athlicism worries me, a younger Lee Smith, but apparently the coaching staff and front office like him. Time will tell.

 

[Tsujimoto]

This cracked me up:



'We can blink now. Look it!'

Can anyone confirm whether the plane, in fact, did backflips on the way home?

 

[Der Jaeger]

Did any of the Howard apologists even watch his touchdowns?



Good for him for catching on somewhere, but catching two relatively wide open passes as the backup TE doesn’t make me yearn for his services. He wasn’t good and didn’t make the team - it happens.

As a fans who's wanted a two TE offense since Todd Collins was the QB, they key is that the two TEs have to be quality enough to keep a WR off the field. Howard isn't that.

 

[Husko]

As a fans who's wanted a two TE offense since Todd Collins was the QB, they key is that the two TEs have to be quality enough to keep a WR off the field. Howard isn't that.

Agreed. And if you’re second tight end isn’t a receiving mismatch on LBs, you want them to at least be such a dominant blocker that they’re a run game mismatch on LBs, and Howard certainly isn’t that. Maybe Morris could at least have the potential develop into the latter category.

 

[brian_griffin]

As a fans who's wanted a two TE offense since Todd Collins was the QB, they key is that the two TEs have to be quality enough to keep a WR off the field. Howard isn't that.

Agreed. And if you’re second tight end isn’t a receiving mismatch on LBs, you want them to at least be such a dominant blocker that they’re a run game mismatch on LBs, and Howard certainly isn’t that. Maybe Morris could at least have the potential develop into the latter category.

Agreed. These are the salient points in the roster/depth formation for the Bills. It's not always one player vs. another, it's the sum of the players vs. the alternatives.

 

[Dubi Doo]

When Allen is on fire- Im not sure any QB can match him except Mahomes.

 

[Buffalo Norsemen]

This cracked me up:



'We can blink now. Look it!'

I want my "Don't Blink" T shirt!

 

[NotABadPeriod]

And helps with possible comp picks since Howard was a FA signing that is no longer included in that calculus

Won't matter. Bills have three signings (DaQuan Jones, Tim Settle, Von Miller) which cancel out the three losses (Trubisky, Phillips, Wallace), and those signings aren't going anywhere.

 

[Husko]

Won't matter. Bills have three signings (DaQuan Jones, Tim Settle, Von Miller) which cancel out the three losses (Trubisky, Phillips, Wallace), and those signings aren't going anywhere.

Do Hughes and Addison not factor in because they signed too late?

 

[Buffalo Norsemen]

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

As a fans who's wanted a two TE offense since Todd Collins was the QB, they key is that the two TEs have to be quality enough to keep a WR off the field. Howard isn't that.

Agreed. And if you’re second tight end isn’t a receiving mismatch on LBs, you want them to at least be such a dominant blocker that they’re a run game mismatch on LBs, and Howard certainly isn’t that. Maybe Morris could at least have the potential develop into the latter category.

Agreed. These are the salient points in the roster/depth formation for the Bills. It's not always one player vs. another, it's the sum of the players vs. the alternatives.

As a Bucs fan, I can confirm that Howard is not a TE to worry about. He's not a great blocker, not a great route runner, not especially intuitive in any phase of the game. They were hoping he could fill that role when Gronkowski left, and it was clear he was not that player...or a even a tier or two below.

 

[Mike McDermott]

I know it might not technically be ”color rush” but every time I see these uniforms I just see a bunch of glow sticks playing football.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

View attachment 584019
I know it might not technically be ”color rush” but every time I see these uniforms I just see a bunch of glow sticks playing football.

They're hideous...like the worst 3rd jersey but worn every week.

 

[brian_griffin]

I love them. Remind me of the Mr. Yuck warning stickers for household chemicals.

 

[GameMisconduct]

I know there's a good chunk of the game left, but I have to say that Geno Smith hitting almost 95% of his passes with 2 touchdowns was definitely not a stat line I anticipated seeing, like ever.

 

[Zman5778]

What in the actual f*** was Hackett thinking there?

50-some seconds left. Russell Wilson, Sutton, Jeudy, Hamler, 2 good RBs and a solid TE. 4th and 5.

Why on earth do you decide to kick a 64 yard field goal? I know legs are improving........but 60+ is still 50/50 AT BEST.

I take my chances with Russ there. Go with who brought you.

 

[kirby11]

Of all the stupidity in the NFL this weekend, this game might've had the dumbest ending.

To sum up:

-Broncos are down 17-16 with under a minute left. They go from 3rd and long around their own 40 to 4th and 5 around the Broncos' 47 with 55ish seconds left.

-Peyton and Shannon Sharpe are yelling on the ManningCast for Wilson or someone to immediately call a timeout after the previous play ends, assuming that they're planning to go for it to continue the drive.

-Wilson calls a timeout just before the play-clock expires with 20 seconds left in the game...so they can trot McManus out to try to hit a 64 yarder to take the lead.

-Pete Carroll, not to be undone by Nathaniel Hackett in coaching stupidity, calls an entirely unnecessary "ice the kicker" timeout.

-McManus' first kick is wide right by a mile. After having the free practice try, he just missed the second one--had the distance, but clanked it off the middle of the right upright.

I guess you can take the coach out of the Bills drought era, but you can't take the Bills drought era out of the coach.

What in the actual f*** was Hackett thinking there?

50-some seconds left. Russell Wilson, Sutton, Jeudy, Hamler, 2 good RBs and a solid TE. 4th and 5.

Why on earth do you decide to kick a 64 yard field goal? I know legs are improving........but 60+ is still 50/50 AT BEST.

I take my chances with Russ there. Go with who brought you.

I was trying not to laugh too hard to wake my wife up, but the incredulous "what is going ON?!" looks and sounds from Peyton and Shannon were hilarious.

And with how well Javonte was doing as a pass catcher, I would've taken my chances on dumping it off to him at the sticks for sure.

 

[Zman5778]

That said................I am terribly unsurprised that Hackett pulled that bullshittery.

Of all the awful coaches we've seen, Hackett was one of the worst.

 

[misterchainsaw]

To talk about a good coaching decision for once, I don't know why more coaches don't do what Carroll did with his challenge with ~3 minutes left. It was beneficial for Seattle to stop the clock there anyway, so why not challenge a really close call, even if you're not likely to get it?

Usually we see coaches blunder into calling timeout, then challenging the play after, resulting in two timeouts used (1 to correctly stop the clock, 1 to stupidly challenge the play), when just challenging the play will result in a timeout even if you're wrong.

 

[Zman5778]

To talk about a good coaching decision for once, I don't know why more coaches don't do what Carroll did with his challenge with ~3 minutes left. It was beneficial for Seattle to stop the clock there anyway, so why not challenge a really close call, even if you're not likely to get it?

Usually we see coaches blunder into calling timeout, then challenging the play after, resulting in two timeouts used (1 to correctly stop the clock, 1 to stupidly challenge the play), when just challenging the play will result in a timeout even if you're wrong.

When Pete threw the flag, my response was "Good challenge. Probably not going to win it......but it really doesn't matter in this case."

 

[whiplash]

Hackett being a dumbass, Lovie Smith playing for a tie on 4th at midfield, Zac Taylor (I guess maybe the kicker?) not letting the clock run down on their OT punt to the Steelers, thus giving a division rival a chance to win... So many stupid f***ing decisions and it blows my mind that the first two are by idiots who just keep getting NFL jobs. Crazy