LOL!!

Still here - was just responding over in the Dareus thread.
There was a swelling of folks in Buffalo yesterday who were ok with the trade when it happened who now want to run McBeane out of town the same way they wanted to when Sammy was traded and all of a sudden the WR corps was a graveyard.
Just fairweather knee-jerk type of reactions you get a lot of when you miss the playoffs for 17 yrs.
Honestly, its a bit of a 2 fold question. As I'd said, when he was here he wasnt really doing much on the field. I'd go so far as to make the argument that they dont miss his play because his impact was minimal. What they miss IMO is his presence. Kyle Williams appears to have hit a wall when going back with the All22. He was controlling his line better in earlier games and it seems his age and playing style may have finally caught up with him. I think the IDEA of MD was something that may not have been taken into account. It was thought that running up the gut on the Bills D wasnt really worth trying because he would plug a hole. Statistically, when 80% of the defensive plays without him occur - its tough to argue how much his play was impactful in the grand scheme of things. That said, it was a rotation that included a veteran presence and with out the extra body the other guys are inexperienced and playing more.
Its a subject that is being discussed often, only 2nd to the rookie qbs garbage time performance (i'll save that for the Bills board - dont worry).
The Bills benefited from a TON of turnovers over the 1st 7 games. When watching the film, they arent tackling how they were early on. They've become enamored with the 'peanut-punch' and as a result arent wrapping guys up. All year long, the Bills weakness has been their DL. They were just shooting their gaps better as well as wrapping guys up, actually tackling and letting the turnovers come naturally. EJ Gaines is not an allpro - but he affords this team to give different looks that Wright just doesnt allow and since he has been out this D has looked totally different.
On the surface, it may appear that MD was the difference. Hell, maybe he was. From what I've seen they benefited more from the threat than the actual play.
Combine that with the aforementioned god awful tackling in the second level and you end up with that blowout yesterday. The entire second half was essentially garbage time for both teams as everyone knew the Bills weren't coming back from 17-3. Tyrod and therefore the offense isnt built that way as they are much more of a scrape and stay in it type team who always tries to give themselves the chance to steal it at the end. Also, no one with much of a football IQ in Buffalo DIDNT expect the D to get gashed. That was essentially a given. They also assumed it would be with the arm of Brees rather than 24 straight running plays.
The biggest mistep was the belief (and they knew it was coming as they commented as such all week while saying TT knew what he had to do and was preparing by watching EVERY KB reception in the NFL so he knew where to put the jump balls....HA!) that with Clay coming back and Benji getting acclimated that theyd haved the weapons to try and keep up during a shootout. Problem was, KB was targeted 3x in the 1st drive (1 catch and 2 terrible throws) and never again until the last 2 drives when Peterman came in and made TT look silly. Until they figure out how to get TT to throw 50/50 balls and throw further than a 5yrd check down on 3rd and long - this will continue. Shady is still Shady, but when they stack the box and your QB is still too timid to throw to a outside guy (yesterday KB) theres nothing that can be done. Romo said it on thursday (which id expect being a former qb) and Kenny Freaking Albert (for TT THAT should be embarrassing) said the same yesterday. ITS MADDENING!!
This is relevant because until this happens, the D doesnt even matter. They could have played lights out and 58 yards passing by their starter (an 'nfl' qb) through 3 and 1/2 qtrs will make ANY defense look bad. So yes.... to a big or small degree (truthfully prob somewhere inbetween) they do miss Mr Big Stuff... To the FO, its a moot point as they wanted the distraction and contract off the books so theyd never admit it publicly either way.
But sadly, thats not even their issue....

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