Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘But, as they have both said numerous times, culture is very important to McDermott and Beane, and all three of these players would put that culture to the test.’

‘It is unfair to judge Beane’s performance during the 2018 off-season because, unlike this year, he simply didn’t have the resources to sign impact players. Nonetheless, he brought in many players who wound up making the roster and contributing, either positively or negatively, to Buffalo’s 6-10 record.’

‘Williams, who goes by Duke, is a 6-foot-3, 225-pounder who does not have great speed; he did the bulk of his damage for the Edmonton Eskimos on short and intermediate routes. However, he certainly was productive as he led the CFL in 2018 with 1,579 receiving yards and tied for the league lead with 11 touchdowns on 88 catches. He was a CFL all-star, and twice was named the top performer of the month in the league.’

‘Williams is just the ninth Buffalo player to earn six or more Pro Bowl nods. He is the Bills’ career leader in games played (183) and sacks (48.5) by a defensive tackle.’

‘In late December, McCoy lost a round when a state judge in Georgia refused to dismiss the litigation against him. But, with a legal maneuver, McCoy and a co-defendant in the lawsuit have now pushed the litigation to federal court. There, they can again seek dismissal of the lawsuit.’

‘In what ranks as a classic understatement, general manager Brandon Beane said Monday, “I’ve got to do a solid job this offseason to improve our offense. We’re not happy with a lot of things that happened.”’

‘In the final NFL rankings, it looks like it had a tremendous year as Buffalo ranked No. 1 in fewest passing yards allowed, No. 2 in total yards allowed, fourth in first downs allowed, and eighth in third-down defense. But, as we all know, points are what matter, and the Bills ranked 18th in that category, one of the main reasons being that they were terrible in the red zone as teams scored a touchdown 70.8 percent of the time they drove inside the 20, third-worst in the league.’

‘Allen knows that with $90-million in cap space and 10 draft picks, GM Brandon Beane will be making over the roster like an episode of Flip or Flop. He hears everyone saying, “You need more talent around you.’’ But his response? “I love the guys we got. I care about all of our guys,’’ Allen said. He knows change is inevitable in the Not For Long league. But it’s nice when a guy doesn’t throw his teammates, even soon-to-be ex-teammates, under the bus. Leadership doesn’t take time off.’

‘“There are times when we didn’t play well enough on special teams and we’ll dive deeper into that as we get into our evaluation in the next couple days here,” he said, which, when reading between the lines, wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for Crossman.’

‘”He’s come a long way,” general manager Brandon Beane said. “I think everybody forgets, especially if you’re around him all the time because he’s so big, that he’s 20 (years old). He’s still growing into his body, believe it or not. But mentally, this was a big step. A lot was asked of him that was not asked at Virginia Tech. For all that was thrown at him, I thought he really progressed.”’

‘When McDermott was asked about the play of the line during his season-ending press conference Monday, he said, “There were sometimes in the game, in particular yesterday (against Miami), where I thought we played well. There were some other times throughout the season where I didn’t think we played well enough. We were out of sync up front. As you’ve heard me say before, the game is won or lost up front. We did a good job in winning the line of scrimmage on both sides yesterday, but not enough throughout the season, in particular, on the offensive side. That’s an area that we have to look hard at this off-season.”’

‘It was no secret that the three position groups that performed the poorest this season were the offensive line, the wide receivers, and special teams, so these moves don’t come as a surprise.’

‘Allen accounted for five touchdowns in the victory, passing for three and rushing for two. He completed 17 of 26 passes for 224 yards and carried the ball nine times for 95 yards while becoming the first Bills quarterback since Jim Kelly in 1991 to account for five touchdowns in a game.’

‘If I were running the show, I would hit free agency hard in the search for offensive line replacements. Josh Allen is already in place, so the Bills need to surround him with linemen who can immediately start and raise the level of play way above where it was in 2018. Drafting someone means a learning curve, so fill two or three spots, if possible, in free agency.’

‘“In the context of where we’re trying to go, yes,” McDermott admitted. “I’m not a good loser in terms of 6-10. That keeps me up at night and wakes me up awful early. But where we’re trying to go, and what I’ve been around in this process, once in Philadelphia and once in Carolina, and what it takes to get the organization where we’re trying to go, I feel like there’s been some small wins — albeit not on the scoreboard enough — that has us going in the right direction.”’