Alphadawg7

It wasn’t just one football game. They looked equally as bad, if not worse, defensively vs Cincy the first partial game. And our team was not running smooth since the KC game. More importantly it’s been 4 straight bad playoff exits. And now we are likely losing multiple key starters this year and running back the same defensive scheme that has surrendered 107 points and 1403 to KC and Cincy the past 3 playoff losses the last 3 years. We don’t have a lot of cap space either to address current significant needs and potential holes from potential player losses this year like Poyer, Edmunds, Devin, and Morse. Not to mention our 2 most expensive defensive players are coming off ACL recovery or tears, and Von is doing it at age 34. So I think heading into the offseason we are still 3rd best team, but we are going to have more significant needs and holes that previous years with a tight cap. We are definitely behind KC and Cincy already. And Cincy has a lot of cap space to potentially widen the gap on us. Meanwhile, all 3 of our divisional opponents are currently sitting with more cap space to keep working to close the gap on us. Yes, we will be favorites to win our division, but it’s far from a sure thing next year. NOTE: If we bring Frazier back, which it looks like we are, then even with a great offseason we are still behind KC and Cincy. How any DC can keep his job after 4 consecutive defensive failures in the playoff is beyond me. Blew 2 score lead against Houston. Then gave up 107 points and 1403 yards to KC and Cincy last 3 years, and one of those game was a snow storm against a depleted OL (Cincy). Not to mention the 13 seconds and OT debacle last year.

I get where you are coming from, but that doesn’t account for his many many games with little to no impact. They aren’t using him that way every play if every game. And if they were using him a lot like that, then they are wasting his play anyway and just more reason why Frazier should be gone. And I’m pretty sure the play calls weren’t to let the opponent walk all over the defense all game the last 3 playoff losses. And that’s what happened. Hence the money is better spent elsewhere, this defensive scheme isn’t worth the investment, it’s not netting returns on the investment in the games that really matter. I’ve been all for keeping the defensive unit up for a while now. This last straw though of the pathetic showing by the D for the 4th straight year in a playoff loss has completely flipped my interest. Take the Poyer, Edmunds and Oliver money and put into the OL in multiple spots, and a new WR opposite Diggs.

Let me put it this way...the last 3 playoff losses, with Oliver at DT, we have given up 107 points and 1403 yards. Everyone on this D is replaceable...literally every single player. Not once has a defensive player stepped up and showed out individually in the last 3 playoff exits. I would not spend top end money on a single player on this defense right now, simply because it won't matter. Fraziers scheme sucks. Our DL was utterly dominated by mostly backup OL players against Cincy, and they looked just as bad the night Hamlin got hurt against Cincy. And Cincy is a team whose biggest achilles heel for the past 2 years has been the OL. Oliver can look great one game and then disappear for multiple games. He doesn't have the consistency for us to pay him IMO. If I am Beane, I am looking to trade him this offseason and get some value back in either draft capital, player(s) or some combo of both. I really wanted him to be the guy to anchor down the DL long term, but he just is wayyyyy too inconsistent and has been easily taken out of the games in our playoff losses.

No. If you need me to explain why, then you clearly didn't watch this NFL season or the playoffs.

Bahahahaha this is so stupid. Peyton is the most overrated Coach I’ve ever seen. He struggled to even make the playoffs and missed them many times with Prime Drew Brees throwing for near or over 5000 yards. Broncos in the past 12 months have now invested 3 first round picks (two of which are top nine picks), 3 second round picks, a 5th round pick, 3 players (Including two who were very good starters for Seattle this year) and a butt load of money for: An old Russel Wilson and an overrated coach. That is without question the worst use of draft capital (not to mention the other resources like players and cap space from Wilson’s deal) I have seen since Ditka traded his whole draft for Ricky Williams or since Minnesota sent all those picks to Dallas for that insane moron Herschel Walker. You can rebuild a franchise with all those picks, cash, and players. Yet they chose to spend it on Wilson on the downside of his career and a HC whose record is underwhelming considering he had the 2nd most prolific passer in NFL history most in his prime during his career as a HC. This is why I kept telling all the ridiculous posts on here there was ZERO percent chance Peyton was coming here because Beane would never be so stupid to trade that kind of capital to get an overrated HC. For all that offense, they didn’t win much and didn’t make the Super Bowl but one time (during hurricane Katrina) the lone season they had motivation and actually had a good defense to go with the good offense.

If people can’t take their unbiased hat off and take an honest look at where we are at and where our divisional opponents are then I don’t know what to tell them. Everything you wrote is spot on. I would add the Pats are a very good rushing team too. A real OC and some off-season upgrades to receiving group CBs make them a legit playoff contender. The other thing people don’t think about (outside the division) is that Cincy still has a rookie QB deal, and will have a lot of cap space this year to get even better. Bills face KC and Cincy this next season again and still have the 6 divisional games, all of which (when healthy) could prove to be legit playoff contenders and tough opponents next year with the right offseason. And along with all that, Bills have some real glaring holes to address like OL and WR while on a tight cap. And we are looking at losing some key players potentially to FA (Poyer, Edmunds, Devin) that will create more holes. Then there is Morse, he is a candidate to potentially retire between age and concussions. And finally, our two highest paid defensive players are coming off ACL injuries (Tre and Von). We will be a double digit win team still, but the divisional title is far from a sure thing IMHO. We need to find the right pieces in FA and land some good finds in the draft to increase the odds we remain the big dogs of the AFCE.

Kind of expected this…he is the GOAT, and will be interesting to see how he does in the booth.

I think there are ways it could be balanced more, but a separate cap isn’t the answer. It greatly benefits teams with great QBs while doing nothing for teams with rookie contract QBs or lower tier QBs.

Miami and Jets are already tough opponents, and without a huge QB contract, they will have room to make more moves than us. If Jets land a QB like a decent to good QB they will be a very good team, and all signs points to them making a push to get one. Pats have a very good defense. They also are a good running team. Adding a real OC and maybe adding some receiving weapons could make them a legit playoff contender this year between that D and run game.

LMAO at PFF...Poll every GM and Coach in the NFL and Kromer is at or near the top of their list. I will trust in that over anything PFF has to say. Our OL wasn't very talented, and our OC was not very good at developing an offensive scheme or identity. The OL coach has to coach within the offensive scheme and game plan that is being implemented with the personnel he is given.

Wow thanks, that is some high praise there so thank you kind sir Totally agree, McD is safe today, but I think if McD runs it back with Frazier and Dorsey then this next year is his last year to get to the big show. If he comes up short again, all 3 will be gone and Beane will start his first coaching search as a GM.

Earlier this season I would have said sign Edmunds. He absolutely had his best year and would be worth that investment. HOWEVER...What is the point given Frazier's defensive showings the last 3 exits? With both Poyer and Edmunds...our defense under Frazier has given up 107 points and 1403 yards (36 PPG, 470 yards PPG) in our last 3 playoff exits...not to mention, all the money and draft picks also invested over those 3 years in the defense. It has NOT helped, and our D has been embarrassingly bad in back to back KC losses and now this Cincy loss. If having these guys doesn't help come playoff time, then the money vested there is a waste. Josh needs help, he is taking way too many hits in the pocket or under duress and is trying to score on every throw because of it. So now, I am all in on investing in Allen and the offense this year. DISCLAIMER: If we do move on from Frazier (I doubt it though), then I might lean back to signing Edmunds and give the new DC the right tools to tweak this defense to be better.

Not sure how you can say if Hamlin situation doesn't happen we win the #1 seed. In the Hamlin game, Cincy was moving the ball with even more embarrassing ease than in the playoffs. There was not a single minute between the Hamlin game and postseason game where we remotely looked like the better team. I get Bills have started behind early and then went on to win 5 times in the regular season. But we just played Cincy a whole game and they dominated every aspect of this football team. Sure, it's certainly possible we may have won that first game because Allen and the offense would have had a better game not playing in bad weather like the playoff game. And when you have Allen you will always have a chance. But in the 2 games our defense was dominated by Cincy and they were on their way to taking a 2 score lead in Cincy before Hamlin injury. Now, I agree we are a legit threat moving forward, but I disagree that we are one of the top teams at this moment. We have a slew of weak spots to fill and several FA's that likely create new holes. Our 2 best players on Defense still under contract (Tre and Von) are coming off ACL injuries. And our biggest competition in the AFC outside of KC have cap space to keep getting better while we are tight on the cap. AFCE might well be the toughest division in football next year, and we also play KC and Cincy. Going into next year, the cream of the crop is going to be KC and Cincy and we will be in that next tier until we can prove we belong back in the convo as a top AFC team. Im not being negative, I am just being unbiased and realistic about where we currently sit moving forward. And if both Frazier and Dorsey are here next year, then I think that will be the biggest mistake of the offseason and I believe it may cost McD his job next year. I just don't see us getting past both KC and Cincy with those 2 coordinators. Fraziers D is such a bad style against teams like Cincy and KC. Yes we can still beat them, but his defensive scheme makes it so much harder and puts all the pressure on Josh to be Superman to do it. Even when Josh played one of the best games in NFL playoff history, we still lost thanks to Fraziers defense giving up 17 points in like 2 minutes to end the game.

I never said fire McD, so not sure where you are getting that from. I said its time to move on from Frazier after 107 points and 1403 yards surrendered in the last 3 consecutive playoff losses, plus 13 seconds debacle and OT collapse. I can't think of another coach with that kind of playoff record in 3 straight seasons that has kept his job. And really its 4 straight years because his D blew a 2 score lead in the 2nd half against Houston too 4 years ago. You only get so many legit shots at the SB...Fraziers defensive scheme is a BIG reason why we haven't gotten over the hump. We keep upgrading his personnel on defense too, and he keeps giving the same result. Dorsey IMHO sucks. He was completely clueless on how to use the roster properly, terrible situational awareness in his play calling, and utter lack of creativity in his scheme. Not to mention, he was worse at running the ball than Daboll was.

I don't think its that bleek, We will still win 10-12 games next year IMHO, but that may have us mid pack in the AFC instead of the conference leader. McD called a squib...ST Coordinator then screwed up and told everyone but Bass, who was warming up at the net. ST Coordinator stepped down rather than be fired and took the same position with the Jags.

Id rather sign Foreman

Diggs was not the issue, he did not fade. Allen's elbow injury was more of an issue that many think Dorsey's offense was not creative and didn't scheme guys open. Allen and Diggs got a lot of their production off improvising. Defenses figured out how to defend the Bills offense once GB put the blueprint out there. The OL was bad, and Allen saw his comfort behind the line disrupted We couldn't run the ball These are all the reasons we saw his numbers dip IMHO.

I wouldn't frown at signing him, he may be motivated too by Kelce now tying his TD record in the postseason. I wouldn't see this as an end all be all solution, but I think he can still offer enough to be a good player for this team on the right deal.

I agree...although I don't think it was Devins fault, I think he will be a better RB on a team that uses him effectively. But certainly not someone we should pay FA money to. I would rather sign Formean cheaper. But investing in the D has netted us 107 points given up and 1403 yards in last 3 playoff losses. So if you are gonna run this flawed Defensive system, we can have cheaper guys peform that bad...so shift the money to the offense this year.

I get where you are coming from, but even next year it will be hard to say Tre is one of the 4 best if he gets most his form back. Not only do you have the 3 you listed, you still have Gilmore, Ramsey, Woolen, Slay, Bradberry, Ward, Terrell, etc who all would have a case to be in your top 4 guys you listed here. Personally, I would put Slay in there right now or Gilmore with Woolen nipping at their heels. I think Tre could get back to being a top 10 guy at CB, but his days of being top 4 I think are gone betwen his injury and the influx of incredible new talent like Woolen and Sauce. For the record, I was PLEADING to draft Woolen all offseason last year, he was the guy I wanted most at DB based on where we were drafting. I liked Elam too, but Woolen was the guy I coveted because I assumed we were not getting one of the early guys (I mean Sauce was clearly the cream of the crop).

Hard pass on Cook being the top RB. He goes down when the wind blows. He is a Kamara style RB, not a heavy workload runner. I would sign D'Onta Foreman (or draft someone) to be the physical runner and let him and Cook split duties where Cook functions more as a Kamara style player.

He already recovered from that...not a story

Im with you on all this but Tre. Sadly, he isn't close to the top 4 guys right now, he wouldn't even be in the top 4 if he was in a category of just CB's who were rookies this year IMHO. And I love Tre, just being honest about where he is at today. Next year could be a whole other story though, not writing him off.

Agree on everything here, well said

I am sitting it an unusual position, and I don't like it. The 3 previous playoff exits in 2021, 2020, and 2019 I was left feeling very excited and optimistic about the next year, like we were just getting started or had arrived. 2019 - We had a 2 score lead at halftime, then a handful of self inflicted wounds, some REALLY BAD refs, cost us that game. But we were so young and felt like we starting to arrive and on our way to being one of the best teams in the AFC. 2020 - we go 13-3 and make the AFCCG but it felt like we weren't quite on the Chiefs level yet after that loss. But it did feel like we were nipping at their heels and just just a few tweaks away from over taking them as the top team in the AFC. 2021 - Allen, Davis, and the offense played out of their minds and gave so much hope for the next year. Like it took a fluke miscommunication by the ST Coordinator for the Chiefs to get a small window to steal the game back, but we had shown we were now the better team. It felt like we were the best team in football and could have beaten both the Bengals and then Rams in SB. But now this year, things feel different. Instead of feeling like we are on our way to being the best team, or that we are the best team in the AFC...it now feels like we are firmly behind KC and Cincy right now with other teams nipping at our heels even as the 3rd best team, including ones in our own division. And we are entering an offseason with key players on both sides of the ball as Free Agents, with a tight cap, and several holes to fill. Complicating it further, two of our most expensive players have ACL tears impact their potential value to the team (Tre and Von). That being said, it is not all doom and gloom, we are still a good team and are blessed to have Allen and Diggs still. But we do have a lot of challenges and decisions facing us as we head into the offseason: Before we even address the roster: Frazier and Dorsey likely back - Big mistake out the gate IMHO. Frazier has given up 107 points and 1403 yards the last 3 playoff losses, that is inexcusable, not to mention the 13 second debacle. Yes I know McD has a hand in the defensive system as well, but bringing in a new DC with new ideas and new ways to use players would still be a welcomed change. Dorsey was clueless on how to use our personnel this year. We only had 2 legit outside WR's and a roster full of slots, and yet he played an air it out deep ball game. We drafted an undersized RB in 2nd round to catch passes then barely threw him the ball and instead ran draw plays with him. We traded for Hines then gave him 10 touches. We had a weak spot at slot and yet didn't get Shakir more touches and experience. And of course we didn't run the ball. Our schemes and roster are not built for severe weather conditions, and that is going to be tough for us to remedy if we are going to stay the course with the same systems that Frazier and Dorsey brought this year. Personnel Concerns: We have a tight cap, and low round pick in each round. Poyer, Edmunds, and Devin are FA's - likely at least 2 gone, maybe all 3, creating new holes to fill while tight on cap space Von Miller - 34 and coming off ACL. We already saw with Tre, it's no easy task to come back from this injury, and he is trying to do it at 34. Big questions on when he will back as well as what kind of a player he can be, especially given he relies a lot on speed and quickness. Offensive Line needs significant help, and we don't yet know if Morse will be back either. Between age, concussion issues, and Hamlin scare, it would not surprise me to see him retire, and honestly, he probably should as he has had too many concussions over his career. Need at least 1 more quality WR Secondary concerns - What kind of players will Tre and Hyde be next year? Can Elam take over a starting spot? Will Benford convert to Safety and how well will that transition go if he does? Will Hamlin be back next year? I am not 100%, but I think Shaq is also a FA, and he was playing well for us...will he back if he is a FA? Right now, we are staring down the barrel of a tight cap situation while Cincy and our own divisional opponents continue to reap the benefits (as of now) of no big QB contract and will potentially have cap space to keep closing the gap while we will cap strapped and have existing holes and potentially new holes to fill with budget FA's and late in the round draft slots. My thoughts based on the above info: Bringing back both Dorsey and Frazier are only going to make next year harder IMO. But based on what we have heard since the loss, it seems pretty probable they will both be back. I think if we want any chance to contend next year come playoff time, we are going to need the offense and Josh Allen of 2021 to do it. Invest significantly in protecting Allen along the OL, at least ONE of our first 2 picks better be OL and I would invest 2 in the first 4 rounds. Would also see who we can add in FA. Get another legit WR opposite Diggs. Explore a trade, free agent or just take a WR early, first or 2nd round, to help Josh. Then commit to Shakir taking over the slot position. Cook is not physical, so go draft someone in mid rounds or sign someone like D'Onta Foreman at a bargain to be a more traditional runner (he can catch too) and let Cook play more of a Kamara role. Expand Knox's role as a pass catcher like they did down the stretch. Get back to using him in the redzone more. Try moving Benford to Safety, which was what they considered when they drafted him in the first place. Poyer and Edmunds - I am torn here. On one hand, Poyers value is undeniable...but you got age and injury history now playing into the discussion, plus cap space. Edmunds is easily coming off his best year and has been a major piece in our defense. But cap space is tight, and having BOTH of them has not kept us from giving up 107 points and 1403 yards in our last 3 playoff losses. So, I think I am now leaning towards either let both walk, or keep Poyer on a short term deal and let Edmunds walk and use that cap space to invest as much as we can into protecting Josh and upgrading this offense. Look to replace Edmunds with a value add Free Agent and maybe try and find a young guy in the 3rd or 4th rounds potentially. I would try and package Ed Oliver for a draft pick(s) or even a quality player at a position of need. His impact is so dependent on the guys around him, he isn't consistently disrupting games and was just taken completely out of the game by Cincy's backup OL. I can't see investing heavy into him the following season, so I would trade him for assets or a player that can help this team next year. Our DT can be anchored by Phillips, Settle and Jones next year and not be any worse than its been the last 3 playoff losses. This would be my offseason plan, although that is not entirely true...my offseason plan would be to move on from BOTH Frazier and Dorsey and give McD one last year to get us over the hump before he hits the hot seat too. But, given it doesn't feel like either is going anywhere, I would say minimize our overhead on defense since it didn't help us the last 4 playoff exits and invest heavy into the offense. Who we draft will be a direct reflection of who we sign in FA prior...for example, if we sign Foreman at RB that makes drafting a RB less of a priority.