All_Pro_Bills

My expectation is that Stephenson is supposed to be that guy with speed.

If, and a big if, Barkley can stay healthy that would be a big pick up. A home run hitter that can carry a big part of the load. The other thing is how the numbers work out per the cap. And how it impacts other potential cap decisions. But other contenders do this all the time? There're examples in every major sport. So why not the Bills? Seems like it's time to go all in here.

The Bills are past the "build" phase and into the championship window phase. The draft needs to produce 3 or 4 players that can contribute to fill some areas of need right now. Not a year later or two years later. Guys that can either start or get a lot of snaps on either side of the ball. And that requires a change draft in strategy. No depth guys at stacked positions. No BPA players that need a year or two to develop. No players drafted speculating on future potential vs. a player that's ready right now. We need big contributions to fill some holes for September 2022, not September 2024. The Super Bowl window is open as long as Allen is effective and healthy. Maybe it's a 10 or 12 year window? And we're going into year 5. Patiently waiting 2 or 3 years for the 2022 draft class to mature and contribute is unacceptable given the situation. Plus a lot of us including myself are getting older. And I'm beginning to think this version of the Bills is the last shot I have to see a Super Bowl win before the eventual dirt nap gets me.

I won't be watching the remaining games either. But I'm not telling my wife that because she'll find something from the to-do list for me to do with my extra "free time" that I would otherwise want to avoid doing.

When my team hires somebody based on an "open" position we provide a job description and a list of qualification, education, training, and experience requirements. Then select from the candidates through evaluations, interviews, etc. Pretty standard stuff. I suspect no such job description exists in the field of Supreme Court justices. Even so, would you agree that before that question can be answered from a objective perspective we'd all have to understand what the qualifications for being a Supreme Court justice are based on some form of job description? List of duties, qualifications, expectations of performance, etc. Otherwise, the argument boils down to the personal preferences and philosophical interpretations of each of us rather than some quantifiable standard. Or maybe it all comes down to politics and qualifications are irrelevant to the nomination process?

The intelligent liberals are still out there. They've just been silenced and marginalized like most conservatives. Historically, liberals have fought the establishment, been against war, and generally fought for the working person against big oppressive governments and corporations. I grew up in an environment surrounded by men and women from the labor movement so I know what a "real" liberal looks like. I know what real people fighting for workers rights and civil rights look like. I know how they act and how to judge a persons genuine interest and commitment to a cause. I know what people look like that have sacrificed to help others. The current crop of liberals on the left are a bunch of posers. What they fight for is themselves. To acquire power by leveraging off the suffering of others. Never doing much to help them or solve any problems they face. Completely fake. Deceivers. Fixing nothing while taking for themselves. But the key thing is that today's liberals operate under a self-delusion. They see themselves as revolutionaries or resistance fighters against the forces of oppression. They see themselves as champions and advocates of the under-privileged and the oppressed. They see themselves as fighting for social and economic justice against some evil establishment system. But they're lying to themselves and for that matter to everyone else. Because how can you be fighting against the establishment, big government, big corporations, and other power centers when every view you hold is consistent and aligned with the views and interests of that establishment? The fundamental truth is that today's liberals aren't fighting the establishment. They are the establishment! Look at the views on the board. The self-identified liberals support government mandates, support endless war and aggression , support suppression of press freedoms, support discrimination through quotas and preferences, support powerful tech companies in suppressing freedom of expression. Claim to support democracy through the imposition of authoritarian restrictions on rights and freedoms. All things that harm the individual. Mostly people on the bottom trying to work themselves out of it. Claim to fight against the corrupt in government and business life while supporting the very officials and corporate executives and billionaires that are the most corrupt. The most frightening thing is they will not recognize a single word I write here. The have zero self-awareness and wouldn't recognize a real liberal to save their life.

There's no way they should have lost that game. The coaches just went stupid with the defensive game plan. I'm talking the entire game. And the last 13 seconds just magnified that problem to the extreme. They probably presented the only defensive alignment you can draw up that would give an offense the chance to get into FG range in that situation. They were so afraid of giving up the big play over the top that they forgot about giving up two very easy pitch and catch plays underneath to get the necessary yardage. And did they even realize the Chiefs had all three time outs? They played it like they had none. In their wildest dreams Reid and the Chiefs could not have expected a better situation to be presented to them on those last few plays. It couldn't have been any easier. I mean what were Frazier and McDermott thinking? What's the worst thing we can do? Okay, let's try that! Not a single pass defended was recorded by the defense during the entire game. How's that possible? As another poster pointed out on another topic playing the safeties so deep on almost every play made it a 9 on 11 game for the Chiefs. But after the game the HC explains it away as an execution problem. Sure it was. Nobody believes that. They too the defense and made them play passive and made them think too much rather than just go out and make plays. The positive is this passive approach to defense against the Chiefs needs to be replaced with something a little more aggressive and a little more creative. All doubts about that are gone. They coached out the defense's instincts and aggressiveness. A change is needed. As the defense needs to adopt the persona of the offense. Go for it! And stop playing scared. Our HC learned to be more aggressive with the offense. Now he needs to learn with the defense and overcome his natural tendencies to play it the too safe. The other positive is this game confirms Josh Allen is a superstar. And now the job is to provide him some protection, and a better running game to keep him healthy and dialing back on the designed runs in the game plan to cut the hits on our QB next season.

I can relate to your dad's text. I watched the game with family and didn't say it out loud but before the Bass kick off I thought to myself "how are they going to blow this one"? A lifetime of inconceivable last minute losses will do that to you. Hell, the week before I was nervous about only having a 23 point lead going into the 4th quarter. I don't think I can take another one of these. I'll need grief counseling or some kind of anxiety treatments. They need to win it all next year. That's just all there is to it.

The Bills will also be faced with a lot of decisions too. The Bills have about $2.6M of cap space so its likely Beane is going to have to restructure some contracts and make a few tough decisions in order to free up enough cap space to get any high end pass rushing free agent we all want. Maybe he uses some draft capital to move up into the mid-teens of the draft if somebody drops in the 1st round of the draft? Or does he go corner in round 1 or get help on the offensive line? Lots of questions. And probably too early to expect any answers. How much is the team going to allocate to the defensive line and is the 8/9 player rotation going to continue? Do you bring back Beasley at a cap it of $7.57M or release him for a dead cap hit of $1.5M and attempt to re-sign McKenzie or is Stevenson capable of stepping into the slot role next year at a bargain price of $868K? Is it worth bringing back Morse at Center at $11.25M or take the dead cap hit of $3.75M then look to fill the spot early in the draft? The contracts of other prominent players like AJ Klien, Jon Feliciano, Cody Ford, and Daryl Williams could be looked at too. Can next years starting offensive line look like Doyle, Brown, Dawkins, Bates, and a 2022 pick at center? I don't know anything about the college centers entering the draft yet. Can or does Beane want to sign Edmunds to a market rate extension which could lower his cap hit for 2022? Are there any trades out there that can be pulled off? How many draft choices can be expected to make the team? WIll Beane trade up and draft 3 or 4 potential starters in a quality over quantity strategy? Some things to think about but way too early to expect any answers.

Sad news for U.S. establishment war hawks from discussions held yesterday in France. Progress on what could lead to a peaceful and mutually beneficial solution. Notable is without the U.S. or NATO at the table. You need to pay close attention to the details here because its what you might call a "non-binary situation" as there multiple parties with multiple interests and multiple objectives at play. Not the simpleton good vs. bad world view. "Officials from Russia and Ukraine met in Paris on Wednesday and held what Moscow described as "tough" talks. Despite whatever difficulties there were, the two sides agreed that the ceasefire in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region must be upheld. German and French officials were also present for the meeting, which lasted eight hours. The four countries started holding talks together after the Donbas war started in 2014 in a forum known as the Normandy format."

When I saw you posted my first thought was how are you going to spin this to make it about Trump. And here it is. You're as predictable as the Sun rising and setting each day my friend. But you really need to let go of this Trump obsession. Accepting the fact he's gone is the first step.

So the MSM story on CBC is "Canadian insurrectionists planning attack on Parliament in Ottawa. PM Trudeau calls it the biggest threat to Canada since Gretzky was traded to the Kings"

The Bills coaches were already positioning the safeties (2) so far back off the LOS in order to avoid the big over the top play and adding a spy(1) plus 4 down linemen (4) leaves 4 defenders to cover 5 potential receivers. So its a pick your poison dilemma for the DC. The fundamental problem and truth is that even after the 2021 off season additions and changes the Bills defense still does not match up well with the Chiefs offense. But then neither does almost every other team in league. Its a work in progress and at the end of the day still plays too passive. What's crazy to me is the Bills passive defense is almost a mirror image opposite of the aggressive philosophy and approach of the Bills offense. Like the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.

I can't put all the blame on Frazier because after seeing it not work on the first play McDermott could have overruled his DC and change up something on the second play. But all he did was call a time out prior to the snap and line up the defense in the same formation. I'm resigned to the idea we're probably never going to get a legitimate explanation from anyone exactly what the thought process was with the coaching staff on that 13 second series. Other than an excuse it was an "execution" issue which implies they either believe the strategy was sound or they just aren't going to admit they got it wrong. That's what bothers me more than anything. Not that they got it wrong but they won't say they got it wrong. Even though everyone knows they got it wrong. Its accountability. Coaches and management demand accountability from players. And they should expect nothing less from themselves. Just admit the set up was wrong, you got it wrong, you'll fix it, and let's move forward. Otherwise, what was the plan? To let them get into FG range in two quick plays and hope their otherwise dependable FG kicker was going to miss for the 2nd time in the game?

You're right. If you watch a lot of football on a weekly basis either via the Sunday Ticket or some other means you'll see coaches and their teams blow games with incorrect and poor decisions or bad play on the field at critical times. The trick is to be right more often than you are wrong. The agonizing problem with the Bills is this screw up happened on the big stage. In a situation were 99.6% of the game was over. Where the odds of losing and messing up were close to zero. Where you maybe gifted the opposition offense the only possible defensive alignment and strategy that could allow them to set up themselves to get the game even. Where you had to do something almost every observer of the game assessed was wrong in real-time not just on one play but three plays, including the kick off. And spend two time outs while changing nothing on either play. And then state it was "execution"! I'd argue the players did exactly what they should have provided a flawed strategy that destined them to fail. Can you learn from this and what's the lesson? I'm dead set against firing McDermott because he brings a lot of positive qualities and leadership to the position. I think the answer is bring in another DC to implement his system or if he doesn't have it already, allow Frazier more autonomy to make the calls. And maybe if this was some random regular season game it would be discussed for a couple days and forgotten.

What if all this imminent Russian "invasion" of Ukraine hysteria is another manufactured narrative? After all, the Democrats and their friends in the media along with embedded assets in the Washington bureaucracy are experts at inventing all kinds of narratives and fake talking points. Most of which interestingly enough seem to revolve around Russia and Ukraine. This staged threat situation all designed and executed to make Joe Biden look like a tough guy, an effective President. The U.S. President, a real leader, the one person that got international thug and killer Vlad Putin to back down. With the hope a "win" reverses the trend of falling performance approval numbers of his administration. With DNC pollsters and leadership rightfully concerned about a rout in both houses of Congress the entire charade targeted at changing the perception of the voting public with an eye towards the November 2022 mid-term elections. I draw my conclusion based on my assessment that Putin has no interest in invading Ukraine unless his interests are directly threatened by NATO membership or the hosting of NATO forces. Both options that are currently off the table. And the wide rift between the rhetoric and actions out of the White House and the media vs. the actions and comments of European governments. Governments that are breaking from the aggressive US stance. Governments, like Germany, France, Sweden, and Croatia that have made statements indicating they're at a minimum not on board with the American position and won't unconditionally commit forces or assistance. Even Zelensky has made statements that circumstances are "under control" and that there's "no reason to panic". Earlier he even criticized the US State Departments bulletin advising US citizens to evacuate Ukraine as unnecessary saying they're safer in Kiev than they might be in a place like Los Angeles. To me that doesn't sound like a President worried that at any moment its possible his country is going to be invaded. In summary, there's a big rift between the story were getting and the action on the ground.

This is a good attitude to have and one that fosters competition and improvement. But there's another side to it. And that's you might only get a couple chances at the limelight, maybe just one. You can't know for sure. Because while you're out there fixing your shortcomings and deficiencies everybody else is out there doing the same thing. And maybe they do a better job of it than you do or they just get lucky and they pass you. And now the competition you've got to fight and pass over and overcome and defeat is a little harder and a little deeper. This year the Bills won the division and slotted into the 3rd seed. They should have won and its hard to believe they didn't. Probability-wise its probably a once in a lifetime thing most of us might never see again. But how many once in a lifetime type losses have Bills fans endured? The Bills went 5-1 in the division. Maybe next year the three other teams chasing us close the gap. And then again maybe not. Maybe Beane and McDermott fix some things a lot of us have complained about and they go 17-0? Or 16-1? Or get the 1st seed? Or maybe just make the playoffs again? I've got to admit. I haven't said a word to my family yet but even with 13 seconds left there was a little voice in the back of my mind asking "how are they going to blow this one?" That's what 45 years of following the Bills and suffering through a lot of heartache can do to you. If you don't wrestle with the football curse demons I do or if you got over it I envy you. Still I was hoping for the Super Bowl this year. I remember when the Cubs finally won the World Series and I saw a sign a fan had up. "Now I can die in peace." If you're an older Bills fan that might resonate with you too. Let's go Bills in 2022!

The following has statement has been released by the State Attorney General in Albany. "A replacement order shall supercede the mask mandate, and therefore make null and void the state supreme court's ruling, which will require all citizens to demonstrate the ability to hold their breath for a minimum of 20 minutes in order to qualify for the privilege of exiting their home and going out into a public setting. As such agents equipped with timers and stopwatches will be setting up testing stations throughout the state to certify qualified individuals. Compliance is mandatory and punishment for non-compliance will require offending citizens to watch all public speeches given by the Governor during her term to date. While some may argue this violates the U.S. Federal Constitutional definition of "cruel and unusual punishment" the State shall fight any objections in court and then ignore the law when the court once again rules against us. The message is we can do this all day if you'd like to because that's what we do all day. Make your lives more difficult. But please believe us when we say, we're the government and we're here to help. Thank you for your forced and coerced voluntary cooperation to help make us all safe."

We can only hope General Milley will call and tip-off his counterpart at the Kremlin if the U.S. or allied forces decide to take any military action regarding Ukraine.

What's ironic is her words perfectly describe the behaviors of the administration and couple hundred far-left fanatics in power. "There is a loud and vocal minority" - the far left. "empowered through social media and media platforms" - government/corporate control and censorship of media platforms and networks by liberal democrats "that proliferate disinformation" - like the safe and effective mantra while refusing disclose any data or metrics on the studies (the FDA says they'll give us the data in 75 more years) used support those conclusions, or allow credentialed experts to openly, and freely discuss their concerns without attempts to silence and intimidate them. "and politicians that espouse conspiracy theories" - like the mother-of-all crackpot conspiracies the Russia collusion hoax Jen? "and fundraise against the public health" - like politicians from both sides of the isle that take hundreds of millions from big pharma to protect their interests while causing great harm to patients and physician practices.

Every season starts at 0-0 but the Bills offense is the real deal and with Allen running the offense for the foreseeable future they are in good shape. While I worry about losing Daboll I also expect his work here developing Allen and defining an offense for him to run is finished. Still a couple upgrades in the OL and a bruising power back to supplement Singletary is needed. From a play calling standpoint really dialing back the designed QB runs will keep Allen healthy. And he needs to start protecting himself going forward. The defense is an illusion against play off caliber teams. If we lost Frazier to a HC opportunity I would certainly wish him well but also welcome his exit. And while some might disagree I think a good deal of their success is related to the high-powered nature of the offense. Upgrades are needed at all three levels and I hope all the "old guys" on the defensive line are let go this off season. We need play makers. We need some cap space to do that but the good news is success will attract free agents that would have in the past just brushed off the idea of signing with the Bills. What to do with Edmunds, a hot topic on the board, is a big question going into the off season.

Your preparation assessment is an excellent insight. Maybe I'm drilling down to far here but it made me think of another disadvantage the Bills might have when it comes to playing the Chiefs. I'm not suggesting any Jedi mind tricks or stuff like that but I wonder if another problem is that through their past association that Andy Reid knows how Sean McDermott thinks better than anyone else. For another example, look no further than how some former Patriot assistants like fired Dolphins HC Brian Flores seem to have good success against Belichik. Is it because they know very well how the NE HC thinks? So rather than suggesting Sean become more aggressive maybe he needs to become more unpredictable? Because I'll bet that Andy knew in crunch time at the end of the game just exactly what Sean was going to do.

Jerry's just repeating what most of us here already concluded. The kick-off through the end zone and the defensive alignment in the last 13 seconds were completely incorrect decisions and pretty much the exact opposite of what you should do in that situation. If they would have somehow survived these bad decisions we wouldn't be talking about it here. But results matter and failure requires an examination. The fact that every loss for this team with the exception of one game during the season was a one-score affair might lead us to conclude we need to carefully examine the decision process of the coaching staff that might have reversed the outcome if they would have done one or two little things a bit different. Its wild speculation on my part but outside of the Colts game with a little tweak here and there or a little different play call or coaching decision this team might have been 16-1. Of course that requires that everything went right all the time which doesn't happen that often. And I'm not suggesting we need perfection when it comes to our coaches. Everybody makes mistakes. The issue is how big they are. I wouldn't call it choke more than I'd say it was simply the incorrect strategy and decisions given the situation. What I believe McDermott and Frazier failed to account for most in their decision was the fact the Chiefs had their 3 time outs. If they would have had zero or one time out left then it might have made more sense. That to me is the failure. Failure to factor in the time outs into the decision, failure to account for the fact the sidelines meant nothing to the Chiefs in how they'd play the final 13 seconds of the game. Just bad judgment and thinking based on the situation they faced. And they had plenty of time to run through the thought process between the Bills score and the kick off over a long commercial break in the game. So not enough time to think it through can't be an excuse. As what's done is done I'm over it but I can't forget it. The critical question that everybody needs to ask is are you concerned they'll do it again in a different situation under different circumstances in the future when the game or the playoffs or perhaps even the Super Bowl is on the line? And if you think they will and you want to avoid that critical error then what do you do about it now to prevent it from screwing the team and the fans?

I love the Hitler/Trump analogies because Trump killed how many millions of people and took away exactly what freedoms and rights? And sent thousands to concentration camps like the COVID camps polls suggest Dems are okay with sending people to "voluntarily" quarantine. Oh yeah, none of that happened right? But he tried to take over the government and turn it into a dictatorship. And there's like billions of pieces of evidence to support this. Or at least that's what you believe. But let the drama continue. Lots of cute pictures and misrepresentations of facts and events. I understand that communists/socialists like Stalin and Mao are upset that Hitler gets all kinds of recognition. They are upset because they want everyone to know they killed many more people than he did. And want some recognition for their nefarious acts too. On a side note, I saw a great quote about socialism. "You can vote your way into socialism but you'll have to shoot your way out". That sums it up quite nicely.

For me a better comparison is crossing over to a different sport but staying in the same city and that's the Sabres of the Hasek era vs. the Bills of the Allen era.