BADOLBILZ

1) It's not a 7 point assessment.........it's responses to 7 points the OP made.......and how you determined WR's were the crux of it I have no idea. 2) If you don't care about what it took to get to where they are then why are you on a message board debating it? Just jump on the bandwagon and enjoy if you aren't interested in how the sausage gets made. It's a choice. 3) I didn't say they didn't have to make any tough cap decisions.........they were just in a one-time sweet spot last offseason with over $80M to spend and still none of their draft picks had yet accrued enough time to reach free agency. That's the ideal window to maximize the strength your overall roster.

1) Oh hell they "got lucky" right out of the gate............they made the playoffs in 2017 with the worst point differential of any playoff team in 30 years!...........that is the very definition of a statistical outlier........ie 'lucky". 2) As far as getting to Allen..........it actually was a pretty clear path. It was your army fighting it's way to the the capital city and finding it abandoned and undefended kinda' easy. They had traded away a bunch of assets starting in 2017 to accumulate picks with the thought process that they were going to need a ton of picks to move up for a QB in 2018. As it turned out there was very little competition to get there. Teams were not willing to pay much to move up for the likes of Allen, Rosen or Jackson. Beane didn't even have to use the 2018 first round pick that they acquired in the Mahomes pick swap! What they really did exceptionally well was to take the QB with the highest ceiling. Better to swing and miss on a guy like Mahomes, Watson or Allen than someone with physical limitations to overcome like size or arm strength. That's not to be undersold........it used to be that you took the lower ceiling guy if they seemed more game ready. The 2018 Bills didn't fall into that trap they made the right decision on the most important decision this regime will probably ever make. 3) Beane has had a few big misses($50M for Star.....Ford/Metcalf being some very costly ones)........but he has had A LOT of medium and small face-plants which is why they are up against the cap already and haven't had to pay their QB. Things like cutting Quinton Spain right after you just signed him? There's been a lot of quickly wasted dollars as Beane has tried to throw enough options at the wall to hopefully get some that stick. 4) BB's WR judgment was maligned for a reason........his first two WR corps were among the very worst in the NFL and Bills team history.......seriously check out the WR corps from the Bills 2-14 teams versus Beane's choices. And meanwhile the former Bills WR's McBeane passed on were making noise on the field elsewhere. He totally whiffed on AJ Brown, DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin in favor of Cody Ford in the 2018 draft and subsequently they now have a WR corps that is fronted by 3 free agents eating up over $30M in cap space and no TE's. That's not genius that's paying the market rate in free agency and trade to correct mistakes. Hopefully Gabe Davis is the start of Beane drafting good WR's. 5) Beane absolutely did not inherit one of the worst OL in league history..........he inherited an excellent group..........they had literally lead the NFL in rushing for the previous two seasons! Wood, Incognito, Glenn........excellent players. Unfortunately they hired an OC with an inflexible plan and then Beane foolishly extended the 31 year old Wood(who was going nowhere) a season ahead of his free agency in an attempt to get him to help pimp the process for McD. That ended up costing them a lot of cap space when Wood retired after the season. And then they strangely nickeled and dimed Incognito for some reason and he quit. Glenn was traded and he then signed some bad OL to replace all of those guys. He CREATED a horrendous OL for 2018. He's done an excellent job since but this is another example of his totally botching his first crack at something. 6) They literally pay more for DL talent than any team in the entire league so excellence is expected.......and they are getting that excellent play of late. I haven't been as critical of the 2020 DL as many. As an advocate for them sticking with more athletic DT's than continuing to throw good money at bad like they did with Star..........it's just another instance where I'm looking mighty right. 7) Bottom line is that they are at a point now where they SHOULD be at their peak as a roster.........cheap QB.......they've spent basically all of their painfully accumulated wad of cap space in free agency..........haven't *had* to make any money choices on any of their own draft picks yet in free agency(they signed Tre and Dawkins early).........and they've managed to assemble a very good roster........but it's not an overwhelming array of talent(and it could have been with less basic mistakes like drafting to patch holes in the 2018 draft etc.). After this season they need to start getting A LOT more efficient with personnel decisions..........and since they have winning and a franchise QB on their side they should be able to bargain shop a lot more efficiently than in the past. Courtesy of luck and actually having the balls to be the guys that took the quarterback they have bought themselves a bunch of time to learn from mistakes. I understand that my blunt assessment seems critical but the reality is that most GM's are hit and miss and it's like a DREAM COME TRUE to have these things fall into place despite that. They've actually crossed many of the barriers to success with little resistance. But where the rubber meets the road is beating Belichick and winning in the playoffs(and a SB). They are 1-8 in their first 9 high leverage opportunities so far........but they have the QB to turn that around.

The giddiness in this thread is hilarious.😄 Where was Beane going again? He's basically the hand-picked assistant to McDermott and they have a building full of GM candidates who only wish they could take over a team with a franchise QB already in place.

Sure, why not? I've never once advocated for getting rid of Beane or McDermott. They've both made some egregious errors.......McDermott passing on Mahomes was as bad as it gets..........Beane's Kelvin Benjamin trade......his terrible 2018 free agent class.......giving away $3.5M for a two week trial on Corey Coleman...........his drafting of Cody Ford with 3 amazing WR1's on the board(which forced his hand to trade a bunch of picks for Diggs in the following draft)........trading potential 2020 All Pro Wyatt Teller for a late pick. You could certainly make the argument that his judgement wrt personnel is as mixed as the Bills previous GM's. But he earned my support when he made the moves and selected Josh Allen..........whether it worked out or not he was the first GM to actually take a QB with the Bills original first round pick or trade up from it since they took Richie Lucas in 1960. More than the GM or HC hires the reason they haven't been winning was trying to shortcut on the QB position. And he is the first GM that the Bills have had where I've actually liked every one of the players the Bills chose in round 1 this far into his regime. Just as important are a couple intangibles: 1) Beane and McDermott adjust to their mistakes.......they aren't stubborn about being right in their evaluations or decisions........they quickly pivoted from Rick Dennison, big possession WR's and a bunch of other mistakes. 2) The MF'ers are LUCKY..........and as someone who also possesses that trait..........I most definitely approve. A combo who can pass on Mahomes and get a shot at a Josh Allen the very next draft season is incredibly lucky. Trade away a pick that becomes Justin Jefferson........but gets a vet who is exceeds many expectations. It's fascinating how many opportunities McBeane have had land in their laps and they have made a bunch of mistakes but they always seem to get a mulligan. Lucky is even better than good.

First in catches.............tied for 75th in yards per catch. Allen was amazing against SF but they need Brown back so they can get Diggs some room to run his routes past the sticks like he did in the first month of the season. That would stop the prevalence of the 7-8 yard grabs with zero RAC that have putting them in too many unnecessary 3rd and 4th down situations. In the meantime learning to turn and get low and dive for the line to go after those shorties like Beasley does would be helpful.

I still support the decision to make the trade.............but Minnesota got rid of a player who was at odds with the fully guaranteed-contract-QB, they saved like $50M in salary and got a player who looks like he's already as good or better. More yards, A TON more yards per catch and more TD's. No guarantee who Beane would have picked had he maintained the selection.........he after all had foolishly passed on the likes of AJ Brown, DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin in favor of Cody Ford. But had they gotten Jefferson I don't think there is any evidence that they'd be any worse off as a team this season. That dude is a game breaker.

Basically two plays depicting the Bills doing things that I've been advocating for: 1) Edmunds used as an edge player........being a hammer at the point of attack would suit Edmunds better. 2) Having a 1 tech who doesn't just stand up and dance with the blocker(s) at the LOS and then watch the RB run past and hope that the LB makes the tackle........Oliver actually does the basic job AND then splits the double to make a tackle. Not since the early 2017 Cover 1 clips of Dareus have we had an iso of a 1 tech doing that in McD's defense. You can't expect Oliver to give you 25-30 snaps at that intensity level but 10-20 of those and the rest at 3T is doable because of the rotation.

Edmunds playing the edge? Wwwwwwwhaaaaaat??

I think you skipped the tragedy and went right into the first stage of grief. If Daboll leaves and they don't find a suitable replacement it won't be because there aren't enough of them.........Daboll has a long track record of getting dead-last kinda' results from less than ideal talent situations..........so we aren't talking about someone who makes lemonade out of the lemons.

Yeah that free agent OL class in 2018 that Beane brought in was trash...........and as @Rochesterfan said if versatility was a factor Boettger had reportedly worked pretty hard to be able to play the other positions on the line.

He stood out in camp and preseason in 2018 when was physically man-handling the competition. When you are at field level in a quiet preseason atmosphere you can get an extra sense of who the more physical lineman are and Boettger was really roughing up the suspects. I was disappointed when they let him get away. He's been a bit more inconsistent than I'd hoped he'd be but Winters is on skates at this point. The flip-side of us being glad Boettger is still with the team is that Wyatt Teller is not. I blame that on the Ford pick though. Unless you are talking about a legit LT quality blocker or Quentin Nelson type interior blocker you can pretty much figure on it taking 3 seasons to develop an offensive lineman. Boettger is in year 3 but he hasn't had the in-game development snaps that Teller or Ford have been given. Good teams gotta' develop some cheap OL like Boettger.

Boettger had some really atrocious snaps tonight it certainly wasn't a performance worthy of exclamation............but at least he might get better.........Winters just looks shot.

They basically played this game like they had nothing to lose........and were rewarded. Getting Knox involved before the end of the regular season was a box I am sure they really wanted to check. They need help from that position and we've seen that Kroft isn't a playmaker. Knox has had his struggles but he's the only TE they have on the roster with the talent to be a difference maker.

Again..........it's not just the run game............he has been very poor in pass defense thru 11 games this season. Last season he was good there. But he might have "Thomas Smith" syndrome........the Bills shutdown CB who teams lost the fear of throwing at when they realized he couldn't intercept a ball to save his life. When the worst that can happen is a pass defensed......that's not a deterrent.

He didn't actually "make" a play though.......he was right there in plenty of time but he never located or anticipated the ball. Which is exactly the kind of thing that I talk about when I say he is uninstinctive at that position and why I wonder if teams are just starting to throw at him more knowing that the film shows he doesn't locate or make plays on the football. MLB in this defense should be more than what they've gotten from Preston Brown and Tremaine Edmunds. Need game changing plays and turnovers. At the same time, his talent would be better suited outside IMO. It's not uncommon for otherwise successful coaching staffs to play certain players out of position for years. The Bills stubbornly played Cornelius Bennett at OLB until his last season when they got wise and signed an actual pass rusher to play OLB and moved Bennett inside(where he was tremendous). Bennett lacked the pass rusher build.....he was built to run and hit......... and OT's had basically learned to just herd him outside and he'd run himself way out of the play. He had amazingly averaged just 5.5 sacks per year in the previous 6 seasons rushing opposite Bruce Smith.......and Bryce Paup immediately put up 17.5 sacks.

Don't tez me bro

Yeah he is fast and tracks the ball pretty well but he is otherwise kinda' bad.

Bill Polian gets credit for a lot of things that Norm Pollom did or made possible. Pollom helped build a Rams team that would win 7 straight division titles in the 1970's. In some ways the hiring of Chuck Knox eventually had an effect like the Browns/Ravens franchise hiring of Bill Belichick did........Knox got fired but the people he brought with him from LA ended up drafting key, HOF foundation pieces of that 90's team.

1) He's actually really struggled in coverage this season. Blown assignments, not turning his head and always seeming to be caught totally off guard when the ball conveniently bounces to him. As I said he has a 132+ passer rating allowed and has given up 4 TD passes himself. Last year that PR number was in the 70's. You almost have to wonder if teams have looked at the film and just don't fear throwing at him because they don't think he will make a game changing play on the ball. 2) Sniffing plays out are where his game has been lacking for 3 seasons. Those are the kind of situations that result in game changing plays that he has almost NEVER made. He's played better the past few weeks but still the big plays have been non-existent in his game.

Yeah he has the sickle cell trait so being a health-cautious organization they might have not played him anyway...........but fwiw there were split medical opinions on whether he could play at altitude in the past.......it wasn't an absolute either way so unless there has been a league policy change he might have been permitted to play if healthy and the Bills desperately needed the game. But a high ankle sprain should probably be a 6 week injury anyway for a speed and quickness guy like Brown.

Nice try with the hysterics, Over.... But... 1) Lorax was a LB who rushed the passer a lot........which is exactly the point of wanting Edmunds playing on the edge.. 2) The Bills do not use a "base" DE on the strong side. That player basically profiles as an "edge" player like most 3-4 defenses use. Trent Murphy was an OLB at Washington and is just a lean pass rusher. Lorax filled that role frequently. 6'2" 250# Jerry Hughes has been getting a lot of snaps there with Lorax gone and Murphy sometimes inactive. The assumption was that AJ Epenesa might be that "base" DE.........but he instead appears to be being groomed as the RDE of the future. I don't know for a fact that Edmunds will be a bigger TJ Watt on the edge in Buffalo and put up 14-16 sacks and cause a bunch of turnovers............but what I do know is that guys like Watt......or even Lorax at that spot.........can make a TON of plays and are worth a fortune on the open market. And that's the Bills biggest weakness on defense...........an individual play maker that they likely aren't going to be able to afford in UFA the next couple offseason. Replacing Edmunds in the middle........I don't think that's nearly as difficult..........Preston Brown literally lead the NFL in tackles in this defense in 2017......and in the games that Edmunds has missed entirely or left with injury he has been replaced with little or no drop-off by the likes of journeyman Julian Stanford and first year player Tyrel Dodson. The optics on how much of a difference Edmunds provides in the middle are not that great......it's decision time on his big $ option for 2022 after this season.......and the Bills desperately need a playmaker on the edge to help finish these games.

Lorenzo Alexander 2018 playing "some olb role that doesn't exist" 😆 2 interceptions 9 passes defensed 2 forced fumbles 1 fumble recovery 6.5 sacks 74 tackles 11 TFL 10 QB hits Now imagine putting a player there who can actually physically match up in coverage.

Preston Brown was a sure tackler............that's a pretty low bar.😄

That could be the case. I don't think we really know that his shoulder is "healed" really do we? If it was a rotator cuff issue that's not healing in the season that's a surgery. Maybe they just started mixing in some aderall with his toradol the past few weeks.