BADOLBILZ

It's just about being prepared for it. Which is what I question. It helps to be acclimated a bit but places like Buffalo and KC are regularly much colder than Baltimore in January. KC people are really accustomed to it. It's colder there. But there is not a big margin for error if you are boozed up and under-dressed in those temps. If you show up expecting there to be not much difference between a 30 degree game at M&T and 8 at Ralph you will get surprised. I've been to many of the colder games in Bills history and I was never cold for that Raiders 0 degree -30 windchill playoff game but per Tasker one of the Raiders almost punched out on the bench under a pile or overcoats. We'll be comfy at our tailgate I have a big heater about a size down from the one's they use now on the sidelines and we used it for that NE playoff game and it kept a large area quite nice but we also have plenty of places to take refuge during the day. If you are rolling in hours before the game via Uber and are out in it all day and underdressed you could easily be screwed by 8-9 pm.

Garrett is arguably the best defensive lineman in the NFL. His streak of 14 or more sack seasons is literally unprecedented. And his goal is to catch Bruce Smith. Maybe he falls off a cliff soon or maybe he plays lights out for another 5+ years. I wouldn't be surprised by the move, even after a SB win, because the next few years are the prime of Josh Allen. This is their best chance to win SB's. That's not to say Josh can't be great in his mid-30's and beyond but right now he is a friggin' machine. "Them picks" are more valuable when you need a deeper roster around Allen and want to truly reset your cap. Like what the Rams did with Stafford. Stafford isn't the force of nature he was from 2015-2021, commencing with that 41 TD season and a SB win. But they have a punchers chance still with him pushing 37 despite not having a first round pick from 2017-2023. I'd also add that the Bills are trying to sell PSL's to a new stadium in 2026. A SB win will help greatly but the additional promise of more to come is a huge selling point. When the Yankees got their new stadium they made the mistake of sandwiching that between missing the playoffs for the first time in like 15 years and then winning the WS the season the stadium opened. The promise is the allure. Bills fans who haven't experienced a title of any kind will hopefully find out winning a title is fun but it is not what many think it is. Which is replacing nothing with something. It comes at it's own expense. Took the Yanks years to sell out all the premium seats after-the-fact. A SB win and then a Myles Garrett acquisition, promising another level of greatness perhaps, would probably close the most deals before opening day of 2026 and that is the end game financially.

Yeah I agree. But I think their fans could be in for a rude awakening with this level of cold if it's as bad as they are suggesting(like versus NE WC game). This isn't mid-Atlantic cold. Might be some near-death experiences. It's an old stadium, unless you are in the clubs the only places to warm up are the bathrooms or the infirmary. And when that hypothermia sets in people often get past the shivering stage and just stare, which gives the false impression that they are alert. It's weird. They can still get up and walk out after the game even.......but if they aren't being active and are notably less responsive to speech during the game it could be a problem. The new stadium should resolve this issue to a great extent but for now it's survival of the prepared.

Yeah they don't get sacks, and those negative plays matter. We all thought McD's sack success in Carolina would carry over but there has been an influx of mobile QB's since he became Bills HC and it's clear they need really special talents to put up sacks in this system now. That's where getting a star like Garrett would be ideal because he doesn't need space to disrupt things. Von's first season in Buffalo he was that guy. But they are pretty decent against running QB's because of their system up front. They really hemmed in Bo Nix and that dude can fly. When they started chasing sacks at the end of that game Bills fans got to see how good Nix is as a runner. They've had success against Lamar too so I'm optimistic this weekend. When you have guys like Lamar, Jayden Daniels and Box Nix running over 20 mph and creating big plays with their feet I think it helps to tighten up those splits and contain. Against Stafford and Goff it would be nice to have more "get home" from the rush. Against Mahomes, ideally you have both.

Tremaine could be back on the market in March? I mean, I hear you but it might just prove to be change for the sake of change. In the NFL pretty much everyone is vulnerable in one way or another at LB right now. Denver allowed the second fewest yards per play all season and had the most sacks. How do you beat that on paper? Well, the Bills hung about 500 yards on them.......pretty evenly distributed between air and ground......and they needed some favorable officiating of their grabby coverage or that figure and the 31-7 score might have been worse. Ideally you want to find a way to get more impact from the front 4 in the system you have.

Like I said, we don't know how Koonce would project as a very undersized DE in a very different system. Khalil Mack and AJ Epenesa are not comps. Despite being the physical prototype that the Bills want in an edge, Epenesa is a liability against the run. In that context of run indifference his inability to generate even more pass rush/sacks is disappointing. Mack is maybe the best edge run defender in the NFL. Certainly one of the very best(I personally think Rousseau is the best). I don't expect him to ever get up to 17 sacks again like in 2023 but I'd like to see what he could do in that regard while playing opposite an offense that blows out opponents as frequently as the Bills do. I don't see him commanding a really big contract and it would make sense to chase a ring in a division that doesn't include a QB like Mahomes. And the UB ties etc.. Koonce has those ties too but he had one good season and missed all of last season to a knee injury. Mack played 16 games and put up 2 sacks against CJ Stroud Saturday.

I'm not sure the Bills would be that interested in Koonce. A lot of his production when he broke out came out of wide 9 type fronts that the Bills don't employ much. They like tighter splits with big edge setting DE's because they want to protect the lighter, quick LB's rather than funnel the run into the LB's like Schwartz did when he ran wide 9 in Buffalo. Von Miller was an exception because he can rush from any split and be good against the run. Khalil Mack has proven that he would be an exception as well. Javon Solomon is also smaller like Koonce but I think that was just a value selection even though he doesn't really fit their type. He's probably going to have to find his inner James Harrison in the coming seasons to get snaps ahead of an edge setter in McD's defense.

Yeah I've been doing mock drafts for months and the DT's in this class just keep moving up the boards in the opinions of most. To the point where despite the depth it feels like it's hit or miss if there is going to be value there, in the form of immediate contribution, late in round 2. If it were a better draft the depth in the class might go into round 4 but in weak drafts teams aren't as likely to reach past those guys for needs. There doesn't appear to be much help at DT in free agency either. It would be a great year from the Bills perspective to swing a Myles Garrett trade for the Bills 25' and 26' #1 picks.........but from the Browns perspective the value of that 25' #1 might not be appealing. Unless they decide they are in on Joe Milroe and he's still on the board when the Bills pick comes up.

Sign Khalil Mack and Koonce. Get Dolac in the draft of UDFA. That would be 6 UB Bulls on defense?

With big guys like Walker it's often about want-to. Jordan Phillips never wanted to get low to gain leverage and be able to take on double teams because that's strenuous for a big guy with a long legs. So he's been nothing but a journeyman who is easily steered out of the way in run defense. This 2025 class of DT's has a number of very good prospects for both DT1T and DT3T but with the weakness at so many other positions the obvious one's may all go before the Bills first second round pick. A potential alternative shot in the dark: Mazi Smith went 26th overall to Dallas in 2023 because he was a giant, super-athletic big man but he was unplayable as a rookie in 2023 and was not effective in 2024 either. He's 6'3" so his frame doesn't work against him for leverage like Walker/Phillips do but he was lousy in run D the first 2 years in the league. I could see Deion Sanders taking the Cowboys job and wanting man CB's.....the Bills taking a CB in round 1(The Athletic's Dane Brugler mocked ECU CB Shavon Revel to Buffalo recently).....and maybe the Bills line up for a post-draft Elam for Mazi bust-for-bust trade. Elam has been the more effective of the 2 but will be entering a walk year. Smith has 2 years of control and maybe he ends up on a Ted Washington trajectory where he comes on in year 3/4 after being a bust and that's how the Bills find their 1 tech. If not, Elam and Mazi probably aren't worth more than a 6th rounder in a trade so if Elam doesn't fit in the plans and Smith doesn't make the team........not a big loss. But I do think the Cowboys would have some attraction to Elam as his dad Abe was a favorite of Jerry Jones when Abe played for Dallas.

He doesn't plug though. That's not his game. Kinda' like a Jordan Phillips prospect. Shoots gaps, doesn't like to hold the point of attack. Probably the most upside in the DT class but not sure he will get there.

You are the one gaslighting if you are trying to tell people that officials don't have jobs. Vinovich is a longtime CPA. These guys are all well-paid professionals away from the field. Officiating is a decent paying gig but it's not like they are even making NFL veteran minimum doing it. The NFL appreciates your very unbridled passion about officiating though. Consumers(and voters) make decisions largely based on emotions so they love that you are so stirred. As long as there are people like you voting for the unnecessarily subjective system of officiating by showing additional interest in the league every time human error happens we will surely be subjected to more of the same.

Very deep draft class of running backs this spring.

Also, after extensive research, I've found that the 2024 Bills are only the 6th team in NFL history to lose 4 games or more in the regular season while winning just 13. Add in their lack of All Pro's and I guess they are arguably the worst 13 win team ever!

Well, it's a few weeks and change less than several months later(not sure why that would matter anyway) and the doctors have estimated a 7 month re-hab from the second procedure. Which is not "significantly longer" or anything like the 18 month timetable that @Low Positive suggests is likely.

So a 39 year old Aaron Rodgers could be healed in 4-6 months but 29 year old DeShaun Watson would need 18 months? I think you are confusing this with an ACL tear. Achilles injuries for QB are not a year and a half fix.

Yeah, as I said in the other thread, the insurance company isn't just going to roll over and pay off a lost season when he has almost a full year to recover and play *some* football at least. Aaron Rodgers tore his in the opener in 2023 and was damn near ready to go 4 months later. They will expect Watson to be ready by September.

Jason Peters injured his achilles in April of 2012 and then a month later he fell off a knee scooter and re-ruptured it in May. Peters missed the 2012 season but probably could have come back late in 2012 if really necessary. He came back and was a first team All-Pro at age 30 in 2013. I don't think the insurance company is just going to pay off that Watson money when he still has 9 months to re-hab plus 4 months of season.

Yeah and Polian, Telesco, and Dave Ziegler went to John Carroll together.......along with Josh McDaniels and Nic Caserio. There were other employees in the Bills organization in the 2000's that I knew who were at John Carroll at that time as well and were very tight with McDaniels. Always kinda' thought we'd see some combination of those guys in Buffalo. Remarkably none of them ended up with the Bills. The resentment for how Ralph did Polian and micromanaged Butler was pretty strong I think. There were 1-2 other guys from that St Francis crew though I thought.

Yeah, he was......that's what I was implying.......he is from Buffalo, went to HS and college with Polian's son Brian and was an intern with the Bills during the SB era.

He picked the Bills to win it in that annual pre-playoff prediction article in 2022. Clearly underestimated Josh's girlfriend's capacity for drama.

Another one of Polian's Buffalo guys gets canned. Was he the last one standing or am I forgetting somebody still active?

New Orleans was a dysfunctional, middling franchise without a franchise QB coming off a disastrous season with questions about whether they'd even be able to remain in New Orleans after Katrina. San Antonio, anyone? Absolutely not a bad job? GTFOH. I'm not even sure there is a comparison in recent memory of a WORSE job. He rode a last place schedule to 10 wins in year 1 but they were sub .500 the next two years. He and Brees made chicken salad out of that mess.

There are a lot of Dabollievers still. They forget that his 2018 offense was the lowest scoring offense thru half of an NFL season since the merger, and that he couldn't run the ball and that his results would be wildly inconsistent. That mid-season swoon in 2021 was for real......a 6-3 loss to a winless Jags team.......and more inexcusable staggering down the stretch but because he went out with 2 high scoring playoff games that's all some remember. Rookie OC Dorsey did more with less in 2022(including a gaudy 5.2 yards per carry) and Brady has taken their efficiency up to another level.

Daboll isn't a front-of-the-house guy. Just doesn't get along with process oriented football coach types. Saban clearly hated him. Either that or he was asking where his mother was from 10 times a game on the sideline. The story about Saban not even knowing Daboll had taken the Bills OC job was classic. It was inevitable his douchebaggery would rub McD the wrong way. Belichick liked him though because he could run a broom. 8 years as the TE coach.