hondo in seattle

Other than 'sheltering' the kid, I'm not clear what he did. But the family seems both impressed and thankful, so congrats to CEH. Sadly, our country has too many bad role models: actors smashing cars while high, ballers beating their spouses, and so on. It's great when an athlete does something selfless & good that maybe inspires someone else.

He looked like a breakout superstar at one point. But after a while the drops, miscommunications, and inconsistency at creating separation drove me crazy. But he seems to be a good guy who plays hard, and I wish him the best.

You're right, of course. I shouldn't have said, "only by restructuring some contracts." Though Beane will almost certainly restructure some contracts to give himself some cap space. While I understand the necessity of it sometimes, I hate restructuring contracts because I don't want a cash-strapped future. I'm hoping he gets a couple of guys to take pay cuts.

I think cash-to-cap is an intriguing idea though transitioning to it would be painful. Yeah, most teams restructure contracts. Most teams are NOT sitting $55 million over the cap (using the OTC figure) and forced to restructure just to get under the cap even with 22 FAs no longer under contract. The Chief, in contrast, won a SB and are $15 million under the cap. They have the 2nd least dead money ($457,000) in the league because they don't continually kick the can down the road. How do we catch up to their roster strength when they have $70 million more to spend?

I've been concerned about Rousseau since we drafted him. I'm not a college football fan but watched his highlights and had issues with his rawness and lack of power. And he hasn't won me over since. In my eyes, he's not a SB-caliber player, though I grant he's young-ish and may still be improving.

Only by restructuring some contracts and kicking the can further down the road, making it harder for us to sustain excellence. I fear that Beane's personnel and cap skills (or lack thereof) will result in us fielding a playoff-caliber team every year, but never a championship one.

I don't mean to sound callous, but I care about Greenberg's opinion about as much as I care about the ant I stepped on when I took my dog for a 12-mile run in the mountains yesterday. Now that I think about it, I'm starting to feel guilty about the ant. I actually care about the ant more than I care about Greenberg's opinion. The reality is Josh is going to win a SB or he isn't. Greenberg's thoughts don't affect the odds so why should any of us care?

I agree stats don't lie. But let's use the right stats, not meaningless stats like challenge record or record in 1-score games. Stat: the Bills went 17 years without sniffing the playoffs. Since McD, we're regulars. Stat: McD has the highest winning percentage of any coach in Bills history and the 2nd most playoff wins. But coaches don't play the game. Belichick has won Lombardis with good rosters and had losing records with bad rosters. Speaking of Lombardi, he finished his final season with a pedestrian 7-5-2 record. Even the greatest coach of all time can't win the championship if he doesn't have the right roster. I don't understand why McD's viewed as a failure for not bringing home trophies when he doesn't have a trophy-caliber roster. I guess that's what separates me from the fire-McD crowd. They seem to rate our roster more highly than I do. I'm also not certain why we're assessing blame for not winning the Super Bowl. Beane and McD are both responsible for an amazing turnaround. That deserves appreciation, not blame. Of course, I hope they both do more to get us to the summit.

Before the season began, I did think we had a chance. I think the average NFL team starts with a 3% chance of winning it all but the Bills, as one of the best teams, had maybe a 10% chance. By the time the playoffs rolled around, with all our injuries, I wasn't very hopeful anymore. You could argue that Beane's had some bad luck with injuries to big contract guys. But the Miller contract probably should have never happened. But here we are so how do we move forward? Soft rebuild? If there were easy answers, we'd all be GMs. But I do hope Beane doesn't go whole-hog on restructuring contracts, mortgaging the future to make us competitive in 2024. Then again, I don't want to be uncompetitive in 2024 so I want to see some restructuring. My fear is this process will perennially produce a playoff level roster but never a championship one. We're in a tough situation and I'm hoping Beane finds a way out by hitting big on some draft picks and low-priced FAs that turn into big contributors.

Yet coaching helped produce that point differential. It's impressive that McD and his staff are producing a much better point-differential than Reid, Shanahan or any other coach. And yet, not a single SB appearance over that stretch. You'd think there'd be at least one. If coaching is the problem, why does McD outcoach the rest of the NFL during the regular season but not in the postseason? How is he different in the playoffs? Does he suddenly scheme differently? Or prepare the team differently?

This is a depressing thread. The Bills need to get better to win the Lombardi. Whenever I read about this year's cap, I can't help but feel we're going to get worse. Restructuring might buy us some relief. But that's just kicking the can down the road making future years difficult too. I like the team Beane has built for the most part, but I don't like where he's put us with the cap.

It does. I'm sure Beane uses that rationale. So let's call it one WR pick for the Bills. But other teams with good QBs are doing more to support them. KC picked 3 WRs. The 49ers took 4. Baltimore took 5.

The Bills' goose egg for WR stands out. When you've got a good gun, wouldn't you want to buy ammunition?

I lived in KC for a year and the Chief fans were always classy when they saw me with my Bills gear. Congrats to them. But I hope they never beat us again.

Nasty Nate is right. We need difference-makers. The team has a lot of solid players even, in some cases, as backups. We need more difference-makers who can change the course of a game. I'd love a speedy Lee Evans-type wideout. And I'd love a good edge who doesn't spend most of his time on the bench. But whatever Beane does, I hope he finds playmakers. I'll be happy with a shutdown corner who's also a ballhawk. Or a bruising All-Pro OT who will keep Josh clean in the pocket and reliably push opponents back on third and short.

I used to hate the 'Bills Mafia. moniker, too. I refused to use it for a long time because I didn't want to contribute to its popularity. Then I realized there was no fighting it and learned to embrace it. "Mafia" doesn't mean "criminal organization." Well, it does now. But here's how Wikipedia describes the etymology of the word: The word mafia derives from the Sicilian adjective mafiusu, which, roughly translated, means "swagger", but can also be translated as "boldness" or "bravado". In reference to a man, mafiusu (mafioso in Italian) in 19th century Sicily signified "fearless", "enterprising", and "proud", according to scholar Diego Gambetta. In reference to a woman, however, the feminine-form adjective mafiusa means 'beautiful' or 'attractive'. I'm okay with that. The Bills are 'fearless' and have 'swagger.' Bills fans are 'proud' and 'beautiful.'

I haven't done the forensic analysis and don't know how much McD's "fingerprints" are on draft picks. I don't know what input he's given to Beane (or, previously, Whaley) or how his suggestions panned out. I could speculate but there's little definitive information in the public domain and any speculation would amount to a Sorry Wild Ass Guesses.

If I had to ditch either Beane or McD, I'd lose Beane. Both of these guys deserve our thanks for making the Bills a contender. But the main reason we haven't celebrated a Lombardi yet is because the roster just isn't strong enough. Every year, we're beaten by better teams. I've watched some 49er games this year and have been impressed by their roster. It's stronger than ours. And they also lost to KC. I'm not arguing that McD has been perfect but to win the SB, the roster needs to get better. Beane needs to step up (or be replaced by someone better).

Great response!

I'm not a trained mind-reader. I have no idea if Josh's focus, concentration, and determination are already maxed out or not. I have no reason to believe Josh is less than Mahomes in these areas. Mahomes wins Super Bowls when Josh doesn't because Pat's on a better team.

I agree with your conclusion because I've made the same comparisons in my head. If our injury luck improves, we can close the gap. But to overtake the Chiefs will require some skillful wheeling and dealing from Beane. We have a lot of players becoming FAs and a lot of holes. In addition to a strong roster, though, you need three critical guys to lead a football team to the Super Bowl: a good GM; a good HC; and a good coordinator for the other side of the ball. The Chiefs have Veach, Reid, and Spags. We have Beane, McD, and Brady. I like our Big Three. But theirs is better.

Generally speaking, I'm of the opinion that playoff football is exactly the same as regular season football. Same rules. Same players. Same objectives. I do believe, however, that some coaches, Andy Reid for example, save some things for the playoffs. For instance, I believe Reid sometimes runs plays or shows tendencies during the season so that he can surprisingly do something contrary in the playoffs. I think Reid is very conscious and intentional about what he's putting on tape for future opponents to see. However, I think players and coaches who try to coach/play differently in the playoffs usually shoot themselves in the foot. You have a routine that's worked for you in the regular season. You've already done your best to optimize that routine. So just continue to follow it. Gameplan the same way. Practice the same way. Eat and sleep the same way. I think most coaches think like this. I don't think Reid is a better playoff coach than Shanahan - or McDermott. I think he's just a better coach who's built a better coaching staff. The Bills' mediocre playoff record is predicated on these things... The talent of our coaches has been roughly average compared to other playoff teams. The talent of our players has been roughly average compared to other playoff teams. Our injury situation has tended to be worse than average. And let's not forget that earning first-round byes means the Bills will get no weak opponents.

If you kick, it's like doing reconnaissance in the army. By kicking you know what you're up against. Did the other team score 3 on their drive? 7? Zero? Letting the other team go first tells you what you need to accomplish. If the opponent scores on the opening OT drive, you're not playing with 3 downs anymore. You're playing with 4. And it's really hard to stop a good offense playing with 4 downs. They only need to average 2.5 yards per play.

Good News: The Chiefs do indeed have a lot of excellent players and coaches. Yet we went toe-for-toe with them twice this season. We're nearly as good. Bad News: We don't have the cap space to get any better. I'm hoping Beane does some magic and pulls a rabbit out of his hat. Actually, I'm hoping for a few rabbits.

The whole conversation is subjective when we're using words like "best," "unique," and "special." But I don't think I'm being "tribalistic" - at least not very much so. I lived in Seattle for several years and some there sincerely believe Hawk fans are the best in the world. Fans everywhere think like that. And Century Link/Lumen does indeed get very loud. So does Arrowhead in KC where I've also lived and watched games. Yet I don't sense the same level of fanaticism in either city. Steeler and Packer fans are famously passionate, loyal, and loud. But I think you need to also consider W-L records. Those are storied franchises with all-time winning records and Lombardis in their trophy cases. It's easy to root for a team that wins. Loyal Lions fans have a point about their fandom. Are there soccer teams with more rabid fanbases? Maybe. I don't follow soccer and haven't spent a lot of time in places where soccer rules. My personal fandom is pretty obvious. There are Bills stickers on my cars. My phone is protected by a Bills case. My wallet is embossed with a Bills logo. Naturally, when I travel people make comments. And they're just as likely to mention the mafia as they are Josh Allen - often something like, "Your fans are crazy!" Despite the naysayers here, I still believe the connection between the Bills and their fans is special. Entirely unique and totally unlike anything anywhere else? Well, no. But when you consider the total picture: the generous charitable giving, the loyalty through hard times, the loudness of the fans, the mayhem in the tailgating lots, the prominence of Bills gear among the population, the local TV ratings, the way we take over opposing stadiums, and so on... I think the mafia stands out.