2003Contenders

The biggest key to me was watching how COMFORTABLE Josh looked. He never seemed to panic, was always under control, trusted his linemen -- and when protection did break down, reacted to it calmly with a little side-step here or there. I believe that this mindset also led to much better mechanics for him than we saw in the first couple of games.

Well, let's recall that McD DID go for it on 4th down multiple times in the Pittsburgh game. The Bills went 0-3 in those situations, which is more of a testimony to the poor play calling (especially on the pitch play) and execution than to McD lacking the stones to go for it. And, if the Bills convert on any one of those plays, then the outcome of that game may very well (and probably WOULD) have been different.

Maybe not deleting the position altogether -- but running a base run-n-shoot style offense may seem plausible. Which of the following receivers would you have preferred to see come off the field in favor of Hollister? Diggs Sanders Cole B. Davis And that does not even take into account McKenzie and Kumerow. For all the drops issues that Knox has, we all knew he wasn't really going anywhere. That meant a competition between Sweeney and Hollister for the other spot.

Raven fans are free to think as they will. Lamar is a very talented and dangerous QB, but he requires a specific system that caters to his unique skill set. Josh is a generational talent that would be able to flourish in literally any offensive scheme.

Not to nit-pick, but the Tyrod trade to Cleveland was for an early 3rd rounder, which was used to trade up with our second 1st round pick in 2018 to acquire T. Edmunds. The trade-up for Josh was very complex. Let me see if I can remember the sequence: 1. Traded with KC in 2017 to move down in the first and in return got KC's 2018 first rounder (plus more picks later in the draft). That 2018 first rounder turned out to be the 22nd overall pick. 2. After the 2017 season, traded Cordy Glenn to the Bengals and as part of that trade swapped 1st round picks. That moved us up from the #22 overall pick to #12. 3. The Bills had three 2nd round picks heading into 2018. I believe one of those was acquired from the Rams in exchange for Sammy Watkins the year before. I believe that the other came from the Eagles when we traded Darby to them. The other 2nd rounder was the Bills own 2nd round pick. 4. On draft day, the Bills traded up from that #12 pick acquired from Cinci (via KC) along with two of the 2nd round picks to move up to #7 overall to acquire Josh Allen. Many things had to happen in order for Allen to still be there at #7. For once, the Buffalo Bills lucked out!

I'm not sure even the most optimistic Bills fan would argue that the Buffalo OL is/was elite -- or even good. There is a reason why the front office went heavy on linemen in the draft. Stats wise, the pass blocking in 2020 was very good -- but how much of that was due to Allen's mobility? Run blocking we know was a major liability. I guess the point I am making is that even with the OL being what it was in 2020, the Bills still managed to sweep the division. Hopefully better health and better depth will play a role in marked improvement in 2021.

My favorite came on the game winning drive against the Rams. Pinned deep in their own territory with 3rd and 23 (I believe), under heavy pressure, Josh threw a scorcher between two defenders to Beasley right at the sticks to convert the 1st down.

All of this rehash about Dallas' 2nd half adjustments looks good now based on the outcome of the game -- but if things had gone differently, the Bills could have had a sizeable lead before Dallas ever touched the ball in the 2nd half. That may very well have put the Cowboys into more pass-happy mode, which undoubtedly would have been in Buffalo's best interest. I think the biggest issue was that despite game-planning properly and dominating the Cowboys in the first half, they were only up 13-6 at halftime. As much as I love Thurman he really was a big part of the reason we lost that game. His fumble in the first half when the Bills were moving the ball, gave the Cowboys 3 of their 6 points. An INT (I think by Nate Odoms) late in the 1st half, set the Bills up nicely to go up by more than one score; however, questionable play calling down inside the redzone led to settling for a FG before the half. That is probably what led to the pep in the Cowboys' step versus the lethargy that Buffalo displayed. When Thurman's fumble on the opening drive was returned for a TD, the game was effectively over -- even though the score was tied. The momentum was forever shifted -- and you could just see the "Uh oh. Here we go again" body language on the part of Bills players. It didn't help that Thurman wimped out, feigning a cramp, and stewed on the sidelines most of the rest of the game. I believe Marv said that his biggest regret as a head coach was allowing Thurman to sulk like that -- rather than motivating him. Oh well. Can't change the past...

Actually, what I heard was that they never expected Rousseau to be there at 30 and that Boogie was actually their target in the first round. When both were still available at 30, they investigated some options to trade down a bit -- expecting that one of them would still be available early in the 2nd. That's why they took the full allotted time to make the pick. When no decent trade option materialized, they pulled the trigger on Rousseau -- and were dumb-founded that Boogie was still on the board late in the 2nd round. It sounds like Boogie was in their plans all along -- and they would try to do whatever they could to get him (even tried trading up in the 2nd). Rousseau was just icing on the cake. I know all of these team spin the whole "I can't believe he was still there..." thing. But in the Bills case, it sounds like that was true for both of their first two picks.

Anyone remember about a decade ago when the Bills FO took all Texas players off their draft board? That was a Tom Modrak thing -- and how we wound up with Maybin.

In all seriousness, that is a better lineup than we had in Josh's rookie season -- especially late in the season when the RB corps was decimated.

I also think that Josh saw the CB getting "grabby" with Diggs and threw the pass expecting to get a DPI flag if it was not complete. I was pretty upset at the time that interference was not called -- but in hindsight, the officials were consistent about keeping the flags in their pocket and not over-officiating the game.

Going back to that 2018 draft class, there was a wide variance of opinion regarding who should be the top selection. Pure scouts and football guys loved Allen's off-the-charts physical attributes and limitless ceiling. Analytics guys favored Mayfield, who was undersized but posted eye-popping numbers and won a college championship. Darnold had played in a big-time program against quality opposition and posted stellar numbers his final year in school. Rosen was viewed as the most polished of all of them. (I ignore Lamar Jackson, because he was never in consideration for the first overall pick) Josh Allen had a number of red flags associated with him -- primarily because he was viewed as so raw coming out of Wyoming. While these views were all certainly well-founded, it is evident now that Josh has worked his way through them and matured at an accelerated rate. It's hard to believe that such a raw specimen as Josh Allen was literally forced into action in his first NFL game -- playing behind a horrific offense line with a crew of no-name receivers. Can you really argue that any of the other 1st round QBs (including Darnold) were in a less enviable situation? Now in his 3rd year, Josh Allen is a top 5 NFL QB by any measure. He is putting up Aaron Rodgers-in-his-prime stats (and lets remember that Rodgers didn't even start until year 4, had the benefit of sitting behind Brett Favre for 3 seasons and had an excellent supporting cast). Every receiver that has played with Allen -- Brown, Beasley and now Diggs -- If the 2018 draft were held again and all the teams knew then what they know now, Josh Allen would have been the first overall pick. Anyone who would argue any differently (Aikman, B. Jones, etc.) simply refuses to admit that they were wrong.

ESPN is such a mess these days -- everything is always a double-standard with them. Remember years ago when they brought in Rush Limbaugh to provide an alternative view -- then immediately fired him when he did exactly that. Yet clowns like Foxworth remain gainfully employed. I am not suggesting that ESPN fire him, just pointing out the hypocrisy of the network. Probably the best thing we can do as fans is ignore clowns like Foxworth and Jones, do not get tempted by their click-bait drivel, and tune out when they are on air. By being "provocative" and getting the responses they hope for, their behavior (and pockets) are being rewarded.

Actually, the Bills were coming off a 9-7 season and had a pretty good defense -- a great front 4 -- so there was plenty of interest at the time. Remember, Doug M. had opted out because he had that $4M safety-net and was "certain" that he was going to get the Jets job. I'm not sure that Gase would have been any worse than Rex, who came in and tore apart the one good part of the team. I wonder if Gase would have left the defense (run by Jim Schwartz) en tact? Word at the time is that this was the concept that Whaley had in mind at the time, when he wanted to hire Hue Jackson to be the head coach. Talk about a batch of losers to pick from: Rex, Gase, Hue... Yikes!

Excellent point. It was clear in the first half that Bosa was going to be a disruption and that Josh would not have the time to get the ball downfield. That probably explains the play that resulted in the INT -- Bosa was out on the field for that play (after having just served up a TFL on the previous play), and the Bills decided to be more aggressive knowing he was on the seideline. Too bad the protection broke down with the the blind-side blitzer.

Not doubting your insider status, as the reports at the time of the 2017 draft jive with your insistence that the Bills were not going to take Mahomes (or any other QB) with the 10th pick. The following are things I heard at the time (from reliable sources): 1. By the time of the draft, Whaley was a dead man walking. Everyone in the organization knew it. 2. Final decision for all picks really did go to McD. 3. McD badly wanted to draft a top CB in the draft as he felt it was a primary area of need and would jump-start the overhaul of the defense he envisioned. 4. McD had zeroed in on Lattimore with the #10 pick but was happy to trade down to 27 when the Chiefs offered up the #3 in 2017 plus the #1 in 2018. 5. McD agreed that QB was an area of need; he believed they could win with Tyrod but not get very far. But he was uncomfortable with the options at the top of the 2017 draft class -- and despite what Whaley and Manos claim in this article, there really was no consensus in the war room about whom the coveted QB was. (See next point.) 6. Whaley reportedly was all in on D. Watson over Mahomes. The article barely touches on this by stating simply that they "liked Watson, too." The center point of the article appears to be correct -- that Pegula had a "man crush" on Mahomes and was not bashful about expressing it to the decision makers in the war room -- but in the end decided to yield to the "football guys". In fact, it was later mis-reported in some circles that the reason Pegula fired Whaley was because he had passed on Mahomes in that draft. This was untrue for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that Whaley's fate was decided well before the draft -- and McD was the one who had the final say with each pick in that draft. I suppose it is possible, as Whaley asserts, that if Mahomes had still been there at 27 that they would have taken him there. But, given what we know about the original plan to take Lattimore at #10 over any of the available QBs, it is also just as likely that the team would have still taken T. White anyway. The scouts did not have White ranked significantly behind Lattimore. The interviews with Whaley and Monos read to me as a sort of passive-aggressive indictment of McD's handling of that draft. That said, I did not take the article as a hit piece on Josh at all, as I thought it was fairly even-handed with plenty of favorable quotes from teammates and coaches.

Obviously the run game has not been what we would like to see, but I also wonder how much of that is a lack of commitment to it. From my perspective, they really have not tried to make it a focus of the offense in any game except the New England game -- and in that game they ran the ball very effectively. I know once the weather starts getting really bad, etc. the team will need to rely on it more heavily -- but aside from the Tennessee and KC games, the offense as a whole (even without a consistent running game) has performed.

I am not buying this article. It was reported at the time by many reliable sources that no QB (Mahomes or otherwise) was in play for the Bills at the time. The Bills were prepared to turn in the card at #10 with M. Lattimore's name one on it, when the Chiefs upped their offer to move up to 10.

Wow! Can you imagine what the Bills offense would look like with Mark Andrews?

Another thing to remember is that as the the roster has gotten better and deeper, the reliance upon the draft for immediate help is no longer such a critical factor. No matter how the other picks pan out (and I have high hopes for Epenesa, Moss, Davis, Bass, and Jackson) the fact that the 1st pick was used to acquire Diggs, who has already proven to be such an impact player, makes the 2020 draft a success!

Yea, I would not trade him for any other player in the league. I won't argue that he is the best player (or QB) in the league right now. But he is elite, will only get better -- and is such a great fit for the city and fans.

Not sure what the deal is with Yeldon -- other than I know that he missed some time earlier this season due to injury. Maybe he still isn't 100%? The front office and coaching staff are clearly aware that the RB corps could be improved. Remember, they were reportedly interested in Fournette during the off-season, and they were one of 3 teams to make a push for L. Bell.

Yea, I would think that the DE's job in that situation would be to set the edge and ensure that the play does not go outside. On both TD runs, the interior looked like the parting of the Red Sea and Murray raced into the endzone pretty much untouched. The fault there is with the DTs and LBs IMHO.

On point. The other thing that everyone forgets is that, even if there had been no trade-down with the Chiefs, the Bills were NOT going to take Mahomes with the #10 overall pick. They reportedly had Lattimore queued up before the trade with the Chiefs was finally consummated.