mjt328

The only person who really stood out on the broadcast was Frank Gore Jr. Not sure what that means, because Running Backs always seem to stand-out in the second half of preseason games (when all the guys who aren't going to make the NFL are trying to shed blocks and tackle). I do notice that Daequon Hardy seems to be sticky in coverage and is good at playing the ball. If he can learn to catch, he could become an interception machine for us. In the same way, Javon Solomon definitely has pass rushing ability and creates pressure, but needs to get better at finishing to land the sack.

Are the Bills going to make the tough (but smart) decision to move-on from Tyler Bass before Week 1? Or are we going to wait until he actually costs us a game? The problem last year clearly wasn't injury related. And whatever is wrong with his technique or confidence hasn't been fixed in the 7 months he's had since blowing it huge in the playoffs. I just can't see him magically turning it around once the regular season hits. He's done. And it's just a disaster waiting to happen. If I'm Sean McDermott right now, I doubt I would send him out for anything over 40-45 yards. Yes. I understand the cap implications. But that clearly didn't bother Beane when it came to Stefon Diggs (or several other vet players). I would rather take my chances with a street free agent.

Christian Benford has been injury-prone his entire career. Rasul Douglas has a void option in his contract and will likely be a free agent next year. I have a feeling that Elam will play a lot this year, play very well, and eventually become the full-time starter.

Every season there is only one NFL team (and fanbase) that will go home happy. Either it ends without qualifying for the playoffs, or by getting eliminated short of the ultimate goal. I would even argue the closer a team gets, the more painful it actually is. Anyone who lived through the 90s can tell you this. The problem is... the Bills have NEVER been that one team.

Consider the history of the Buffalo Bills franchise (founded in 1960), and you will understand why this fanbase is generally negative and pessimistic. Every time this team has been on the pinnacle of something great, their hopes are dashed to the ground and destroyed. Our last championship came way back in 1965. Almost 60 years ago. Long before the majority of current fans were even alive. Ironically, this was also exactly one season before the Super Bowl was created. Players always say you "can't take away" their championship victory. Well today, the NFL doesn't really count anything that came before Green Bay in 1966. Only 12 months separate the Bills from getting an opportunity to win the very first Super Bowl... and instead having their AFL titles relegated to an old and forgotten era of football history. Over the next 22 years, the Bills managed to win the division only twice and make the playoffs a total of FOUR times. This included a span where they had possibly the best player in the sport (OJ Simpson). Of course, this once loved and celebrated star - once considered the greatest athlete to wear the Buffalo uniform - later turned out to be a cold-blooded murderer. The team's greatest era finally began in 1988 and ran for almost a decade. Despite boasting a team with a half-dozen Hall of Famers, they somehow managed to choke away four straight Super Bowl appearances (losing to both Jeff Hostetler and Mark Rypien in the big game). Ask most Bills fans about the 90s and you will get a mix of fond nostalgia and PTSD. Fitting those years were bookended by "Wide Right" at the beginning, and concluded with the "Music City Miracle." Despite the absolute statistical improbability (especially with the league pushing for parity), the Bills somehow missed the playoffs for the next 17 years. Nearly long enough for a newborn to reach adulthood before experiencing a postseason game. Endless GMs, coaches, quarterbacks and rosters bringing hope. All ending exactly the same. Our recent resurrection under Beane/McDermott/Allen started with great promise. Even for the most skeptical of us older Bills fans. Surely this group would bring us a Super Bowl eventually. But after "13 Seconds", "Wide Right 2", four-straight early exits from the postseason, an endless string of injuries... it just seems like we've been on this roller coaster before.

Sadly, it's a very long list... Josh Allen needs to stay healthy for 17 games, plus the entire postseason. Even one lost game could be very costly in a tight playoff race. Wide receiver group cannot be a liability (significant trouble getting open, dropped passes), and must pose enough of a threat to the secondary that defenses can't just send 6-7 pass rushers every play. After all the offseason changes, O-Line must gel into a solid unit very quickly. This includes McGovern handling the Center job, Edwards doing good at Left Guard and O'Cyrus Torrence not having a sophomore slump. Joe Brady must continue to develop as a play-caller, stay creative and not get figured out by defensive coordinators. At least one pass rusher needs to step up big, and become a force off the Edge. Either Von Miller regains his old form, or we see a major breakout from Groot/Epenesa. A capable replacement must be found for Matt Milano. Not one, but two safeties are needed to step into the all-important roles previously held by Poyer/Hyde. New defensive coordinator Bobby Babich must be capable of handling the promotion. Tyler Bass needs to go back to be a dependable kicker from long-distance. New leaders must step up all over the locker room, with numerous veterans leaving (Diggs, Morse, White, Poyer, Hyde). This is just to get the Bills back to where they were LAST year. If they want to go FARTHER and actually have a chance at winning the Super Bowl, then we must also see: Sean McDermott figure out how to stop elite Quarterbacks in the playoffs. The core roster must go into the postseason relatively healthy.

Try hard enough, and you can convince yourself we will be in good shape, despite all the warning signs. Objectively, it's really difficult to see this team going anywhere this season. Twelve months ago, if you would have asked what superstars the Bills have outside of Josh Allen, most people would have answered (in no particular order) Stefon Diggs, Tre White, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, Matt Milano and Von Miller. The only remaining player on that list is Miller, who looked completely done last year. The replacements we are heavily counting on are (rookie) Keon Coleman, Rasul Douglas, Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin and Dorian Williams. Even if we can get close to the same on-field production, we will still greatly miss the leadership aspect. The team is also counting heavily on breakout seasons from Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, Greg Rousseau, Terrell Bernard, etc. Not just to be good, but to become the next group of superstars on the Buffalo Bills. Looking at the schedule, the Bills are starting off with a 2-3 game disadvantage against the Jets/Dolphins due to opponent difficulty. They barely scraped by the Dolphins last year, and seem to have trouble with the Jets in head-to-head even without Aaron Rodgers back. Not a lot of room for error if you want to win the division. We will be breaking in lots of new starters, adjusting to a shuffled O-Line, hoping new talent steps into leadership roles, etc. If things start slow, we could be fighting out of a hole by Halloween. So yeah, I get where you are coming from with the "little" things. But the Bills have too many other "big" problems to overcome first.

This is the Buffalo Bills. In my 30+ years of watching this team, it seems like if something CAN go wrong... then it eventually WILL go wrong. It's frustrating to see the coaching staff willingly trust players that have blown it over and over, and are showing no signs of improvement. I get all the reasons that James Cook is awesome. explosive, productive, etc., etc., etc. But the guy dropped a TD in the playoff game. And he keeps dropping passes in training camp and the preseason. Just like Tyler Bass blowing the final kick in the playoff game. And here we are rolling through the preseason with no kicking competition, and reports of him missing over and over in practice. And just like we continually field an undersized defense, and then act surprised when the group is devastated by injuries by mid-season.

I understand the reasons Brandon Beane released Morse. There are also legitimate reasons they maybe should have kept him, such as leadership and continuity. You can't just look at a player 30+ with an expiring contract and say that automatically makes the GM smart for cutting him. Only time will tell.

The Good: The majority of media talk surrounding the Bills has been about the loss of Stefon Diggs. Between the training camp reports and the little bit we saw today, my worries about that position have very quickly disappeared. I'm becoming very confident that between Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel and Keon Coleman, we will have enough weapons to make this work. The Bad: Our slight reshuffling of the O-Line didn't get so much attention. I'm hoping we don't end up regretting cutting Mitch Morse. Last year was the first time in many years I felt our blocking was better than "average" and was actually a plus. So of course we couldn't resist making changes. Today's performance was absolutely terrible. No push in the run game, and constant pressure on the QB. Incomplete: I'm not thinking much can be pulled from today on the Defensive side of the ball. Our pass rush was non-existent. But we didn't have 3 starters (Von Miller, Daquan Jones, Ed Oliver), and the looks were very vanilla. Tackling was also pretty weak, but again.. no Matt Milano. The rest of the starters were pulled after one drive, and the Bears still only had six points at the half. All the scoring happened against the guys who aren't making the team anyway.

Obviously this was just preseason. But I can't really think of anything positive or any players that stood out in a good way. Maybe Khalil Shakir and Curtis Samuel? The O-Line was dreadful. The D-Line got zero pressure. Lots of penalties.

Patrick Mahomes is unanimously considered the best Quarterback in the NFL. And some say he's on the way to being the best ever. He is currently the 11th highest paid at the position, and he was extended a year before Josh Allen. The Bills shouldn't even worry about Allen's contract until after the Chiefs make a move.

If Josh Allen goes down for a handful of games, the goal of our backup QB should be to keep us competitive. Don't give away the game. Let the defense and rushing attack carry the show. Hopefully stay about .500 during that brief stretch. In the event Allen goes down for longer, the season is likely toast anyway. Mitch Trubisky has a career record of 31-26, mostly with a Bears team with less overall talent than here. I doubt there are many teams in the NFL with a better win pct. riding the bench.

I'm always skeptical about using the "one-team's success" example, and then building an entire team-building philosophy around it. Yes, Kansas City won the Super Bowl last year with a below average WR room. But there were multiple times during the season that the lack of talent at that position cost them big. Two examples were the opener against Detroit and the regular season game against us (which ultimately let us host the playoff game in Buffalo). Ultimately they were able to overcome. Much of that has to do with them featuring the NFL's best QB, TE and offensive coach. Outside of KC, the other recent Super Bowl teams (San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay) all had fantastic receiver rooms with multiple weapons. You need to go back to New England... who is always a statistical outlier... to find another championship team with a weak WR room.

It's completely fair to be skeptical about the Bills WR group. We lost our #1 and #2 outside guys in the offseason. The only guys who have produced in this offense (Knox, Kincaid, Shakir) are slot receivers and tight ends. The rest of the room is made up on a rookie (Coleman), a solid complimentary guy (Samuel), underachieving speedsters (Valdes-Scantling, Hamlin, Isabella), veteran depth (Hollins) and a reclamation project (Claypool). There seem to be a lot of supremely confident fans, absolutely certain that a few of these guys will step up big and we won't miss Diggs at all. Well, I hope they are correct. But let's be completely honest. If this same WR group was on a competitor like the Dolphins, Jets, Patriots or Chiefs... everyone would be calling it a weakness, and boasting how it didn't scare anyone. This position is unproven at best. So everyone is going to scrutinizing it during offseason workouts. As they should. As far as the Minicamp reports... I'm not sure why anyone is really surprised that coaches are shuffling things around. Shakir is hurt. Coleman is a rookie. And none of the guys I have listed above are worthy of being handed the job. None of this is reason to panic. Good or bad, I'm sure it was always the plan to let multiple combinations play with the starting lineup and see what rises to the top. I also don't understand why people are "worried" that Claypool is standing out. He's got the most past success of any WR on the roster, and personally I think it's good that someone is doing good.

The only question with Josh Allen is how long his body will hold-up at this level. Barring some kind of catastrophe, he will easily become the Buffalo Bills all-time touchdown leader in BOTH passing and rushing... surpassing three first-ballot Hall of Fame players in Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and OJ Simpson. That's impressive by itself. The real question is... How close can he get to the all-time NFL record? He's currently got 220 touchdowns in 6 seasons (averaging out to roughly 36 per year). By far, it's the best pace any QB has been on in the history of the NFL. That includes Patrick Mahomes. - At this current pace, it would take him just over 11 more years to surpass Tom Brady with 624 TDs. He would be 39 years old. Assuming that Aaron Rodgers continues moving up the touchdown list himself, Allen would need 8 years at the current pace to reach the Top 5 and surpass Brett Favre's 508 TDs. He would be 36 years old. - If he can average 30 TDs per year for the remainder of his career, it would take him just over 13 more seasons to surpass Brady (41 years old) and just over 9 seasons to surpass Favre (37 years old).

Quite a bit has already been said. But it's really hard for any WR to succeed with a chronic foot injury, and below-average QB play.

Sean McDermott has a 4-4 record against Andy Reid. Josh Allen is 3-4 against Patrick Mahomes. Those games include 12 seconds, Kadarius Toney's Offside and Wide Right Part II. The Chiefs are unanimously considered the best team in the NFL. Reid is considered by many the best coach. Mahomes the best Quarterback. Playing against us, they have roughly a 50/50 chance of winning the game. I'm tired of hearing that we can't get past the Chiefs without firing our coach. The numbers don't support that. I'm tired of hearing that Allen is far below Mahomes. The numbers don't support that either. There are always steps we can take to get better and give ourselves a better chance in the playoffs. But when push comes to shove, there isn't a magic bullet. We have proven we are good enough to beat the Chiefs and have done so about half the time.

Kaiir Elam played almost entirely Man Coverage in college. The Bills lean much heavier into Zone. This never meant that Elam couldn't fit into McDermott's scheme. Just that it was going to take some time for him to learn and adjust. If you go back to the 2022 offseason, almost everyone expected there to be some bumps along the road in his development. The idea is that over the course of 1-2 years of learning, his elite skills would eventually turn him into a better player than Dane Jackson and Levi Wallace were for us. What nobody expected is that 6th Rounder Christian Benford (despite having a much lower athletic upside) would turn out WAY better than his draft profile. And since his college experience was already in Zone, his development curve was also way less. By the time Week 1 rolled around, he was more ready to play. Plain and simple. So he got the starting nod, regardless of being a lower draft pick. And to be honest, there just hasn't been a reason to take that spot away from him. Benford has played very well. Now Elam did get into the starting lineup Week 3 of his rookie year. He started six weeks in a row, looked decent most of the time, and then got hurt. Then of course Tre White finally came back from his ACL injury, and was given one of the starting Cornerback positions. So in a hugely important year for his development, Elam was on the bench for roughly 60-70% of the time. Last year, he was suffering from a foot injury (which the Bills never disclosed until putting him on IR). All the fans saw was him being inactive week after week and started making assumptions that something was wrong with his play. In all, he only played two games before they shut him down for the rest of the season. When it comes to 1st Round Picks, fans expect immediate impact and results. Elam was always going to be a slower developing player than Bills fans wanted to see. But it's also hard for a guy to develop when he's injured and sitting the bench. We've seen some nice flashes. We've seen some ugly struggles. It's just been a weird set of circumstances, constantly keeping him off the field and making it impossible to get a good judgment. Even now in Year 3, he's sitting behind Benford and Rasul Douglas. And regardless of how well Elam plays, I can't see him replacing either of those guys.

It was a joke.

I was OK with most of the offseason moves listed above, and was completely expecting them. There were three specific decisions though which make me question Beane's thought-process. 1. Cutting Mitch Morse 2. Only restructuring some of Josh Allen's contract 3. Trading Stefon Diggs for future assets, then only replacing him with a 2nd Round rookie I understand the concept of not mortgaging the future (draft picks, cap space) in order to make a big splash. We did that once with Von Miller and it didn't work out. But this was downgrading the present team, in order to load up for years down the road. Hopefully I'm wrong and the Bills will be fine.

It drives me nuts how the NFL front offices talk so much about character. But then teams who welcome the big troublemakers often seem to be the most successful. Most of the league's dynasties are horribly unlikeable outside of their hometowns. Growing up in the 90s, the off-field activities of the Dallas Cowboys were legendary and not in a good way. Michael Irvin, Nate Newton, etc. The players who weren't criminals had insufferable personalities, who were almost impossible to root for. Then you have the New England Patriots with cheating scandal after cheating scandal. The reason the Netflix roast is so popular, is because every sports fan outside of Boston hated Tom Brady and it's the closest we will ever get to seeing him punched in the face. Now it's the Chiefs. From Kareem Hunt to Tyreek Hill to Rashee Rice. Taylor Swift. Just awful. You really want to root for a guy like Patrick Mahomes or Andy Reid. But then you wonder why the team keeps turning a blind eye and drafting guys who are destined to become a problem.

The Chiefs have now won the AFC West 8 years in a row, and won double-digit games 9 years in a row. During that span, they have 3 Super Bowl wins and 4 appearances. Nobody is expecting less this year. Before them, the Patriots had 17 straight seasons with double-digit wins. They won the AFC East 16 of those years. The only year they didn't was when Tom Brady tore his ACL in Week 1, and they still somehow finished with an 11-5 record. Around the same time, the Colts had 9 straight seasons with double-digit wins. Won the AFC South in all but one of those years (12-4 and still ended in second place). Then Peyton Manning missed an entire year with a neck injury and was released. After that down year, they did it 3 more years in a row with Andrew Luck. Even the Steelers now have 20 straight years finishing .500 or above. They haven't had a losing season since Tommy Maddox was the starting quarterback. Bottom line... there are no legitimate excuses for not winning 10-11 plus games and at least making the playoffs. The idea that we "must go through a down year" to re-set the roster and fix the salary cap is complete nonsense. If we can't go 3-4 seasons without needing to rebuild and reboot everything, then Brandon Beane isn't good enough as a General Manager, and he wasn't doing a proper job of preparing for the future. Now whether that expectation is reality, I don't know. Beane's actions appear (at least from the outside) to be a guy fully expecting a rebuild season, and then reloading a year from now. Hoping that I'm wrong.

This is the big one. Deebo Samuel fits what the San Francisco 49ers do on offense, and that's a huge part to his success. The Bills haven't proven they know how to use a versatile player like him. They don't even try.

We know Brandon Beane can build a Top 5 team in the NFL. But can he get our roster over the top? This being draft season, I can't help but go back and look at his previous classes. Lots of good starters. Very few complete misses. Usually goes into the season with few weaknesses and strong depth. But at the same time... so few impact players. Outside of Josh Allen, most of our All-Pro talent was not drafted by Beane. Stefon Diggs (trade), Matt Milano (previous regime), Von Miller, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde (free agents). We also know that Sean McDermott can lead this team to division championships, and consistently field a Top 5 defense. But everything seems to fall apart come playoff time. His coverage and pressure packages don't seem to work when it counts. I'm definitely not the person who likes calling for firings. And I truly believe that Beane/McDermott can get the job done. But to do so, something needs to change in their approach, strategy, etc. They need to break out of their comfort zone. This team is spinning its wheels, and the same old approach year after year just isn't getting it done.