BarleyNY

Maybe Saffold is a really good dodgeball player

That’s a very solid draft overall. People forget how few draft picks actually work out. Too WR with Diggs via trade, back up DE, solid (if limited) starting WR, quality PK, great depth/decent spot starter at CB and a good depth WR we let go. Really tough to complain about this one. The big issue is that the two drafts since have not yielded much value.

I didn’t come into the game rooting for either team, but I found myself rooting for KC for two reasons: - Eli Apple - KC looking like they’d give Philly less of a fight with a banged up Mahomes

I watched Ossai push Mahomes and said “He just cost Cincy the game.” before I even saw the flag.

I just wanted the AFC team to lose to the NFC team. Looks promising

Cool. I guess Josh Allen is not that great since the Bills keep coming up short with him too. Crazy, I thought he was a top QB and I was happy to have him. But now I understand how wrong I was.

Come on. SF came up short having to play an injured third string QB.

This quote from Beane at the press conference puzzled me: “I don't want to overreact to one game.” Did he miss the wildcard game against the Dolphins?

Well, the Bills did get to an exciting level of success long enough to get the new stadium deal.

This. It’s too early to tell with Brown. A competent starting RT or Swing Tackle should be brought in. Then it should be about who earns what in the competition.

That’s fair. The Bills have not publicly disclosed if one is technically higher than the other in the org. They may technically be peers, but I don’t think there’s any chance that Beane outranks McD. Also I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that Beane got this job because he was McDermott’s choice. It would make sense that Beane would feel like he is in his debt for that.

That is not what I’m saying. I think I’ve explained it as well as I can do I’m just going to drop out of this conversation.

I have been harping on the mistake of using so many resources on defense at the expense of the offense for some time now. It makes little sense in a league with rules skewed toward the offense. It does seem like McDermott puts his side of the ball first. I also agree that the coaching has been a problem in the playoffs. It cost us the KC game last year and any chance of being competitive against the Bengals this year. Something I think you have wrong is thinking Beane is McDermott’s boss. He’s not, McDermott hired Beane. I think he defers to him too much because of that. As for signing Von Miller, I think he was the player that defense needed to win in the playoffs. My problem is that after spending so many picks and so much cap space on the defense - and the DL in particular - it’s ridiculous that we needed an addition like him. That cap space should have gone to the offense for another difference maker whether or not there was still a need on defense.

I said the exact same thing in the post you responded to. The second contract expectations for a 1st round pick staying with their drafting team are very much impacted by their draft position. Let’s use Oliver as an example. He was drafted 9th overall and the team picked up his 5th year option at $10.75M. In extension negotiations the expectations will be that $10.75M plus a percentage adjustment for the cap increase as a starting point. That puts him at about $11.5M/season to start. we’d be looking at something like a 4 year, $50M contract to stay with the Bills. He’s a solid player, but he’s worth nowhere near that so he’ll hit FA where some team will likely overpay him. He won’t get the above contract, but he will almost certainly get more than the Bills would pay him. Some team will decide that they can utilize him better or take a chance that he wasn’t developed properly or just have a lot of cap space and a huge need. Look at Shaq Lawson. We didn’t even pick up his 5th year option and he got 3 years, $30M from the Phins. He only played one season for them, but he made $13.5M for that season. Since then he’s been playing for vet minimum. Incidentally payroll structure is moot. The player’s value to the team and his contract demands are what matter. Just because a payroll has capacity at a certain position does not mean the team should waste it on overpaying a player.

Well, not just you

To me it’s coaching (O & D), offensive skill positions and OL, in that order. The second and third don’t much matter without the first. The Bengals showed us how having quality offensive skill players can mask a bad OL so it’s second. We need another difference maker on O. Thirdly, we could still use improvement on the OL to help the passing and running games. We don’t need any All Pros, but lining up five even slightly above average players would be a big improvement.

Myles Garrett.

I think McDermott and Beane are a package deal. I don’t think you can get rid of one and not the other. That’s Good from the perspective that it limits political finger pointing. They’re in it together so criticisms tend to get limited to the constructive type. I don’t think an owner should dictate the specifics of what his HC does to his staff. My conversation with McDermott would be about the recent playoffs failures and what he will do to to fix the issues going forward. He would not have to fire Dorsey, but I’d want to know that he has some real help next season. Defensive playoff failures and the relative contributions of him and Frazier would be addressed similarly I would have roster and resource allocation discussions with Beane and McD. I see a big imbalance between those spent on D vs O in such an O driven league. I’d want a plan to rectify that. While understanding that it was a very difficult season for a lot of reasons I’d emphasize the importance of fielding a true championship caliber team. On that note I’d stress how important of a component championship caliber coaching in the playoffs is and encourage them to make sure everyone and everything was in place to ensure that. Lastly I’d renew my commitment to helping them in any way I could to win a championship.

Obviously I take the SB win. As for the Iggles you can add that they’re still playing this season. It’s worth noting that the Bills really went for it with the Von Miller signing. Them taking that risk ended up hurting the team, but it did show their commitment to getting the championship. Now if they could just shift focus to doing something like that on offense…….

I think you’re proving my point. Did any those players you listed get second contracts with the teams that drafted them? No. They went to a different team because they weren’t worth their high draft position or the second contract expected by a successful pick at their position. What is what I’ve been saying.

In general that’s not how it has worked in the NFL. That a player was drafted highly absolutely has made a ton of difference when it has come to that player’s second contract with the team that drafted him. While it is not without exception, it is rare that a first round pick takes a contract out of line with their draft position. When it does happen it is usually after the player tests the market and finds it lacking. Putting the best roster together means spending wisely. Overpaying for players versus their value to your team obviously works against that.

I think it’s been obvious that what’s been holding this team back over the last four seasons has been the play of our safeties.

The issue with Oliver is the same as with Edmunds. Both were taken in the top half of the first round of the draft and through four seasons both flashed, but failed to live up to their draft position. Neither were extended before their fifth year option for that reason. Edmunds took a big step forward this season, but I don’t think that it was enough to keep him at the price he likely can get In FA. I think Oliver is in the same boat as Edmunds was last off-season. If I were to bet on it I don’t think he stays here past the 2023 season. The whiffing on edge rushes is also a problem, but a separate one.

No. The Bills actually started changing up the coverages on the third drive. I think that helped them get that stop. They tried to disguise on their first two drives, but fell into C-2 every time except twice when they went C-1. Burrow easily picked it apart. It was a huge contrast to the Bengals defense which started off using a wide variety of coverages. The Bills varied the coverages more the rest of the game, but still used a lot of C-2. I was very surprised at how basic almost all of it looked. One last thing. Zone coverage can include pattern matching and NFL teams do this a lot now. It used to be that players would run to a spot. Now many use a pattern matching zone where some of the defenders closely cover receivers in their zone. That looks similar to man coverage except that often they will pass them off to another zone’s defender. Pattern matching zone schemes are a lot more difficult to execute, but are far superior to the more traditional zone. You may have been seeing this - especially on the underneath routes - as it looks a lot like man.

You’re either hilarious or wasted. 1. Orlando Brown’s MV is $22.4M per Spotrac. 5 years, $112M is not happening - especially not for a RT. Playing him at LT and moving Dawkins to RT is also a bad plan. 2. If we could move Oliver at all, it would be for either a similarly performing player with a similar contract situation or a flip of late picks. An All Pro? Not even an All Pro long snapper. 3. I wholeheartedly agree with drafting a C this year. I would not rush Morse off the team this year though. Lots of responsibilities for a C, including making line calls and not getting shoved back into their FQB. 4. Sure on Bates. Brown should stay at OT, but he should get competition for the starting job. 5. I’m certainly good with using a pick on a RT.