BarleyNY

The buzz in Vegas last week says there’s a very good chance that you get your wish.

I’d be shocked if Tre plays under his current contract this season. It’ll be a renegotiation or release. No need to get worked up about this today. The new league year doesn’t start for about a month.

Exactly. It’s not like he’d be worse. I think the main criteria the team is looking for in a Bills backup QB is that he’s very cheap. Maybe we can draft someone with a late pick.

I don’t think of any single fan base as the “best”. There are countless measures and each group is likely to value their own traits. I’m a transplant Bills fan and I hate the Bills Mafia moniker. I think people diving through tables is stupid and that cheering for someone getting doused with ketchup and mustard is absurd. But with that all said, Bills fans show up like no other (of which I am aware) to support worthy charities. That’s something that those fans should be very proud of and it speaks incredibly well of Buffalonians in general. It certainly far outweighs the little things I mentioned above.

No argument from me that there were two strong defenses. I’m just saying that the two QBs were working with very different qualities of supporting casts and the one with the far weaker one performed much better.

I think it was simply a matter of McDermott bringing in his own guy. He had been working with Beane, who was Assistant GM in Carolina. I’m not sure why he waited until after the draft to hire him though.

That’s quite the star studded video! I think what was said carries a lot of weight. If we get audio I may change my opinion, but it didn’t look like Kelce was trying to do anything physical to his coach. He just grabbed his arm and bumped him a little. I compare it to the Diggs - Allen incident. The biggest factors - other than what was said - are: - KC won that game while the Bills lost theirs. The W smooths over a lot. - Diggs had prior issues so it added fuel to an existing fire. Doesn’t seem to be the case with Kelce and Reid.

“Getting”? If a geared up Kelce had really run into Reid he wouldn’t have just been knocked off balance a little, he’d have flown 5 yards through the air. Kelce was very emotional and he needed to calm down, but there was no ill intent apparent.

Sure the defenses were very good, but my points about the QBs and supporting casts stand. Mahomes got the job done with a far inferior supporting cast. If KC had a Purdy level QB, then I doubt they score double digits. If the 49ers had a Mahomes level QB along with Kittle, Debo, Aiyuk and CMC, then they win easily.

Whaley had been neutered by McDermott for the draft. He was so angry at being totally ignored that he left the draft room. Then he was fired immediately after the draft. The only reason he was kept through it was so that he wouldn’t leak info.

I always chuckle when I see the “didn’t have time to study the QB class” excuse. SMDH. Is there a more important factor in determining the success of a team - and by extension that team’s HC - than the quality of QB on the field?

I only have one thought on why this could have made some sense. KS may have intended to go for 2 after a TD. That would have them playing for a FG on their second possession if KC matched them. I think there’s merit to taking the initiative in that situation rather than letting your opponent dictate the outcome with their two point try. The question then becomes “Why didn’t they go for it on fourth down?” Maybe the distance was too great and the math said to kick the FG, but it had to be close. I think if that is your plan then you have to go for it.

KC scored on their last four drives and on five of their last six. Seems to me like Mahomes dialed it in before OT. And he did it with a far inferior supporting cast compared to what Purdy was working with.

If KC had put a QB on the field who was equivalent to Purdy, then SF would’ve easily walked away with the win. Mahomes was the difference between a not very close loss and a very close win.

Crap. You’re right. I misremembered that. I thought they got a TD there.

Two big differences between regular season and playoff games are coaching and management of pressure. 1) The best coaches plan for the playoffs. They save plays and wrinkles in their schemes to take advantage of other teams’ weaknesses. One example from the last Chiefs-Bills playoff game. Reid put 10 men on the field for the Bills punt that got faked. He knew from it happening previously in the regular season that the Bills had the fake baked into their system and were likely to run it if they faced 10 or less men. They knew exactly what was coming and got a huge turnover on downs. It is very unlikely that KC wins that game without that play. 2) Pressure increases throughout the playoffs, ramping up each and every round and in close games. Coaches have to instill confidence in their players that they are up to the task and putting them in the best position to succeed. We’ve certainly seen pressure get to this coaching staff (13 sec) and team (2022 playoffs). The expectations have to be that the coaches and players will prevail, not that someone will find a way to lose. Problems here manifest themselves as blunders, unnecessary risks lack of focus. Hero ball and overly aggressive play calling are examples.

I think there is a kind of roster window that extends through 2024. There will be a big turnover of older, highly paid vets by then. We may see the start of it this offseason, but next is the big pivot point. Allen’s window will be open for quite some time. The way I see it, he will likely have a career of 12-15 years including development and quality QB play. He’d be aged 33-36 at the end of that span. We are 6 years into that so while his window is wide open for years to come, we have already burned through 40-50% of his career. Tick tock.

Agreed. This season MVP seemed like a war of attrition. There was a list of 6-10 players and, gradually, all but Lamar crossed themselves off of it with a poor performance. Those playing the “reverse racism” card are just showing us their character.

Didn’t the Bills win streak down the stretch happen right after they started running the ball more?

I think we are in very good shape with Cook as RB1. I like him a lot in that role. But we need a quality RB2. Joe Marino talked about this on Locked On Bills on the RB episode. Cook had over 300 touches (315 IiRC). That is about double his next highest year, including college. He clearly broke down late in the season and in the playoffs and was less efficient overall - and more prone to drops. Notably his workload increased under Brady so this happened even with a lighter load in the first 10 games. So if Brady’s offense is going to utilize the RB as much as it did last season, getting a quality RB2 is of paramount importance. We could also use a good short yardage back whether that’s part of our RB2’s skill set or our RB3’s.

Thanks. I’ll do that. How’s his separation?

I have not done much research yet, but so far I am less enamored with Nabers than MHJ or Odunze. Sadly, MHJ is out of reach as we’d have to get to 3 (NE) or 4. I’d do a Julio Jones type of trade in a heartbeat for him though. Even if the first team not taking a QB was dumb enough to trade out realistically we don’t have the ammo to get there. I have no issue with making a big move for the right player, but I don’t expect more than a small trade up. As has become typical we will have to do that because the league will know what position we need to address in round 1. Ofc we might have a couple WRs rated closely and not need to do that. Im just hopeful we can get our guy and not have a McDuffy incident again.

I answered the question succinctly. While it’s not reasonable to expect a Patriots-esque dynasty even with one of the best few QBs in the league, it’s also a failure to not achieve more than what the Bills have to date. It’s like having one of the 3 fastest cars in the Indy 500 and always finishing in the top 10, but never coming close to winning it. Year after year after year. Someone isn’t making the most of what they have. The Bills have the deck stacked in their favor and they have been nothing more than a middling playoff team. It’s frustrating because their potential consistently exceeds their results. This isn’t about any one season, it’s about the pattern of underperformance. Next offseason will see the Bills part ways with a lot of expensive vets. It’s a logical pivot point to a new HC, but I agree with you - no guarantees.

Compared to the average team, sure. Making it to the final 8 every year would be considered an accomplishment. But with Josh Allen at QB it’s decidedly underachieving. Ofc each fan can decide how they feel about the whole situation. Personally I think it’s a travesty to excuse such failure.