BarleyNY

Atlanta feels like a team whose owner won’t get out of the way. Certainly not the only team like that, but on that list.

Please refer my initial post regarding that.

It obviously wasn’t a sure thing. If it was then it would have been a TD.

Thank you. And I agree. We are talking about a fraction of a second and such slim margins in this. Thank you. Well said.

I do wonder if Allen did quit looking Diggs’ way.

Diggs was open earlier though. If Josh had gone to him he’d have gotten the ball off cleanly. I will very rarely complain about a player or coach being aggressive, but Diggs was the right throw for that reason. I like that Allen wants to go for the big throw, but that wasn't the time. The bleeding the clock argument is valid as it is a legitimate strategy in situations like this. Even if we would’ve had to settle for a FG, it would have been much shorter and there would have been a lot less time on the clock. Or we could’ve won outright with a TD.

Great question. OTC estimates his 5th year option at $13.861M. One of my big criticisms of picking Rousseau in the first was that I expected him to be a four to five year player here. The second contract a first rounder gets from the team that drafted him will be too high for what he can do. His athleticism does make him an excellent fit for LDE in McDermott’s system where it’s more about contain, run defense and clean up sacks. He does not have the bend to ever be a high sack guy. He just doesn’t have the ability to win quickly and get to the QB fast unless his bull rush works. So where do we go? That option number would be the 27th AAV among Edges. Obviously that’ll drop in the coming months. I think they’ll pick it up and that’ll be his last year here. If they do pick it up then it’s the floor for an extension, which would be a solid overpay IMO. You can find guys to do that job for less. I don’t think I’d do it, but I wouldn’t hate it. I just don’t want to see him get a top 20 Edge contract from the Bills.

I certainly would not limit myself to one player or handcuff myself in the draft. So much depends on free agency. Sometimes good players slip through the cracks, sometimes the market is tough. I wouldn’t be looking at top of the market safeties, but I’d sign either a good starting level safety to a reasonable contract or a decent stopgap to go with a draft pick.

Agreed. If/when the Pegulas do move on from McDermott I think that a restructure would be the right move. Without Kim’s guidance there seems to be a void at the top. Beane is the kind of person I’d want filling that and guiding the team. Him as President with his hires at GM and HC is very appealing to me.

While I’ve agreed with a lot of what Dunne has written on McD and the Bills, this is ridiculous. Can the guy and move on or support him. If it became known that the Pegulas were even sniffing around other HCs it would be over for McD.

The OL’s health certainly helped them a great deal this season.

I think that it is likely the Bills move on. The big issue is that to keep Tre the Bills will have to bet $10.4M on him returning to form. $1.5M of that is due by 3/17. Nacua was injured a lot in college. He had some great tape, but tested for crap due to coming off injury. He’s the kind of player you live to roll the dice on come day 3 of the draft. Big hit or obvious flame out.

Oh crap! He’s got a few choices there. Definitely steer him away from the Jets though. AFCE opponent and likely doomed due to ownership. Giants would be good since they are an NFC team there’s a Buffalo connection with Dabs, Schoen and some players. Good ownership too. It’d be easy for him to root for both the Giants and Bills. If he goes East Coast, then that’s probably the Ravens. You can’t argue with the success of their front office. Or maybe he goes with another team. NFC is preferable, but not necessary for him to maintain a live for the Bills. Good luck.

At that point I thought the Billsiest thing possible would be to go on a run, make the playoffs and then fall short. As we got to the end of the season I thought we’d win the WC game, beat the Chefs and make it to the AFCCG, but lose there. IMO at this time the Ravens are the best team in the league by a fairly wide margin. But a little voice of hope told me that if we got past the Ravens (or they got upset first) and we got to the SB, then we might match up very well against the 49ers. Same Shanahan scheme (basically) as the Dolphins run and we don’t run a Fangio defense which that scheme murders. We run a defense that fares well against it. So if we could get there I had real hope of winning a championship.

Yep. The Bills biggest advantage is at QB. Maybe lean into that for a change.

Home field seems to be working out okay so far for the Ravens and 49ers.

What kind of offensive system did you want in place with the OL that this team has trotted out since Daboll was here? A vertical attack with longer developing routes would have gotten Allen killed. Quicker routes have made this OL look better than it really is.

If you love him, you’ll encourage him to choose another team. I jest. To a degree. Encourage him to root for whomever he wants, but let him know that he can root for more than one team. Where do you live?

Basically this. Very limited role that he does very well at. A week or two ago Sam Monson actually spoke about Dodson on the PFF podcast. He was brought up to illustrate that a player’s grade is based on how well they execute on the things they are asked to do. As such a player like Dodson can have a very high score, but not be that impactful of a player due to the limits of their assignments.

LOL. That’s utterly ridiculous. Excuses are a loser’s mentality. It saddens me to see that.

1) If suspended by the league the Bills will be able to void his remaining guarantees. In that case he gets cut. But it’s laughable to think he’ll walk away with the guaranteed money he has left. 2) Back to quality form I’d bet, but Milano turns 30 this summer. We may never see him back to what he was before this last injury. 3) Agree he’s gone. He’ll probably get overpaid somewhere. Kinda depends on what you mean by “huge contract”. 4) No need for an injury settlement. Tre has a roster bonus due in March so we can decline that and he will be a FA. We have the option of designating him a 6/1 cut if he can pass a physical. 5) LOL 6) Pretty much a lock I would think. 7) I don’t think McD can afford to do that. Getting rid of Diggs would mean a rebuild and McD doesn’t have the time for that. I’m sure Diggs would welcome a trade though. 8. LOL

[Pre-snap motion] “They wouldn’t” [Snap to Hamlin] ”Oh no! No!”

I wonder about two plays - if mistakes were made or if the coaches were playing chess: - On the KC XP down 2, did McDermott have a player intentionally encroach? Analytics says take half the distance and go for two. It would be a 2 or 4 point game. If a 2 point, that’s a huge win for the Bills. If 4, then not a big difference since we’d be going fairly hard for a TD down by 3 anyway. If so, Kudos to McD for trying that. And kudos to Reid for not taking the bait. - On the fake punt, did Reid only trot out 10 men to get us to run the fake? IIRC I saw that happen earlier in the season and it worked. If so, Reid successfully baited us and had his team ready for the stop. That’s some high level coaching.

Agreed. Not from us, but there aren’t enough competent WRs to fill NFL rosters. Some team will sign him for a decent buck.

Yeah, Diggs will probably stay a Bill next season and he’ll probably get 1000+ yards. I went over this already (not sure if it was this thread), but I will again. A couple seasons ago Diggs was a top 4 WR. In the 2022 season he was a top 8 WR. This past season it’s more like top 16 or, more comfortably, top 24. That’s still pretty damn good. He turns 31 in November and that’s the cliff (give or take) for most WRs. I would still expect Diggs to be a top 32 WR next season and if we want to keep him for that season for $18.8M additional cash, then fine. But by 2025 it is very doubtful that his production will warrant his contract. So the question likely is only about 2024. Trading Diggs would mean a reboot for 2024. In that case we’d also part ways with Tre and Von, using our two 6/1 designations when we cut them. So the move to replace them would be via the draft or trade (younger WR) rather than an older vet (unless one came cheap. The contracts of Von and Diggs were written with the intent of moving on from both after 2024. They could move it up to this off-season if they felt it was better.