GunnerBill

Yea Philly are the best combined trenches team in football. And it is ALWAYS where Howie starts his team builds from. In fairness nobody could accuse Brandon Beane of ignoring the Dline. He has poured resources into it. He just hasn't gotten it right in the way Howie has.

It is interesting because I saw Nick Wright last week saying "look the Bills will beat KC in the playoffs at some point, it will happen, I am just not sure they will be able to get up again after it because that will be lile their Superbowl." Well turns out it is the same for them beating us. The reality is we always seem to get KCs best shot in the playoffs. They used plays in the AFCCG in two critical spots that they have not run all year. They put a hell of a lot into beating the Bills. Maybe Nick Wright's argument works the other way too.

The only way it plays out differently if it is the Bills is if they'd got ahead early. But the Eagles are built to front run. The moment the DeJean pick 6 happened it was over. You are not digging out of a 17-0 hole against that team. But to be honest I think Buffalo would have lost too. That Philly roster is just too darn talented. I can't ever remember a Superbowl where I thought "that was so explicitly a General Manager victory". Although with a large side helping of Vic Fangio.

Make up call

That is a horrible call.

I see the logic I just cannot see the Rodgers - Tomlin dynamic at all. The first time he shrugs his shoulders at Tomlin that is a tinder box waiting to go off. Or lose the conference championship game? Full Favre?

Yea agree with that too. This D doesn't have peak Jordan, Micah, Tre and Milano anymore. Those are big losses.

Shame. He was great. For the Bills.

Agree totally with this. Every word of it. If the argument previously has been too predictable on D this year it was too much randomness. They never had a "go to." Go back to that Ravens game week 4. Come out in their nickel base, Henry breaks a big one and they suddenly go to a 3 linebacker set despite being down to the bare bones at the postion and even worse when they hadn't played it at all the previous 3 weeks. It felt completely panicked and throw stuff at a wall. I felt like they did that a LOT on defense in 2024.

Oh I am Chiefs all the way tonight. The Eagles are the most horrible, insufferable, despisable franchise in the NFL. I cheered for the Patriots in two Superbowls. I'd cheer for Miami. I'd cheer for the Jets. Anyone. And I do mean ANYONE over the Eagles.

It wouldn't me either. But if they do, they need to spend a lot of resources on the secondary.

We need an outside receiver not a past his best scheme specific gadget guy

Right decision.

I mean... in Jacksonville he tried to force man coverage on a former 7th round pick (all season) and a 5th round rookie when Tyson Campbell was out. We saw first hand how that went vs Buffalo. If the Bills want to move to a defense that plays 40% man coverage (which would be top in the NFL btw percentage wise) they need to remake their secondary. Cos you can't do that with the guys they have.

The problem on D this year was not lack of innovation. If anything it was too much of it. Too little focus on our fudamentals too much panicking and change ups. And that IS on Babich. Of course ultimately it is on Sean but we have a defensive coordinator who majorly lacks patience (which is a serious flaw in a DC) and got so far away from what the Bills do best during the season that he couldn't get back to it when it mattered.

Found it. vs Man 12-14 for 169 1TD (plus a rushing score) vs Zone 6-11 for 76 yards (plus a rushing score) Against man he was getting the ball out in 1.7 seconds. The man coverage was a disaster. You have to have athletes to play that. We have one athelete back there in Elam and sadly he is terrible at football. Against zone take out that coverage bust by Bishop it was 5-10 for 45 yards.

This correlates much more with what I saw. Both live and watching it back. He had that big play to JuJu down the seam vs zone on the first drive where Bishop completely blew his assignment. But otherwise the Bills to my eye dealt pretty well with him in zone. They got carved when they tried to play man.

I don't but in those last 2 drives of the first half where they scored TDs he was shredding man coverage. Sure we need the ability to mix it up but we played too much man vs both KC and Baltimore IMO.

I think we might be arguing semantics in that to me "ok to decent" means basic starting level players whereas good to very good is desirable starters that would be sought after in free agency. I think we have a lot of guys who are top 15 in the league in their position: Dawkins, Brown, McGovern, Cook, Shakir, Oliver, Milano, Taron, Bernard, Benford, Rousseau (Groot probably more like 20 than top 15 but close enough). Those are all guys that would get very good contracts if they hit FA. The problem is we don't have anyone top 5 at their position except Josh Allen (maybe Taron he is right there on the borderline but slot corner low positional value). We are all in agreement that a lack of elite is a major factor holding us back.

Guys... we tried to play man coverage vs the Chiefs. We got torn apart. The Bills played more man coverage in its final two games of 2024 (Baltimore and KC) than in any two consecutive games of the McDemott era. This narrative that the problem is zone coverage has to stop. It is utter, utter, hogwash. Agree on Hamlin. Unfortunately Bishop does not play that position. He is a Rapp alternative. We still need a free safety.

Honestly I think guard is the least of their problems. Sure it was the weakest spot on offense, but I don't think that is a critical upgrade. My thoughts on Bond are he offers a vetical speed element we lack. I don't think he is a #1 receiver or anything but despite his holes we need his strengths so bad I'd live with them.

The weaker guard spot is not Edwards, it is Torrence. I don't disagree with much of your thought in terms of offensive team building but they have blown it the last two drafts IMO. This is a defense heavy draft and the worst receiver class for about a decade.

I think "spotty" is very unfair on Addison. He has put up excellent numbers despite being a #2 across from the best receiver in football and having a couple of injury concerns. 19 touchdowns in 2 years despite less that optimal QB play too.

You can play to keep plays in front of you on defense. But you need to be able to confuse or speed up the QB and you can't do that with no special players up front and no special players in the secondary. On offense I think it is just about making better decisions. Brandon Beane grew up in an organistion that didn't believe in drafting receivers high, from two GMs that didn't believe in drafting receivers high. He has to shake the Carolina philosophy. Yes I do. He was a boundary guy for Texas in 2024 and had his best season. He is a shade under 6ft so arm length measurements will decide whether he is a top 15 pick or slides some. But in a predominantly zone scheme, yep, I have zero doubts he is an outside corner. If you are more of a hybrid team that play a fair chunk of man you use him like KC use McDuffie. Outside on early downs then coming into the slot in nickel defense.

I think okay to decent is a bit harsh. I think they have a lot of good to very good players. But they definitely lack elite talent. I have been expressing this concern for as long as I can remember. At the moment there is no elite difference maker on D and there is no elite weapon for Josh. And I didn't like the Keon pick. I was pro trading up for BTJ and the year before pro trading up for Jordan Addison. Either of those would have been difference makers on this O. Keon is not.