GunnerBill

I can't tell you what I will think in a year's time because it isn't based on a gut feeling it is based on an honest assessment of what has happened.

I don't know the answer to that question.

The only one on that list who was ever a top 5 back was Ray Rice. Cook is better than most of that list.

When was the last Superbowl winner with a top 5 back? It certainly hasn't been a common feature the last 15 years.

I am a bit behind this year but I made a proper start last week. I dunno maybe subconsciously I expected to be onto the draft by today.

Get out of here with your sensible, mature reflections! There are pitchforks for sale!

Possibly. But I won't just follow the crowd I always asses what I see. I'd have fired him if he missed the playoffs this year. That would have been a major underachivement. Losing by 3 points to Patrick Mahomes in a game where the Bills were depleted and where I don't think coaching was the in the top 3 reasons for the loss isn't. I get those who go for the "at some point you just have to blow it up even if you can't pin it all on coaching" argument. But I am not there yet. I don't think he is beyond criticism. But I think generally among all sports fan bases the tendency is to over blame coaching and under blame player performance and execution.

Fair. I mean regime not staff.

Comfortably top 10.

I am sick of losing, losing sucks. And if I honestly believed the way to stop the losing was to fire the coaching staff I would be all over firing them. I was all over firing Chan. I was all over firing Rex.... indeed I was the first one driving that bandwagon. I don't think firing this staff is the answer to stopping the losing.

I think Cook is fine. His hands are good everywhere else. So I think the redzone drops are him taking his eye off the catch because he is already looking for the line. I think that is concentration and correctable.

There are two distinct branches of the WCO in the NFL now. There is the Reid branch - which is a heavy shotgun spread variant of the WCO and there is the Shanahan branch - which is primarily an under center WCO off the stretch zone. The first has a lot more freedom for the QB. The second is much more of a straightjacket offense which really relies on the QB painting by numbers.

I don't dispute that Klein was a weakness. He was. I knew he would be. But I know Williams would have been too, for different reasons. But I don't necessarily look at last night and say the gameplan was the big issue on defense. We had a busted coverage from two all pros (we average about 2 of those per season, sucks that one came last night) and other than that the Chiefs just relentlessly attacked our known weakness. They didn't sit all night in soft zone. They mixed in a fair bit of man, even early on, they tried in the 3rd Quarter sending guys (I wasn't a fan of that plan) before they then got to the Siran option. I'd have preferred to go to Siran before the blitzing model. The defense was bad last night. Could they have done some different things? Sure, they could. But they did try and adjust and I think the main issue was the talent deficiency at linebacker.

I saw Williams line up in the wrong place again too. He can run and hit but he has no idea where he should be or what he should be doing. I actually think @boyst is on to something with the use of Siran Neal earlier point. They only brought Siran in on some plays in the 4th Quarter. Leslie used him successfully against KC previously and I think that is an adjustment that they could have gone to sooner. That is the only thing I have read so far in terms of a "what could they have done differently on defence?" that I think there is merit in. They could have gone to that sooner. I am not persuaded that Williams was the answer. He solves one problem and gives you another.

Allen Oliver Kincaid

Yep that was on Josh and the communication in the huddle. Someone didn't get the call.

I think we'd have struggled with the linebacker situation. Again they are a middle of the field attack team.

But it wasn't missing guys in the middle that plays right into the Chiefs strengths. It is about matchups. Their two best offensive players this year - Kelce and Pacheco - operate exactly in the area the Bills were shorn of talent.

Xavier Legette, Wide Receiver, South Carolina But I'd definitely live with this outcome too.

They have made a few, but it isn't necessarily our stock in trade. My concern is less the contested catches..... it is the lack of vertical separation. That is the biggest issue.

If Beane needs Brady to tell him his WR room needs major work then we need a new general manager. Gabe was a great 4th round pick. Shakir is looking like a great 5th round pick. But the true difference makers at WR rarely come from day 3. He needs to spend major assets on drafting receivers.

Yep. The lack of separation downfield has been a big issue. We can get people open on rubs and crossers and the middle of the field stuff but we can't separate vertically. Personnel wise it is the #1 issue on this football team. Over the course of the year some of it has also been on Josh - his accuracy on deep shots has not been good enough. But all three deeper balls last night were thrown right where they needed to be and Sherfield x2 and Diggs couldn't come up with them. I don't think Brady is only running and dinking and dunking because he wants to. I think he is doing it because the second half of the year especially Cook, Kincaid and Shakir have been our three best offensive weapons. And while they are all good young players other than the occasional seam route for Kincaid they are going to be small ball players for the most part. They are not guys who are going to make plays regularly 25 yards down the field.

I feel more sanguine than the last two years. We gave it away two years ago. We never turned up last year. This year we played in a really high quality football game against a really high quality opponent and it came down to one or two plays at the end and we just couldn't execute to make one more play than they did. It sucks. But the sky is not falling. I feel better heading into this offseason than I did heading into the last one. There are numerous young players who have stood up and been counted this year who are going to be part of the Josh Allen era 2.0 core: Bernard, Cook, Kincaid, Shakir, Benford. We had our best offensive line arguably of the Allen era and those guys will all be back I would think. Ed Oliver emerged from nearly man to true difference maker. Sure, there are some big questions to answer to - what happens with some of the older guys on good contracts: White, Von Miller, Douglas, Poyer and even Stef. And there are some of the older FAs: Floyd, Hyde, Jones to consider. But overall this team has started on its transition path. Find another player or two in the draft and FA and let's go from there.

I think the reason for our offensive struggles go back to Brandon Beane above anybody else.

I thought Brady called a good game last night. Sure there is always one or two playcalls here and there you want back, newflash, Andy Reid had a couple of those too - like running a gimmick play at the goalline when Pacheco had rumbled his way in mere moments before. I don't think the execution issues on the final drive were on Brady. I mostly liked the calls. What we need is explosiveness outside. That is a desperate need. It was a need last offseason when Gabe was healthy and Stef was coming off a huge year. It is an even bigger need with Gabe hurt and out of contract and Stef nicked up and underperforming down the stretch.