GunnerBill

I think you are right with one exception: Spencer Brown was without question elite this season. Now there is a difference between having an elite season and "being elite". I think he needs to back it up next year to be called truly elite.

I don't think Hyde was ever elite. At his peak I think Poyer had a couple of elite level seasons. And Tre White at his peak was definitely elite. The Bills D 2020-2022 was legitimately excellent. It didn't get it done in the playoffs, that is fair. But it was a very good defense.

This is true albeit the Colts went 10-6; 2-14; 11-5. That said they went from Manning to getting Kerry Collins out of retirement and a 6th rounder Curtis Painter (who never played in the NFL again) to Luck. If that Colts team had Fitzpatrick or Tyrod level play in 2011 it would have won 6 or 7 games minimum. They didn't want to win that many. Indeed when they put Orlovsky in the last five games they went 2-3 beating two teams still in the playoff race. You can both not be satisfied with that and not want to blow it up. If the Bills only sign one free agent this offseason it should be Jevon Holland. He would be a huge safety upgrade.

Yea basically you see what I see. Twitchy, bendy, explosive all the unteachable raw abilities you want in a pass rusher but at the moment he isn't a 3 down player, especially in a 4-3 front because: he has a tendency to lose contain (not just in the run game but in his rush lanes too, I'd worry if you were playing Baltimore for example or playing against the Bills, Lamar and Josh would let him bend out round the top and escape through his gap); doesn't anchor super well and needs to add strength in his lower half and your point about hand usage is a good one - he lets OL get their hands inside onto his chest too often and when they do he doesn't always appear to have a counter move. Does worry me a tad that the reports from Senior Bowl practices have been "when he can get the edge unblockable but when he has tried to bull rush, ineffectual." There is an adjustment for him in terms of going up against legit NFL level tackles. I'd be very happy to take him for the Bills use him as a designated pass rusher for 1 or 2 years while you develop him and hopefully by late year 2 or year 3 he can be an every down guy... but he doesn't strike me as a Brandon Beane first round pick right now.

I didn't think he caught it either. But they definitely used his speed against our mediocre atheltes in the secondary vs man.

I wouldn't even say 3 steps. Have you caught the ball with 2 feet or an equivalent body part on the ground? If so, catch. If you then drop it, fumble.

Yea agree with all this and I have some sympathy for the argument that we should have held everything back in the regular season, played our standard zone and surprised them with the man looks in the playoffs rather than give them 6 weeks to gamplan to attack us in man. But the Bills were still trying to play for the 1 seed at the time. I would rather treat each game as separate and I'd have not necessarily gone back to the well with the man looks on Sunday. I do think Worthy has come on a ton the last 6 weeks of the year. His targets have gone up because his reliability has improved and his comfort in the offense has grown. But agree totally on Hamlin and Elam. And I don't want Elam on this roster in 2025. I'm in on a trade for Crosby, but I'd be in on a trade for DK too.

I don't buy that Pederson has any deeper knowledge than McDermott. He has been with him more recently, sure. But when I watch the way Doug called offense this year and the way Andy is calling offense there is very little carry over. So I'm just not sure he brings that.

It's a good Dline class this year but if I could trade my first for Max Crosby I'd seriously consider it. I think Garrett is a pipe dream. The price for him is starting at two first rounders, especially for a team like the Bills picking #30.

Yea the issue the last couple of years has NOT been lack of resources allocated to O. It has been maximising the value they have got from those resources: Kincaid, Torrence, Coleman, Samuel, Cooper.... That's a first; two seconds; a third and the biggest contract of last year's FA for the Bills. And they were among our worst performing offensive starters / regular rotational players in 2024. It isn't about spending more picks on O. It's about spending those picks better.

I agree not having Cook out there was a mistake. In fact Cook only having 13 carries when averaging 6.5 yards per carry was an error. He was our best offensive player on the day. Give him the ball. That's on Joe Brady same as the week before it was on Ben Johnson when he took it out of Gibbs's hands. End of first half and end of game are different though and I don't think one really replicates the other. End of half defenses are generally gonna play in the shell and make you go underneath a bit more. End of game when a touchdown would make you strong favourites to win the game (doesn't seal it depending on time but does make you strong favourites) teams are gonna be a bit more aggressive. I think not having a downfield threat does hurt there.

Yea, if they want a coach with a proven track record of beating Andy Reid might I recommend the fella who coaches the Bills? He has the best record going. If we want someone with a record of beating him in the playoffs then give Bruce Arians a call. Guarantee the first thing he'd do is turn to Brandon Beane and tell him his WRs are chumps and he needs to get some speed on the field for Josh.

I think both are the problem. The D definitely needs to get better in those games. I have said my piece on the gameplan in the first half on Sunday. It was different to all the other playoff games against KC and decidedly worse. If the Bills want to "man up" against them they need different personnel. Ending up with Damar Hamlin Rasul Douglas and Taron Johnson trying to compete in man defense against the speed of Worthy and Hollywood Brown is not ever going to be a winning strategy. I know we played more man against them in the first game in the regular season and it worked, but Worthy has come on a bunch since then and they didn't have Hollywood and we lost Rapp and Benford. It ended up just a bad strategy and a mismatch. But when you have an elite Quarterback and you get the ball back at the end of a playoff game with plenty of time and needing a touchdown to win you are supposed to win, or at LEAST do a 2021 and get the touchdown and then ask your defense to hang on for a very short period. When Beane said "give me the ball down 3, three minutes left to go to the superbowl and we have #17 again next year, I'd sign for it" he is right. When you have Josh Allen you should absolutely sign for that, That the Bills have failed there two years running is not good enough. I think we are all agreed that while he might not have done everything perfectly on either of those final drives the problem is not Josh Allen so you have to work out what it is. I think our total lack of threat down the football field is it. We have won since Brady took over by being a methodical offense. We sustain drives and we move the football. But in the crunch when we have to score fast our lack of true downfield options becomes an issue. And it invited the exotic blitzes from Spags. Is he as willing to send the house on 4th down if the Bills are running Brian Thomas Jnr down the field rather than Dalton Kincaid or Khalil Shakir? Maybe he would. But I'd fancy our chance of making him pay much better.

I see your point but how many older guys are OCs in the NFL right now? 14/27 currently employed OCs are aged 40 or younger. Only 5/27 are over the age of 45. Why is that the case? Two reasons: 1. The best OCs become Head Coaches and coach offense well enough to keep their jobs even when their team doesn't have top end QB talent - Reid, Shanahan, McVay. 2. Offense in the NFL is constantly changing and you can become out of date quite quickly. Pederson failed twice to fit into category #1 and is very much IMO in category #2. Ran among the least shifts and motion in the entire NFL in 2024 and the offense looked positive Jurassic in comparison to what a lot of the better offenses are running. Pederson won his Superbowl by being at the cutting edge of the RPO era going back 7 or 8 years. That is now pretty par for the course and almost everyone runs RPO as a base component of their offense and defenses have found the adjustments to the extent that it no longer looks the unstoppable weapon it once did.

I think the ball clearly hit the ground with no hand underneath it and that is where I just wish they'd simplify the rule. That is no catch. I thought there was clearly enough evidence to overturn that to be honest but introducing this "control" element which is open to interpretation confuses things.

Sean actually started as Andy's personal assistant. If there is anyone who knows how Andy Reid ticks it is Sean McDermott. Oh and of active Head Coaches in the NFL the guy with the best record against Andy Reid is also Sean McDermott.

I don't think KC won by conspiracy on Sunday. I think both the questionable calls the officials very much erred towards stay on the field. On the 4th down, being perfectly honest, I would not have overturned the call on the field either based on the video and my gut instinct at the time was he didn't make it. When I watch the video back I think he probably did make it but the ball is not in view at the critical moment it's behind someone's back so the refs would be guessing. They screwed the pooch on the Worthy catch though. That was clearly incomplete and should have been overturned. I'm not getting super mad about it though, they Bills had a hold call on that play anyway (think it was Taron Johnson) so the Chiefs were getting a new set of downs anyway even if it was 15 yards or so further back.

The NFL is a franchise model. They are all ultimately employees of the shield.

I think the league probably prefers that he keeps that detail private. He told the league he thought both calls were wrong, the league stood by them. The exact detail of that conversation can never come out well for the league, hence they are keen to avoid it.

I think he played heavier. I have seen him listed at 317lbs. That is roughly where I expect him to play at in the NFL. Somewhere between 315lbs and 320lbs which is right in the middle of the range for modern 1Ts. Indeed there are 1Ts who play at 310lbs. There are not many old school 340lbs beasts out there now and those that are generally are playing as true nose tackles in 3-4 schemes. He needs to catch the damn ball. His hands are BAD.

No, no, no. I could not disagree more. Blitzing the best QBs is an invitation to get carved up.

The last couple of years they have not drafted a ton of defense in the early rounds or spent that much on defensive FAs. They have moved their investment to offense somewhat. The issue in the draft is they have three first rounders in a row that have not played to expectations to varying degrees.

If we can get Princely at pick #56 that is an absolute steal. Love the Bryant pick too. In terms of mid round corners that suit our scheme he is #1 on the list.

I think they are both inside/outside flex guys.... as is Golden tbh. Of the three I'd describe Burden as an inside guy who can play some outside receiver and the other two as outside receivers who can play some slot (although Egbuka has played more slot for Ohio State the past two years).

He needs some help from Brandon though. Rolling this Dline and secondary out next year is not gonna do it.