GunnerBill

But the Bills have beat them 2 of the past 3 and we all know it should be 3/3. I see where he is coming from. I certainly respect the Chiefs and I think if every team plays their best on a given day the Chiefs are the best team in the AFC. But I think the point he is making which is the Bills have proven they can match up and go toe to toe with KC but haven't proven that with Cincy is fair. Reasonable to wonder if that is a worse match up for Buffalo.

When Lamar plays Baltimore generally beats Cincy. It's a matchup think their strengths tend to play into Cincy's weaknesses and vice versa. I also think Cleveland and Pittsburgh are improved teams. I do expect Cincy to make the playoffs.... but that division is even tougher than ours IMO.

Yea he would be a PS addition. Even Wilson the young kid on the PS at TE is not really a blocker. Having someone who can fulfil that role somewhere makes sense.

They still have a decent OLine if they stay healthy, Stafford, Kupp, Higbee, Donald and two good safeties. I am not arguing they are good. There are definite weak spots on the roster but bad enough to be in the running for #1 overall? I mean without really trying to tank I am not sure I see it.

It won't. 'Cos he isn't.

I agree on OL and run game. I disagree on Toney. He is very very meh.

FB dive with Frank "the tank" Summers.

The Chiefs offensive weaponary Thursday if Kelce doesn't play will be as bad as anything the Bills have fielded since 2018. He is literally the difference between them and "Robert Foster looks okay"

He sucks anyway. I'd play Onwenu at right tackle and give the UCLA kid they drafted a shot at guard.

Yea I'd avoid both of those restructures and a DaQuan Jones extension like the plague if it were me. All three of those players should be left in a position where the Bills can move on after this season if they wish. If Tre looks like the old Tre through 6 weeks and they want to do it just before the trade deadline to allow them to bring someone in, fair enough. But doing it now.... not for me.

The 53 has to be under the cap as of last week. This week the PS counts.

People keep talking about the Rams tanking. Are they really going to tank? I dunno just feels like that team is still too talented to really suck badly enough to get the #1 overall pick.

I don't know for sure. I believe he does. I personally have never thought that was likely. Going back to the very first time he was linked with HC roles during his time in Buffalo. A low-key personality, who coaches the defensive side of the ball, is in his late 50s / now 60s and has been a HC previously with only one playoff appearance and winning season in 3 years.... that isn't an attractive HC hire.

Always enjoy the ride. It's the climb. I have just watched the Urban Meyer / Florida Gators doc on Netflix. The thing that really stood out to me is his candid view on how anti-climactic the winning felt. I totally empathise with that. I was there as a soccer coach as well. The moment of joy in the winning was fleeting. The real joy is in the building, in the fighting, in the working, in the hoping. It's the climb.

He did step away. It was his decision not to coach in 2023. I know that for a fact. What Brandon Beane said is exactly what I have heard from another source that the way it went down was when they took a break at the end of February after they had done all the reviews of last season and the self-scouting but before coaches were about to throw themselves into their personnel work pre-FA and the draft, Leslie came back and said he didn't want to coach in 2023. His intention was to step away for a year. While neither side have ruled out him returning to Buffalo in 2024 the Bills have been very careful not to commit to that. Personally I'd be shocked if he is back in Buffalo. If he coaches in the NFL again it will be as a defensive coordinator either for a team where the defense is at risk of costs an offensive HC is job and they need to make a change or as a defensive coordinator for a newly appointed offensive head coach. And I repeat what I said before, of he wants to be a DC again, he will not be lacking in interest.

Because he decided to step away. I think likely after McDermott decided he wanted more involvement in playcalling. Which in turn I think happened because McDermott was feeling a bit of heat after the total team no-show in the playoffs against Cincy and because I do think there is some truth to the predictability point I made earlier in the thread. I can't think of many teams that have the same DC and the same defensive core of 6 or 7 players for 5 or 6 seasons in the NFL. Might have to go back to LeBeau and the 00s Steelers for that. Teams do get a beat on what you do and it is harder to stay fresh and unpredictable. But to have the 6th ranked defensive in the NFL last year with all the injuries the Bills faced on that side of the ball was still an excellent coaching job and does not suggest a man whose time in the NFL has "come and gone" even if there is an argument to say after that length of time a change in Buffalo might have been due (call me still not persuaded on that point... though obviously I see the argument).

What is your evidence for that other than his final game? Because despite all the Bills injuries in 2022 this guy whose time has gone coordinated the 6th ranked defense in the NFL.

Apart from all the top 10 defenses he has coordinated. If you ignore all the noteworthy positives then he definitely has no noteworthy positives....

He is exactly the type of pick a young OC hotshot trying to get hired to a HC goes for. They tend to go for an experienced hand on the tiller at DC. Daboll went for Wink. McVay went for Wade. Shane Steichen just hired Gus Bradley. Do I expect him to have success? That's really hard to say because "success" depends so much on the situation and the players. Players are more important than coaches. They are more determinative of whether an offense / defense / team is successful or not. But do I expect Leslie Frazier to do a good job where he goes and maximise what he has? Yes, because he is a good football coach and because that is his record. He has had a top 10 defense in 8 of his 14 seasons as a Defensive Coordinator in the league.

You think that is how NFL teams think? Screw 30 years of history that 1 game defines him? Of course they don't. If Leslie wants a DC job he will have one. If he only wants to return as a HC then he is done in the NFL.

If Leslie Frazier wants to be a DC in the NFL in 2024 he will have plenty of offers, yes.

It is that they didn't play poorly because they largely kept the Colts infront of them, stopped them when they needed to and ultimately held a good offense below its seasonal average. Had a few critical moments in the game gone the other way then of course I might look back on it differently. That is the nature of sport. In the KC Divisional Round game the Bills had a 3rd down on the Chiefs penultimate drive (the one where Hill scored the long touchdown). If the Bills stop them there they likely run out the clock, win holding the high powered Kansas City Chiefs to 26 in a home playoff game. Does anyone then say the defense was terrible that day? But they didn't. And they gave up 42 points. That is the fact. So you have to judge what actually happened not an alternate reality where plays that the Bills made weren't made or plays that the Colts didn't make were made, or vice versa in the Chiefs game. 90% of professional level sporting contests have 2 or 3 critical moments in a game that if they go the other way change the complexiton, the outcome and the long range perspective. Yesterday if Alejandro Garnacho was 1 inch further back Manchester United win away at Arsenal for the first time in 6 years and are above them in the league. But he wasn't. Goal not given. Arsenal go down the other end and score and win. Today their manager's negative gameplan is panned. It very nearly worked. But it didn't. That is sport. We can only deal with the realities of what did happen. Counter factuals don't move the needle.

I mean 2018 was kinda his fault.... we might have lost anyway but he started Nathan freaking Peterman.

What substantive points did you want to the question "if different things had happened would your opinion be different?" Seriously.

Well of course if different things had happened the overall outcome would have been different. Jesus your argument isn't just falling apart it is nearing insanity.