GunnerBill

Yes exactly, he was. But it has poisoned his long term thinking on the position. And it is a position that DOES matter in the modern game. If you don't have 1 very good reliable corner you are the Lions. A good team that can lose to literally anybody at any moment.

Yea I love Bill but he is just wrong on corner.

Had the feeling of them loving Witherspoon so much that they had boxed themselves into "him or not a corner" but the reality is - and I said this pre-draft - there were three very good legit first round corner talents in the class and Gonzalez (pre-injury) and Joey Porter Jnr have proved me right so far. Any of those 3 would have been immediate upgrades at a premium position. Instead of a running back who is still being used primarily as their change of pace back. It isn't a knock on Gibbs. I think he can be a good player. But it is bad draft strategy. And then to compound that by spending a 2nd top 20 pick on an off the ball linebacker who isn't a coverage match up piece? Yea. Detroit had a bad day 1 even if they recovered a tad with a good day 2.

This is the strangest thread bump ever.

I just don't think he is mentally in a great space. I don't think it is football related. I don't know what it is. But his behaviour has been odd all season. And not compared to anyone else compared to him in previous years.

But just to be clear "held accountable" does not necessarily equal "fired".

Yea Gabe is gone. Whatever they do at WR2 needs to be an upgrade. Either via trade or draft.

Personally I absolutely believe Josh Allen can get better. Because I think he can be more consistent. I still feel like 2020 was his most consistent season as in game to game. I actually think it some ways he is a BETTER Quarterback now than he was in 2020, but he hasn't played as consistently. I think the majority of that is in Josh's head. His offensive line has been a legit excuse in 2021 and 2022 but while nobody is confusing the Bills 2023 Oline for the Hogs it has been an average, serviceable NFL line. I still think there is some legitimacy to the weapons point, particularly at receiver, but I think there is a tendency to overstate it. Diggs, Kincaid, Shakir and Davis isn't bottom of the barrel and James Cook has been really good as a dual purpose back. He is 4th in the league in rushing and of the 3 above him only the obvious - CMC has outperformed him as a receiver. It just comes down to Josh playing consistently. If he goes on a tear the rest of this season there is no game the Bills can't win. But I just don't know how much I trust his mental state to be able to do that. I hope the coordinator change sparks something either because Dorsey was a big part of the problem or even if he wasn't because it triggers a kind of mental reset in Josh.

He has to put up star level production. He has been very good as a rookie. He is tracking towards the upper end of my projection for him in his first year. But to call him a star at this stage would be premature. Disagree with that. W-L is a factor as are Pro Bowlers and especially All Pros selected.

I don't agree with the bolded. There is just too much randomness and luck. You can make bad decisions and get lucky. You can make all the right decisions and still come up short. The best team does not always win the Superbowl. And I can think of countless years where that is true. As for positional value at the draft I think you can take a pretty clear view on that. There is enough data over the years to support it.

The reason I am not sure that is true is I don't trust any of the 3 wildcards thar much. Particularly Steelers and Cleveland. They will both drop at least 1 they should win.

I am not on about best player available. I am on about positional value. As in position on the football field. As in "are the better?" I mean they went 8-2 the final 10 games of last season. They are 8-2 currently. I think the slow start to last season was more about their 2022 Draft class starting to get their feet underneath them. That was a transformational class.

I think this is fair - 2017 and 2018 (appreciate 2017 was not Beane) is EASILY the best two year drafting run of my Bills fandom. White, Dawkins, Milano, Allen, Edmunds, Johnson in the space of two drafts was the core of a football team for 5 years. 2019-2021 was much more average, but nowhere close to a disaster. 2022-2023 too early to make complete conclusions but certainly Cook, Kincaid and Bernard look like legit players and Benford and Torrence are at least starter level talents, Shakir might be getting there too. But my point remains Allen apart there is yet to be a "star" among them. And that is thing that stops me putting Beane in the top 5 General Manager type territory. I think back half of the top 10 feels about right.

It isn't about where mock drafters value a player. It is about the intrinsic value of certain poaitions in the modern NFL. And teams DO think about that. It is why the number of runnkng backs taken in round 1 has plummeted. In the 00s 32 round 1 running backs. In the 10s only 19. So far in the 20s (four drafts) only 5. The numbers are really clear teams overwhelmingly try and draft premium positions on day 1. That isn't coincidence. It is because those positions are the most expensive to pay. Whether in retaining your own or recruiting in FA. Fair point on Gibbs that he appears to have broken out a bit more as the season has gone on and FWIW I didn't question LaPorta in round 2 (or Brian Branch in round 2 who was the steal of the whole second round IMO). I questioned the positional value of spending 2 top 20 picks on a running back and an off the ball linebacker. I also think the Lions played the 2021 and 2022 drafts perfectly to end up with a generational offensive tackle and an excellent young edge rusher (plus a starting 1T, arguably the best slot receiver in football, a starting linebacker and a starting safety). That is without getting anything at all from Jameson Williams who was definitely a shot worth taking. And I think it is THOSE pieces that largely are responsible for their record this season. You get Sewell and Hutchinson that should be transformational for a franchise. No surprise to me that it has been. Still - taking an off the ball linebacker and a running back in round 1 was bad positional value and to pay off they need those players to be perennial all pro types at their positions.

Nope. I don't do that. I have never accused him of not putting in the off season work. I do, however, think that Josh's demenour all season has given the impression there are things off the football field going on. I thought that even after his best performance against the Dolphins when his presser was weird. I am not backing off it on the basis of one normal week. If that trend continues with Brady I will conclude something between he and Dorsey had broken down and it WAS a football thing.

That isn't an out of control reaction from Brady. I am not saying coaches can't show emotion. I am saying out of control is always a red flag. Dorsey's reaction at Miami was unhinged.

I really, really don't.

Yea they are bad looks. I have always said that about Daboll. He reigned it in most of his time here but I HATE seeing leaders in uncontrollable rages. It is just bad leadership.

Yep. It is ALWAYS the case.

I think they under used Cook last year. That is a fair criticisim. Stuck with Singlepurpose too long. Shakir wasn't ready last year. My take on him was always he had talent but he played in a gimmicky offense at Boise where spacing and route running wasn't really a priority and it would take him some time. I said I could see him establishing himself as their starting slot by the end of his rookie year. It took him a little longer, middle of year 2, and after a really worrying camp where he put himself closer to danger than he should have. But he was out there a 3rd of the offensive plays last year. He didn't get the ball because he wasn't open or in the right spot. They got the development curve right with him.

Positional value. A linebacker who struggles in coverage and a running back is bad value from two top 20 picks. I still dislike it. And neither of those players have been that good. Ed Oliver is this year. He has been elite this season.

At the time some of us were saying the booth outburst was not a good look for a leader. It was completely out of control. And out of control leadership isn't a good trait.

It is the same to me - good not great. Because my view on Beane has always been he drafts very few busts. Lots of guys who can play. His day 3 draft record is better than most of his peers and his day 1 record Kaiir Elam apart is solid despite often having late 1st round picks. The knock on Beane is that in six drafts he has found one star - Josh Allen. The next closest he has is Ed Oliver. If Kincaid, Bernard or Cook (the three best stories of the season for the Bills) can go on and reach star status it would be a sigificant step. There are 4 first team all pros on this roster who have earned that status as Bills. McDermott drafted two of them in one draft. McDermott signed one of them as an unheralded FA. Beane made a great trade for another. That remains the bit that is missing for me to go from good to "very good" or "great." Yes, the Bills being successful has meant late picks in most rounds. But the GMs in that conversation for the top tier just above Beane have managed to find 1 or 2 and not all of those have been top 10 pick types.

Cook has been really good all year. Our offense has rolled best this season when featuring James Cook.

Turnovers decide football games. The Bills in recent weeks haven't generated enough and have given too many. That switched last night and they won. I really think they have a chance to beat anyone on their schedule but the offense will have to play a clean game.