msw2112

You might be thinking of Josh FREEMAN.

How they accomplish it, I don't necessarily care, but they need a viable plan at Center. Morse is a good player and seems like a good dude, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and has a history of concussions. They have to expect that he's going to miss some games next year and that he is nearing the end of the line. If Bates is the plan, that's fine, but they need to draft some interior OL. If Bates is not the plan, they need to draft interior OL who can play center. Interior OL, WR, and Safety have to be their top 3 draft priorities, not necessarily in that order. I'm have my doubts about Poyer and Hamlin being on the roster next year and Hyde will probably be back, but is also on the wrong side of 30 and will probably miss some games. I'd like to see Poyer back, but cap-wise, and health-wise, it may not make a lot of sense.

I didn't realize that Sirianni was a "local" kid. I'm not a fan of the Philly fanbase, but I admire how this team has been managed and coached. Maybe I'll consider rooting for the Eagles in the SB after all.

Shaq Lawson, Greg Rousseau, AJ Epenesa, and Boogie Basham should be able to get pressure against an offensive line with 3 starters out. If they can't, mix in blitzes, stunts, etc. Use creativity and confusion. Do something that's not on the film. I agree that Beane and McDermott have been extremely successful and have created a great culture where free agents want to come, departing players want to return to, existing players are willing to take hometown discounts to be a part of, etc. McDermott is a great leader of men. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep McDermott and make some changes at the coordinator level to see if that can get more production out of the players you have and create some gameplans and schemes that will help the Bills compete against the top teams in the playoffs.

I wonder of player development is an issue with the Bills' staff. I realize it's a different sport, but look at the Sabres. Young guys like Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson and others were lost under coaches like Phil Housely and Ralph Kreguer. Even veterans like Jeff Skinner and Kyle Oposo were playing themselves out of the league under previous coaches, yet all of them are flourishing under Don Granato. Could players like Oliver, Epensea, Basham, Elam, etc. improve and flourish with better coaching? Or maybe they are developing fine, but the scheme the team is employing fails to take advantage of their talents? A few former Bills have succeeded in other places, such as Wyatt Teller with the Browns, Isiah Hodgins with the Giants, Ray Ray McCloud with the 49ers, etc. I even see a guy like Taylor Vallejo starting for the Cardinals, but he couldn't make the Bills roster as a backup. In making this point, I realize that the Bills are a 13-3 team and perennial playoff team, while the Sabres have not made the playoffs in more than a decade. There's a recency bias, as the Bills just lost a playoff game, but have had a lot of success over the last few years, and the Sabres are red hot right now. But if you watch other teams in the playoffs and how they perform, and how lesser teams have given the Bills very tight games this season (Miami, Jets, Detroit, etc.), you have to wonder if the Bills are maximizing what they have.

While I still prefer classy and dignified, I could see some shred of justification if one team makes a lot of inflammatory comments in the media before the game and the other team dominates them. But in a close game with questionable calls that could have gone either way, you congratulate the other team for a hard-fought battle and go enjoy your victory. I agree that Kelce looked like an idiot. He's a great player - one of the best TEs of all-time and a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he still looks like an idiot when he's screaming that stuff on national TV.

There's no question that the Bills would be better with those injured players in the lineup. And if Jordan Phillips wasn't playing with a bad shoulder. That said, the Bengals played down 3 offensive linemen and still found a way to dominate the Bills. For that matter, Miami was on its third-string QB, a late-round rookie, and hung with the Bills in January in Buffalo. And, turning to yesterday, KC's defense was not intact. They had multiple injuries on defense and most of their defensive backfield consisted of backups and rookies. The bottom line is that other teams make more adjustments to their game plans, and in-game, whether it's based on injuries, targeting an opponent's weaknesses, etc. The Bills are well behind other teams in making those kinds of adjustments.

Maybe I'm from the old school, but I still prefer teams to be classy and dignified when they win or lose, but particularly when they win. The Bengals kicked the Bills' a*$es and the result spoke for itself. No additional commentary was needed. As to the Chiefs, they barely got by the Bengals. It was a close, hard-fought battle that could have gone either way. Chances are that if the Bengals didn't make that stupid play to hit Mahomes out of bounds, there would have been a punt or missed field goal and the Bengals would have gotten the ball back with an opportunity to win. The Chiefs certainly did not dominate the Bengals or stand out as a superior team. They also benefitted from some poor officiating. There were significant injuries on both sides, but in the end, the teams were very evenly matched. The Chiefs should be happy that they won the game and are entitled to celebrate their victory, but they should not be trolling an opponent who they barely squeezed by.

Maybe Hodgins becomes Wyatt Teller 2.0. We'll see. He certainly played well for the Giants this season.

I (respectfully) disagree with the premise of the OP. I don't think the Bills played uninspired, passionless football or that they were out of gas. I think that the Bengals were the better team. They had better gameplans on both sides of the ball that played to their strenghts and the Bills' weaknesses. The Bills seemed to just do what they always do, and didn't tailor the gameplan to the Bengals' weaknesses. Or perhaps, the Bengals were so strong that the Bills staff were not able to find any weaknesses to exploit....In any case, doing what they always do is good enough to beat the Jets, Patriots, Browns, Lions, and Dolphins (although not by large margins), but is not good enough to beat a team as good as Cincinnati. I don't think the Bills roster is as bad as some on this board are making it out to be this week. Yes, they need to improve some areas, but there's no reason they can't be a contender next year (a top-10 or top-5 team) with this roster and a few tweaks. I do believe that the coaching needs to be better if they want to get to, and win, the Super Bowl (a top-2 or top-1 team). Whether that means staff changes or the existing staff taking a long, hard look at what they are doing, I'm not sure. I'd probably lean towards bringing in some fresh ideas from the outside.

The best players should be on the field, regardless of how long they've been in the league. I believe that McDermott holds rookies back because he doesn't trust them, even if they have more talent than veteran players. It may also have something to do with his loyalty to the veteran guys. Shakir should have been playing ahead of McKenzie and Elam should have been playing ahead of Dane Jackson. I'm a big University of Michigan fan and Jim Harbaugh did the same thing for years - freshmen rarely saw the field - and the team struggled. The last couple of years, Harbaugh changed his philosopy and started playing a lot of the talented freshmen (Mason Graham, Colston Loveland, Will Johnson, as examples), and the team won the Big10 twice, making the college football playoff (despite crapping the bed in the playoff). Obviously, there were other factors too, but I believe this to be one of the key reasons that Michigan has improved the last couple of seasons. The bottom line, again, is that the best players should be playing.

Because the Bills' offense has been very effective, and one of the best in the league, the last couple of years and up to late October this year. The 2nd half of this season, things have dropped off, and it was too late to make any moves of significance to address it. I wouldn't call signing Beasley and Brown off the street moves of significance. Clearly, some changes need to be made, but let's not forget that the Bills have won 10, 13, 11, and 13 games over the last 4 seasons and have won 4 playoff games over that time period. They also have won 3 division titles in the last 3 years. The Bengals, as of right now, are a better team than the Bills and it showed on Sunday. With a few tweaks, the Bills can be right back in the conversation. I think that some fresh thinking schematically, particularly on defense, would help tremendously. As has been said above, the Bills don't vary their defense scheme very much and other teams know how to prepare for it and take advantage of it, particularly good team. The Bills' offensive schemes, this year in particular, also left a lot to be desired. They needed more slants, screens, etc. - get the ball out quickly to neutralize the pass rush.

That makes sense and I see where you were coming from on this. I would respectfully disagree, however. Pegula has changed coaches and GMs several times with the Sabres and Bills. He has invested to give his teams great facilities. He signed off on his teams signing big-time free agents like Tayor Hall for the Sabres (which was a major flop) and Von Miller. I think he wants to win just as badly as Jerry Jones, but I think he prefers to stay out of the media spotlight. Jones thrives on being a big media personality. I don't think Pegula is that kind of guy.

I hate Dallas and Jerry Jones, but they held on to Jason Garrett for quite a long time. I guess we'll see about McCarthy.

I see three reasons for the Jests to hire Hackett: 1. He's related to Paul Hackett 2. He's experienced 3. Most importantly, he's available

I hope they hire him. A very Jetsy move. Remember when we used to refer to those types of things as Billsy moves? I don't miss those days.

In the media, the Bills and Chiefs have been portrayed as the favorites, last year and this year, despite the Bengals being the ones who beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead and represented the AFC in the Super Bowl. That's why the Bengals have the perceived chip on their shoulder and the Bills do not. The Bills were pretty much everyone's preseason favorite.

Coaching matters. Staley's mismanagement of the Chargers is criminal. If I was a Chargers fan, I would be really pissed that the talent they have is not even close to being maximized. Look at JAX and Trevor Lawrence - what a difference one year makes going from pathetic Urban Meyer to a highly competenet, proven NFL coach like Pederson. While it made sense for the Eagles to move on at the time, and they have found a very good new coach, Pedersen's success with the Jags shows that his Super Bowl with with Philly was not an accident.

I have a hard time seeing the Ravens beating the Bengals. The Bengals are on fire and the Ravens will most likely be playing with their 2nd or 3rd string QB. Even if Lamar Jackson was playing, the Bengals would still be favored. I could see KC being upset by the Chargers (or less likely, but possibly Jax). KC has been beaten by some good teams (Bills, Bengals) and has strugged with some bad ones (Houston, Denver). Based on their recent track records, plus how they played against the Bills in the first 1/2 quarter in the cancelled game, and the fact that they made it to the SB last year and were very competitive with the Rams, I believe that the Bengals are the biggest obstacle to the Bills getting through the AFC.

Total Stats: Allen, Passing, 18/34, 205 yards, 0 TD, 2 Int; Rushing, 9 carries, 86 yards, 2 TD Wilson, Passing 18/25, 154 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int; Rushing, 5 carries, 24 yards, 0 TD Aside from the stats above, I watched the game. Wilson made a lot of timely completions when they were needed. Allen had a bad game and his 2 picks were extremely costly to the Bills. I don't know if Wilson outplayed Allen (it's a subjective opinion), but in my opinion, Wilson made more plays at the time his team needed them. I don't think it's laughable ("lol") for someone to have the opinion that Wilson outplayed Allen. I personally think that Wilson had a better game than Allen that day. And I think that Allen is one of the top players in the NFL who will someday be in the Hall of Fame, whereas I think that Wilson will be out of football within the next couple years, chasing MILFs with all of the free time he's going to have. It just wasn't Allen's best day.

The point of the post was to say that they have NOT regressed, despite the appearance that they have. They beat the Patroits in January 2022 by 30 points, scoring on every possession (in a playoff game). They only beat the Patriots in January 2023 by 12 points (in an important regular season game), with a number of punts and turnovers. I'm not going back to look at the numbers on these, but it's safe to say that they beat the Jets and Dolphins a whole lot more comfortably last season than this season. So they appear to have regressed, but overall, it's more accurate to say that the other teams have improved and not that the Bills have regressed. Perhaps they will benefit in the playoffs from having learned how to win close games, and having learned how to win against more challenging opponents.

Having seen the Bills perform at peak levels like the Patroits' playoff game last year makes me feel like they are not playing to their potential. The reality is that the competition is stronger. The Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, Lions, and Vikings are all much stronger than they were last season and all outperformed their projections this year. There is also a lot more parity in the league - perhaps not in terms of record, but in terms of week-to-week competitiveness. Houston took the Chiefs to OT. Indy took the Eagles to the final seconds. The Patroits took the Bengals down the final minute. The Raiders took the 49ers to OT. And so on. There are not many easy outs this season. That, combined with the Bills' injuries, particularly on defense, makes it look like the Bills have regressed. Perhaps they really haven't and the league and the Bills schedule is just more difficult than last year. So I feel uneasy going into the playoffs, as, again, it feels like the Bills are not firing on all cylanders. But again, in reality, they have as good a chance as any team to get to and win the Super Bowl. There probably won't be many blowouts in the playoffs, but I'll happily take close wins if that's what gets the job done.

This is a difficult situation where nobody is the winner. A co-worker of mine is a Chiefs fan and he is upset because the Chiefs might end up being denied the right to host the AFCCG, which he and I have previously agreed was a huge advantage for getting to the Super Bowl. I'm a huge Bills fan and want them to have the #1 seed, bye, home field, etc., but trying to be objective, this outcome may benefit the Bills. Prior to the Hamlin injury, the Bengals were leading the game and were driving towards a 2nd score. While I realize the Bills have come back many times this season, the game was tilting in the Bengals favor, and the Bengals passing game was moving down the field at will. Without Micah Hyde, Benford being out, Poyer being banged up, and Tre White less than 100%, the Bills' secondary was struggling. I don't think it would be a stretch to day that the Bengals were in a good position to win that game. If they did, and the Chiefs beat the Raiders this upcoming weekend, the Bills would have fallen to the 3rd seed and would have had to go to Cincy or KC for the AFCCG, if those teams advanced that far. Now, if the Bills have to play one of these two teams in the AFCCG, it's on a neutral field, which is a more advantageous outcome. While I often disagree with Roger Goodell, he made the comment that nobody is going to be happy about the solution, but an attempt is being made to be fair to all of the teams involved, and I agree with that. I might feel differently if it was the Bills who had taken the ball, stormed down the field to a quick TD, held the opponent to 3 points, then was marching down the field again, with the home crowd behind it, but that's not what happened. A strong argument can be made that if the Raiders upset the Chiefs on Sunday, that it's the Bengals who got screwed out of the opportunity. Baltimore may also get screwed. They could beat the Bengals for a 2nd time this season and have to go to Cincy in the playoffs based on a coin flip. So again, as stated in the first line above, nobody is a winner.

I'm not a McDaniel fan, but I have to admit that I think he has done a pretty good job with the Miami team this year. The recent losing streak shouldn't be cause to fire him. They have lost several close games against good opponents, with a concussed QB. I would only hope that they DO fire him so that the dysfunction in South Florida can continue, rather than the Dolphins closing the gap on the Bills. I'm not that concerend about a Brady/Payton thing. Brady is going to be what, 46? He's still better than some QBs, but I no longer see him as a huge threat. I'm also not too concerned about Payton. Yes, he's a proven successful NFL head coach, but it's not like they were in the SB every year. He had a HOF QB in Drew Brees and a good roster. How much success did he have without Brees, or without Brees in his prime?

The Damar situation is a freak thing that could happen at any time. You could be a spectator at a baseball game and take a line drive right in the exact spot and have the same thing happen. You could also be rear ended at a stoplight and have your body hit the steering wheel at the exact same spot. Or fall off a bicycle and land in the wrong way and hit that spot. So I would not let the Hamlin injury stop me from letting my kids play. That said, the head injuries, spinal injuries, etc. WOULD influence my decision. And it would be a difficult one. I played in HS and loved it. Decades later, I still have very fond memories of playing. It also was very good for me at the time - helped me stay in shape, be diciplined, manage my time, face adversity, work as part of a team, build friendships with guys I didn't know that well, etc. I have daughters, so it's not a choice I have to make. That said, my wife doesn't want our daughters playing soccer because of concussions from heading the ball. Instead,it's swimming and basketball. A poorly executed dive into the pool, a fall and hitting of her head on the hardwood, etc. could also cause a serious or even fatal injury, so nothing in life is truly safe.