HappyDays

Curious what gameplan you would have preferred?

I don't think there was another approach. I have watched the all-22 and nothing was available other than check downs and Allen runs for like 80% of the game. We tried dialing up deep shots. A mixture of good work by KC capping routes, poor vertical separation, and drops led to us capitalizing on zero deep passes. Diggs and Sherfield were both brutal in this game. There aren't a lot of offensive gameplans than can make up for JAG play from every outside WR on the roster. As usual in the playoffs we were flat out out-coached on the defensive side of the ball. Our offense did what it could with what was available. The much bigger issue was that our defense didn't even come close to matching KC's performance. The degree of difficulty between Allen's and Mahomes' jobs in this game was as wide as it's ever been in their matchups.

Alternatively you could say that situational awareness for Brady should have been not leaving Chris Jones 1v1 on a designed shot play. It's weird that nobody even brings this up. Brady called a very good game. But those minor details that win championships are still lacking.

We're going to lose the best positional coach on our staff if McDermott isn't willing to name him DC.

Big ticket players should also recognize that their silence can become the narrative. For a player like Diggs in particular with a whole history of weird media stunts, he knows better than this. It's frustrating for sure. If Diggs is always reserved in public situations that's a different story. Then him skipping the post game interview is business as usual, no one bats an eye. But when he's been shown on camera lambasting his QB on the sideline, or posting stupid cryptic tweets, or creating a public spectacle on day one of training camp, he doesn't also get to have the luxury of sitting out a media appearance after a bad game without people rightly asking questions about his behavior. I'm really not looking forward to this offseason at all. I have no idea how Diggs is going to behave. We're asking the same questions about the coaching staff that we were after last year's divisional loss. We are likely going to lose several players that were the core of the team over the past few years which means our cap space will be spent on like for like replacements instead of truly impactful additions. Bleh.

I really want to like Leggett because I am big on size/speed traits for WRs. I could see a path to him becoming the next AJ Brown. I am just immediately turned off when I see 5th year senior with one year of production. It makes me concerned that he is just big boy-ing younger less developed players and that none of it will translate to the pros. It's the kind of player I would want to know how he does in interviews and private workouts. He is a big swing but I see the massive upside.

I can see the concern about his frame, that is just not something I personally worry about. People criticized Devonta Smith over his frame. I think NFL strength and conditioning can help him fill out a bit, and more importantly his other athletic traits more than make up for it. I don't expect him to be a great contested catch WR and that isn't what you draft him to be. Just separate and then catch the ball when it hits him in the hands. That is all I want out of our next WR investment. I remember identical highlight videos for N'Keal Harry. Just isn't my kind of WR personally. I want separation first and foremost.

I am immediately wary of any WR prospect where his best trait is "contested catch specialist." That is a red flag. My first question is, why are you facing so many contested catches against college coverage? The coverage is going to get much much tougher in the pros and the contested catches don't come as easy. I can't remember the last "contested catch specialist" that worked out in the NFL.

Spent the last hour reading scouting reports and watching highlight videos of some of the suggestions in this thread (yes I know this is an extremely limited way of researching prospects). All of them left something to be desired. After the obvious top 3 of Harrison, Nabers, and Odunze, everyone else seemed like a round 2 or lower prospect to me. And then I got to Troy Franklin. He has immediately become my draft crush (last year my drash crush was Kincaid so that worked out perfectly for me). What am I missing here? He has the kind of vertical speed that makes it impossible to overthrow him. He has a knack for turning his leverage at the catch point into YAC. He appears to be able to run more than just go routes. He looks competitive out there and looks like he truly loves to play the game which means something. Plus he is 6'3 unlike a lot of these speedy WR prospects we see year after year. Seems like a perfect fit for Josh Allen. Maybe not capable of becoming a true alpha #1 but elite speed means so much in the modern NFL and it's slim pickings at the bottom of the 1st no matter what.

I assume the statistic referred to the Super Bowl but maybe not.

If true, the 3rd one would be Mahomes in the 2018 season. The Chiefs defense was brutally bad that year and lost to the Pats in the AFCCG because Dee Ford went Offside effectively ending the game. Their solution? They immediately fired their DC at the time, Bob Sutton, after that loss. They hired Steve Spagnuolo and the rest is history. If the Bills were to copy their solution, well...

@BADOLBILZ is that your voice I hear

This is the most insane couldn't possibly be true fact that I've ever seen. Tells you everything you need to know about this business.

I know it won't happen, but I can't stop thinking about how amazing it would be to get the Twitter notification that Terry Pegula has made the difficult decision to relieve Sean McDermott of his duties. That is the one thing that would give me real hope for the future. As of right now I have no hope for next year. I'll watch and enjoy Josh Allen play football like I always do but I already know deep down nothing will come of it under this regime.

I 100% agree that McDermott is Schottenheimer/Turner 2.0.

Last night the better QB lost. I guess you could say on Christmas Day that Aiden O'Connell was a better QB than Mahomes. Or you can be honest about the evaluation and think beyond kindergarten logic.

So you're going to make the argument that the QB is literally the only person on the offense responsible for what happens on offense? That's fine if you want to make that argument. But it's as wrong as 1+1=3.

Thank you for pointing out that the Bills defense was utter trash and the Bills skill players played substantially worse than their counterparts on the Chiefs. Like I said, Allen slightly edged out Mahomes' own play. There's no other explanation for why one offense and defense and special teams performing much better than the other should only win by 3 points. Only a superior QB could have that kind of equalizing effect.

I'm getting angrier at McDermott and Beane the more analysis that I read today. The only reason Allen is not talked about at the level of Mahomes is because of mistakes made by those two guys that have led to multiple devastating playoff losses. It's now two playoff games where Allen slightly edged out Mahomes' own great play, and still ended up losing at the end. It makes me sick to my stomach that the same people in charge of these failures are still going to be in charge next year.

Perfect read from Allen. Chris Jones made the play. That's it.

Don't screw this up, Beane.

Don't overthink it, Beane.

The adjustments they landed on that ultimately worked are things that should have been in the initial game plan. That's my point. I respect that you understand the details and nuances of the game as well as anybody else on here... But putting all the details aside, aren't you just sick of having this same conversation every year? It is uncanny how the defense melts down every single year in a playoff loss. We can argue over the reasons why but at the end of the day this is a results based business... And the results from our defensive head coach are simply not good enough. 8.5 yards per play... There is no excusing that. Not in year 4 of the playoffs under the same coaching staff.

Excluding kneeldowns we gave up 8.5 yards per play... 3 yards per play more than what the Chiefs offense averaged all season... That is quite possibly the worst playoff defensive performance of McDermott's career. It is getting worse, not better. The only reason the Chiefs didn't put up 40+ is that we controlled the ball and TOP on offense, and we got saved once by the dumbest rule in sports. And this is likely to be the weakest Chiefs offense we ever see in the Mahomes/Reid era. So what is the reason to be optimistic that McDermott will suddenly figure it out against this team when it counts?