transplantbillsfan

It's not

This takes the sting away a little bit. Now go get your Super Bowl Josh... you deserve it more than Bills fans do. You've bled, cried, put your body on the line, played with a broken hand/sprained UCL, etc. You're the Iron Man of the NFL and embody WNY. You got your belated but much deserved recognition and are etched in as a 1st ballot HOFer. Now go get the Trophy!!!

Talk about irony

I love Bruce Nolan's breakdown of tiers of "dudeness" ("A" , "The", "That") in his show today and would encourage everyone to listen because he also has a really interesting explanation of why OL and DBs don't count because they are in "link systems." If Bills fans don't listen to this show every week (it only comes out once a week on Thursdays), they should.

Keon was on pace for about 800 yards before he got injured.

Well what's a discounted rate to you? Anyone saying veteran minimum just doesn't want him at all. I think $8-$10m AAV would be fair and realistic for both sides.

No... he turns 31 on June 17th. Cooper has an unbelievable work ethic that's been widely covered by his previous coaches. I still think he has a few more productive years left. Plenty of WRs have been very good into their mid 30s and Cooper is still just in his early 30s.

Keon was on pace for about 800 yards before he got injured in the 2nd Dolphins game. That's a good rookie season. That's a Gabe Davis year 3 and year 4 season. Ummmm.... 82 catches for 1147 yards and 7 TDs is a GREAT rookie WR season... maybe historically great. You have ridiculous expectations if that's what you think a rookie WR should get.

Yes the injury is w n at I reference in the post and it's really what made me think getting the band back together would be a good idea. He just had 1250 yards last year with Cleveland QBs throwing to him so there was no evidence of decline at that point. He's also a Pro's Pro and might be helpful for Keon this offseason.

Sounds like someone who will also command the ball. Allen is too much of a People pleaser. Amari had the perfect attitude. The guy had 1250 yards in 15 games with an ADOT of over 14 yards in 2023. Keep Cooper if the price is less than $10m AAV I see that you're one of those folks who reads the title and nothing else.

and focus on Defense almost entirely. UFAs: Amari Cooper, Reggie Gilliam, Ty Johnson Over a week to reflect on that loss and the personell on our team is pretty clearly lacking on Defense, not offense. OL: 100% set. I don't even see a single OL from the 53 man roster who won't be on there again next year. For all the criticism Beane has been getting, applaud him for a pretty awesome OL... both starters and depth. QB: obviously it's JA17 and who cares other than maybe money and who gives him the best vibes. TE: set. Knox and Kincaid are pretty much roster locks. Morris and Davidson can fight it out for TE3 even though it'll probably be Morris. RB: obviously Cook and Davis. Team loves Gilliam so I assume they're going to work something out. Ty Johnson is the wildcard. He was honestly really good this year and might be the only offensive player we're going to see leave. I do think Ray Davis has a similar skillset and if he absorbed anything from Ty, I hope it's pass blocking. Hope Cook absorbed that, too. (Side note: extend Cook and create an offense that is Cook-centric in BOTH the run and pass game the way Thurm was in the 90s) Wide Receiver: Here's the one everyone is up in arms about, but after McBeane's presser I feel differently. Shakir is great and I hope Beane finds a way to lock him up long term on a deal good for both sides. He's obviously Josh's favorite target and they have great chemistry that can grow. Samuel is on the team, contractually. He flashed when he was healthy. If he can stay healthy, he has great separation skills and speed. Coleman is on the team, obviously. Good rookie season and getting better up til he got hurt. Then we all heard McBeane's comments. They had their exit interview and told Keon what they needed to. Work hard in the offseason (with the next 2 dudes) Keon. Mack Hollins seems like a guy who isn't chasing money. Sign him, please. Awesome special teamer who legitimately plays the WR position well and has awesome perspective for the other guys. Amari Cooper is the most controversial, but I think we should keep him. He was playing with a wrist injured enough that doctors said he could use surgery. First thing about him is his attitude. He's the anti-WR... just listen to his interviews. And he seems to love Buffalo. I heard someone say he's estimated at $15m per year? That's too much. I also doubt that's reality. I could see us re-signing him to a 2 year $18-$20 million deal and I'd be good with that. In the 90s Buffalo traded for a #2 WR who was 33 years old and that worked out pretty well. I think a healthy Amari Cooper with a full offseason with Buffalo would make for a much improved WR corps on its own. At that point, it's playcalling not personell. It's on you Brady! GO BILLS!!!

Yes... a bad staff and meh roster just won 13 regular season games and 2 playoff games and lost by 3 points in their final game.

I think we would all take Josh Allen in a postseason game against someone other than Patrick Mahomes

Wanna know the hardest part of this offseason for me? This offseason we have to pretty definitively resign ourselves to the fact that Allen will never be considered a better QB than Mahomes. I'm sure a lot of people reached that point in previous offseasons, but at this point in their careers Allen isn't making Super Bowls and winning 3 or 4 of them while Mahomes doesn't make any. The best we can hope for is that Allen becomes the Peyton Manning / Big Ben to Mahomes as Tom Brady. I understand most would accuse me of putting the cart in front of the horse, but I still firmly believe Allen will hoist a Lombardi as a Buffalo Bill. I just used to think it would be more than 1... now it's just a hope. I know that was a tangent... but I spend too much time listening to a variety of national sports shows as podcasts and what not inthe offseason and I'm sick of the "Mahomes is the best QB I've ever s÷n" talk mainly because it's true in a time when we have a QB who might have been talked about as that guy if he weren't playing at the same time. I will surf in the offseason. A lot.

How many of those teams had future 1st ballot HOF QBs in their prime? I see Marv with Jimbo and Reeves with Elway. Both of those guys at least made it to multiple Super Bowls with that QB. Reeves even coached Vick and the Falcons to a Super Bowl. Wyche coached Boomer Esaison (not a HOFer) to a Super Bowl. Rivera coached Newton to a Super Bowl. John Foxx coached Jake Delhomme to a Super Bowl. History would be on the side of still getting there. And we wouldn't be playing the Chiefs for the Trophy in that game...

I take it you're one of those in the "fire everyone and tear everything down!!!" boat then? Joe Brady is 35 years old and just called plays for a historically efficient offense. Apparently some are poo-pooing the incredible way our offense avoided negative plays, but they are also the only offense in NFL history to pass and rush for 30+ TDs. I put blame for the loss on the shoulders of the coordinators exponentially more than McDermott. For me, that's incredibly encouraging considering both just finished their 1st year implementing their systems in Buffalo as play callers. I don't understand you

1st full year as a coordinator and 1st opportunity in Buffalo to implement his own offense.

I don't care what their regular season record is. I care what they do in the playoffs. Pretty clear the Chiefs were playing with their food all season and holding things back only to open things up in the postseason. Brady's mistake was the whole idea of "we're going to be exactly who we have been!!!" so adamantly in the postseason that he didn't throw any wrinkles in there. I've said it in another thread, but this offseason priority number one for Brady should be to study Andy Reid's use of timed misdirection. Brady was new, too. He became interim last season and basically had to use Dorsey's offense. So this year was his 1st year implementing his own offense as the play caller/ offensive coordinator. When I said "new" I was talking about new to the team, not brand new as someone who's NEVER called an offense or defense.

2 brand new to the team as full time coordinators/play callers in both Brady and Babbich. Yep. McDermott hired them. Credit to him for the hires. When I said "brand new play calling coordinator" I was referring to the idea that they were brand new to the team they were calling plays for. Babich is obviously completely brand new, though.

Here's the comfort I take in this right now: Buffalo had 2 brand new coordinators to the team (both pretty young and one of whom has NEVER called plays at all) who were actual play callers (not coordinators only in name the way Matt Nagy is in Kansas City) and we were 3 points away from the Super Bowl. I don't believe in the history of the NFL(certainly not in the "modern" era) any team in this situation has ever won a Super Bowl. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, but since 2000 I believe Dan Quinn with the Seahawks is the only brand new play calling coordinator to a team who won a Super Bowl. The Eagles have a shot to do it this year with Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio... but let's be honest, we know the Chiefs are winning and Fangio is a Football lifer who probably doesn't count. And other than Moore and Quinn (and Fangio if you want to count him), I don't even think you can find many (if any) instances of a brand new coordinator and play caller making the Super Bowl. Throughout history you could get to teams like the 49ers with Shanahan & Holmgren, but we all know Walsh was the play caller. Now, the Eagles recently both won and lost 2 separate Super Bowls with a 2nd year coordinator in Frank Reich and Shane Steichen. In Reich's 2nd year he won it. We got outcoached against KC, but pinning it on McDermott is unfair considering he's consistently said throughout the year that Brady and Babbich are the play callers and he trusts them. I loved his decisions to go for it on 4th downs, but wished we mixed up the play calling a bit. That's on Brady. During the offseason I think both Brady and Babbich are guys who are driven enough to learn from this season and improve a lot. And before the cynics come in with anything like "yeah, they sure need to!" let's remember the expectations for this team before coming into the season (except I thought we would overachieve those expectations... thanks again for pointing that out @FireChans ) and the fact that Brady is probably the 1st or 2nd biggest reason (Allen is obviously the other) this team had a historically awesome offensive year. And although our D underwhelmed in a lot of ways, they led the NFL in taking the ball away. Based on Beane's and McDermott's presser yesterday, I think they're gonna actively pursue a game changer on Defense (Crosby...???) and with the growth of both Coordinators, next year could actually be the year... hopefully... Go Bills!!!!

Based on Beane & McDermott yesterday, I would almost expect we go after someone like Crosby this offseason. And Crosby isn't a consolation prize. Dude's a stud

I believe Kubiak's final statement strongly, but with 3 straight playoff games vs KC where it was so close that all we needed was a single call (or a single bounce) I'm starting to get a little worried (honestly... terrified) that we're cursed and Allen is going to get the Super Bowl (honestly... multiple) that he deserves. Allen deserves a Lombardi.... even more than long suffering Bills fans

Brady was really good this year. Despite having 1st year OCs and DCs this team wound up a few minutes from the Super Bowl. As much as we might want to criticize the choice of 1st year Coordinators because of the end result, they could also very well be the main reasons we were as successful as we were overall this year.

See comment above... McDermott put more faith in his Coordinators this year than years past. He said it throughout the year. I actually view that as an area of growth on his part. I think Brady is the guy who really needs to spend the offseason working. He needs to study Andy Reid more for offensive play calling in terms of timing and misdirection especially