harmonkillebrew

In terms of what is keeping us from getting over the hump and beating the Chiefs in the playoffs - it's both. Beane could have done a better job identifying and recruiting/drafting top gamebreaking talent - like at DE (Von was a risk given his age and a big swing and a miss, as was dropping 3 top picks on underwhelming DEs). But McDermott, as good as he is at coaching up players, doesn't have the killer instinct to win it all, nor do his young coordinators which he handpicked and were clearly outclassed this last KC game. They still have the ability to turn it around though. But might need to go against their tendencies. You've already seen McD getting more aggressive on 4th down and maybe Beane goes and gets a #1 WR after having downplayed it last offseason

Torrence regressed this year, unfortunately. He's solid, don't get me wrong, just saying we need some big hits to make it past the Chiefs. not really talking about the other 31 teams here. the future is bright with Torrence and Keon and others that still have room to grow, but we need them to and them to become clutch, or we will never be kings of the AFC

it also coincided with Diggs at his prime. He was reliably open.

I mean it was no secret. Everyone knew that. I'm not sure why the Bills didn't know that and mix it up toward the end of the year in more meaningless games. That said, the one successful 4th down sneak was Josh over the top, where he almost fumbled it. But something else was off. Dion didn't get his usual push - grass v. turf field? illness? Josh was hesitant a few times. We didn't have two guys pushing him. Often it's Gilliam and Ty bracketing Josh. It was just organizational failure as a whole

I think Beane has done a good job at getting mid-round guys that exceed expectations. Part of that is good mentoring by McD's staff, which is where they excel (game day planning and late game decision making..... not so much). But what I don't think this metric captures, is the lack of elite talent hits. What the Bills are missing, is clutch, elite talent that can put them over the top, past the Chiefs, to make up for sub-par game day coaching. We need major hits in Rd 1 and 2 that perform at key positions. Instead we get Keon, Dalton, Elam, Torrence, Groot, AJE, Oliver, Boogie - who aren't gamechangers and don't step up in the clutch. Are they decent players, yet, but we need more elite players. Cook is really the only recent draft pick under Beane that qualifies, IMHO.

yeah that Dawkins - Jones hug was weird given the time left. Our D sucked. It needs to be re-hauled, no question. But I'd like to see us still try to get a #1WR. Amari didn't have it, unfortunately.

he should have been! Nah, no way Josh knew that CB was going to blitz, but he could have called in Ty to block. Cook was out there during the drive, but on 3rd and 10, Ty was in b/c he's much better at pass protection

To some degree, but when you start going up against the best teams, the talent and coaching is just too level. It comes down to who is the most clutch. And KC has proven over and over that that's them. unless you're the '85 Bears and just annihilate lesser teams. Which I wouldn't mind either....

how did that turn out for the Giants? its warranted for special RBs and Cook is special

D was definitely the weak link this year and needs to be fixed. But the O needs a clutch, go-to player beyond Josh. Cook is almost that player, but a real triumvirate of offensive stars would help get us pass the Chiefs in those critical moments.

Elite?: Josh Dawkins Cook Good?: Milano Oliver Groot Shakir McGovern Brown Rapp Benford There are guys, like AJE, Coleman and Bernard that need to and can get better. And there are guys like Milano and Oliver that could become (or regain) elite status. Regardless, I think we are seriously lacking in elite, impact players at very key positions (DE, DT, WR, CB) and should look to add one in FA and maybe trade up to get higher picks in the 1st and 2nd and swing for the fences with guys with elite talent and potential

I don't know how anyone can criticize Josh for that blitz. It was disguised too well, all frigging game, and then when it occurred there were multiple other guys that failed to adjust. Torrence should have realized his assignment was going left and gotten a mitt on the blitzing S. If Spencer Brown had blocked Karlaftis he wouldn't have put Josh on the ground and the pass to Kincaid would have been a little better (hopefully Kincaid would have actually caught it). Ty Johnson also didn't break his route off when his guy blitzed, to give Josh a clear hot option. So many failures across the board on that play. Can't hang it on Josh. There are other plays that were left on the field by Josh, but after just rewatching it, he also had some amazing, gutsy plays on 4th and 3rd downs. I think the Bills need to have a few more go-to plays in crucial situations and go-to players, particularly at WR. That 1st and 2nd and 10s right before the critical 4th down were shambles. Even the Cooper blitz, screen buster should have gone for more with a more dynamic player on the receiving end. Bills played all out, going for it on 4th down at least 5 times. The Chiefs are just slightly better in clutch moments at almost every position and coaching

Might be dictated partially by cap hit in final year of rookie deal. Groot is the only one that will have a significant hit, but extending him will also be costly. I'd personally like to see more consistency into the playoffs. See if he can become a real impact player Shakir and Cook deserve it for sure. Benford too. But those rookie contracts are just too sweet for cap space I don't know. Cooper did virtually nothing and looked slow. I'm not sure he is good enough at this point in his career to keep Keon off the field, who should get better. Mack too deserves more playing time. But I'd really like them to use any $$ on Amari to sign Tee Higgins, or a higher end WR, or to get a FA that allows us to invest draft capital in a more explosive WR. Keon was a bit of a whiff in terms of a chance to get more speed on the field.

His knee was up. It never touched the ground. His elbow hit at the same time as the ball and that was where it should have been downed. First down. What angered me is that the offense went straight to rush the 4th down attempt. McD didn't even give the Bills replay assist guys a chance. CBS didn't even get a chance to review it. I was yelling at the screen b/c it looked really close. one of the videos posted here shows this, so check it out

Josh didn't choke, but man Mahomes, Reid and Spags are CLUTCH. That's the difference. Take one of those guys off the Chiefs and we've probably won a SB or two by now. At least Kelce is getting old. Maybe that gives us a shot moving forward. But we need to upgrade on D and O still to have better talent to overwhelm their clutch-nees

Cook is the real deal and was a huge part of our offensive success. His emergence helped account for the loss of Diggs and other past playmakers. But we should learn from it and look to add another playmaker with speed. It just adds another dimension to the offense that complements Josh. I love Mack, but he should really be a complementary role player on O. Not a go to guy. Bass stepped up too. I agree. Rosseau had a real solid season, even his sack numbers weren't gaudy. He made so many plays in other ways. He didn't show up when it mattered most in the playoffs though, but I still think he is a young rising star that we should re-sign. Ray Davis was really promising as well and will be a nice 1-2 with Cook for years to come. I thought Rapp played surprising well too. And once again the Oline amazingly stayed health and with Andersen really paved the way for a strong run game. Lots of good pieces to continue to build on

Worse, b/c of those 4th down ref calls. I didn't want to call foul on the refs, but after seeing replay after replay, I'm pretty mad and want answers as to why NY doesn't step in with more advanced imaging to reverse those calls. Makes you think its rigged

I'm a little more pissed at McDermott for not challenging that spot on Kincaid's 3rd down catch. Instead he tried to rush a 4th and 1 QB sneak with not enough heavy personnel. KC's Dline had been stuffing that all night and rather than get guys in tight to push Allen, we tried to do a quick snap. Chiefs weren't fooled (even if the spot was horrible). Those spots were close, but wanted more from the officials and McDermott it then went to NY though and you would think those guys have the technology that some of the home garage bloggers do that clearly show the ball relative to the line by superimposing or making Chris Jones invisible. I'm not sure how NY couldn't have overturned that.

Coleman was not the best option at WR in the draft and there were other rookies at WR that did a lot better. https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-rookie-receiving-yards-leaders-2024 He didn't really grow much over the course of the year and his lack of separation ability was glaring. I'm not sure how much of a ceiling he has, so the Bills would be wise to invest further in WR with draft picks and probably a FA (Amari Cooper is probably not worth trying to re-sign)

but Ty Johnson should have broken off his route when his guy blitzed. As Warner says, do a sight adjust to the boundary to give Allen an option on that side. He either did the wrong thing or wasn't coached to do that.

So many issues here with protection on this play and Ty not doing the sight adjust to make himself available as a hot once his CB blitzes. Josh did all he could, that guy Torrence was supposed to block was on him in no time before he could even flip his body around and toss to Shakir. And Josh still almost made the amazing pass to Kincaid by avoiding the two blitzers, but Brown couldn't hold his block on Karlaftis who affected the throw and put Josh on his back. And yet still, Kincaid should have caught it. Makes you wonder about the coaching. but man Josh gives us a chance on every play. He needs more guys around him to step up.

Rosseau was good, but we need solid pass rushing depth at DE. I'm in favor of extending Rosseau and a big FA contract DT for sure (probably draft) CB for sure, hopefully FA and draft We'll probably role with Bishop in Year 2 and still need a #1WR

This was supposed to be a transition year and instead Josh lifted us to one of our best years ever. The window is always open. Next year with a little more cap space, we can hopefully shore up the secondary and Dline and add a WR playmaker. But Beane has to stop whiffing on high draft picks.

something was wrong with the tush push from the beginning. Josh delayed longer than usual on the first one for the 2 pt and Mack actually ran in to him in the whole. Other attempts looked like the upright Josh of prior years, before he got it down to more of a science. It also felt like we didn't have the push element working as well and they were trying to rush it on a quick snap count rather than set it up and do it right.

Spencer Brown also missed his block entirely, which ended up being the pressure that got to Allen and put him on his back. It looked like he was almost letting him go to set up a screen. Should Ty have cut off his mesh and sat down in the zone vacated by the blitzer? You see him cut across in front of Allen