Straight Hucklebuck

I think a realistic view of that Playoff berth is in order. On the whole it was positive. Ending a 17-year Playoff Drought was a huge monkey off the back. But, they benched Tyrod for Peterman and that blew up in their faces immediately, and the Coach "regretted the result of the decision". Then they scored 3 points in Jacksonville on a day when Blake Bortles was atrocious. Yes, you ended The Drought. But that performance was poor. The 3-points that day foreshawdowed the 31st ranked offense we saw for the majority of 2018. Like fans are supposed to hold onto the memory of a 3-point output in Jacksonville in the time capsule of their memory banks as an elite moment. They went one and done, went out of the Playoffs with a whimper. Just shy of a miracle? Now come on. The Bills were 15-17 under Marrone, 15-16 under Rex, and now 15-17 under McDermott. Theoretically they have set themselves up to get better with the cap space. But, look at the FA WR's ready to hit the market. The receivers they've traded for have all bombed out. The running backs they've signed are old. If the bar is finding a veteran starter on a sub 0.500 team then I don't think that's a very high bar. Bills fans give the team tons of credit for finding average starters on non-Playoff teams. Where are the difference makers? Alexander was a Whaley find, so was Hughes, so were Hyde and Poyer, so was McCoy (who is done). My question to you is - when does the excellence start? When does the team get to 10+ wins? Not hovering around 0.500 hoping to gimp into the Playoffs as the 6th seed?

I never understood that hire.

When fans start listing cap hell and bad offensive players as barriers, they need to realize that McBeane actively chose that path for the team. They chose to trade Dareus, Watkins, Ragland, Darby, and trade for Jordan Matthews, Kelvin Benjamin. They tried to force Richie Incognito into a paycut, signed Trent Murphy and Star L. They have paraded how many ex-Panthers in here? Mike Tolbert, K. Clay, Joe Webb, Benjamin, Philly Brown. They have signed washed up veterans like Vlad Duccasse, Anquan Boldin, Chris Ivory, Vontae Davis. They lost credibility this season. Trading for Corey Coleman and cutting him two weeks later, wasting starter reps on AJ McCarron and trading him, starting Peterman, signing prehistoric Derek Anderson and preaching him as some sort of mentor despite terrible results, mismanaging the punter position all season, some would say not moving off McCoy even though he’s clearly declined. They’ve been free-wheeling in the draft, trading out of #10 (McDermott not Beane) and up for Zay Jones, up for Dion Dawkins, up for Allen, up for Edmunds blowing chunks of their draft capital. I think it all adds up to this: Bills fans need to have higher expectations in 2019. I’m still seeing “improvement” and “competing for a Wildcard” and “development”. Why isn’t the 2019 expectation Playoffs and Division Winner? We can’t beat down-trodden Miami, the Jets with a new Coach, or 42-year old Brady yet? When does the real winning start for McDermott and Beane? When? They have no excuses now. They have their hand picked QB, cap space, draft picks. McDermott’s culture over scheme should be in place. It’s time to get results.

Over the years we’ve seen patience backfire with guys like Chuck Pagano, Marvin Lewis, Jeff Fisher, Todd Bowles, Rex Ryan. So to the OP, the point is well taken.

Fighting for a Wildcard, or actually solidly in the Playoffs?

I’m not sold on McDermott and his cookie cutter style. I think Beane’s head is still in Carolina with all the ex-Panthers he drags onto the roster, and Cam Newton as his model for a Franchise QB. Still, I don’t need the Bills to become the Cleveland Browns and replace Coaches every 2-years. Tripping over themselves to bring a re-tread in like Jim Caldwell or Mike McCarthy. Winning should be in front of the Bills in 2019. Beane has referenced “The Plan”. So the building blocks are there - cap space, nice compliment of draft picks and Josh Allen with experience in his back pocket. It’s time for real expectations on this FO and Coach. Fans need to raise their bar. There shouldn’t be excuses next season. If we start hearing about how the offensive line hasn’t had time to gel, or Allen doesn’t have timing down with his new wide receivers as this team limps out the gate then by all means start roasting Beane and McDermott. This regime gets next year to get results or they deserve to be fired.

CBS Sports has us picking 9th now.

I don’t buy Lamar Jackson or the Ravens. They won today, but once again Jackson is in the 100’s passing and the Raven’s opponent has the ball on the final possession with a chance to win. I think Mayfield and Darnold have both shown a higher gear as a passer than Allen. The Cardinals are really bad. Rosen looks a bit frail. 1. Mayfield 2. Darnold 3. Allen 4. Rosen 5. Jackson

Because I think what really happens is teams rate prospects and put them into tiers. So if a Safety is a 7.6 this year and an OT is a 7.5 they fall into the same band and the Bills would take the OT. I think teams group similarly graded players and then pick from need out of that group.

Any team that has already won a Super Bowl is who I am rooting for.

BPA is a complete myth.

ESPN has us 9th http://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2019/story/_/id/25117609/2019-nfl-draft-order-projected-first-round-picks-1-32-date-tracker-results NFL has us 10th http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001006117/article/2019-nfl-draft-order-cardinals-own-top-pick-giants-to-take-qb

http://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2019/story/_/id/25117609/2019-nfl-draft-order-projected-first-round-picks-1-32-date-tracker-results

According to ESPN we’re still at #9

Correction, according to NFL.com the Bills would have been picking 6th if they lost today.

I agree, beating down the Dolphins for Kyle and Josh Allen’s 5-TD day was worth it.

I agree with the list John. I’m excited for the offseason. For the Bills it’s all in front of them. The FO should be able to chart whatever path they need to.

Looks like the Bills would have picked 7th with a loss today. 1. Cards (3-13), SOS 0.8 2. Jets (4-12), SOS -1.7 3. 49ers (4-12), SOS -0.4 4. Oakland (4-12), SOS 1.1 5. Lions (5-11), SOS -0.8 6. Jags (5-11), SOS 0.0 7. Giants (5-11), SOS 0.6 8. Bucs (5-11), SOS 1.9 9. Bills (6-10), SOS 0.5 10. Broncos (6-10), SOS 0.6 11. Bengals (6-10), SOS 1.7 So based on Pro-Football Reference SOS, the Bills cost themselves 2 spots by winning. Would have picked 7th with loss.

I’m looking into this. There are a slog of teams at 5-11.

Congratulations to Kyle Williams. And bravo to Josh Allen who had 5 total TDs today. His best game as a professional.

Well he’ll have new WRs, you can’t expect any kind of raport with them...

I blame our punter. You are supposed to be an NFL punter and you manage a 32 yard and 35 yard punt on back to back opportunities. Pathetic. Get that guy out of here.

There have been numerous comments/members on this board stating the Bills have found their QB. You see all the instant defending that comes in when “negative” stories are presented about Allen. He should get 2019 to prove himself, along with this Coaching staff and FO. But Allen has not been good this year. He gets the ball into the end-zone 1.3x per game on average. The team scores 15 ppg and are bottom 3 in passing. Allen has been the same QB as he was in Wyoming. This staff is going to try and fix accuracy issues this off-season, and try to Coach him to read a defense. The Bills drafted a talented project and that’s who he’s played like this season.

Statistical numbers are presented. But somehow the spin always has to be positive. The supporting cast is poor. But we did make the same excuses about Trent Edwards. None of these Drought ex-QBs did anything when they went to other teams outside of Fitzpatrick’s brief flurries. The more excuses you have to make about a quarterback, the more it’s proof that he is not the guy.

I agree with that. Coaching staff’s who try and change their QB playing style fail - see Robert Griffin III, Mike Vick.