SoTier

No team can afford to pay a true franchise QB not on a rookie contract and give him a top quality OL and good RBs and good WRs at the same time ... unless they're willing to skimp on the defense. You pay a QB like Allen or Mahomes to make his receivers better. You pay your OLers to open the holes for the RBs, but more importantly, to stop the DEs/DTs/Edges from harassing your QB. That's reality. The Bills haven't skimped on their defense but they have had bad luck due to injuries to Miller, White, Milano, and Hyde in recent years, and that's what's hampered them fielding as good a defense as they could have had in the last two seasons. Sums it up perfectly! This is simply untrue. The Bills took Ed Oliver at #9 in 2019, only the second time they picked in the top 10 while Beane has been GM. They have also tried to build a good DL around Oliver by drafting Epenesa in the 2nd round in 2020 (1st rounder went for Diggs) and Rousseau in the first in 2021. In 2022, they added what they believed would be the one piece to make the DL one of the best by signing Miller. For part of the 2022 season, it worked. Injuries happen.

Yes. If the Bills didn't win a SB with Garrett on the roster and healthy, it wouldn't be because of the defense. Carpe diem. If there's a stud DE at #30, it will probably take him 2 or 3 years to develop. Stud DEs/EDGE rushers usually go in the top ten spots of the draft, frequently in the top 5. Abdul Carter is likely to go #1 overall ... like Miles Garrett and Bruce Smith. The Bills aren't likely to be a position to draft at the top of the draft in the foreseeable future.

Red pizza - pepperoni, mushrooms, artichokes, green bell peppers plus occasionally Italian sausage and/or red onions. White pizza - Italian sausage, mushrooms, artichokes, roasted garlic, green bell peppers, red onions

About half of all first round picks are "misses" even if they aren't outright busts. Most "misses" just aren't as good as expected, including some others who develop into very good or even excellent players who are just not the game changers that some fans expect every first round pick should be. Oliver and Rousseau are definitely among this group. Put Garrett at one end of the Bills DL, and Oliver and Rousseau suddenly become so much better that even the haters on TSW might possibly change their tunes about them -- and Beane's drafting prowess.

What else is new? According to you, Beane hasn't ever done anything right.

Every team needs "to catch lightning in a bottle at some point" in order to win a SB, but if the team isn't competitive, it doesn't get the chance to even be out in the storm. It's like the lottery ads, "ya gotta be in it to win it". In 2021, the Bengals lost in the SB after making the playoffs with a 10-7 record. In 2022, they won 12 games and looked like juggernauts ... and lost to the Chiefs by a FG in the AFCCG. They haven't been back to the playoffs since. The 2022 SB loser, the Eagles got bounced in the wild card round of the 2023 playoffs. In 2024, the Chiefs won 15 games and seemed like a shoo-in to win the Super Bowl again. Well, the Eagles were the team that "caught lightning in a bottle" and ended the Chiefs' dream of a three-peat.

The narrative that Beane has been reluctant to make moves is simply untrue because Beane has given up multiple draft picks to make a move. He's also traded players to get picks that he then used to move up more . How do you think he acquired Josh Allen? I believe he may have given up one or more picks to acquire Tremaine Edmund in that same draft. He also gave up multiple picks, including the 2021 Bills' first rounder, to get Diggs in 2020. You and several other posters who seem to hate on Beane have selective amnesia when it comes to Beane's work as Bills GM. Acquiring Josh Allen was the greatest coup in Bills history, and probably among best in NFL history. NFL history is littered with examples of big armed college QBs taken in the first round who crashed and burned in the NFL, including many with far more polish than Allen when he was drafted. Maybe the reason that Beane hasn't taken any more big swings in the draft is that there hasn't been a player he believes is worth doing so. It may also be that the Bills haven't been able to find trade partners. Nobody outside of the Bills FO know that.

That's what everybody was saying when the Jests acquired Rodgers.

Exactly. I remember one game -- a MNF game I think -- against the Raiders when the Raiders came out loaded for bear to start the game. I think they were up on the Bills by 2 or 3 TDs at the beginning of the second half. The Bills won easily because the defense just exploded. I think that maybe Cornelius Bennett might have had a pick six. When those Bills defenses turned it on, they could beat anybody, and the offenses were always at the top of the heap, too. Allen has never had a superior defense like those Bills teams. The 2022 team looked like it might have been but injuries derailed it.

The problem is that I don't think signing three top tier vets is really possible because those two of those positions, WR and DL, are among the highest priced. Top CBs are another pricey group with safeties being lower but still more than some other positions. Other than pass rusher, I think that what positions the Bills target in FA will depend upon how they feel about Cooper and Samuel and their ability to return to form after injuries derailed their 2024 seasons, and how they feel about Bishop's ability to play SS.

I don't disagree with "going all in and giving away the future". I disagree with you on how the Bills can best accomplish that. We've butted heads on this before. You think that loading up on the offensive side, especially at WR, is how the Bills win. For somebody in the "the Bills will continue to do the same old thing" camp, you seem to forget that the Bills already tried that. They traded for a big name WR, and they put up with his antics when he felt he was being "misused". How well did that work? I think that improving the defense, specifically the defensive line and the defensive backfield, is a much better way to go, and I'm not opposed to mortgaging the future to bring in the right players, especially Miles Garrett. The only problem with Garrett is that the Bills can't force Cleveland to trade him, especially before the draft. If they decide to trade after June 1, I'm still all in, even if it were to cost 3 first picks. If they can't get Garrett, they should consider one of the other veteran DLers available through trade or FA. The Bills also need to acquire a veteran safety through FA, and add another CB, either through FA or the draft or both. Last off season was "terrible" because the Bills had cap issues partly because they went "all in" on Miller in an effort to improve the defense in 2022. He got hurt, and he hasn't been the force on defense they hoped he'd be since then. They had to cut veteran players or let some go in FA, and they couldn't afford to sign top tier talents or even second tier ones. They cobbled together a team that went to the AFCCG when many if not most media mavens predicted they wouldn't even win the AFC East and maybe not even make the play offs. Why do you think "the defense certainly isn't going to improve"? Beane's attempt to improve the defense by bringing Miller was derailed by Miller's injury in 2022, Micah Hyde's injury (he played only 2 games in 2022 and was again injured at the end of 2023), and Tre White's injuries in 2022 and 2023. Matt Milano was injured in 5 games into 2023, and only played 7 games in 2024. FTR, neither Miller's nor White's injuries were because they were "undersized". Bull manure. You can say what you want, but that doesn't mean that you aren't going to get push back from posters who disagree with you. Don't try to rewrite history to fit your prejudices. Beane has "gone for broke" in both 2021 and 2022 when he traded for Stefon Diggs and signed FA Von Miller. Actually, I think that Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford proved that great QBs have great longevity, especially when they have good protection and decent targets ... and a good defense doesn't hurt either. OTOH, Aaron Rodgers proved that the grass isn't always greener on a team without a decent OL, even when you try to load the team with your buddies. It's why I didn't post for several days after the AFCCG loss. Come to terms with the pain before posting before you make an ass of yourself in perpetuity on the web.

Cry me a river. I've been a Bills fan for likely longer than you've been alive unless you're eligible for Social Security, and the team has only had 3 periods of excellence in all that time: 1964-1966, 1988-1999, and 2019-2024. Do you know what "zero for the seventies" means? Between 1970 and 1979, the Bills didn't win a single game against the Miami Dolphins. Not one. None. Zilch. When Chuck Knox's 1980 squad beat the Fish in September, 1980, the fans tore down the goal posts. It was the biggest win since the Bills won the 1965 AFC Championship. I was a season ticket holder during the Drought Era, 17 seasons with the playoffs mostly being pipe dreams. The Bills had 2 9-win and 3 8-win seasons during stretch. Most of the rest of the time, the season was over before the end of October ... So, buttercup, suck it up and deal with the reality that no team is guaranteed anything, especially winning a Super Bowl.

Kelly was in no way better than Allen. Using Super Bowl appearances is nonsense, especially in the case of Allen and Kelly. The Bills haven't failed to make the SB because of Allen. In defense of Namath, it was a very different era. Actually, the top QBs back then seldom had completion percentages above 55%, and many were below that because they threw so many more "bombs". My guess is that if Allen or Mahomes or Burrow were throwing many, sometimes most of their passes to WRs 30 or 40 yards downfield, their completion percentages would drop significantly. Also, Weeb Eubank who coached that SB winning team, and he was probably the best HC the Jests ever had. After he retired, the Jets sucked, especially on the OL, and Namath got beaten up pretty regularly because there were so many fewer rules protecting QBs. Both O'Brien and Pennington were pretty good QBs. I would put them both above Todd. O'Brien was in the class of 83 with Elway, Kelly, and Marino, so he suffered in comparison -- and the fact that the Jests were barely competitive with the Bills and Dolphins. Injuries plagued Pennington, but he got the Jests to the playoffs nearly every season that he was able to play all/most of a season. After the Jests released him, Pennington led the Dolphins to a playoff berth before another shoulder injury ended his career.

I can't disagree with your list. The bottom of that list is pretty sad. FTR, Lamonica and Reich weren't even starters for the Bills.

Peters had the quickness and size needed to play LT, and the Bills knew they were always going to move him there. Brandon signed him to a contract for low-end RT money. In fact, Peters' back up at LT on the Bills made as much as Peters. After moving to LT, Peters played at an elite level. He was twice named 2nd team All Pro. Peters didn't realize he'd been tricked until he went to the Pro Bowl and found out what other LTs were making. That's when he demanded a new contract.

Luckily for the Bills, Brandon harassed the wrong lady and ran afoul of the Pegulas.

The Bills GM was Russ Brandon. He was totally focused on maximizing profits with winning football games a very distant second.

That shows you what happens when you don't have an NFL caliber OL except for one player (Peters), a QB who refused to throw more than 5 yards beyond the LOS (Trent Edwards), a WR corps made up of Lee Evans, Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish, and a washed up Peerless Price, and a risk adverse HC (Dick Jauron). The Bills didn't "lose" Peters. They threw him away. Russ Brandon, the Bills de facto GM, cheated Peters by negotiating a deal based on him playing RT as he was just learning the position. When Peters moved to LT and made All Pro, he wanted to renegotiate his deal, but Brandon refused. Peters held out for one training camp IIRC, but finally returned to the team, vowing to play out his contract and leave in FA. Brandon offered him a decent contract, but Peters made it clear he was done with the Bills. Brandon traded him to Philly for one of the Eagles' 2 first round picks (it ended up being #28) before the season started. Peters made the Pro Bowl for Philly that season. The Bills didn't have an NFL caliber LT until 2012 when they drafted Cordy Glenn in the 2nd round. The way that Brandon handled Peters -- and to a lesser extent, Marshawn Lynch -- is the primary reason I absolutely loath Russ Brandon. After trading away Peters, Jauron tried to move Walker to LT. He refused and "retired". Later in the 2009 season he returned to the Raiders at RT. He played 1 more season before really retiring.

My bad. I thought you were claiming that the Bills hadn't prioritized the defense, but when I read the post that you originally responded to, I saw that you were talking about size and speed on defense.

Umm ... the facts don't support your statement. Six years ago (2019) they drafted DT Ed Oliver at #9. Five years ago (2020) they drafted DE AJ Epenesa at #54. They traded their first round plus some other picks for Stefon Diggs. They added RB Zach Moss and WR Gabe Davis in the 3rd & 4th rounds. They also draft Bass in the 6th round. This was probably the only year that the Bills went heavily offense in the draft. Four years ago (2021) they drafted DE Greg Rousseau at #30 and LB Boogie Basham at #61. Three years ago (2022} they drafted DB Kaiir Elam at #23 and LB Terrel Bernard at #89. They also signed LB Von Miller. Also on that 2022 defensive roster were All Pro LB Matt Milano, S Jordan Poyer, S Micah Hyde, CB Tre'Davious White, and LB Tremaine Edmunds.

They have yet to have a game wrecking pass rusher except for the 2022 season before Von got hurt ... and during that period, McDermott certainly managed to maximize Von's effectiveness. They also had Tre White, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer in the defensive backfield for a while (only 2 games for Hyde). I think that McDermott has run the scheme he ran in 2023 and 2024 trying to minimize the deficiencies on the DL and in the defensive backfield caused by the injuries to Hyde, White, and Miller (all of whom never came back as good as they had been) and the decline of Poyer's skills in 2023.

You and I are usually on opposite sides of how to win that SB, but I totally agree that fear of an expensive FA acquisition getting hurt (like Von Miller) should not be a deciding factor when that player doesn't have a history of frequently getting injured.

And Diggs played great for four of those seasons before he decided he wanted to be elsewhere. The poster to whom I responded claimed that the Bills hadn't given Allen WRs, and that's blatantly untrue. Despite their cap restrictions, the Bills added Samuel and Cooper last season. Samuel suffered from turf toe for almost the entire season. Cooper started meshing with Allen before he was injured, and like Coleman, he didn't play as well post-injury as he did before. Moreover, the Bills have given Allen a great OL so that he's not getting crushed regularly when trying to pass ... like Burrow all the time and Mahomes in the SB.

It's highly unlikely that games on OTA TV are going to go away any time soon -- not until OTA broadcasting ends which is also unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future. The NFL is not moving games to streaming services to increase viewership. Streaming services are buying the rights to some games in order to increase their viewership. If the services don't get a permanent bump in their customers from the games, they won't buy more exclusive rights. Making all NFL games available for streaming is simply the NFL avoiding any issues with anti-trust laws. The networks are going to continue to broadcast teams' games to OTA stations. Even when local team games are "stream only on XYZ service", they are available to local OTA stations. Out of market fans are the ones who are impacted most by streaming services' exclusive rights to individual games.

I cannot believe that McDermott -- or any NFL HC with half a brain and lacking a super-sized ego -- would get the best DLer in the NFL on his roster and NOT design a defensive scheme to maximize his talents. McDermott is the guy who fired his OC during the season and allowed his new OC to immediately start refashioning the offensive scheme to take better advantage of the Bills offensive talent. What evidence do you have that McDermott and Babich wouldn't refashion the Bills defensive scheme to take advantage of Garrett's -- or even a somewhat lesser "game wrecker" type DLer -- that the Bills added to the team other than your own obvious dislike of McDermott?