SoTier

Point 1: Brady is the offensive coordinator, not a position coach, so the penalties on the OL weren't on him. He designs, selects and calls plays. Point 2: The point of designing a game plan is to take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses and maximize your team's strengths. That means that your opponents dictate a lot of what your team do. It's likely that the Cards concentrated on Kincaid. The Bills ran the ball a lot because Arizona was poor against the run. Point 3: On the last drive the Bills were trying to close out the game, so playing conservatively on offense is what smart teams do to win games.

Drafting Manuel was a classic example of why I hate Russ Brandon. The very best thing that happened to the Buffalo Bills since the Glory Years was the Pegulas' firing Brandon. Brandon ruled the Bills in Ralph Wilson's last years as if he were the owner, and his aim was to make the Bills as profitable as possible so that the team would bring in as much as possible in the inevitable sale after Wilson passed. Whether it was Nix or Whaley, the Bills FO took their marching orders from Brandon, and in 2013 he ordered them to draft a QB because he knew a first round rookie QB would put butts in the seats. That there were no actual first round worthy QBs in that draft was immaterial. It was all about $$$ with Brandon. Say what you want about Beane, but he's trying to build the best team he can, and he's done a pretty good job. I think Geno Smith is one of the very few QBs who can truly be said to be a "late bloomer", ie a high-draft pick QB who failed early on but became a solid starter later in his career. Geno has also sustained his good play over a couple of seasons, and that's really unusual.

The Cornhuskers are taking it to Colorado and Shadeur Sanders. They're up 14-0 in the first quarter, including a pick six. I don't think that the Buffaloes have got a first down yet on three possessions.

Exactly. I think that there was a lot of skepticism about Mahomes because of the type of offense that he played in college. As it was, Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith for the 2017 season until the very last game. Furthermore, Chicago traded up to #3 to take Mitch Trubisky, so Mahomes was hardly a shoo-in. Moreover, the Bills took Tre White with their pick from KC -- AND they bundled the first rounder they got from KC to trade up to get Allen in 2018. But not because of Xavier Worthy

You know what you think, but you don't know what I think. I think that the Bills not only have a better QB, they also have a better OL than either rival. Jets are banking on old, oft-injured OLers to protect an old QB. Miami invested in WR Beckham rather than in better OLers. Poor OL play gives the Bills a small edge at RB. Miami has great WRs but a crappy OL. Aside from Wilson, the Jets have the oft-injured Mike Evans who played 3 games last season, a past-his-prime Lazzard, and a bunch of rookies and never-weres. The Bills also have better TEs. The Bills have a better DL than Miami, and they're even with the Jets. The Jets probably have a better secondary but we don't know how good the Bills secondary will be because they've been nagged by injuries during the preseason. The LBs are pretty even.

In 2018, five QBs were taken in the first round, 2 before and 2 after Josh Allen at #7, one of the top 2 QBs in the NFL. #1 Baker Mayfield has been a serviceable NFL QB, slightly better than average. #3 Sam Darnold was a bust. #10 Josh Rosen was also a bust. #32 LaMar Jackson has been the second-best QB in that draft, and one of the best QBs in the league. The 2021 draft also featured 5 first round QBs, all busts except for Trevor Lawrence, and he has yet to prove he's more than a competent NFL QB.

You are missing the point. Diggs is already a proven NFL player. Trading him to a conference rival wouldn't make sense. Trading a draft pick to KC is something else because no draft pick comes with a guarantee that that whomever they pick will turn into a decent NFL players much less a player of Diggs' caliber.

Who the hell cares what social and broadcast media mavens or fans say???? Beane's job is to build the best team he can, not pander to the media and/or to fans who think they have a better handle on team needs and draft picks' quality than the professionals who do evaluations for their livings. Trading down in the draft is in no way comparable to trading a star veteran player to a divisional rival. Apples to pineapples. Why do you assume that Worthy is more likely to become a star than Coleman? It's entirely possible that Coleman becomes a solid NFL wide receiver while Worthy never becomes more than a gadget guy simply because Worthy's really under-sized -- and that is very limiting, both in terms of how he can be used and likely in longevity. Coleman isn't real fast but if he can develop into a sure-handed route-runner who can block pretty well, he can have a long, productive NFL career. This is just silly. Drafting players is a crap shoot. Something like only about half of first rounders become good/great NFLers. Trading down is not a lose-lose situation if the team gets the player they wanted plus an extra pick, even a very low one. The more picks a team has, the more likely they find somebody to contribute to the team. Trading up is much more likely to be a losing proposition. In 2018, the Jests traded 3 second round picks to Indy to move from #6 to #3 to draft Sam Darnold. The Bills drafted Josh Allen at #7 (after trading up, too). In 2021, the Niners traded their #12 pick plus their next 2 first rounders to the Dolphins take Trey Lance at #3. The Fins turned around and traded with Philly to move up to #6 to take Tua. In 2022, the Niners drafted Brock Purdy at #262. As I said, the draft is a crap shoot ... but teams usually don't really know if they've actually won or lost until two or three years down the line.

Exactly. There's more to being a great QB than simply passing ability. The aim is to win football games, not to set passing records or score passing style points. I would take Lamar over most NFL QBs, including Tua, because he can lift his team much like Allen or Mahomes, especially when plays break down, and that's a talent that separates great QBs from really good QBs.

For those of you who missed GMFB yesterday, Jamie Erdahl picked Tua as her candidate for MVP and Peter Schrager picked Aaron Rodgers.

I hope this is true. IMO, if the Bills can run at will when they need or want to, it makes them a much more dangerous team, especially in the playoffs.

James Darren was a contemporary of Bobby Darin. One was born in 1936 and the other in 1937 IIRC. They both became popular in the 1950s, too. Darin was a singer and songwriter who played several instruments who was also a successful entrepreneur. Darren was an actor who originally made his name in movies aimed at teenagers.

Bobby Darin, who died in 1973, sang "Mack The Knife".

For all of Rodgers' talent and ability, he's only taken his team to a single Super Bowl, and looked pretty mediocre in his last full season (2022), so he's certainly not a superhero ... except in his own mind and the fantasies of Jests fans. Joe Brady >>>> Nathaniel Hackett Sean McDermott >>> Robert Saleh Coaching counts.

I don't think the Fishies' problem is cold weather. I think it's better teams. They've won only 2 or 3 games against teams with winning records in the last two years, including the playoffs. Last year, they played a lot of teams with crappy defenses early in the season and better teams in the last half of the season -- and the playoffs in the AFC recently have almost always been played in open stadiums in cold weather cities. I agree. I don't think the old-time disciplarian type coaches (like Belichick or Coughlin) can be really effective in today's NFL ... and maybe they haven't been effective for a while. I can't think of any real old-fashioned hard-arsed HCs among the successful HCs currently coaching.

Roster talent levels in the NFL don't actually vary all that much between the top teams and bottom teams except at QB, but the quality of the coaching can be the difference between winning the division and missing the playoffs. Allen is a much better QB than Rodgers at this point in their respective careers, and Tua has never been near the quality of either Allen or Rodgers. However much some fans dislike McDermott, he's a significantly better coach than either McDaniel or Saleh, and Brady is definitely a better OC than Nathaniel Hackett, even if Brady only turns out to be an average OC long term. If Allen stays healthy, then a better QB + better coaching = another AFCE division title for the Bills.

Miller won't be a "cap drain" if he can recover most of his pre-injury form. If the Bills had cut him, he'd be a bigger cap drain and there would be absolutely no possibility of mitigating his cap hit with good play. If you meant "unproven", then why didn't you just write that? "Questionable" means that someone/something has been tested and found to be lacking in some way.

They also have Robert Saleh who hasn't yet demonstrated he's a legitimate NFL HC with an 18-33 record over 3 seasons.

I agree. I think this is the big question that all the people jumping on the Jests' bandwagon have ignored. Rodgers flirted with running for vice president of the US. He missed mandatory minicamp because it conflicted with his personal schedule. He hasn't played a down in any of the pre-season games.

Reid's won three.

Amen! I remember that the Bills had an interim-HC during some of those years who was acknowledged drunk, an OL that was so bad that WRs were playing QB, and that the players, led by Bruce Smith were ready to mutiny. Anybody who has memories of those days, cannot help but be an optimist about the current Bills teams. Not even close. See my reply to amprov56. I can also add the "good ol' days" of Dick Jauron's philosophy of playing not to lose by too much. That's the rub. Consider that Andy Reid coached in Philly for 14 seasons, but was fired because he didn't bring home a Lombardi. They replaced him with Chip Kelly who lasted less than 3 seasons.

Because I've been a Bills fan since 1963, I sure as hell know what a bad football team looks like, and the 2024 Bills ain't a bad football team. I witnessed first-hand the hopeless non-NFL caliber teams of the 1970s; the badly coached teams in the 1980s after Chuck Knox left and before Marv took over; and the management of the team that put profits far ahead of winning football games that resulted in the Drought. Pegula, Beane and McDermott are doing their best to put the best team they can on the field and win a Lombardi, which is good enough for me. I am not going to whine about the Bills like they're perennial bottom feeders and demand a regime change just for change's sake. Nothing on the field is guaranteed in the NFL, which is why games are played on grass and turf and not on paper, so before I jump on the bandwagon to get rid of the HC and/or the GM, I have to see actual evidence the HC and/or GM have actually failed, not the accusations of random fans on a message board. If that's being "one of those rose colored glassed people", I don't particularly care.

Hardly. Some posters are spoiled brats who throw tantrums when things don't go their way because that always worked with Mom and Dad. Some posters think that they're a whole lot smarter than anybody who coaches/manages a NFL football team that isn't named Belichick or Reid. Some posters always see the glass as at least half empty. Some posters are simply the south ends of northbound horses.

I like it with red or white unis.

When the big storms that came through WNY a couple of weeks ago and spawned tornadoes in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, and Genesee Counties, the local tv stations interrupted their broadcast for the duration of the active tornado warnings. It is a big deal.