SoTier

If the Bills don't think a first team All Pro CB is "worth paying top money" when they don't have any other player making top tier money at their position except for maybe Morse, they have plenty of cap space, and they have serious needs to fill at other positions, then the ghosts of Ralph Wilson and Russ Brandon are alive and well at OBD. This. The Bills need to use FA and the first two days of the draft to add two big, sure-handed receivers, a better RB than Gore or Yeldon, and an edge rusher as well as maybe an OLer if they can find one. They also need to generally upgrade their non-starter talent so that their STs can become assets rather than liabilities. They don't need to make CB1 another Day 1 or 2 need which they've done repeatedly in the past. This has been exactly why the Bills went 17 years without a playoff appearance. They were always spinning their wheels because they were always creating holes by letting their best players walk away ... and that was most noticeable when it came to DBs. ^^^ I don't think that McDermott can be responsible for the decision to not re-sign Gilmore; he may have agreed with it but the timeline doesn't fit for him to have made the actual decision. It was generally speculated in the media that Gilmore wouldn't be back in 2017 before the 2016 season ended, well before McDermott was hired. McDermott was hired in January, 2017, so he would have been on the job only a few weeks before FA started, and wouldn't have had time to supplant Whaley before the decision to let Gilmore walk was made. The FA signing period generally starts in early March IIRC, but the teams decide which players to re-sign or franchise before that, and McDermott would have been too new to have acquired that much power. Moreover, not paying outstanding players, especially DBs, for the market rate was pretty much an institutional policy under Ralph Wilson and Russ Brandon ... and the GMs Donahoe, Nix, and Whaley all accepted that. I also don't think franchise tagging Gilmore was ever even considered. I can't think of any player the Bills franchise tagged since 2000 ... I've said it before that how the Bills handle White -- whether they re-sign him or let him walk -- will indicate whether McDermott and Beane are truly a new regime or if the legacy of Wilson and Brandon still rules the Bills.

I disagree with this view because it reflects the typical Bills fan fantasy that a team with a couple of stars and a bunch of bargain basement JAGs can compete with teams loaded with talent throughout their roster. The Bills as an organization has fed fans that fantasy for the almost twenty years -- and their record between 2000 and 2016 demonstrates how much of a fantasy it is. The Bills have two windows that they need to act upon: Josh Allen's rookie contract and winning a Super Bowl. Determining Allen's worth is by far the most pressing and important window. You can't build a Super Bowl contender with a poor offense lacking a franchise QB and playmakers to support him. You also can't accurately assess Allen as a QB when the only weapons he has are 2 small WRs (Beasley and Brown) and a rookie RB (Singletary). Kamara would be one, especially paired with a between the tackles runner like Singletary. AJ Green would be another one. Not only is the draft a crap shoot as to who may be available and whether that pick turns out to be a diamond or a dud, but it generally takes time for rookies to develop. The Bills can't afford to waste Allen's rookie contract because they're waiting for a rookie RB to learn to block or a rookie WR to learn to run routes, because if he's not a true franchise QB, then the Bills don't really have a window for winning a Super Bowl. The Bills need to invest in the offense, and Kamara and Green would be good investments because they would enable the Bills to more accurately assess Allen.

Exactly this. There are only 4 teams with seating capacity over 80K: Dallas, Washington, Green Bay, Met Life (Jets/Giants). KC, Carolina, Denver, and LA Rams play in stadiums with more than 75K seats. The Ravens, Saints, Bills, and Texans play in stadiums with between 70-75k. That leaves 17 teams in stadiums between 60-70k seating, 1 team (Oakland) playing in a 56,000 seat stadium, and 1 team playing in a 27k seat stadium (Chargers).

This time, though, he seems to be improving the longer he plays, which is a new scenario for Fitzy.

While I agree that Cooper is not a good FA prospect, the Bills have way too many needs, especially at WR, to pass on top on signing a quality FA WR like Green if he's available. They cannot afford to waste the remainder of Allen's rookie contract because they are too cheap to give him a big, sure-handed receiver to create mismatches with smaller DBs next season. Allen needs bigger, better targets than he has other than Beasley and Brown if the Bills are going to make a sound decision on the kind of QB he truly is. They don't have any big young WRs on the roster, and relying on the draft can be iffy, especially with WRs. They have a promising TE in Knox, but they could use an upgrade to add another pass-catching veteran TE.

Ever hear of the phrase, "be careful what you wish for"? Don't necessarily assume that Daboll is the problem with the offense or that his replacement would do as well much less better than he's done. The Bills aren't loaded with talent on the offensive side of the ball that Daboll has failed to maximize. In fact, the lack of talent on the offensive side seems likely to have limited what the Bills can do offensively. Plain and simple, they are missing key pieces of a productive offense -- at least 2 big, reliable, sure-handed receivers and significantly better RBs than Gore and Yeldon --,and they need upgrades at OT (either through improvement in young players or new ones) plus continued progress from Josh Allen. The only real playmaker the Bills have on the offensive side of the ball is Allen, and he's not good enough at this point to carry the offense without more talent around him than he's got at present. I don't necessarily think that Daboll is a great OC but I think that given what he's had to work with, he's done an adequate job, so I'd give him another season to see what he can do with more talent on offense -- assuming that the Bills acquire that additional talent.

I was replying to the criticism that some posters make that when the Bills get ahead, they get too conservative. Maybe it's a tug of war between McDermott and Daboll, one wanting to not take chances once the team has a lead, and the other realizing that that lead can as easily be lost by 1 defensive mistake as by 1 offensive mistake. Maybe Daboll recognizes that the Bills don't have a good enough trio of RBs to be a run first team like Seattle or Pittsburgh. I think that the lack of offensive talent -- the starting skilled players are mostly decent or better but the second and third guys are well below average --- really limits what kind of offensive plays the Bills can run successfully. I would like to see them run more and throw more to the backs out of the backfield, but you literally need a stable of speedy RBs to do that. Hopefully upgrading the RB unit is a priority for next season.

You obviously missed the point that they've lost all three of their RBs recently: Penny went on IR a few weeks ago. Procise has been injured. Carson had been dealing with injuries and apparently suffered a serious hip injury against Arizona. I think I heard it was a broken hip.

Totally agree. They're still in the playoff hunt in Week 17 with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges as their QBs because they have a great OL, good RBs, and a great D. This has been their formula for half a century. Those great Steelers teams of the 70s with Bradshaw were anchored by the Steel Curtain and the running of Franco Harris. I think there's likely to be a decent crop of veteran QBs available in FA. Somebody like Case Keenum or Ryan Tannehill probably could get this team to the playoffs next season. BTW, the Steelers have been without a top tier QB before, and had good success. In Bill Cowher's 15 years as Pittsburgh HC, he had Roethlisberger for only 3 seasons (and won a SB with him), but his teams won 7 division championsships in those 12 seasons with QBs named O'Donnell, Stewart, Tomczak, and Maddox. They also made the AFC Conference Championship 4 times and the Super Bowl once. They'll make due until they find another QB of the caliber of Bradshaw and Roethlisberger.

I think that the philosophy McDermott is using is sound when a team has a young somewhat erratic QB -- get ahead, run the ball, depend on a stout D, and don't let a stupid mistake kill you -- but I don't think that the Bills have a good enough OL and RBs to execute it.

I think you are not being realistic. The Bills did not have a NFL caliber offense in 2018. I do not believe that they had NFL caliber coaching on the offensive side, either. What the Bills have to work with on offense is very limited weapons and only 1 true playmaker: Josh Allen. I think that McDermott and Daboll are working with what they have, and the name of the game is wins. Their formula is trying to get the most out of what they have while trying hard not to expose their weaknesses. No amount of coaching is going to make players taller or faster. Simply put, the Bills need more and better talent on offense before they can even begin to implement a more explosive offense.

You know what's really not a fun to watch??? Watching your team lose 9,10 or 11 games season after season for almost 20 years. I'm not a big Beane/McDermott fan, and I remain skeptical about the team's commitment to building a team truly good enough to compete seriously for the Super Bowl, but that's an issue for the off season It doesn't diminish how great it feels as a fan to FINALLY have a Bills team that's not only competitive in every game, but also wins most of the time ... or a team that again has "nothing to play for" in week 17, but finally for the right reason: a clinched playoff berth. How can you NOT find a December game in Foxborough with playoff seedings on the line for both teams entertaining, especially when the Bills not only played the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots close but also had a real chance to tie the game in the closing seconds???

They're never "the same Patriots" but somehow they manage to win games, especially playoff games. Against a more complete team with more play makers, especially on offense, than the Bills have, they probably aren't "the same Patriots" but the Bills still have a ways to go to compete with the AFC's elite.

I agree. My view is that the Patriots are the Patriots. This is the time of year that they get their collective act together, start making even good defenses look lackluster, and far better offenses than the Bills have look anemic (see Rams in last year's SB). Every season they conjure up some has-been or never-was to crush other teams' playoff/Super Bowl dreams. This year, they took somewhat longer than they usually do to get into gear, and that probably gave us "outsiders" -- other teams, commentators, and fans -- the false idea that they were on death's door. Apparently the reports of the Patriots' demise were a bit premature.

Totally agree. I think that resting starters just to rest them would undermine everything that McDermott and his staff have worked hard to instill into this team all season. This is a very young team with virtually no playoff experience as a unit. They need the continuity of mentally preparing and then playing to win a game, whether they're 10-5 or 5-10. I have no problem with the Bills liberally interspersing backups into the lineup to give them game experience but I don't think the Bills should go into the game with the attitude being communicated to the players that the game is meaningless.

If the Bills in the Glory Years had had great defenses, not just good ones, there likely would be at least one Lombardi residing at OBD. Get your facts straight, dude. McDermott/Beane inherited a very talented WR corps: Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin. They inherited a pretty good OL, particularly on the left side with Incognito and Glenn. They had McCoy at RB. None of those players left the Bills because they demanded trades or retired or were forced into retirement by injury. Gore is NOT the equivalent of McCoy unless you go back to the Gore of 5 or 6 years ago. Zay Jones was a McDermott draft pick. Beane traded for Benjamin.

I think -- at least I hope -- that McDermott/Daboll are coaching the conservative mode that they are because of the personnel limitations on the offense. I don't believe that the current model is sustainable in this era. Even great QBs like Brady and Rodgers struggle to put up points when they don't have weapons around them -- and their teams lose games that they probably wouldn't have lost in other seasons when they had better weapons. I've long been a critic of the way that McDermott and Beane stripped the offense of the talent they inherited and replaced it with much lesser talent. You cannot build a winning team with your offense loaded with Day 3 picks, UDFAs, and refugees from the CFL. Beane made some excellent acquisitions for the OL in 2019, and Beasley and Brown were good signings, but the general lack of talent on offense needs to be fixed sooner rather than later because it will hamstring the Bills in the playoffs where they'll face teams that not only have just as good or better defenses but also juggernaut offenses. This is simply untrue. Allen's playing much better recently than he was even earlier in the season, much less last season. Good defenses can make even great QBs look bad. The stretch from Thanksgiving through this week end (Cowboys, Ravens, Steelers, Patriots) could have been a 0-4 disaster if Allen hadn't played well. At worse, they will go 2-2 and maybe even 3-1.

Nobody is denying that Allen needs to be better, by a lot in some respects. However, given where he is in his career, where we are in the season, and quality of the personnel on the Bills offense, he's become a "good enough" NFL QB for this particular Bills team. He has limitations, but his leadership and clutch play have made up for those limitations in most games. A team that's serious about making the playoffs can't afford a QB who's likely to repeatedly turn over the ball in most games, no matter how many passing TDs the QB throws. Winston is essentially playing the same way as a fifth year player as he did as a second year player. He's never improved his most serious flaw: throwing to the wrong team. There is absolutely no evidence that bringing in Bruce Arians -- an alleged QB whisperer -- has significantly improved Winston's play. Franchising Winston is simply a waste of time and money. The Bucs need to move on. Agreed. I've been very critical of Beane and McDermott for the lack of talent on offense (including coaching) -- and it's effect on Allen's development and success. The Bills are trying to compete with offensive juggernauts with way too many players who were late draft picks or UDFAs. Those guys in general tend to be significantly less talented than guys taken in the first. Not many offensive playmakers come out of the ranks of Day 3 picks or undrafted players. The Bills absolutely need to stop treating the offense as a "red headed stepchild". They need to re-sign 2 or 3 of the OLers that they signed in 2019 to 1 year contracts. On the OL, continuity counts for a lot. They need to add a big, sure-handed veteran receiver (WR or TE). They need to sign or draft a better RB than Gore and Yeldon. They need to use their first round pick -- and maybe their second rounder as well -- on the offense, hopefully finding a playmaker.

I don't think that the problems in Jax are because of Marrone. Coughlin has always been a hard-arse, and he's run his teams like a stereotypical Marine drill sergeant, which doesn't fly with today's NFL players. I think the fact that Coughlin was fired so close to the end of the season and just a day or two after the Jags lost the NFLPA grievance over "excessive fines" for players who didn't rehab at the Jags facility during the off-season -- among other grievances -- tells you all you need to know about who's the source of Jax's problems.

You would be right in your observation if teams got points for completion percentage and yards, but they don't. They get points for putting the ball in the end zone or through the uprights. Allen ran for the Bills first TD and threw to Kroft in the EZ for the second one. I totally agree with this. Eli's stats make him look pretty average. He was also streaky, but when he was in his prime, he was less streaky and super clutch. He beat the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl with clutch plays, most notably his pass to David Tyree in the Giants' second Super Bowl win over the Pats that spoiled their quest for a perfect season. Which would you rather have? Eli's average stats and 2 Lombardis or Rivers' great stats but never even making the Super Bowl??? I know which I'd rather have, but I don't play fantasy football so Ws count more for me than stats.

Many of these same posters also ignore the fact that Allen doesn't have a big, sure-handed WR and a dependable pass catching TE. Lots of times in the passing game, success comes from mismatches, especially big, tall, sure-handed receivers against smaller DBs. Think Nuke or Gronk or AJ. They've got a speedster in Brown but they need a couple of big targets, especially in the red zone.

I think that too many Bills fans are too sensitive about criticism of Allen in the media. Some of the criticism is justified because Allen doesn't put up great passing stats, and his game still needs considerable work. OTOH, passing stats have become the be-all and end-all for some in the media as well as among some fans --at least partly and maybe mostly -- due to fantasy football, but passing stats alone don't define great QBs. IMO, Allen is already a competent NFL QB who demonstrates both good leadership and clutch play even though his passing stats aren't very good. He not only improved significantly from his rookie season, he's continued to improve as both a passer and a QB over the course of this season. Allen has thrown for 18 TDs and only 9 picks in 2019, and he's run for 9 more. Allen, in only 2 seasons, had already directed 6 4th quarter comebacks and 8 game winning drive. Jameis Winston OTOH has never been a competent NFL QB despite a being a great passer. His poor decision making has regularly cost his team wins. In his five seasons, Winston has thrown for 118 TDs in 70 games -- and 82 INTs. He's led 7 4th quarter comebacks and led 11 game winning drives in 5 seasons. Essentially, Winston is the same QB in Year 5 as he was in Year 2. Even having QB whisperer Bruce Arians as his HC has only helped Winston improve his QB play very marginally -- he's thrown 30 TDs and 24 INTs in 14 games this season.

One of the comments I heard on tv after last night's game was that what makes Brady and Brees so great is that they have both played in one system so long that they react with the right play almost instantly to any situation they encounter. They don't have to mentally run through all the plays they could call for that down and distance. They just have learned over time which call is the most likely to work against in that situation against a defense like their facing. It's like driving a car: after you've been driving for several years, you don't have to think of all the things you have to do like you did when you had your learner's permit. Allen is like a kid who's just passed his road test but isn't experienced enough to be as good a driver as he could be in a year or two. Of course, some young drivers never improve much, but most do. Let's hope Allen gets better.

I think it's actually smart coaching. The Bills simply don't have the offensive personnel to play wide open, especially near the goal line, and McDermott and Daboll are playing for team success. Against a tough defense with a penchant for forcing turn overs, playing conservative and getting three points rather than a TO is the smart move. While it's often true that people learn from their mistakes, they don't tend to learn much from continual failure. Frequent failure breeds discouragement and self doubt, and for a football team, that creates the infamous "losing culture". Conservative coaching isn't the style I'd prefer, but it's what the Bills realistically have to do in order to win games with the offensive talent that they have on the roster, and winning games is the name of the game. Your complaint would be valid if Josh Allen was playing at a much higher level but he's not good enough at this point in his career, and the Bills don't have enough offensive talent around him at present to help him be better in the short term. Exactly this. The Bills need success as a team right now much more than Josh Allen needs to try to up his stats, which he probably wouldn't do anyways because the Bills simply don't have the talent around him to help him. Anybody who doesn't think that the Bills -- and especially Allen -- desperately need a big, sure-handed WR like DeAndre Hopkins or Michael Thomas isn't paying attention.

Don't be so sure ... the Patriots replaced Drew Bledsoe with Tom Brady, Packers replaced Brett Favre with Aaron Rodgers, the Cowboys replaced Tony Romo with Dak Prescott, the Chiefs replaced Alex Smith with Patrick Mahomes, and the Ravens replaced Joe Flacco with Lamar Jackson.