technobot

Plenty of game left but still not quite sure what I'm watching when I see this Bills. I believe it's a powerful offense, a stout defense and well coached team with a deep roster. Don't quote me on this.

He's not going to do this every game but I believe he'll have a 500 yard game. They have the playmakers to make this possible, Diggs especially. Two weeks in a row he's around 250 yards at the half. He'll eventually have a lucky "hit everything week" and post a 5 TD on bombs, 2 on runs style GOAT performance. What the first Jets game could have been, without the turnovers, and the offense staying hot to start the second half.

Allen's first 400 yard game and we damn well needed it. Great to see it wasn't padded by garbage time.

Heart attack game where a game we should have dominated seems like it’s going off the rails? #1 WR domination game? Josh Allen’s monster stats “say my name” game? what a difference 8 minutes makes

Just took a stroll through their forums; I should be above this but am thoroughly enjoying a rival's misery. I don't know what % of their fanbase that message board represents but general sentiment: grim. No sugar coating it, no optimism. They know they have a bottom tier NFL roster, and they're (almost) proud to admit it. The thread for Gase supporters was worth the price of admission (IMO).

Bills clearly have a superior roster and they’re playing like they know it and aren’t afraid to admit it. Love how Allen just totally brushed off that first fumble and went about the business of methodically beating down an inferior team.

First half lowlights for the Jets should be accompanied by sad trombone sound.

Both seem like great people in the IRL (redundant, see redundant) The 2011 season ended up being a kick in the groin, but we'll always have that Week 3 win over the Pats. As much as Fitz would go full gunslinger (without the gun) and try some CRAZY things... it's like the young guy we have now, except the young guy has the cannon arm. Tyrod was far too cautious. I work with a guy who is a Hokies fan from VA, and he loves every present and past player. I had to explain the "Tyrod special". You know the one where your quarterback throws for 98 yards. And yes I know it 134 yards in a playoff game against a formidable Jaguars defense, but come on, man. I think Fitz could have made magic here with the team they have now. That 2011 era vintage was fun in a Bad News Bears sort of way, as in a not-very good group of misfits who won (and broke) our hearts. With the contract they gave him (prematurely), they had to move on from him. But it's unfortunate because he was already regarded as a top shelf teammate, whether the starter or the backup, and we could have used him at the beginning for Josh. Glad they stumbled upon Barkley along the way, so it worked out regardless.

I'd do it. It's the default for performance and reliability. Without seeing what else is offered I can't imagine you wouldn't want it, assuming it's the default offering.

Agree with what has been said for the most part. I don't think it's time to throw the baby out with the bath water barring some freak once-in-generation style regression from Josh where he's consistently missing wide open Diggs/Brown and giving the other team easy INT FOR TD, Nate P style. I also don't think 60% passing is an unreasonable ask at all; as Biscuit mentioned that's a fairly low bar for even an average NFL QB. It's obviously not a concrete KPI that must be obtained; I'm more interested in hitting targets down field which will result in more touchdowns. But to repeat, 60% is a very attainable and reasonable minimum expectation. I really love Gunner's comparable: Brady vs Favre. I doubt Josh will ever be Mr. Hyper Effective: throwing short-mid range lasers and dinking and dunking the defense to death. We also get the "worst version of Josh" if he's so afraid of mistakes that he becomes a higher ceiling Tyrod Taylor (no offense to Tyrod, loved him but you all know the rest). A playmaker with a cannon arm who will make the occasional mistake because he's trying to make something happen would be fine by me. And yes, both Allen and Daboll are entering "come on, man" territory if the offense is bottom tier again. Without having seen the games the Bills have a great potentially elite defense, what could be a potent running attack, a good perhaps great group of wide receivers, and what might be a young stud at tight end. Without being able to qualify how good or bad the oline is, I saw a line that was good enough to enable the offense to score points and sustain drives. If the expectation is pro bowlers everywhere along the line, I think those with such hopes will be forever disappointed. And what has Dallas done with their vaunted line? It takes a whole team and I like ours, and the QB. Hoping they get it done.

Excited to see if Edmunds can take that jump this year. As others have pointed out, just being consistent in the run game (good but not even great) makes him elite with his already-elite coverage skills. Tremaine and Josh both look jacked this year; the kids are putting on some big boy muscle. If if if but if both he and Allen take that next step... elite QB on offense and defense, so to speak.

I've got to echo the Fitz love. As lovable as they were, in a Bad News Bears sort of way, Fitz has played for some trashy teams.He beat the Patriots in a game they really wanted with a "better than college, but just barely NFL" roster. Total team/coach effort but I digress. I have no idea what Beane/McDermott would think, but to me, Fitz would have been the ultimate backup QB for us. From all reports, he would have been an exemplary mentor for the starter, giving him all the help he needs, but would also compete like hell to be *the* starter. The guy has had a long and very profitable NFL career as a top tier backup and fringe starter, without the arm to do so. All brains, leveraging experience, toughness, being a world class teammate... the NFL love for the guy is universal and can't be smokescreen. In terms of intangibles, he's first team All-Pro. If he had Brady's arm, he would have been a star. Hell, if he had Josh's arm he would have been a Hall of Famer. Just my lukewarm take.

For me, any permutation of a season where they win the Super Bowl. Finishing 9-7 and squeaking in (while making us tear our hair out every week) then going on a "heater", Giants-style, works for me as well as 14-2 dominance where they have a top 10 offense with the #1 defense. This is not to say I would be disappointed by the usual markers of success: Josh taking another step forward, winning a playoff game, fielding a competent (dare I say dangerous) offense and... stop leaking 20 yard run gashes up the middle (it's better now but it's a problem they've seemed to have had for 15 years+). But if hope springs eternal then the best I could hope for is a Super Bowl in whatever flavour is offered, except an asterisk season. A 9-7 scenario where they lose twice to the Patriots but still win the Super Bowl would provide endless entertainment: watching people proclaim a Bills season that ended with a championship parade was a failure.

Agree with Biscuit. I articulated poorly: I'm not a Whaley fan, but at the same time he was the best by default. Middle age has made all the memories of the drought blur into one hazy nightmare, but Whaley's drafts felt different because we actually hit on a pick or two each year. Levy-Brandon-Nix (and yes Nix is Whaley) had lowered my hopes to the point I just wanted a first/second round pick to pan out and stick, nevermind become a star. This is why McBeane feels next level, because they seem to consistently hit at the top of the draft and find gems in the middle/late rounds. But there have certainly been mistakes. My blame for not building a culture is a shot at ownership: Wilson/Brandon as hand-of-Wilson/and of course the Pegulas. Pairing a GM and head coach who aren't aligned was decided by the level above Whaley.

My memories of Whaley are mixed. On one hand there were some nice picks, and Hughes for Sheppard/McCoy for Alonso demonstrated his pro personnel chops. There were some value bin pickups as well as some nice draft picks and I'm even thinking of a Preston Brown who wasn't a star by any means but was solid and made it to his second contract. Think about it, the bar is that low for the entire drought: the elite group of Bills draft picks who went on to have a career in this league, usually outside of Buffalo. I digress. He was decent (above average?) at scouting college and pro personnel. As much as I didn't like the Watkins trade much of it is hindsight and I think most of us can agree that Watkins has a high ceiling (which he will probably never reach). Much like the current guy, Whaley also liked to call his shots and take them; he wasn't afraid of risky moves if he was "fired up" about a guy. Where I will knock him is his apparent lack of strategy, i.e. he handled the draft and in-season waiver transactions in an acceptable manner, but lacked any clear strategy to build a roster and manage the cap with any plan for sustainability. He liked to say he wanted to "stack drafts" and pile talent on top of each other but everyone says a variation of this and it never happened. Many of you are much more knowledgeable about the college and pro game than I am so I will defer to you but I'm just looking at the results of who stayed, who we extended, and who we couldn't afford to keep. His tactics were generally sound but managing the cap/building the roster was an obvious strategic deficiency. A failure of the entire front office, the coaching regimes and ownership for that matter was the inability to build a culture. Even with solid citizen/pantheon Buffalo Bills like Kyle Williams, Eric Wood and Fred Jackson leading the way, there was no culture established except one of mediocrity and missing the playoffs. The Bills were never outright trash and thus never earned the best lottery pick, but they never good enough to seriously think about the post-season. Thus, any positive influences couldn't contain bad apples; this isn't to sing McBeane's culture/we are family praises, but the league cares about winning and a winning locker room can absorb problem children. The Bills never had the luxury of this kind of cultural foundation; they might finally have it going into next season. The juggernaut 2014 Bills, much lauded for their defense and being (by default) the best team in a historically inept run, were indicative of this. The numbers looked nice but they weren't good enough to win games that mattered, when it mattered. Beating the Patriots B-team sans Brady on the last game of the season, despite being in Foxborough, doesn't count for me. But Whales deserves credit for this team, the dandelion in a field of weeds. And in his defense, he needed somebody above, whether it was Brandon on behalf of Wilson or the Pegulas, to step in and make it clear that the head coach and GM HAVE to work together, under threat of torture, or both of them would be burned at the stake. Pure conjecture but I'll blame Brandon for that; he was the defacto "owner" during Whaley's tenure and could have done more to build that culture from the top down, because that's where it starts. And to reiterate, I have no proof this occurred, but I've seen nothing to indicate Brandon cared about anything other than selling tickets, despite saying all the right things.

No need to worry. McBeane have already planned for the worst. The contingency plan for Diggs is the same as it was for AB. If Diggs acts up, he'll be called into a one one one meeting with our fearless coach, in an empty gymnasium containing a wrestling mat. McD will end it in the first minute with a triangle choke.

Brandon Beane, the hero Buffalo deserves. At worst, signings like this and Gaines improve depth and the bottom of the roster. If Williams returns to form, the Bills could add another core piece and solidfy the o-line. Kudos for setting themselves up for the draft, 2 years in a row.

Take care, and sorry for you and your family.

I agree, Shaw. Since 2018 they've gone from bottom tier offense/offensive line to solid (if unspectacular) offensive line and poor (but not scraping the bottom) offense in 2019. So far in 2020, the pieces are in place. I concur with the need for the 2 in a 1-2 punch involving Singletary, and it would be nice to add least add some tackle depth before the draft which I'm sure they'll do. It's probably wishful optimist thinking but I also feel the Bills have at least the foundation of not just a decent offense, but a powerful one. As everyone has said before me, it's all on Allen. If he makes the same jump he made from year 1 - 2 in year 3, we have a QB that we can stay the course with. With Diggs is in the picture, if Allen masters the deep throw (or at least is in coin flip territory) he will become a freak. Cheat code enabled. Many ifs but Singletary and especially Knox might take a bigger step this year. Were Knox to become a reliable target... I understand some of the frustration with Daboll, but it seemed like in every game this year there were multiple shots downfield with a receiver open that Allen or the receiver didn't convert. More egregious was the playoff loss where there were several throws at the end of the game and I don't want to blame the receiver, but have to wonder if Diggs makes those catches.

A We got a #1 receiver. He might not be a top 5 WR1 or even top 10 but I don't think it matters. Giving up our 1RD? I'll wager we win for the first 2 maybe 3 years, and that's assuming whoever we picked would become better than Diggs. There's no guarantee we hit on the 5th/6th this year, the onus is on MIN to do so. The outrage over us giving up a 5th/6th in addition to this year's 1st and next year's 4th is a little over the top. By the same token the praise for MIN getting a massive haul seems a little premature. Sure it's a bunch of picks/scratch tickets but there seems to be an expectation that you turn these day 3 picks into dependable starters, let alone stars.

Love the trade. No guarantees in life but I'm very optimistic about the results. There's always an inherent risk with these things but we're getting a proven talent who can make Josh better NOW. It would have been nice to draft "our" guy and groom him from the start but just like nothing says this will work out (or won't spontaneously combust in the Bills' faces), there's no certainty the player drafted in the first round would be as good as Diggs. The 5th and the 6th rounders were fodder given the roster depth this year. I'm all for another crack at the draft lottery but there's no guarantees and certainly no knowing that they could have packaged for a trade up. If the draft is as deep as "they" say, then we can get our WR to groom on day 2. We've got the cap room and assuming the guy isn't a nutbar then we've just added a core piece, the thing we were all clamouring for: that proven #1 receiver. And we didn't wildly overpay like we would have had to for Cooper (assuming he would have even answered the phone). The future is now, shots fired. Beane said (paraphrasing) "we want Josh to succeed and we want him to get paid that next big contract". Well, Josh. Get er done, I'm certain you can get it done. And here I thought patting the Bills FO on the back for a smart/value/roleplayer signing in AJ Klein would be the highlight of FA Day One.

Did "it" just get real?

Agree. They even joked about it, that they've got their own ideas. When asked what happens when they disagree, McDermott mentioned settling it on the wrestling mat.

I agree it's interesting. Terry Pegula alluded to this when asked about the hiring process, i.e. that McDermott's reported influence was greatly exaggerated. John Kryk wrote about it, take it for what it's worth (I like him, I can get some additional Bills info in some of the local Canadian papers) https://torontosun.com/2017/05/12/theres-not-a-czar-around-here-new-bills-gm-coach-duo-promise-collaboration/wcm/d396de9b-4e1d-456d-b713-11a95d494756 "What’s more, Terry Pegula insisted that in the GM interview process, “Sean’s involvement” amounted to nothing more than “writing a name on a piece of paper,” and that McDermott even “wrote seven or eight names.” Maybe Terry was telling the truth all along, and the talking heads made up their own version of the story: McDermott is the overlord of the Buffalo Bills and Beane is his handpicked head scout. McDermott and Beane have both denied this, and have insisted it's a partnership and collaboration and they won't agree about everything, but they are definitely aligned. At the same time they haven't wasted their time continuously refuting a narrative that the media might or might not have made up. I always thought it would make sense that McDermott would suggest people who he trusted, respected, and knew he could work with. And the Pegulas, having seen what happened with Whaley/Ryan, would obviously want the GM and HC to work together, with a unified vision. And thanks, Yolo, for the link. Great conversation and insight.

I understand the desire to draft and develop a guy (or guys) they like, and have him on the cheap for 4-5 years. Sounds reasonable to me. However, I have to agree with the people saying go for it. Unless we know for sure he is a locker room problem (and I don't see evidence he is) then this is an opportunity to add an elite player to the offense which can only help Allen. Having Diggs as the #1 also makes Brown and Beasley better. I see all the buzz that the draft is loaded with WR talent and I'll defer to the experts. But as stated by others, the draft is still a crapshoot. The guy we get in the first round? We *HOPE* he becomes a Stefon Diggs. To add a talent like this, who has several years left on a reasonable contract (and who will be an absolute bargain this year)... I don't think you can pass it up unless it becomes a bidding war. It would also prevent New England from landing him. I do believe this has leaked to get the interest started early, like intentionally listing a house under its value. For all our sake it's fortunate I'm not the GM of the Bills but assuming he's not a headcase/has an undisclosed injury, I'd offer a 1st round plus. Crazy as it sounds, but my logic is stated above: we'd be good and extremely lucky if whomever we picked in the first becomes as good or better than Diggs. In a dream world where this happens, I still hope they get that big body, redzone nightmare project later in the draft.