Mikie2times

We do not have the roster to win a Super Bowl this year. If you look back the last decade, elite QB or elite defense. Then maybe a Philly special once in a blue moon <= Which we do have the potential of having because we can, despite what your eyes tell you, beat anybody, any given Sunday. So is your point just to complain as we keep winning? Which even if lacking true Super Bowl talent, is sort of what you need to do to have any shot at the SB. What would you do with yourself if we weren't winning? So we complain when we win and lose....Just for context I hope you understand the Bills have never won a Super Bowl. So if we complain when we win and lose, might not be very fun existence. FYI, the Bills were a 4 point favorite against the Patriots. We won by 3, shocking outcome. If a subgroup of fans got overzealous from our fast start not having the last 20+ years to warn them never to get overzealous too early, shame on them. Yes, that is what a championship team does. Which we aren't right now, but the Chiefs are, which I said. We just sort of found out this year that we have a Franchise QB. The fact that we are in Josh's 3rd year and are looking like we will likely win the division, which then opens up all sorts of possibilities should be very exciting. It's hard for me to be concerned about something that has never occurred once in our franchises history but your timer for concern is the third year of our QB's lifespan and the first year we can say with a decent amount of confidence he is a franchise QB. Yeesh.

Sorry, not that team yet. Your fault if you made them become that in your mind. Torch the front office because we aren't that team after 3-4 years? Please....Only 1-2 of those teams a year, teams that dominate and consistently win by a TD or more with style point.

I literally directly referenced the Chiefs. Yes, this one game proved that. No way we could beat a meddling potential playoff team like, I don't know, like the Patriots or the Dolphins or the Rams or the......

And we sucked against DVOA last year and do again this year. Again, we aren’t a top 2–3 team, we aren’t going to blow teams out and progression in this league is not linear. It never is. If we want to B word and moan after we win every close one all we will be doing is bitching all year as we make our way to the first home playoff game in 25 years. We have sucked for two decades, you would think by now we would have learned a degree of respect and patience towards the football gods.

We are seeing very negative threads following Bills wins. I'm sure most on here can recall a hell of a lot of games the past 20 years we lost by not executing in small areas, by a small margins of defeat, failing on the last drive, etc.... MOST the games in the last 20 years went that way. If you paid close attention to the league the past 20 years you would notice most NFL games go that way and a higher % of divisional games. It is VERY unusual to have an NFL game with a line greater than a margin of 7. All of them are supposed to be close. We were excellent at not winning close games for 20 years and now we are becoming excellent at winning them. For all but a couple of teams each year that is the definition of success and we are getting consistent in that definition. We aren't the Chiefs, who this year really are the only world beaters. Nobody here would ever try and claim we are the Chiefs. If, when, until, we become a team of that caliber, for the most part, they all will all be ugly. As a good team, we will win most. We will get in the playoffs and once you do that you can keep advancing and you hope to get positioned to play a world beater and be at your best. On a positive note...... We made the playoffs 2 of the the last 3 seasons, certainly looks like it will be 3 of 4. Currently a heavy favorite to host the first Bills playoff game in 25 years even though nobody will be able to attend it (sad face emoji). From all appearances, we have our Franchise QB. Beane is not as good as you think he is. He is very good, but some of you act as if he's not going to miss on FA's or draft picks. More a result of our own fan base turning him into a deity but that's not exactl fair. He's accomplished more than any GM since Bill Polian. We have no reason to not give him the benefit of the doubt along with McDermott. We can also criticize as we would anybody else. Just do yourself a favor, don't expect either to be perfect and don't expect us to roll teams. Even bad ones. That's just not where we are at nor how the NFL works. HUGE win today, another example of one we would have lost 100 out of 100 times the last 20 years, not anymore. GO BILLS!

When you live in a market the size of Buffalo with the passion of our base everything is going to exaggerated.

Meh, me, moo, maaa. I imagine we are very similar in age. That game sucked, but I do appreciate you firing the neuron that made me remember it. I see things a bit differently. I mean sometimes teams just take a beatdown and it can be for a lot of reasons. That KC game, teams didn't win very often at Arrowhead and that crowd made it impossible on us. It was like an avalanche from start to finish. That win did focus us, I will agree with that. As far as the Titans game, the defense was completely undermanned. This defense has not looked good in general and really not looked good with Edmunds, Milano, or Tre out, and if it was 2 of 3 lord help us. Then you had a more motivated Titans team in my opinion. We had KC in a week, battle of undefeated teams, SB champs. Sure Tennessee was/is undefeated but KC will have anybody looking ahead to some extent. Then worse, the Titans got dogged pretty much for 14 days on the media and they all saw it in the confines of Covid quarantine. Dogged over not following safety protocols, dogged because they wouldn't be prepared. They played us like we were KC. Most teams are not mature enough to overcome these types of things or if they do, it's only because they're THAT good. See KC vs Chargers Week 2 prior to KC playing Baltimore for a good example. Tennessee is a very good team. Not a game we could have won without 100% focus and most of our stars and we had neither.

Agree 100%

Thank you, I thought the comparison was thought provoking for me based on what you said and I view it very similar as you do. I think for some people that notion might ruffle some feathers somehow implying Josh is not super human but that was not the intention of my post. More just impressed by how well the Bills did at slowly adding each piece and really giving Josh the ability to reach his full potential.

Pretty sure they use the exact same QB coach and training regime. It's also hard to throw the ball when you have no WR's and you are getting pummeled before you have 2 seconds to read what is going on. Not a Darnold apologist, but I think the board is drastically underestimating what the Bills have given Allen to work with. Allen's a stud, but from the sounds of it the board seems to think he could have a winning record with the Jets right now which to me is laughable.

When I watch Allen this year and see the fruits of his labor, I can't help but notice just how amazing a job our front office has done in putting him in a position to be successful. It really makes you wonder the % the QB plays in his success and the % the front office does. With Darnold and Allen you probably have the two most extreme cases in each direction. Allen is immensely talented and as hard a worker as you could find and by all account Darnold is a very hard worker as well. That said, you often see Allen eating a bag of Cheetos after the snap as those long crossing routes are developing. Our offensive line has been fantastic giving Allen time to read defenses. Then you look at the WR position. The route running on this team is perhaps the best in the NFL. You can't cover Cole Beasley, watching the guy run routes is a thing of beauty. Smoke is the same way just faster. Then Diggs is just the total package. Davis and McKenzie is like icing on icing. What I love so much about all of it is none of it was done over night. Piece here, piece there. I always thought the front office played a role in QB development. It was just really hard for me to tell how much until I saw how well this regime brought Allen around. The QB still needs to be the right guy and I would never take a shred away from Allen as he has worked so hard to become who he is, but what happens if you flip flop Darnold and Allen? Could Allen make this years Jets team a 8-8 squad? 6-10? Would Darnold have us 4-0? Curious as to what people think.....

You would take Bass over Hauschka? Again, not like Hauschka is gold by any stretch, but he's shown he can get it done in the league at a high level. I should also add that I very much appreciated the missed PAT and the last second TD. I took the Raiders +7.5 live betting after Allen appeared to be injured. So that miss and the subsequent back door was fine by my account.

Really, that's the trouble? We are a Super Bowl contender with a Rookie kicker who hasn't proven he can make it in the NFL yet and his body of work thus far gives us every reason to be concerned. I hate rookie kickers in the NFL. What is the point? At least look at players that have shown they can be successful in the league first and also don't further marry yourself to a freaking kicker by using a draft pick on him. I REALLY hope he turns it around, Hauschka wasn't perfect by any stretch but he proved himself in the league and if it wasn't for his performance in the playoff game against Houston we would have never been able to B word about two players colliding with Watson at 20 MPH and him not moving an inch.

The whole league is starting slow on defense. Most points scored in NFL history through week 2 thus far. I expect us to improve as well as the league as a whole. Hopefully we can get ahead of the curve. From what the eye sees, lot of fatigue, difficulty keeping up with so many multiple 4-5 WR sets. Defenses look two steps behind right now, not the usual one.

Still one of a few areas Josh needs to keep getting better in. Don’t put us in a potential momentum shifting situation by making that throw. Just didn’t need to happen. Horrible call, sure, doesn’t absolve Josh.

I'm very pro Allen, let's just say that now. Historically his stat line doesn't capture his positive impact (my opinion), but today I thought it might have over captured it. I agree with the B+ and might even call it a B (that is above average right?). He made a couple throws that could have been intercepted, throws that should not be made, missed a couple TD passes, a few fumbles, and as a whole, I think we lose against the better teams today. Not as a direct result of him, but the next step is hoping to say we can win those games as a result of him. That is what gets you into the A grade range. Happy with the start. Loved the Diggs connection, that will be fun all year especially seeing smoke highly involved as well. Can we go vertical? Please?

I think it also happens when you restructure prior to resentment building which keeps adding to that culture.

He put up 1,000+ and 7 TD's his 2nd year and just turned 30 this year. He gets injured a lot 2 straight years after his 1,000 yard campaign then one rather solid year with a Baltimore team where his skill set just wasn't the best fit. He gets back into a good fit, stays healthy and what do you know, 1,000+ yards and 6TD's. Key for Brown is staying healthy. Probably not a textbook #1 but can play the role and certainly among the better #2's in the league. I also have to think Beasley is one of the better #3's. What I Iove about both of them, especially with Josh, is he didn't seem to lose focus with with Diggs trade. Not pulling the "me" first routine. When you talk about "the process" Josh Brown IS the process.

This scares me.He's sort of like a slightly more talented more hyped Nate Peterman. Noodle arm, stares receivers down, propensity for turnovers. Having said all this I trust the front office. A lot of people knocked us for taking Rosen and I will admit I wanted to see that be the pick over Allen. Happy to be dead wrong on that one.

True, but Josh doesn’t smell his trapped farts under the covers. If he does it’s because he has a penis, Edelman does because he thinks they smell like Cool Water.

After a run of over 100 consecutive starts, he dislocated his shoulder in 2015 and required surgery. Then he broke his tibia in 2016. He had a outstanding recovery year in 2017 which took him to the last year of his contract. He held out at the start or 2018 wanting a new contract. I think he felt after all he had been through in 15 and 16 his performance in 17 warranted a new contract. Seattle didn't give it to him and most elites from the legion of boom already left or had a pretty thick layer of distrust with Carroll. Thomas was one of the last remaining. Few weeks into 2018 and he breaks his leg. If you watch the video you can tell Thomas knew his days in Seattle were over when he got injured, he had a momentary lapse in professionalism flipping Carroll off. I think the guy wants to win and doesn't have much patience for mistakes. Probably hasn't had a bond with a team since the legion of boom. If Baltimore doesn't work out, it's possible Thomas could retire. Depends on his finances. I don't think he wants to play anymore after all the injuries and if he does it comes with a poor attitude and demanding perfection. Baltimore vets don't feel he fits in. It will get interesting. I see this as a make or break point for Thomas.

Very interesting. I would only be concerned with a protected class employee under the conditions of your second statement. That would have some risk. But if it wasn't a protected class employee, not much the employee could say. They would likely win an unemployment claim if the company fought it. That's about the most they could do.

Right. So what it amounts to is say I term somebody citing job performance and that person is a minority. Then I don't term somebody who meets the same job performance levels as the other individual, then the former could say I did so based on race. Then they would have grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit. With Covid it's just extra weird. Say I have two employees, both performing poorly off site. One is a minority who is 19 and the other is not and he's 60 years old. I tell the 19 year old you need to return on site, they refuse. I term that person. They try and file a wrongful termination lawsuit because I allowed the 60 year old to remain at home. Can that person really make an argument I did so based on race? Perhaps, but it would be pretty easy to argue I did so because I was protecting the health of somebody in a higher risk group. Would US courts pay that much attention given nearly every employer is dealing with this situation and nobody has the HR playbook? Probably not. What I'm describing is rampant in the states right now. It's a very bizarre climate with work. So many took the Federal stimulus and made out with higher income than when they did work. People who did keep working felt frustrated they weren't getting the hand out. I saw a massive surge in applicants when the stimulus ran out. Obviously not everybody fits into this. Some people are really dealing with some serious hardships, but the climate is just totally messed up. I'm sure other hiring managers would agree it's just been a very bizarre time. Probably similar in many other countries.

Most employees in the US work in states that are considered "at will". Which basically means I can term you anytime, any reason, it only gets hairy if somebody can make an argument that I'm terming you because something discriminatory. It would be hard to make a case right now in the US for anything like that to occur. It's such a crap show right now with employers having blends on site and off site, trying to bring back poor performers offsite, but do so in ways that have some structural process. So many are flying by the seat right now I just don't see the courts ruling in employees favor unless it's egregious.

Each employer treats this a little differently. That said, essentially all employers need to do is not be grossly negligent. States want people off unemployment. If you have socially distanced working conditions and you are asked to return back, most states are instructing employers to separate from that employee if they refuse to do so. I think rightfully so. For every person who has a legit concern that directly impacts them, five more cry wolf. All of this I have seen first hand too many times to count. If you want to play six degrees of separation all of us have somebody we come in contact with that is at risk. I think it's smart to work with the people who have a direct issue. But that's about it. Then as far as companies go, they really are just playing it safe. This is the wild west. Nobody is going to win lawsuits because an employer let somebody go that refused to return to work. Just isn't going to happen. MAYBE if that individual was clearly high risk, but not based o a family member or other contact. It's dog eat dog right now and I really don't mind, enough people have taken advantage of the stimulus and just been lazy piles of crap for 4 months. Not everybody fits that criteria, but a lot do, and as a hiring manager I'm sick of seeing it.