DCofNC

I certainly wouldn’t say they are a lock, they barely made the playoffs last year. They are a team worth watching though. Lawrence has to make a pretty big leap for them to be considered real contenders, he has the ability, just has to do it. Barring injury, the one seed goes through KC and Cinci. Both teams are very talented and though their divisions look tough(er) on paper, I don’t see anything for either one to be scared of. Whoever comes out of the East will be battle tested and I don’t see anyone in serious contention for a #1 seed because they all get to beat on each other. I thought the West would make the #1 tough for KC last year and they proved me wrong, so who knows. My feeling is the playoffs will look pretty similar to last year.

This is spot on. I was worried we were watching Mitch Trubiski 2.0 after 2019. He absolutely blew expectations out of the water in 2020 and had been a top 5 guy ever since. The narrative I can’t stand is Diggs made Allen, that’s some serious BS. The ONLY WR Allen has played w in Buffalo that hasn’t enjoyed a career year is Sanders. That is much more to do w Sanders being washed than Josh, but literally everyone who has seen the field w Josh has put up their best numbers ever.

I believe most contracts have language written into them that allows the team to rework it as needed, so long as the money stays the same. It would actually suck for the player a bit, but I do think this is why you saw Allen take a “small” signing bonus and larger first year base pay. I sure as hell would.

I’m surprised to see a guy with this much starting experience and with pretty high quality tape out there at this point on the cheap. This could be a really good addition. Maybe there’s something we aren’t aware of, but looks like a great signing on the surface.

Meh, would be a nice piece to have, but in no way would I ever consider paying him what he’s making now so a trade is out. I think he would make Miami better and they should be able to fit him in. They don’t have much in the way of a power back, they are all speed, he’s a complete guy, don’t want to see him there, but nothing you can do.

Actually, neither scenario is correct, the bonus money is deemed NYS, so in the very likely scenario that he takes a big signing bonus with a bunch of voided years, he’s getting slapped with the 11% on that and the 1.1M vet contract would be at the rates across where he’s playing. In opposition to signing w a team in a no income tax state, the bonus won’t be taxed and you will only pay where you play. Ideal scenario is honestly outside of the AFCE because barring Florida, you are getting slammed w high tax rates for divisional games. Taxes matter, like it or not.

Everyone cares about the bottom line at the end of the day. If the offer from TN or others is considerably larger than what he can get from a real contender, he may well choose to take it and I don’t blame him. If it’s a trivial difference and he chooses to take the same offer from TN vs Buffalo bc of taxes, then yeah, he’s not really in it to win (even though 11% of a contract in taxes is no joke).

“It’s possible they are a better team this year even if their record is worse in 2023… success to me means progressing further …” This is my definition of success as well. There’s potential for things to be better this year, I’m hopeful they will. I am not 100% sold on the changes made on D, but McD gets to show us what he’s got.

I have been lit up for pointing it out, but the Bills D has had the benefit of exceptionally weak competition over that time. In 2021 they got 8 games against either back-up or rookie QBs and another 4 of those in 2022. That’s quite literally over half the wins the team had in that span, the stats don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the numbers against teams over .500, they aren’t nearly as good.

I’m realistic. There’s always a shot to be good w Allen at QB. He had his ups and downs last year, but he’s elite and creates a lot from nothing. I turned a bit more pessimistic last offseason when they banked on Davis becoming a legit 2 and ignored the OL again, while dumping huge money into an older DE, knowing full well they rotate the line to death. The continued spending of high picks on the D and little to no return on them has me questioning a lot. I can’t figure out if it’s a disconnect between the coaching and the GM or if the coaches absolutely refuse to use players to their strengths. As for this off-season. I feel like McGov is basically Rick Bates 2.0 in terms of a guy who was a back up, got limited reps and cashed in. Maybe it works, but it’s a projection at best. I like Harty and Sherfield, solid depth with some speed, but it still doesn’t address the glaring hole at #2 WR. MLB is basically a perfect example of Hope as a strategy. OL isn’t far behind. Coaching has been suspect at best the last three seasons. Perhaps more concerning is McD didn’t even have the balls to fire Frazier or take over play calling if he truly wasn’t happy w it in season. He’s supposed to be the guru, but the D has choked in big moments. He seems to meddle in the O, but again leaves the big moments on a (struggling) rookie OC down the stretch. I feel McD is a good guy, great culture builder, but has hit his ceiling. This combined with the continued misses in the draft, there’s not enough talent/money to get more talent to cover for bad drafts, to cover the mediocre coaching. At this point, I see a lot of holes in the roster and don’t see a coaching staff that can overcome.

I hate that I agree. I’m honestly not confident on either, there’s more “potential” on the roster, but not a lot of guys I’m sure about.

Did he really improve it? He signed a back-up lineman to a starting contract, what looks to be a wash at WR/RB, lost one of the best LBs in the league without replacement, and signed an aging LB/DE that nobody else wanted to pay. We all want to assume the draft will pay dividends, but if we are honest, rookie TEs rarely have a lot of impact and Torrence fell a long way to get to us, the last time we thought we “stole” a Guard that didn’t play out to well. I’m saying he didn’t , but if you aren’t a Bills fan, would you really say so? I can’t say yes.

Well, context is the next easy thing you can work on. Weigh it vs DL picks and signings and it’s a joke.

They tried? Really? Look at all the DL Picks and signings, then check OL, get back to us. Replacing garbage with somebody else’s garbage is not trying.

Pretty fair assessment, the depth of the roster is pretty solid, minus WR, the difference maker talent is severely lacking, which is part of why there has been a struggle in the playoffs. Want to stop the offense? Don’t let Allen run and double Diggs, the wheel spinning will follow. Want to move the ball? At the end of last year, it was just avoid Milano, nobody else scares you. This season could be more of the same if Kincaid takes a while to adjust and the OL additions don’t find their footing quickly. The O is more worrisome to me, counting on a bunch of u proven guys again this year. On D, if White doesn’t come back to form and have Elam step up in a big way, it’s going to be a rough start to the year without Miller and Edmunds. At very least you will have to account for the safties again. Hopefully, one of the MLB candidates separates themselves from the crowd and McD can dial up some pressures without hanging the corners on an island too much. It’s a big year for McD to show what he’s got.

Explain to me, why we are talking about SB Champions when the Bills can’t get there? Those teams won when it mattered, because their Defense did the job, when it mattered. Yes they beat up on garbage, but nobody was falsely claiming they were the #1 D in the league either.

The Rams did nothing all year, healthy or not. The Titans did nothing all year, healthy or not. The Lions got a win streak going on garbage teams and still missed the playoffs. Brissett has never been more than a back-up, regardless of Watson being terrible after missing a season and a half. There is no “Cherry Picking” going on. In the last 2 seasons, when this D has been “dominant” They have won 12 games against teams with a rookie or Back-up QB. In that time, they’ve won 5 games against teams over .500. They have feasted on garbage. Cheeseburger keeps contradicting himself, trying to blame Allen for scores and then pointing out the teams didn’t put up a lot of yards while scoring 30+, when you have a short field, you don’t go as far to score, but the D still gave up TDs to a 3rd string QB. The Eagles and the Chiefs beat bad teams too, but ya know what he’s picking them? THEY WENT TO THE SUPERBOWL. This D gets man handled every year when it counts. Who gave up a ton of points all game to KC in the playoffs 2021? Was that Allen? Was it Allen who let them score in 13 Seconds to lose the game after leading the team on an epic comeback? The narrative is so bad it hurts. When it counts this D has crumbled. This year the competition is way stiffer, to expect them to be better after losing more talent than they replenished, fools gold.

Or you could look at the facts and recognize the ratings have been achieved against inferior talent. Then also recognize the level of competition has been raised for this coming year and the overall talent of this team has decreased after free agency. Enjoy the beach life, I’m sure the sand feels nice over your head. I’ll be patiently waiting.

So excited to keep and sign more rotational DL, can’t have enough money wasted there. WRs are a dime a dozen as we all know, Bean just wizarding again.

Can you please provide a picture of yourself to the folks at Webster Dictionary? They have decided to add it to the definition of “Homer”. They plan to add in context of being unable to accept obvious facts, when presented in a clear and easy to understand format.

Let’s get a break down for you week by week: 1) W vs Rams - Rams finished 5-12 2) W vs Titans - 7 Win team 3) L vs Phins 4) W vs Ravens - let up 20 pts, did a good job vs Jackson. Credible win. 5) W vs Pitt - rookie QB 6) W vs Chiefs - best game of the year. 7) W vs Packers - hot garbage team, especially at that point in year 3-5 at that point. 8: L- Jets to Zach Wilson no less 9) L - Vikes - gave up 33 10) W - Browns - back up QB 11) W - Lions - 4-7 team at the time. 12) W- Pats- .500 team and Mac Jones.. so basically a back up 13) W - Jets - back up QB 14) W - Dolphins gave up 29 to Tuna 15) W vs Bears 3-12 team 16) Cancelled - getting slapped early by Cinci 17) W - Pats 8-9 team 18) W - Dolphins 3rd string QB gave up 31. 19) L - dismantled by Bengals. So there ya go, you have an entire season laid out for you, this team beat 3 credible teams the whole year and got a lot of points hung in them in those games as well. For 2021, 9 of the 12 Wins came against teams with a rookie QB or a back up QB. This vaunted D is a myth. 2022 had 4 rookies or back-ups for wins. There is a reason this D gets exposed every year in the playoffs, they have had super soft competition, year in and year out. 8 wins this year vs sub .500 teams.. So yeah, this D has thrived on Rookies, back-ups and trash. They have all of 3 Quality wins all of 2023 and really only 2 for 2021 if you count the first playoff game.

You still keep trying to site a whopping 2 games as an indication of your bias vs the body of evidence. You can believe whatever you want. They had damn well better not being paying all this money to Von and using multiple 1st and second round picks as edge setters. I’m all for interior pressure, but if they misuse the personnel that way, everyone should be fired. If that’s the plan, no more games, obviously the coaches and the GM can’t get in the same page and it’s just pissing in the wind. Especially after adding Floyd.

I’m not loving the fact they extended Oliver to clear space to add more money to the DL, but it is what it is. I will wait to see the terms of this deal before judging it too harshly. If he comes in and plays up to what he did with the Rams, this is a nice piece, I would have preferred Ingram, but whatever. If/once everyone is healthy, I could see this allowing them to kick Groot inside with Floyd and Miller on the ends in passing situations. Groot was an absolute monster from the inside at Miami, might be a really good move for him to kick in more often. I suspect this means you will see Von start the year on the PUP list and they will look to trade somebody off the line. Also might be an indication they asked Boogie to kick into a 3tech role so he can play more to his strengths. Hopefully, with McD taking over the D, there are some changes and players start getting used to strengths instead of paying guys big money to rotate in and out while not using their best attributes. There has been a disconnect between the players Beane has brought in and their usage, especially on D, I’m hopeful that walked out the door with Frazier. That said, McD should not have allowed it in the first place if that was really the issue. This year will tell us a lot. From the outside looking in, I would hope they plan to use AJE in a pass rush LB type of role, kind of what they did w Klein when Edmunds was out. Maybe try some over load plays where you stick Von and Groot to one side and have Shaq and AJE (as LB) to the other, Jones in the “middle” and let them get after the QB. Boogie could be a nice interior rusher/back up DE. Oliver had better become Kwan Short in his new contract/role and be disruptive from the interior on a regular basis. If McD is truly going to get aggressive, he has some toys to play with, I’d like to see it. As others have said, we seem to have an excess of players on the Edge, so I’m guessing either plans have changed for a couple or there are going to be some moves made. I can’t see them doing much until after/during pre-season, you don’t want to put yourself back in a thin situation with pass rushers for late round picks, it’s just not worth it. I would guess, Shaq, Boogie and AJE are fighting for their roster spots. Though as I said earlier, there may be plans to shift some guys. Boogie does have some versatility as could AJE if they look at a stand up rusher. It will make for an interesting summer.

Watching Harty, you see somebody who is not only a great athlete, with awesome speed, but he also looks to have a feel for the game. I hope that’s the case and he stays healthy, if so, he could be a major contributor. McKenzie, obviously is a great athlete, by all accounts works hard, is a great locker room guy, but really lacks that natural feel for the game. The reason he never got paid big money, nor got the role he thought he should, was he was nothing like Cole Beasley. Beas was/is an average athlete (by NFL standards), who understands the game and can make mid-stride adjustments. McKenzie could do what he was told, but he’s not a guy you can trust to make a read and go to the right spot. My biggest fear is we have the same problem with Gabe Davis. Looking at it now, I believe the thing we didn’t really appreciate about Daboll was his understanding of players limitations and he played away from their weaknesses. At some points I wondered why he didn’t put people in different roles, once he left and Dorsey gave those players freedom (appeared to anyway), I saw why the play calls were what they were w Dabs. Hopefully, Dorsey is able to adjust and make it all come together a bit better this year. I don’t want to go too far off track, but I think a lot of JA’s problems in the red zone w turnovers were option routes that the receivers didn’t go where they were supposed to (Davis and McKenzie especially). That seems further validated by the additions of Vets late in the year to try to get things on track. I don’t think Dorsey quite knew how to handle it all when things went south, hopefully he learned and adapts. Time will tell.

I expect a major step backwards, this team has feasted on garbage teams and back up/rookie QBs. This D is not special and not that talented where it matters. Middle of the pack ranking and again, Josh will have to win games himself. BUT, it’s not McBeans fault Oliver didn’t show up after an extension, Avon looks old and the rest of the line is average on their best day.