JohnNord

Playoff game vs. Baltimore in 2021 where the offense scores 10 points and Taron’s pick 6 won the game? I’m sure you’ll tell me this game doesn’t count. If your point is that the defense needs to step up more in the playoffs, I’d 100% agree with you.

Mostly agree. But AJE was considered a fringe R1/R2 talent, not a mid-rounder. At one point, many mocks had him going in R1. In fact Beane claimed he had a first round grade on him. I wouldn’t call him a mid-rounder and his return has been decent though not great. You also failed the epic miss of Boogie Basham in Round 2. As far as Oliver he was ranked higher than most DT’s in 2018 with the exception of Quentin Williams. At some point, Oliver was mocked to go #1. The DT’s who were drafted after him all proved to be better players than him. Besides it’s not like Oliver is a scrub. He’s been inconsistent but has played well. Star Lotulelei was an epic fail as well. Your called him an “old DT” but he was a 5th year pro when they signed him. Beane and McDermott’s loyalty failed them. They overpaid for his upside which never was realized. It was a fail but not egregious. Daquan Jones is a different situation. I’d put him in the same group as the other FA signing you mentioned. They took a flier on mid-level free agent who outplayed his contract. They brought him back based on his stellar 2023 run on a moderate deal. He’s never been able to get back to the level but I totally understand the signing. So while you made some good point here I think a lot is based on hindsight

LOL…. So you took my comment literally 🤣 I’m not suggesting players that had “All Pro” on their resume. I mean player that currently were playing at an All Pro level. Hyde was not playing and was never named All Pro. Poyer was an All Pro in 2021. 2022 was the start of his decline and not playing the same level. Tre White coming off an ACL definitely was NOT playing at an elite level. In fact this might have been his worst stretch with the Bills. He was an All Pro in 2019 not in 2021 Taron Johnson was not All Pro in 2022. He was named a 2nd team All Pro in 2023. Matt Milano WAS an All Pro in 2022 and had arguably his best season. … So your statement of 5 All Pro players was wrong.

Both sides of the ball were bad which is why I don’t think you can fault only the defense. It was a complete team collapse and a different situation than some of the games that Mickey and others are suggesting

No, I’m trying to look at the playoff losses holistically whereas you are selectively using information to support a flawed narrative. But..go on Wrong.

That’s why I laugh how Bills fans glaze Skyler Thompson. The game should have been over in the first quarter before Josh started pressing and almost lost the game. You can argue that he did the same thing a week later against Cincinnati

Sadly it’s not for lack of trying though. Beane has invested a lot of resources on defense both in the draft and in FA. I’d argue the cumulative return has been good…not great. Many singles and doubles but no homeruns.

- The Bills won against the Colts in 2020 - The Bills scored 10 points against Cincinnati their lowest output all season. - The Bills defense was severely undermanned and started AJ Klein and still had a chance to win on the final drive. So aside from the losses Kansas City - your evidence is a game that the Bills won 5 years ago and a loss to CIN where the offense played like trash and scored 10 points? Confirmation bias is strong here. But I will agree that the Bills need the defense to step up more in the postseason. Especially against Kansas City

They need 1 elite level talent on talent which they’ve never really had throughout McDermott’s tenure. I guess the closest would be Milano at his peak or pre-injury Von Miller.

I’ve seen Rousseau compared to Tremaine Edmunds, which I would disagree with because I think Groot makes some of the splash plays that Edmunds never did. But I can see the Bills in a similar position in the offseason. While Rousseau is a good players and does a lot of things that don’t show on the stat sheet like setting the edge - does the team want to pay him top 5 money? Because he’ll likely get that on the open market. Does his solid production warrant a contract of an elite player?

Their level variance year-to-year on defense is high. Buffalo’s has been relatively consistent over the past 5 years or so. I don’t think you can say they haven’t had “sustained success,” because just about every metric would prove otherwise. Their problem is they haven’t beaten Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes in January when it matters. That’s it.

It basically IS the same offense. Same scheme, playcalling, personnel. The difference is no Pacheco and Rice - but they did have Hopkins and Worthy.

So a game that happened 11 months ago is more relevant than one that happened 3 weeks ago. The logic here is laughable 🤣 Where I will agree with you is that yes, the playoffs are a new season. And we need stronger performances on defense. BTW, Kansas City scored > 21 points in the majority of their games this season. And as I stated the earlier - the Rams offense hasn’t exactly been prolific this season. So again the point of this thread isn’t incorrect.

The Rams offense hasn’t been good either and they couldn’t do anything against them. More proof that the logic in this thread isn’t quite there

This logic is faulty for a few different reasons. First you’re using the distributive property: The Rams Scored 42 against the Bills + the Rams scored 12 against the 49ers = The Bills defense sucks. It’s been proven time and time again that this doesn’t work in the NFL. To your point other point, I’d agree that the issues on defense start at DT and extend to the DL. I’m all for Buffalo upgrading and I’d be shocked if that’s not a major focus of the offseason.

So you’re discounting the fact that Buffalo held Kansas City to 21 points a few weeks ago? It seems to defeat the original premise of this thread, unless you feel that offense with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce is “average to below.”

Yes, while I still think WR and CB will be a priority the emphasis is going to be on the DL. I’d assume that Miller is gone after this season. I don’t see them moving on from Oliver or Milano. Jones might stay if they can bring him back for a lower deal but I wouldn’t be shocked to see him gone either. I see AJ as being in the bubble. I can see them going either way with him. If the Bills don’t re-sign Amari Cooper to a short term deal they’ll really be in need of a new WR1. Same with Rasul Douglas. They’ve been mediocre at best when drafting Defense high in the draft.

Yes 100%

This isn’t true. They tried switching up and playing man coverage. Also tried blitzing. None of this worked. As the OP said the problem was the defensive line.

It was all game script. They struggled running early and by the 3rd quarter they needed to score fast. The probably could bag e attempted more runs though

Im going to go with the brilliant logic that many have fans have shared online since Sunday - “If the Rams scored 44, how many will the Lions score?!?!!!? Well since the Lions are twice as good on offense I’ll say they score 88. Lions 88 Bills 42

I work as a manager. I want to hire someone to manage people so I can focus on the other aspects of my job.

I think they all liked the play. Dan Orlovsky did a good job explaining the mindset. They called the play with a best chance at working. The Bills were 17-20 on QB sneaks prior to that plays. They could have tried passing but they also risk a sack or a Russell Wilson INT. The bigger problem was taking the timeout right after the play. It would have burned time but what they lost on the clock would be less valuable than the TO But even if they did score on the sneak and they kick with 3 TO’s, Rams are going to play it differently than they did. How many chances did the defense have to get them off the field in the 4th quarter? With the way the game was unfolding I think McVay finds a play to close out the game

Fans always had been exaggerating the fallout from the 2 point loss to an NFC road opponent. The Bills are fighting for home field… I get it. But KC could very well end up 16-1. IMO the worst thing for the Bills would be to coast to easy wins the rest of the reason. I’m glad they’ll be playing Detroit right after the loss to the Rams. Both teams are a similar offense that the Bills have trouble with. Seeing them again should help. The defense probably can’t play it any worse

These were all good games… but I don’t think when the average NFL fans looks back they regard any of these of these choices as the game of the year.