Einstein

You ignored his entire point in favor of a general denial. Your response lacks any substance. Its completely reasonable to think we beat the Chiefs with Von. We needed 1 stop. And the Bills were a better team than the Rams that year. Any given Sunday, of course, but my money would be on the Bills in that matchup. In fact, the Bills whipped the Rams in the very next regular season game.

Thanks Shaw. What makes you assume it would be different? If every thread was required to be derived from fact then the forum would have about 5 total posts per year. This is a place to share thoughts and ideas. None of us know for “fact” if the defense will change under mcdermott, or if we will trade for hopkins, or what was said in draft meetings, or why the team fell apart at the end of the year… It’s all just opinions based on how the poster perceived each event. What we DO know for fact is what each player was actually traded for. The non factual part is the assumption that the trade terms would be drastically different for us.

It’s the opposite. Putting lost fumbles instead of total fumbles is the disingenuous stat. Whether a player loses the ball to the other team or not, he still fumbled. The ball still left his hands. If a teammate grabs it, then he didn’t mess up? Of course not. The player messed up when he fumbles, whether his teammate bails him out or not. As for Josh getting blindsided… that happens to every QB! Josh probably gets blindsided less than the average.

Sorry. Just trying to bring some discussion other than "the pick was great... no, the pick sucked!!!" we have all read for the past week.

That's a great point. But considering it was a rental and the Broncos were terrible that season, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't care as much about the inter-conference trade.

The Bills and Rams are pretty fair comparisons, with both having good records (and thus likely both to have around the same draft position). Considering that the trades were only draft picks (aside from a backup CB that got cut) you can definitely analyze. I doubt the Broncos, for example, were asking for a 1st round pick, while asking for a 2nd from the Bills. .

We are now in the doldrums of the post-draft, pre-training- camp offseason, so how about a "what if" exercise? The trades Beane did NOT make - In 2021, it was rumored that Ertz was heading to Buffalo and the infamous Ertz thread was spawned. Ertz also recently mentioned that the deal to Buffalo was very close. He ended up being sent to Arizona instead, in exchange for a backup CB (who ended up being cut the following training camp) and a 5th round pick in 2022. The Bills ended up taking Khalil Shakir with their 5th round pick in 2022. - It was also rumored that the Bills were interested in Von Miller. The Rams ended up trading for Von Miller, spending a 2nd and 3rd round pick in the 2022 draft. The Broncos also agreed to pay $9M of Milers $9.7M contract - so monetarily, he was practically free. The Bills ended up taking James Cook and Terrell Bernard with their 2nd and 3rd round pick in 2022. Assuming the compensation would be similar, do you think Beane should have pushed the trade button on either player? Opinion - This is kind of a push, but I think I'd rather have Khalil than a TE on the wrong side of 30. But then again, I was never as high on Ertz (from a difference making standpoint) as some others. I just don't think he would have made much of a difference in how that season ended. So in my opinion, Beane made the right decision in not trading for Ertz. - On the other hand, I think Beane made a mistake in not trading for Von. I know it was just a rental at that point, but it was a rental that may have landed us a Lombardi Trophy. We needed just ONE more stop against Kansas City in the infamous 13-seconds game. Given how well Von did pre-injury with this defense, I find it highly likely that Von would have enabled us to get that one more stop, sending us back to the Championship game and perhaps a date with destiny. Add in the fact that he was practically free from a cap standpoint (Denver paid $9M of the $9.7M remaining salary for the season), and the fact that I'd rather have a Super Bowl than a RB and an undersized LB.... and I think Beane should have made the trade. How do you analyze these almost trades?

That may be true for his first however many years in the league, but last year all Mahomes had was Kelce. That’s the same as Allen having Diggs. And Mahomes won a Super Bowl with him. Allen is simply more prone to mistakes than Mahomes. That’s why he has more INT’s and more fumbles, yet has played in less games. The weapons around him didn’t make him fumble the ball at the goal line (twice) against Minnesota. Or throw the INT in overtime. Or throw INT’s straight to Jets players. I’m very happy to have Allen. He’s likely my favorite Bill of all time at this point. But Mahomes is better. Mahomes has 49 INT’s and 31 fumbles in 80 games. Allen has 60 INT’s and 52 fumbles in 77 games. He is more prone to mistaken and there is no denying that.

I love Allen, but i'd trade him for Mahomes in a nanosecond. Not for Burrow though.

Does it matter?

Wow. When you put it that way…

Beane's issues are not his ability to get "good" or "average" players. His problem is his inability to get difference making players, and his record on Day 2. 1 Aaron Donald is worth 3 Ed Olivers. 1 Sauce Gardner is worth 3 Kaiir Elams. 1 Jeffrey Simmons is worth 3 Greg Rousseous. Etc.

Chris Brown just said on WGR, not to expect O'Torrence to start. I don't know if he knows something because he works for the Bills, or if he is just guessing.

Your numbers are way off and Lamar not having an agent cost him a lot of money. Lamar has a base salary of $7.5M (not $32.5M). As the Ravens GM (Eric Decosta) said, the contract Lamar ended up signing is basically the same contract the Ravens offered him last year and he refused. Essentially, Lamar went into free agency thinking he would be a hot commodity and quickly realized that the wasn't. So he went back to the Ravens with his tail between his legs and took the same deal they offered him last year. Because he signed essentially the same deal he refused last year, what he did was trade a year of his career for $23M. Had he taken the deal last year, he would have earned $80M in 2022 ... instead of $23M. He also would have have been a free agent 1 year sooner, thus resulting in another contract (and pay day) one year sooner.

Another playoff collapse that is coaching centric. For example, no-one can say the Bills didnt have the talent (Beane's job) to beat the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Divisional. But due to several coaching errors, we lost a game where we led with 13 seconds left. From not squibbing the ball, to playing 15 yards off of every KC receiving target, it all comes down to coaching. Thankfully we squeeked by the 4th-string-QB Dolphins in the wild card round, because im not 100% sure McDermott makes it out unscathed if we lost that game.

We may just see who is right next year (hope not).

Oh I think Beane would get to stay...

A lot of people will poo-poo this, but I too think McD's seat is warmer than most realize.

The 1990 Bills were one kick away from a Super Bowl title. They surely thought that a trophy was right around the corner too.

Given our lack of attention to the MLB position, this may in fact be our strategy.

Good idea.

Are we really going to pretend that the 8-9 Packers were a good team?

I wouldn’t touch this with a ten foot pole. The Bills schedule is incredibly tough (at least based on last years teams). Our division alone is capable of handing us 3 or 4 losses.

Is this even a discussion? Brady is wayyyy ahead of Mahomes.

Their final 4 games were against non-playoff teams like Chicago, Carolina, Jets, Packers. That helps.