folz

To be honest, Ty was a guy that I didn't think much of after his time with the Jets. He made a few nice plays for us last year, but with the team drafting Davis, he was definitely an after thought to me and I wouldn't have been upset if he got lost in the numbers. But I was wrong. I don't care what his overall stats look like (though no one is turning up their nose at 5 TDs), the kid has been ballin' and I'm glad he is a Bill. As for Dawson, didn't kick up any fuss when Kincaid was drafted, instead, took him under his wing and continued to grind. Glad to see he's getting his moments to shine also, with so many other weapons. EVERYBODY EATS RIGHT? top receiver/top rusher Players who scored a TD (other than Allen) week 1 Coleman/Cook Shakir, Hollins, Cook week 2 Shakir/Cook Cook week 3 Shakir/Allen Cook, Davis, Johnson, Shakir, Coleman, Kincaid week 4 Shakir/Cook Johnson week 5 Coleman/Cook Cook, Coleman week 6 Davis/Davis Knox, Hollins week 7 Coleman/Davis Davis, Cook, Cooper, Johnson week 8 Shakir/Cook Cook, Coleman, Kincaid week 9 Davis/Cook Davis, Hollins, Morris week 10 Hollins/Cook Cook week 11 Shakir/Allen Cook, Samuel week 12 Knox/Cook Cook, Davis, Hollins week 13 Shakir/Allen Shakir, Hollins, Johnson week 14 Johnson/Cook Cook, Shakir, Davis -Fourteen players have caught a pass from Josh this season (including himself) -Eleven different players have caught a TD pass from Josh this season -Josh has eight games where he has hit 9 or more receivers in the game -Josh has three games where he hit 10 different receivers (and he does not have a game where he has hit fewer than 7 different receivers) How could the players not buy in? Everyone is getting their moments to shine, while the team is winning.

I guess the next question would then be, where would Lamar stack up back in Jim's day? Is Lamar better than Montana, Elway, Marino, Young, and Favre? If not, then he might not have his MVPs either. Yes, Lamar won his in a league with Mahomes and Allen (though he probably shouldn't have won the 2nd one last year), but it seems like a pretty random way to make a comparison. Too many other factors involved.

Thought I'd look at the numbers of with and without Amari. My initial instinct was, of course he helps, but the boys were doing pretty good without him too (they scored over 30 points 5 times without Amari being on the field). But then I looked at the numbers. Six Games with Amari: 220 points and 2,502 yards of offensive Eight Games without Amari: 225 points and 2,598 yards of offense Per game that looks like: With Amari: 417 yards/game and 36.66 points/game. Without Amari: 325 yards/game and 28.13 points/game. Now some of the improvement is obviously just the offense as a whole getting better as the year goes on (there were a lot of new pieces at the start of the year and along the way that needed to get acclimated). And hard to say one way or the other that the Baltimore and Houston games would have gone differently if Amari was on the field. But, it's also pretty hard to look at those stats and not say that Amari has had a HUGE impact on the offense. Now, having said that and acknowledging that trading for Cooper shows that the team believed, as many of you did, that we did still need a WR1 (even if he wasn't going to be catching 80-100 balls in this offense), can't some of you guys acknowledge that Coleman, Shakir, Hollins, and the use of the TEs and RBs in the passing game has all turned out better than what you expected too (with or without Amari in the conversation)? It seems that most of us were all a little bit right and a little bit wrong in our preseason assessments of the WR room/passing offense, imo.

I went with the deep shot to Keon. Fastest 50 air yards in NFL history and dropped right in the bucket, after directing his receiver, while running to/dancing at the sideline, as he's getting pummeled by a defender. Not many guys in the history of the league are making that pass. But the fact that you can even point out that many unbelievable throws from just one game is insane and shows just how lucky we are as Bills fans right now. Some QBs would be hard-pressed to come up with 8 better highlights across their whole season, let alone from one game.

No question about Marino. But, he is probably the greatest pure passer the league has ever seen. Also, you have to look at offenses when comparing stats. Miami never had a run game. It was pass all day long with Marino. The Chargers were nicknamed, "Air Coryell," because they were throwing it all over the yard. And Moon was in the run-and-shoot offense. The league was in a transition to a higher passing league and those three teams were at the forefront of it. Yes, Kelly ran the no-huddle, K-Gun. But that was fast tempo, not necessarily a pass-first offense. A lot of the offense still ran through Thurman. Sometimes it's more about the eye test, how they performed in the big games, were they a winner, did they elevate teammates, etc. rather than just stats. I mean, are you actually trying to argue that Jim Everett was equal to or a better QB than Jim Kelly? In one fewer career seasons, Kelly had 37 more wins, 34 more TDs, and 9 more playoff victories than Everett. Does that not count when talking about greatness? Also, Jim lost two years of stats playing in the USFL. I know the competition wasn't as high in that league, but they were embracing the pass first mentality. In that type of offense, Jim had 9,842 yards and 83 TDs in 2 seasons (that's an average of 4,921 yards and 41.5 TDs per season). Again, lesser competition, but it's obvious that Jim was also a prolific passer when called upon to do so.

Yeah, it's one of those sports opinions that can never be answered, so everyone can stand firm on the stance they've taken. As others have stated, the rule changes have seriously inflated numbers. So, it's hard to compare stats. But to me, the biggest change is protecting the QB. If you didn't have the fastest release in the world back in the day (Marino), you got absolutely pummeled as a QB. That not only makes it more difficult to get your passes off, or to run as a QB, but it also shortened many QBs careers (Kelly being a prime example), with concussions or other injuries. Back in the day, if a QB was 34-35, he was OLD...and there weren't many of them around that age. Brady played to 45. For instance, I still think Mahomes would be a great QB back in the day, but he wouldn't be able to pull off all of the cutesy things that KC does, or do his tip-toeing the sideline, etc. without getting blown up. He has already had a few injuries in his career. How durable would he have been back then, would his career have been shortened? Are there other QBs today that couldn't take the punishment back in the day? Yes, I'm looking at you Tua. Would any of the greats from the 90s not be able to be great in today's game? No, I don't think so. If you put Kelly, Elway, Marino, Montana, Young, Aikman in today's NFL, they are all still studs. Yes, there are more mobile QBs in today's NFL, but guys like Stafford, Rodgers, Goff, Burrow, Brady, Manning, Brees, etc. prove that pocket passers can still do just fine in the league today. In a lot of the greatest QBs of all-time lists, Jim Kelly probably averages around #20. When all is said and done, who from this era would rank higher than 20 on an all-time list? I'm going to say definitely Mahomes and Allen (even though Josh hasn't made a SB yet, it's coming); if Jackson keeps up his production throughout his career, I'd say yes. His playoff performances currently would have me saying no. Maybe I haven't watched enough of Burrow, but I just don't see him in the upper-tier with the other three guys yet. Yeah, he's got swag and a Super Bowl appearance...but I'm not totally sold yet (as far as him being an all-time great). Though his demeanor may be closest to Kelly of the current QBs. Rodgers in his prime, obviously ahead of Kelly. But if you are talking prime Kelly vs. old Rodgers (today), no. Wilson has a chance to be ahead of Kelly due to the Super Bowl win (and depending on how he finishes his career). But given a choice, I'm not taking him over Kelly. Does Herbert have a killer instinct? Big arm, yes, but can he carry a team? Goff, Stafford, and Hurts. Hmmm...I don't know, I don't think I'm taking any of them over Kelly. I'm not sure they have the same level of toughness and leadership that Kelly did, or the consistent ability to elevate the rest of the team.. So, as it stands, I think Mahomes, Allen, and Rodgers will all be ahead of Jim when all is said and done. Lamar also has a very good chance of doing so. Maybe Stafford and Wilson because they have rings, but I don't think they're better QBs than Kelly (i.e., I would chose Kelly as my QB over either one). Maybe Burrow has a shot in the long run, but he has a lot more to prove still. That's pretty much it for me (obviously we don't have enough info yet on guys like Stroud and the rookies to assess them yet). So, I'd put prime Kelly in a 3-5 range currently. The guys that said Kelly didn't have a good arm and Kelly would be a backup in today's game obviously have no clue.

Yeah, wouldn't be surprised to see Toohill back on the PS. I thought he played well in spot-duty. Granted I wasn't watching him on every snap he took, just noticed him when he made a play. He played 22.35% of the defensive snaps over 13 games. He had 14 tackles; 2 TFLs; 1 sack; 1 QB hit; 2 Pressures; 1 batted ball; 1 Pass defended; 1 Fumble Recovery.

I think he gave it to us in the San Fran game when he realized that the pitch from Amari would be a receiving touchdown for him. Plain and simple. "I Love Football."

Lamar won MVP last year, Josh will probably win this year. Josh had the better statistical year last year, Lamar is having the better statistical year this year. I guess it all balances out. It's actually pretty amazing how even their stats are across the two seasons thus far (outside of Josh having a sizable edge in TDs). 2023/2024 seasons combined Lamar: 8,822 Total Yards 66 Total TDs 10 INTs 20 Fumbles 67.6% comp. QB Rate: 111.7 QBR: 70.35 4th Q Comeback: 2 Game win drives: 2 Josh: 8,716 Total Yards 81 Total TDs 23 INTs 12 Fumbles 65.6% comp. QB Rate: 97.85 QBR: 74.45 4th Q Comeback: 2 Game win drives: 4 Just for reference: Mahomes: 7,531 Total Yards 50 Total TDs 25 INTs 7 Fumbles 67% comp. QB Rate: 91.8 QBR: 63.55 4th Q comeback: 6 Game win drive: 7 Mahomes is behind the other two in almost every statistical category, except the 4th quarter comebacks and game winning drives. But, I guess that is what makes Mahomes, Mahomes. Though he's probably had many more opportunities than the other two over the last two seasons also, with as many close games as the Chiefs have played. I'll taut Josh over Lamar every day when it comes to MVP talk, or who you'd rather have as your QB, but it is pretty amazing that these two guys, who were the most doubted and ridiculed QBs in their draft class, are now tops in the league. Big props to both guys. And we're just lucky to be around to see it.

Just for reference... Most 5 TD games (passing and rushing TDs combined) Brees: 15 Brady and Manning: 11 Rodgers, Mahomes, and Jackson: 7 Big Ben, Marino, Blanda: 6 Josh Allen and Russell Wilson: 5 Goff, Watson, Stafford, Culpepper, Favre, Moon: 4

So, let me get this straight. We get a big win in a game against the team that everyone has been saying is the best team in the league. On the road. In their building. With them coming off of a mini-bye with extra time to prepare. A team who is averaging 34 points a game and has scored over 40 points 5 times this season. Heck, they've scored over 50 points twice this year. They have a 183+ point differential on the year. 183! And against this juggernaut offense, we are missing 3/4s of our secondary, and then lose Cole and Milano during the game. And people are complaining about the head coach and the defense? 🤦‍♂️ Guys, we won. Go Bills!

Believe me, I do understand where you guys are coming from in a way, I just think that too many people ignore too much context. To the bolded: -Well, we won the Colts game and held them to 24 points despite the yardage. Their season average was 28.2 points/game. -The Texans season average was 24.1 points/game. They scored 22 points against us. And it took a bad fumble by a raw Josh Allen, an overturned TD by the sky refs on a mistake by the Texans, and a lucky, miracle play with Watson escaping the sandwich sack for them to win (in overtime, btw)---not sure that I can put any of that on coaching. -I know you won't agree, but no NFL team in history would have won that Bengals playoff game if they had been through what the Bills had been through that season and the amount of injuries they had on top of it (well maybe the Brady/Belichick Pats would, but that's it). The Bengals season average was 26.1 points per game. We allowed them 27. -The AFC championship game vs. the Chiefs, we just weren't ready yet, as a team. Didn't help that our WR corps was severely banged up and the refs let KC maul our receivers, while our defense couldn't breathe on their receivers. But either way, KC was the better team at that point. Their season average was 29.6 points/game. we gave up 38 points. -The other two Chiefs games, our defense was ravaged by injuries. So, the fact that at the end of regulation of both games combined, the Chiefs had only 3 points more than us is actually pretty impressive (despite the losses). So, when you really break things down, it always comes down to the same thing...it's not really McDermott or his defense in the playoffs...it's just the damn Chiefs. And yet, we have played them more closely than any other team in the league, with a 4-4 overall record and two of their wins (in the playoffs) being intensely close, last second wins against a decimated Bills defense. Maybe...MAYBE...we could have pulled out the 13 seconds game with different decisions by the coach, but honestly, how many of the other playoff losses were really due to bad coaching? Think about this. Our playoff record under McDermott is 5-6. At the end of regulation in 4 of the 6 games combined, the Bills were down by 10 points. 10 points over 4 games (obviously two of those games went into overtime). Do you realize how close Sean is to a 9-2 playoff record? 10 points across 4 games. Subtract the JAX game and it's 3 points total over three games (HOU, KC, KC) for an 8-3 playoff record. I just believe that we are closer than some of you guys think. We just need a year where some of the bounces go our way. [Obviously his record wouldn't be 9-2 or 8-3 if he won those games because the Bills would have played further games, so more wins and/or losses would have been added to that.] Didn't call any of those QBs elite. The bar that was set by the posts I was responding to (including this thread's OP) was above average. To me that meant say a top 16 QB. I would argue that most people would put those guys in the top half of the league for most of their careers. You could question Purdy because he's so young, but did you see his stats from last year? In fact, in 2023, Tua led the league in passing, Dak was 3rd, and Purdy was 5th. Even Carr was still 13th. How about passing TDs last year? Dak was #1, Purdy #3, Tua #5, and Carr #10. Are you really telling me those QBs are average at best? Have you seen some of the other QB play in this league? The only QBs I called elite were Brady, Mahomes, Rodgers, Jackson, and Burrow. And Sean still has 8 wins against those QBs (with three of the losses to those QBs being by the narrowest of margins---two in OT and one by 3 points).

First of all, no defense is perfect (except maybe the '85 Bears and the '00 Ravens). And news flash, every defense will look worse against the better QBs who have good offensive lines than they do vs. the average or worse QBs. I actually just posted about this in another thread a few days ago...dispelling the fallacy that McD can't beat the better QBs. I'll condense some info from that here: -Here are some above average QBs the Bills have beaten over the last 6 years: Tua (10 times), Mahomes (4 times), Jackson (twice), Rodgers (twice), Herbert (twice), Goff (twice), Prescott (twice), Carr, Wilson, Big Ben, Rivers, Ryan, Murray, Purdy. -Sean's record vs. Above-average quarterbacks over the last 6 seasons is 32-20 -He's 16-15 vs. like top 10 QBs in their prime [last 6 years] -He's 8-11 vs. elite QBs [last 6 years] [Mahomes, Jackson, Rodgers, Brady, Burrow---that's IF you include Burrow (2 losses) as elite]. And two of the losses to Mahomes and one to Brady were by the thinnest of margins (13 seconds/OT; 3 points; and a bad ref call in another OT game). Could just as easily be an 11-8 record. 2019 The Bills were 2nd in points allowed 2020 The Bills were 16th in points allowed 2021 The Bills were 2nd in points allowed 2022 The Bills were 2nd in points allowed 2023 The Bills were 4th in points allowed 2024 The Bills are 8th in points allowed [Obviously, a bad defensive philosophy] League average of points per game over the last 6 years is 22.9; Bills have allowed 19.4 pts/game over that same span. In the Bills' 11 post-season games under Sean McDermott, the opposing teams have averaged 23.45 points per game. The Bills have allowed three 30+ games by an opponent in eleven playoff games. [For reference, over the last 3 NFL post-seasons, the average score for the winning teams across all games was 30 points.] I have no problem with people discussing issues with the defensive line, or if we should blitz more, or use more man-coverage vs. certain teams, or what type of player we could draft to improve the defense, etc. But these posts about our defense sucks, Sean sucks, change everything, etc. seem a bit off the mark to me. There is no new blueprint to beat Sean's defense. Everyone knows how to do it, the question is can you do it with what you have. There are two ways to beat Sean's defense, imo: 1. Dink and dunk down the field, with quick short passing routes (to neutralize the D-line), and sprinkle in some short to medium runs. But this means you must play mistake-free football across numerous, long-sustained drives for 60 minutes, with consistent execution and yac. Not easy to do. 2. Get great protection from your O-line, have a QB that can make all of the throws, and excellent WR play. You can beat Sean's Defense (as the Rams did and KC has done) in this way (second-level/intermediate passing game). But again, it's tough and you need your offense hitting on all cylinders. Other than the short throws, the windows in Sean's defense are throws that not every QB can make, and not every WR can consistently come down with. Those deep outs or deep seams that take longer to develop (like the ones Stafford was hitting Nacua and Kupp on). So, your O-line needs to be playing their best to give the routes time to develop. You need to have a top-tier QB that can consistently make those types of throws, and again, your WRs will need to make some tough catches on the deep sidelines, or deep over the middle (where they could get their head knocked off). Not every team has the personnel to do that. And those that do still need to be having a near-perfect day to execute it consistently. And as we know in the NFL, not every team has their best every game or even every drive. And even if you can do all of that...you still have to outduel Allen. Can Sean's defense be had. Yes, every defense can on the right day by the right team. But over the long haul, it's been pretty darn good. No other team has been as consistently at the top of the defensive rankings over the last 6-8 years as the Bills. As far as the playoffs, yes, it's tougher because these are the better teams in the league. So, it really comes down to execution. Does the team you're playing have the personnel to beat you? If they do, are they at their best today? If yes, then it's just who makes those few extra plays, the offense or the defense (like the Nacua toe-drag catch in the Rams game, or the Kelce play in the 13-seconds game, etc.). Now, do I wish Sean had a better change-up for when a team is being that successful? Yes, but I don't really know what that would be. It's hard to just switch to an entirely different style if you don't have the right personnel or the practice at it (I mean, you can switch from zone to man coverage, but you aren't going to do something completely different/out of the blue). Seems you just need some guys on your defense (players on the field) to come up with a couple more plays than the offense does at the right moments. Four of our six playoff losses were by one score. We are talking about just a couple of plays a game going the other way. I know those losses are hard to swallow, but we are still just too close in my opinion to be wanting to blow things up in any way. Let's at least see how these playoffs go first, especially if we can finally go into them healthy. Let's not kid ourselves that there is some perfect defensive scheme out there that will consistently and perfectly be able to match up against say a high-flying KC team one week and a dominant running team like Baltimore the next week. We always hear them say, in regards to QBs, they took what the defense gave them. Because every defense has to concede something each week. That is why there are game plans. You try to take away what they are best at and you concede areas where they are weaker or less-threatening. Like the Bills will concede some rushing yards to shut down a passing attack. No defense can cover everything. If a very-talented offense is executing perfectly in all areas, just having one of those days...there isn't much more you can do than try to steal a couple of plays and outscore them, no matter what defense you are running.

That's OUR Quarterback! Wouldn't trade him for anything...no matter how many coupons Denny has.

We have actually been a pretty good team in the playoffs under McDermott. You guys act like we get blown out every year in our first game or something. 5-6 record. And of the 6 losses, 2 were in overtime. 4 of the 6 losses were by one score. The average margin of loss for those 6 games is 8.3 points/game. We have the only perfect playoff game; and despite losing---the 13 seconds game is one of the best playoff games in league history. In two of the losses to Kansas City, at the end of regulation, KC was up by a combined 3 points (across both games)...I mean talk about narrowest of margins. The first three playoff losses, this team just wasn't ready yet (w/Tyrod vs. Jax; Josh was still raw vs. Houston, AFC Championship vs. KC---they were a better, more seasoned team---and got help from the refs). We were in real bad shape injury-wise for all three K.C. games (yet made two of them extremely close). And the loss to the Bengals wasn't hard to foresee with all of the turmoil that season, and again, injuries. People act as if every loss came down to one of the greatest coaching blunders of all time or that we're constantly getting blown out or are over-matched. And you also seem to think that no other coaches ever make mistakes; or lose in crazy, last-second miracles; or have play calls that are questioned after the game. Andy Reid was considered a horrible game-time decider/clock manager for almost 20 years...until he wasn't anymore because he won the big one. So was it true about him or not? Or did sometimes bad things happen, mistakes are made, you learn from them, you improve, etc. Or is it perception only? Until you win a Super Bowl, you as a coach will always be questioned about every decision because your last game of the year will be a loss, but once you've won a Super Bowl, you are a genius and thus unquestionable. Pretty poor way of assessing things, imo, especially when luck plays such a large role every year.