BillsVet

It's amazing how some people still think NFL front offices run the same or similarly where the HC reports to the GM who reports to the owner. If that were the case, ownership would have hired the GM first who would have in turn hired the HC. At the end of 2016, TPegs had to have watched a dispute between GM and HC played out in the press during a mediocre season and wanted better. In walks McD who gets hired because A) he was more organized that Rex ever would have been and B) represented the sole voice in the organization to prevent the internecine battles. Yet, that last issue only gets addressed if the new HC controls the football side of the house with support from a personnel department. And that's been the case since Day 1. Buffalo is at a point now where McD's vision is stale. He can't let go of preferring the defensive side even with a franchise QB. Sure, he'll go in with a 1st round offensive skill position pick, but then spend in UFA to keep his DL rotation intact as they throw token money toward low-end WR types. It's no guarantee to hire an offensive-based coach, but you don't want to end up with a stubborn defensive one who thinks he's gotta be top-5 overall on their preferred side.

Sure, OL needed improving, but skill players - WR and TE - is where it's at in this era of offensive football. Their WR UFA acquisitions are living up to low expectations and Kincaid being a rookie is just that. I expect he'll improve but you don't bank on rookies as a SB type team. Problem is that Buffalo tends to like their players too much. I get they need to show that to an extent, but there isn't enough pushing guys with competition. That is especially the case at the tackles, where Dawkins' conditioning issues are well-known as is Brown's performance (perhaps injury related) needed something. I just see the team getting soft at times. And for all of McD's competitiveness, the team follows its HC's example.

Absolutely. I had expectations this would have improved when Josh demonstrated he could be a franchise QB, but little has changed. This season it seems the offensive improvement was based on better backs, a rookie TE, and flyers on 2 cheap UFA receivers. Not going to get it done for a team with SB aspirations. And this happened in the wake of 2 disappointing playoff exits against teams with better offenses. Maybe they swing a deal for a top WR and move Davis to WR3. But given the HC's pedigree, I don't see it happening.

I'm thinking we need to add the Alvin Harper reference: Gabe Davis-Scantling-Bey-Harper. All cut from the same WR cloth.

His contract is though. Another WR would be a force multiplier beyond anything another LB, DT, or even CB could be. It would also mean another competitive AFC team did not get that guy. At some point, the mindset of balancing offense with defense has to be jettisoned. They've got some pass rush and sure there could be improvements on the back end, but finding a true complement to Diggs makes this offense a force and should be prioritized. It also means Gabe can play the WR3 role an gives Kincaid more time develop.

I'd put Tremaine right under Singletary and above Urlacher. Easy.

Running game improves when it's not a handoff from shotgun like it seemed to be primarily last couple seasons. I'd still like to see analytics to back it up, but that's one takeaway from yesterday with Josh under center more. Have to hope down the road that they'll take a couple more shots downfield. Even with Diggs and that long score yesterday, top 5 receivers averaging 11.6 yards per completion. Maybe that's working Kincaid more.

There's this weird fixation on TBD and elsewhere that if Buffalo drafts a player and they're not completely a bust then they need to be re-signed. It's a risk-averse mindset where the Bills can't possibly acquire a better player and need to retain the old one. It happened with Edmunds and is happening now with Davis It's also because McBeane have re-signed all the guys who haven't completely stunk or played a position of lower value since 2017: Tre, Dawkins, Milano, Josh, Taron Johnson, Oliver, and Knox. People have gotten used to this approach and now assume it's the only one. Well, no...it's part of what has them in cap trouble. Because you can say it's nice to have a guy like Knox, but at 13M AAV? Or, Dawkins at almost 15M AAV? I get loyalty, but too much makes players comfortable. If Buffalo's gonna stay competitive, they're going to need to move on from some vets who aren't busts, but represent an opportunity for improvement. At one time, Belichick used to trade guys like Richard Seymour, a HOF'er, to Oakland when they had mileage left. Few saw that coming, but it was what was best for the team. Beane needs to replace some of these home-grown types that can be improved on with 1st contract players who aren't impacting their cap. Because no way is Davis worth an extension given the production.

I'm not sure that defensively any one player dominated a World Series like he did in 1970. And then there's 16 gold gloves. RIP.

I think she held on a lot longer than that. My best guess is 3+ years of listening to Dick Jauron post-game press conferences was too much and she went into a coma that she remains in to this day. There's been signs of neural activity, but no significant improvement.

To answer the OP's question: No, we can't talk about Gabe Davis. Maybe next week. Signed, People who start threads that are descriptive and don't ask rhetorical questions.

Yeah. I'd guess people expect Buffalo to be good, but the playoffs are where we need to see it. The Bills, despite some mid-seasons swoons, have played well in the regular season but it's the post-season exits go back to. Seems the last 3 years their playoff performance regressed each year from 2020 to 2022.

I've never seen anyone conflate an issue more than you do. Inserting a little doubt here on this topic is akin to Netflix's murderer series where they leave out certain facts to create the appearance of being not guilty. Dawkins put on 5 pounds a week for 2 months...and you're talking about maintaining weight? Sure, on his frame 5 pounds a week isn't as much as a normal sized man, but come on. Even if he were injured, would it be too much to cut back a little to allow yourself to heal? Besides, Dion has shown he doesn't have a problem maintaining weight. He has a problem with adding too much. Because of the 40 pounds to reach 370, how much of it do you honestly think was muscle weight or fat? I'll hang up and listen.

The FB is a starter but poster doesn't know he's a UDFA? A guy who had a 14% and 17% snap count on offense these past 2 seasons? Not quite. The quality or better starters (top half at their position across the NFL) on that list are Allen, Knox, Oliver, Rousseau, Johnson and Bass. Torrence is a complete unknown as a rookie, so counting him as a "starter" is weak for this exercise and Bernard had less than 11% of their total defensive snaps last year. But let's include (even though Beane didn't take them) Tre, Puff Dawkins and Milano. That's 9 quality starters out of 25 total starters from 2017-2022. And of those 9, 4 are RD1 picks, 1 is RD2, 1 is RD3, 1 is RD4, 1 is RD5, and the RD6 pick is their kicker. Not a stellar draft record. More pedestrian with a franchise QB as has been mentioned previously. Heck, I'd say McD did better without Beane in 2017 save for 2018.

Perhaps assertions made recently were not far from the truth. Perhaps not. 2023 is going to clarify so much that came out of this off-season for all to see.

Does this mean you can't have a RD1/RD2 pick or high dollar UFA at every position now? What is Buffalo going to do? Because, like, finding value lower in the draft or among lesser UFA's is hard.

Fantasy football. It's the only place RB's are needed. Because I know it's not NFL fans who stopped watching after 1995.

I think it was former personnel guy Mike Lombardi who was an early NFL insider with CBS who said that fans don't care about front office dynamics. And they don't. It's the what you can see news like draft picks, UFA signings, the game results, and maybe in-game coaching decisions most people focus on. That includes the organizational relationship between Beane and McDermott. The belief is GM's picks players and coaches coach and that's why front office decision making analysis goes almost nowhere on TBD. Of course McD is running everything...it's just out of sight, out of mind.

I will always consider, in the debate about Beane's drafting prowess, how weighted that board being to defense has affected personnel decisions. Not a complete defense, just a consideration. Going back to 2021, yes they were older at DE and guys like Addison and Hughes weren't going to remain long. I always understood taking Rousseau and he's turned into a solid performer. But Basham in round 2? An older base end with limited pass-rush ability? We'll never know what went into that decision, but it didn't make sense then and makes a lot less now.

I'd like to say RD1 busts happen, but the HC seems to have found guys who could be that zone CB2 without high picks. Which makes sense, because he's a former secondary coach and been coaching defensive football for a long time. Leads me to believe there's a deeper disconnect at OBD between the coaches compared to the scheme and talent evaluators. Because unless McD pounded the table for Elam over everyone's evals, this is a bad look made worse by their positional value decisions in RD2 and RD3. First guy plays a position that should get PT in year 1 - and then doesn't play. Bernard is clearly on the way out. I don't think it's too soon to start saying Beane ain't meeting the hype anymore. And McD isn't either in whatever role he plays in personnel. Lots of work to do, covered up by Josh and Diggs.

No doubt Vegas sees the signing of Ty Johnson and DeShaun White as mitigating the Doyle loss for the season.

This requires a Deep Voice "Yeah" post.

Bruce the rookie in '85 versus the guy by 1990 who was NFL Defensive POY are two different animals. Heck, he was DPOY at 33 in 1996. Didn't need training camp. People lose site of the fact that after a ruptured achilles, Peters came back to be 1st Team All Pro in 2013 as a 31 year old and followed it up as a 2nd Teamer at 32. Common denominator is guys like this know how to get it done because they know their body well enough. Both didn't need camp to be in shape and ready.

Bruce hated training camp IIRC and some fans/media took issue with that. Guy still went out that and got it done into his 40s because he didn't need the discipline and practice of training camp. His personal training habits were enough. Reminds me of regular Army people I knew that disliked the special operations community. Thought they were undisciplined, but when bad things happened they were the best suited to handle them.

As if the defenses aren't going vanilla either. Something's wrong and hasn't improved since the Divisional playoff game.