BillsVet

Would not be surprised to see Buffalo still take another DT. McCoach gotta get his Dlinemen.

I have a hard time believing that someone like Zimmer would waste someone on his defense.

Carolina has been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NFL the past 8 years. 3 10 win seasons and 5 mediocre years mixed in is not the model I'd follow, but they're doing just that. I don't understand why McBeane are convinced being Carolina north is the way to go after those results. I wanted to believe these two were fairly innovative, but have seen that it's a replication here, extending to the guys they bring in from that roster (Tolbert, Benjamin, Lotulelei, Kaelin Clay, Dean Marlowe). They are going with what they know and don't seem open to new things.

This thread can be summed up as: "Fans enamored with player physiques confuse that with actual football skills." If performance in the combine was the deciding factor, Mike Mamula and Bruce Campbell would be HOFers. Pass on Metcalf.

The people talking about Zay's college coaching having "messed up his head" are dense human beings. If you don't know there's more to what happened to him last off-season by now, I don't know what to tell you.

The UFA signings on the OL have been meh at best. Newhouse, Ducasse, Bodine, not to mention Dawkins perhaps playing a position he's not as suited for. The drafting of Allen took a lot of resources to move up from 22 to 12 to 7. It may well work out in the long run, but right now their offense (as a result of the aforementioned decisions) is not encouraging.

No doubt McCoach sees the league trending toward offensive coaches and knows he'll come under some fire for that. And in his first public comments since the season, he tries to get out front of that concern that he's a square peg in a round hole. Still, he's also the guy who talked after one game this season about sure they'd love to score 50 points per but it wasn't realistic. And now he's gone the opposite way by saying they don't want to win games 9-7, another criticism leveled after last season. It puts him right there at this 21 points per discussion. I'm still not seeing any innovation or departure from his background. He and the GM didn't spend big on defensive free agents or use 2 1st round picks on that side of the ball their first 2 off-seasons to try and run and gun.

Is Jordan Matthews not available then?

Zay was phenomenal when games were out of reach. His big day at NYJ with 8 catches for 93 yards and 2 TDs largely occurred when Buffalo was up 2 scores. When it matters, ZJ's targets aren't high. Blame it on the QB, OL, whatever...he's not a factor when it matters. At least not yet.

Duke is a possession guy and not elusive enough to play from the slot. No one hates him. It's a matter that as a 2nd round pick he's not exactly performing in a pass-heavy league the way many fans expected. Especially when compared to other recent 2nd round picks. Eric Moulds' best days were 15-20 years ago and the league's dramatically changed since then. The PI and RTP calls, among other things, make this even more a passing league than it was in the late 90s/early 00s. These comparisons are moot and not representative of the opportunity that WR's have presented now to succeed at the start of their career. And, one player's career has absolutely nothing to do with another's. Besides, Moulds and Jones are completely different players. Before he got older, Moulds could run by people but Jones is not a burner (cue the person citing his 40 time).

As someone said on Twitter yesterday, with the hiring of a new Analytics Director, one would expect a more efficient clap/minute ration now.

I expect a LOT of clapping.

There is a GM feature in these games now, correct? I haven't played in many years now.

I get you here, but it's not my money and frankly, if they need to spend (and they do) then do it. I'm not signing the checks...and if you're owners, you want to win. Saving cap space is what gets you fired eventually. And they'll have enough to re-sign Tre, perhaps Milano, and maybe even Dawkins when the time comes.

I watched that skit today thinking how it applies to some high frequency posters. I love it when he asks Jon Lovitz if he's ever kissed a girl...and then returns to say that was the bad Captain Kirk.

Don't forget LaFontaine and Marrone resigned, with the former being quite contentious. Regardless, that's a lot of people in senior management over the course of about 12.5 years owning the Bills and Sabres.

I think that day 19 years ago when Bruce, Thurman, and Andre were let go in quick succession is what many older Bills fans still don't let go of. Yet, so much has changed in the ensuing years, especially the yearly cap increases as the league's revenue rose. The cap people have adapted so well, as you point out. It's a concept akin to rebuilding. I'd argue Bills fans haven't seen a successful one completed since the late 80s. So, the idea of being like the Saints and sustaining a good team is about as foreign a concept as learning a new language. Buffalo hasn't truly rebuilt (yet), but there's a mindset that we need to hold back because there's risk in signing UFA's. Well, not if you've done your homework and have a, dare I say it, "process." Besides, UFA should be viewed as a method to fix some needs moving into the draft. Chicago signed 2 WRs and a TE last year to help their young QB grow into the starting job. Sure, it wasn't cheap, but those signings are force multipliers to get their QB up to speed. It certainly seemed to help them improve from 29th to 9th in points scored from 2017 to 2018.

Who said speed receivers can't be number 1 types? That's a straight up straw man argument right there. The off-season is in full swing because some are losing their minds and exaggerating the 2018 season. Let's remember Foster was a nice story, but he will not sneak up on opposing defenses anymore. Perhaps he'll be solid again, but the 2018 sample size isn't indicative of future success at that level.

I hope the Chiefs have reinforced tents at training camp. Otherwise someone might need to yell "Incoming!" one or five times.

To summarize this thread: 1. Jesse James is a pending UFA. 2. Some believe Buffalo should sign him because, well, there's nothing other than a former UDFA on the roster. And he'd be new, so clearly better! 3. TE is an overrated position. Other teams that are good offensively feature them as a complementary option. 4. TE's covered by CB's are neutralized. Stats back it up! Ergo... 5. You don't need a TE. WR's are more important and TE's can't do it all themselves! So, just get good stars, role players and voila! everything will be good. Oh, and good coaching! Gotta love the off-season!

This is the sort of logic which makes TBD all the more interesting during the off-season. ? Well done sir!

To quote a well-known man, "there's lies, damn lies, and statistics." That sums it up.

NE, PHI, and KC are three of the league's best offense. Each of them have an elite pass catching TE. The NFL is all about creating personnel mismatches and TE is not "overvalued." In fact, I'd say they're undervalued given how a good one forces a defense to cover them. I'm not sure how you can predict future careers of 21-22 year old athletes.

Someone started a thread about Beane's 2019 moves being to set them up to compete in 2020. Is that not what the thread says? Is that not what the debate is centered around? This is all about some fans recognizing that despite all that 2019 cap room and their picks, it's going to be awfully tough to build a good enough offense that can score. And, the team ain't gonna come out and say what the plan is - they never have nor do I expect it. This team, no matter what they do in UFA, isn't ready to compete for a title when so many other teams have done just that by year 3. They've slow-walked their way to rebuild and now that's sinking in for some.

I'm not going to change your mind no matter how much evidence is provided and that's cool. Still, you're quibbling about the nature of those other rebuilds because the Bills' so far isn't nearly as fast as those were. I The Pegula's typically give their people all the resources they ask for, but aren't going to stand by if things don't go well. Any owner worth their salt is going to question why their team isn't winning when other teams can do it after starting over. The plan has been flawed from the start and I sense a lot of fans are coming to terms with this, hence the 2020 narrative being floated.