finn

Any of my 4 nieces would be a significant upgrade to either of our guards. Git 'er done, Beane.

A healthy Bills D-line can compete with the KC and Philly O-lines. The screaming problems are O-line and WR. I mean, Beasley and John Brown? Saffold and Spencer Brown? Those weren't injury replacements. They're the sign of a GM who knew he blew it. Let's see if the light goes on, finally, this offseason.

My fear is that Beane will assume he's good enough, again. He said he would bring in competition, but if he has players like Quessenberry and Tenuka in mind, we can kiss another season goodbye. I had a pleasant daydream that Beane trades a first-round pick, McKenzie, Davis, and Epenesa for Tristan Wirfs. Sigh.

I'm less impressed by the Diggs trade than you. Yes, he has performed marvelously. But the Vikes took Jefferson with the pick we gave them. Now they have a younger, cheaper, arguably better player, as well as that fourth round pick we also gave up. You want an eventual starter with your second- and third-round pick. Neither Epenesa nor Moss are/were close. Davis and Hodgins were both very good (not great) picks. Dane and Bass were both great picks. Beane has built a solid team but hasn't provided enough elite players. Allen, Diggs, Miller, Milano, Hyde. That's it. With the holes the roster has, this isn't enough.

Just for fun, we should establish which player this board wants in each round at the moment of the pick and post the results for all to see. I think we would have missed on Allen, but we might have hit on many others, including Parham over Bernard, Humphrey over Basham, and Metcalf over Ford. Of course, I would take Allen over all of these players combined.

Fans wanted Andy Reid gone, too, because he couldn't get his teams over the hump. It's not the coaching. Or to the degree that it is--squib kick, anyone?--the next staff won't be any better overall, and the risk of regression is way too high. No, the solution is obvious: more talent on offense. Beane has gotten exactly ONE big thing right on offense: drafting Allen. Even with Diggs he could have had a cheaper, better player in Jefferson (along with extra picks). If you want to upgrade something, start by upgrading Beane's scouting- and pro-personnel staff. Beane is blowing it as we watch.

Beane deserves all the blame he's getting for the O-line problems, but he was just snake-bit in the secondary. White, Poyer, Hyde, Johnson. That's a pro-bowl lineup across the board. Most optimistic view for next year: White returns to form, Hyde doesn't show his age yet, Elam turns into a star, and Beane or McDermott find an adequate strong safety. Most pessimistic: White remains a slow, grabby, hesitant player, Hyde starts his decline, Elam is a bust, and the strong safety is a liability. Most realistic: White and Elam improve but top out as average starters, Hyde starts strong but starts to fade by the end of the season; Benson or whoever is adequate but not much more. In short, the secondary should be better next year, but that's not saying much.

I'm a big fan of Beane, but his record on the O-line is abysmal. Moving up to draft Ford, trading away Teller, signing Saffold, assuming Brown could start at RT, ignoring Humphrey to draft Basham... I mean, that's just awful.

Maybe leave the defense alone. Re-sign Edmunds, wait on Oliver, move Bedford to safety and call it quits, except some depth here and there. Put pretty much all resources into the offense: a legit WR2, RT, and guard. Maybe Brown can move to guard so we need just WR and RT. That's doable. My worry is that Beane will convince himself that Spencer Brown is the answer at RT, and Boettger at guard. He'll draft a safety that isn't ready to play, another DE mediocrity in the second round, and a bunch of DBs and TEs in later rounds. He just does not seem to value the offensive line. And save the "He signed Saffold and drafted Brown! in the third round!" That just proves my point.

This plan sounds about right. Moving on from Morse will save money. He may retire anyway with his history of concussions. If Bates moves to center (which he's always wanted), that leaves three holes to fill, unless Brown finally gets it in his third season. The Morse savings could pay for one guard, and a second-round draft pick can compete with Boettger for the other spot. First-round pick: a tackle to compete with Dawkins and Brown. The one big free agency pickup could be WR. So Diggs, FA, and Shakir at WR, two high draft picks on OL to compete with Brown and Boettger. Benford and Hyde at safety. Sign Edmunds, let Oliver show what he has in his last year. Could do worse.

Not sure I agree. They've had a lot of success with Frazier. As someone said, you're pulling your hair out then realize the other team scored less than 22 points--again. As for Dorsey, the continuity with Allen is important. Plus, the numbers don't lie: this offense scored points and moved the ball, despite truly mediocre talent outside of Allen and Diggs. I'm happy to continue with both. I do think Beane needs a better scouting and pro-personnel department.

Totally disagree. I think the OP nailed it. The team was emotionally exhausted. They went through shite no other team has been through, and it's not an excuse to point it out. Yes, all flaws are just as relevant, from talent and coaching to individual performances. But they've been running on fumes since the Damar episode, and they finally hit empty. Easy to say they should have used the many traumas as fuel to win it all. Really easy. Have another beer while saying it.

Not sure I'm done with him, but he's not elite and should not be paid that way. He's a nice player who disappears a lot. Elite players don't disappear like he di today. Rousseau was a good pick, and Jones was a good pickup. Miller was a brave gamble that was paying off until he got hurt. The rest play like backups. That's a lot of picks and money that could have gone into much better players.

Why not blame it all on Billy Buffalo? You don't blame Spencer ("Look out!") Brown, Roger ("Ole!") Saffold, or "Drops" Davis, or the mauled defense. Instead, you blame the one truly elite player the team has. Why didn't he escape the three DEs in his face--again--and catch the perfect ball he put in Davis chest? He's regressed!

Apologies, didn't know that. I hear a lot of misogyny where I live and get tired of it.

Close to a haiku! Try this: H20, nice guy Wants to smack women and girls Must miss Chiefs Planet

I feel confident about this game. I think the Bills will win, and Elam, Shakir, Boogie and other youngsters will do fine. I'm only worried about one player: Dean Marlowe. He's the wildcard. I just hope the rest of the defense can make up for his play. (Yes, he intercepted a pass last week, but he admitted he was out of position and got lucky.) Even if they can't, I think Allen and the offense can. I think we're going to see a more powerful version of the Bills today than we've seen in a long time.

Exactly. It's a short-passing game, but that doesn't always mean quick passes from Mahomes. Sometimes Kelce gets open quickly, but other times he moves around within ten yards while Mahomes buys time until he's open. For some reason that I cannot fathom, teams (like the Bengals last night) insist on covering him with a linebacker. Put it all together--an escape-artist QB (up to now) with excellent accuracy, an exceptionally elusive TE, and a LB in single coverage, and you have "He's open every play!" It seems to me the answer is to put a safety or big CB on him, maybe two. Take your chances elsewhere.

Josh Allen had that gruesome injury to his throwing elbow and on the next play hit Davis in the chest with a 69-yard throw. If Mahomes runs for 69 yards in one of the next plays, I'll finally agree to see him as Allen's equal.

We could be watching an offense that could be scoring 50 points a game and is slumming with 30. Watching them, I get a sense that something clicks, they could blow out anyone. It's also obvious that Allen needs another blue-chip receiver and a reliable right tackle. So maybe 30 pts/game is all we're going to get this season. (I'm ok with that.)

Always fun to post a sarcastic reply rather than following the discussion and adding to it.

Right. It comes down to which is more important to the success of a team with a star QB: a strong offensive line, a strong defense, or a strong set of receivers. I would say the Bills made the right choice going with defense. Trouble is, Miller and Hyde are injured, taking away much of that advantage. It's like if Chase on Bengals got hurt, or one or two of KCs lineman. I still think the Bills will win it all. The coaching, the team bond, and, most of all, Allen's ferocious will to win is the difference.

The critics are saying that the Bills' offensive success is pretty much all due to Allen. I agree. Mahomes has the best line in football protecting him; Burrows has one of the best receiving corps. Allen has Diggs, and that's it. If Allen was out for the season on the first day this year, this team would not have won more than five or six games.

Confirmation bias isn't the only phenomenon in play; there's also the Backfire Effect, which is when people respond to strong arguments against their position (e.g., the film showing Hendrickson rolling up Allen's ankle) by doubling down on their original position. They're MORE convinced than before (e.g., that Hendrickson is innocent).