10 observations after the 2019 season

[Inigo Montoya]

1.  This could be points 1, 2 and 3 because in my mind it was clearly the most important question going into the new season;  Will Josh Allen continue to develop into a franchise quarterback?   I think any objective observer over the course of the season would have to say that he has clearly become a better QB in 2019. I can list all the end of season stats such as completion percentages, QBR, TD/INT and the like, but those numbers, while improved across the board, don't come close to telling the whole story. 

 

The only two areas that concerned me this year has been his regression in deep ball accuracy, and ball security when he is running the ball.  I'm not sure what happened to his deep ball which was solid last year. If they are going to continue to use him in the running game then he has to protect the ball better.  Does he still make a head scratching decision throwing the ball sometimes?  Yep, and so does every other QB in the league.  There is no question though that he is making less of those Hero Ball throws compared to last season. 

 

He has improved dramatically in his short and intermediate throws, is now moving the offense in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage in response to what the defense is giving him. That means that he is able to read defenses at the line which is huge for a young QB.  He has clearly shown that he has the clutch gene when the chips are down at the end of the game.  Down a score in the 4th quarter, I expect the Bills will win more of those games than they lose. The kid is a gamer and will fight on a 4th and 1 like no one I've ever seen.  He leads by example and has the entire locker room in his corner.  I fully expect him to continue to improve and I think the Bills have finally found their franchise QB.

 

2.  I was really impressed with the Bills brand of tough but disciplined football this year.  With the exception of pre-snap penalties by a certain back up tight end, I don't remember too many times this season where undisciplined play cost the Bills.  In years past, every time the Bills made a big play I automatically looked for the yellow flag to bring it all back.  That doesn't happen much anymore and that's a credit to the coaching staff.  The Bills don't beat themselves on a regular basis like they used to.  

 

3.  Beane's off season O-Line rebuild was spot on.  I think Ford might be best at guard and Nsekhe can be a solid stop-gap RT.  I wouldn't be upset to see them go after a RT in free agency or the draft this off season.  I think the rest of the line looked good.  Dawkins was back in form this year, Spain, Morse, and Feliciano were ballers.  They have some depth there too with Long and Bates in the wings.  They might be able to bring Waddle back on the cheap too if his torn quad rehabs well.

 

4.  Our defense is elite.  It looks like we should be able to bring back the majority of the defense next year too.  We have the cap space and we need to resign our own players where we can and lock down the nucleus of this squad for the next few years.  If our defense continues to play at this level and we can continue to get modest improvement on the offensive side of the ball, we should be contending.  I hope no one makes a run at Frazier this off season. He and McDermott have got something special brewing here.

 

5.  The division should be wide open next year and I would think the Bills have to be considered at least even money with the Pats to win it.  This year saw a huge drop off in New England.  Whether Brady is back or not, I think their long, horrible, amazing run of dominance is finally over.  If we don't at least split with the Pats next year I'd be shocked.   Brady did give us a parting gift by forcing Garoppolo out of New England against Belichick's wishes.  It was the least he could do.  I hope they wander in the QB wilderness for a long time...

 

6.  Tre'Davious White is the real deal.  Next year he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year rookie contract.  At some point we need to pony up the money to lock him down through his prime years.  Having a shut down corner is critical the way the game is evolving.  The sooner we sign him, the cheaper the contract will be over the long run.  I would be shocked if he gets close to the 5th year of his contract without Beane locking him up.

 

7. The Bills hit on Ed Oliver.  He had five sacks this year on limited playing time. That stat doesn't tell the whole story though.  He was a beast and constantly needed to be doubled and was still getting into the backfield to disrupt the pocket.  He was stout in run defense all year. The highest percentage of snaps Oliver played in a game this season was 69%, and that was against the Jets in Week 16 when we were resting guys.  By contrast, Aaron Donald only had two games all season where he played less than 69% of the snaps.  I know Frazier and McDermott like to rotate their DTs, but I think they need to look at getting Oliver on the field more.  I think he is going to be a difference maker.

 

8.  Hauschka had a rocky stretch but ended the season strong and was money against the Texans on Saturday.  I really think he would have hit that 54 yarder to win the game in OT if the refs hadn't made that f**** up, ridiculous, horrendous, preposterously bad call on Ford for the "crack back" block to knock us out of field goal range.  I wish we could find another Justin Tucker out there who can hammer 58 yard FGs all day, but looking around the league at the kicking woes on many teams, I'm fine rolling with HouseMoney for another season.

 

9.  McDermott and Beane are building this team the right way.  They are building a tight knit group of guys who put the team first, check their egos at the door, and play hard for one another. We have a roster of smart, high character guys who can play ball.  I don't think we will have any trouble bringing in free agent talent this year.  I think McDermott has earned the trust and respect of the locker room and this year we have finally seen the results of the "Process".  I think both of them we're inspired hires by the Pegulas and I think they have the ability to build a Super Bowl team here in Buffalo. 

 

9a.  On a related note, we were remarkably healthy as a team this year.  I don't remember another year where injuries didn't cripple us for a significant stretch of the season.  Maybe it was just luck (an some of it certainly is) but I'd like to think that the Bills' focus on cutting edge sports medicine and a state of the art player's facility really paid dividends this year. Kudos to the front office for spending the money where it can make a difference.

 

10.  Losing to Houston sucked.  The way we lost was even worse.  The logical part of my mind knew we did not have a championship team this year, but I really thought we would be able to win this Wild Card game and then hope for a little bit of magic down the road.  That bitter taste is still there with how things ended, but when you look at the season as a whole, we finished with 10 wins, while mailing in week 17 of the season to rest our starters.

 

We will have a tougher schedule next year but a diminished New England to play and another off season of Beane restocking the cupboards with more talent.  Our young QB looks legit. In just three years we have moved from miraculously breaking the 17 year Drought, to not only expecting to be a playoff team, but now expecting to make some noise in the playoffs.  When it's all said and done,  I don't know how you can look at 2019 and not see it as the best season this franchise has had in 20 years.  

 

Only 247 more days until the opening kickoff!!!    

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Inigo Montoya

[Turk71]

   The offensive philosophy is terrible imo. The purpose of offense is to score points, they were obviously not good at it. Gore got more carries than Singletary on the year despite avg 3.5 a carry to Singletary's 5.1. That is just ridiculous and stupid. Singletary carried it 3 times from the moment they went up 16-0 till the end of overtime, despite carving them up to that point.

The Bills threw 46 passes in a game they led most of the way.

   In a season with a top defense and the Bills making the playoffs, an off-season with plenty of cap and draft picks, there is a lot to be optimistic and look forward to for next year. Brian Dabolls offense is not one of them imo.

If Allen was the problem why were so many gameplans so pass heavy, even in ridiculously high winds. Especially when you consider the Bills had one of the better run games, even with Gore getting so many carries and dragging the average down. Dabolls offense and gameplans have too many headscratching, 'what is he thinking?' moments for me. As much as it sucks to adjust to another OC, I think it might be a lot worse living through another season of his offense. I don't think any team is making him a head coach next season however and knowing how stubborn and conservative McD can be, I expect he will probably be back. I hope he learns something and gets a lot better.

[Phil The Thrill]

2 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

1.  This could be points 1, 2 and 3 because in my mind it was clearly the most important question going into the new season;  Will Josh Allen continue to develop into a franchise quarterback?   I think any objective observer over the course of the season would have to say that he has clearly become a better QB in 2019. I can list all the end of season stats such as completion percentages, QBR, TD/INT and the like, but those numbers, while improved across the board, don't come close to telling the whole story. 

 

The only two areas that concerned me this year has been his regression in deep ball accuracy, and ball security when he is running the ball.  I'm not sure what happened to his deep ball which was solid last year. If they are going to continue to use him in the running game then he has to protect the ball better.  Does he still make a head scratching decision throwing the ball sometimes?  Yep, and so does every other QB in the league.  There is no question though that he is making less of those Hero Ball throws compared to last season. 

 

He has improved dramatically in his short and intermediate throws, is now moving the offense in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage in response to what the defense is giving him. That means that he is able to read defenses at the line which is huge for a young QB.  He has clearly shown that he has the clutch gene when the chips are down at the end of the game.  Down a score in the 4th quarter, I expect the Bills will win more of those games than they lose. The kid is a gamer and will fight on a 4th and 1 like no one I've ever seen.  He leads by example and has the entire locker room in his corner.  I fully expect him to continue to improve and I think the Bills have finally found their franchise QB.

 

2.  I was really impressed with the Bills brand of tough but disciplined football this year.  With the exception of pre-snap penalties by a certain back up tight end, I don't remember too many times this season where undisciplined play cost the Bills.  In years past, every time the Bills made a big play I automatically looked for the yellow flag to bring it all back.  That doesn't happen much anymore and that's a credit to the coaching staff.  The Bills don't beat themselves on a regular basis like they used to.  

 

3.  Beane's off season O-Line rebuild was spot on.  I think Ford might be best at guard and Nsekhe can be a solid stop-gap RT.  I wouldn't be upset to see them go after a RT in free agency or the draft this off season.  I think the rest of the line looked good.  Dawkins was back in form this year, Spain, Morse, and Feliciano were ballers.  They have some depth there too with Long and Bates in the wings.  They might be able to bring Waddle back on the cheap too if his torn quad rehabs well.

 

4.  Our defense is elite.  It looks like we should be able to bring back the majority of the defense next year too.  We have the cap space and we need to resign our own players where we can and lock down the nucleus of this squad for the next few years.  If our defense continues to play at this level and we can continue to get modest improvement on the offensive side of the ball, we should be contending.  I hope no one makes a run at Frazier this off season. He and McDermott have got something special brewing here.

 

5.  The division should be wide open next year and I would think the Bills have to be considered at least even money with the Pats to win it.  This year saw a huge drop off in New England.  Whether Brady is back or not, I think their long, horrible, amazing run of dominance is finally over.  If we don't at least split with the Pats next year I'd be shocked.   Brady did give us a parting gift by forcing Garoppolo out of New England against Belichick's wishes.  It was the least he could do.  I hope they wander in the QB wilderness for a long time...

 

6.  Tre'Davious White is the real deal.  Next year he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year rookie contract.  At some point we need to pony up the money to lock him down through his prime years.  Having a shut down corner is critical the way the game is evolving.  The sooner we sign him, the cheaper the contract will be over the long run.  I would be shocked if he gets close to the 5th year of his contract without Beane locking him up.

 

7. The Bills hit on Ed Oliver.  He had five sacks this year on limited playing time. That stat doesn't tell the whole story though.  He was a beast and constantly needed to be doubled and was still getting into the backfield to disrupt the pocket.  He was stout in run defense all year. The highest percentage of snaps Oliver played in a game this season was 69%, and that was against the Jets in Week 16 when we were resting guys.  By contrast, Aaron Donald only had two games all season where he played less than 69% of the snaps.  I know Frazier and McDermott like to rotate their DTs, but I think they need to look at getting Oliver on the field more.  I think he is going to be a difference maker.

 

8.  Hauschka had a rocky stretch but ended the season strong and was money against the Texans on Saturday.  I really think he would have hit that 54 yarder to win the game in OT if the refs hadn't made that f**** up, ridiculous, horrendous, preposterously bad call on Ford for the "crack back" block to knock us out of field goal range.  I wish we could find another Justin Tucker out there who can hammer 58 yard FGs all day, but looking around the league at the kicking woes on many teams, I'm fine rolling with HouseMoney for another season.

 

9.  McDermott and Beane are building this team the right way.  They are building a tight knit group of guys who put the team first, check their egos at the door, and play hard for one another. We have a roster of smart, high character guys who can play ball.  I don't think we will have any trouble bringing in free agent talent this year.  I think McDermott has earned the trust and respect of the locker room and this year we have finally seen the results of the "Process".  I think both of them we're inspired hires by the Pegulas and I think they have the ability to build a Super Bowl team here in Buffalo. 

 

9a.  On a related note, we were remarkably healthy as a team this year.  I don't remember another year where injuries didn't cripple us for a significant stretch of the season.  Maybe it was just luck (an some of it certainly is) but I'd like to think that the Bills' focus on cutting edge sports medicine and a state of the art player's facility really paid dividends this year. Kudos to the front office for spending the money where it can make a difference.

 

10.  Losing to Houston sucked.  The way we lost was even worse.  The logical part of my mind knew we did not have a championship team this year, but I really thought we would be able to win this Wild Card game and then hope for a little bit of magic down the road.  That bitter taste is still there with how things ended, but when you look at the season as a whole, we finished with 10 wins, while mailing in week 16 of the season to rest our starters.

 

We will have a tougher schedule next year but a diminished New England to play and another off season of Beane restocking the cupboards with more talent.  Our young QB looks legit. In just three years we have moved from miraculously breaking the 17 year Drought, to not only expecting to be a playoff team, but now expecting to make some noise in the playoffs.  When it's all said and done,  I don't know how you can look at 2019 and not see it as the best season this franchise has had in 20 years.  

 

Only 247 more days until the opening kickoff!!!    

 

I wouldn’t say that there has been regression in Josh Allen’s deep ball.  While he hit a few passes his rookie year I think he was something like 2-18 in passes over 30 yards.  I think that percentage wise he might have been a little worse in 2019, but neither season was great.  If he can someone find a way to put touch on these passes it will make a difference.

[Bleedbuffaloblue]

Whole heartedly agree with all your points. Excellent end of season summary.

[Forward Progress]

3 hours ago, Phil The Thrill said:

I wouldn’t say that there has been regression in Josh Allen’s deep ball.  While he hit a few passes his rookie year I think he was something like 2-18 in passes over 30 yards.  I think that percentage wise he might have been a little worse in 2019, but neither season was great.  If he can someone find a way to put touch on these passes it will make a difference.

 

My speculation on Josh's long ball misses:

 

After throwing too many INT's in the first four games, it appeared to me that Josh was consistently throwing on the safe side of the receiver.  I think his new-found aversion to INT's lead to him placing the ball were it's either caught or it hits the ground.  I don't recall many long balls in the last 3/4 of the season that were at risk of being picked off.  

 

I hope he trusts himself on the long ball next year and I would trade a few long ball INT's (which aren't much worse than a punt) for some more explosive plays on offense.

[DCbillsfan]

I think the defense is very good.  More turnovers, more sacks, and better tackling and they'll be elite.  Need a game changer at DE.

[row_33]

Good and thoughtful post!

 

 

[The Jokeman]

5 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

I think the defense is very good.  More turnovers, more sacks, and better tackling and they'll be elite.  Need a game changer at DE.

We could also use a better 2nd CB. As Levi was targeted a lot this season and sometimes he stepped up but in most cases got beat badly. 

[row_33]

4 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

We could also use a better 2nd CB. As Levi was targeted a lot this season and sometimes he stepped up but in most cases got beat badly. 

 

you can't fill every position on the field, being happy with 1 CB is a lot in this day and age

 

[wvbillsfan]

Disagree on the offensive line. Too many times we didn’t get any push 

DJ reader wrecked our run game 

Lawrence guy was a beast when we played the patriots 

 

I just think we have to get better up from either through player development or new players. Our oline while better than 2018 was still very much average to below in 2019. 
 

Rest of the post is spot on in my opinion. 

[BillsVet]

6 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

3.  Beane's off season O-Line rebuild was spot on.  I think Ford might be best at guard and Nsekhe can be a solid stop-gap RT.  I wouldn't be upset to see them go after a RT in free agency or the draft this off season.  I think the rest of the line looked good.  Dawkins was back in form this year, Spain, Morse, and Feliciano were ballers.  They have some depth there too with Long and Bates in the wings.  They might be able to bring Waddle back on the cheap too if his torn quad rehabs well.

 

 McBeane had a 1st round grade on Ford, traded up into the top half of the 2nd to draft him, saw him not take the job in camp from a journeyman, and then demonstrate he is not a NFL RT.  Allen took some hits because Ford doesn't laterally move that well.  I'd say that's an indictment of the scouting process, or at a minimum, the decision makers. 

 

6 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

4.  Our defense is elite.  It looks like we should be able to bring back the majority of the defense next year too.  We have the cap space and we need to resign our own players where we can and lock down the nucleus of this squad for the next few years.  If our defense continues to play at this level and we can continue to get modest improvement on the offensive side of the ball, we should be contending.  I hope no one makes a run at Frazier this off season. He and McDermott have got something special brewing here.

 

6.  Tre'Davious White is the real deal.  Next year he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year rookie contract.  At some point we need to pony up the money to lock him down through his prime years.  Having a shut down corner is critical the way the game is evolving.  The sooner we sign him, the cheaper the contract will be over the long run.  I would be shocked if he gets close to the 5th year of his contract without Beane locking him up.

 

4. Defense only carries a team so far, and as proven in Seattle, keeping and "elite" one together is impossible.  Players age, contracts end, and players demand more money.  Defense is nice, but having an elite offense is better and they'll need to do that before they can be considered contenders.  The Bills have not yet had to deal with players wanting new deals and the philosophy McD employs of being strong against the pass leaves the vulnerable versus the run.  That showed up at bad times against better opponents.  They  

 

5. Tre getting beat up by Hopkins and being named 1st Team All Pro really make it hard to understand where he fits in among the great CBs.  He's excellent, and shut down some names this year.  I doubt his price goes down after the Houston game, and his window to be re-signed begins when the new league year opens.  He's the first home grown player McD drafted who'll demand big dollars.  How they approach this tells the story of how McBeane go about retaining their better players. 

 

6 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

9.  McDermott and Beane are building this team the right way.  They are building a tight knit group of guys who put the team first, check their egos at the door, and play hard for one another. We have a roster of smart, high character guys who can play ball.  I don't think we will have any trouble bringing in free agent talent this year.  I think McDermott has earned the trust and respect of the locker room and this year we have finally seen the results of the "Process".  I think both of them we're inspired hires by the Pegulas and I think they have the ability to build a Super Bowl team here in Buffalo.

 

McDermott is a .500 coach after 3 seasons, yet, when push comes to shove he's another conventional coach.  Hope to get a lead, then sit on it type.  People should be questioning why his team blew a 16 point lead with 21 minutes remaining in that game.  Or why he struggles big time against quality (i.e. playoff) opponents.  He's 3-17 against playoff teams or in playoff games.  That's gotta improve for his "process" to mean anything more than just a catch-phrase uttered by an average coach.  

 

6 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

We will have a tougher schedule next year but a diminished New England to play and another off season of Beane restocking the cupboards with more talent.  Our young QB looks legit. In just three years we have moved from miraculously breaking the 17 year Drought, to not only expecting to be a playoff team, but now expecting to make some noise in the playoffs.  When it's all said and done,  I don't know how you can look at 2019 and not see it as the best season this franchise has had in 20 years. 

 

Buffalo's strength of schedule was 30th and their strength of victories was 26th in the NFL this season.  That's not going to happen again next year when they have the NFC West and AFC West on the schedule.  Miami and NY Jets will improve.

[The Jokeman]

2 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

 McBeane had a 1st round grade on Ford, traded up into the top half of the 2nd to draft him, saw him not take the job in camp from a journeyman, and then demonstrate he is not a NFL RT.  Allen took some hits because Ford doesn't laterally move that well.  I'd say that's an indictment of the scouting process, or at a minimum, the decision makers. 

 

 

4. Defense only carries a team so far, and as proven in Seattle, keeping and "elite" one together is impossible.  Players age, contracts end, and players demand more money.  Defense is nice, but having an elite offense is better and they'll need to do that before they can be considered contenders.  The Bills have not yet had to deal with players wanting new deals and the philosophy McD employs of being strong against the pass leaves the vulnerable versus the run.  That showed up at bad times against better opponents.  They  

 

5. Tre getting beat up by Hopkins and being named 1st Team All Pro really make it hard to understand where he fits in among the great CBs.  He's excellent, and shut down some names this year.  I doubt his price goes down after the Houston game, and his window to be re-signed begins when the new league year opens.  He's the first home grown player McD drafted who'll demand big dollars.  How they approach this tells the story of how McBeane go about retaining their better players. 

 

 

McDermott is a .500 coach after 3 seasons, yet, when push comes to shove he's another conventional coach.  Hope to get a lead, then sit on it type.  People should be questioning why his team blew a 16 point lead with 21 minutes remaining in that game.  Or why he struggles big time against quality (i.e. playoff) opponents.  He's 3-17 against playoff teams or in playoff games.  That's gotta improve for his "process" to mean anything more than just a catch-phrase uttered by an average coach.  

 

 

Buffalo's strength of schedule was 30th and their strength of victories was 26th in the NFL this season.  That's not going to happen again next year when they have the NFC West and AFC West on the schedule.  Miami and NY Jets will improve.

Miami and the Jets also have to contend with the NFC West and AFC West and you don't think the Bills won't attempt to improve either? 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

4 hours ago, Phil The Thrill said:

I wouldn’t say that there has been regression in Josh Allen’s deep ball.  While he hit a few passes his rookie year I think he was something like 2-18 in passes over 30 yards.  I think that percentage wise he might have been a little worse in 2019, but neither season was great.  If he can someone find a way to put touch on these passes it will make a difference.

Josh was 6 of 21 on passes with 31+ air yards last year ranking 28th. I've attached a link for last year, but you have to scroll down a bit to get to the numbers on the 31+ air yard passes. @Forward Progress has the same thinking I have and have had for the last half of the year on why Allen struggled this year. Once he came out of the gate with 6 INTs in the first 4 games and 3 in the Pats**** game alone, he began to play it safe and overthrow his receivers or throw too far out of bounds. 

 

Josh improved greatly over this past offseason on passes over the middle and short to intermediate passes. Hopefully his deep ball will get a lot of attention this offseason while he works with Jordan Palmer.

 

 

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2019/2018-19-deep-ball-project

[Seasons1992]

7 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

 

9a.  On a related note, we were remarkably healthy as a team this year.  I don't remember another year where injuries didn't cripple us for a significant stretch of the season.  Maybe it was just luck (an some of it certainly is) but I'd like to think that the Bills' focus on cutting edge sports medicine and a state of the art player's facility really paid dividends this year. Kudos to the front office for spending the money where it can make a difference.

 

 

 

This. Healthiest year in my memory in a long time.

[Success]

That was an enjoyable read.  

 

Does anyone know if Waddle is back next year, or was that just a 1 year deal?  I feel like the D is just about set - hoping that they devote most of the offseason moves to O-line, WR & RB.  

 

Spot on w/ the injury situation.  I don't ever remember a season as healthy as this one, and I go way back.  I hope that can continue.  

 

The Bills should be division favorites heading into next season.  The media will probably give the nod to the Pats if Brady returns, but that's obligatory.  We'll be the better team.

 

[dave mcbride]

4 hours ago, Turk71 said:

   The offensive philosophy is terrible imo. The purpose of offense is to score points, they were obviously not good at it. Gore got more carries than Singletary on the year despite avg 3.5 a carry to Singletary's 5.1. That is just ridiculous and stupid. Singletary carried it 3 times from the moment they went up 16-0 till the end of overtime, despite carving them up to that point.

The Bills threw 46 passes in a game they led most of the way.

   In a season with a top defense and the Bills making the playoffs, an off-season with plenty of cap and draft picks, there is a lot to be optimistic and look forward to for next year. Brian Dabolls offense is not one of them imo.

If Allen was the problem why were so many gameplans so pass heavy, even in ridiculously high winds. Especially when you consider the Bills had one of the better run games, even with Gore getting so many carries and dragging the average down. Dabolls offense and gameplans have too many headscratching, 'what is he thinking?' moments for me. As much as it sucks to adjust to another OC, I think it might be a lot worse living through another season of his offense. I don't think any team is making him a head coach next season however and knowing how stubborn and conservative McD can be, I expect he will probably be back. I hope he learns something and gets a lot better.

This is a misleading. Singletary missed 4.5 games (3.5 due to the hamstring injury; 1 to sitting out the finale). Gore played in every game. 

[Big Turk]

8 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

1.  This could be points 1, 2 and 3 because in my mind it was clearly the most important question going into the new season;  Will Josh Allen continue to develop into a franchise quarterback?   I think any objective observer over the course of the season would have to say that he has clearly become a better QB in 2019. I can list all the end of season stats such as completion percentages, QBR, TD/INT and the like, but those numbers, while improved across the board, don't come close to telling the whole story. 

 

The only two areas that concerned me this year has been his regression in deep ball accuracy, and ball security when he is running the ball.  I'm not sure what happened to his deep ball which was solid last year. If they are going to continue to use him in the running game then he has to protect the ball better.  Does he still make a head scratching decision throwing the ball sometimes?  Yep, and so does every other QB in the league.  There is no question though that he is making less of those Hero Ball throws compared to last season. 

 

He has improved dramatically in his short and intermediate throws, is now moving the offense in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage in response to what the defense is giving him. That means that he is able to read defenses at the line which is huge for a young QB.  He has clearly shown that he has the clutch gene when the chips are down at the end of the game.  Down a score in the 4th quarter, I expect the Bills will win more of those games than they lose. The kid is a gamer and will fight on a 4th and 1 like no one I've ever seen.  He leads by example and has the entire locker room in his corner.  I fully expect him to continue to improve and I think the Bills have finally found their franchise QB.

 

2.  I was really impressed with the Bills brand of tough but disciplined football this year.  With the exception of pre-snap penalties by a certain back up tight end, I don't remember too many times this season where undisciplined play cost the Bills.  In years past, every time the Bills made a big play I automatically looked for the yellow flag to bring it all back.  That doesn't happen much anymore and that's a credit to the coaching staff.  The Bills don't beat themselves on a regular basis like they used to.  

 

3.  Beane's off season O-Line rebuild was spot on.  I think Ford might be best at guard and Nsekhe can be a solid stop-gap RT.  I wouldn't be upset to see them go after a RT in free agency or the draft this off season.  I think the rest of the line looked good.  Dawkins was back in form this year, Spain, Morse, and Feliciano were ballers.  They have some depth there too with Long and Bates in the wings.  They might be able to bring Waddle back on the cheap too if his torn quad rehabs well.

 

4.  Our defense is elite.  It looks like we should be able to bring back the majority of the defense next year too.  We have the cap space and we need to resign our own players where we can and lock down the nucleus of this squad for the next few years.  If our defense continues to play at this level and we can continue to get modest improvement on the offensive side of the ball, we should be contending.  I hope no one makes a run at Frazier this off season. He and McDermott have got something special brewing here.

 

5.  The division should be wide open next year and I would think the Bills have to be considered at least even money with the Pats to win it.  This year saw a huge drop off in New England.  Whether Brady is back or not, I think their long, horrible, amazing run of dominance is finally over.  If we don't at least split with the Pats next year I'd be shocked.   Brady did give us a parting gift by forcing Garoppolo out of New England against Belichick's wishes.  It was the least he could do.  I hope they wander in the QB wilderness for a long time...

 

6.  Tre'Davious White is the real deal.  Next year he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year rookie contract.  At some point we need to pony up the money to lock him down through his prime years.  Having a shut down corner is critical the way the game is evolving.  The sooner we sign him, the cheaper the contract will be over the long run.  I would be shocked if he gets close to the 5th year of his contract without Beane locking him up.

 

7. The Bills hit on Ed Oliver.  He had five sacks this year on limited playing time. That stat doesn't tell the whole story though.  He was a beast and constantly needed to be doubled and was still getting into the backfield to disrupt the pocket.  He was stout in run defense all year. The highest percentage of snaps Oliver played in a game this season was 69%, and that was against the Jets in Week 16 when we were resting guys.  By contrast, Aaron Donald only had two games all season where he played less than 69% of the snaps.  I know Frazier and McDermott like to rotate their DTs, but I think they need to look at getting Oliver on the field more.  I think he is going to be a difference maker.

 

8.  Hauschka had a rocky stretch but ended the season strong and was money against the Texans on Saturday.  I really think he would have hit that 54 yarder to win the game in OT if the refs hadn't made that f**** up, ridiculous, horrendous, preposterously bad call on Ford for the "crack back" block to knock us out of field goal range.  I wish we could find another Justin Tucker out there who can hammer 58 yard FGs all day, but looking around the league at the kicking woes on many teams, I'm fine rolling with HouseMoney for another season.

 

9.  McDermott and Beane are building this team the right way.  They are building a tight knit group of guys who put the team first, check their egos at the door, and play hard for one another. We have a roster of smart, high character guys who can play ball.  I don't think we will have any trouble bringing in free agent talent this year.  I think McDermott has earned the trust and respect of the locker room and this year we have finally seen the results of the "Process".  I think both of them we're inspired hires by the Pegulas and I think they have the ability to build a Super Bowl team here in Buffalo. 

 

9a.  On a related note, we were remarkably healthy as a team this year.  I don't remember another year where injuries didn't cripple us for a significant stretch of the season.  Maybe it was just luck (an some of it certainly is) but I'd like to think that the Bills' focus on cutting edge sports medicine and a state of the art player's facility really paid dividends this year. Kudos to the front office for spending the money where it can make a difference.

 

10.  Losing to Houston sucked.  The way we lost was even worse.  The logical part of my mind knew we did not have a championship team this year, but I really thought we would be able to win this Wild Card game and then hope for a little bit of magic down the road.  That bitter taste is still there with how things ended, but when you look at the season as a whole, we finished with 10 wins, while mailing in week 17 of the season to rest our starters.

 

We will have a tougher schedule next year but a diminished New England to play and another off season of Beane restocking the cupboards with more talent.  Our young QB looks legit. In just three years we have moved from miraculously breaking the 17 year Drought, to not only expecting to be a playoff team, but now expecting to make some noise in the playoffs.  When it's all said and done,  I don't know how you can look at 2019 and not see it as the best season this franchise has had in 20 years.  

 

Only 247 more days until the opening kickoff!!!    

 

 

9a. We have been remarkably healthy in all 3 years McDermott has been here and it is not by accident.  They have invested HEAVILY in sports science and put lots of resources into to ensure players are being rested properly and receiving all of the treatments they need to remain healthy.  It is all encompassing...what they eat, when they eat, rest cycles, sleep cycles, GPS tracking to see how much a player moves, weight training, plyometric training, etc...

 

Bills have ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th in man games lost to injuries in McDermott's time here and we should not be surprised anymore by it, it isn't by accident, it is by plan and by design.

[row_33]

5 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

9a. We have been remarkably healthy in all 3 years McDermott has been here and it is not by accident.  They have invested HEAVILY in sports science and put lots of resources into to ensure players are being rested properly and receiving all of the treatments they need to remain healthy.  It is all encompassing...what they eat, when they eat, rest cycles, sleep cycles, GPS tracking to see how much a player moves, weight training, plyometric training, etc...

 

 

 

it has to be somewhat due to prep and a ton of luck as well

 

WRs shred their knees often just running patterns in practice without any resistance.

 

 

 

 

[Big Turk]

4 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

it has to be somewhat due to prep and a ton of luck as well

 

WRs shred their knees often just running patterns in practice without any resistance.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah but most injuries aren't the extreme injuries like torn tendons or ligaments, they are soft tissue injuries or sprains, broken bones, etc.  I think what people are starting to see is that if you can get a player back to 90% on by the following Sunday versus most teams with players at 75% or 80% in terms of healthiness, it gives them more wiggle room when it comes to how much a player can take during a game before getting injured.  If say you don't get hurt until the body gets to 55%, it's a lot further you have to fall to get to 55% when you are starting at 90% than when you are starting at 75%.

 

Injuries don't happen in a vacuum a lot of times, they happen slowly over the course of a season until the area becomes too weak to prevent the injury.  The Bills are rightfully making sure each game the players are starting off as close to 100% as possible.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Thanks for the insight and well reasoned points. All in all we have much to be thankful for these days, and more so than 2/3rds of the rest of the league in a relatively short span of this regime, imho