Are we more deserving of the SB hype this year than last?

[hondo in seattle]

While we were drowning in Lombardi hype last off-season, I had worries.   

 

I may actually have fewer worries this off-season.   Beane did a great job addressing our shortcomings despite not having a lot of picks or cap space.  

 

We're not the frontrunners, but we are one of a bunch of clubs that have a realistic shot. 

 

As for the harder schedule, I don't care.  We might not win 13 games in the regular season, but a better roster just might earn us a better run in the playoffs.  

 

 

[LABILLBACKER]

I don't want to be hyped or SB favorites. Back to going a little under the radar by the pundits who think we've regressed.  Beane has done a great job this off season filling holes that will protect Josh.  Sean had the courage to move on from Leslie and take control.  The team does have a better balanced roster.  Buffalo weather still worries me. I don't think our players have the mindset to do wind & snow.  Yes the schedule is very tough but I think 11-12 wins is still doable.

 

One thing I can 100% guarantee is this team will not have to experience the crazy drama of last season.....

Edited May 3, 2023 by LABILLBACKER

[DCofNC]

2 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I don't want to be hyped or SB favorites. Back to going a little under the radar by the pundits who think we've regressed.  Beane has done a great job this off season filling holes that will protect Josh.  Sean had the courage to move on from Leslie and take control.  The team does have a better balanced roster.  Buffalo weather still worries me. I don't think our players have the mindset to do wind & snow.  Yes the schedule is very tough but I think 11-12 wins is still doable.

McD is going to have to let rookies play if we are winning that many.   If you subtract Kindcaid and O’Torrence, the offense didn’t gain a lot.  Hopefully, the D will be better, but pass rush and MLB are a major concern/unknown.  Dorsey is also going to have to evolve.  There’s a lot of factors at play.  If the rookies are hits, the team looks pretty good.  If even 1 of the first 3 rounds struggles and doesn’t win a major role, I have sincere concerns this team could finish 3rd in the division and out of the playoffs.  

[balln]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

A lot of people will poo-poo this, but I too think McD's seat is warmer than most realize.

It freaking should be. You don’t blow as a defensive coach playoff games like the Texans and chiefs. And just looked inept vs cincy. With a franchise qb and keep your job

 

lots of better coaches have been fired for less. Ridiculous 

1 hour ago, Chaos said:

No.

Coming into 2022, it was expected we would have a healthy Von Miller for the whole season, which was viewed as the missing link from the 2021 13 second debacle season.   It was also expected Tre White would return at full speed by playoff time.  

Coming into 2023, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Von Miller, and Tre White all come into the season with different types of injury concerns. Edmunds is gone.  The defense is more questionable than coming into 2022.  The DC changed. There is a presumption that Sean McDermott the new DC will be better. 

The offense comes in better looking in 2023.  Pass catching corp is dramatically upgraded.  Offensive line appears to be dramatically upgraded.  From a productivity standpoint during the regular season, Josh Allen already had carried the 2022 offense to top 2 or 3 status.  It seems he will be have more help, but it is unrealistic to say that we will end up better than a top 3 offense with certainity. That is an unreasonable bar. 

The Bills weak spot in the 2021 and 2022 seasons was a coaching staff have not proven to be closers in the playoffs.  Two different versions, 2021, the biggest choke in NFL history, giving away a won game.  The Bills were the NFL's healthiest team at the point, and were well positioned to advance after that.   2022 was kind of the other direction. The team seemed unprepared against Miami, but due to sheer roster superiority, were able to prevail.  The following week  against the Bengals, instead of blowing the game late, we spotted the bengals 14 points, and were completely unable to take advantage of a decimated bengals oline.  We were much worse against the Bengals than the Huntley led Ravens were the weak before.  Of course the 2022 season had all kinds of extenuating circumstances, but the coaches ultimately were not able to prove they were closers. 

Football is fun.  The 2023 Bills are certain to be competitive every week, and they are almost certain to make the playoffs.   The regular season will be fun.  We won't know if we can close the deal until next January.  The Bengals and Chiefs the last two years proved they can win the AFC championship. John Harbaugh with the refurbished Ravens has shown that at least once he could close the deal. 

The general public is not going to buy Bills hype this year as much as last year. Nor should they. 

 

This is where I’m at. Their coaches are weak sauce. Not good enough

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Chiefs are gonna have the throne until proven otherwise. Buffalo also have the Jets to worry about now who certainly have SB aspirations if Rodgers returns to MVP form, I’m not convinced he is finished based off one “bad” year (still threw for 26 TDs.) The AFC is so stacked that 5 or so different teams have legit reason to challenge for the title. It’s going to be a gauntlet. I refuse to put all my chips on Buffalo after they broke my heart last year and the year before. I think the rejuvenation of the O-line will be the key to winning a SB. Love the Kincaid pick, but they always have Knox to fall back on. To me, Torrence is going to be the true X-factor and most important rookie along w/ Bates’ progression. If those players can both play at a high level then the sky is really the limit for this team. You give Allen strong protection and an above average running game it’s over for the rest of the AFC. That’s too many “ifs” for me to place them as the favorites.

Torrence is going to be first guard backup

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

21 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

While we were drowning in Lombardi hype last off-season, I had worries.   

 

I may actually have fewer worries this off-season.   Beane did a great job addressing our shortcomings despite not having a lot of picks or cap space.  

 

We're not the frontrunners, but we are one of a bunch of clubs that have a realistic shot. 

 

As for the harder schedule, I don't care.  We might not win 13 games in the regular season, but a better roster just might earn us a better run in the playoffs.  

 

 

Finally someone with a realistic take!

[Buffalo Junction]

2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

This is a good question and weird answer for me.  My actual answer is No, we should not be as favored to get there as last year...but with an asterisk of saying I actually think our chances of reaching and winning the Super Bowl are better this year now that we know the real deficiencies of last year and the adjustments we made this offseason.

 

Last year, we were seen as the cream of the crop by most coming off that amazing performance against KC and adding more to our team like Von Miller, while KC lost some guys including Hill.  The NFC wasn't seen as strong at that time either.  

 

This year, our schedule has us playing the consensus 3 toughest divisions in football (Our own, AFC West, and NFC East) plus the Bengals and the Jaguars.  More importantly there are several more teams seen as elite at the top this year compared to last year.  Now you have Eagles, Niners, and in some cases Dallas in the NFC plus the Chiefs, Bengals and Bills in the AFC.  

 

Now this year, while I don't expect us to be as favored to get to the SB, I do think our actual odds of getting there and winning it are better with the offseason moves Beane made for us to get tougher, bigger, and more built to play in those tough bad weather playoff games.  

 

Getting bigger and tougher not only helps against the Bengals and Jets, but should seriously improve how this team matches up against NFC opponents who are more run and defense focused. 

[BigDingus]

Not even close.

 

Everyone's last memory of us going into last season was taking the Chiefs to wire, in Arrowhead, with Josh playing like a man possessed.

 

Everyone's last memory of us going into this season is getting stomped at home by the Bengals, with Josh doing nothing & our defense looking like swiss cheese.

 

Sure, we added some guys, but so did everyone else. The Bills didn't make all these moves in a vacuum. The division got better, and so did the AFC.

[Chaos]

2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

I actually think our chances of reaching and winning the Super Bowl are better this year

This is literally true for every single team other than the Chiefs. 

[SCBills]

41 minutes ago, ControllerOfPlanetX said:

A front seven that got run over by a second string offensive line at home….uncheck.

That DL was:

 

Shaq - Ankou - Oliver - Rousseau
 

Health permitting, our postseason DL this year will be:

 

Von - Jones/Poona - Oliver - Rousseau

 

Subract Edmunds / Add Von, Daquan and Poona

 

That’s quite the difference in our Front 7

[Mr. WEO]

Why would anyone conclude the bills won’t be hyped?

[balln]

6 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

Not even close.

 

Everyone's last memory of us going into last season was taking the Chiefs to wire, in Arrowhead, with Josh playing like a man possessed.

 

Everyone's last memory of us going into this season is getting stomped at home by the Bengals, with Josh doing nothing & our defense looking like swiss cheese.

 

Sure, we added some guys, but so did everyone else. The Bills didn't make all these moves in a vacuum. The division got better, and so did the AFC.

Coaches are a joke.

sub par.

 

We’re winning bc of our gm and Josh Allen. Plain and simple 

[Goin Breakdown]

I don't think Buffalo will be hyped at all this season. Im going to guess we'll be hearing all season long about how the gap has been closed and how the Jets will be the favorites. 

[QLBillsFan]

4 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

I think people were more optimistic about Dorsey going into last season than how the results panned out.  I don't think he is looked at as a strength at the moment.

While the O had some challenges they scored 28 points a game. 

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

With Josh Allen we are always contenders for the SB but i feel like this team is it's the best it's been since the 13 seconds but I'd love it if Von Miller were back in week 1 or 2.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

3 hours ago, L Ron Burgundy said:

Out of curiosity,  why would someone like Cinci fear us?  They crushed us.  Thoroughly outcoached and outplayed.   We don't have a better def or better weapons.  I put Allen above Burrow but that's it.

We will be a tough out. You don’t think we will put up a more spirited fight than last year? Rosters churn/turnover, and I respectfully disagree with your assessment that we haven’t obtained better weapons or pieces that will give us overall a better shot than in years previous…also, it’s dangerous to ever bet against Allen. 

[Billl]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

A lot of people will poo-poo this, but I too think McD's seat is warmer than most realize.

 

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Oh I think Beane would get to stay...

I think Beane is the one whose seat should be getting warm.

[DapperCam]

3 hours ago, MarkyMannn said:

Bills were the 4th least injury affected team in regards to man games lost.  Theres a Twitter pos out there that tracks this

Idk how they measure impact of injuries, but:

- Allen’s season fell off a cliff statistically after his partial UCL tear.

- Von Miller was a huge loss. We really missed him in the playoffs.

- Hyde and Poyer were both All Pros the prior season. Hyde missed the whole year, and Poyer was gimpy and probably just playing because he had to by the end of the season.

- Tre White was an All Pro corner and taking up cap space, but never really returned to his former glory

- D. Jones made our run D respectable and he was sorely missed in the Bengals playoff game.

 

And there are many more…our entire secondary was backups for the first Miami game, and we ran out of starters on the O-line by the end of the game.

 

It was a bad injury season from my perspective. The prior season was much luckier.

 

 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

1 hour ago, balln said:

It freaking should be. You don’t blow as a defensive coach playoff games like the Texans and chiefs. And just looked inept vs cincy. With a franchise qb and keep your job

 

lots of better coaches have been fired for less. Ridiculous 

This is where I’m at. Their coaches are weak sauce. Not good enough

Torrence is going to be first guard backup

How do you know this ? Training camp hasn’t even started yet. 

[HappyCat]

5 hours ago, sherpa said:

No. We will not be as hyped, and that's a good thing.

I got really tired of it after the LA Rams and Titans games.

 

Let the media talk about the Jets and Dolphins.

We should operate in the shadows.

I agree about operating in the shadows.  Win the AFC East and go from there!

[Andy1]

Well Cowherd has Bills ranked 4th in AFC behind Chiefs, Bengals and Chargers.