I think I have to bail on all offseason NFL media coverage

[JohnNord]

6 hours ago, The 9 Isles said:

Any time I see anything about the Bills or Josh Allen almost immediately the Chiefs and Mahomes are brought into the conversation. 
 

I just want my Bills news, I don’t want to continually be reminded of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and their Superbowls and how the Bills always lose to them and blah blah blah……

 

It is so aggravating that not only do they win but whenever my team is spoken about I need to hear all the superlatives about the crown prince and his team. 
 

I will be using this board to curate my NFL news this offseason, thank you to all the contributors that wade through the mud of the NFL offseason. 
 

I can’t wait until the Bills and JA win one and finally get all these people to STFU. 
 

(carve out for Rich Eisen, he always has Buffalo’s back)

It’s boring any way.  If you watch the coverage you hear the same thing about every team:

 

- The 2024 schedule is going to be so hard.

- “struggling young QB” is going to have a big season after getting experience in the offense.

- “draft pick X” is going to make a huge impact.

- The defense is going to make major strides with “defensive coordinator X”

 

[Success]

Honestly, I've given up most of it.  The Bills narratives are generally pretty negative - "window closing" stuff, and KC stuff.  It's kind of boring & annoying at the same time, and generally inaccurate.

 

There are some people I still like to watch.  Mina Kimes is always insightful, and that general crew is pretty good.  Nick Wright's show seems to be gaining in popularity, which is par for the course for shows that try to be more outrageous.  I used to hate watch those kinds of shows, but then I was like, why am I doing this?  I'd just get aggravated.

 

When the Bills win a title, I'm sure I'll tune back in to a lot of the media, but I'm more or less done for now.

 

[JerseyBills]

3 hours ago, ToGoGo said:

 

Four in a row to balance out karma. Then a 5th as interest for good karma. 

Yes, it's going to happen. The universe demands it

[BillMafia716ix]

4 hours ago, ndirish1978 said:

Just watch Cover 1 and Locked On. No need to watch national media ever really

This. There’s so many options now that you never have to watch national media. I do like watching the unbiased opinions though.

[ndirish1978]

5 hours ago, BillMafia716ix said:

This. There’s so many options now that you never have to watch national media. I do like watching the unbiased opinions though.

 

Would be nice if you could find an unbiased opinion in the national media. Most of them just parrot talking points and don't know much about the team itself. Joe Marino is pretty unbiased, the Cover 1 guys cheer a bit more but they admit when they do and are pretty good about still calling out things that aren't good. 

 

[Chaos]

The fans who visit any of the NFL fan forums during the off-season are not typical  fans.  We are all obsessed lunatics. 

 

The national media is not really focused on the pretty small obessed lunatic market. 

 

The fan forums aren't more accurate, they just have a much different general bias than than the national media.   

The fan forums including TBD run the full range of possible opinions, so there is a never a subject with 100% alignment of the fans.  Because every possible opinion is covered, one of those opinions will always turn out to be right.  Once an outcome is known, the bias is "I remember reading some post on TBD that got this correct, wow, we are a really smart group of people. "

The general bias for off-season moves at TBD and other fans sites seems to be able to summarized as follows. In no particular order:
 

1. Response to every veteran cut : was once a good player, but is old and washed now. The move had to be made. 
2. Response to every FA veteran signed: this guy is clearly an upgrade to the player he is replacing
3. Every veteran retained who was not injured the previous season and is under the age of 30: this player will improve and help the team be better next year.
4. Every veteran retained who was not injured the previous season who is over the age of 30: this guy has plenty left in the tank
5. Every veteran retained whose previous season ended in injury: By mid-season this guy should be back to full speed there is no reason to think he won't get fully back to his form
6. Guys on my teams practice squad:  This guy just needs a chance, they can become a major contributor given the opportunity
7. Guys on other teams practice squads: I don't know who they are, they can't be very good or they wouldn't be on the practice squad. 
8. Rookies before the draft: I have an opinion on which position is the most important or which players are best.  We have to take this player, or fill this position in the first round. The draft is very deep at every other position, and we can find a suitable player at those positions later in the draft. 
9. Rookies after the draft: These players instantly make us a better team. 

Its pretty rare any team makes a move knowing that the move will weaken the team.  The moves teams make are intended to make the team better, that is why they are making the moves. People seem to think everyone is on a constant trajectory to improve, so even doing nothing during the off-season convinces us lunatics that the team will be better next year. While only one team wins the super bowl each year, there are probably a dozen fan bases who think their team won the off-season in any given year. 

Edited March 9 by Chaos

[sleeby]

21 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

I hate to wear the tinfoil hat, but I have to wonder if the NFL doesn't want the Bills winning one.

I think that might change when we open the new stadium. Buffalo investing in the NFL should help

 

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

I mean, I don't want to keep banging the "national media is trash" drum while I eat it up but...

 

Man, I don't think they did an in depth dive. Or even more than a cursory skim. I get that there are 31 other teams but the day after our Wednesday purge Florio and Simms seemed shocked at how much the Bills had been over and were wondering how the Bills were going to field a team...while we all knew that shaking $30-40 M more cap space free can be done with two extensions and two restructures.

[Governor]

23 hours ago, SCBills said:

I hear ya, but have to admit that any move we make.. my sole focus is “how does this set us up against KC?”

 

No matter what the other AFCE teams do, we’ve been able to win the East.

 

We have two other main contenders in Baltimore and Cincinnati.  One we typically beat, the other we struggle against. 
 

But nothing else matters until we can get out of the AFC.. and for Buffalo, Cinci, Baltimore.. every move is made with an eye on the Chiefs. 
 

It is what it is. 

I personally don’t like the idea of building to specifically beat KC with speed or however Beane has been doing it. We already saw how that left us totally overmatched against Cincy a few years later. Cincy will be back. If anything, I think we should be building to emulate Cincy, since they always manhandle KC.

 

Beane was chasing a crack high and fell asleep at the wheel, then KC got much larger and physical on defense and we didn’t. It looks to me that KC is building to beat Cincy, not us, and we should do the same.

Edited March 9 by Governor

[Chicken Boo]

3 Lombardis will do that.  

 

There were a slew of injuries last season that made the Bills' path easier.  You can't rely on that going forward. 

 

The Bengals, Chargers, Dolphins, Jets, Texans etc are all getting stronger.

 

This conference ain't getting any easier to win now or in the future.  

Edited March 9 by Chicken Boo

[Paup 1995MVP]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:57 AM, julian said:

I would have no problem with the constant reminders of Bills playoff failures if they reported the reasoning truthfully, but they do not.

 

 It feels like the Bills are the only team fuc*ing things up every season if you listen to the media, the rest of the teams who either don’t make the playoffs, don’t win their division or lose in the playoffs are just given a free reset by the media and treated as though their failures didn’t happen or don’t matter.

 

 If you didn’t actually watch the league and just watched the media coverage, you’d come away thinking the Bills are a mediocre loser franchise. I’m guessing the media outlets and pundits are aware the mafia engagement rises with negativity and the rest of the leagues fan bases love to hear how this dominant franchise with it’s elite QB haven’t won anything and most likely won’t in the future, it’s a win win for the media.

Wow you sure sound paranoid.  I follow the Bills religiously   And I try and stay on top of the rest of the NFL as much as I can.  Who is bashing the Bills?  We have done well the past 6-7 years.  Have a great QB.  And an overall exciting team.  And a great fan base. But we haven’t played in the Super Bowl.  And our head coach is a pretty bland guy. And KC has won 3.  And played in 4 in the past 5 years.  So of course they will get props.  Colin Cowherd always give us props.  And so do many others who aren’t just fixated on black QB’s. 
 

I just worry about what the team is doing to improve in the offseason and how we are building our team.  Also what other teams are doing.  Because I just love the NFL. And like to be in the know.  I don’t listen to all the jibber jabber because I don’t think it matters.  
 

There are 31 other teams in the NFL. And we’ll over 100 D1 college teams.  I like to talk w fans from other teams than nine. (Bills and Michigan Wolverines) and get their take on things.  Most respect the Bills and the Wolverines, as they should.  So I don’t know where all this paranoia is coming from.  When we win the Super Bowl we will be the king of the castle.  And that is how it should be. 

 

 

 

 

[90sBills]

1 hour ago, Governor said:

I personally don’t like the idea of building to specifically beat KC with speed or however Beane has been doing it. We already saw how that left us totally overmatched against Cincy a few years later. Cincy will be back. If anything, I think we should be building to emulate Cincy, since they always manhandle KC.

Cincy hasn’t done that much better than the Bills against KC. They managed to go 1-1 against them in the playoffs. So that’s 1 more than Bills. They beat KC twice in the regular season at Cincy. Bills have beaten KC 3 times in the regular season at KC, including a blowout. I’d take the Bills performance over Cincy’s. 

 

For all the manhandling Cincy is supposedly doing against KC they sure haven’t had much to show for it. 

[stuvian]

A lot of teams would love to have our "failures". Many fans go on an internet diet at this time of year. One of the lessons of getting older is spending your finite emotional energy on things and people that are important. All these hot take screamers are vying for our attention by conflating every rumour into breaking news.

Up until the draft I assume everyone who goes public with a news item, tweet or statement is lying. That maxim has served me well.

 

On 3/8/2024 at 11:27 AM, Gregg said:

Four more years? Good luck with that.

 

 

 

Dear Aaron, why not start with playing four games as a Jet before all this multiple season mularkey.

[julian]

2 hours ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

Wow you sure sound paranoid.  I follow the Bills religiously   And I try and stay on top of the rest of the NFL as much as I can.  Who is bashing the Bills?  We have done well the past 6-7 years.  Have a great QB.  And an overall exciting team.  And a great fan base. But we haven’t played in the Super Bowl.  And our head coach is a pretty bland guy. And KC has won 3.  And played in 4 in the past 5 years.  So of course they will get props.  Colin Cowherd always give us props.  And so do many others who aren’t just fixated on black QB’s. 
 

I just worry about what the team is doing to improve in the offseason and how we are building our team.  Also what other teams are doing.  Because I just love the NFL. And like to be in the know.  I don’t listen to all the jibber jabber because I don’t think it matters.  
 

There are 31 other teams in the NFL. And we’ll over 100 D1 college teams.  I like to talk w fans from other teams than nine. (Bills and Michigan Wolverines) and get their take on things.  Most respect the Bills and the Wolverines, as they should.  So I don’t know where all this paranoia is coming from.  When we win the Super Bowl we will be the king of the castle.  And that is how it should be. 

 

 

 

 

lol paranoid ? The thread was about the media coverage and I gave my take, of course there’s a difference between the average football fans take on the Bills and the media take, that’s the point.

 

 If the media were telling the story of an underachieving playoff team due to it’s overrated head coach and lack of elite level talent and bad luck, then most average fans wouldn’t bat an eye or even notice. Having the media talking about Allen’s inability to beat Mahomes on almost every Bills segment is nauseating.

 

 The Bills are in this position to get piled on because they are a contender, so I get why, I’d just like to see more in depth reality as to the reasons why and not just Allen can’t beat Mahomes.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

On 3/8/2024 at 11:27 AM, Gregg said:

Four more years? Good luck with that.

 

 

 

Maybe if he replaces his ayahusca tea with formaldehyde? 🤔

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Truth be told, even in-season national coverage is sorely lacking imho—a bunch of pompous overpaid windbags who don’t have a clue compared to TBD level coverage of the Bills. Lazy takes, and is the quality of that any better than off-season? 🤔

[Governor]

12 hours ago, 90sBills said:

Cincy hasn’t done that much better than the Bills against KC. They managed to go 1-1 against them in the playoffs. So that’s 1 more than Bills. They beat KC twice in the regular season at Cincy. Bills have beaten KC 3 times in the regular season at KC, including a blowout. I’d take the Bills performance over Cincy’s. 

 

For all the manhandling Cincy is supposedly doing against KC they sure haven’t had much to show for it. 

They had a SB appearance which is miles ahead of what we’ve done and they would’ve been in the championship game again this year if they hadn’t lost Burrow, and they’ll probably be in that game again next year, since we can’t beat them. We aren’t ever beating Cincy with the way this team is built.

Edited March 10 by Governor

[JoPoy88]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:31 AM, The 9 Isles said:

Any time I see anything about the Bills or Josh Allen almost immediately the Chiefs and Mahomes are brought into the conversation. 
 

I just want my Bills news, I don’t want to continually be reminded of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and their Superbowls and how the Bills always lose to them and blah blah blah……

 

It is so aggravating that not only do they win but whenever my team is spoken about I need to hear all the superlatives about the crown prince and his team. 
 

I will be using this board to curate my NFL news this offseason, thank you to all the contributors that wade through the mud of the NFL offseason. 
 

I can’t wait until the Bills and JA win one and finally get all these people to STFU. 
 

(carve out for Rich Eisen, he always has Buffalo’s back)

boo hoo. You could bail on all of it ya know. Just watch the games.

 

Newsflash: the Chiefs are the standard bearers right now - they’ve won back to back titles. All NFL teams, especially AFC contending teams like the Bills, will be compared to them. If you just can’t handle that without whinging about it maybe football’s not for you.

 

if in-depth Bills-only coverage attracted enough eyeballs to make money for national NFL media outlets, guess what? You’d be seeing it. Seriously what are we even doing here anymore. Just manbaby central.

Edited March 10 by JoPoy88

[Success]

3 minutes ago, Governor said:

They had a SB appearance which is miles ahead of what we’ve done and they would’ve been in the championship game again this year if they hadn’t lost Burrow, and they’ll probably be in that game again next year, since we can’t beat them.

 

They got to the SB when Mahomes uncharacteristically played his worst in the 2nd half of that AFCCG.

 

Mahomes has never done that against Buffalo.  I would have loved to see that Mahomes this past year.

 

[Governor]

1 hour ago, Success said:

 

They got to the SB when Mahomes uncharacteristically played his worst in the 2nd half of that AFCCG.

 

Mahomes has never done that against Buffalo.  I would have loved to see that Mahomes this past year.

 

Yes. Cincy played defense. They cracked the code on Mahomes. 
 

Is it just unfamiliarity with Reid and Cincy’s coach? There could be some truth to that but it’s more about how their team is built. It could be both. Nothing is ever absolute. All we can really go by is the absolute beatings they gave us, and then KC. I don’t think anyone would argue that they’re not the much better coached team and scheme.

 

Cincy has shown that they can be calm and calculated on offense whether they’re up by 10 or down by ten. We have not shown that in the McD era. They also have a defense that doesn’t give up 17 points in 3 minutes of play. We haven’t shown any of that maturation at any point in the Josh era. They also have a disruptive D-line once the playoffs starts, another thing we haven’t seen in the McD era for the exception of the Raven’s game. They are pretty much everything that we should want to be. All of the things needed to win a championship.

 

Cincy almost won that SB, so not only did they beat KC, they almost and probably should have won that SB. They are the team that’s in the way of KC winning 3 more SB’s, not us. 
 

We are basically a “tune-up” game for both of those teams, a dress-rehearsal game and that really sucks. Our last 3 games against Cincy were probably the most lop-sided meaningful games in the McD era.

 

Every once in a while you’ see a fan ask “is this team not very talented and is being coached up or are they underperforming with a crappy coach?” Are they a poor roster that’s actually overachieving?

 

I still don’t think we can answer that question which isn’t good moving forward. It’s obviously both but to what extent? Is it just a piss-poor roster and coach that’s being carried by a star QB? It very well could be. We still don’t know because the team has never showed any poise.

 

 

Edited March 10 by Governor