How much do we need to change to get to the SuperBowl? Not that much actually.

[ToGoGo]

We could’ve won the Super Bowl 2020-2024. 
 

What we need is the refs to start favoring us. 

[Kelly to Allen]

5 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Um, no it doesn't. That's you and what you believe. It's not McDermott.

 

The question was specifically about that and he answered it pretty clearly. He believes a team, to be at the highest level, needs "two to three on each side of the ball that are top 1 to 3, 1 to 5 ar their position. 

 

IMO we've got that. Not really on the DL which is frustrating, but outside of Allen IMO Taron, Milano, maybe Benford, Cook maybe, probably Spencer Brown.

 

It's arguable, but those guys are in that area.

 

Nobody on the DL since Von's injury. Ed Oliver has games when he looks that good, but not often enough.

 

Taron Johnson is solid but regressed a bit this year, although he was banged up. Milano might still be but is getting injury prone and 31. Dorian Williams has real potential 

[nosejob]

15 hours ago, BananaB said:

Defensive philosophy. 1 system, 3 different coordinators over the years. All have failed in the biggest moments. 

We should bring in Wink Martindale as a Defensive consultant.

[uticaclub]

3 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

That is a good point. Beane did draft Allen tho and his idea of Edmunds was in the right place. It just didn't work out. Oliver and Rousseau need an ace next to them

Yes, Beane gets all the credit in the world for drafting Allen but since that pick, he hasn't done enough to keep his job. 

[Kelly to Allen]

14 minutes ago, JP51 said:

To me priority 1 is a game wrecker on D... and that can be a stud pass rushing DE... or a Wide Body 1T that gets penetration and blows it up at the LOS...  either also probably make Ed Oliver more effective... he will never be an All Pro superstar but he is not big enough to handle double and sometimes even single teams... 

 

After that there are so many areas of need Safety play Must be upgraded this year... it really wasnt good enough... I would like a corner better than Elam to be able to step in assuming we sign Douglas...  I will say if you get priority one.... especially a DE the DB play improves simply because of the pass rush which was pretty much a failure this year at least on a consistent basis...  If you go 1T it may favor our smallish LBs in the run game...  

 

Game breaking receiver awesome do it. Help Josh all you can.. but in the end... if there was only one thing I could do that really improves this team to me is an absolute monster on the DL either 1T or DE... that is the molding that covers the flaws... and improves the over all team the most IMO...  That may just be the final piece we need... 

 

Give Allen the 2003 defense or 2014 defense 

Just now, uticaclub said:

Yes, Beane gets all the credit in the world for drafting Allen but since that pick, he hasn't done enough to keep his job. 

 

He's gotta do something like polian did and get a Cornelius Bennett and he needs to draft two really good cbs 

This is the year you sign a Mario Williams type player 

 

Trade for Max Crosby or Parsons or move up for Abdul Carter

[uticaclub]

5 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

Give Allen the 2003 defense or 2014 defense 

 

He's gotta do something like polian did and get a Cornelius Bennett and he needs to draft two really good cbs 

This is the year you sign a Mario Williams type player 

 

Trade for Max Crosby or Parsons or move up for Abdul Carter

You're getting Trent Murphy & Tommy Toothill and you're going to like it!

[SCBills]

10 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Um, no it doesn't. That's you and what you believe. It's not McDermott.

 

The question was specifically about that and he answered it pretty clearly. He believes a team, to be at the highest level, needs "two to three on each side of the ball that are top 1 to 3, 1 to 5 ar their position. 

 

IMO we've got that. Not really on the DL which is frustrating, but outside of Allen IMO Taron, Milano, maybe Benford, Cook maybe, probably Spencer Brown.

 

It's arguable, but those guys are in that area.

 

Nobody on the DL since Von's injury. Ed Oliver has games when he looks that good, but not often enough.

We overrate some guys, a lot.

 

Nobody really references OL in these discussions.  We have an elite OL.. had a terrible game against KC.  It is what it is. KC has a meh OL, were just fine against us. 
 

Taron, Benford and Milano are not those guys.  Good players, but not game changers.  Maybe Milano comes close if he continues his post-injury trajectory into next year. 
 

Fact is, we’ve been great year to year because we have a really good team that never really has a major weakness (unless injuries hit) and is led by the 1/1a best QB in the league. 
 

We don’t have a Kelce, we don’t have a Chris Jones, we don’t have a McDuffie and we don’t have a guy that scares teams like Worthy.

 

What we do have are Thuney’s, Humphrey’s, Bolton’s, Chenal’s, Karlaftis, Hopkins types etc..  a ton of guys on that next level of difference maker.. but not the game changing variety. 
 

Same as it’s always been.  We can get by the Ravens, because Lamar has playoff issues.  We don’t have to worry about CIN because they can’t make the playoffs.

 

The game changing player personnel and coaching differences come into play against KC every year when it matters. 

[Kelly to Allen]

Really think beane should talk to Bruce Smith when scouting the dline. I think that would help him

[The Firebaugh Kid]

17 hours ago, Sojourner said:

Blessings to you too. Appreciate the rationality in looking at the bigger picture in your post.

 

A better WR makes the offense easier and a legit DT in the middle solves a lot more problems for Ed, Groot and AJ. Would still like pass rusher addressed however as the guys we have on the roster don’t show up in the bigger moments. The one who has in his career is past his prime and not a reliable factor anymore. 
 

But the needs are really, with who’s projected to leave and who’s projected to stay:

(Bold draft, italics FA or trade)

 

a big 1 Tech DT

a WR with speed

a CB

a stud pass rushing DE

safety

 

LBs are at an acceptable and decent place imo. 
 

That DE I’d rather they acquire who’s experienced in the league but that’ll cost some which is why I put it further down in the order of necessity.

I’m just quoting this because you’re the best poster on here, imo. Any idea who might be able to fill the defensive tackle role? I haven’t done much college scouting this year

[gjv]

As someone who has watched every Bills snap this season, but by no means is qualified to build an NFL roster, I would say to get the Bills over the hump would require a 15% improvement to our offense and an 85% improvement to our defense. The improvement to our offense has more to do with improving play execution and improved mental toughness to make clutch plays under stress. However, on the defense, I think the focus is the same as the Offense, but also a need for better talent on the Dline and at Safety. 

[Thurman#1]

44 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

Saying the path to success on offense is predicated on the everybody eats philosophy and that it is predicated on having multiple difference makers is. Especially when the calls for a difference making WR are so loud. 

 

Also we have had enough talent to win every playoff game we’ve lost - since Allen has been our QB at least. Lack of talent is not why we’ve lost those games. It’s just an easy narrative. Every team that falls short can say they would’ve won with more talent. It’s a cop out and all it does is distract from the real reason we lost those games. 

 

 

No, it absolutely isn't.

 

Or at least unless you can point out where McDermott said that at least one of those difference makers must be at WR. And he didn't.

 

It absolutely isn't mutually exclusive.

 

Fair enough on your second paragraph. I would agree with that, with a few provisos, like that absolutely nobody on the team had any juice in that Bengals game. The players simply weren't good enough on that day. And probably the 2020 team wasn't quite there yet either.

[uticaclub]

23 minutes ago, SCBills said:

We overrate some guys, a lot.

 

Nobody really references OL in these discussions.  We have an elite OL.. had a terrible game against KC.  It is what it is. KC has a meh OL, were just fine against us. 
 

Taron, Benford and Milano are not those guys.  Good players, but not game changers.  Maybe Milano comes close if he continues his post-injury trajectory into next year. 
 

Fact is, we’ve been great year to year because we have a really good team that never really has a major weakness (unless injuries hit) and is led by the 1/1a best QB in the league. 
 

We don’t have a Kelce, we don’t have a Chris Jones, we don’t have a McDuffie and we don’t have a guy that scares teams like Worthy.

 

What we do have are Thuney’s, Humphrey’s, Bolton’s, Chenal’s, Karlaftis, Hopkins types etc..  a ton of guys on that next level of difference maker.. but not the game changing variety. 
 

Same as it’s always been.  We can get by the Ravens, because Lamar has playoff issues.  We don’t have to worry about CIN because they can’t make the playoffs.

 

The game changing player personnel and coaching differences come into play against KC every year when it matters. 

Karlaftis might be creeping into that difference maker/elite category

[colin]

well, i'm a corch hater, and the data shows me mcd's Ds are putrid in the playoffs.  in fact they feast vs teams who can't find the one thing they can really beat us at, and totally fall apart against a high quality qb with weapons/scheme or a power run team that commits to it.  even when we were ranked 1 and 2 in the nfl on d, the playoff EPA and the EPA vs teams that fit the above profile would fall off a cliff.

 

I think large investment in the D at this juncture is foolish.  we have had rookie contract allen and massive investment in D.  between our scheme, coaches, and the talent we got, we had stellar regular season stats, poorer regular season records (largely because the daboll offense was super boom or bust, puttin gup 45 or janky teams and scoring like 6 vs the jags, for example), and most importantly still awful playoff performances on D and even more importantly poor playoff d performances vs the cheifs.

 

So what should we do?

 

I say we got ham on an outside WR, i'd rather trade a pick for dk metcalf on a cheaper contract than break the bank and give no picks for higgens, for example, but we need a game changing talent on the outside.  we have a roster of slot players and mack hollins.

 

also, some kind of up grade on interior blocking.  we can draft or sign someone, it's not going to break the bank, even for a really good (not top 5, but like top 15 or 20) interior guy.  this is building on what might be the best strength of the team.  a slight improvement in pass pro and maybe allen gets those first or last drive passes off cleanly and we win that game vs kc.

 

thirdly, i'd look to acquire an impact pass rusher or CB.  we need more people in the secondary (and some kind of depth, elam cannot have a game like he did vs kc), we need to replace douglas, we need flexibility incase benford is done or wants too much to re up, we need at least one new safety, and we must consider the future at nickle as well.  we would benefit most of the time more w an impact pass rusher, but if we added one d player to beat kc on sunday, pat surtain would have helped us more than maxx crosby because the ball came out so fast because our coverage and scheme was so easy to exploit, so i think our most critical need is an improvement in coverage.

 

beyond that, i say use our many draft picks to get BPA on the defensive side of the ball as much as possible.  i'll need to trust our FO a little bit to not just over draft scheme and character fits, but to have the foresight to tinker w the scheme a bit so that the best available athletes/players can get burn.  kc won a chip with a ton of rookies starting on D, we can do that same.  if we can get middle of the pack on 3rd down on D, and just not allow total cake walks like we did vs baltimore and kc, our d will contribute much more to us winning.  this might require mcd to work past his phobia of allowing a long pass in order to get more stops.

[Kelly to Allen]

39 minutes ago, SCBills said:

We overrate some guys, a lot.

 

Nobody really references OL in these discussions.  We have an elite OL.. had a terrible game against KC.  It is what it is. KC has a meh OL, were just fine against us. 
 

Taron, Benford and Milano are not those guys.  Good players, but not game changers.  Maybe Milano comes close if he continues his post-injury trajectory into next year. 
 

Fact is, we’ve been great year to year because we have a really good team that never really has a major weakness (unless injuries hit) and is led by the 1/1a best QB in the league. 
 

We don’t have a Kelce, we don’t have a Chris Jones, we don’t have a McDuffie and we don’t have a guy that scares teams like Worthy.

 

What we do have are Thuney’s, Humphrey’s, Bolton’s, Chenal’s, Karlaftis, Hopkins types etc..  a ton of guys on that next level of difference maker.. but not the game changing variety. 
 

Same as it’s always been.  We can get by the Ravens, because Lamar has playoff issues.  We don’t have to worry about CIN because they can’t make the playoffs.

 

The game changing player personnel and coaching differences come into play against KC every year when it matters. 

 

Beane needs to surround Allen with hof players like polian did for Kelly. 

 

No excuses 

[T master]

16 hours ago, BananaB said:

Defensive philosophy. 1 system, 3 different coordinators over the years. All have failed in the biggest moments. 

 

And we can in some games say - Thank you refs ! 

 

If you look at the D we lose a player in Edmunds that is suppose to be this STUD but has no real relevant contributions, his replacement is MUCH better and is noticed in the first season, then the 2 best safety's in the league get older and need to be replaced, they get Von he shows real good then gets hurt and isn't the same which happens to a lot of younger players too when hurt in the same way , Millano one of our best players gets hurt it happens and takes time for him to come back , then we lose 2 seasons of one of the best CB's in the league in Tre da and have to put a band aid on that position for 2 seasons . 

 

So just maybe it's circumstance ??? But no one here seems to take ANY of that into consideration, Oh it's the Coach, it's the scheme, it's this, it's that, if all of the stars align and none of this type of thing happens where do you think the Bills are then ?

 

Every body says and it's true,  it happens to every team and you need really good depth players which is true, but replacing all pro's, and pro bowl players then those being 3 & 4 at a time being taken away due to injury is in some respects hard for any coach or team to over come yet McD always seems to over come them and gets the Bills in the play offs .

 

But he sucks Fire him ... 

[Kelly to Allen]

4 minutes ago, T master said:

 

And we can in some games say - Thank you refs ! 

 

If you look at the D we lose a player in Edmunds that is suppose to be this STUD but has no real relevant contributions, his replacement is MUCH better and is noticed in the first season, then the 2 best safety's in the league get older and need to be replaced, they get Von he shows real good then gets hurt and isn't the same which happens to a lot of younger players too when hurt in the same way , Millano one of our best players gets hurt it happens and takes time for him to come back , then we lose 2 seasons of one of the best CB's in the league in Tre da and have to put a band aid on that position for 2 seasons . 

 

So just maybe it's circumstance ??? But no one here seems to take ANY of that into consideration, Oh it's the Coach, it's the scheme, it's this, it's that, if all of the stars align and none of this type of thing happens where do you think the Bills are then ?

 

Every body says and it's true,  it happens to every team and you need really good depth players which is true, but replacing all pro's, and pro bowl players then those being 3 & 4 at a time being taken away due to injury is in some respects hard for any coach or team to over come yet McD always seems to over come them and gets the Bills in the play offs .

 

But he sucks Fire him ... 

 

It is bad luck. Probably insane bad luck 

 

In from 21-24 Tre white, Milano and Von never get hurt then yes. We have to replicate that again tho. 

 

 

Edited Friday at 03:35 PM by Kelly to Allen

[mbowman14]

16 hours ago, jaybeezee said:

Coleman = JAG. Is what we saw in college and I dont personally think he can deal with the cold weather. If he fell off because of a wrist injury, then I will add Butter Soft to his profile too.

Kincaid = Jury is still out, but not looking too promising

Carter = Mehh

Solomon = Jury is still out

Rosseau = See Tremaine Edmunds for this one! JAG IMO and we have what we see, but there are fans of his on this board that think that he was worth a first!

I think Rousseau is better relative to Edmunds, but only a step up from JAG and never going to be over-the-top impactful against elite competition.  He also picked a very bad time for his worst game of the season.  His edge contain starting with the 4th down-play in KC's own territory, that was an obvious Mahomes keeper, was brutal all night.  He will be a very tough call because I think his price (similar to Edmunds) will ultimately leave the buyer remorseful.  The issue is he is clearly the best the Bills have, and they still need another more impactful DE as well.

[SCBills]

23 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

Karlaftis might be creeping into that difference maker/elite category

He also plays off Chris Jones. 
 

As down as I am on Rousseau as a 20M+ per year player, he’d probably be viewed this way if we had anyone else on the line that played to the level of Jones. 

[uticaclub]

3 minutes ago, SCBills said:

He also plays off Chris Jones. 
 

As down as I am on Rousseau as a 20M+ per year player, he’d probably be viewed this way if we had anyone else on the line that played to the level of Jones. 

You're probably right, I just noticed him on Josh’s ass all game

[DrDawkinstein]

All it really comes down to is being able to make 1-2 more stops on Defense. That's it.

 

The Chiefs Defense made 4.5 stops (I count a FG as .5).

The Bills Defense made 3.5, with one of those being Mahomes fumbling on his own. We also didnt make a real stop the entire 1st half.

 

If we made just ONE real stop in the 1st half, or one additional stop in the 2nd half, we win the game comfortably.