billsfan89

I always felt like the Bill's coaches have never had the disciplined level of play to go along with a high talent level to compete with the Pats. This game will likely be a one possession game late and it is going to be that Parcells type game where it is the mistake that gives you the loss.

I agree completely, we tend to not generate pressure off the edge consistently. Phillips is the best pass rusher and he does it from the interior.. Hughes is a nice pass rusher if he has someone who can command a lot of attention opposite the other edge. Shaq is a good rotational player who adds value being stout against the run. Trent Murphy is either a JAG or just above replacement level as a rotational player. Johnson is a developmental player who is at this stage only should get limited snaps. This team does need a prime time edge rusher who can get 9-12 sacks a year and command a lot of double teams. The Bills in my opinion should make finding a big time edge rusher their only major 10+ million aav add to the roster in the off-season. Ngakoue would be the perfect add, resign Spain, Shaq, and Phillips while adding an edge rusher while extending Milano, Tre, and Dawkins would very possible given their cap situation and that they can add a WR in round 1.

I think Phillips is a must resign and I think Shaq you can justify a big contract for too. Although I would be more willing to have a limit as to what I would be willing to pay to keep Shaq (I think he is more of a rotational DE) but both would be a priority to keep. It would be great to keep Spain, Shaq, and Phillips while being able to sign another high end edge rusher.

Miami hasn't seemed to have given up on their coach and they seem to play hard. So anything is possible but I wouldn't give them much more than a 15% chance to win.

I don't think this team need 2 new WR's. Brown as a high end #2 and Beasley in the slot are good. I think they need one more starter, there might be a depth need but not sure they need to put major resources to add a 4th WR. As far as the ranking of this team's needs if they are able to resign Spain, Shaq, and Phillips I would put DE and WR as the top two needs. Now I think they can find a top DE in free agency (while still being able to retain the team's major free agents and sign other players to extensions.) I think then you can draft a WR in round 1 and a CB in round 2. Just my two cents.

The offense can only make marginal improvements at this point. Outside of Antonio Brown (Who won't be playing anytime soon) there aren't any free agents or players returning from injury who the Bills that will make an impact. There aren't any bench players (sorry Duke) that could be utilized much more significantly to make more than marginal improvements. The offense is what it is. It will move the ball a bit but it will also struggle at times. The offense has to play complementary to the good defensive effort. The offense will have to add a WR opposite Brown in the off-season and make other improvements after the season. Work around the offense the rest of the season.

I am starting to think that RT is less of an off-season need but that CB2 opposite White is becoming more of a need.

A WR opposite Brown and a front line edge rusher are the two biggest most glaring needs beyond resigning our own players. Besides maybe Amari Cooper I don't see any front line WR's on the market. However there are several edge rushers who could fit that Bill so to speak. I think that given that the team could have 100 million in cap space if they cut Kroft and Murphy (two players of marginal value) this team could both resign Shaq and Phillips, extend Milano, Dawkins and White while also adding a big contract and a mid-level sized contract (Might have to let Spain walk as something has to give.) But I really can see 2020 being a year where an already good team keeps its talent and adds the 2-3 key pieces they need to get over the hump. I trust Beane to add 1-2 pieces via the draft (along with depth) but I think they need to add one big frontline piece via free agency in order to complement what they do via the draft and what they already have on the roster.

Ngakoue would be the massive move I would make to add some talent to the team. I think against elite playoff teams this team has 3 big weaknesses. A WR opposite Brown that can command attention, A prime time pass rusher off the edge, and a corner opposite White. If they can retain Shaq and Phillips while adding a big time pass rusher like Ngakoue the D-line would be ready to compete against any O-line in the league while still having that depth that allows them to rotate players. I think they can find a number 2 corner for a mid-sized signing and then address WR in the draft early.

I loved the Ed pick and he has really come alive as of late. He had an OK start to the season. He was disruptive but not really making a huge impact, but he was a net positive. Then in the middle of the season it looked like while he was a positive as a pass rusher he was going to be a liability in the run game. But in recent weeks he has been very good both in the pass rush and run departments. I think he could easily be a pro-bowler in 2020. When the run defense was struggling I thought he was a bit of a liability as a run defender. I thought he should be flexed into passing downs and have his snap count decreased. But around the time they played the Broncos he has turned it on in the rush defense and continued to improve as a pass rusher.

Every QB is going to sail some passes now and again however completely missing 3 attempts (without pressure) out of 25 is sailing an inaccurate pass on more than 10% of attempts and that percentage is probably higher if you factor out pressured throwaways. That's not acceptable for any QB. Josh has been better at cleaning those up but needs to iron that out to take it to the next level. I didn't see many dropped passes that were on the receivers. Another poster (either in this thread or another thread) brought up the fact that the Bills receiving core while it ranks high in drops only has 5 more drops than the league average. Those 5 drops aren't the difference in Josh's inaccuracy. That being said I still love Josh and I think he is a solid middle of the pack QB with the potential to be a top 5 QB if he makes the necessary improvements. I also think that Josh is the hardworking guy that would make these types of improvements as he already has come so far in decision making, footwork and so many other facets of his game. Do I think PFF is too hard on Josh? Yes, they made their opinion that because historically no QB has been able to fix accuracy massive accuracy issues on a pro-level that it must mean Josh is a bust and will never be good. I think PFF was pushing back against the "traditional scouting" that they feel their numbers are better than (Traditional Scouts saw what Josh could become.) However that doesn't mean the stuff they specifically point out as negatives aren't negatives and aren't things that Josh will have to improve on. I do agree that this receiving core does need some more pass catchers. They need a true good threat opposite Brown and they need to get the tight end position going either by utilizing Knox and or finding a vet TE to add some pop to the position. But I also believe that Josh will have to improve his processing (he can't hold onto the ball so long), his footwork (as far as he has come he has to do better) his ability to hold onto the ball when running, and his long ball placement before he can take this team to multiple playoff wins and seriously contend.

I can't fathom jumping off a team you have been a diehard fan of as an adult. However I can understand having apathy over a team that has horrid ownership. It is one thing if the team isn't cheap and tries to get the right people in there but they just can't put it together consistently. But if you have a cheap owner who isn't interested in building a consistent winner you could easily get discouraged at following your team because they are at such a self imposed disadvantage. In the Chan years I really just started to accept that the Bills were never going to win more than 8 games in a season and that when Ralph died the team would move. I would still watch the games and root for them hard but my expectations were always low even that one year when they got off to a 5-2 start I just felt the bottom falling out. Ralph was cheap in his later years not just with cash to cap (although that is a big hinderance) but with the outside investments into facilities, staff and such. But then Pegula came in and 2014 the team had that elite defense and it looked like with a new owner willing to spend they could add talent to a talented roster and build the infrastructure needed to compete. The Rex years were up and down but they did restore my faith in the team because I felt like it was only a matter of time before they could find the right coach and get the talent around the coach. Well they found McBeane right after the Rex years and so far it has been a good run. So while I never condone jumping ship (unless ownership is completely disrespectful to fans) I get apathy towards a team if the owner doesn't seem to care to win.

That job he did in 2017 established him as a solid coach, even in 2018 winning 6 games was slightly above their talent level. Then in 2019 with a talent roster full of players who were fully built into his system he has flourished. And the team unlike the 2018 Bears is set up to add and retain talent in the following off-season building off of success as opposed to overachieving for it.

The Browns are the epitome of why coaching matters and why the "Burden of Expectation" is very real. I personally thought the Browns would win 9 or 10 games. I thought the Steelers and Ravens would have down years and that the Browns schedule on the back end was super soft. But the Browns were a bit overhyped from a talent perspective (they traded a lot to get Vernon and OBJ thus not necessarily adding talent, their only real addition that didn't cost them players and draft picks were Sheldon Richardson and Kareem Hunt who was suspended half the season) and the pressure of expectations was a lot for a young team to handle. I think the Browns need to just get their house in order and make it through the final 2 games. Get a win or two and reset for next year. They still have 70+ million in cap space, a talented roster and a young QB in place. Just beef up the O-line and add a piece or two to the defense and you should be able to compete for 9 or more wins. They have 6 wins with 2 games left to play, they aren't a tragic team despite their expectations.

Weed is mentally addictive just like anything. It doesn't however hold the same physical withdrawals and addiction that other harder drugs and tobacco have. But yes if you choose weed over an NFL career you are stupid and also not good at beating a easy to beat policy (Aaron Hernandez beat the NFL's weed policy they test you once a year right before training camp.)

Collinsworth did make that point on fumbles when the ball popped out just after Allen was down so it was a somewhat relevant point in that given context. In my opinion Allen does fumble a bit too much, are their worse QB's at fumbling? Of course, but that doesn't mean Allen doesn't fumble too much in his own respect. I think that Collinsworth was mostly fair about what Allen needs to do in order to improve and his criticisms were in context of what was happening on the field. For example. After Allen sailed that one throw to a fairly open Beasely (with no pressure in his face) that would have set up a third and short Colinsworth pointed out that Allen does have some easy misses that could hamper how effective he could be as a QB. Now I do think that Collinsworth also glossed over the progress and positives Allen has had. But overall Allen didn't play the best game and it showed the good, bad and ugly of his game. Something that I think any commentator would have been fair to point out.

I hate Collinsworth but while I thought he was negative on Allen it was at least within reason. Allen has a lot of work to do as a QB and Collinsworth was at least pointing out legit things about Allen (Fumbles, missing some key passes, his base footwork etc.) Also Allen didn't play the best game on Sunday night. Allen came through when it counted and made enough plays to support a fantastic defensive effort. But let's not pretend like there wasn't anything to be critical about Josh just on his performance last night.

I don't know how you could look at the Tyrod years and think of jumping ship. Compared to the JP Losman, Fitz, Trent Edwards, and post 2002 first half Bledsoe Tyrod was the best QB of the bunch and had produced a winning record. I get not liking Tyrod but he was far from the bottom of the pack.

At least you got to see a great run for a little over a decade. for 18 years I didn't see a 10 win season. I never thought of switching teams, but rather during the Chan years I just simply accepted that this team would never be good.

I starting being a Bills fan in 2001 as I was just starting to really get into the NFL and the Bills were a bad team I felt was an underdog and I could get into without being a "bandwagon" fan. Little did I know I was in for a lot of suffering. The TD era from 2002-2005 was a lot of up and down. Some quality free agent adds but poor drafting led to some up and down seasons where they were far too capped out to add the 2-3 pieces of talent they needed to get into the playoffs. But I felt like they could rebuild and compete in the near future after the wheels came off in 2005. Then came the Jauron era which was poor free agency and poor drafting combined with cheap ownership (sorry Ralph the team wouldn't exist without you but he did not invest in the team.) Boneheaded decisions mixed with self imposed handicaps. That was another 4 years down the drain with a mediocre coach and a mediocre team. Then came the Chan era and I was honestly bottomed out at that point. The Bills had spent 4 years with a tired retread in Jauron and they hired another third tier retreat in Chan. And although I liked what Chan did with the offense it was just an era where you knew they weren't building to anything more than mediocrity with a cheap owner and a uninspiring coaching staff. But I stuck with my beloved Bills and then came the ups and downs of the Marrone and Rex eras where the ups and downs continued. They had talent but were never well coached and always had to cap themselves out to get into a position to be competitive but couldn't draft consistently to build up their talent base in a somewhat sustainable manner. But Pegula kept investing in the team and finally found someone that was going to rebuild the team the right way while also having the off the field investments. McD surprised and surpassed my expectations in 2017 making the playoffs and ending the drought. Finally lifting that dark cloud from the franchise. But they continued their rebuild in 2018 taking a step back to build a long term winner. Finally in 2019 they do what we all wanted them to do and rebuilt the O-line, they added a lot of skill position players around a young QB (giving a QB a chance) they added and retained their defensive talent which was already good. And now you have a 10 win team that has 2 games left to play and a chance at their division. I know nothing is guaranteed but it just feels good to be a Bills fan for once. I never got to enjoy the success of the 1990's (either the Super Bowl runs of the beginning of the decade or the solid competitive teams of the late 90's.) I know a lot of fans that came into watching the team post 2000 probably feel the same way as me.

I actually think that the Bills are going to play a conservative gameplan against the Pats. I think they leaned that they can't let Josh "loose" against the Pats defense as turnovers will kill them. They also know that Brady and that offense is not what it used to be. This game away is going to be a one possession game, the type of game the Pats win by playing not to lose.

The Bills have earned every inch of respect from the national media. This 4 game stretch they are 3 games into is almost as tough as any 4 games any team could play. The Bills play 2 of the top 4 teams in the league one home and one away (Baltimore and NE) and they play 2 tough respectable borderline teams away (Cowboys and Steelers.) They hung tough with one of the best teams if not the best team (thus far) in the league in Baltimore and beat 2 pretty decent teams on the road one handily. These past 3 games have proven the Bills are a legit good team and the fact that the Bills are still in the running for the division and a bye proves that.

The Steelers game was not Josh's finest hour. He made some mistakes and missed some opportunities. But Josh came through with enough big plays to support the defenses fantastic effort (and the special teams quality effort.) But Josh has had a lot of other quality games against bad to decent teams that you could point to that far outpaced anything Duck Hodges has done. I am not sure if Josh is an elite QB but he is progressing and still growing. 2020 I think will see exactly around what kind of QB Josh can really be long term.

The Ford to guard argument in my opinion is a 2020 argument. You seem to have some people that think Ford needs to move to guard this year which makes no sense.

If your argument is that Ford might have to kick in to guard to take over for Spain in 2020 that is a much more coherent take. My issue is with anyone thinking Ty needs to take over at RT in 2019 AND Ford has to kick into guard (providing if Spain and Feliciano are healthy) makes zero sense to me.