BADOLBILZ

Because if you think Bills fans are just a bunch of home team ball washers and not hard on underperforming players and opposing teams then you clearly haven't been in Highmark Stadium very often putting your money where your mouth is. Ask Cole Booooos-ley if Bills fans are "the best in the world". Like I said there is only the passionate or dispassionate.

There are no "best fans in the world" there are only the passionate and the dispassionate. That 'best fans in the world" nonsense is just eye-fluttering, fan-schmoozing lip service that all sports teams and their players use toward their fanbase(or one they want something from) to bond themselves to those wallets of fickle fans like yourself who need to be fluffed out of economic inaction.

All Pro TE Travis Kelce is a tough assignment for a good special teamer pressed into unusual duty. When McKenzie.........who is not even a good special teamer..........has to play a game at receiver on some All Pro CB's island all day I promise to cut him some slack if he doesn't have a strong performance.

You said the key part..........the NFC is weak. Last season the Niners came back from the dead at mid-season to be in an NFC championship game against a team they had beaten 6 times in a row. You had to like those odds. They were a dropped easy interception late in that game from playing an inferior Bengals team that their organization had already beaten in two prior Super Bowls. So there's that.

I think the decade of social media bullying by Bills Mafia........starting with the infamous "Why me, God" SJ13 event that started it all.......... and has made most talking heads fear giving anything but glowing takes on the Bills has definitely negated the "deserving" aspect. It is what it is. So let's raise a glass to cut to the chase:

Nope. He's earned it. Dude fumbled 6 times on special teams as a rookie........10 times in Denver total counting preseasons before they finally had to cut bait.........has since kept fumbling and bobbling and making dubious decisions on special teams whenever given the chance..........then was critical of McDermott for benching him after his face-plant-fumble versus Indy last season. He has proven to lack any self-awareness. Hence Lil' Dummy. It's not a coincidence that the ball gets turned over by fumble, interception or on downs(sometimes to end the game even) on so many of his chances..........he kills otherwise vibrant opportunities........which keeps scores closer and serves as a training weight for the offense.........hence the character builder. Agreed,

Thanks for the list. I don't think Michael Thomas or Cooks are realistic trade options around the league just because of the absurd dead cap hit their teams would suffer. Saints can't make $36M in cap space to even move Thomas. And the oft-traded Cooks bought himself some time in Houston with that extension. He'd help a lot of teams but isn't worth a first or second round pick anymore and at $43M dead cap Houston would probably have a hard time justifying eating that for a mid-late round pick. Jeudy is intriguing to anyone who followed college football or recruiting...........he looked like a generational talent at one time. If they trade him now it would be to take advantage of some of his value before his 5th year option decision kicks in after the season. If he goes somewhere and plays really well in the second half of the season it probably gets picked up. If he stays in Denver and continues his trajectory or gets hurt again the Broncos likely decline it and he loses a lot of value to an acquiring team as he enters his walk year instead of having 2 seasons of team control.

I agree.........but I also think there are so many bad offensive lines that it's hard to keep it in perspective. For instance, for all the money and early picks the Chiefs have expended to put their OL together their two lousy pass blocking OT's really undermine the operation. I guess you gotta' grade the disjointed early season OL's by how many of their OL are actually individually good. Right now the Chiefs have 3 good ones........their interior OL.........and the Bills have just 2(Dawkins and Morse) but being that one is a left tackle that probably evens the score. It's a good time to be a pass rushing defensive lineman in the NFL. I'd assume that some units will start to separate themselves from the pack as they gel later in the season but the early returns on NFL OL play might be another all-time low. The NFL might just have to go back to 2020 officiating of holding. I'm sure Tua wouldn't mind.

If you re-watch the first half of the Rams game you will see intense pass rush pressure.........the degree of difficulty on some of the quick throws that were needed to be made to prevent Allen from getting hit was amazing. The Bills turned the ball over to negate a herculean effort from Allen in that first half but you could argue that the Rams did a great job with their pressure forcing Allen to make some amazing throws.

I responded to your premature victory lap of a take that the OL had so clearly improved over the one they finished last season with. Funny that prior to Sunday it was universally held as the teams biggest weakness. Your focus is pass blocking stats because by the same metrics that made them one of the better pass blocking units they were the worst run blocking unit this season.............so that doesn't fit your narrative. You can do a bad job as an individual blocker..........see Rodger Saffold...........but if the QB gets the ball out quick or vacates the pocket before it can impact the stat sheet as a team gaffe then it doesn't register statistically. What I am saying is Allen is playing at that level where he makes the OL look better than the actual sum of its parts on a given play. He's not playing like vintage Dan Marino getting sacked only 6 times in 600 pass attempts while living exclusively in the pocket...........but he's instead using all of his athleticism in addition to the improved pocket presence to prevent negative plays behind the LOS. Personally I think they were weaker at two spots on the OL.........both guards. Bates hasn't been as good on the right and Saffold has been pretty awful. Where they are stronger is with improved health at Center and the tackle spots. Dawkins is healthy after a twice covid stricken 2021 and Brown and Quessenberry are basically interchangeable as good run blockers with a very similar propensity for whiffs in pass pro.

He is in incredible shape for an OL his age and was once very athletic............but has looked slow-twitch this season. If he were younger, like Williams last season, I'd expect him to round into form in the same way. The opposite is more of a concern.......that he could tire. Though he was better on Sunday than probably any game prior, IMO.

Yeah cherry picking. They were also BY FAR the worst run block win-rate team in the NFL coming into the Chiefs game. So to say they have been a notably improved OL statistically is a highly subjective opinion. The reality is that Allen is playing at a different level this season.........he's getting the ball out much quicker and creating more separation from the rushers that are getting thru with an improved presence/awareness of the rush. There has also been a more concerted effort to contain Allen in the pocket, encouraging him to make short, low trajectory throws and knock those passes down. Couple that with red zone issues caused mostly by pressure/penetration, and the turnovers, and you have a 17 point offensive performance and two low 20 point performances. Conversely, the OL was getting judged far too harshly in the run game, IMO. And they proved me right last Sunday when they were put in better position to do the job on the ground and did it.

So he's retired but I'd take this as at least somewhat of a good sign if I were a team looking to sign him. Means he's at least still being somewhat physically active and it's the kind of gig you can walk away from for 3-4 months if necessary. Maybe with the time off $1M for a month of play gets him into pads late in the season for a desperate team. I've had the same feeling about Williams as I did former Bills OT Corey Louchiey. Louchiey was basically the first Spencer Brown. Seemed like a massive draft steal with Pro Bowl talent. But he became good friends with an in-law of mine and I learned how much he really hated the pain of playing football and that he just wanted to make enough money so he could quit as soon as possible. It was both sad and comical hearing people calling WGR talking about how great they thought he was going to be for the next couple years. And that's exactly what he did. I really had to laugh when he actually got a second contract from the Falcons.......and true to script he never played a down on it and got paid for a couple seasons he didn't play and called it a career. He's hung around football though. He just didn't like playing it. And I get that. I didn't come close to playing pro sports but I played organized sports all year round for a very long time but really got sick of playing injured and dealing with that 12 months a year. Loved sports but didn't miss not playing them very much when I stopped. If I had access to PED's that I later found out were easily accessible while I was playing recreationally that would have certainly extended my tolerance if not hopefully my ability LOL. But without that quick healing juice, being injured 24-7-365 was annoying and unpleasant to me. That tolerance and need to compete despite that is what separates players from observers though..........and maybe that's why a guy like Williams is good with being an observer/teacher despite still being in prime age as a player and plenty capable.

I wouldn't say that the OL is pass blocking great.......you are cherry picking just one stat with pressures. Teams are telling the Bills what they think of their pass pro by blitzing Allen more than ever.........with a lot more success than expected after he basically carved up the blitz last year. They've also struggled with instant pressure in the red zone. After the McKenzie 4th down flop in the end zone Sunday they had scored a TD only once in 9 previous trips to the red zone. That's terrible. Pressures and sacks can largely be controlled by a great QB and OC being in tune...........and Allen is in the zone this season for sure.........I think to suggest that they are pass blocking great though is not the case, IMO.

I was really impressed with his work coming back from under center in KC. I suspected that the reason they hadn't been using it was that Allen wasn't as comfortable turning his back to the defense as he is just being in shotgun. But he looked great and had incredible presence back there.........if there was any heat he felt it and it looked instinctive. And to me.........if he can be comfortable under center they are just far more explosive. Shotgun with spread looks are dink and dunk passing football and not ideal for running the football. While they rode that spread to success in the 2020 regular season it had proven to have exacted a toll on the receiving corps in the playoffs. Then last year they got diminishing returns out of it. The offense they ran late in the year last season worked but at the expense of a lot of hits to Allen. THIS style of offense is the solution to all the other issues, IMO. It improves the run game while opening up big pass plays and putting less wear and tear on Allen and his receivers by trading the small plays in for big plays. Hopefully we keep seeing more of it but the fact that they can go back and forth between styles is the best of both.

Yeah. They basically took the same starting personnel in the run game from 2016............a team that lead the NFL in rushing and big plays............into 2017 and turned it into a pathetic offense that labored to move the ball on the ground by switching to an outside zone scheme with Rick Dennison. And still McD keeps trying. I think McDermott just hates defending it because it is generally a good way to take the starch out of a pass rush by making the DL move horizontally and it keeps you guessing defensively if it works right. I think OC's like it because they can basically stay in pass pro looks all the time with lineman moving horizontally and because the line calls are very simple. It's one thing to do that when you have a limited QB like Jimmy G behind center............I just don't see the point of putting so many players in position to not be their best when you have Josh Allen at QB. He doesn't need slight of hand like that.

It's true that he has not been sidelined with injury and that was a concern with him replacing Williams who missed no snaps in 19 games in 2022. But Saffold has been individually awful.........one of the worst graded starters in the league. He seemed to take a modest step forward against KC IMO but let's remember that the standard for the Bills OL isn't the horrible Cody Ford infested OL of last season..........it's the one that finished the season last year playing excellent all around with Bates in the lineup and Williams as starters. This Bills OL is getting good pass pro numbers but horrendous run block numbers. Realistically they are somewhere in between both of those, IMO. Allen has taken his game to another level with regard to pocket awareness and is getting the ball out quicker to make the pass pro seem better.........while until last game..........they have played a style of offense that makes their OL look much worse at run blocking than they really are.

Saffold has been pretty terrible this season.

I think Shakir has a chance to be an outstanding slot receiver. There are always going to be guys like Cooper Kupp and Stefon Diggs who can be great anywhere so that makes them more valuable but in the 5th round Shakir could be the teams offensive version of what Taron Johnson is on the other side............a superior position specialist at what is a de facto starting position in the NFL. As for Beane's drafting...........I've said repeatedly and all along how much I love his work in round 1. After that, I'm not so much in awe. Good enough but not amazing. He's found some excellent players after round 1..........most notably Gabe Davis. But round 2 and 3 have been sketchy and I haven't loved the "draft for need" thought process in most of those picks. Having used 3 early picks on RB's in 4 years is highly inefficient, for example. I think the likelihood is that a lot of the success we are seeing from the day 2 and 3 picks is a direct result of getting Josh Allen and the vast dollars and continuity they have invested defensively. Young players are set up to succeed or at least look good with modest contributions. How many times did we see Bills teams draft players........have them fail in Buffalo........then go elsewhere and excel? The big difference is that with Josh Allen steering the ship and so much investment defensively these guys can produce or look good enough in limited reps IN BUFFALO to not draw negative intention.

I suspect he's just not that into football. There are lots and lots of players who just do it for the money and once they reach an earnings threshold they can't wait to quit. The Bills lucked out because an injury in Carolina after an All-Pro season caused him to miss an earlier payday so they got his high level athletic talent on the cheap in 2020. I thought it was a little bizarre that he signed so quickly and for less money than he could have gotten on the open market.............and then watching him clearly arrive and perform like he had senioritis made me feel like maybe he just had a retirement number in mind when he signed that deal and then returned a compromised performance and snuck out the back door with his bag. I know this much...........the 2021 version of Williams at RG and Bates at LG would have been a lot better than what we've seen out there...........though Saffold played better than I expected in KC.

At this point of their careers the difference between McCaffrey and Singletary is just a fraction of a yard per touch statistically and RB is the least important of the 22 positions. And that's not where the lack of impact ends. There is no advantage to playing two of them simultaneously like there is at other positions. So it's not like you create synergy with a modest upgrade...........like upgrading a CB position and allowing the previous starter to line up against lesser receivers etc.. The RB position is truly funneled into being unimpactful and what's worse is that it's hard to sustain run success in the playoffs so the more you use them in the regular season to try to make them impactful..........the more it puts you in position to fail in the playoffs where increased defensive intensity tends to overwhelm running games. It's a f*cked up situation for RB's and that's why almost all of them are basically muscle hamsters now..........undersized and or slower athletes who are physically built to only be able to play one position in the NFL.

AGAIN.........he had no incentive to sign an extension and sell his future services low coming off two terrible, injury riddled seasons...........neither the Giants or any acquiring team had any leverage over him contractually because his remaining money was already fully guaranteed. And the Giants are in terrible cap shape so they weren't interested in eating cap space for anyone to facilitate a trade.

He did cost too much. His 5th year option cap hit is around $7.5M and as was told to you and the other Barkley clucking chicken heads.......over and over.......Barkley had ZERO incentive to accept any kind of pay cut......or sell his future services low.......because all of his remaining money was GUARANTEED. So what combination of the few $3M-$5M cap-hit players that they signed do you not sign to make cap space for a trade for Barkley? Not signing Von Miller and Jordan Phillips would have saved only $8M in cap room, for example. Some of you nonsensical "stud RB's win championships" truthers don't realize how small the Bills had to make the cap hits of Miller, Jones, Settle, Phillips and Saffold to fit them under the cap.

No, you missed his.

Dude was thisclose to getting exactly what he wanted...........an ownership stake in an NFL team.......which would have also served as a great rationale to his wife to keep playing. He finally got a real 12-6 curveball thrown at him for the first time in his NFL career. The kind of adversity he had to deal with in the past was only fuel to help him succeed.