BADOLBILZ

As explained by me.........the Bucs were pretty one dimensional offensively last year. They won the Super Bowl. The Chiefs were one-dimensional the year before. They won the Super Bowl. So the past 2 SB champs prove that you and "another poster" are wrong.

Nobody has ever run the ball better than the Ravens the past couple seasons and they have an elite scoring offense........and they also have a great secondary to counter the Chiefs receiving threats............but they are helpless against the Chiefs. And don't tell anybody........don't want to disrupt that narrative about the run game.........but the Bills ypc average was better than the SB champion, Chief-slaying, Bucs last year. Primarily you gotta' be able to go blow-for-blow in the pass game with KC. The rules of the game are skewed to favor those who can move the ball in the air. There are a lot of other ways to win matchups but improving the run game is well down the list. Getting out to leads running the ball doesn't deter/scare the Chiefs.

When an opponent scores on you every time they touch the ball that will take the run out of the equation regardless of how well your team runs it. Ask Tennessee who basically had the same thing happen to them in the 2019 AFCCG.........got out to a 10 point lead........Chiefs hung 28 unanswered on them as their defense couldn't hang with Mahomes and his playmakers.......game ***** over. It's a passing league. The Patriots did manage to deflate the football against them in the first half of the 2018 AFCCG but that veteran lead team was executing at a much higher level on both sides of the ball than the Bills were capable of...........and the Chiefs stormed back on them and SHOULD have won that game. It would be *nice* to improve the run game but that's not even close to the solution to beating the Chiefs.

Whether you are willing to accept it or not........the bottom line is that it's all entertainment either way. Just the threat of it happening adds drama to the season. Drama is a very popular aspect of Bills fandom........see the people who were enthralled by so many closely contested wins in 2017(even though it was because of a terrible offense). The self pity that it would derive has a market amongst the fanbase as well. And watching the contaminator(s) whine about forever being persecuted by Bills fans like a Bill Buckner and Scott Norwood rolled into one would also have long lasting great entertainment value. A focal point like that would be a great outlet for Bills fans and there would be a lot less sympathy than for players who just made a mistake in the moment. Could get VERY ugly but it wouldn't be boring.

You should try to remember that Horace Walpole quote you used to have in your sig line.

I have done this before........usually I have another reason to be in the area if I swing by the stadium........but I've gone to OP with friends in the offseason just to check out the stadium and maybe go to Bar-Bill or one of the local pizza places. The process of driving to the stadium is a very important part of the ritual for our group of tailgaters. If Bills Mafia can keep it's trajectory going toward being a fan base that transcends the NFL then there is the potential to build more of an offseason aspect into the Bills fan experience.

It's commUnitas. As in community. A place where everyone is in equal standing and with the same shared goals/objectives............which does not describe the dynamic of schools or shopping centers etc.. When we are in that stadium we are all just Bills fans. Stadiums aren't going away whether you can grasp the concept of why or not.

Easy for a 2021 Chiefs fan to like the Bills.........they've owned them almost annually on the field since Andy Reid was hired......the only exception was the 2017 win in KC........and McDermott literally traded them their franchise savior. The early 90's Chiefs fan wouldn't have liked the Bills AT ALL.........the Bills were blocking them and beating them in the playoffs...........and the treatment Chiefs fans got at that AFCCG game in Buffalo was HARSH. They rolled up in buses expecting a civil contest......I remember seeing the female fans with their sewing kits and such😂.........and they walked into a buzzsaw of drunken, entitled Bills fans. There was much complaining from the KC area about the welcome they got from Bills fans at that game. The tables have turned..........Bills fans were whining about the arrogance of KC fans and players after last year's season ending debacle.

Unreal, isn't it?

By the same token...........the people who claim he played a lot of 1 tech ("out of position") last season have no clue what the hell they were actually looking at either. And that is a rather large contingent of people, which is sad to say in this era of all-22. The Bills did a lot of experimenting early in the season where they were rotating all the DT's in and out of 1 tech. That KC game was just a weird all-in-on pass rush gameplan that blew up on them when Reid ran it down their throats.........but the last 9-10 games they played(including playoffs) Phillips and Butler were the established 1 techs and consistently drew double teams, as the 1 tech is aligned strategically to do. Nobody on the line stood out for exceptional play last year though...........it was a developmental year without an offseason for young DL Oliver, Epenesa and Johnson and Phillips was just working his way back. The free agents all underwhelmed. I expect a significant improvement from all the young DL this season even if Rousseau and Basham are just the 2021 version of the 2020 Epenesa and Johnson of this year's DL. Oliver was very solid but obviously has a couple more levels that he can reach.

Zimmer also had 7 QB hits playing just 26% of the defensive snaps...........more than Ed Oliver had(6) in more than double the amount of snaps. He was much more productive per play than Oliver in the tackling stats except sacks........Oliver had 3 to Zimmer's 1. That's not to knock Oliver.........he was as good as anyone on the line last year........but Zimmer was actually quite productive........it wasn't just those couple very big plays in very big games.

I just don't see the future unfolding the way you think it will, Roy. I heard Schopp and Bulldog on the radio yesterday basically saying "who knows if there will even be football in 20 years, what about fixing the schools?". I think the long term viability of brick and mortar schools is AT LEAST in as much question as whether people will still be attending sporting events. The process of sport and stadium has a multi-thousand year head start over herd public educating. You should remember that when you think people are just going to stop going to games. Communitas. That's why this site exists for chrissakes..........I would hope you've figured out why you come here by now.

He jumped on a fumble late in the Chiefs game in Buffalo where the ball carrier was ruled down after replay........but had that been ruled a fumble they would have had the ball deep in Chiefs territory with a chance to tie the game with a TD and 2 point conversion. He saved the game against NE with that forced fumble on Cam just as the Pats were about to score a TD at the end.

The Bills are the only team playing there and the seats inside are going to be colorful with the blue and red etc.. so no reason for the outside to clash with the interior.........makes the stadium look retro-fitted rather than built to purpose. I'm not even sure I would call that an "industrial" look.........it kinda' looks like a mall. Also not sure that Buffalo is really a "blue collar" city anymore. Some Bills fans may want Buffalo to be perceived that way........(especially those with white collars )........ but that's not really how it's been trending for a long time now.

That is weird. Lotta' brown and green in there. Looks like a modernized version of "Cleveland's Municipal Stadium". The stadium serves one purpose.........so make it look like the Buffalo Bills actually play there. I like the Flutie/Johnson mural on the side of the upper deck facing the big end zone walk way, though.

I basically disagree with each point in this post. Yes, Allen has a strong arm but top QB's have LONG careers now that often extend far past their "athletic" peak. Ben Roethlisberger had a cannon for an arm 15 years ago..........now his arm strength is very poor for an NFL QB. Wind impacts at least half of the Bills home games every year. Whether it's discussed by the talking heads on tv when you are watching the game or not it's evident from the stands every week. We don't know if the environment for pro football consumption will be worse post-covid. In the 20th century, economic recessions often took many years to get out of.........but things move much more quickly now...........go back to 2008 and look how fast the economy bounced out of that........even after the government gave the farm away to the auto industry etc.. People will still feel that instinctive need for "communitas" in 20 years...........stadiums aren't going away.

No my position on Addison was that they should cut him and saved the $8M and lost his phone number. My position on Butler was split. He didn't play well enough in 2020 to warrant the cap hit in 2021..........but he also played out of position to benefit the team so I understood bringing him back at a reduced salary. Not a fan of pay cuts but in Butler's case he is a young player entering a free agent walk year so he has plenty of reason to be motivated to put good football on tape even if he wasn't happy about having his deal reneged on. One of the things that Beane has been praised heavily for is signing players to deals that are easy to get out of if the player doesn't play well. The problem has been Beane still retaining them after they haven't played well. Murphy, Star and Kroft are all prime examples. Now Addison, Butler and Morse are up. Hopefully it turns out better this time. As for whether it's better to cut and re-sign later...........of course it is..........save A LOT more money and give the player the chance to test the market. Not saying he still wouldn't be unhappy about it but there is the issue of THE MONEY...........and otherwise that's just life in the NFL, a player can't ask for much more than to be able to test the market when the money is out there in February and March. And let's face it......Beane is 0-2 in pay cut scenarios so far so his batting average can't get much worse. Instead we have the same people on here who lauded the paycuts now theorizing that Addison and Butler could be cut at the end of camp...........when they might have a hard time finding jobs or one's that pay more than week-to-week league minimum amounts. Like that wouldn't be a double dickmove by an organization.

Ed Oliver was both double teamed and playing a different position the majority of the time last season? Say what? The tales are getting taller with each passing week of the offseason.😂 He took "a few" snaps at 1 tech but once they decided on the Phillips/Butler rotation around mid-season those guys played the majority of the 1 tech snaps and that was where the majority of the doubles were going.

I was just responding to you claiming that the players weren't dissatisfied with taking a pay cut. Now you are agreeing. Make up your mind. The fact that they were compelled to make that decision by the fact that the market for their services was probably very poor isn't irrelevant with regard to their happiness with the decision. So basically, you are off on a "they made their bed now they gotta' sleep in it" tangent that serves no purpose to the discussion. And I've been very complimentary of many things that McBeane have done. The whole truth is never the most popular position on a fanatic site so the timing is irrelevant. You, on the other hand, showed your complete lack of any faith in the McDermott hiring by dropping your 24 year season tickets in frustration/anger with the organization that you are supposed to be rooting for and supporting. You were fed up and the hiring of McDermott and his implementation of "the process" weren't changing your mind. You were wrong. You made a mistake posting your thoughts/reasoning regarding quitting on your season tix on here........now we all know.........you are the epitome of a non-Billiever and now you want back on the bandwagon. Quitters never win @eball. 😞

McD did say that Star had A LOT of work to do in the last of the 18 months that he has had to prepare for this training camp...........that wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Butler played a lot of 1 tech as well. He is more of a Jordan Phillips-type penetrator by preference but he was plenty serviceable as a space eater in the second half of last season.

I think it's reasonable to expect that they were dissatisfied with having to take a pay cut. What the open market would pay is not the only consideration.........it might even be the last and least important one in their opinion. Their opinion of their effort on the field and their opinion of their own production doing what they were asked to do(in Butler's case, play a different position) factor in..........as does the idea that they signed a deal and it is being reneged upon by the people who signed you to it. Would you like it if I cut your social security check by 20% because you aren't being a good consumer and buying NFL season tickets and plane tickets and hotel accommodations anymore? I think not! That wouldn't be fair. It doesn't take in all the extra beverages imbibed to keep you hydrated when you are crying those tears of regret. Only you can make you happy @eball! Beane needs to remember that when he's tryna cut people's pay...........they don't like it........it's not a great way to to motivate, really.

I think Josh is a bit too much of "the guy who has it all" right now to be a quick go-to for advertisers. He is actually an "every man" kinda' dude but until the nation sees that it's kinda' like rooting for Superman. Right now advertisers are really looking for traits that are more relatable..........like Aaron Rodgers and his bad facial hair looking like every bad Detroit Lions QB from the 1980's..........or Patrick Mahomes being multi-racial and quirky........or Baker Mayfield being undersized and brash. Mr. Perfect Tom Brady never really became a huge endorsement guy...........I think Allen will get there but the nation needs to get to know him better and that's probably going to require getting their attention first........probably by beating guys like Rodgers and Mahomes.

I don't expect a trophy-husband like you to be smart at arithmetic so I will forgive you for being wrong about this. @Royale with Cheese though.........he has so many withholdings on his weekly paycheck to dispute that I would expect that his math would be sharper than this by now. What gives RwC? The math is not that difficult...........the dead money is a sunk cost..........if you can cut a player and create more cap space than adding an equal or better player will cost........then it's a net positive wrt to cap space. Beane knows this.......he just seems to want to try to make more people happy than he realistically can.

Cutting John Brown saved the team $8M in cap room..........they replaced him with Emmanuel Sanders with a total cap hit of $6M(though 1.3 of that is pushed into 2022)............so if you think cutting John Brown and replacing him with Sanders didn't "reduce the cap hit one microbe" then you are just embarrassingly bad at basic arithmetic. 😆

Not a fan of the pay cuts. Of course it's not a given that they will all turn out as badly as they have in the recent past for Beane but it's not a good plan, IMO. Some players are realistic about their situation.........but being highly competitive people by nature to reach the NFL.......you can assume that many are not. I would have been fine with Morse being released and going with Feliciano and Bates as the center options. Prior to the switch to regularly running outside zone I thought Feliciano had clearly been the better center when given the opportunity and when you factor in the concussion issues for Morse I thought he might be on his way out in 2021. Morse is a good fit in outside zone but I think Feliciano gives them more scheme versatility if they decide to run more of the power run game that they did in 2019 when Singletary averaged over 5 yards per carry.