hondo in seattle

I'm a little discouraged about next year but not because of Frazier. I worry Beane doesn't have the resources to fix all our issues.

This is rather depressing. We don't have the money to fix the OL in free agency. So I'm hoping we somehow fix it in the draft. I guess a guard in the 2nd round helps.

I'm not thrilled with that backfield and hope we can do better. But the Bills are low on off-season resources. They can't fix everything.

I'm not a huge Motor fan but you do make a good point. If I had a choice to upgrade the RB position or OL, I'd choose the OL. Motor is serviceable and he'd been even better behind a line that could actually open up holes. And Josh needs a bodyguard.

He does well in YPC because he doesn't get a lot of carries and the Bills are a passing team. Singletary is rarely, if ever, the reason we win. Opponents focus on Josh and the receivers. Many years ago, I remember teams keeping a spy on OJ. Now they keep a spy on Josh.

That's what they said about Andy Reid, Bill Belichick, and Tony Dungy... until they did. Give it time.

This is a depressing thread. We haven't had a good OL since Josh has been here. And it doesn't seem likely we'll have one in 2023. Just not enough resources.

The Bills were built for the passing game. On D, our biggest contracts are for a pass rusher and a pass defender. On O, our biggest contracts are for a passer and a pass catcher. The problem is, Miller notwithstanding, Beane has been focused on the skill positions and has not succeeded in the trenches. All our offensive linemen are rated in the bottom half of the league. Our defensive linemen, without Miller in the lineup to draw attention and elevate their game, are meh. I don't view the front office is cocky. I just think they're wrong too often. I heard Rom Wolf once say that every draft should produce one All-Pro. It might be in the 1st round, it might be in the 3rd - drafting is an inexact science - but you need one. Drafting starters isn't good enough. Every team has 22 starters. What a championship team needs is difference-makers. Better yet, difference-makers on rookie contracts. So, I agree, we need Beane to build through the draft - and that means picking more playmakers instead of JAGs.

None of us had 9 turnovers. We don't need the painful reminders.

How do we pay for OBJ and an upgraded offensive line? At the same time? Not to mention some help for the secondary.

Payton went to and won one SB in 15 years with a HOF QB. His playoff record is 9-8.

I like Edmunds better than most but, man, we need OL help. A better OL means a better running attack, which means a less predictable offense, which means a better passing attack too. And a better OL means a healthier Allen. They guys is getting beat up and we're asking him to do too much. He needs capable bodyguards.

I don't trust PFF enough to conclude that Kromer is failing. Just watching our guys get manhandled some games tells me the quality of the players - regardless of the coaching - just isn't good enough. Better blocking schemes might have made them look a little better. Better passing schemes (that got receivers open and got the ball out quickly) for sure would have made them look better. But they're just not very good.

I'm going to quibble a bit... Buffalo is a 4-2 team, not a 4-3 team. We rarely trot out 3 LBs. But this detail doesn't change the argument. It's still 4 down linemen.

I really hope I'm wrong... But I don't see Beane making dramatic improvements. Other than Josh, Beane mostly finds role players in the draft, not diference-makers. He's done better with free agency but doesn't have the resources to do much this year. Sadly, at this point in the offseason, I think the Bills make the playoffs in 2023 but fail yet again to make it to the Super Bowl.

Beane helped transform the Bills from a team that didn't go to the playoffs to one that does. Overrated? I don't know. That's a real accomplishment. But he has not built a Super Bowl caliber roster thus far. And with our lack of offseason resources, I doubt his ability to build one in 2023. Beane's been good. But we need him to be better.

Carry grudges much? That happened in 1972. "Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself." ~ Maya Angelou

Coaching is partly what gets the Bills into the playoffs. Is the Bills roster as talented as the rosters of the teams still in the hunt? I don't think so.

I agree that these have all been disappointing picks. But I think the analysis is somewhat flawed. The "NFL draft industry" may have been wrong about some of these picks but who cares? Most draft gurus are one-man shops. An NFL team like the Bills employs a team of scouts, interviews college coaches, hires investigators, and overall put far more man-hours and money into draft research than Mel Kiper or anyone else. So the Bills ought to be get picks right when the media gurus get them wrong. In all these cases, other teams passed on guys we picked. Maybe they were smarter than us, did more due diligence, used better criteria when evaluating players. Of course, drafting is an inexact science. Every team has both hits and misses. You want to have more hits and fewer misses than other teams. I'm not sure Beane is achieving that if you look past Josh.

Here's our offense: Josh drops back. He starts running around because either (A) the passpro breaks down quickly or (B) the receivers aren't open. Eventually Josh makes a great play - or doesn't. It's not a sustainable offense. A good WR would help us. But what I really want to see is a better offensive scheme that includes a better running attack and more quick hitting passes. Whatever kind of offense we run would benefit from better offensive linemen. That's the big change I hope to see.

I think our biggest need is on the OL, but if the next Bruce Smith is available when we pick you don't pass him up.

All year long I've thought our safeties were uncharacteristically being caught out of position. While I attributed that to the Dynamic Duo being hurt, I also wondered about the coaching. Coaches can't make guys more athletic. But they should effectively coach guys to make the right reads and be in the right place. That didn't seem to be happening with Salgado. But who knows why he was fired. Maybe he was argumentative in meetings. Or a disloyal back-stabber. Or lazy. Or a cokehead. I really doubt that Sean fired him simply because the backups didn't perform as well as Hyde and Poyer. But who knows - maybe he was fired unjustly. Since none of us know what's happening behind the curtain, I think it's kind of silly to speculate or judge.

I agree. But I'll be so disappointed if the Bills don't find some significant help for OL this offseason.

If you don't have a good offensive line, you must have a good short passing game. It does seem like we had decent weapons for Josh to throw short to. We just didn't utilize them. Hines in particular had 63 catches just a couple years ago. He has hands that can catch and he has jets on his feet. Dorsey schemes were hard to understand at times.

I love the optimism! But I don't entirely share it... #1. Fingers crossed. #2. Finger crossed - but the 'shelf-life' comment above might have some merit. #3. Davis and Oliver are who they are. They won't play better next year. #4. Josh is a beast but his skills are negated to some extent by poor pass protection, dropped passes, and receivers who have trouble gaining separation. #5. Careful with this one. Staffold's replacement could be even worse and may be just as bad. #6. Okay. There's some real hope with this Elam, Shakir, and Cook. At least one of them will be better next year - hopefully all 3. #7. Von's not getting younger. #8. Beane's only produced one "stud playmaker" with a first round pick. I'm really hoping this year he nabs his second. With the holes we have, Beane really needs to have a superior offseason.