hondo in seattle

I get it. McKenzie was never a high-end talent, and his failures are more his own than anyone else's. I never expected Lil Dirty to be a huge contributor as a gadget guy who could do end-arounds, bubble-screens etc. But smart X-and-O guys can do wonderful things sometimes with guys who possess one-dimensional skill sets. For example, look at the production Chan Gailey got out of CJ Spiller 2012-2013. McKenzie wasn't cut out to be Beasley's replacement. But I do think Dorsey could have gotten a little more out of McKenzie's quickness than he did.

Not "everyone" was sold on Lil Dirty being a legit starter. I was actually hoping Crowder would be the slot guy. Despite the Pats game, I had some doubts about McKenzie. And about Dorsey's ability to use him correctly. Still, I really like McKenzie as a person and wish him the best. And the Pats game was super fun to watch.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I'm actually more optimistic this preseason than last. Here's what I think: QB - Same. Better if you consider the UCL injury. RB - Better OL - Somewhat better, especially on the interior. TE - Significantly better with the addition of Kincaid WR - Better with Gabe being healthy and the addition of Sherfield and Harty DL - Better with the addition of Floyd (I still hold out hope Poona will be a factor, too) LB - Worse. CB - Same Safety - Better with the addition of Rapp I do think there are a ton of questions we need to see answered about scheme, play calling, RBs, OL, MLB, the health of some players, etc. But I had even more questions and doubts last preseason, despite the media hype. We do face a tougher division. I'm not confident that we'll get 13 wins again. But I believe we'll have a stronger squad going into the playoffs.

This is a great point. When you're aiming for a Lombardi, you can't settle for an average OL. The OL is too important. A good/great OL will give Josh more time to throw and receivers to get open; won't necessitate us keeping RBs and TEs in to block; will keep Josh healthy; will allow us to run the ball when we need to run (bad weather, killing the clock), and so on.

I like Cosell and if he was projecting 2023, then I agree with "average, not better." That's my hope anyway: that Beane's additions improve our OL from bad to average. I'm disappointed Shell retired (I liked having an insurance policy for Brown) but still overall excited that this year's line may be better - though Cosell still worries that "pass protection is a little bit of an issue." Cosell was not complimentary of our 2022 OL. He noted, "you don't want to send three receivers against six or seven in coverage," but that, "a lot of times last year, they [the Bills] often had to keep a back and at times a TE in there" to help protect the QB which meant we were sending fewer receivers out. It's a numbers mistmatch (3/4 receivers versus 6/7 coverage guys) when that happens. That numbers mismatch helps explain why Allen does sometimes hang onto the ball too long. It starts with Dorsey's lack of confidence in the OL forcing him to keep extra blockers in. So, yeah, OL has been a problem. www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=greg+cosell+buffalo+bills+offensive+line+average+not+better&mid=5029FCE5CEB7BBC0023F5029FCE5CEB7BBC0023F I do agree btw that Dorsey has to scheme up and playcall a better quick passing game. When he sees Allen under siege, I'm not sure why he's calling longer developing plays. It's puzzling why we don't utilize more screens, RB dump-offs, and slants when pass pro has been a problem and opponents often commit to stopping the deep passing game.

I apologize, BW, but I respectfully have to disagree. The Bills line has not been average. That's not what the analytic sites say. And that's not what my eyes tell me after watching the Bills for 50+ years. Sure, sometimes Allen's reluctance to take easy slants or check down forces the OL to hold blocks longer. But often he's off his mark in less than 2 seconds because of an immediate passpro breakdown. We've all seen it: in some games the poor kid is running for his life. Our good offensive rankings are not because of the OL, they are despite the OL. A lesser QB wouldn't be able to sustain drives with the kind of protection Allen gets. The way Allen tries to extend plays is both a blessing and a curse - but far more blessing. Sometimes I think Beane purposely doesn't spend on the OL because he knows Allen is mobile and strong enough to make good things happen even when pass protection breaks down. I believe, whatever the reason, Josh deserves better.

The Basham trade caused a bit of anti-Beane hysteria that I'm glad the OP is trying to correct. But I have to wonder about the methodology that ranks Beane as the NFL's third-best drafter since 2018. It's not as nuanced as DVR, but I heard a GM once say that teams consist of jags and standouts. It's the standouts who get you into the playoffs and to the Super Bowl. You need enough of them, and you need them at the right positions. I'm a simple guy. I like his two-bucket approach. And in my mind, here are our standouts: Allen (draft - Beane) Diggs (trade) Poyer (FA) Hyde (FA) White (draft - Whaley) Milano (draft - Whaley) Miller (FA). The rest of the roster is a bunch of jags of various flavors. I guess you could argue, based on the DVR data, that our jags are incrementally better than the jags on other teams. And we do have to give Beane credit for the free agent acquisitions. Overall, he has built a nice roster. But I do wish he'd find more playmakers in the draft. Only one impact player in six years doesn't get us into the big game.

I know it's not rational, but my enthusiasm died when I read an article that lumped Ifedi with another player we all know well. "The Lions also released offensive linemen Germain Ifedi and Bobby Hart. Both players have extensive experience and could land as depth for other teams at some point in the future."

So much unsourced stuff being said about Diggs it's hard to know what to believe. This is from Jason Whitlock, for what it's worth: “I said it a month or two ago, Stefon Diggs does not want to be in Buffalo. It’s cold up there, his brother plays in Dallas, he wants to be in a better city than Buffalo, and he’s painting this picture ‘OUR SUPER BOWL WINDOW IS CLOSING! JOSH ALLEN NEEDS TO DO THIS!’ He’s painting a picture for him to get out of Buffalo and to get to a city with better strip clubs. I said it a month ago and I’ll say it again—this is about strip clubs, it ain’t about championships. He doesn't care about being a pro, he doesn’t care about winning a championship, he wants to be in a better city. Go look at the teams in that division. Miami Dolphins; he would rather be in Miami. The New England Patriots; he’d rather be in Boston. The New York Jets; he’d rather be in NYC. He’s stuck up in Buffalo, it’s cold there, and I’m just telling you what I know and what I believe—with these young guys and all this discretionary income, and his brother in the NFL, he wants to be in a city where it’s easier to pop bottles, he wants to be somewhere where it’s easier to fly in the Instagram models and that’s what this is about. This has nothing to do with winning, this has nothing to do with dissatisfaction of Josh Allen. He’s going to put all the pressure on Josh Allen and the media is going to eat it up because Josh Allen doesn’t have the complexion for the connection. It’s unfair what Stefon Diggs is about to do to Josh Allen." www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/jason-whitlock-the-real-reason-stefon-diggs-wants-out-of-buffalo/ar-AA1fXszv?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=4abc7dae46d749cb83a57e4fc5e4c688&ei=31

I figure Josh will play at a high level for another 10 years. And each year we'll have a roughly 10% chance of winning it all. And that makes the chances of bringing a Lombardi to Buffalo pretty good.

That was the story of the drought.

Yep, Beane did a decent job considering he was on a budget and shopping at the Dollar Tree. I'd be happier if Shell hadn't retired. And even happier yet if we had a couple of All-Pro type maulers to bodyguard our QB and open holes for our backs.

I don't disagree except for this... With 26 starts under his belt, when some team suffers an OT injury, Quessenberry will look like a tempting acquisition. If we do PS him, I doubt he'll last the season as a Bill. Though having watched him play, I can't say I'm broken up about this prospect.

I'm an optimist... This will be a multiple Lombardi, two QB dynasty like Montana-Young!

Here's my thought about the OL: There are several new faces this year. I don't know if that means definitively that the OL will be better this season, but it does give me hope.

I'm a Beane apologist because Beane was instrumental in bringing this team out of decades of mediocrity. But I can't defend him on Boogie. It seemed an odd pick at the time: we had just picked Groot and Boogie was a DE who wasn't much a pass rusher. I was guessing two things at the time. (1) Beane was so desperate for a DE that he picked two to double our chances of finding one good one. (2) He saw something in Basham that wasn't reflected in the tape or stats. It seems, unfortunately, that whatever he saw was a mirage. So Beane took what he could get in a trade. Still, I'll give Beane some credit: We have enough depth at DE that Boogie is expendable. When Von gets healthy, we'll have a good group of DEs, thanks to Beane.

My advice. Go to the Louvre in Paris. Get close to the paintings done by the masters. Examine every brush stroke. Find the imperfections - they're there. But then step back and take in the beauty of the entire composition. Beane, like all GMs, makes mistakes. Given we've won more games in the past few years than nearly every other team in the NFL, it seems he makes fewer than most GMs. Take a step back and enjoy the big picture. We used to be losers. Now we're winners. He just needs to cap it all off with a SB title.

The question was intended for Big Turk but I'll step in with an answer... No. I think our offense would have been better last year with Daboll, particularly in the second half of the season where Dorsey seemed to become predictable and unimaginative. Plus, if Daboll would have stayed, we still would have had Dorsey. I would have preferred to keep both of them rather than just one. However, last season was Dorsey's rookie year as a OC. Many/most OCs get better with experience. Let's hope Dorsey follows that trend. Daboll is a good coach - not just at scheming passing attacks but at team- and culture-building too. But he wasn't generationally, heads-and-shoulders-above-his-peers good. For example, he was better with QBs than RBs. Despite Motor's solid YPC, Daboll didn't seem to know how to use RBs. We couldn't count on our RBs in short-yardage situations, couldn't sustain a drive on RB runs, and didn't successfully integrate the RBs into the passing game. I have no reason to believe Dorsey will be better in these areas, but I do hope anyway because I'm a fan.

Mostly true. But no homeruns? None?

Here's the thing about that. Eagles want to fly with eagles. They don't want to hang out with turkeys. Turkeys, on the other hand, like to flock together. So the good personnel guys in the NFL want to work with the best GMs. The good positions coaches want to work with the best DCs and HCs. Good DCs want to work with the best HCs. The only reason Daboll and Schoen were on the team was because McD and Beane hired them - and Daboll and Shoen wanted to work with them. I'm hoping that they continue to hire, and internally develop, good coaches and personnel guys.

I think Terry already did. Beane took a team that never made the playoffs and transformed it into a team that always makes the playoffs. Terry counted up the successes and failures and rewarded Beane with an extension. One of the things that made Basham expendable is that Beane has successfully acquired other good DEs. I do agree, though, Beane still needs to get better as a GM. He's given McD a good roster to work with, maybe a very good one, but not a great one.

We certainly have a good roster but saying we have a "Super Bowl caliber roster" is like saying we have the best roster in the AFC. At least, that's what it means to me. Is that truly what you believe?

Don't care... It used to be that 3 of our 4/5 starting DBs were studs: Hyde, Poyer, and White. The other CB and nickelback were okay. Maybe it's the same this year. But Hyde and Poyer have both had injuries and are getting up there in years. White hasn't seemed right since his ACL, though maybe he just needed more time to mend. In any case, I was hoping Elam would become a star to compensate for whatever degradation we experienced in the older veteran stars. My fingers are crossed that Hyde, Poyer, and White all return to peak form. If so, our secondary will be great. And I'm looking forward to seeing how Rapp will contribute. It's nice, of course, to have good backups but I'd rather have great starters.

Contrary to what others may insinuate, Beane is not a moron. He's made a lot of good moves and built us a pretty good team in a very competitive league. But it's not a SB team yet and misses like Elam are part of the reason why. Obviously, he knew Elam was a press corner and drafted him anyway. Maybe to give our defense more versatility. Maybe something convinced him that McD and his staff could coach Elam to be a good zone defender. Whatever the reason, it looks like Beane was wrong. It happens. Some GM, maybe Ron Wolfe, said that you want to get one or two Pro Bowlers in every draft. The NFL is filled with jags who have starting jobs; you need some Pro Bowlers to set your team apart. It doesn't matter if they come in the 1st or 7th round. If the 1st round pick is a bust and the 5th rounder is a perennial All Pro, it's all good. The problem for us is we didn't get any elite players out of that draft in any round... At least, that's how it looks now.