mjt328

I don't have access to the All-22. All I know is that I've watched Josh Allen for his entire career, and I've never seen him this hesitant to throw the ball. Every time we do see what is happening downfield from the broadcast, the receivers are blanketed. When he buys an extra 2-3 seconds escaping defenders and is clearly looking downfield for someone to break free, he's not finding an open player. Nobody is perfect, so I'm not doubting that Allen sometimes misses things. But is that the biggest problem on offense? If the true problem is our QB regressing in his ability to see the field, none of this talk matters anyway. This team is dead in the water moving forward.

There are a ton of problems with the team right now, but adding a WR is probably the easiest fix. Yes. The defense will remain a problem. But that side of the ball probably requires 1-2 new linebackers, an outside corner and two safeties... and possibly an entire scheme change. That kind of overhaul requires 1-2 offseasons. Not a bye week. Most of the offensive problems seem to stem from our inability for WRs to separate from man coverage. Everything else is spiraling away from that central issue. So adding a legit #1 could repair that hole. Then even if the defense stinks, you still have a chance to outscore the other team. The question is whether Beane is willing to part with a decent draft-pick, and commit future cap space to adding a really good player.

Turnovers masked this defense's problems last year. Everyone expected a big fall-off in 2024, but we kept rolling in the win column. So everyone assumed we were good. Statistic junkies always warned our turnover rate wasn't sustainable. And they were right. People keep pointing out the Bills have gone through early/mid-season poor stretches before. But this time is different. The fall-off is real.

Older folks here can probably remember the good old 90s Bills. That team exploded on the scene in 1988. Packed full of future Hall of Famers, and a revolutionary new offense. Finished with a 12-4 record, first division win in 8 seasons and made it all the way to the AFC Championship game. Two years later, the Bills were playing in their first Super Bowl. Of course they ended up going to four straight. Then suddenly it was over. The 1994 season saw the O-Line fall to pieces, Jim Kelly suffer a season-ending knee injury and Thurman Thomas hit the downside of his career. That team barely mustered up two more playoff births, but they were never serious Super Bowl contenders again. Kelly retired after the 1996 season, setting off a downslide that took over 20 years to turn around. Two decade runs like Tom Brady are by far the exception. Not the norm. I would like to believe we get prime Josh Allen for another 5-6 years. But there are already signs that maybe he's lost a step running the ball. And even if he's still physically able to do certain things, there may be a point where he's reluctant to keep doing them. And if we can't pull off a Super Bowl run when he's at his peak, why would we do it when he's past his prime?

Brandon Beane is like someone who miraculously hits a hole-in-one on his first ever golf shot. First impression, everyone just assumes he's amazing. But after 5-6 holes full of missed putts and double bogeys, the truth starts to rear it's ugly head. Beane struck gold with Josh Allen right off the bat. Many Bills fans also gave him absentee credit for the excellent 2017 draft class, which landed us Tre White, Dion Dawkins and Matt Milano, even though he hadn't actually been hired yet. But as the sample size has grown, and the final verdict had been reached on his draft selections... it's amazing how poorly he's done for a team consistently considered a Super Bowl contender. Even in free agency. For those early years, we always joked about how many washed-up players Beane poached from the old Carolina Panthers roster. Now he's doing the same with OUR old over-the-hill players. It's almost like he's got no idea what other talent lies on the other 31 teams.

Completely done with this front office and coaching staff. Fire them both tomorrow, and get an early start on the rebuild. We only have one window with Josh Allen at Quarterback. Once he's no longer playing at an MVP level, we will never get that time back. It may already be too late. Beane/McDermott have had enough time and chances to get this right. Longer than most GM/HC combinations. We've gotten excuse after excuse on why they can't get it done. They just need a closer at Edge Rusher. The Damar Hamlin situation was too emotionally draining. It's just not fair that Patrick Mahomes is in our conference. They just need injuries to not exist. It's just bad luck and we are really close. The truth is, our GM has assembled a garbage roster around the QB. Now our defense is also full of holes. McDermott is an expert at an outdated defensive scheme, and has nothing else up his sleeve.

A couple big differences this season. First, the level of opponent is tragically low. Last year our skid was against the Ravens (one of the league's best) and Texans (division winner who was still healthy and playing well at the time). The Patriots and Falcons are nowhere near that level. Second, you need to combine the slide with the rest of our performances this season. We haven't had one solid 4-quarter game all year long. The Ravens were steamrolling us for 3 quarters before choking the game away. The Jets are the worst team in the NFL, barely gave an effort, and we were running out clock by late 2nd quarter. We almost lost to the Dolphins and Saints, who have been awful all year. Third, our struggles have not just been a symptom of sloppy/uncharacteristic play (although that has been an element). For instance, we have been consistently the worst tackling team in football (by far) in pretty much every game this year. For six weeks. That isn't something you can just turn around and fix.

Yes, we probably missed the window. But not for the reason you stated. The salary cap may have been less of an issue while Josh Allen was on his rookie deal. But he also wasn't the Quarterback back in 2017-2021 that we have with him today. He's improved greatly as a passer over the last several years. The lifeblood of any team is the draft. Not the salary cap. Free agents should be the finishing pieces. Not the foundation. The problem is that we continue to waste picks on guys who fail to move the needle. Now that our cornerstone pieces from those early years (Diggs, Milano, White, Poyer, Hyde) are either gone or on the downside of their careers, Beane can't find decent replacements for them. The roster has gotten worse instead of better. We've been saying for YEARS that Allen wasn't going to play at an MVP level forever. Last night I saw a guy who looked done with carrying a subpar group on his back. Not saying the competitive fire is completely gone, but I really can't blame him if he doesn't want to sacrifice his body anymore with nothing to show for it.

Notice that most of the positions Beane actually hits on are "non-premium" positions. It's a lot easier to draft a Running Back or Guard than a #1 Outside Receiver or Left Tackle. It's a lot easier to draft a Linebacker or Nickel Cornerback than an Edge Rusher or Shut-Down Outside Cornerback. Beane was gifted a LT (Dawkins) and All-Pros on the back-end (Milano, White, Poyer, Hyde)... all by the previous GM. He lucked into Allen with his #1 Pick, traded for Diggs... and pretty much hasn't done anything worthwhile since. Benford and Bernard are proving to be one-year wonders. Can't hit on Edge Rusher. Can't hit on Outside WR. Can't hit on CB. Now that his team is aging out, he can't hit on Safety or LB either.

A lot of people seem to think our problem is mental. The one year we were too overconfident and bought into the hype. The next year we were sad about Damar Hamlin. We need to be an underdog to have that fire. I just can't buy any of this. I've come to the conclusion our #1 problem is talent. Second is coaching. Key players have gotten old/retired (White, Poyer, Hyde, Milano). League-wide tendencies have gradually made our defensive scheme outdated. Our outside/downfield WRs are terrible and can't get open. Josh Allen is finally tired of destroying his body playing Superman for 5 months every season. In terms of health, no team is ever going to be 100% healthy. Especially a team that purposely drafts undersized players. Terrel Bernard gets hurt all the time, because he's too small to be a MLB. Taron Johnson is always hurt, because we try to use him like a third linebacker. We also want CBs who rally and tackle over guys who cover tight and defend passes.

Ultimately, this is the problem with Brandon Beane. He's not a great scout, and so he doesn't have any real conviction on players. From all his post-draft news conferences, you can tell that he pretty much just identifies a position of need, puts a bunch of players into a general tier, and then hopes he gets one of those guys. Doesn't really matter who. At the end of the day, his goal is to fill-out a roster. Before that draft, Kansas City boldly identified which WR they felt would best fit the team. Then they aggressively traded up to make sure they got Xavier Worthy specifically. There was nothing special about Keon Coleman to us. Beane clearly would have been just as happy with 3-4 other guys at that spot. He was drafting a position instead of a player, and crossing his fingers that player would be good. The Chiefs did the same thing when they specifically targeted Patrick Mahomes and Trent McDuffie. We traded down in 2017 because we had no convictions about the QB class (although that was before Beane), and then just sat around in 2022 waiting for one of the cornerbacks to fall to us. It ended up being Kaiir Elam, who is clearly a huge bust now.

Josh Allen scrambles around to buy an extra 4-5 seconds, and STILL can't find anyone open. Anywhere on the field. That is absolutely pathetic. Yet when we are on defense, the QB takes a 3-step drop and our defensive backs have already totally lost coverage.

So how do you judge a General Manager, if not for the success of the players he brings in and the construction of the roster? How many failed players does Beane need to bring in (let's say at the WR position), before you start to question whether the guy actually has any clue what he's doing? His draft selections at the position (in order) include Ray-Ray McCloud, Austin Proehl, Gabe Davis, Isaiah Hodgins, Marquez Stevenson, Khalil Shakir, Justin Shorter, Keon Coleman and Kaden Prather. In other words, he hasn't picked a SINGLE STARTING CALIBER outside WR in his eight years of running the team. I like Shakir, but he's a slot who doesn't seem to be good for more than catching screens and getting YAC. His first year with tons of cap space, Beane landed Cole Beasley (another good slot receiver) and John Brown (solid #2 and deep threat for 1 season before completely falling off). Since that point, he's wasted money on names like Emmanuel Sanders, Jamison Crowder, Deonte Hardy, Trent Sherfield, Mack Hollins, Curtis Samuel and Josh Palmer. Again, almost zero help on the outside. In trades, he watched Kelvin Benjamin up-close for years, and decided he was the trade target for his rookie QB. That worked out great. Beane's best decision ever at the WR position was then trading a 1st Round Pick for Stefon Diggs. And even then, we got to watch the Vikings use that same pick on Justin Jefferson, and then have Diggs force his way off the team 4 years later. So in 8 years, Beane's only success at finding an outside WR for his future Hall of Fame Quarterback was to trade a 1st Round Pick for a disgruntled veteran with a history of throwing teammates under the bus. Which of course he eventually did here too. He got one good season from Smoke Brown. One solid season from Sanders. Nobody else he's brought in is better than a #3-4 WR in the NFL. I can do this at almost any position on the roster. How many infinite resources will it take to finally assemble a strong D-Line? And how was Beane doing at building that O-Line before Aaron Kromer single-handedly fixed everything. How has that secondary been since the players Beane inherited (Tre White, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde) aged out?

At this point, it's clear that Brandon Beane (and this whole franchise by default) got lucky by drafting Josh Allen. Sure, they get credit for believing in him, trading up and taking him over Josh Rosen. But truthfully, we didn't take Allen until Pick #7 and he was the third QB chosen. If the Bills staff truly knew what he was going become, they would have sold everything to move up to the #1 Pick. In truth, it was an educated dart throw, and they got lucky. Since picking Allen, our GM has selected over 60 players in the draft. He's had 8 years of college scouting to find young players. He's had 8 years to find veterans in free agency and by trade. Plain and simple, what he's assembled outside of quarterback is a bottom 5-10 roster. Good starting running back with breakaway speed. Solid O-Line that benefits from a QB that can buy extra time. Possibly the worst WR corps in the NFL. A D-Line that can't stop the run or get pressure. Undersized LBs who can't tackle or cover, and are always hurt. And a secondary that can't stay with anyone for longer than 2 seconds.

Tomorrow night should tell us a lot. This team has been on a downward slide, and has played 3 bad games in a row. Finally lost to a division opponent. Fail to rebound, and the panic here is legit.

All I care about is winning the Super Bowl. If we have lost enough games by mid-December for the AFC East to actually be in play, our team just isn’t good enough to pull that off. The Bills need to be at least 10-2 at that point of the season. This schedule is pathetic.

So a team that almost never turns the ball over, having 3 of them wasn’t fluky? Having 11 penalties wasn’t fluky? This was the sloppiest game we have played in over a year (since last year’s regular season loss to the Ravens). And they still needed a last second field goal to pull it out. Anything can happen. But if the Bills drop another 5-6 games with this schedule, then they aren’t a real Super Bowl contender.

Maybe you don’t remember us beating them 31-0 on opening day, with a revamped roster full of big-name FA additions. People were already punching our Super Bowl tickets.

Our goal this season should be 13-14 wins, the Number #1 seed in the AFC and ultimately a Super Bowl championship. The Patriots should just be happy to win 9-10 games and make the playoffs. If the division is still in play down the stretch, something went horribly wrong and we need to be talking about who deserves to be fired. We had a few wins against Tom Brady’s Patriots during his career. In-division upsets happen sometimes. That doesn’t mean we had a prayer at taking the AFC East.

I don't think he's "horrible" at drafting. It's just that almost everyone he drafts would be graded as a B (solid starter) or C (solid backup/rotational piece). In my opinion, he's too safe and needs to take more chances. Both at being more willing to trade-up for a difference maker, and being willing to swing at riskier/higher ceiling players.

Just a thought about trades in general. While the overall draft is very important for the foundation of a team, I think the value of most individual picks is vastly overrated. First round picks are considered absolute gold around the league. But think about what they actually turn into. Very few turn into superstars outside of the Top 5-10. Most are solid starters. A handful are total busts. After Josh Allen, Beane has spent 1st Round Picks on the following players: - Tremaine Edmunds - Ed Oliver - Greg Rousseau - Kaiir Elam - Dalton Kincaid - Keon Coleman + DeWayne Carter (technically a trade back) - Maxwell Hairston I would argue that none of these players makes a huge impact on the team. Every single one of them is tradeable. If you would have been given the chance to trade that 1st Round Pick for a superstar BEFORE the draft, most would give an emphatic no. But 1-2 years later, none of these players could be swapped for anyone close to a superstar level. The one time Beane traded a 1st Round Pick for a player (Stefon Diggs), it gave us a Top 5 WR for three seasons. Maybe the Los Angeles Rams were onto something a few years ago. Everyone laughed at them for "mortgaging their future" and trading away all their top picks. But it resulted in a Super Bowl win, and they were able to keep a solid roster in place by drafting well in the later rounds.

Not trying to discount your overall thoughts about Brandon Beane's drafting (the lack of impact players complaint is valid), but Hairston wasn't injured tackling or on a heavy contact play. All reports said he just tripped. It was initially believed he tore an ACL, and would miss the entire season. Even after the LCL diagnosis, nobody expected him to be back before Week 8 (after the bye) at the very earliest. Hairston wasn't injury-prone in college either, and a quick Google search says he only missed one game for Kentucky. So I understand why people are tired of drafting undersized players on defense, and it may contribute to us always having injuries. But I'm not sure that applies so much to cornerback, when we also lacked speed at the position.

This is like the Jawaan Taylor situation. That guy comes out of his stance early on almost every pass play. Refs know they can't just keep throwing flags over and over and over. It's embarrassing for the league. Plus it hurts one of their premier teams/quarterbacks. So they just stopped calling it completely. Now you see a bunch of other tackles doing the same thing. The league has let this Tush Push stuff slide for too long now. So if they suddenly start calling false starts all the time, it's basically an admission they have been screwing up for 2-3 years now, and pretty much let the Eagles win a Super Bowl because of it. They will just let this season play out, and then it will get banned in the offseason.

Not in a panic yet. But I'm concerned that our offense has been slowly trending down for the last month. I'm also concerned that our defense looks worse than last season, when we needed it to get better. Getting upset once hopefully won't be a huge deal by season's end. But you really never know. Games like this have cost us homefield advantage and the bye every single year.

Lots of speculation on trades. Just not sure any of the top positions fans are talking about make sense. Cornerback is definitely a need (at this moment). But we just invested a big contract in Christian Benford and a 1st Round Pick in Maxwell Hairston. The big problem is that Hairston might not be able to help much this season, due to the injury and missed practice time. The only thing that makes sense is a one-year rental... and there is a good chance the coaching staff would be opposed to even that, if they feel it takes away from Hairston's development time. At Wide Receiver, Keon Coleman has shown growth, and isn't getting replaced anytime soon. We just invested in Khalil Shakir's extension. Beane has given decent contracts to Josh Palmer and Curtis Samuel, and neither is currently being used to their fullest potential. We also already know how Beane feels about the passing offense in general, after his comments in the offseason. He's not going to start throwing more Day 1-2 picks at WR, when he doesn't feel offense is a weak point on the team. Forget anything more on the D-Line. He added Joey Bosa, Michael Hoecht, Larry Ogunjobi, TJ Sanders, Landon Jackson and Deon Walker in the offseason. Some of those guys haven't even played yet. And the rookies will get a chance to develop. To me, the spot that makes the most sense is Safety. It's been a clear weakness on this defense. Taylor Rapp is not playing well, and has a history of being injury-prone. He's also got a potential out in his contract after this year.