mjt328

Of course Beane wants to win the Super Bowl. Everybody in the organization wants win the Super Bowl. Ralph Wilson also wanted to win the Super Bowl. But was he willing to hire the absolute best GM available, provide that individual with full control of the franchise, and give him all the financial resources possible in order to make the team the best it could possibly be? The answer is no. He wasn't even willing to sell the naming rights to the stadium. My point is that when Beane was first hired, he was willing to risk everything to move up for Josh Allen. Because he literally had nothing to lose. If he didn't land the right QB, his time here was going to be short anyway. Now that the Bills are an established winner, he doesn't seem to be willing to take that kind of risk anymore. A lot of people (including me) believe this team absolutely needs more elite/game breaking players. Not just an endless supply of solid/ok players. But to get a crack at one of the better prospects in the draft, you probably need to get aggressive and move into the Top 10 picks. Instead, Beane likes to play it safe. Make sure he's got a full stockpile of picks every season. As long as he's hitting on 3-4 starting level players each year, the Bills roster remains in about the same place.

That's where our GM and scouting department need to earn their money. Just like when Beane was first hired back in 2017. Everything came down to him finally finding the Bills a franchise QB. It didn't matter we were drafting down in the 20s that year. It didn't matter how risky the prospects were. It didn't matter how many other GMs failed before him. Beane's job was to find us a quarterback immediately.... or find himself on the unemployment line in a few years. Thankfully, he was successful in that assignment. Since around 2020-2021, Beane's new job has been to find the missing piece (or pieces) to win us a Super Bowl. And as of right now, he has failed to do that. The team has been spinning it's wheels for five seasons and counting. People want to say that finding elite prospects is hard. And I don't care. Finding a franchise QB is much harder. The main reason Beane won the lottery in landing Josh Allen was because he knew his job depended on it. So he confidently identified a target and then aggressively moved up to get him. I don't see or sense that level of confidence or aggression from our front office anymore. Which tells me Beane is comfortable in just winning the AFC East and staying off the hot seat.

The difference between elite players and solid players really IS consistency. Greg Rousseau has had some amazing games during his career where he's been just as good as Myles Garrett. But Garrett plays at that very high level for 13-14 games a season. Rousseau only plays at that level 3-4 times a season.

When you are a young/rebuilding team with lots of needs, stockpiling draft picks is a great strategy. When you have been a Super Bowl contender 5 straight seasons and keep falling short, stockpiling draft picks is pointless and wasteful. What you need is the final 1-2 pieces to push you over the top. Not a bunch of back-end roster filler. What good are 10 draft picks (seven of them on Day 3) going to do this roster? They aren't going to start. They won't be playing significant snaps for at least 2-3 seasons. By August, we are going to be crossing our fingers the Bills can sneak half of our draftees onto the practice squad. Brandon Beane is a conservative General Manager. He swings for base hits. Not home runs. And that's a big reason our roster is full of solid starting-caliber players, but lacks difference makers.

Definitely up there with Andre Reed and Stefon Diggs as the best Bills WR of all-time. The other two guys were blessed with Hall of Fame passers. He had Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson and Drew Bledsoe (among others). He was also somewhat late to develop (broke out at age 25), and then faded in his very early 30s.

Shattered rookie records? Let's tone down that narrative a bit. He was 4th in catches and 10th in yards for a rookie Tight End... meaning he didn't break any records, much less shatter them. I'm all for giving a player at least 3 years to develop. But so far, the returns are very underwhelming. That cannot be disputed. He's provided virtually nothing as a Red Zone threat with only 4 touchdowns in his first two seasons. He's provided almost nothing downfield either, with a pretty pathetic 9.6 YPC (which would rank him around 150th in the NFL last year). His hands/reliability haven't been bad, but he did drop the pass that ended our season. Not exactly a great lasting memory going into the offseason.

The Bills have proven they can find and develop good to solid CBs pretty easily. Tre White, Taron Johnson, Levi Wallace, Dane Jackson, Christian Benford. Jamarcus Ingram has looked promising in limited action, and may have a shot landing a starting job this year. Daequan Hardy was very good in preseason last year, and could eventually turn into something. Even Kaiir Elam was solid when he actually got on the field. I'm convinced that if Buffalo was forced to play him more often, he would have proven to be at least a serviceable starter on the outside. No matter how much I like Benford, I really think Beane needs to factor this into contract negotiations. Why sign him to a monster contract, when our coaching staff can seemingly turn Day 3 picks and UDFAs into starting caliber defensive backs? Use the high picks and money on positions that we can't get right (D-Line) and hope to get lucky.

Other teams have figured out how to get past the Chiefs in those prime moments... (Eagles, Bengals, Bucs) Nobody is questioning if the Bills are good. The question is whether the Bills are good ENOUGH.

What really happened during that stretch Weeks 4-5, where the offense and passing game struggled? That is where you can find the answer. At the time, the talk was that we lacked an outside WR that could consistently win 1-on-1 coverage. Then we traded for Amari Cooper. The offense immediately exploded and never looked back. And even though Cooper's stats were almost non-existent, film watchers told me that his value was in drawing away coverage so others could get open. Now I'm being told we don't really need Cooper. Or that he will be easily replaced by Josh Palmer (best season was about 70 catches, 750 yards). I guess we'll see. But I'm certainly not counting on Keon Coleman or Dalton Kincaid making a huge impact.

After 7-8 years into his time here, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that "Big Baller" Brandon Beane is actually a pretty conservative GM. In all his time with the Bills, he has exactly one big draft move (Josh Allen), one big trade (Stefon Diggs) and one big free agent signing (Von Miller). Sadly, I'm also starting to question his eye for top-level NFL talent. The only positions he consistently scouts well (both in the draft and free agency) are Linebackers, Cornerbacks and Safeties. Which just happens to the be the development strength of the head coach. Everyone he brings in on the D-Line seems to underwhelm. He's had some good moments at WR, but this will be the fourth straight offseason where it's a major team need. Don't forget Beane also struggled to find good players at RB and on the O-Line before Aaron Kromer/Joe Brady, then suddenly both are a strength.

It's amazing how sensitive some fans get about criticism of the Bills. We all know how this team performs in the regular season, their great overall record, and how we consistently march into the playoffs as a supposed Super Bowl contender. Five straight years we've been in that same position, and haven't even made it to the Super Bowl. Are we just the unluckiest team in the league, and by doing the same thing and fielding the same kind of players year after year... eventually the law of averages will probably work in our favor? Or is it possible that something on our team (talent, coaching, scheme, etc.) is holding us back from taking the next step?

In my opinion, Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott play into each other's strengths, and amplify each other's weaknesses. Through his coaching career, McDermott has proven to be excellent at developing and getting the most out of his secondary and linebackers. He and Beane are 100% on the same page with those positions, constantly turning late-round picks and mid-level free agents into solid (or even better) starters. Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, Matt Milano and Tre White turned into All-Pros. Christian Benford and Terrell Bernard are the latest stand-out starters. Levi Wallace, Dane Jackson, Damar Hamlin, Taylor Rapp were turned into solid contributors. Beane knows exactly what kind of talent our coaching staff needs, and can find it literally anywhere. McDermott has been MUCH less effective with getting the most out of the D-Line. Every year we seem to invest big resources into the pass rush (Von Miller, AJ Epenesa, Greg Rousseau, Boogie Basham, Star Lotulelei, Ed Oliver, Daquon Jones, etc.) But we struggle to get to the QB when it counts, especially in the playoffs. Our run defense goes through very rough patches every single season. Most people believe the D-Line is the piece consistently holding us back from taking the next step. And despite all the draft picks and free agents we have rolled through the halls, nothing seems to work. When you see a talent like Poona Ford sit the bench here, and be very effective everywhere else... When you see Epenesa get drafted and then require an entire physical makeover to get on the field... When you see young talent develop slowly (or not at all), and then become incredibly inconsistent... You just wonder if Beane/McDermott are on the same page with this part of the team. Maybe what our defense really needs is an Aaron Kromer for the D-Line. Our O-Line was in a similar position early in the Beane/McDermott era, always underachieving. Wasted picks like Cody Ford. A revolving door at Right Tackle. Now suddenly everybody we bring into the building seems to be developing great, playing strong on the field, and fitting perfectly into the system. Our running game has taken off, and Josh Allen hardly ever gets sacked.

Overall picture, I agree that Brandon Beane is amongst the top GMs in the NFL. I do agree however that he has struggled badly to land high-impact difference makers, both in the Draft and in Free Agency. This roster continues to be Josh Allen, carrying a ton of above average/average players. My feeling is that both Beane (and Sean McDermott on the coaching side) have settled into a place of complacency. They know what is needed to be generally successful in the NFL. What kind of players they need in the locker room and on the field. And without much competition in the AFC East, they have managed to roll through the regular season strong. Like others, I question if this style has just reached its ceiling. There is only so far Allen can carry a "decent" roster by himself. We need game wreckers elsewhere. Not guys who just fit into the scheme well.

Unfortunately, I have to agree. The Bills are ridiculously predictable with their first pick. Maybe not with the exact player. But at least when it comes to the position we are targeting. 2018 - Obviously were going to trade up for a QB. Everyone knew this 12 months in advance. Got Josh Allen. 2019 - Big hole at DT after Kyle Williams retired. Drafts Ed Oliver. 2020 - Needed a #1 receiver. Traded for Stefon Diggs. 2021 - Needed a pass rusher really bad. Took Groot. 2022 - Giant hole at CB. Took Elam. 2023 - Needed a receiver. All were gone, so he took Dalton Kincaid instead. 2024 - Needed a receiver. Again. This time he landed Keon Coleman. And yes, you are also 100% correct about the reason too. Every draft we seem to have one massive need, a couple smaller needs and the rest is mostly depth/roster filler.

This is my somewhat educated guess to what happened with Kaiir Elam. After the 13 seconds playoff game, there was a lot of talk about how the Bills secondary needed to become more skilled and versatile. Our starters in that game were Levi Wallace and Dane Jackson (after Tre White tore his ACL on Thanksgiving). Both were outside zone corners with limited physical upside, but who had fit well enough into Sean McDermott's scheme to be average starters. A lot of people felt we needed someone who allowed us to play more man-coverage when needed. Then in free agency, Beane prioritized the pass rush and defensive line... ultimately landing Von Miller on a massive contract and Daquan Jones to shore up the middle. These moves left us without much money to address the outside corner position, and a huge question mark going into the draft. This led to Beane making an uncharacteristic desperation move for a corner, who had plenty of talent/upside, but really didn't fit our primary scheme.

Jumping in here, because I feel the same way. Over the last couple years (really after 13 Seconds), my enjoyment of everything else has been severely diminished, because of our inability to win the entire thing. For instance, my reaction to the Ravens playoff victory wasn't really excitement. It was a temporary sigh of relief, and I was immediately onto the next game. I mean... I've been watching the NFL for over 35 years. I've seen plenty of exciting games. I've seen the Bills win the AFC East. I've seen the Bills win playoff games. I've seen our players win MVP. I've seen our team in the Super Bowl. Every single one of those seasons ended in awful heartbreak, to the point I still get knots in my stomach when highlights come up from the SB losses. Just once, I want the NFL season to end with OUR team hoisting the trophy. After that, I can relax and actually enjoy the sport.

They have TRIED to address it. Drafting Ed Oliver, AJ Epenesa, Groot, Boogie Basham in the Top 2 rounds Signing Trent Murphy, Von Miller, Leonard Floyd with decent contracts The problem is, all the resources they have poured into the position have only kept us spinning our wheels once the postseason hits. Zero production when it's needed the most. The Chiefs biggest issue last year was the O-Line, and we couldn't take advantage at all. A few years ago, the Bengals were totally decimated with injuries up-front. But their blockers still totally stonewalled our pass rush.

Brandon Beane's strength as a GM (both in Free Agency and in the Draft) is finding solid/average players who fit and develop well in Sean McDermott's system. This goes mostly for linebacker/secondary players on the defensive side. But since bringing back Aaron Kromer, things have started clicking on the offensive line as well. Think of players like Christian Benford, Terrell Bernard, Spencer Brown, Connor McGovern, etc. - mostly mid-round picks and cheap free agents who significantly outperformed their original expectations. The Bills roster is absolutely stacked with these kinds of players. Where Beane has historically struggled is finding ELITE difference makers with his limited resources. Each year we are short on cap space, and stuck with picks in the mid/late 20s. This makes it much harder to find dominant players, unless you have a real eye for talent or get lucky. Plus - where the Bills are excellent at developing talent in the secondary and on the offensive line... they seem to struggle getting the most our of their defensive linemen, pass rushers and receiving corps. I know the Pro-Bowl is pretty much a joke. But it does give some insight to how the rest of the league views the Bills. They really see the team as Josh Allen carrying a bunch of mediocre offensive weapons, and a defense with nobody scary/special that always chokes in the postseason. Bills fans always get upset to hear it, but maybe it's really the truth. Outside of #17, this team really isn't anything special. For someone nicknamed "Big Baller" -- our GM really is actually pretty conservative. In all these years, he's really only made a couple extremely aggressive moves. The trade up for Josh Allen (homerun), the trade for Stefon Diggs (mostly great) and the signing of Von Miller (fell apart after ACL tear). Something needs to change for the Bills to finally reach the next level. Maybe Beane just needs to take more chances. Especially to obtain a game-breaking pass rushing talent.

By my recollection, opinions were actually pretty mixed at the moment Miller was signed. Some loved Beane swinging for the fences. Some felt it was foolish to spend that much on an aging player with an injury history. Year 1 it was looking like a homerun decision by the Bills. 8 sacks in 11 games. He really seemed like the missing piece in our pass rush. Then the ACL tear happened on Thanksgiving, and everything changed. Year 2 he was completely awful trying to recover. Plus the legal issues in the offseason. Most of the fanbase wanted him cut. Year 3 he was OK. Made some plays, but really wasn't a consistent force. Outside of the fumble recovery, Miller did almost nothing in the postseason. Anyone who supported the move is going to cling to those first 11 games, and say the move would have been brilliant if not for the injury (which nobody could have predicted). Anyone who was against the signing will point out how injury risk should have been factored in, considering his past and age. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter if Beane was smart or stupid. It was just another bust for us that didn't work out.

Didn’t learn from the Ravens last week. Wasted two points on blown conversions.

The Chiefs have played 18 games this season. That's a pretty good sample size. They scored exactly 30 points twice. Never went over. Once required them going to overtime, and the other was against the Panthers (who at that time were legitimately being argued as the worst team in the entire NFL). So we aren't talking about a team that lacked consistency on offense. We are talking about a team that was mediocre or struggled all season long in putting the ball into the endzone. For comparison, the Bills scored 30 or more points in 13 of their 19 games. That includes their regular season matchup against the Chiefs and the Wild Card Game against a Broncos defense which most considered to be the best in the AFC playoffs. If the Bills had needed 30 to beat the Ravens, I'm pretty confident they could have gotten it... either with that 4th down goal line conversion, or with a 2-minute drive at the end of regulation. Anything can happen on Sunday. I'm of course nervous and anxious. But we also have every reason to be confident. To put it simply... this version of the Bills is better than this version of the Chiefs. To beat us, their offense will likely need their best game of the entire season. While at the same time, their defense will need to hold us to one of our worst games of the entire season.

Can't expect to be 100% healthy when you are 20 games into the season. We were down half of the defense last year, so missing maybe 1-2 starters should make us feel pretty fortunate. No more excuses. You go into the season with the goal of winning the Super Bowl, and this is what you play all season to get to. This team has blocked us from achieving that goal three times already. Comparing rosters, there is nothing that sets them above us in terms of overall talent. We should be well above them when it comes to desire, motivation and how bad we want this. No way they can get in our way a fourth time.

Sports are always better when you have legitimate competition and intense rivalries to keep fans interested. Watching the same teams/players dominate year after year just gets boring. That's why 99% of the country is rooting against the Chiefs. And I suspect many of their own fans are getting a little bit fatigued too. Even back during the Patriots run, there were gaps between their wins that helped keep NFL viewers tuning in. Fans finally starting getting tired of the Patriots after their third Super Bowl win (2004 season vs. Eagles). And thankfully after that victory, it took nearly a decade for the Patriots to win another championship. Over the next several years, we saw the Steelers, Colts, Giants, Saints, Packers, Ravens and Seahawks win championships. That really helped establish rivalries with the Manning brothers, Big Ben, gave defining moments to future HOF quarterbacks Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, and helped establish a young Russell Wilson. The NFL wasn't just about Tom Brady. And it gave fans hope that the evil empire could at least could be conquered sometimes. The NFL is at risk of becoming the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes show. And that simply isn't good for the league. Especially when you have all these other QBs in their primes (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, etc.) that need a ring to create their legacy.

I was frustrated with the conservative play-calling during the game as well. But on looking back, it probably wasn't as significant as we are all making it out to be. The Bills only had the ball four drives (not counting the kneel down) in the second-half. - On the first punt/three and out, they threw the ball twice. Dalton Kincaid dropped one. The other Allen was almost sacked. - The second punt, we were moving. Then the dumb screen to Dawson Knox. But on replay, it's clear Allen checked into that call. - Third drive was a field goal. 5 runs, 4 passes. - Fourth drive we got to the 2 yard line. Would have probably gone for it and scored in almost any other situation. We started the half with an 11 point lead, going against one of the most dangerous offenses in the entire NFL. Much of our success had come on the ground. It's really hard to blame them for trying to bleed clock with the running game, and make sure the Ravens didn't have enough chances to come back. The one play I really hated was the 3rd-5 screen to Knox. But that wasn't on the coaching staff. That was Allen changing the call to attack a more favorable look. With the scoreboard the way it was, the Bills never NEEDED to open up the offense. If the Ravens had gotten that 2 point conversion, you probably would have seen us go into an attack mode, so we could go down in regulation and win the game.

If you want to know what happened with Stefon Diggs, just look at Amari Cooper's production. He is currently in the spot that Diggs would have been occupying. Last year, Diggs saw his usage/numbers completely fall off a cliff when Joe Brady took over as coordinator. He clearly saw the writing on the wall that it was going to be the same in 2024, and he wanted no part of it. The offense was shifting into a more balanced attack, more checkdowns, less downfield passing and most importantly, no more forcing him the ball. Based on how Brandon Beane approached free agency and the cheap compensation we got back, I don't think he ever planned on trading him. Diggs forced his way out the door. The Bills were mostly willing to deal with the temper tantrums, cryptic posts, blow-ups and degrading relationship with his quarterback. They excused his toxic behavior as just being an emotional player who really wanted to win. As the year has progressed, I think we are now seeing Diggs exit as a blessing in disguise. Despite his talent, his attitude was a cancer to the locker room. There were moments when we missed his ability early in the year, but Cooper has now filled that role. He is perfectly happy to draw away defensive coverage, and just make the clutch plays when he's called upon. Doesn't need 100 catches and 1200 yards receiving. Just wants a ring.