Mister Defense

Yup, sounds like a great idea, to not make the team stronger this year, to not try to win a championship this year, but to get a quarterback for future trade value for "a few hours or up to a year" , or to stockpile some picks in next year's draft. Would give every Bills' player and fan great hope for this year... as Hendon Hooker arrives at last..

Um, what was his reasoning for changing his name to 'Chosen"? Chosen to get half of his previous year's production each new year?: 2020: 1096 yards 2021: 519 2022: 206 2023: 110? He had a lot of potential though. I hope that is all squashed by now, and the name change may indicate this is the case. And that he stays in this same pattern with the Dolphins.

Lol. The quality of a right tackle does not relate to a team's wins or losses!? Well, only true if you mean that any one player cannot win by himself. As a right tackle is a vital part of a team and of an offense.

Bring in those warm bodies for your o-line again, Beane! So many new guys for the line, we can assume some have to be very good, right? Now, with all of these additions on the o-line this off season, the Bills can get another top notch defensive lineman in round one of the draft, one with great physical traits, character, and full of unrealized potential... And if I was a betting man I would bet Jarvis can play 'several positions' on the line. We should get a petition going that Beane has to spend three snaps behind the o-line in a game this year. Maybe that experience will get his attention.

A superb if subtle post, as I think you are saying that the Bills' focus on the athletic qualities of players, and so their potential to develop, has been a fundamental flaw in the Bills' leadership. This seems especially true of the offensive lineman. All you need to add to your post is "and he can play anywhere on the line" and it would be even more complete in its criticism. Hopefully someone in the Bills' organization has the same astute analysis as you. Or we will one day lament the wasted years when we had the best quarterback to ever play the game but gave him offensive lines, full of great physical specimens capable of playing multiple positions, but incapable of protecting the quarterback and opening holes for the running backs. Awesome post!

Yes, I agree that could be the case. But if Allen still has a sieve like line in front of him, and an extremely one dimensional offense, he will still be running for his life against even decent defenses, and forced to play Hero Ball again. Let 's finally do the right thing--and start building a good offensive line, the base of any good offense. To me now, a good receiver is MUCH less important than this, building the foundation of a championship team.

They need to do these three things, in my view: 1. The Bills get a much better right tackle and hopefully one more starting caliber guard to at least challenge for the spot. 2. An offensive play caller who sees and understands the entire field, who uses his running backs dramatically more and more effectively, and who uses the short passing game in the same way. (If not, Allen will take another step back this year, playing Hero Ball to an even greater degree--not because he wants that, not because he doesn't know better, but because he has to.) 3. A starting caliber inside linebacker (likely not on the roster now) and a starting caliber wide receiver and to use the receivers better, in a more diverse, dynamic, creative way.

Well, if this is the case again this year, where the running game seems to be less than an afterthought, again, then Ken Dorsey will almost assuredly be fired at the end of the year. But if the same pattern emerges again, he may not even make it to Thanksgiving.

I didn't realize how well he played last year, as a 32 year old running back--in 12 games rushing for 703 yards!, with 6 touchdowns, 4.4 yards per carry, and 26 receptions too. Those are very good stats for any back, let alone one in his early 30s. And throw in the fact that he was behind center with one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL, Russel Wilson, and it is more impressive. This is the kind of inexpensive veteran I want on this team.

Yeah, it looks like he gained about 40 pounds and most of it fat, not muscle. Great to see!!

Yes, that is what i was thinking, a busy highway. Out of gas, yes, but call a service station to bring you some. And then, with 25% of your blood alcohol, you could have them take you home too.

Loved attending this old-school, great defensive game. To me, a game like that is preferable to a scoring fest where the last team with the ball wins. It also made me really appreciate Wade Phillips and to welcome him with open arms when he came to Buffalo. Old school game, old school coach, and one of the best Bills playoff games ever.

I never said that playing in the elements makes all teams tough and more resilient. And I don't think all dome teams are soft. For example, Detroit seems to rise above that obstacle lately. But there does seem to be a pattern for the dome teams I mentioned as they are 'the same' kind of soft teams, year after year.

Very happy that the Bills didn't consider paying a past his prime receiver 15 million a year after tearing an ACL TWICE over the last few years, and before that a broken ankle. Not worth it. The Ravens would be much better with the TWO (needed) very good receivers they could have signed for that money.

Lol My points are "pretty backward"? Please see bold above... Yikes.

Okay, but open air is a good thing. A needed thing, actually. Want to become like so many of the dome/retractable roof teams? Soft, inconsistent, and very few ever contending? Think: Cowboys, Vikings, Cardinals, Colts, Texans, Falcons... Domes make teams weak, in my opinion. To me, that is what we would get--football is meant to be played outside, is an outdoor game. The elements make teams physical; stronger, resilient. Shoot, Dorsey may never run the ball again if the Bills played in a dome! Dome teams become soft, inconsistent, and tailgating almost always dies when the dome goes up as well--why brave the elements for hours when you are moving to a giant living room soon to watch your team?

Are you saying you would rather have the huge monstrosity of a stadium that they have in Dallas? If so, almost unimaginable. It is like they do not even have a home field advantage anymore in that huge impersonal cavern, where so many rely on monitors because they are so far from the field. No way would would that kind of impersonal corporate mess be accepted in Buffalo. When the Bills play the Cowboys there are you ever worried about the crowd being too loud or the home atmosphere undermining the Bills? I don't. It is almost like they are playing on a neutral field when playing in Dallas.

Thanks for the specific info on this. Often, and like me, if we aren't reading a bunch of perspectives, the superficial take from others seems to dominate: this stadium is an outlandish rip off of NY residents. The fact that the Pegulas are putting up a huge amount of their own money is often ignored or glossed over. If you are correct, they are already in for almost 3/4 of a billion dollars. How many other NFL owners have put up that kind of money for a new stadium? (I have no idea what that answer is.) Looking forward to seeing a game in our new stadium. Go Bills!

I cannot believe that the jets are going to blow this possibly. With that huge expenditure for a moody, inconsistent, head case of a quarterback, past his prime, I think the Jets would not be able to compete with the Bills. As opposed to getting a good quarterback in the draft on a first contract, enabling them to keep growing as a team. Come on Jets, sign Rogers today, and give us a great Easter gift! Or, if it does not work out, try to swing a deal for perennial pro-bowler, Russel Wilson. He is only 35, so has a lot more left in the tank... Go Green, get er done!

Yeah, as if he has any choice. And he would be thrilled with any team showing any interest at all, of course. None will.

The Bills have an excellent tight end, but don't use him well now because of a poor OC, just like they had an excellent running back in Singletary but did not use him. The Bills are in danger of spinning their wheels big time now, running in place as teams pass them by, as we saw this year with the Bengals, and teams like Miami and others about to pass them by. They have actual needs, such as WR, O-line, and linebacker, but the poor coaching is making some think that other areas are just as weak. Dangerous thinking, if we want the Bills to contend. If Dorsey is the same coordinator he was last year, I predict he will not last the year. Wow, really giving Dorsey a huge pass here!!

I think this could work out very well if Newton did it on a volunteer basis only. Or, no more than $100 per start. These would be fair compensation for someone with Newton's talent and ability.

Thanks. Wow is right; three very high caliber NFL running backs on one team, all pro bowl caliber players and one a certain Hall of Famer. But it seems Dorsey learned very little about the value of a high quality running game even from his own seminal football experiences. It will cost him his job this year, in my view, if he does not wake up... It was so bad last year that Greg Cosell repeatedly said that there was "no synchronicity" between the running and passing game of the Bills, and that the running game seemed to be more of an afterthought. Extremely damning words by Cosell, someone who really knows his football. Maybe we can remind Dorsey of the running backs he played with and how important they were to his own success? He clearly has forgotten this fact.

Well, sounds good. But it sounds more like hope than actual evidence that Dorsey and the Bills plan to change their ways and create a real, multidimensional NFL offense where the tight ends, the short passing game, and running game are seminal components. Good point on Winslow and Shockey, and yes, it makes sense that Dorsey learned something from those great players in Miami. Did he also play with any high level running backs?

But what makes you think these things about the coming year? Have you heard Dorsey or others on the Bills specifically address these concerns, changes? Of course I am hoping you are right, but the fact that Dorsey never got better at this, and was the main reason the extremely one dimensional Bills had almost no chance in the playoffs, makes me skeptical. It was as if Dorsey was a one trick pony, with Josh Allen, on the run, winging it down the field, his go to play.