Kirby Jackson

I think that if we are looking for a “silver lining” it’s that the NFC looks tougher than the AFC for the first time in a long time. The Bills obviously have underachieved to this point. They have not played well. If they get hot though and go on a run, they can win at NE, Den, Indy, etc… This might be a year, like the Rams last title, where someone got hot at the right time.

That’s what people are missing the most. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but some can’t shake the drought mentality. Assuming Josh Allen is upright, what is the floor for this team? Honestly, they are probably going to finish below what I thought the floor was. That speaks to the job this regime is doing. With Josh Allen, and playing in the AFCE, you’re probably looking at 11 wins minimum. That’s what they’ve done for the last 5 years or whatever. That’s not BECAUSE McDermott & co. are here. It’s BECAUSE Josh Allen is one of the best players in the world at the most important position in sports. I’ve said for the last few years that you could find pretty much any quality coach in the NCAA or NFL and get results comparable to what they’ve gotten. There are literally hundreds of coaches that could have won some AFCE titles and a playoff game or 2 in this era. Sure, maybe Mike McDaniel or Robert Salah would have a year where they win 12 instead of 13 but the Bills aren’t going to be a 7 win team with a change (assuming Josh is healthy). Odunze as well

Ben Johnson is an elite coach. He and Mike Vrabel will battle it out for COY. They deserve it. That franchise was a disaster and now they’re leading their division. The same goes for the Pats. They both have elite coaches and QBs that look like they can play. Both of those coaches would have been clear upgrades for the Bills. The Bills coaching is okay. It’s not bad. It’s not great. These guys are doing a great job. It’s the equivalent of having Baker as your QB instead of Josh. He’s fine but there is better. Both Johnson and Vrabel are better.

Patriots on Sunday Night

That was part of the urgency of this season. This is as easy as it gets. While things change there’s probably a 2 game difference based on degree of difficulty.

Fair. Locally, people know about the disaster of the Sabres. The pressure though can only be so big when it’s Paul Hamilton and Marty Biron talking about them for an hour a day. It’s local and secondary. That was the point. There’s no denying that he has completely messed that up. Look at the LaFontaine situation. We just don’t know what will happen here. Josh has covered for a lot of mistakes. Does Terry feel the urgency to win in Josh’s window? He should. Josh also has the power to end this. He has virtually equal power. If he goes to Terry and says he wants something different, he gets it. He’s at that stature that some reach. It’s the LeBron scenario. Maybe Terry doesn’t want to dump them but Josh can 100% make that happen. I don’t see him ever saying anything publicly but could certainly say that privately. Terry is facing more pressure in this situation than in any that he has faced. It’s a different pressure. It’s also a lot broader. We will see how he handles it but it’s not comparable to keeping Kevyn Adams.

I’d like to think that the 2nd best player on the 2026 team, isn’t on the roster currently. I’d say Cook is currently the 2nd best player. I’m looking for an addition that slots in between Cook and Josh. That would be at WR or pass rush if not.

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I think that they should open the video with the clip of Beane on WGR. That’s how they opened their season video or Hard Knocks. I can’t remember which one. They should lean in on it.

I think that he’s a 1st team all-pro with JSN if the season ended today

The 2025 version of George Pickens would be, inarguably, the 2nd best player on the Bills behind Josh. He’s on pace for 104/1629/12. For perspective, that would be the best year a Bills WR ever had.

Hey man, I’ve found this to be arguably the most frustrating team of my lifetime. They’ve been on the verge for 6 years but have had some clear flaws every year. The last 2 years, the flaws looked bigger. The pass catchers looked to be near the bottom as you mentioned. The DL was so bad last year that they brought in a handful of guys to try to change it (Walker, Sanders, Ogunjobi, Bosa, Jackson and Hoecht). They were throwing things at the wall and hoping something stuck. It has not. There wasn’t a plan other than “go find different guys.” Hoecht was probably planned but Bosa and Walker just kind of “happened.” I mean, the Bills took TJ Sanders AND Landon Jackson before settling on Walker. It was like, “I guess he’s good value.” I’m not saying I wouldn’t have taken those guys first but he’s clearly been the best of the 3. That was way more luck than a plan. If that was a “plan” you’d have taken him before Landon Jackson. I fear that next year, they’ll do the EXACT same thing at WR. Clearly they see what a disaster it has been by the efforts at the deadline. I suspect that next year only Shakir, Palmer, Shavers and MAYBE Gabe are back as WRs. That means that we will have 3+ new guys on the roster and a bunch more coming in. If I had to guess they will take the quantity over quality strategy that they have. They’ll just keep adding bodies instead of trying to add “the” guy. The biggest issue, in my opinion, is that the Bills don’t value talent. If you told them they could have 2 “B” players or have an “A” and a “D” player they are taking 2 “B” players all day long. They then create this rotation where the “B” players split snaps 60/40 or whatever. I believe that you should go with the “A” and “D” players at premium positions (WR, Edge). The snap shares for “A” player vs. “D” player should be 90/10 at WR and 75/25 at Edge. The “A” players should be on the field at EVERY big moment. You’re banking on the “A” players making a play like Pickens made yesterday to win the game. You’re hoping that they just “out-talent” the guy across from them. This Bills regime sees it differently. You hit the nail on the head with the philosophy on defense. It’s get pieces to fill roles. I believe that the delta from “A” players to “suitable role players” is wide. The Bills seem to be willing to downgrade from the “A” players to upgrade the “suitable role players.” That’s insanity. The Cook negotiations were a perfect example. They had no choice but to bring him back even before he exploded this year because he is a Pro Bowl level player. You don’t let those guys go in favor of 2 “Ray Davis-level” guys. You shouldn’t sign those high end role players like Bernard, Rousseau and Knox to make them low end “A” players. They aren’t that. There’s a lot of words here but you win at the top of your roster. The Eagles have elite talent so let’s put them aside. KC won for years with HOFer Patrick Mahomes throwing to HOFer Travis Kelce and HOFer Chris Jones making every big stop. The Pats did it with HOFer Tom Brady to HOFer Gronk with a handful of defensive stars also in Canton. You don’t win because of the gap between Dawson Knox and Quentin Morris. You win because of the gap between George Pickens and Elijah Moore (or even Josh Palmer). Maybe that’s a good way of putting it. The Bills would rather have Knox and Palmer than Pickens and Morris. If you give them 4 players they’ll take the 2nd and 3rd best over the 1st and 4th. I just don’t think that’s a championship plan. That’s how Carolina was built too. They were both fortunate to get MVP QBs. You never trade a dollar for 4 quarters. Beane would trade 10 dollars for 40 quarters if offered. ADDENDUM: Lol, after reading this back it almost feels like a breakthrough in therapy. I think the root of my frustration with the Bills is that they’re wasting Josh. I’ve known that but what I now realize is that they’re consciously trying to give him as MANY guys as they can, not “the best possible guys.” It’s like saying, “we would rather go to Longhorn twice than to Ruth’s Chris once and Sizzler once.” It’s just not the lens that I see the world through.

I’ve been of the belief that they would make it. After the Jags won tonight, it was the first time that missing the playoffs became a possibility to me. This Pittsburgh game is now huge. I don’t know how the tiebreakers with multiple teams would play out.

Remember when we stole “trust the process” from the 76ers? Whatever happened to that? If these guys wanted to really troll us they bring it back in a press conference about Shaq Lawson coming back. Lean right into their villain arcs.

This can’t be real. 🤣🤣