Kirby Jackson

Here are my thoughts on the topic from last month: I’m not denying there’s a market for them. I’d probably talk myself into getting mine. Lol, it’s more “why?” I can see a sports bar wanting to display them. I was at Tully’s the other day and I’m 90% sure they have old stadium seats in there somewhere. Maybe Bennigan’s will pull down some upside down unicycles and replace them with conjoined plastic chairs? It’s the personal ownership that I’m struggling with. I’ll probably get excited and waste money on mine. I’ll bring it home and put it in the garage until I “find a better place for it.” It’ll sit there for about 3 months before I start getting questions about “what do you plan to do with that?” After another 3 months I’ll start getting asked, “why don’t you put that in your office or to the curb?” Obviously, I’m not going to put it in my office because my office is nice and throwing a couple of random plastic chairs in the corner does nothing to elevate the aesthetic. Another 3 months will go by and the pressure mounts to get them out of the garage. After 3 more months, the walls have caved in and something will have to give. I’ll give them both to my developmentally disabled cousin who will think that they’re amazing. After 2 months my aunt will be all over him to get rid of them because they don’t go in his apartment. 3 days will pass and he will sell them on Facebook marketplace for $32 a piece. I’ll have to drive over to his house, load them in the car, and drive to a Wegman’s parking lot to meet the buyer so that my cousin can collect $64. He will put that $64 towards Madden ‘28.

We lost these four games but not because those teams are drastically different than who we thought they were. It’s not like the Commanders going from pick 2 to the NFC Championship game. New England improved. I still think we split with them which wasn’t a crazy thought. The Texans are a little easier than they’ve been and they’ve been good. At Houston was always a coin flip. Atlanta and Miami are bad teams that you lost to. When you looked at the schedule last year those should have been wins. They aren’t losses because those teams are better than we thought. The Bills played poorly. The schedule look ahead isn’t pointless imo. The majority of teams aren’t drastically different from what you expect. Next year’s schedule is significantly tougher. If you go through those 2 threads that @May Day 10 posted, people were spot on a year ago. Next year is a lot harder. That doesn’t mean that the Bills will have a worse record (or a better one). This year, the Bills had as easy of a path as they could possibly ask for with the exception of Burrow missing a couple more weeks. The seas parted for them and they peed down their leg.

The Josh Johnson of wide receivers 🤣🤣 Me too

In 2 years, he’s going to be an elite answer on Immaculate Grid.

Thoughts?

This seems like the right answer. It’s about balance and predictability. Don’t do something wildly outrageous that changes the game in any phase. It’s kind of “do your job.”

Hope he sees it. If he doesn’t, Josh has the ability to make the change.

Coaches like to win. Coaches go where they have a QB. Ben Johnson waited 2 years to take a job. He had tons of opportunities. He took Caleb Williams. In contrast, McDermott wasn’t “selecting” which opportunity he wanted. He took the one that was offered. The top guys go to the best situation. The Bills, if they move on, will be the top job along with the Ravens if they move on. You would be starting off with top 3 QBs. That’s the opportunity that you’re looking for.

Interesting thought and point. Personally, I’ve wanted a cocky, prickly guy. Cignetti was my first choice but he signed that monster deal. Lane Kiffin is next for me but think he goes to Florida. The Bills don’t need to be stoic. They don’t need “calm, cool and collected.” They need attack, attack, attack. The best version of Josh Allen, and in turn the Bills, is Thanos Josh. When Josh is fiery and taking over, they’re at the best. The 13 seconds Josh is his best. Josh taking off on 4th down vs. KC last year and flexing in the end zone. That confidence and swagger is infectious. The Bills follow Josh. The Bills go as Josh goes. Josh Allen sitting on the sidelines hanging his head, staring at a surface and not talking to anyone is him at his worst. He’s been gelded. What I want the most in a new regime is to let Josh be Josh. Lane Kiffin would be chest bumping him and trash talking. The Bills lost their edge. More than any other reason, that’s why I think they’ve struggled. The message and mentality is stale. Josh doesn’t need to be “reeled in.” He needs to be unleashed. The Bills need to try to dominate teams, not try to outlast the Saints. All gas, no brakes

I think that they all need to go. Wipe the slate clean and hit reset. It’ll be the most desired job on the market with Josh. Get someone new building the roster and someone new designing the schemes. There are some position coaches that’s I’d keep but otherwise, wipe it clean.

I think that’s fair. The Bills have certainly had challenges this year. The difference with the Bills and KC though is that their group has PROVEN that they can get it done. They been to 5 and won 3 or something like that? This Bills regime doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt that the KC regime gets. They are in year 7 as a team that “can” win the Super Bowl and have played in 2 AFC title games. The Bills roster, if you replaced Josh with Brock Purdy (for example), would win about 5 or 6 games. He is the single most important player to his team in the NFL. They had a Vegas oddsmaker on this offseason and he said that Josh Allen missing a game would move the spread over 7 points, more than any other player in football (Lamar was next). The team isn’t very good and that’s on Beane. With that being said, where I think that we disagree is on the floor. Let’s say that the Bills finish this year 11-6. That seems reasonable. If you would have replaced McDermott with Mike Kafka (for a random example) how much worse would they be? Which games were won with coaching? In fact, you could make a strong case that replacement level coaching would be an improvement this year. The floor with a competent HC is about where they’ll be this year. If you replaced McDermott with Robert Salah (as another random example) you don’t become a 6 win team (as long as Josh is healthy). There is little to no downside risk and unlimited upside.

I guess that what I’m saying, is that with the exception of Verse, the Bills had an opportunity to add anyone that the Rams took. The Rams and Eagles are so well run. They’ve just hit at a much higher percentage than most teams. They have high end players on rookie deals. That’s a necessity in today’s NFL.

It is though. We can go back through the archives. That’s what everyone thought. When you look at “strength of schedule” it was among the easiest in the league even a year ago. It only got easier to @BADOLBILZ point when they didn’t have to give up a game to go International. The NFC South is/was the worst division in football. The AFCE was next. New England improving is the only thing that may change it a little. Miami and the Jets are still bottom feeders. The AFCN is probably the next easiest AFC division behind the east. Cleveland stinks. Pittsburgh is just okay and the Bengals have been bad for a few years. Baltimore is good but you got them at home. The 3 “extra” games that you got as a division winner were Houston, Philly and KC. 2 of those were going to be at home and one on the road. If you asked 100% of people which 2 of those opponents are hardest that you wanted home, you’d have gotten Philly and KC. This schedule was literally close to the best possible scenario. I suppose you could trade out the AFCS for the AFCN. They AFCS though with the Colts, Jags and Texans looks better now than it did a year ago. If you go back through posts about this schedule from a year ago, it will be overwhelmingly optimistic. This was the year that we all said was cleared for the 1 seed. I mean, New England playing virtually the same schedule (except the 4th place version) is on track for the 1 seed.

Absolutely!! The same with the Eagles. Those teams didn’t close the gap by drafting stars at the beginning of drafts (although the Eagle have a couple). Those teams just consistently hit on their picks. They built their rosters by scouting better. The Rams are going to be dangerous with that pick and their own. They are already really good. Maybe Stafford’s age starts to catch up but if not, they’re only going to get better. They are so well run.

The Rams have drafted 1 guy in the first round (Jared Verse pick 19 in 2024) since taking Jared Goff with the first pick in 2016!!! I will almost guarantee no one has had less. They’ve certainly had the least top 100 picks in that time period.

That’s just not a realistic way to look at it. The Eagles & Rams are probably the 2 best teams in football and have elite receivers. The Bengals have elite receivers and stink. Every team has different strengths and weaknesses. Trying to put it in a vacuum to make a point is misleading. The Bills are 7-4 & the Cowboys are 5-5-1 and 100% of people that have any clue about football would trade the Bills WRs for the Cowboys. For the situation that the Bills are in, they can play with anybody. If they are going to be a championship team, they’re going to play some close games in the playoffs. When the pressure turns up, in a 1 score game, do they have someone that can make that play Pickens made Sunday? Do they have a guy that wins, with 2 or even 3 guys on him because he’s better than they are?? That’s the difference between the Bills of the last 6 years and a title. In the key moments, they didn’t have the guy. When they had the guy, he literally dropped the ball.

No they didn’t. We played the NFC South which has been the worst division in football. We played the AFCN which had 1.5 good teams in Baltimore and Cincy. We played the toughest games at home (Philly, KC, Tampa, Baltimore, Cincy). It’s quite the opposite. People looked ahead to this year and said, “it doesn’t get any easier than this in the NFL.” The strength of schedule was near the easiest in the league. The only thing inflating it was that we had to play the other teams that finished in first. We got Philly and KC at home and had to go to Houston as the other crossover. While I agree that things change year to year, absolutely no one was looking at this schedule last year saying how tough it was going to be. It was comparatively very easy.

I’ve been crushing the Bills for not having a guy that’s ever had more than 851 yards receiving in a season. I can’t be mad about them bringing in a guy with 6 seasons over 1k (even if 4 of them were before Covid was a thing and 2 were socially distanced). Cooks is a pro. He’s proven that he can get open. He isn’t the player that he was a decade ago but he’s an upgrade to some of the guys they have now. We shouldn’t expect him to be dynamic but he may contribute a little. For Thanksgiving, that’s not a bad addition.

Fantastic post 🍻🍻

No doubt. Stale is the exact way to describe it. You can’t have stale with Josh or you miss your window. This team needs a lot of change to be back to an elite contender. They CAN win but everything needs to be perfect. They’re flawed. The quickest way to make significant change is at coaching

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