GunnerBill

8 He did have a big say in the Pickett and Rodgers decisions but in both cases he wanted them over the alternative of nothing. He wasn't Kevin Stefanski running Baker out of town because he must have Watson. Pickett was QB1 in his class now I never loved him or thought he was a first round talent but a team without a QB took a shot on the consensus QB1 at their original drsft spot without trading up. I am not killing anyone for that.... and then wanting Rodgers over Russ and Fields..... I mean that isn't a terrible call. If you want to say them having no QB since Ben is all on Tomlin it is definitely not. Their coaching remains consistently better than their talent evaluation and their Quarterbacking. I do think he might need to be encouraged to risk his no losing season record to allow a hard reset of the roster and if he was really resistant to that I would then consider firing him as an owner. But if he said, yep, I'm on board, let's accept one down year, clean up our cap and see where we land then there is no way I'd fire him. He is and remains a very fine football coach.

The biggest problem in Pittsburgh is not Mike Tomlin. It is they can't find an answer at Quarterback and since Omar Khan took over they have not drafted great. If they fire Tomlin he'd be hired in minutes.

I think the Rams are the team to beat despite them losing to a poor Carolina team this past weekend. There is no dominant team in the NFL right now. I think the AFC is wide open.

It was Babich. I said after the Falcons game if McDermott takes over the D (and he needed to) the two things he would fix were 3rd down and pre-snap.... because those were coaching issues. And he has. There are plenty of other issues still with the D.... but the things that were very clearly coaching were fixable and have largely been fixed.

It was the 2nd level - linebackers and nickel / dime players. They have been the biggest issue all season.

Awww poor you.

He hasn't got worse but Seattle always knew what they had - the ultimate one trick pony. Pittsburgh have tried to use him in more diverse ways and he can't do it. He can run downfield in straight lines very quickly. That's it. However that is the thing the Bills can't do and need....

I am.

Metcalf. If the Steelers are on the hook for some of that crazt contract especially.

I actually agree 77% for 11 wins seems low. There seems almost nothing realistic you can do with the playoff machine to get the Bills to 11 AND have them miss out. But I have had another play with us at 10-7.... I repeat.... 10 wins is dicey.

I don't think Brady is Ben Johnson (although Ben Johnson's passing game isn't that creative either it is in the run game he is a genius) or McVay etc... but I personally don't think there is a lot wrong with his passing schemes. He does have a smallish group of pass concepts he likes a lot and calls with high frequency but some of that in my opinion is there are very limited things this group can do. So he deserves some of the 'blame' sure. But it is 90% a talent issue to me when I watch the film.

Yep THAT is more in line with what the playoff machine gives me. 11-6 we almost never miss. 10-7 is 50/50. It is dicey.

No poor talent evaluation is not an accident. Them being in this position is an accident because nobody banks on themself being a poor talent evaluator. I agree it is on them. I am not giving them an out.

They also drafted him saying he had "inside / outside versatility". I said it then - he doesn't.

All of the top years were when Leslie Frazier was here, yep. He is the most underrated coach (by the fanbase) that has worked for the Bills during my fandom.

Okay, he has had a top regular season defense. That the defense hasn't performed at the top level in our playoff exits is undeniable. Kincaid is excluded because he is not a wide receiver. Not because I want to make Beane look bad. He is not a wide receiver. And the weakness on the Bills, the biggest weakness on the Bills is the receivers.... particularly deep and on the boundary... and so we don't make teams defend the entire field and they creep up and in and congest the middle of the field. And isn't the Buccs exactly the point.... they are the ONLY team to have spent fewer day 1 and 2 draft resources on wide receiver in the EIGHT drafts that Brandon Beane has been the Bills GM...... but they ALREADY had Mike Evans (drafted in 2014) and Chris Godwin (drafted in 2017) on their roster. The Bills didn't have that. They had Diggs four of those years. Who is the next best receiver they have had in that eight year run? John Brown? Gabe Davis? Cole Beasley in the slot? All decent enough players in their own right but not reasons to deprioritise the position.

Kincaid is not a wide receiver, that's excluded. But you are right - I had forgotten the 3rd he traded for Cooper in season. That puts him 31st. Just above the Buccs.

I am not sure that is even true though. They played well v Miami despite the O constantly putting them in a hole. They played well v New England. They played fine against the Steelers. Have they been good enough in games we have been eliminated? No. But equally other than the 13 second game I am not sure the O has either. Particularly the last two years.

Im willing to go with the numbers. My playing with the playoff machine it felt dicier than that. I ran about 5 versions the other night we made it twice and missed 3 times with just wins v CLE and NYJ.

New England, certainly in the 2nd dynasty, were more a Bills build than a Ravens build too.

THIS year, the defense isn't good. It wasn't good last year either. But over his reign their have had top regular season defenses. It is simply not true to say he has never had top defenses.

What I think is partly by accident is exactly the point you go on to make. They think their wide receivers are better than they are year after year. Whether it is telling us Samuel can contribute outside (he can't and I said so even when they were publicly proclaiming he could), drafting Keon and thinking he was an answer on the boundary (he isn't and was never going to be) or signing Palmer and talking him up (I called him the bare minimum option a week before FA began). They want to be balanced and run it and not take high risks with the ball in the passing game. I agree. They don't want to be this bad throwing the ball. That is the bit that is by accident and it is because of poor talent evaluation.

Fair enough. I bow to the numbers over my playing with the playoff machine!

Yea for all that Coop was clearly not the guy he had been he still forced teams to respect the outside when he was out there. I don't know how many times we have to hear defensive players of the opposition say "we talked all week about not letting them beat us in the middle of the field" before we believe what is very obvious. Teams are daring the Bills to beat them outside confident that they won't be able to.

They have a ton of injuries to key guys... and Lamar missed time and they are not deep. Their roster build is very different to ours... they are a stars and jags build we are a solid and depth build. But they are arguably as healthy now as they have been since week 1 when they looked pretty good to me. I still say that is the worst possible WC matchup.