GunnerBill

Let's gooooo Buffaaaaallllllooooooo!

After 17 games - sure. But in smaller samples like 3 games the opposition can skew. I think the Ravens game makes the run D look worse than it is (it's average to just below average). By the same token the Jets games makes the third down D look better than it is (it is actually legit terrible).

He is talking about 2019. There is no disgareement from anyone (including Brandon Beane btw) that what they gave Allen around him in 2018 was putrid.

I think to be fair to them they fixed things up pretty well in 2019. They admitted how bad they screwed up 2018 and they invested in protection and a couple of credible pass catchers and a proper QB coach and had a vet in the room. But 2018 was mistake after mistake, they got away with it.

Sean Payton was once one of the most cutting edge play designers and play callers in football but this tells you two things: 1. It's easier to look like an innovator when your QB is a HOF talent; and 2. Eventually the league passes everyone by. No matter how good you have been. To be running just 26% motion in 2025 is unforgiveable.

Did Denver hire Ken Dorsey? 😂

Honestly I think the Rex era was worse. Cos the team was talented under Rex. And we STILL sucked. The Chan team the talent sucked.

So sure, 3 DBs in round 1 in 9 drafts including the one McDermott ran. But only 1 more DB in the first two days. Defensive line it is 2 first round picks and SIX day two picks. The priority of this regime in the draft has unquestionably been defensive line. 8 premium picks vs 4.

In Allen's rookie year in 2018 it is beyond a question of a doubt that they made a total mess of every element of the process. 1. Lack of a proper vet in the room until mid-season; 2. Thinking Peterman was a legitimate bridge that Allen would gain anything learning behind (he couldn't even stay on the field more than a half); 3. An offensive talent collection that the GM himself at the end of the season admitted was "horrible". Including the worst offensive line in the league with Vlad Ducasse and Ryan Groy as a starters and wide receivers that were a rookie UDFA and a career journeyman in Deonte Thompson.

And they drafted pretty well with the picks they did have. Even guys who they didn't extend like Jordan Fuller and David Long and Ernest Jones and David Edwards were day 3 picks who were average to above average starters on tiny rookie salaries that enabled them to fit the stars in around. And then that 2023 class.... Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Puka Nakua, Steve Avila.... that was one of those classes a bit like Cook, Bernard, Shakir, Benford for the Bills where you just find four long term starters in a single class and Turner and Nakua especially are difference makers for them.

When I see Tua speak I find it easier to believe how you as a franchise end up tying yourself to him. He is a proper adult in the room, thoughtful, comes across as decisive and if you are around that all day I totally get how you end up going "this guy has the personality I want and he can play." The problem is while his personality might be an A his game is a B- and that is the ultimate limitation.

Would it? I dunno. There are Quarterbacks who learn from the bench, no question. But I think the one element of the Bills development of Josh where they (organisationally) deserve some element of the credit beyond just Josh being incredibly talented and incredibly driven to improve and succeed is that they exposed him to things. They were willing to keep calling pass plays and exposing Josh to different rushes and different coverages and the sort of high level opposing defensive scheming he just hadn't been exposed to in the Mountain West even at times when nothing was working. They never went to, right let's just run the ball and get out of dodge here. They prioritised giving Josh the opportunities to get better and he absolutely maximised them. I actually think not only was their original plan wrong because Peterman predictably sucked, I am not sure their original plan was the right plan for Josh Allen. If he'd sat in 2018 my strong suspicion is 2019 might have looked a fair bit like 2018 for Allen (possibly a little better but still up and down), and 2020 might have looked a fair bit like the first step forward that 2019 did. Then they'd have been going into 2021 (year four) not really knowing whether he was definitely the guy. In a sense they got slightly lucky that their original plan worked out so poorly they had to abandon it so quickly.

I do think it was a master plan. Just a terrible one. Peterman was a dreadful Quarterback. I didn't even think he was draftable let alone startable in the NFL. They planned to have Josh sit at least most of the year and after one half of Peterman in 2018 they were like "we keep trotting out this guy he will get us fired." It was a predictable disaster.

Yep, if the medical staff say any of those players are at greater risk of re-injury than normal they should sit this week. Next week get them out there.

Well it's a long way out and it depends with some guys if they come out this year instead. But there is also Wesco at Clemson, Coleman at Auburn and there are others too. I think it is potentially a 6 or 7 round 1 type guys class. I agree top 10 might not be feasible for the Bills but getting into the teens definitely is. And right now I expect there to be potential #1 receiver type talents available in the teens. Because it isn't just a good looking receiver class. Right now 2027 looks like a hell of a potential draft class. In a year's time that might have changed, it has happened before. But right now.... has the potential to be one of the best collections of first round talent we have seen in the 20 or so years I have been watching the draft. I agree mostly. But I have more confidence in the Browns ability to screw things up than you do. Not least because they have an interfering owner who thinks he knows more about football than the football guys. I'd have the same confidence in Carolina to screw things up for the same reason.

If Josh Allen is their Quarterback they don't have Garrett Wilson. Cos they are never bad enough to be in position to draft him. Which kind of proves your point. I do think the Browns might still have been dysfunctional though. I mean Baker was their best QB since re-entry to the league, and by a long way, and they kicked him to the curb. I am not saying they'd have done that with Josh but I do think that owner is like an inverse-Midas. He could touch gold and turn it into ash.

No not that one. There was a blitz off the right edge, zone coverage behind. 2nd half.

I agree there was some bad playcalling on 3rd and 4th down that played a part. Though I am not as forgiving of blitzes that get beat as you. One of the worst 3rd down calls was a blitz. It was a terrible idea.

Agree. The Dolphins caught us in a bad call against what they ran. That wasn't on players. White or anyone else. McDaniel beat Babich on that rep.

Yep, I'm not saying don't try and add a receiver at all in the draft in 2026 (a one trick pony outside, speed guy in rounds 2-4 I still think could add value to this team), but given what the 2027 class looks like it could be I'm fine if they go somewhere else in round one, or even trade out of round one for some ammo next year. There could be 6 or 7 studs in that 2027 first round.

I am fine the Bills waiting on receiver in round 1 in 2026 as long as they really attack it in 2027. And that might mean being willing to go right up the draft board. The sort of move I know you advocated in the 2024 draft.

I think the roster is one of the deepest in the NFL. That is both a credit and a also, potentially, a criticism of the GM. It is to his credit because he has built that roster. The depth is in part because they have done a good job identifying and then developing day picks and UDFA type guys. Whether it is Cam Lewis, Khalil Shakir, Christian Benford, Jackson Hawes or even a guy like Ryan VanDemark who was an UDFA elsewhere that they identified when he was released. However, the reason he can afford all that depth is he doesn't have enough elite talent to spend his $$s on. If they had a league average Quarterback I'm pretty confident they'd be a competitive team. Even his critics have to accept McDermott is one of the best coaches in the NFL Monday to Saturday, even if they criticise some of his gameday decision making and he'd have his team ready to play. Now they wouldn't necessarily be a playoff team every year... but if you put say Tua or someone like that on this team I think they'd win 7 to 10 games. I think other than wide receiver the Bills roster is better in all areas than the Miami roster that has been in that range with him at QB.

All this is right, but in defence of Schoen and Daboll, it is now pretty widely acknowledged by people with close knowledge of the Giants that Mara had his fingerprints on the extension of Jones decision. That being said, given how he is playing in Indy, maybe Mara was right??

3 and outs wasn't the problem against the Dolphins. They had four of them. The issue was as soon as they didn't force a three and out they were unable to then get a stop.

I think there is a difference between and in play penalty that happens post snap and something that happens pre-snap. Not sure I'd call it cheating but I do think conceptually the two are different.