GunnerBill

I think the 2021 and 2022 teams were better than the 2024 team.

Taron Johnson, Ed Oliver, Christian Benford and Conor McGovern are all top 15 at their positions. Shakir is top 15 if you simply deliniate slot receivers and Bernard would be there are thereabout at MLB. The Bills problem isn't lack of guys top 15 at their positions. It is lack of top 5 guys at their positions.

They are not great or elite, agreed. Milano was I think for a period pre-injuries and I think Benford and Brown are trending that way, but right now the only elite player on the Bills is Josh Allen. I am not sure that is quite the same as "just Josh and a bunch of guys" though which was your original statement.

I don't think the Denver team that beat Carolina was even a top 5 team in the NFL that season. Everyone else on that list was within the top 4 or 5 the year they won. But they aren't always "the best." The reality is normally among the top 4 or 5 teams in any one season the margins are very slim and they could all beat each other.

Probably a bit of both. Him setting some parameters before they hit the road and then him adding a layer of analytic analysis to their reports when they come back.

Especially how he looked in 2024. If he is healthier a further year removed from the achillies, fine, but yea it is voluntarily downgrading at Quarterback without any obvious play for how you then upgrade again. I said the same when the Raiders did it with Carr... it is never a good idea. If you can get someone broadly equivalent for cheaper, fine. If you plan to tank, fine (this Rams team is way too good for that). But just willfully going from a tier B Quarteback to a tier C guy for no good reason? Yea that's odd.

It appears as such because it is as such. And yes I broadly agree with the second para. "Crush" might be slight hyperbole but get the better of, yes for sure.

Gladstone was only Prime Minister four times....

It is primarily the Chiefs O vs Our D, yes. But their D generally beats our O in high leverage situations in the playoffs too. 2021 excluded (when that was purely coaching failure).

Yea I agree Snead is VERY good at his job. And he picked McVay too.

Oh for sure. Though in the big moments, Spags wins too. But unquestionably the bigger issue is we cannot find a way in the playoffs to win on defense. Which is so bizarre because in the regular season we have. The Eagles basically ran Leslie Frazier's 2021 regular season defensive gameplan in the Superbowl.

I suspect he is a very smart, slightly nerdy guy who McVay and Les Snead realised was bringing something different. Like the personnel version of Mike McDaniel.

I just think the Bills roster with Tua not Allen would be in the playoff mix. One game in or one game out. As for what is keeping the Bills short... it's simple. It's the Kansas City Chiefs.

I do that all the time. If you search my profile and "fair" you find plenty of them. That is generally how I start those responses.

I don't know for certain but I suspect it means developing player specifications and profiles for guys that meet their requirements for the scouting staff to then apply.

If it is the difference betwen 8 wins and 9, sure. But that would be the floor if he plays every game. Agree. 2023 I think injuries was legit thing because it was cluster injuries at one spot and they were down to like 5th and 6th options. Every other year? No. The injuries were no worse than most teams at that stage on a one off game basis. The only thing I would say in the bigger picture is to suffer two ACLs to their defensive stars in consecutive years and then season enders again to Milano and White in 2023... that is really bad luck. Every team has injuries. But to lose starts to serious injuries with that frequency is really rare.

ARod actually makes some sense there. If he can check his ego. It's the same scheme as Green Bay.

Yes. Josh is a freak there is no doubting that. But Tua can play. I think this discussion is guilty of slightly disrespecting him.

The 2024 D WAS one of the worst in the league. But they'd have still won some games with good QB play.

Hmmm. What would the Rams plan be? Blockbuster trade up for Cam?

Meh. We just played some bad teams. I don't dispute how important Josh is to this team. Take him away and we have zero elite players. But I don't think we are top 5 pick team with someone like Tua. Now give us Will Levis.... we might be picking 1st overall.

I disagree that we lose the Colts game. I will give you 8 wins. It would have been in that range. 8 or 9. Tua is still a decent QB and he would actually fit quite well in the offense we ran in 2024. Obviously he isn't Josh Allen. Nobody is.

While I agree the 2024 roster was weaker... we also won 6 games against teams who scored 14 or fewer. I think we'd have won 9 or 10 games and it would have been plenty good enough against a weak division. Yea the difference is they nailed those picks. They played them because they were good. They were not good because they played.

See with that I disagree. Tua on this team the Bills still win the AFCE unless you are putting Josh on the Dolphins in return. They probably lose in the first round of the playoffs though.

McDermott has never been scared to play young guys. Hell he started Christian Benford (a 6th round rookie) week 1. When McDermott doesn't play young guys it is eithet because there is a stud infront of them or because they are not ready. And for those in the latter camp when they get on the field they always struggle. He doesn't play the ones who are not ready to play. The Bills told you in their end of season pressers they are disappointed with Keon (in a pretty direct way for them) and they hinted they were disappointed in Bishop too. This idea that you just play the guys and they magically become good. It is for the birds.