The Frankish Reich

You really had to go there (the CJ Spiller reference)! I see what you mean though. Chan did get great value out of Spiller at the start. He knew how to get speed backs into the open field, which is something Dorsey basically never did.

Interesting, and that may explain a lot - taking a bend/don't break defense by design and making it even more passive in the postseason.

Well ... Tre, Hyde, and Miller are 3 of your 4 or 5 (Milano, Poyer) best players on defense. Frazier did a fantastic job holding it together during the season, and I'm not really sure that the secondary we were putting out there in the playoffs could have done better with lots of blitz action, etc. Tyreek, Waddle, Chase ... we would've been burned deep, and more than once. So was it the best possible defensive scheme? No, in retrospect it wasn't. But the loss of some major playmakers out there had a profound effect.

To this day that trade is still the biggest head scratcher in the Bills’ long history of head scratching moves. There was a reason it looked like McBeane were in over their heads in their first year and a half or so.

People don’t like to hear it, but Miami does (did) too. And will again IF they have a healthy Tua or another good (not even great) QB next year.

The part that makes me laugh: pre-season, and even well into the season, it was common to hear analysts say “the Bills have the best (or deepest) roster in the NFL.” Now all of a sudden we have Allen, Diggs, Milano, and a bunch of scrubs.

The players are generally there because they fit the scheme. The scheme first, the players second. And yes, it is a fine scheme and a tremendous group of players to execute it. It’s a scheme that got us to 13-3 and very nearly the top seed in the playoffs. It is also a scheme that allowed A lot of more marginal players to be hidden when stars (Hyde, Von) went down. Does it work well against high-powered offenses that don’t make many mistakes? No. We’ve seen that. But short of making wholesale changes to personnel (and particularly since we’re likely to have less, not more, in the way of impact playmakers over the next couple seasons with no Von, Poyer, and maybe Hyde), I don’t see a realistic option to change things. My realistic (partial) solution: plan on the Chiefs/Bengals/even a healthy Dolphins to hang 30 on is, and try like hell to get to 35 on offense. Shootout or bust, at least for now.

And even if he doesn’t retire, if you don’t waive him you run the risk of him missing time — maybe a lot of time — with his 7th official concussion. I like him, I like what he did for the team in his first couple years, but it just looks like time to bite the bullet and move on. I like Risner. I’ve seen a lot of him given Broncos saturation here in Colorado. He seemed to take a step back this year, but it’s difficult to say for sure since the Broncos offense was such a crap show in general. I think his best days may still be ahead of him.

The old favorite. What, it’s wrong to ask questions? it’s not wrong. But it is stupid.

Now it all becomes clear to me! (says every mega conspiracy theorist ever) But how are the Illuminati involved? The pope? The deceased queen?

Was it safely secured in the garage next to his 2014 Toyota Minivan? This is Mike Pence we’re talking about, not Classic Corvette Joey.

Old hat for dedicated PPP readers!

Gotta be, right? Joining the family business. I think the loss of Crowder was bigger than we realized. This offense was best when Beasley was still Beasley. McKenzie is a neat gadget player but never really learned the slot. Shakir may someday, but he didn't get the chance this year; that's on McD and Dorsey. This junior Florio is also right when he says Cook and then Hines were brought in to get the RBs involved in the passing game, but that was never really implemented. The Hines addition in particular suggests a disconnect between Beane and Dorsey, maybe Beane and McD too? We barely used him. It's Offense 101 that an aggressive pass rush is best slowed down with screens and draw plays. Where were they? Of course. A stupid comment in an otherwise perceptive tweet storm. As far as defense: I mentioned this before. It's the Billy Beane/Oakland A's thing -- "my [crap] doesn't work in the playoffs." The Frazier D is a great regular season D since you play average or below average offenses most of the time, particularly now in our division. Make most teams matriculate the ball downfield and they WILL make mistakes. Busted plays, penalties, dropped passes, and of course INTs and fumbles. Do that against a top offense and you just create 10 play/75 yard drives. Look at the Bengals yesterday: 2 (count 'em ... TWO) penalties. No turnovers. Every offensive drive but one a sustained/lengthy drive. They just don't beat themselves. So the Frazier offense (like the Billy Beane baseball roster) is a wonderful thing for getting to the playoffs with a high seeding. Once you're IN the playoffs you may need to change it up a bit. And he never does. It worked (barely) against the Dolphins last week because Skylar Thompson put together one nice drive but you knew he couldn't put together the two in a row that they needed. The Bengals? The put together half a dozen in a row just taking what Les gave them, 8-10 yards at a time.

Right. Even setting aside whether McD is the right HC going forward, Florio mentions something I hadn't thought of before: you bring in a new OC and Allen has a big year; that new OC is probably getting a head coaching gig somewhere else the next season. So there is a real bias toward hiring offensive-minded head coaches, and that makes a lot of sense in today's NFL. Not a "nonfactor." Cook had a fine rookie season despite a painfully slow introduction into the RB rotation. Shakir: same as Cook. Early season reps = late season/playoff big plays, but they never really got them. Benford and Elam had their moments, Benford early, Elam late. Both look like keepers to me. And Matt Araiza certainly made an impact ...

Right. The defensive playmakers other than Milano were out or playing hurt. Miller, Hyde: out. Poyer, White, even Jordan Phillips (his shoulder injury ruined his great interior pass rush): playing hurt. Now Simms has a point about the defense going forward. Miller may be effectively done - what will he have left in 2025 if he even does come back? White may or may not make it all the way back. Hyde may never play again, or play effectively again. Poyer will be gone. So that leaves Rousseau, who really seems to be dependent on having Miller on the opposite side at this early stage in his career.

True. For me ... I've been a hardcore bills fan for over 5 decades. At this point in my life of fandom, I find that it's just as important to enjoy a season -- the ups, the downs, the kind of narrative that unfolds from September to January -- as it is to have the season end triumphantly (after all, that's never happened in my life). This season just wasn't as enjoyable from a pure entertainment standpoint. Lots of close games, sure, but a little flat compared to 2020 and 2021 (and really flat compared to the bizarro "we broke the playoff drought in the most unexpected way" 2017). I think some of that may be the lack of Sunday afternoon games, but some is also that the team lost just a little bit of that youthful fire that made it so compelling the last few years.

This is huge. I remember when Russell Wilson broke out in Seattle and everyone said -- correctly -- that their huge advantage was not just having a really good QB; it was having a really good young QB on a cheapo 3rd round contract. Just another way in which competitive balance is always the equilibrium in the NFL

That's the thing. The Bengals drives against the Bills INCLUDING the canceled game (which didn't count in the stats, but that actually was played for about a quarter): - 7 plays, 66 yards, TD - 5 plays, 79 yards, TD - 10 plays, 72 yards, TD - 6 plays, 14 yards, Punt - 14 plays, 65 yards, FG - 6 plays, 44 yards, end of half (Bills saved by the bell) - 12 plays, 75 yards, TD - 5 plays, 61 yards, FG - 8 plays, 29 yards, Punt - 2 plays, 0 yards, End of Game So, not counting the garbage time "drives," the Bengals had: - 7 of 8 drives moved the ball at least 44 yards. The 44 yard drive resulted in the end of the half, so you could say 6 of 7 drives gained at least 61 yards. - again, not counting the garbage time or end of half drives, 6 of 7 drives resulted in points It was total domination. I am a Leslie Frazier defender, but ... here, the Bills saw what the Bengals were going to do to us on January 2. And then seemingly changed nothing, and let the Bengals do it all over again 20 days later. This wasn't close, and at least from the defensive standpoint, the January 22 game was a resumption of the January 2 game, nothing more or less. If the defense was exhausted and out of gas on January 22, I guess it was exhausted and out of gas on January 2 too.

did he tweet that if we'd kept the picks we could've had Justin Jefferson, the first seed/bye week this year (because Jefferson single-handedly beat us for the Vikes), and draft picks to trade for some other need, and that he could've been whining about Kirk Cousins last Monday instead of the Bills offense today? Please read and advise.

Good summary. And that’s why O line projects are a problem. “Took a while to put it together” = “will be an expensive free agent by the time he becomes valuable.” I’m a rare Tremaine Edmunds defender here. But same thing with him: very young (remember the “he’s still 19!” Thing on draft day?), very talented but very raw when we drafted him. I thought he got better hear by year, but by the time he’s actually really good (my minority view), he’ll be packing his bags.

That’s just astounding. THREE first round O line picks in 27 years? No wonder why we always seem to have O line issues.

Re: Brown. I agree. I think he can be a very useful player. I just think it’s mostly a leverage thing given his body type that makes him unlikely to be a long term solution as a starting tackle. EDIT: Brown was kind of a George Fant type project. Fant had played a lot less football than Brown (he was almost purely a basketball player) but was a tall athletic guy that Pete Carrol saw as a project. Got pressed into action too soon and it was rough. Then started to show some of that promise as he learned the position and bulked up. Then went to the Jets this year where he was horrible …

My dad (the ultimate old man Bills fan since their first season) noticed that. “Hey that guy jumping around after sacking Burrow … isn’t that rhe same guy that jumped offside?” Yep. Same guy. Celebrating his bad play.

I think you mean 76th ranked Tackle for Brown. Still ... horrible numbers (I mentioned this in the bumped Orlovsky thread), and it's not like the eye test disagrees. One of the other issues: unwillingness to adapt during the season. Saffold started bad, was bad in the middle, and if possible even worse at the end. A sub-replacement level player this year, which means "find some guy on someone's practice squad and see if he can do better." Morris helped us a lot when he got here, but 24th rated Center is out of, umm, 32 starting Centers. Brown is a failed project. I thought that would become apparent early this year. It did, but then Quessenberry was just as bad, so there really wasn't anyone else to turn to. It is a garbage line with only one keeper (Dawkins), and even he is at best a bit better than average. Exactly. From Brown's NFL scouting report pre-draft: Brown was a first-team all-state pick as a prep after catching seven touchdown passes and racking up 17 quarterback sacks. He was also an all-conference pick in basketball and baseball, so Panthers coaches decided to take that size and athleticism and make him an offensive lineman. After redshirting 2016 to learn the position and get bigger, Brown started five games at right tackle before suffering a season-ending injury. He started 12 of 13 games played at that spot in 2018 before becoming a second-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection as a 14-game starter at right tackle his junior year. UNI postponed its 2020 fall football season until the spring, but Brown decided to move on to the next level and accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl He's a long, lean basketball player/TE (until he started trying to pump himself up to NFL tackle size) guy who really seems to have hit his ceiling. A project that isn't working, and they've stuck with him far too long. Projects like that shouldn't be plugged into an O line with an expensive franchise QB to protect on a team that is built to win today. They should have a chance to develop on some Texans type team.

Yep. Saffold was out of gas in training camp.