The Frankish Reich

Agreed. I see a fairly lean year or two coming. They’ll still be a winning team if Allen is there and healthy, but the cap issues will really be a problem. My number 1 priority: protect the prize asset, Allen. Sacrifice on defense (something’s got to give) but you have to protect and prolong the good years of the only guy who will still be there when the window of opportunity flings open again. That means offensive line + a real running game. And if there’s a real talent at WR that you can afford, add that next.

“lucked” into Mahomes? More like we unlucked ourselves out of Mahomes.

Yep. Going into the season I praised Beane for somewhat upgrading the O line and doing it on the cheap. Turns out you get what you paid for.

That is indeed the model since that’s what Beane and McD are familiar with. The scary part for Bills fans: watching Allen take a beating and knowing that Cam was effectively done before he was 30 …

It’s not like nobody noticed this before yesterday. I took a quick look at everyone’s favorite whipping boy, PFF. Here’s how our offensive players rated this year: - Elite (score of 90+): Allen, Diggs - Very Good to Pro Bowl quality (80s): none - Good/starting player quality (70s): Dawkins, Singletary, Cook - Backup/role player quality (60s): Davis, Knox, Morse, Bates, Hines, McKenzie - Replacement level (50s): Brown, Quessenberry, Van Roten - sub-Replacement level (40s): Saffold So…2 elite players. 3 very good players (a bit charitable for Cook in my mind). And then a whole bunch of ordinary at best players. Not shocking at all: the O Line ratings. We saw Cincy’s backups far outperform our starters. Saffold looked done right from the start. Morse is nearing the end. Brown is a failed experiment, and Quessenberry remained a sack-generating machine. Bates was competent, but while you can get away with 1 or 2 such players on a line, there’s no hiding 4 of them. I see a lot of “Ike Boettger at guard” comments—I guess it’s better to have 2 Bates than a Bates and washed Saffold, but that doesn’t inspire much confidence either. As far as skill players: lots of good role players, but no standout of any type other than Diggs. We became extremely Allen-Dependent because there was no other option. You can’t make Davis into Tee Higgins, you can’t make Cook into Mixon (even given PFF’s grade inflation there). I don’t know where you find the line talent to upgrade without blowing the cap, but one thing I do know: there is no reason to ever keep a Replacement-Level player around if he’s earning more than the league minimum.

Sometimes the team builders are not destined to take their teams to the promised land. A lot of people have mentioned Tony Dungy in recent posts, but there are others too.

So you’re saying 2023 will be a down year.

I see what you're getting at here. But Daboll is not available. So ... Rick Dennison or Nate Hackett? All kidding aside, I think you're right. And I'd be on the phone with Greg Roman tomorrow.

I thought it was a good draft at the time. But you're right: it was definitely a need-based draft. The draft along with the signing of Von signified that this was a GM who thought one impact player, a few good athletes to phase into playing time, and some vet fillers on the lines would be sufficient to get the team over the top. They were wrong.

A Dorsey kind of play call.

I had made the same comparison. Burrow is Brady, or maybe Peyton. You saw him reading defenses expertly today, distributing the ball, moving well in the pocket to avoid the minimal pressure he got. He is absolutely right there with Allen and Mahomes. Meanwhile, Allen is Aaron Rodgers, or maybe Brett Favre. Nothing wrong with that. His game just isn't as precise, as disciplined as Burrow's. Or maybe he's the young Elway, still waiting for the right coach/OC to put in a system where he doesn't have to do it all by himself. No, I wouldn't swap Allen for Burrow. But I have to admit ... there is something to this^

Maybe a punt returner/speed/gadget play guy too? I mean, all we have available right now are McKenzie/Hines/Shakir/Cook

Partially agree. Frazier's scheme is McD's scheme. Frazier may move on, but I wouldn't expect McD to do something entirely different with a new DC

It's sure looking like that. Not that Knox was bad, but just because that money needed to be committed to more pressing concerns.

Watching extra points is fun again! I now wait an additional 30 seconds before hitting the bathroom after a Cowboys TD.

Kills me watching Isaiah Pacheco become KC's feature back while we try in vain to make James Cook more than a change of pace back.

Right. Cincy averaged 26.1 ppg this season. They scored 27 We averaged 28.4. We scored 10. Leslie Frazier Fail and all that ... I think the this tells you what really went wrong.

He seems to be part of the process of making it to the AFCG

I'm not so sure. Last year ended with the KC heartbreaker. But overall, it felt like a season of a great move forward, including some ridiculously entertaining games. This season felt more like a team trying to hang around for one last big opportunity. To be honest, it never felt like a Super Bowl caliber team to me after Von went down.

Do we also need a RB who drops his girlfriend with a right cross to the head?

And that's not by accident. On defense, it is clearly the Frazier/McD concept - speed, closing on the ball, versatility are all valued over physical strength. I'm not criticizing it - it's worked really well overall - it's just a fact. It's a little less obvious on offense, but still there. Doing things like drafting and very quickly moving in Spencer Brown at RT for example. He's not a big lower body/leverage type. He's a tall slender guy who's trying to pump himself up into a 300 pounder. And overall the emphasis has always been more toward good pass blockers than physical/run game road graders of the Wyatt Teller type. Repeat: Again, not necessarily a criticism - it's worked really well overall! - it's just a fact.

In the final analysis (like, right now), the failure to upgrade the O line was the overwhelmingly biggest mistake this past offseason. I don't know how they do it now with little in the way of cap space and even less in the way of high draft picks.

Ouch. True, but ... ouch.

Not an excuse. The defense played like crap. But would we beat KC scoring 10 points? Offenses like the Bengals and Chiefs are never going to be held under about 24. So we lose this one even if Frazier hold them to 20.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but amidst all this Leslie Frazier bashing, it appears that we have scored … 10 points.