msw2112

I'm bummed out about the Bills being out of it and I'd never get super excited about an NFL game that doesn't involve the Bills. That said, I enjoy NFL football and I really enjoy NFL football between two good teams with their season on the line. Both games present interesting matchups. So I'll be watching. I admit that there will be a bit of an empty feeling during the AFC game, knowing that the Bills were extremely close to being in that game.

The Bills should promote this guy to DC in title and pay. McD can still be involved and/or mentor him. Seems like a rising star in the coaching ranks and the Bills should find a way to retain him, particularly while McD could stand to put more focus into his role as head coach.

I agree. Unless Diggs had an injury that we don't know about, I'd attribute his drop off in production to the change in OC and offensive philosophy (which, for the most part, worked). Guys drop off as they get older, particularly after age 30, but if they're not injured, they simply don't drop off this much in the matter of a couple of weeks. I also agree, however, that the Bills WR corps needs to get a younger, bigger guy on the outside, whether or not Diggs comes back next season (which he likely will) and whether or not Diggs' stats return more to his usual numbers.

This plan actually worked. The offense had the ball on the 27 yard line with 2 1/2 minutes and timeouts. The plan gave the team a chance to win, despite the depleted defense. Unfortunately, the offense was not able to covert. I'm getting really tired of the piling on McDermott. The guy may not be the 2nd coming of Vince Lombardi, and yes, maybe the Bills need a fresh voice to help get the team over the hump in the playoffs. But the idea that McDemott is a complete incompetent and horrible coach is ridiculous. The guy has had a lot of success with the Bills. Other teams have great QBs and have not performed as well as McDermott's Bills have. For a recent example, how have the Chargers done with Justin Herbert? How many Super Bowls did Don Shula win with Hall of Famer Dan Marino? McDermott may not be the best coach in the business, but he's not a horrible coach. McDermott has won 4 division titles and 5 playoff games. He got a team with very limited talent to the playoffs before Josh Allen arrived. He somehow managed to get a 6-6 team that was left for dead to win 5 straight games, including the final game on the road against its biggest rival to win the division and then win a playoff game. There may be better coaches out there than McDermott, and maybe the Bills would be better off with one of them, but the idea that he's a terrible coach is a fallacy.

The "best" fanbase is a completely subjective concept. There are few metrics than can objectively tell you which fanbase is best. That said, the Bills fanbase (whether or not you like the "Mafia" moniker) has developed a reputation as being among the best, if not the best, in the country. A few things that contribute to this: showing up to support the team at the stadium, regardless of how bad the weather conditions are unmatched tailgating for NFL football (ask fans from other teams who have come to Buffalo) greeting the team at the airport after road games taking over opposing teams' cities on weekends of away games (and "neutral site" locations like London) the great pride that Buffalonians take in their city, hometown, and by extension, its sports teams huge amounts of money donated to charities of its own and opposing teams' players TV ratings and merchandise sales for the Bills (which fall more in the "objective" category) I grew up in Buffalo, but have not lived there in about 30 years. I still have close friends there and I go back as often as I can. I have lived in a few other US cities and traveled extensively in the US and a little bit internationally. From my personal experience and interactions, people outside of Buffalo generally regard the Bills' fanbase as one of the best.

Dorsey, and even Daboll before him, never threw the ball to RBs. Hines wasn't used in this way, nor was Cook. Since Brady took over, this has become a bigger part of the offense. If Hines' recovery is successful and he can return to form, he can help the team. He was a very good receiving and change of pace back in Indy and that's why the Bills traded for him in the first place. He also could be the primary kick returner, particularly if Harty is gone (which I expect). That said, I like Cook and Johnson and see both of them ahead of Hines on the depth chart right now, and they need at least one bigger back who can handle pass blocking and short yardage. Thus, Hines' skill set may be too redundant with Cook and Johnson's and there may not be room for him on the roster. We'll see.

I agree with all of the above. Would love to see Wilson on the Bills, preferably with a 4th round pick. I agree that he's not the full answer to the Bills' WR issues. They still need a bigger bodied, athletic WR in Round 1 or 2, but Wilson in the mid-rounds as a complement would be fantastic. Wilson is kind of like a Terrell Bernard on offense - not the biggest, strongest, fastest, or most athletic, but he's a playmaker that comes up big in the big moments. He seems to play similarly to how Shakir has played in the 2nd half of the season and I'd sign up for another guy like that.

I mentioned Wilson in a post a couple of months ago. I'm a Wolverine, so I've seen him play every game and seen his growth and progression. I was thinking 4th round, but now I think he may be gone by then.

Terrell Bernard seems to be that clutch kind of player. Not the biggest, strongest, or fastest, but has a knack for making big plays. Him being healthy would have helped a ton.

I agree that the defense has typically let the Bills down during the playoffs. That said, this season, the defense was decimated by injuries and held together by scissors and duct tape. Guys were playing injured (Douglas, Dodson) and Klein wouldn't even have been on the practice squad, let alone playing almost an entire playoff game, if it were not for the guys that were out. In my opinion, they did enough. They held at a critical time in the 4th quarter and got the offense the ball with a chance to win the game and the offense (and special teams) did not get the job done. They had 1st down on the Chiefs 27 yard line, down by 3, with under 3 minutes left and multiple time outs. They came up with no points. I love Allen and think he played a terrific game and is right up there with the best players in the NFL (wouldn't trade him for anyone), but he and the offense did not get it done in that final 2 1/2 minutes.

And then did it in 3 straight seasons, and capped it off with a National Championship.

Class act and comes across as a very bright guy. Based on that well-written letter, his wife comes across as bright too. Wishing them the best and it would be great if there was some type of future association with the Bills' organization (coaching or otherwise).

I didn't hear the presser and I'm not a McD apologist (I think he has a lot of strengths, but also several weaknesses), but even without hearing it, I have no doubt that McD did NOT kick off the presser by congratulating himself.

Well, technically, the Bills' season is over, so past tense would be appropriate.

I'm not typically a fan of passes behind the LOS, but I thought they worked pretty well yesterday. In particular, the pass to Shakir on 4th down was a huge play. I thought the play calling was pretty good. The Bills move the ball and scored a lot of points against a strong KC defense. The only playcalls I disliked were a few runs later in the game when KC stacked the box and an easy pass play over the top was available and the long shot into the end zone to Shakir when Diggs was open underneath (for clock management purposes and the higher-percentage play). Overall, Brady has done a great job and the Bills offense has come to life, despite a middling WR corps.

I don't see the harm in bringing him into camp and seeing where he is next season. I'd also bring in some competition. Many excellent kickers have bad games or bad seasons. If he doesn't look right in camp, move on.

I'm OK with snowballs being thrown around in a playful manner, but I agree that specifically targeting opposing players and/or officials with snowballs is bad form, particularly after losing a game.

Reid also won a lot of regular season games with Alex Smith, but didn't have playoff success. You guys are missing the point. I'm not saying that McDermott is a better coach than Reid. He's not. I'm simply comparing the fact that both coaches had a lot of regular season success and won some playoff games, but never took a team all the way. Reid, with Mahomes, eventually got over the hump. Will McDermott, given that he has Josh Allen? Maybe, maybe not. But to say that McDermott is a terrible coach with zero redeemable qualities is silly.

I don't think that McDermott is perfect, and I realize this is a subjective discussion and mostly opinion, but McDermott lead a team with Tyrod Taylor and Nathan Peterman at QB, with a 17-year playoff drought, to a playoff berth. After drafting a great QB, he's elevated the team to one that has double-digit wins every year and has 4 straight division championships. This season, they've beaten playoff teams Dallas, Tampa, Kansas City, Miami (twice), and Pittsburgh. They won 6 games in a row with the season on the line, winning the division, securing the #2 seed and 2 home playoff games. They did that with McDermott serving as defensive coordinator with a defense that's been decimated by injuries. They played Super Bowl Champion Kansas City very close in a one-possession game. Free agents are willing to sign with Buffalo, a bad-weather rust belt city, often for less money than they could get elsewhere. Are there better coaches? Sure. Is Andy Reid one of them. Yes. Might Jim Harbaugh or Bill Belichick be better? Maybe. The statements that McDermott lacks a single strength as a coach and has zero redeemable qualities are extreme and ridiculous.

McDermott is a good coach and he deserves to continue based on the results he's gotten the last few years. That said, I do agree with the above post that things may be getting stale and a new regime might bring some good energy to the team. Maybe he's Tony Dungy with the Bucs (or the Marty Schottenheimer) of his era and they need another voice to get over the playoff hump. On the other hand, maybe he's Andy Reid who suffered through years and years of playoff failures before finally getting over the hump and subsequently having amazing success. I don't think that keeping him shows that Pegula doesn't care about winning the Super Bowl. It means that Pegula likes having stability and continuity, annual division championships, playoff appearances, and a chance to contend every year. Maybe one of those years, things will break the Bills' way (injury wise, or a critical bounce or call during a close playoff game) to get them over the hump. For those who say he's a bad coach, the record speaks for itself. They Bills win double-digit games every year and he was even able to squeak into the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor and Nathan Peterman at QB. They've bounced back from adversity and won a lot of big games. He held a defense together with scissors and duct tape this season, given all of the injuries. So yes, he's a good coach. Is he good enough to win a Super Bowl with this Bills team? I don't know. Back to the original post, I am a Michigan grad and a huge fan of the team. I love what Harbaugh has done there and he was extremely successful in San Francisco. If I knew the Bills would be able to hire him, I'd consider him an upgrade over McDermott. Harbaugh just has a better track record. He's done more at multiple levels than McDermott has, so if the Bills were to guarantee replacing McDermott with Harbaugh, I'd do it. That said, I just don't see him coming to Buffalo, so I think the question is moot. I don't think that there are too many coaches out there better than McDermott (although Harbaugh is one of them), so sticking with a proven winner is not sexy or exciting, but not a terrible choice either.

I'm OK with him coming back at a reasonable rate, as long as the team also drafts a couple of WRs, at least one of them in the early rounds. He was missed yesterday. That said, if he gets paid somewhere else, and I think he will be, I wish him well. While Gabe was clearly inconsistent, he was a good teammate and he contributed in a lot of important games over the years, particularly in the playoffs. The big game in KC a few years ago was not his only big-time playoff performance. I believe that he made several key grabs in a close playoff win a few years ago (against Indy, I think, but it could have been Baltimore).

Those 4 or 5 yards make it 3rd and manageable, as you correctly stated, which keeps the Chiefs' defense guessing and opens up the playbook more for the Bills. Plus, a 41 yard FG becomes a 36 yarder. I absolutely agree with the OP about the strategy there. Not that you don't want a TD, but given the game situation, with time on the clock, the Chiefs having timeouts left, and Mahomes, Kelce, Reid, etc. on the other side, there's a damn good chance they score on the next drive. Thus, yes, the objective should have been a) getting the first down; b) running the clock down; c) taking a few shots at the end zone from closer in; and d) settling for a shorter FG, with no time left, if that's what the situation called for. Attempting a long throw into the end zone with a minute and half left and HOFers on the other team's offense, was not a winning strategy.

I have no doubt that Milano in the lineup would have made a big difference. I give Klein a lot of kudos for coming in cold like he did and playing well against Pittsburgh, but he was so obviously slow last night. So many of the Chiefs' big plays showed Klein hopelessly chasing the receiver or ball carrier from behind. The Chiefs knew they had a mismatch and took full advantage of it. Kelce is a first ballot Hall of Fame player and he's good against all opponents, but a healthy Matt Milano is about as good a counter-weapon as you can have. Milano would have limited some of Kelce's effectiveness (as well as other Chiefs offensive players). That said, he's been out for most of the season, so the Bills needed to adjust and compensate and weren't able to do quite enough.

Diggs is tough to figure out. He played really well in the first half of the season. When Brady took over, his production dropped, but I don't think it's because he lost a step mid-season, it was simply because Brady was (wisely) spreading the ball around to other weapons such as Shakir, Kincaid, Cook, and even Ty Johnson. If teams were going to double-team Diggs, that means someone else has single coverage and/or is open. That said, he's made some key drops. That dropped bomb from Allen yesterday could have changed the complexion of the game if he had caught it. An NFL WR of his level HAS to make that catch. The Chiefs' WRs, ridiculed for drops all season long, made all of the tough catches yesterday. Shakir and Kincaid also made a bunch. So is his decline because he lost a step, or is it because the offense is not running through him anymore? And if it's because the offense isn't running through him anymore, is he dropping the ball because he's just out of rhythm or is it because he feels "disrespected" and his head/heart are no longer in it? I hate to question the guy, because he's always been a competitor who plays hard and wants to win, but he's also shown to be a bit of a head case. I'm curious to know what others on the board think. And I'm really just looking for insight into his play and not taking the contractual situation into account.

Young guys like Bernard, Benford, Cook, Shakir, Torrence, and Kincaid (listed in no particular order) definitely make it look like they can continue to be one of the better teams while they move on from some of the more expensive veterans. Dorian Williams also looks like he has some potential to improve as he adjusts to the NFL level of play. It doesn't take the sting out of the loss, but at least provides some hope that there will be talent on the roster other than Josh Allen.