Logic

🤐

We're all on team "standing at a football game is fine, because it's a blood sport and not the ***** opera", right? Just making sure.

Jesus. You're right. I had forgotten that. All the more reason to feel comfortable saying I think Hackett stinks.

Looks like a second consecutive Lombardi trophy to me!

Hackett has had 10 seasons as an OC or HC. In those 10 seasons, he has posted 3 top ten finishes in points scored (2 of them with Rodgers as QB). In the remaining 7 seasons, his offenses have finished: 22nd, 18th, 25th, 31st, 15th, 32nd, and 29th. So he has shown that if he has an elite QB, he can coordinate a top 10 offense. He did also have a good offensive season with Jacksonville with a bad QB, as you point out. But given that his bad offensive performances with average to bad QBs outweigh his lone good "Bad QB" season six to one, I'd argue that that good season looks more like an abberation. Give him Aaron Rodgers, and he can call a game. Give him anyone else, and it's statistically very likely that he's going to post a below average season. I don't think he's good, and I don't think he's going to continue to get OC jobs once Rodgers hangs up his cleats.

When my Broncos loving friends hired Nate Hackett, I tried to warn them. They accused me of sour grapes and touted his time working with Rodgers. When the Jets hired Hackett, I tried to warn Jets fans on their message board. They accused me of sour grapes and of having an agenda because I'm a Bills fan, and touted his time working with Rodgers. I saw all I needed to see when he was OC for the Bills. I admit that OCs can grow and change and get better in time, but Hackett hasn't. He simply can't Hackett in this league.

Loved it. Josh's comedic timing is getting better. Within a year or two, he'll be at the Peyton Manning level of "funny athlete". I could see an SNL hosting gig in his future. Gotta win a Lombardi first. Man...Josh and Keon should literally be mic'd up in the huddle the entire season. Absolute comedy gold.

I think predicting the schedule at this point in the year is incredibly difficult, almost to the point of being a meaningless exercise. As it is, strength of schedule is based off of last year's records, but most teams have between 30 and 40% roster turnover from season to season. Beyond that, there is so much variability in the health of opposing rosters that it really comes down not to WHO you are playing, but WHEN you are playing them. Just as an example, let's suppose Tua Tagovailoa and CJ Stroud get hurt and miss several weeks, spanning the period of time when the Bills play the Dolphins and Texans. That takes those games from "coin flip" status to "probable Bills win" status. That's a very simple example, but it's indicative of what I'm talking about. I've seen years where we have a really "hard" schedule that turns out to be easy, and years where we have a really "easy" schedule that turns out to be hard. Putting aside the difficulty in finding any meaning in the Bills' schedule at this point in the year, I WILL say that the Bills -- by Beane's own admission -- are in a transition year. A retooling, a mini-reset, whatever you want to call it. The youth and inexperience on this roster likely can't help but cause the Bills to take a step back or two, at least temporarily. All in all, despite the roster turnover, youth, and POTENTIALLY difficult schedule (that's all I'll concede on that front), I think the presence of Josh Allen at QB and Sean McDermott at coach put the Bills' floor at about 9-10 wins. At the end of the day, I'll predict 11-6 and a Wild Card.

Because of the sheer amount of good WRs coming into the league now due to all the 7-on-7 camps, wide open offenses in college, etc, I too have thought that perhaps they may go the way of running backs -- eventually. The two counter arguments to the notion that they've ALREADY gone the way of running backs: 1.) They're still drafted highly at a pretty consistent rate. Whereas running backs only tend to go in the 1st any more if they're really rare and exceptional (like Bijan Robinson), most drafts see three+ receivers going in the 1st round. This year saw three go in the top ten picks alone! There's no way that would happen in 2024 and beyond with running backs. 2.) They really good ones are still paid huge money. There are currently 6 WRs making more than $25million per year, and there are 23 making more than $15million a year. By contrast, there is currently just one RB (Christian McCaffrey) making more than $15million per year, and he functions almost as much as a receiver as he does as a running back. So while I agree with the direction that wide receivers seem to be heading, and while I think they'll get there eventually, I feel like the draft capital and salary cap money being spent on receivers currently indicates that they're not quite "a dime a dozen" just yet, because teams are still paying top dollar (or top draft pick) for the very good ones.

I have no issue with the streaming aspect. However, I doubt I'll ever be watching Christmas day games, even if it's the Bills. Thanksgiving is one thing. Football has been shown on Thanksgiving for so long that it's kind of become a part of the tradition of the day for many families in this country. Christmas, though, is a bridge too far for me. It's a day I typically really enjoy spending with my wife and my family and friends, and I simply don't want to siphon off six hours of it to stare at the TV. Everybody's different, and to each their own. For those that are going to watch, I hope y'all enjoy the games thoroughly. No judgement at all on my part. It's just not for me.

Flying home for the (hopefully) home opener. Driving up to Seattle for the Bills-Seahawks game.

I'll grant you the Shakir point. As for Shorter over the others last year, I'd argue that it was more than just injury in front of them creating opportunity. Nacua and Wicks (and Demario Douglas, Trey Palmer, and AT Perry) all had more productive college careers than Shorter. They all seemed to possess traits that were more readily projectible into NFL offenses. Shorter, by comparison, wasn't a particularly good receiver even at Florida, and he seems more like what would come out if you typed "give me a lifelong NFL gunner" into ChatGPT.

1.) I support the right of every American to espouse whatever opinion they want, even if I don't agree with what they say. 2.) His specific message seems pretty on-brand for the audience to whom he was speaking. 3.) His words are incredibly tone deaf and, as others have pointed out, do not acknowledge the reality that the lived experience of a rich man (and his wife) is likely quite different than that of most normal people, and is not necessarily relatable or applicable. 4.) It seems somewhat bizarre to tell a bunch of women who are about to graduate from college that they ought to stick to the kitchen instead. 5.) Anything else I could say would likely offend people, venture into PPP territory, or generally not be productive. Instead, I will just keep my mouth shut and take my cue from my friends in the south and say regarding Harrison Butker: "Bless his heart".

I came here just to see the hand wringing over the NFL's move to streaming services. If only there was a way to watch whatever NFL game you want in HD for free......

Yeah, I hear ya. I guess my point is that Beane and co seem to love using their early draft picks on really athletic, high ceiling college players and entrusting their coaches to coach those guys up (Allen, Edmunds, Coleman, Elam, etc). I wish they'd apply that same strategy and willingness to late round players, and entrust their coaches to teach those guys to play special teams. In other words, I think they go about it a little backwards sometimes. They pick players that they already know will be good special teamers, and hope they can coach them into being useful on offense and defense. Sometimes, I wish they'd instead pick players that they think will be useful on offense or defense, and then trust their coaches to teach them to play special teams. As long as a guy has a WILLINGNESS to play special teams, if he's a good athlete, then he can theoretically be taught. It's picking nits, because we're talking about late round players. It's also situationally specific. But in the instance of Justin Shorter, they could've foreseen an upcoming need at WR (with Davis set to become a free agent and Sherfield/Harty on short term deals), and concentrated more on finding a guy that had a potentially bright future on offense (Nacua, Wicks, Douglas, etc).

Sometimes I feel like when we get to the later rounds, Beane seems to be prioritizing how players can contribute on special teams when he selects them, rather than how they can contribute on offense or defense. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge advocate for devoting resources and attention to special teams. I feel that most fans underrate its importance. Exemplary or abysmal special teams play can swing 1-2 games a year. It's important. And your bottom-of-the-roster WRs, LBs, etc, DO need to be able to play special teams to stick. BUT...I still can't help but wish that, at times, they'd prioritize guys who they think can help on offense and defense first, and then trust their coaches to TEACH them to be good special teams players, the way they trust their coaches to teach raw athletic prospects to be good offensive and defensive players. Anyway, I bring this up because I feel like it's what resulted in the Bills drafting Justin Shorter over, say, Dontayvion Wicks, Puka Nacua, Trey Palmer, or Demario Douglas -- all of whom were drafted after Shorter. They knew Shorter would be a dynamite special teams player, and that's lovely, but he was never particularly good at actually playing receiver at Flordia, and it sure would be nice right now to have one of the other guys I just listed in the pipeline, instead of a guy who we HOPE can make the team as a gunner.

I am officially retired from speaking on the matter any further. I spent 16 days voicing my concerns. People started to turn on me. I was really harshing their mellow. So from now on, I'm just gonna stick with 🤐 and hope for the best.

🤐

The who on the what now?

If anything, I hope MVS DOES sometimes take snaps at X, but not to get Coleman off the field. Rather, I would like to see MVS running the deeper routes and clearout stuff, and then Coleman playing move/big slot WR, where he can get a free release and can attack opposing defense's (much smaller) nickel corners.

Thanks for the post. I truly appreciate your perspective and your taking the time to try to instill some optimism in me. As to the things I bolded: 1.) I don't think ranking WR corps (on paper, which is all anyone can really do at this time of year) is a meaningless exercise. I think there is value in sizing up different areas of a team's roster and weighing them against other team's personnel, to see how your team may stack up against others or what kind of attention your GM is or isn't paying to certain areas of a roster at a given moment. I wonder if your hesitance to participate in this exercise is indicative of the fact that you, like me, would fail to be able to honestly rate them much higher than "bottom third". 2.) As HappyDays pointed out above, pretty much every Super Bowl participant going back multiple years has had a dominant #1 pass catcher. Sure, in the Chiefs' case, it's been the tight end. And yes, the Bills have a young one who looks like he COULD become elite. But he's not there yet, and building the roster around him as if he already is doesn't seem like the soundest strategy to me. Hope is not a plan. 3.) I will admit to adamantly voicing my displeasure with the way Beane has gone about building the WR corps this year. But if my disapproval has been "over the top", then I would argue that those defending the team have at times been just as over the top in their delivery. I think the offense's success this season will depend on a lot of "hoped for" things coming to fruition. We HOPE Shakir breaks out. We HOPE Samuel has a career best season. We HOPE Coleman hits the ground running. We HOPE Kincaid proves to be a Kelce level player. We HOPE Claypool or MVS or Hamler step up. We HOPE Brady proves to be a good OC now that he has the gig full time. IF all of those things come true, then we'll have a good offense. But hoping/expecting that many things to happen seems just as over the top as me fearing that they won't. If I have any anger at all, it's because I have the gnawing feeling that my favorite team is failing to optimally set its franchise QB up for success offensively, and that that failure is starting to become an ongoing pattern. 4.) While no DC "ignores" anyone in the NFL, I only see one guy on the Bills' roster who might command some special attention, and that's Kincaid. None of the Bills' WRs are guys that opposing DCs are circling in red pen or having extra meetings about. Again, I appreciate your response. I respect your position. I understand and accept that others are more optimistic about this plan working out than I am, and I understand and accept that my pessimism on the matter is a departure from my usual rosy outlook on things. I'm sticking to what my eyes and my gut tell me. I hope -- I really, truly, sincerely hope -- that I'm wrong and you're right. I will happily come back here at the end of the 2024 season if the Bills are a fantastic passing offense and my fears prove unfounded, and tell everyone how wrong wrong wrong I was. You can hold me to that. And I hope that I can hold you to the same if the inverse happens, and the Bills are toothless in the passing game.

I'm not gonna make a separate post on this topic, because everyone will get all up in arms and accuse me of making a LAMP, and it'll do more harm than good, but... I'm genuinely curious: If trying as hard as possible to be objective and unbiased, where would each fan on this message board rank our WR corps compared to the rest of the league? Maybe you could even give it two scores, one for where it appears to be now (on paper), and one for the potential of what you think it could become. But either way, I'd really love to know that answer. Cutting away all of the rest of the discussion, I'm just curious where everyone would rank our WR unit. I genuinely want to know.

Yeah, I get it, Mup. People aren't used to seeing ol' Logic be pessimistic and do anything other than toe the company line. One of the big reasons that I have so often appeared optimistic and had a rosy outlook is that I have more often than not agreed with the way Brandon Beane has built this team. I continue to be a fan of his, and I think he's a great GM. But it would be intellectually dishonest of me to not give voice to my displeasure when I think he's making missteps and not giving Josh Allen the best chance to succeed and, thus, not giving the Buffalo Bills the best chance to succeed. Time will tell if I'm right or wrong, but you can trust that I'm always going to be honest about the way I view things. And this offseason, for the first time in a long time, I feel disappointed in the way Beane has chosen to go about things. I feel less optimistic right now than I did at this time last season, and that's not a nice feeling. Cringe if you must. I shall continue to speak my truth.