racketmaster

The Eagles and Reid also did not have the perennial powerhouse in their conference. The Patriots were in the AFC and starting their dynasty run. Now we have the Chiefs to contend with. Heck, put the Bills in the NFC the last 7 years and I can pretty much guarantee that we would have had a top seed and SB appearance (maybe not a SB win) but at least be in the big game. The path to the SB matters and has been easier for some. John Harbaugh is an excellent HC and he has gone years in between SB appearances. All you can do is put your team in position to be able to win it and I just don’t ever feel like the Bills go into games where I feel like we will be outclassed at HC. Aside from the lifeless Bengals performance, this team has been very competitive and been just a play or two away from advancing. Hearing the complaints about McDermott and how he is the problem makes one think we are getting blown out in the playoffs year after year. He is a top end HC in this league (not the best) but Allen might not be the best QB either and I still think he is good enough to win it. These are 1 game playoffs and on any given day the weird shaped ball can bounce for or against you.

I believe that they can beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, they just have not done it yet. Allen has been mostly outstanding in the playoffs and especially against the Chiefs. McDermott at the end of regulation in the 13 seconds game but otherwise has been good. He has gone for numerous 4th downs in both games and the team has generally responded. The Chiefs are the gold standard of the NFL and just because we lost 2 very close games in the playoffs against them in the last 3 years does not mean we can’t just as easily make a play at the end of the game, hit a fg etc and win. I’d be more concerned if we were getting manhandled and blown out in these games.

It really is difficult to make any definitive judgements with such a small sample size. Eagles fans ran Reid out of town and he was unable to get over the hump with the Chiefs until he got Mahomes. Now he is considered one of the greatest coaches ever. I hear a lot of people who are certain that McDermott can’t win the SB. Does this rationale also apply to Allen? I mean he has been unable to beat Mahomes in the playoffs so does that mean he cannot be a SB winning qb? There are a myriad of reasons this team has failed to get over the hump, but I don’t think our HC or QB are in anyway holding this team back.

McDermott has a .640 all time win percentage just behind Andy Reid .641. McDermott’s win percentage is better than Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Bill Cower, Sean McVay, Pete Carroll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells just to name to a few. He took over a losing culture and we have been a consistent winner since. Lesser coaches have been able to win the Super Bowl so there is no reason to think that he could not win it. Only 1 team wins in the end each year and it takes playing your best at the end of season, a few bounces to go your way and to be relatively healthy. It is not like he has been unable to win in the playoffs as he has essentially been beaten by Andy Reid and the Chiefs most years. So if the Chiefs want to swap Reid for McDermott, sure I’ll do it but that ain’t happening. The chances of actually getting an upgrade to McDermott are slim. The team is much more likely to take a step back rather than finding the coach that can actually outcoach Reid. Sure McDermott can be rigid at times, but more often than not he is able to adapt and correct mistakes. I think he has some degree of self awareness and he has improved as a coach. He was aggressive during the Chiefs game and other than who actually carried the ball on the fake punt, I had no issues with his coaching performance. Essentially, our big time players like Diggs, Oliver and Cook failed to make enough plays and we lost by 3 points having a completely depleted defense on the back 7. It is disappointing losing to the Chiefs again, but realistically most every other team in the league has done so too in the last 5-6 years. I thought the team rallied around McDermott this year and that showed me something. I understand the frustration but it really makes no sense to get rid of the bird in hand that has this team as a contender year in and year out.

This Josh is a turnover machine narrative seems to familiar to the Josh is not accurate debate. Allen has never been a qb that pads or seems overly concerned with stats. If the situation allows for him to throw a Hail Mary at end of half, he does. If he feels the need to force a deep pass on a 3rd and 15, he does. I watch a lot of other qbs “protect” their stats by taking dump offs on 3rd and long and not risking the turnover. But with Allen, he regularly converts on third and longs by taking some risk. The turnover narrative seems blown out of proportion, especially when looking at the numbers the op displayed above.

For a defensive coach, he has been anything but clutch when this team has needed a stop at the end of a game. There have been too many Hail Murray’s, 13 seconds, 12 men etc for a guy that preaches defense and special teams. It is like his brain siezes up during big moments.

A lot to like about what Beane has done but the veteran contracts and extensions generally look bad. Von contract might turn out to be one of worst in history. He handed out 120 mil to a 34 year old DE so u are playing with fire and he got burnt. Knox was over paid and Tre contract ended up being terrible but though to predict so many injuries for White. Diggs contract is also looking worrisome as they just kept adding $ and kicking can down the road. Would have been worth it for SB but could not even get there.

Unfortunately when Knox returns it is likely 4-5 of Kincade’s targets will go to Knox 🤦‍♂️

I was critical of him in week 1 but he has been fantastic since.

Bernard was terrible. I would have been more encouraged if I saw more guards manhandling 10 yards down the field but it was often tight ends that were pushing him down the field like a blocking sled

2019, 2020 and 2021 drafts look poor. We hit on a lot of players in the 17 and 18 drafts that allowed the team to ascend. Not hitting on players from 19-21 has helped contribute to salary cap issues with us having to fill more holes via free agency. Still can’t believe we passed over AJ Brown and DK. 22 draft at least looks a little more promising but they are going to need to string more good drafts together or this team is going to continue to decline.

I’m not optimistic that the mentality will change and even if they do will Beane actually hit on his top draft picks. The second round has been particularly painful with us getting very little out of those selections. Also, the degree of importance placed in special teams is maddening with us keeping spots for players like Taiwan Jones year after year instead of using the last few spots to keep and develop young players that can step in and play when they are needed. Most kicks aren’t even returned and with as much emphasis as McDermott puts on special teams I don’t see it giving us any real advantage. I too like Edmunds but have a bad feeling they will do whatever they can to get him under contract as he is thought to be a core player. His playing style and position does not justify a large contract as this league is all about sacks, turnovers and creating and not getting called for penalties. It is the only way to get off the field against good offenses. Diggs is a really good wr, comparable to a Marvin Harrison. He is our biggest threat outside of Josh but it is a result of his superior route running and body control. He is not a game breaker in the sense u can just throw him a wr screen and he will make guys miss or take it to the house like a Chase or Hill. He’s also not a jump ball guy u can just throw up a pass to and he will elevate and moss his opponents. So more weapons are needed, especially when McDermott is going against the best offensive minds in the game. His defensive prowess is borderline useless in big games against the top qbs as they often turn into shootouts. Without Daboll, we aren’t outwitting the other teams like the Bengals and Chiefs so more talent on that side of the ball is needed. Bills have had a steady incline on raising the talent level since McDermott and Beane arrived and this is the first year I anticipate a decline based on our cap situation and some aging vets. A superior draft is needed and yet McDermott has seemed reluctant to lean on rookies. Idk, there are a lot of holes and AFC is much stronger than NFC at this time so it will be a monumental feat to get this team to SB next year.

This was a tough contract to hand out considering White has never had elite man to man cover skills. He has fit the Bills zone scheme very well but McDermott has been able to get effective play from late round cb picks, cheap vet UFAs, or even undrafted players. It is a scheme that does not require top tier athletic talent. So when White‘s contract came up, I was not thrilled with deal but understood because he was a core player from first draft of this regime. It was important to show team that good players that fit the culture would get rewarded and White did. Had White not been injured, maybe the first round DB Elam is not needed and the pick is diverted to offense. But the reality is that he did get injured and his play since return is average at best and not remotely close to being worth his contract. Maybe he can get a little better with more time but White did not have elite speed or length to begin with. The issue is compounded with Millers massive contract and he tearing acl. He is now a mid 30s pass rusher and that contract looks bad in hindsight. Maybe White can move to slot as suggested with Johnson converting to safety. Bills have put themselves in a hole and Beane is going to have to have one heck of a draft to start getting some young cheap talent on this team. I’m not nearly as confident as I was a few years ago as the Beane/McDermott combo has brought as a long way but may have maxed out.

Davis definitely needs to step up for our offense to get back to an elite level. I’m also not sure he can do it but I’m not comfortable with OBJ coming in with no regular season snaps and being thrown the ball in playoff games. It just does not seem like it would yield great results with very little timing and practice. Plus, is he even physically ready to play at a playoff level. I would almost rather have Beasley return in the slot just because of his knowledge of offense and experience with Josh. If not let’s just hope Shakir and McKenzie can do the job. I trust Beane will do the right thing whatever that may be.

Team is lacking a “thunder” back to pick up the tough yards in short yardage, goal line and to close out games in the 4 minute offense. We have too many scat backs and not one big body back to grind out yards. Team has relied on the qb as the big body back and it is putting too much pressure on Allen. I like Hines but it was bizarre that we added another pass catching back to Cook and Duke Johnson. Singletary is a tweener but just not big enough to push the pile when everyone knows a run is coming. It is the primary reason we struggle to close out close games.

I would tend to agree with this. The biggest leaders on defense are Poyer and Hyde and it does not seem that anyone else on the teams is even close them in the leadership role. Not sure who is third as it may have been Hughes or Addison but they are aging out fast.

His pass rush moves, as we might need him as an edge rusher on third and longs lol

I agree but KC did sneak him out there for a punt return that he almost took back to the house in the second half. It would not have been too hard to get Hill out there late for the return so I could see the Bills being a little concerned about letting him touch the ball in open space. I suppose they could have made a secondary call to kick deep if u saw Hill out there but to be honest just get me to the spot where they have the ball at their 25 and need about 40 yards for a fg try in 13 seconds. The squib could be argued either way but the defenses they called in the final 13 seconds were inexcusable. Hell they could have rushed 2 and literally used the extra 2 defenders to double Hill and Kelce and still left 5 more defenses in coverage. More likely a zone scheme using the 9 coverage defenders should have been called. And we used timeouts to talk over our strategy and still came out with an awful scheme for the situation. Mind boggling to me and it does raise some questions as to whether McDermott is up to the task in the biggest moments. He had Allen continually bailing out his defense and had absolutely no answer for Mahomes all game long.

I would have only rushed 2 defenders with 13 seconds because it does not matter if you get home or not with that little time and with them having timeouts. If Mahomes wanted to stand back there for 11 seconds before throwing so be it. Then game is over by time ball lands. Rushing 2 makes most sense but I could have lived with 3. Rushing 4 on both plays was criminally stupid in that situation. I could care less about the squib because a lot could have happened and Bills likely would be worried about Hill being put back there and getting a big return.

I understand the point because Allen by himself can elevate just about any offense to be at least decent. But the way the NFL is set up, offenses are the priority and there are quite a few teams in the AFC that can score points in a hurry with 2 of them being in the Championship game today. We were supposedly the #1 defense in the league and we’re absolutely helpless in trying to slow down, let alone stop KC. So trying to build a all star defense at the expense of your offense does not seem to make sense. I’d prefer to strengthen the offense to make sure it remains at the top of the league and I would allocate defensive $ only towards playmakers. Guys that get sacks and get or create turnovers. This way u hope when I are in a shootout that u have enough playmakers on defense that they can get the occasional takeaway even if they are still getting scored on. As much as we spent on the d line we did not have that sack machine player upfront. And I’d definitely be against extending Edwards as he does not fit the playmaker category and would cost way too much $. We need better play up front and in the back end (cb) and just average lb play to go with Milano and the defense would be just fine. I also don’t want to focus so much on the defense that McDermott begins to “trust” it or rely on them too much with punting and such.

McDermott has always seemed reluctant to replace incumbent veteran players.

No, especially if he got injured then there is no option. Most teams have multiple rbs that can step in and be productive. Plus he is in final year of contract and we need to prepare for if or when he leaves for more $.

I'd trade Edmunds for a CB or edge rusher if there is a willing team.

A good idea might have been to have 7 DBs out there in the final 13 seconds instead of rushing 4 lineman and dropping 2 of them back 3 yards from the line of scrimmage to do what I'm not exactly sure. No more than 2 rushers should have been sent since time was on our side and the longer Mahomes stayed in pocket the better. And having at least 9 true coverage defenders would have closed the windows and allowed at the very least opportunities for the defenders to make a play on the ball or a quicker tackle. Insult to injury, McDermott used timeouts in order to put the worst possible defensive scheme out there for that situation.

I’d much rather have a safe punt catcher back there and just let McKenzie play on offense where he is more valuable. The Bills are not one of those teams that require great punt and kickoff returns as their offense is top shelf. If we still had Roberts it would be nice as he gives u some return bonus as well as the ball security but for now I’ll just take the ball security and smart decisions Hyde will make.