Straight Hucklebuck

Yeah I’m not there. I just don’t think Diggs-Kincaid-and some cobbled up role players is enough to win a Super Bowl. There is no size/speed with that weapon set. Look at the leap the offense took when Diggs took over the #1 role, great start, but this team has plateaued. Have to get another high end athlete in here - speed, size, pedigree. Not constantly trying to turn low end journeyman Free Agents into #2’s and 4th, 5th, 6th round picks from mid-tier college programs into starters. You aren’t winning a Super Bowl with this offense.

I never understood the Harty and especially Sherfield hype. Harty is 5’6” without Tyreek Hill wheels. Media was trying to hype him up all summer with his 2021 numbers. And Sherfield is a career journeyman on a 1-year deal. The Bills turned over the bottom 3 in the room (McKenzie, Crowder, Kumerow), but they’re only better because Shakir has stepped into the #3 role.

Wednesday-Thursday-Friday as always. McDermott doesn't meet with media until Wednesday.

Agree. The Bills have not drafted any players that became high-end talents since Allen. Offensively, they finally invested with their 1st and 2nd Rounders this year and both have become starting level players.

Our weapons consistently rank in the middle of the league. Last year, Allen squeezed 35 TDs passes out of Diggs, Davis, McKenzie, Knox and a part-time Cook (getting no significant contributions from Shakir, Crowder, Kumerow). Talking Emmanuel Sanders out of retirement to be your #2 WR for a year is not real investment. I stand by it - the view on offense has been we gave Josh Stefon Diggs to work with, he'll make everything else work. Kincaid and Torrence were finally steps in the right direction.

I agree with the spirit of this take. There hasn't been nearly enough investment into the offense in the Josh Allen era. Gabe Davis at 128th overall is the highest WR the Bills have selected, and the FA WRs here have been middle to low end free agents. Beasley was 30 when he got here and so was Brown. Offensive Line has mostly been a patch job with middle round picks and low-tier FAs. The most investment has been at RB and TE. Problem is with Floyd, Epenesa, Ford, Phillips, DaQuan, Settle, Lawson all headed towards UFA, there will have to be investment there. Now, I hope that Gabe Davis' impending FA forces the Bills hand at WR and they realize they should take one in the top half of Round 1.

Right now we're picking 13th overall.

Well I guess the point is everyone is available to McDermott and the staff. The big 3 injuries were White, Milano and Daquan. Douglas has replaced White (84 PFF overall to 68 PFF overall). So we are down D. Jones and Matt Milano for this game, and that's it. Joseph is grading at a 37 PFF overall and Daquan at a 90 PFF overall, so that's not been close to a full replacement, at least by their grading.

The Bills should be at full-strength. Knox should be back, Fournette still has call-up availability, and there are no other injuries on offense. On defense, Rapp should be back, Dane not sure with 3 DNP's the week before, but possibly back, Elam has sat out his 4 weeks if you want it, another week for Rousseau to get healthier. I expect a great effort out of the Bills.

"Dom" Does that guy not scream Philly to a T?

I just can't take the non-stop Mahomes praising and shots in the booth of Taylor Swift and Donna Kelce. After the Chiefs loss last night it's going to be nothing but this Arrowhead crowd loves their Chiefs and is going to make it extra loud, Mahomes isn't leading the conference and he will do whatever it takes to get them on track, Mahomes doesn't accept losing, Andy Reid will have new "wrinkles" for the Bills, the Chiefs have had this game "circled" since May, with Traci saying that Mahomes told her that he's never wanted a game so badly in his life. Just stick to the Cowboys, Romo and Nance, so I never had to listen to you again.

Another one on MUTE

Then Beane's drafting is the only lever the Bills have to get better. He's a C+/B- level drafter.

Thanks Ben for this ground breaking report!

Well of course as a whole injuries will be the excuse, something about how unfair London was and because of that and the injuries coming out of the game we were never the same. The other obvious one is Dorsey costing the team the first half of the year. How hard it is to switch in the middle of the year and guys need time in the system to perform. Also, schedule did us no favors down the end, the late bye, etc.

Hope after the bye is that Dane Jackson, Taylor Rapp and Dawson Knox are all back. Even Elam will be available if you want it. So healthy as you've been since London. But longest win streak of the year is 3 games, and now you have to beat @ Chiefs and Cowboys in back to back weeks, and assume that the Dolphins have the division locked up in Week 18, do they rest and allow the Bills to get into the Playoffs? I do think the Patriots are a guaranteed win, but if the Chargers aren't bad enough where I'd be 100% confident in that game even though it will be a defacto home game by then.

I don't think he retains the Defensive Coordinator role.

Floyd is the better pass rusher, but we've fallen into this trap so many times with this team. He will be 32 at the start of next season. You pay him to a multi-year deal and he's GOING to get hurt. Epenesa will be 26 at the start of next season.

It used to be two hands and a football move. The ball stops in both of his hands (control) and he starts to turn up the field. That time has seemingly gotten longer and longer over the years.

To me, he has always spoke like Doug Marrone. He knows it all, has done it all, seen it all, knows what it looks like. It’s that constipated/stern manner that grates on me. The ultra generic cliche responses to everything, the timeouts, the complimentary football, everything is top secret and he says nothing. Where he is like Dick Jauron is that he knows his defensive system. He knows zone. And when it comes to these games he still has that same approach to play safe, keep plays in front of us. It just doesn’t work against these elite QBs because it’s death by 1000 paper cuts.

The Sabres still talk about development and learning, guys who “want to be here” and growing. So when I hear us continue to harken back to 2017 and how McDermott changed the culture it’s past the expiration date. 2020 showed us the value of getting another top flight WR in this offense. McDermott / Beane chose the balanced roster path and have devoted 55-60/45-40 resources to the defense to get after Pat Mahomes. What if instead of DEs and Von Miller they made getting another #1 WR their first priority? Especially when to this day we play PREVENT defense in key moments.

Beane also wears some of this. His personnel philosophy has been keep as much of the 2020 team together as possible. So it’s keep Hyde, Poyer, promote Gabe to #2, extend Oliver, extend Tre White, Dawkins, extend Milano, keep Morse. That approach leads to an expensive team with age. Beane has taken what little money he has and has jammed in veterans to supplement the roster. Other approaches would have been trading down in the draft and acquiring more picks and using that savings to go more aggressive at top flight talent, moving off McDermott last year, etc. The Von Miller contract has been a killer. I just think this version of the team, maxed out talent wise in 2020/2021, combined with this Coach, and we’re just hitting the ceiling. It’s gotten harder and harder to get everyone back, and the basis that the 2020 AFCCG team was 90% of the way there may have been faulty.

It's a tough one. Beane has shown the tendency to trade up to secure his draft targets, however, the age on this roster (Morris, Hyde, Poyer, Von Miller, Tre White) and already being over the cap in 2024 will mean that as much cheap labor is needed as possible. So, with that said, I expect Harrison Jr, Nabers, Odunze to be off the board by the middle of the first round, putting the Bills into the Coleman and Egbuka territory.

Yeah run to the edge against the 49ers defense.

Everyone had to be feeling that play call, run, run, run, over the top.