Success

I'm trying to see what the option is here. It's not like we were signing Ridley for the contract he got today. This is the nature of things now. It's how it goes when you have to pay a top-tier QB. Big acquisitions in FA will be few & far between.

Ah, yes. The KC defense just laid down for Allen. Unlike what the Bills defense did for Mahomes this past January. And it was quite a bit more than just "picking on Klein." Half the Bills D was out or hurt. I'm trying to imagine how much more spectacular Mahomes would have been than Allen if he was on the Bills for the 13 seconds game. I'm not able to muster much. Allen was unreal that game. If the Bills win that coin toss, NFL history is probably a bit different. You've got 3 Super Bowls, and the consensus top QB in the league. Some even say GOAT. The Bills haven't won a thing. Not sure why you need the vote of confidence for Mahomes from l'il ol' me. I'm never going to wish the Bills had Mahomes instead of Allen. Sorry 'bout that.

That's kind of cherrypicking w/ Sherfield & Harty. Did you like the Kincaid & Torrence picks? Did you like getting Floyd? Did you think Bernard would become the player he is, or that he was a bust?

So, Mahomes gets the kicker excuse for that game, but JA doesn't get it for the game this past January. Got it. Most people thought Allen played better than Mahomes that game. It was close & they both played great - but there really isn't a case for Mahomes winning that game for the Bills if he had been their QB.

That's fair. But I'm looking at a team that lost a coin flip kind of game to the eventual SB champs, and in that game were missing 2 stellar LB's that will be back, had one starting CB out (who will be back), and one clearly hampered by injury who will be back to full health. I think Von will be a big contributor a year removed from the injury, and Jones is back to health. I mean, if those guys had played, we might be talking about how we can repeat this year. I get that we also have holes at safety & WR right now, but having so many picks in the upcoming draft feels like good timing when it's a deep WR class, and there are so many safeties on the market. Something was off w/ Diggs, too. We'll see if it was age, or an injury that they just didn't talk about too much.

Why not list the guys coming back from injury, too? Morse is a loss. Poyer & Hyde were almost holding us back, imo - both lost a step, and we lost speed in the secondary as a result. White hardly played for us, and Davis was wildly inconsistent. I like the direction of younger & faster

I don't think there will be a team that is measurably better than the Bills. I saw us as the best in the league for awhile in '23, before the injuries started piling up. Really enjoyed the breakdown. Thanks for posting, and for the optimism. With Allen, we'll always be a contender - but I think we'll have one of our strongest teams of the JA era heading into '24. I just listened to Edelman being interviewed, and he was talking about how important health is to a SB run. We need that more than anything. It feels like every season has been somewhat derailed by injury. While every team deals w/ that, the Bills have been hit harder than most.

Too bad - would have like to see him stay. He wasn't a top CB or anything, but he's such a gamer, and a great tackler. All the best to him.

For sure. I think this is something else we all know, but worth repeating - we're going to have to draft very well moving forward if we want to stay in contention. That's also true of the Chiefs & Bengals. Beane has been a good drafter, but he'll have to be better now. It helps that we'll have more picks this year & probably next year too.

I feel like there are still some fans who don't understand the situation we're in w/ the cap. Which is understandable - this is literally the 1st time most of us have had to experience the kind of tight budget that happens when a top tier QB's 2nd contract kicks in. We don't have the money to sign guys we all want to see signed. From now on, Beane is going to have to piece together certain areas of the team w/ middle-tier players and bargain hunting.

What money?

That was one of the biggest "back into the playoffs" stories in NFL history. You generally give no context to the counter-points you try to make. How does Mahomes win the 13 seconds game? Does he rush out to tell the ST unit to squib it at the end?

Beane has a tough job. Teams HAVE to sign guys like this. They need depth, they need special teams. But any signing that isn't a marquee player or at least someone everyone knows gets slammed.

I think that's fair, in terms of the comparison. I see other fans kind of characterizing JA as being all athleticism and really lacking in those processing skills, which I of course completely disagree with. But it's fair to say that Mahomes is better there. As far as that final line, I think there are only a few fanbases out there that might have had an experience like we will when we finally get one - Cubs fans, Red Sox fans in 2004. Maybe Cavs fans when Lebron won that title there? It's hard to think of others. I can't think of an NFL team that has had a comparable history. I suppose Minnesota if they finally get one too.

Even w/ the cuts we've seen, we've retained more guys than I thought we'd be able to - and the ones we've retained are still playing at a high level. So far, so good. There just isn't much we can do in FA this year, but these kinds of signings will go a long way toward staying a contender in '24.

I understand what you're saying - but we don't have context on their full vision for this offseason. They're weighing cap space, available FA's, and their own draft boards. And we don't know what the latter looks like. Backup LB is a need in their eyes - to them, the decision to go there w/ what limited FA acquisition they can muster under cap might make more sense than looking at the draft, where they may already have players in mind to address our other holes (which include holes at both starting positions and depth).

Coaching is as important to SB appearances & wins as quarterbacking is. Look at the history of the SB. It happens - but it's rare that a coach not considered top tier makes it. I don't think the results would be mirrors of each other, but Allen would for sure have a Lombardi or 2. I don't think Mahomes would have gotten us there, if all other circumstances were the same. Someone on this thread said he would have won the 13 seconds game for us - how? Allen left the field w/ a lead, with (as we know) 13 seconds to go.

And if Elam can work his way in, our secondary could be a takeaway machine. He really has a nose for the ball.

Or, you know - fans of the Buffalo Bills.

I like what they did here. Beane is thinking of the future, and maintaining competitiveness throughout the JA era. And that's the right way to go, imo. The more chances you have at bat, the more likely you are to get a hit. Going all in for a year or 2 and then digging out of it never really appealed to me as a fan. You could argue that we're kind of doing the latter right now - but this will still be a contending team in the fall.

We'll get plenty of that in FA & the draft. The team is going to look quite a bit different & younger this season. Cam is a vet who knows the system. Good inexpensive contract, imo.

I go back & forth on Diggs and this characterization. What was weird to me this past season is that it felt like he played the 1st couple of months in peak form, putting up big #'s. Then it seemed like his production dropped off a cliff. That says "injury" more than "old" to me. I just don't think that age catches up to you in a few weeks. And he isn't that old for a WR. I guess we won't really know until we get deep into the upcoming season. I think they should build the WR corps like his best days are behind him, and then if he returns to form, it's more of a bonus.

This is kind of why I was pulling my hair out watching the talking heads after the KC loss. And I have stopped watching NFL coverage since, and likely won't watch much throughout the next season. All they talked about was how Allen came up short again, and his 1 decision to go to Shakir in the endzone as costing the Bills the game. I so wanted anyone on any of those panels to ask, "name one other Buffalo Bill who made an impact play that game." Maybe Diggs & Milano are close to elite when healthy (imo), but as others have said, we have a team full of mainly good & very good players. Which is fine for winning in the regular & division titles. In the playoffs, you need more than 1 guy.

We are to the Giants what the Panthers are to the Bills.

They got to the SB when Mahomes uncharacteristically played his worst in the 2nd half of that AFCCG. Mahomes has never done that against Buffalo. I would have loved to see that Mahomes this past year.