SCBills

No clue .. we may be entering a whole new world. DeSantis & Youngkin just pledged support to Abbott in defiance. If Biden wants to lose a blue collar state like Pennsylvania to Trump, he could certainly send Federal forces down to Texas to show down with their National Guard or use it as ammo to ram through student loan forgiveness.

This is quite the high stakes game of chicken here.. Dems would love for Texas to defy the Court so that gives Dems cause to try and do whatever they want. R’s would love the optics of the Biden Admin forcing Texas to leave themselves open to a border invasion. Both sides are playing with fire, but no.. “slapping Texas back into compliance” would not play well for Dems. Look at polling on the border… people have had enough. It may have taken Abbott bussing them to sanctuary cities, but people have finally experienced it first hand and when black women are fed up with it.. Biden has a problem.

It seems like Nyheim Hines and Deonte Harty are two luxuries for we can’t really afford to have both of, but we shall see.

Jealous of LAC with this hire At least the Chiefs should finally have some competition in division now

Double up in the Draft for me. Diggs is still here and Shakir will be in Year 3 / Kincaid Year 2. We can afford to go young at WR behind them. Not much appetite for tier 2/3 WR's in Free Agency.

Do we preserve him for the game after KC every year, because he turns into this Stefon whenever we play them..

Diggs last 10 games were the WR1 version of Von's no-shows all season, so....

I need to see Lamar/Baltimore this weekend. If they win, I'll feel sick for Allen as he bears the brunt of being the only Mahomes/Allen/Burrow/Lamar QB to not have a Super Bowl appearance. If they lose, let's see how it plays out. Lamar balled out against a mediocre/banged up Texans Defense in that second half, while CJ Stroud came back down to earth against an elite defense without many weapons. We've been to the same number of AFC Championship Games with Allen as Baltimore has with Lamar. ....and Allen has been healthy, at least available, every year into the postseason.

My point about the game being decided in Week 18 is not a defense of McDermott. Far from it.

What has Allen done in the last two matchups against KC to make you believe he can't get past KC? What has McDermott done in the last two matchups against KC to make you believe he can't get past KC? I don't think we need to get into this debate.

I think it's time for a new philosophy. KC's Defense was far healthier and they couldn't sack Allen, or stop Allen, without the help of our WR's dropping passes and a missed FG kick. Refs don't call playoff games the same way. These were two of the top 5 teams in sacks. Zero sacks combined all game. Also, it's hard to sack someone when your back 7 can't cover anyone. And it's hard to stop the run, when you can't risk taking your Nickel corner off the field, let alone bring up LB's to play the run due to the coverage issues. Rasul Douglas should not have played. He was at best, around 50%. We were essentially down CB1, CB2 and our top coverage LB. The Defense was a disgrace and I'm not letting McDermott off the hook as him being a Defensive guy, I'm still waiting for that to show itself in the Playoffs, sans a wind game against Lamar, but Week 18 & the WC Round had a profound effect on our ability to stop KC. And like it or not, but losing Gabe Week 18 proved to be a big deal.

We can all lament on how we just didn't get the breaks. Why did the injuries have to hit so significantly right before we played Kansas City? Why don't the bounces go our way.. Why is KC always seem to be luckier than us when it comes to staying healthy? McDermott even addressed this as something we need to look at re: the heavy injury situation we've faced lately. Well... It's a one game season in the Playoffs, but what you do all season has a massive effect on that one game season. KC Road to the Super Bowl last year consisted of a BYE Week and then Home against a weak Divisional opponent in Jax. BAL Road to the AFC Championship Game this year consisted of a BYE week and then Home against a weak Divisional opponent in Houston. That matters. And what else also matters?.... The fact that we had to go all out for the last 1/3rd of the season to even make the playoffs. The fact we had to go all out to win the Division in Week 18. The fact we had to play a grueling second half against Pittsburgh in the WC Round when we were about to run away with the game before halftime. It all adds up.. KC didn't have a bye week, but they rested guys Week 18 and made easy work of the Dolphins. We can all pretend that it's just about getting into the playoffs and letting the chips fall where they may.. but the 1 seed is an absurdly huge advantage in the new format and if you can't get that.. rest down the stretch becomes even more important. We lost a few guys in that Miami game. And then we lost some guys in the Steelers game. We know guys were playing through injury, pushing themselves down the stretch. Bernard hurt his ankle against the Chargers, and then had to push through it.. maybe if he doesn't have to push so hard.. who knows. But what I do know, is that now.. more than ever... it matters what you do in the regular season. And I can't help but believe, with the difference between winning and losing in these Chiefs games being so small.. that Week 18 mattered more than we could have ever known. The 3 best teams in the AFC were Baltimore, KC and Buffalo. Baltimore had a two week bye. KC had a pseudo one week bye. Bills had to push all their chips in down the stretch. It takes luck. Sometimes you have to make your own luck.

I don't want to hear a word about KJ Hamler.. if he works out, great. Enough with this bargain basement WR room building. We have Diggs, Year 3 Shakir and Year 2 Kincaid. Those three guys should be more than reliable next year. Get this WR room younger, cheaper and more talented via the Draft. I'm all for going overboard and getting a WR in RD1 and again on Day 2. But at the very least, this draft has to be a double dip early and then again in Rounds 3-5.

It's another spin on the whole "It's tough to win" or "You need some bounces to go your way" or "It takes luck". Yet, in the AFC, New England spent a decade always being a fixture in the Championship Game & Super Bowl.. and now Kansas City has done the same for six straight years. So... apparently it takes luck for everyone else.

Valid.. I'm probably just scarred from what we saw from everyone not named Kincaid or Shakir on Sunday. My rational is that there could very well be Late RD1/Early RD2 caliber WR's available late in RD2 due to the strength of this WR Draft. If we cut Harty and want to keep Diggs fresh as he gets older, there would be snaps for another outside WR rotating in with Diggs and a RD1 WR, along with sets where we may utillize Diggs out of the slot more.

I think they like Van Demark, and seemingly with good reason. Bates can flip out to OT in an emergency. I'll never hate on them drafting OL, but we seem pretty locked in at 7 guys, then we'll see what they do with Edwards and Ifedi's spots. My ideal Draft would absolutely be going WR back to back in RD1 and RD2. Just completely lock in the Offense around Allen, and then spend the rest of the Draft on the Defense.

Maybe Baltimore/KC will have some defense in it, but man… it’s the last thing I want to discuss after - yet another - playoff loss to KC. 36 ppg and Zero Sacks. That’s out postseason defense against them. And fwiw, KC has an elite defense and their best defense was our own players dropping passes in a game that ended on our kicker missing a 44 yard FG to tie the game. I know we still need to put a competent defense out there, but if we’re spending a Day 2 pick on defense, that guy better be able to make a difference in the postseason. Does a Safety do that? I don’t know. Ive been a big DL early proponent, but if refs don’t call holding in the playoffs, what’s the point? Maybe a high end young Safety could help.

Cool.. He showed up Allen last year when Josh played through the UCL injury Allen once again played through a shoulder injury this year Part of being elite is still being able to function at a high level through injury.

Yes. He’s all about culture and has a winning pedigree to go with it. He’d be a home run hire for us. Obviously wont happen, and if LAC gets it done, I’m beyond jealous.

The thing is, of course we're all happy with the success this team has, but with Josh Allen everyone knows you have to get a Super Bowl(s). And when we keep bowing out in the Divisional Round, that means we're drafting mid 20's every year. Where's Cinci drafting this year? We were able to jump Dallas for Kincaid, and they then took Mazi Smith. Kincaid looks like a future elite TE. Mazi Smith looks like a JAG. KC jumped us for McDuffie. McDuffie is a top tier CB. We took Elam. Still don't know if he's anything heading into Year 3. Draft position matters. In back to back years, our first round picks have been getting an elite guy because we got ahead of Dallas and losing an elite guy because KC got ahead of us.

It's so demoralizing because some of it goes even beyond the coaching.. Chiefs WR's were terrible all year. Playoffs come along and MVS is making contested catches 30 yards down the field with our All-Pro Corner draped all over him. Meanwhile, Diggs drops what would have been an all-time iconic throw from Allen, mid-4th Quarter, down 3. I mean, what can we even say...

QB - Allen RB - Cook / Henry / Johnson WR - Diggs / RD1 / RD2 / Shakir / Isabella / Shorter OT - Dawkins / Brown / Van Demark OG - McGovern / Torrence / Edwards / Anderson C - Morse / Bates TE - Kincaid / Knox / Morris DE - Rousseau / Von / AJE / Jonathan / Shaq DT - Oliver / Jones / RD3 / Team-Friendly FA LB - Bernard / Milano / Williams / Spector / Day 3 Pick Slot - Johnson / Day 3 Pick CB - Douglas / Benford / Elam / Jackson S - Rapp / Lewis / Hamlin / Day 3 Pick / Day 3 Pick Taking my salary cap lumps at Safety Henry takes less to play for us as a contender. If not, any big back will do.

Every Bills fan watching these press conferences…

We've given up 36 ppg to the Chiefs in our three playoff meetings. And, in fairness, KC has had an elite defense all year and if not for some drops and one iffy decision by Allen at the end of the game, likely lose because they couldn't stop Josh Allen. McDermott and Beane need to read the room. The NFL does not want low scoring defensive games in the playoffs. How many holding calls do you see called during the regular season? How often do you see it called in the playoffs? The games are called differently, they let guys get away with more. It puts defenses at a disadvantage. You need a couple studs and then fill in around them to a level where you're not exposed. Chris Jones made one big play.. He pushed Dawkins into Allen, which took KC from down 4 with 2 minutes left to up 3 with the ball after Bass missed a FG. Game. Hopefully 4 years straight of our defense getting absolutely dominated in the playoffs leads to a mentality shift when it comes down to a hypothetical decision between a Leonard Floyd and a Deandre Hopkins in the future. Floyd is great.. but he's not a difference maker when it matters. He's not Chris Jones. He's not Aidan Hutchinson. He's not Nick Bosa. So in the Playoffs, he can be neutralized. If McDermott can't coach up a mediocre talent level defense to an above average level, there is no reason for him to be here. This off-season, with limited resources, needs to be about identifying who our core defensive players are, filling in around them with lower draft picks/team friendly contracts and using what little money we have, along with our high draft picks towards giving Josh Allen the best offense he's ever had.

At least I have reasonable confidence that Kincaid and Knox won’t be doing anything like this..