SoTier

Why couldn't the Bills "afford" to pay Gilmore, Woods, and Darby? This excuse is getting pretty old because it's been used over and over in the past two decades by Bills fans to defend the team getting rid of top young players they've developed. Other teams, including those paying $20-30 million to a QB, manage to pay talented DBs and WRs -- and other players -- they've developed. McDermott hasn't won anything yet with "his guys". His 2017 team made the playoffs with players he inherited. Moreover, it's pretty clear that in the salary cap era, successful coaches are the ones who can create a "culture" among a disparate group of players that are a mix of guys they've inherited and guys they've added.

I'm not arguing that they (McDermott/Beane) haven't done a competent job, but I am tired of the fanboys rewriting history to make McDermott and Beane into some kind of geniuses. The Bills are in a good situation via the cap because they have very few high priced veterans and their best young players are all on their rookie contracts, not because Beane has done a miraculous job managing the cap. IIRC, most of the OLers signed this past off season were signed to modest one-year contracts, so if the Bills want to have continuity on the OL, they are going to have to give 1 or 2 of the OLers market rate contracts for 2020.

This post is mostly untrue. McDermott and Beane did NOT "inherit" a mess. They inherited a middle of the road offense that needed a QB and a good defense that needed better coaching. They created their own "mess" by choosing to cut current salary and collect draft picks without regard to cap implications. Brandon, Whaley, and McDermott let future All Pro DB Stephon Gilmore and two excellent WRs, Robert Woods and Marquise Goodwin, walk in FA without offering them competitive contracts. In the draft, they chose to pass on two excellent QB prospects in order to trade back to take a replacement for Gilmore. When Beane came aboard, his first notable transaction was to trade Sammy Watkins so that the Bills had no reasonable downfield threat. He also traded away highly paid LT Cordy Glenn to move up in the draft to #7, which also incurred a major cap hit. The only player departure that contributed significantly to the 2018 dead cap problem that wasn't based on McDermott and Beane's personnel decisions was Wood's retirement due to injury. One alternative to what Brandon/Whaley/McDermott did in 2017 would have given the Bills much more talent today. They could have chosen to pay Gilmore and taken either Mahomes or Watson, both of whom were better prospects and are currently better QBs, than Josh Allen --- and both have as much leadership skills as Allen. They could have chosen to let Gilmore walk but re-signed one or both of Woods or Goodwin. That would have still left the Bills with a viable WR corps even after they traded away Watkins. They wouldn't have wasted a third round pick on Benjamin and they could have kept Ronald Darby instead of trading him away for Matthews. Another alternative was for the Bills to keep Tyrod Taylor, not take the cap hit, and not sign AJ McCarron. Or if they just HAD to get rid of Taylor, then they should have named McCarron starter not had a rigged competition where McCarron and Allen played against first teams while Peterman played against scrubs so that he looked "better". Moreover, McDermott and Beane WERE given a "blank check" -- and they made lots of faux pas. Don't pretend otherwise. The current team is about at the same talent level as the team that they inherited with the exception of QB and coaching. The jury is out on the Bills right now despite their big win against Dallas. It's very likely that the Bills make the playoffs this year but there's no denying that they've been the recipient of some really good luck -- an easy schedule and some opponents' misfortunes (injuries, illnesses) and miscues (poor kicking) while largely avoiding major injuries to key players themselves. They have also only played 1 truly top class NFL team this season, NE, and they've lost to 2 of the 3 other talented teams they faced (Philly and Cleveland). Nobody knows if they're good enough to go with the big boys of the AFC like Baltimore, KC, Indy or Pittsburgh much less whichever bully comes out of the loaded NFC.

Excellent write up, Virgil, as usual. I will be honest and admit that I didn't expect the Bills to win. My hope was that it would at least be a close game. I thought that the Cowboys, after getting embarrassed in the previous game, playing at home on Thanksgiving, and with Jerry Jones' "frustration" the story of the week, would come out loaded for bear. Well, it looked like that all right -- for the first drive. After that, though, it was all Bills. They administered a certified butt-whooping reminiscent of the kind that the Glory Years Bills regularly dished out to then hated rivals like the Raiders and Fish. I totally agree with Sherpa that Josh Allen seems to have made a remarkable transformation over the last 3 weeks, especially in his decision making and short/mid range accuracy. If he never becomes an accurate long passer, that's something that the team can deal with. What a team can't deal with is a QB who continually makes poor decisions that put his team in holes no matter how well he throws long balls.

Theoretically, they can finish 10-6, and except for playing the Ravens at home, I think their schedule contains winnable games -- @Pittsburgh, home and away with Cinci, @Arizona. if they continue to play like they have the last three weeks, going 4-1 down the stretch and finishing 9-7 seems entirely possible. Pittsburgh and Indy just seem to have too many injuries to overcome. Tennessee, at 6-5 has a much harder road to get to 9 or 10 wins: @ Indy, @ Oakland, home and away against the Texans, and New Orleans at home. I think that the Raiders are pretenders plus they play @KC, @Chargers, @Broncos plus the Titans and Jags with maybe wins over the Jags looking like a "lock" right now, if there is such a thing.

And better support and coaching. Tennessee has been a pretty talented team for a while now that just never played inspired football. They never had that spark, and people were always making excuses for Mariota's mediocre play. Tannehill's not a great QB but he does have enough leadership skills to get more out of the Titans' talent than Mariota ever did. The Bills were lucky to play them before Vrabel made the QB switch.

This is why I was so angry about the Bills not providing Allen with a competent QB coach when he was so unready for the NFL last season and not putting decent talent around him. They essentially wasted a year of his rookie deal -- and teams can't afford that when they have to figure out if they've got somebody worth paying early on. Even with decent talent around a QB, it's hard to tell because some QBs are just good enough to keep management thinking that if they add 1 more piece or give them a little more time, they'll blossom. Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Nashville have been or are in this situation -- wasting time, money, and especially possible opportunities to draft a better QB -- because they couldn't figure out if their former first round pick was good enough or not.

The 2017 draft was on McDermott because by then Whaley was out of the picture (he was fired the day after the draft). My suspicion -- I have no evidence -- is that Whaley and McDermott clashed over the first round pick -- Whaley wanting either Mahomes or Watson and McDermott wanting White -- and obviously McDermott won. Maybe it works out with Allen but most first round QBs don't become elite or even excellent NFL QBs and about half of them bust, so the missed opportunity to take Mahomes or Watson is likely to be another woulda/shoulda/coulda in Bills history. When you have the opportunity to grab a great prospect, you can't afford to pass unless you already have your franchise QB on your roster.

I think that their big error was the two firsts and a fourth for Ramsey. No DB is worth that because DBs aren't game changers and every year great DBs come out of the draft which isn't the case with great QBs or great pass rushers, who are. It's why I think passing on the opportunity to draft a top QB prospect in 2017 to take a DB was a major mistake that will haunt the Bills going forward.

I agree with this but their biggest needs -- OL and RB -- can be successfully filled through the draft outside the first round. They might not get a Quenton Nelson or Saquan Barkley but they could very well find a Cordy Glenn or Alvin Kamara. I don't know what Doug Whaley is doing now, but the Rams also might consider hiring him as a consultant to help evaluate mid/low priced FA veterans.

Nothing helps any QB -- great/good/mediocre/bad -- play up to the best of his ability than playing behind a good/great OL and sharing the backfield with a stud RB.

Goff looks like a decent QB but not a great one which means that he's dependent upon having good/great support around him, including coaching. I think he's probably on the level of Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Plummer, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Matt Schaub, Alex Smith, Joe Flacco, Derek Carr etc. The Rams could do a lot worse than Goff. They could do better ... but Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson don't come along too often.

I voted for mercy. Not all starters can be replaced one for one with backups, especially if a starter or two has been injured in the game already. Moreover, many good teams have non-starters who are crucial pieces in certain situations on both offense and defense such as nickel backs on defense or the fourth WR on teams that use a lot of 4 and 5 WR sets.

Other teams have also "stopped Brady" and still lost games. The only team that's truly "stopped Brady" in 2 decades has been the Giants under Coughlin in two Super Bowls.

It's also no secret on how to stop the Patriots. Basically it's make Brady uncomfortable in the pocket. Unfortunately, it's been easier said than done for almost 20 years.

At one time the forward pass was a "gimmick" as well, dude.

Apparently not.

The Jests kicker against the Bills also missed some kicks. Moreover, the Titans still had Mariotta under center rather than Tannehill, who seems to have turned the Titans into offensive juggernauts compared to what they were under Mariota. More importantly is that the Bills have not lost many of their key players to long term or season-ending injuries like so many other teams have had.

This. Essentially, the Bills win over Denver and the Raiders loss to the Jests and the NFL's scheduling of divisional games late in the season to tighten up divisional races means that the Bills would likely have lose out to put themselves out of the playoffs.

Take your own advice and learn from history. Russ Brandon rose to the top in the Bills organization because his views reflected those of the owner, Ralph Wilson. Since Pegula not only kept Brandon on but promoted him to run both the Bills and Sabres, it's reasonable to believe that Pegula was good with Brandon's philosophy on running the team. Since both McDermott and Beane were hired when Brandon was in charge, there's no reason to think that they don't share Brandon's philosophy about paying players -- especially DBs -- until they prove otherwise. White will be their first test since none of the other players in the 2017 draft class will command top dollar for their positions

I'll believe that the Bills value Tre White enough to pay him the going rate for a top DB when they actually pay him. They've never paid one of the great/good DBs they've developed market value in two decades, most notably when they let Antoine Winfield walk away about fifteen years ago and most recently when they let All Pro Stephon Gilmore walk. What they do about White will tell us whether the Beane/McDermott regime is truly different from their predecessors or if it's the same old/same old.

Why would they pay Dawkins "at first level"? He's not that good.

That's because you're white and the color of your skin has never been a defining aspect of your life because you have always been in the majority -- unless you're some sick racist asshat who hates anybody and everybody who doesn't look like you -- which I don't think you are based on your postings on TSW. Many times we whites think some blacks are overly sensitive and "want to make everything about race" but we aren't reminded almost daily that we are white so we take race for granted. Although racism isn't usually as blatant as it was a few decades ago, it's unfortunately alive and well in some places because old ideas and old habits die hard. Contrary to your claim that these lists "perpetuate segregation", they actually provide hope and inspiration for black people who may be struggling just to make it day to day as well as a reminder to whites of blacks' historical and current achievements despite racist stereotypes that exist. It's no different from women celebrating the historic and current achievements of other women, although doing that makes a certain segment of the male population uncomfortable, too.

These are the same old excuses that have been floated over the last two decades whenever the Bills have allowed their best players to leave in FA (Antoine Winfiled, Pat Williams, London Fletcher, Stephon Gilmore, Robert Woods) or have traded them away (Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch, Sammy Watkins, Cordy Glenn) when they have absolutely nobody on the roster who was even close to being an adequate much less an equal or better replacement. A few of these players were replaced in the next draft with high draft picks but in several instances they were replaced by guys who should have never made a regular season NFL roster much less be starters. So far in the McDermott/Beane regime, I see too much emphasis on cutting current salary without regard to cap or talent implications and passing on opportunities to add very talented players, especially WRs, for a variety of reasons, which might be very valid. However, passing on grabbing Josh Gordon off waivers when the need for a third WR is so dire and the cost so relatively little, says that they aren't serious about putting enough good talent around Allen to give him the best chance to succeed. Gordon's checkered past didn't deter Pete Carroll who recognized that his Seahawks, even with MVP candidate Russell Wilson at QB, needed another WR to pair with Tyler Lockett.

I was an "early ditcher" of the landline, about 10 years ago. I got tired of paying to give telephone solicitors and political robocallers easy access to annoy me.