Avisan

I need to see a source on that stat. I question its accuracy. The Bills were 11th best both in points allowed per game and opponent points allowed per play. They were 17th in opponent plays per game, so perfectly middle of the road there. Hard to come up with how they end up at 18th per drive without contradicting with at least one of those other data points.

My bad, one season where they were just outside the Top 10 for points allowed. So one season where they were merely "good" instead of "very good" at their primary job. FWIW, the dynasty Patriots regularly fielded defenses that were average or worse in most metrics other than points allowed and/or turnovers.

11th in scoring, 3rd-most takeaways. Significant 3rd down struggles, and middle of the pack in yards allowed but given the personnel deficiencies in the back seven I think it overperformed its talent.

It's important to note with Dorsey that we scored well in EPA/play and iirc some other advanced metrics. It's not as though the offense was a tire fire. It was, however, very boom or bust and it amplified Josh's worst hero ball impulses. It wasn't a good fit. Why would I not be? The defense has ranked very highly every season under Frazier, McDermott, and Babich. I think we have had talent issues more so than scheme issues on defense. A defense is often only as strong as its weakest link and we had some serious matchup talent issues in all of our exits vs. the Chiefs.

Gee, I wonder if having a stable, high-quality head coach has anything to do with our sustained success and consistency? Changing coordinators is not the same as changing the person establishing the culture and vision, assembling a staff, guiding player development strategies, etc. While McDermott gives his coordinators a lot of autonomy, they ultimately still report to him when it comes to approach, preparation, and strategies. He has developed and promoted within the system to help maintain consistency, while bringing in outside perspectives to help shore up areas of weakness. It has worked very well to this point. Changing head coaches means the whole thing goes, and the bar is VERY high for trying to find an upgrade based on the sustained success the Bills have enjoyed.

New culture, new schemes, new player preferences, etc. Many coaches like having increased control over personnel decisions, too. That was reported to be a factor for Vrabel after his Tennessee stint, for example. Josh Allen would remain constant, which obviously helps, but in every other way it would likely be starting over. The QB is a huge part of the equation, but it isn't the only thing, and very recently we saw how wrong things can go even with our unicorn under center with Dorsey as OC. Coaching changes bring large organizational and roster shifts. Starting over is a pretty accurate way to describe it.

Yeah, my first thought when I saw this. The dude pulls up to not get baited into 15 yards and Mahomes lays him out in response. It's bull**** and I hope players start absolutely lighting him up. Take the 15 if you have to. This is ridiculous.

? Of course we have talent gaps. Just about every team has talent gaps. That's the whole point of a salary cap, to enforce relative parity. I also freely admit that water is wet. I think Beane gives out too many mid-value contracts to league vets in decline, but that's his only real downside and the Bills have a very good overall roster despite that.

McD gets to be "coach for life" because the Bills are an extremely good team every single season and their units often perform above their talent level.

The number of you absolute geniuses on here that seems to assume that if we change coaches we'll just gently stroll our way into a Superbowl win is mind-blowing. The Saints under Payton with Brees, one of the all time greats, regularly missed the playoffs. Phillip Rivers was an incredible talent and didn't get many opportunities in the postseason relative to his ability. It's unfortunate that we happened to ascend at the same time as another dynasty, but it's where we're at. If there were some magical Chiefs-destroying coach in this league, he would be employed and *regularly beating the Chiefs.*

Say it with me: Practice. Squad.

The data is what it is, fam. This is frankly an embarrassing way to conduct yourself.

Our defense has never been a terrible unit under McDermott. There's no reason to think it would be any worse than last year and there's a good chance it's better.

This does numerically back the idea that the Bills give out a ton of midrange contracts to midrange players relative to the league. It's provided great stability and continuity that has led to sustained success, but it may well be leaving us too resource-strapped to take more FA/trade swings at elite players to get over the Superbowl hump.

Allen really didn't have to put his body on the line much last season. Other than his early-season hijinks leading to the broken hand and Amari Cooper missing the new player orientation about whether or not you let Allen involve himself in backyard football pitch backs ("NO"), there were very few of those moments. He does it anyway sometimes, because that's what makes him happy, but it wasn't necessary last season.

This, but unironically. Y'all gotta get over yourselves.

In a bizarro world where the Bills don't have Allen but have a top 10-15 QB instead, they're likely still division favorites and certainly perennial wildcard contenders.

Thank you for this! Posters should be requires to read this and pass a quiz on it prior to posting in threads about practice squad signings.

My takeaway from a lot of posts on this forum in the last few days is that many fans here do not understand how practice squad rules have changed. This is a fantastic PS signing that gives the Bills all of the benefits of Poyer's experience without having to invest a roster spot or any real resources to have him around. And if three safeties go down we have a body that can hold down the fort for a couple of weeks.

Interesting. Plays Safety, too. VERY curious who ends up getting the boot, and from what position group.

It allowed him to get into the building and start working out at team facilities etc. prior to cut-down day. Basically just got a two-day head start on season prep for him.

I mean if he did, based on what I've seen of Ciarlo's girlfriend that bitterness may be warranted. Seriously though it's WILD how aggressive folks get towards these players.

This is way too early to say on Bishop. He's had a couple of injuries and one bad play in preseason when matched up 1v1 with a good slot corner. I think he's looked solid and you can see the athleticism and tools the Bills were looking for when they drafted him, if he can keep reducing his mental errors he has all the talent to be a quality starting safety. Y'all gotta learn to give players more time. Bernard going into year 2 was a somewhat similar story, and he ended up being very good that year.

Thin in what way? Genuine question, we seem to have the appropriate number of bodies with a mix of veteran/early-career/developmental players. Our backups aren't world-beaters, but backups rarely are.

Yes-- he'll be on the Practice Squad. He was signed to allow him to start working out etc. at the team facilities prior to creation of the Practice Squad post-cuts.