Inigo Montoya

It would have been great to get Watt, but not at the numbers he signed for at Arizona. I'm glad Beane passed, that contract was just too much money for this team in its current cap situation. I'd rather we use some of that money to resign Darryl Williams and keep JA protected.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon step in and blow up the negotiations with a ridiculous offer to get access to NFL games. They have more money than anyone and I think they would be willing to overpay to get NFL football on their platform. It not only would get their face into the NFL money trough, but from a long term strategic perspective, it would also help speed along the demise of the tv broadcast networks and allow Amazon Prime to grab a bigger share of the entertainment market.

There is a silversmith in India who has felt badly for the last couple of days and he just can't figure out why. Little does he know that the entire silversmithing world has been harmed by a football celebration in Tampa Bay, FL causing a disturbance in the Silversmithing Force. If Tom Brady would just apologize to all silversmiths, everywhere, it would restore balance to the Silversmithing Force. But you just know that selfish bast*** won't.... As if you needed one more reason to hate Tom Brady.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/12/12/brandon-beane-reflects-on-drafting-josh-allen-when-many-had-doubts/ https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/how-the-bills-front-office-arrived-on-josh-allen-as-the-teams-franchise-qb/article_013c597a-2b90-54d2-b964-3dc60895cf04.html I remembered reading articles about all of the evaluation that went into the Bills drafting Josh Allen in 2018. If the NFL had this year's restrictions on scouting in 2018, I don't know if the Bills draft Josh Allen. The entire front office met with Josh repeatedly, including the Pegulas, before they finally became comfortable enough to make him their selection on Draft day. For players like Josh who don't have an elite pedigree coming out of college, they are not going to have the opportunity to showcase themselves this off season like in years past. More importantly, front offices will be be ham strung in their ability to do a thorough vetting of players who are on the bubble like Josh was. As @Virgil noted above, it's nice to already have our franchise QB in the fold. I wouldn't want to be a team looking to find their franchise QB this year. Lawrence at #1 is easy, after that, things get a bit more dicey.

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-memo-details-different-format-for-combine-individual-workouts-will-be-held-o The NFL has announced some changes that will make it more difficult for NFL teams to evaluate potential Draft prospects this off season. This year there will be no East-West Shrine game to showcase underclassmen declaring for the Draft. The Combine will also be modified this year. There will be no in person work outs allowed at the Combine by teams. They will have to conduct in-person workouts during the player's college program Pro Day. The Combine lasts several days and there is plenty of time for each team to grab a prospect for a face to face meeting. A college Pro-Day is...one day. Going to be hard for a team to get any significant face time with a prospect when two dozen other teams are trying to evaluate them too. No medical evaluations at the Combine this year. The NFL is looking to have some sort of get together for shared medical evals some time in April, not very long before the Draft. No in-person psychiatric evals at the Combine. All of that will need to be done by video conferences. When you take these changes and also factor in the diminished ability for teams to evaluate college players during the 20-21' college football season do to the decreased number of games played, player opt-outs, and travel restrictions, this year's Draft will end up being more of a roll of the dice than normal. This is another instance where the Bills' institutional stability should provide them with an advantage heading into the Draft. The Bills were very lucky that they did not have any of their front office personnel poached by other teams. I think most of us expected to lose a couple of our scouting / player personnel people this season. Having the Bills' scouting department remain intact, not having to bring in a bunch of new scouts and rebuild that group, should give the Bills an advantage over those franchises who have had turnover this off-season in their front offices. There are seven new GMs in the NFL this year, and a lot more lower level front office turn over around the League. Let's hope this stability gives Beane and his crew an advantage for this year's Draft.

I took me an hour to put together this "meaningless" thread last evening just so you would have something to criticize this morning with your breakfast. You're welcome.... 😉

Respectfully disagree FireChans I don't think your position that the clock for the Chiefs starts the day they drafted Mahomes, and the clock starts for the Bills the day they drafted Allen is reasonable. It's not just about the QB. Football is still a team sport, and while the QB position is the most important, we just watched the best QB in the NFL lose the Super Bowl because he had no O-Line in front of him. It Reid took 7 years to build a Super Bowl winning roster in KC. That roster, without Mahomes starting at QB, had been in the playoffs four of the previous five seasons. It was a deep, talented roster with experienced coaches and Mahomes pushed them over the top. We are in year four of the McDermott / Beane regime and they put together a roster that made it to the AFC Championship game. It took Andy Reid six seasons to get a roster into the AFC Championship game for the first time. By that standard, McDermott and Beane are father along than Andy Reid was at year four of their respective regimes, and that's how I see it. We might just have to agree to disagree on this one. 🍻

I agree. We are ahead of the Chiefs' timeline. That is a credit to Beane and McDermott. Mahomes stepped onto the field as a starter with a roster that had been in the playoffs 4 out of the previous 5 years. JA17 was stepping onto the field with a franchise that had made the playoffs once in the previous 18 years and a roster with the highest dead cap hit in the NFL.

There has been a lot of talk here over the last month comparing the Bills to the Chiefs for all the obvious reasons. A lot of posters were very hard on Beane and McDermott for the loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. I was going to post this then but I thought emotions were still too raw for a lot of people. Losing to the Chiefs was rough, but taken from a distance and with some context, it's clear Beane and McDermott are two years ahead of where Andy Reid and the Chiefs were in their rebuild. I think the facts show that Mc/B have done an amazing job. I'd love to have won the Super Bowl this year, that goes without saying, but this was still an incredibly positive season. Year 1 Reid Record 11-5 Lost in Wildcard round Mc/B Record 9-7 Lost in Wildcard round Year 2 Reid Record 9-7 Missed Playoffs. Mc/B Record 6-10 Missed Playoffs (Drafted franchise QB Allen) Year 3 Reid Record 11-5 Lost in Divisional round Mc/B Record 10-6 Lost in Wildcard round Year 4 Reid Record 12-4 Won AFCW Lost in Divisional round Mc/B Record 13-3 Won AFCE Lost in AFC Conference game Year 5 Reid Record 10-6 Won AFCW Lost in Wildcard round (Drafted franchise QB Mahomes) Year 6 Reid Record 12-4 Won AFCW Lost in AFC Conference game Year 7 Reid Record 12-4 Won AFCW Won Super Bowl Year 8 Reid Record 14-2 Won AFCW Lost Super Bowl Some points I took away; * It's remarkable how much the two teams first 4 seasons mirror each other. * When Mc/B took over the Bills, it had been 17 seasons without playoffs. When Reid took over the Chiefs it had just been one season. * Mc/B have already made it to the AFC Championship game in year 4, something that Reid didn't do until year 6 of his rebuild. * Mc/B found their franchise QB in year 2, Reid didn't find his until year 5. Alex Smith was a solid QB but not an elite QB. * It took Reid 7 drafts / seasons to assemble a Super Bowl winning roster. * Mc/B didn't have a Super Bowl winning roster this season. By the "Chief Standard" Mc/B have three more seasons to get there to be on pace with Reid. * Mc/B have done an amazing job building this franchise in just 4 seasons from dumpster fire / 17 year Drought to the second best team in the AFC. * The people who threw Mc/B under the bus after the Chiefs' loss need to step back and take a look at where this franchise is sitting right now with a top 4 NFL QB who is only 24 years old, a sweep of the division and an AFCE championship, playoffs in 3 out of 4 seasons, and a winning culture / roster that has the building blocks in place for sustained success. * Lastly, rooting for this Bills' team and enjoying this amazing season was one of the few bright spots in a terrible year for most of us, and Mc/B deserve some thanks for that.

Yep that's my goal! You got me on that one!!!! Read my post at the end of page two of this thread.

Hey Dr. Who. I'm being flip with ScottLaw because he's a troll. My point is that Beane and McDermott put together a fantastic roster this year that swept our division and made it all the way to the final four with a roster comprised of a lot of mid-range free agents signings. Beane did this out of necessity. He didn't have any other choice if he wanted to field a competitive roster this year. I think McDermott put it pretty succinctly, the Chiefs are in year 8 of their build, the Bills are in year 4. Good teams are built through the draft. It's a cliché because it's true. Andy Reid has had 8 drafts to do that. Beane hasn't. Give Beane some more drafts to stock the roster with young talent on cheap rookie deals and we won't have to go out and sign a bunch of mid level free agents to market level contracts to fill out the roster. Andy Reid doesn't go crazy in free agency, he doesn't have to, he has built his roster through the draft. Beane isn't a fool, he can look at the roster and see that he has a lot of money tied up in mid level free agent players. I suspect that after this year's draft we will have less of that, and following the next year's draft, even less. Look at our likely roster next year and you will see it happening already. Epenesa in, one of the free agent defensive ends out. Gabe Davis in, John Brown out. Cam Lewis or Dane Jackson in, Josh Norman out. Ike Boettger in Brian Winters out. It's a process. Andy Reid made it to the AFC Championship game and lost in his 6th season in KC. They won the Super Bowl in his 7th. Beane started a total rebuild four years ago and we have already made it to the AFC Championship game. It looks to me that we are ahead of where KC was in their rebuild. I have faith in Beane to continue to make smart draft picks and build this roster that same way KC has built theirs. He just needs more time and more drafts to do it. This year Beane had no other choice than to fill in the gaps in the roster with mid-level free agents. That will change. Beane knows what he is doing.

Couldn't agree more. What a horrible roster Beane and McDermott put together this year. They only made it to the AFC Championship game. Amateurs....

Couldn't agree more. What a horrible roster Beane and McDermott put together this year. They only made it to the AFC Championship game. Amateurs....

Yep, I agree. I thought we were roundly outcoached last night. I'm sure the coaches will learn from it and do better next year just like they learned from last year and improved. Just don't understand the slings and arrows today. We were in the AFC Championship game and lost to the best team in football. I don't get the sky is falling attitude that many here have. I wish the whole team would have played better. I wish we would have won the Super Bowl this year. I wish a lot of things. I just can't look at this amazing season and feel too disappointed. The team fell short last night. Just like KC did the first year Mahomes and KC went to the AFC Championship game and lost to the Patriots.

Beane doing what Beane does. I have faith in this front office to keep the Bills in contention for a Lombardi going forward.

The entire team struggled yesterday except for our rookie kicker. (I'll cut him some slack on the missed extra point considering the pair of 50+ yarders) The team will learn and get better just like after losing to the Texans last season. Hopefully KC will have to make some tough choices due to their cap situation (18 million over) and their roster will be a bit less formidable next year. All in all, a fantastic season and I agree with Beasley, there is nothing for Daboll to apologize about. We made the AFC championship game and lost to the best team in the NFL in their house.

Two young star QBs. Only one ticket to the Super Bowl. A little extra curricular activity from Josh, Mongo, and Dawkins to get some bad blood brewing. The next 10 years are going to be great. Go Bills!!!

I love those statistics. I think those stats tell the Josh Allen story better than any other you could come up with. It has been amazing to watch him getting better week to week since he was drafted.

I agree, The WRs definitely have helped Josh this year. No argument. I just think Josh has taken that next step and is playing QB better in every facet of the game and would still be playing at a high level without Diggs. I don't think his numbers would be as good without Diggs. I think we probably agree more than we disagree on this one. Just more a matter of degrees. 🍻

I just disagree that the WR corps is responsible for Allen playing so much better this year. Has the WR corps helped Allen? Of course it has, but that is not the first, second, or third reason reason he is playing at an elite level. I am going to list a series of improvements Josh has made and you tell me which ones Diggs, Beasley, Brown and Davis can take credit for; A. No more Hero Ball. B. Changing into the right play at the line of scrimmage. C. Adjusting protection at the line of scrimmage. D. Looking off safeties and pump faking DBs to get the WR open. E. Developing touch on his throws, not every throw is a 100 mph rope now. F. Amazing pocket awareness, shifting and moving in the pocket to keep plays alive G. Not running as soon as pressure arrives but keeping his eyes down field and throwing strikes. H. Dramatic improvement on throws when on the run to his left and right. I. Went from near worst completion percentage when blitzed to the best. Just my 2 cents. 🍻

I thought there was zero chance he would sit for this game because of the concussion. I always thought his turf toe was going to be the bigger issue. That's a tough injury for a QB. Hard to run, hard to throw if you can't push off on your foot.

What do you mean? This hire checks off the Fat Twin diversity box.

Three points to the posts above. I don't think the standard to say Josh is better than Mahomes is that Josh has to beat Mahomes and win a Super Bowl and League MVP. Football is still a team sport and if the Josh plays lights out this weekend but the Bills still lose because Singletary fumbles on the goal line or the DB's give up another last second Hail Mary, is that on Josh Allen? I can look at both Mahomes and Allen play, and evaluate their skill sets and how they bring it in crunch time and compare the two QBs abilities and make a judgement about who is better. I do agree that Josh needs to be consistent and continue to play at a high level next year and beyond. No argument from me on that one. I don't think the WR corps is the reason Josh is in the MVP conversation this year. Josh has become a better QB by busting his butt during the off season. Yes, Diggs is amazing and he has helped Josh, but show me all the circus catches from Diggs this year on bad balls that Josh threw. I can't think of many. Josh is reading defenses better, adjusting protection better, and making better throws all over the field. He is manipulating DBs with pump fakes and effectively looking them off coverage. He isn't playing Hero Ball anymore. His pocket awareness has improved and he is moving in the pocket and keeping plays alive and not running at the first sign of pressure. All of these things are a result of Josh Allen working on his craft. Diggs, Beasley, Brown, and Gabe are fantastic, but they are not the reason Josh is throwing the ball better.

I wish I could give this more than one emoji. I laughed out loud...

Using my advanced technology to track the football (my eyeballs) the ball boinked off the upright and came back out to the front of the goal posts into the end zone. Not sure where this new "technology" is coming from. My guess is it's from Justin Tucker's mother.