Inigo Montoya

1. This could be points 1, 2 and 3 because in my mind it was clearly the most important question going into the new season; Will Josh Allen continue to develop into a franchise quarterback? I think any objective observer over the course of the season would have to say that he has clearly become a better QB in 2019. I can list all the end of season stats such as completion percentages, QBR, TD/INT and the like, but those numbers, while improved across the board, don't come close to telling the whole story. The only two areas that concerned me this year has been his regression in deep ball accuracy, and ball security when he is running the ball. I'm not sure what happened to his deep ball which was solid last year. If they are going to continue to use him in the running game then he has to protect the ball better. Does he still make a head scratching decision throwing the ball sometimes? Yep, and so does every other QB in the league. There is no question though that he is making less of those Hero Ball throws compared to last season. He has improved dramatically in his short and intermediate throws, is now moving the offense in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage in response to what the defense is giving him. That means that he is able to read defenses at the line which is huge for a young QB. He has clearly shown that he has the clutch gene when the chips are down at the end of the game. Down a score in the 4th quarter, I expect the Bills will win more of those games than they lose. The kid is a gamer and will fight on a 4th and 1 like no one I've ever seen. He leads by example and has the entire locker room in his corner. I fully expect him to continue to improve and I think the Bills have finally found their franchise QB. 2. I was really impressed with the Bills brand of tough but disciplined football this year. With the exception of pre-snap penalties by a certain back up tight end, I don't remember too many times this season where undisciplined play cost the Bills. In years past, every time the Bills made a big play I automatically looked for the yellow flag to bring it all back. That doesn't happen much anymore and that's a credit to the coaching staff. The Bills don't beat themselves on a regular basis like they used to. 3. Beane's off season O-Line rebuild was spot on. I think Ford might be best at guard and Nsekhe can be a solid stop-gap RT. I wouldn't be upset to see them go after a RT in free agency or the draft this off season. I think the rest of the line looked good. Dawkins was back in form this year, Spain, Morse, and Feliciano were ballers. They have some depth there too with Long and Bates in the wings. They might be able to bring Waddle back on the cheap too if his torn quad rehabs well. 4. Our defense is elite. It looks like we should be able to bring back the majority of the defense next year too. We have the cap space and we need to resign our own players where we can and lock down the nucleus of this squad for the next few years. If our defense continues to play at this level and we can continue to get modest improvement on the offensive side of the ball, we should be contending. I hope no one makes a run at Frazier this off season. He and McDermott have got something special brewing here. 5. The division should be wide open next year and I would think the Bills have to be considered at least even money with the Pats to win it. This year saw a huge drop off in New England. Whether Brady is back or not, I think their long, horrible, amazing run of dominance is finally over. If we don't at least split with the Pats next year I'd be shocked. Brady did give us a parting gift by forcing Garoppolo out of New England against Belichick's wishes. It was the least he could do. I hope they wander in the QB wilderness for a long time... 6. Tre'Davious White is the real deal. Next year he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year rookie contract. At some point we need to pony up the money to lock him down through his prime years. Having a shut down corner is critical the way the game is evolving. The sooner we sign him, the cheaper the contract will be over the long run. I would be shocked if he gets close to the 5th year of his contract without Beane locking him up. 7. The Bills hit on Ed Oliver. He had five sacks this year on limited playing time. That stat doesn't tell the whole story though. He was a beast and constantly needed to be doubled and was still getting into the backfield to disrupt the pocket. He was stout in run defense all year. The highest percentage of snaps Oliver played in a game this season was 69%, and that was against the Jets in Week 16 when we were resting guys. By contrast, Aaron Donald only had two games all season where he played less than 69% of the snaps. I know Frazier and McDermott like to rotate their DTs, but I think they need to look at getting Oliver on the field more. I think he is going to be a difference maker. 8. Hauschka had a rocky stretch but ended the season strong and was money against the Texans on Saturday. I really think he would have hit that 54 yarder to win the game in OT if the refs hadn't made that f**** up, ridiculous, horrendous, preposterously bad call on Ford for the "crack back" block to knock us out of field goal range. I wish we could find another Justin Tucker out there who can hammer 58 yard FGs all day, but looking around the league at the kicking woes on many teams, I'm fine rolling with HouseMoney for another season. 9. McDermott and Beane are building this team the right way. They are building a tight knit group of guys who put the team first, check their egos at the door, and play hard for one another. We have a roster of smart, high character guys who can play ball. I don't think we will have any trouble bringing in free agent talent this year. I think McDermott has earned the trust and respect of the locker room and this year we have finally seen the results of the "Process". I think both of them we're inspired hires by the Pegulas and I think they have the ability to build a Super Bowl team here in Buffalo. 9a. On a related note, we were remarkably healthy as a team this year. I don't remember another year where injuries didn't cripple us for a significant stretch of the season. Maybe it was just luck (an some of it certainly is) but I'd like to think that the Bills' focus on cutting edge sports medicine and a state of the art player's facility really paid dividends this year. Kudos to the front office for spending the money where it can make a difference. 10. Losing to Houston sucked. The way we lost was even worse. The logical part of my mind knew we did not have a championship team this year, but I really thought we would be able to win this Wild Card game and then hope for a little bit of magic down the road. That bitter taste is still there with how things ended, but when you look at the season as a whole, we finished with 10 wins, while mailing in week 17 of the season to rest our starters. We will have a tougher schedule next year but a diminished New England to play and another off season of Beane restocking the cupboards with more talent. Our young QB looks legit. In just three years we have moved from miraculously breaking the 17 year Drought, to not only expecting to be a playoff team, but now expecting to make some noise in the playoffs. When it's all said and done, I don't know how you can look at 2019 and not see it as the best season this franchise has had in 20 years. Only 247 more days until the opening kickoff!!!

With just about 5 minutes left in the game Vrabel started playing games with the game clock, deliberately taking Delay of Game and False Start penalties to bleed time off the clock on 4th down before he punted the ball back to the Patriots. The entire time Belichick is running over to the refs, red faced and screaming with a vein bulging on his forehead about to burst. Bill seems to have a short memory. Belichick was laughing when he did the exact same thing to the Jets at the end of their game a few weeks ago. Patriots knocked out by the Titans in Foxboro in front of their insufferable fans. Belichick got Belichicked by Vrabel. Karma is a b**** New England...

Just leave. You are clearly not a Bills fans. Go pull the wings off some flies somewhere or set some ants on fire with magnifying glass for fun instead.

Didn't see any crack back block on that call. Took us out of field goal range and a chance to win right there. Tic Tac b.s. call. Frustrated....

It's just sour grapes on Polian's part. Jackson clearly had the best season of any QB in the AFC this year. Polian is still lambasted for saying that Jackson should be a WR and is doubling down to try and save face even though it just makes him look more foolish. It's the same narrative with some in the national media (PFF) who won't acknowledge they might have been wrong about Josh Allen coming out of college. They are just doubling down to try and save face despite the evidence piling up in front of their face that they were wrong.

Hell, Cleveland needs to cut Mayfield and sign the cop who tackled him. He could be a linebacker. Hits him square, drives through the tackle, wraps up nicely. Textbook...

I agree Feliciano blocks as well as Morse but I’m not sure if he is as good as Morse at helping Josh make the pre-snap blocking calls. I agree with your second point 100%. What we need is Nsekhe back at right tackle. Ford has potential but Nsekhe is already there.

We needed to feed Singletary this game and have Josh dink and dunk to offset the constant blitzes. There shouldn't have been 3 passes longer than 10 yards all day from Josh with the pressure he was under. Just don't understand the offensive game plan today. The world isn't ending with this loss, but it's frustrating to watch the Bills lose a game at home that they could have won.

A QB can get hurt on any play, in the pocket, out of the pocket, or even slipping on a rubber floor mat on the sidelines... anytime. Having said that, it seems to me that Allen is at a lot more risk of injury when he runs compared to Jackson. Josh is a big tank of a guy at 6'5", 237 lbs and would seem more durable if he has to tuck the ball and run with it compared to Lamar Jackson who is 6'2" and 212 lbs. The problem is Josh's violent running style. He is much more likely to lower his head and try to pick up a few extra yards at the end of a run and take a hit in the process. Conversely, Lamar rarely ever takes a big hit, or any hit at all, because he is so fast and shifty. He is so incredibly athletic that DBs and LBs can never seem to get a solid hit on him. He dodges or is out of bounds before he can get hammered. I think Allen's ability to tuck the ball and take off is a vital part of his game and I don't want to see him not run, I just hope that he looks at what has happened to Cam's career and learns to slide more, head out of bonds more, and not continue to scrap for every single yard. I love Josh's competitiveness and desire to win on every play, but if he is going to be our franchise QB he needs to be on the field. He needs to stay healthy. As the Pats showed earlier this year, an opposing defense won't hesitate to try and knock him out of a game if he gives them any chance to do so. This franchise's playoff run comes to a grinding halt if Allen isn't under center. I hope he doesn't feel the pressure to keep up with Lamar this weekend and plays to win but also plays smart to protect his body. He needs to think about the big picture.

https://forums.theganggreen.com/threads/2019-is-over-stick-a-fork-in-us.93232/page-4 "A HR to me this offseason would be improving the OL first and then the secondary. This isn't going to be a quick fix. I expect it to take a couple of years before the Jets can be a Super Bowl contender. Fix the OL and that will help Darnold and Bell which will help us become more competitive. Like everyone else I am tired of 4-12, 5-11 type of seasons. If the Bills can turn it around then why can't the Jets." Saw this post on Gang Green, the Jets version of TBD, after the Jets were beat down by the winless Bengals. This sounds familiar. The Bills were in the same boat last off season with sub-par O-line play. Fortunately, Beane made it a priority to address it during the off season and he has turned a team weakness into a strength and that has allowed Allen to continue to develop. Darnold has not been as lucky. He is getting hammered in the pocket and running for his life seemingly every snap. He's going to end up just like Josh Rosen. From a selfish Bills point of view I hope the Jet's management continues to bring in the shiny toys like Le'veon Bell this off season and continues to neglect the O-line. It's amazing to me that ordinary fans like the Jet's poster above has more insight on how to build a successful football team than the "experts" in the front office of these football franchises. A flashy RB is nice but the O-Line is the engine of any offense. If you have no O-line, nothing else really matters. Investing in a "franchise QB" like Darnold and then not making any moves to shore up the bad O-line in front of him is football GM malpractice. Looking at these Jets fans in purgatory reminds me how lucky we are to finally have a front office that seems to get it, that has a plan, and is systematically working the plan.

All fair points BillsVet. I'm not here to argue that OBJ isn't a more talented receiver. My larger point is about how you build a competitive team. I don't know if you do need a bunch of elite players to win a championship. I think there is also something to be said for building a roster top to bottom with solid, team oriented players. I'd argue that the only elite talent on the Patriots is their head coach and Stephon Gilmore, but they are still winning. I think Brady is more of a game manager right now. Brown and Beasley are both on team friendly deals as well so if their play declines Beane and Co. can move on without hamstringing the franchise going forward. I think next year we will only be a piece or two away from contending for a Super Bowl. We have $90mm in cap space to go out and find those pieces and I trust Beane to find them. I don't think there will be as much hesitation from free agents to come to Buffalo either after this season.

The Odell Beckham trade by the Browns got all the publicity and love this off season. The Cole Beasley and John Brown signings were also ran signings that flew completely under the radar. Look at the contracts and stats of those three players twelve weeks into the season with the Bills heading towards the playoffs and the Browns all but eliminated from the post season. Odell Beckham Jr compensation; 2019 $17,000,000 2020 $14,250,000 2021 $15,750,000 2022 $15,000,000 2023 $ 15,000,000 OBJ 2019 production through 12 games; 57 catches 805 yards 2 TDs Cole Beasley compensation; 2019 $11,400,000 2020 $5,600,000 2021 $5,900,000 2022 $6,100,000 Beasley 2019 production through 12 games; 55 catches 635 yards 5 TDs John Brown compensation; 2019 $10,700,000 2020 $8,150,000 2021 $8,150,000 John Brown 2019 production through 12 games; 61 catches 882 yards 5 TDs OBJ has the big name and the pedigree and there is no mistaking his elite receiving skills, but I think Beane and McDermott have it right when it comes to team building. It's not about collecting a bunch of talented individual players, it's about bringing together a group of players who are willing to play team football. I think the 2019 Bills are greater than the sum of their parts and teams like the Browns and the Cowboys simply are not. Look how far this Buffalo Bills franchise has come in the last two years. It's getting hard to argue against the position that Beane and McDermott are a top 5 GM/Coach combo in the league right now.

This. It might be a generational thing too. I think older people might see it as bad sportmanship whereas younger fans see it as just a part of the overall entertainment and have no problem with it. Give me the classy cats like Jerry Rice who dominated his opponents on the field and casually handed the ball to the ref in the end zone, like catching that 35 yard bomb between two defenders in the corner of the endzone and somehow getting that second big toe down one inch before going out of bounds, is the most common thing in the world to him and nothing worthy of a "look at me" show...

This is why Josh Allen is a franchise QB.

I hope you're right. ?

This is more than just a non-conference win. This is the team taking a big step forward. Going on the road against a good team on a short week with the odds against them and playing a nearly flawless game and walking out with a convincing win. This young Buffalo Bills team just threw off the shackles of twenty years of frustration for this franchise. This is a new day. This is a new Buffalo Bills team. If you can't see the importance of this win, I can't help you.

Yep. That's a crusher for the defense and it throws down a marker for the rest of the Buffalo Bills. It's Josh Allen stepping up and showing the rest of the team that he will never quit and he will do whatever it takes to win. He's a leader. After twenty years of wandering in the desert, we finally have our franchise QB.

I think the short week actually helps the Bills. We have a young QB about to play in his first prime time game and he won't have a whole week to sit and stew about it. Two practices, get on an airplane, wake up, and play.

I avoid TBD for a few days after a loss just because people here are so ridiculous. If I told someone at the start of the season that the Bills would go 12-4 this year they would be thrilled. Knowing that, they would still come here after each of the four loses and go crazy about how terrible the Bills are and how Josh Allen is a bust and Clappy McClapperton has no idea how to coach, and Beane needs to be fired. Inconceivable...

At some point this franchise is going to have to bite the bullet and pay market value for a great CB. We can't continue to let them walk in Free Agency. I'm good with getting a deal done a year early and keeping White here. I don't want to play against Gilmore and Tre' White in Foxboro some day.

Thanks Buff, I edited it. ?

Morse 4 yrs $44mm Long 3 yrs $12.6mm Nsekhe 2 yrs $10mm Ford 4 yrs $7.5mm Feliciano 2 yrs $7.25mm Dawkins 4 yrs $4mm Spain 1 yr $2mm Waddle 1 yr $2mm Bates 3 yrs $1.7mm Boettger 3yrs $1.7mm Beane hit it out of the park this offseason with retooling the O-Line. Can anyone look at the names and numbers above and not believe that we have gotten incredible value for the amount of resources invested after watching the O-Line play this season? We have had O-Lineman go down and the backup comes in and just picks up and continues to play at a very high level. Nsekhe goes down and Ford shifts to R T. Morse goes out today and Feliciano shifts to Center and Long comes in at RG and the line doesn't miss a beat. The offense rushes for 244 yards against a solid Broncos defense. The Broncos only had one sack today and Josh had plenty of time to go through his progressions and a clean pocket to throw from. What a difference a year makes. I thought the #1 item on Beane's offseason list last year was to fix our horrendous O-Line. He did that by bringing in players that were flying under the radar. Who the Hell are Nsekhe, Feliciano, and Long? They weren't big name free agents. Then Beane trades a bag of marbles and a bologna sandwich for Bates who has looked solid when called upon bringing even more versatility to the O-Line. Beane did his homework and went out with a bunch of money in his pocket and didn't blow it on flashy players, he brought in guys who were ready to take that next step and he got them on team friendly deals. We head into the 2020 season with the 4th most cap space in the league at $90mm. The front office under Beane is killing it in the draft and in Free Agency. So far so good with Allen. I'm not even going to talk about Beasley and Brown, Knox and Singletary, and the defensive additions. Beane is setting up this team for success for years to come.

An A-10 squadron from the Maryland Air National Guard flew our CAS when I was a young Inigo Montoya back in the Gulf War. Probably the same squadron. Nothing sweeter to a bunch of grunts than watching a flight of A-10s rolling onto target. WARTHOGS!!!

I agree he still has a ways to go. I think he will get there for a few reasons. First, there is some franchise stability. He has a good coaching staff that will be patient with him and give him the time he needs to grow. This isn't the dumpster fire Bills of a few years ago. Second, the guy has a crazy work ethic. At the end of last season he couldn't throw short and intermediate passes to save his life, so he spent all off season working on it and now it's the strongest part of his game. I would expect him to pick another weakness this off season and attack it and improve upon it. Lastly, the front office is making every effort to put players around him to make him successful and that should continue going forward. This year they gave him an O-Line and some receivers who can get separation and catch the damn ball. I expect he will take the field next year with even more weapons. I think this franchise has finally found its QB.

We all wondered what we would have in Josh Allen on draft night two years ago. I think if we could have looked into the future on that draft night to right now, week 12 of Allen's second season, and see how Allen is playing, and the Bills sitting at 7-3, we all would've taken that in a heart beat. He is only going to get better.