ComradeKayAdams

Was it reasonable to expect that much more from Allen in his second year? Were you expecting Mahomes/Watson/Jackson production from him? Josh entered the league as one of the most raw 1st round QB prospects in a long time. Many other coaches would have sat Josh Allen for an entire year (or even two...Brady sat for 1, Rodgers sat for 3, Brees took 5 years to figure things out, etc...). You wanted McDermott and Daboll to unleash Allen and not force him to be a game manager. But do you remember the first Pats game in September, for example, when Josh was allowed to just be Josh and throw the ball around? Maybe the game manager role is exactly what Allen needs in his second year? He left college with major question marks on his decision-making. Maybe he needs to spend some time learning what he can and can't get away with in the NFL and learning how the best decision is sometimes just taking what the defense is giving. You call me gullible and accepting of whatever McDermott/Daboll/Beane tells me. Fine. Not true, actually (just like you, I expect a top-10 or so offense next fall or else there are reasons for concern), but fine. I think you're an impatient, irrational, and also very strange person for seemingly caring more about statistical metrics like 300 yards passing than your favorite team putting together a series of wins that we haven't seen from them since 1999.

What's crazy is that there is a small but real possibility that the #3 Texans play the #6 Titans for the third time in four weeks. That situation would require the Texans beating the same team three times in four weeks, which is a difficult task for any NFL team to do to another.

I don't think the Buffalo Bills fan base is the problem. I think your complete lack of patience is the problem. The offense was always expected to be the focus this coming off-season. The team has $90 million in cap space and 9 picks. I'm pretty sure that the 24th rated offense and the 30th rated passing game wasn't the end goal to Coach McDermott's "process." You haven't been happy with the overly conservative play calling on offense. No one has, really. But there are also real limitations to what these coaches can do, given the current personnel on offense. You have to factor that into the play calling problems first before demanding various coaches be fired. You wanted the offense to be built first before the defense. McDermott disagreed and decided to support his young QB with a strong defense and a good running game first. It is what it is. In the meantime, why not enjoy the playoff run for a bit and push your offense anxieties into February? If you genuinely can't see yourself enjoying consistent Bills winning at low scores, maybe you should consider following other teams. Maybe teams that play in domes or in good weather? Or try your luck with the NBA? That's a league with a lot of scoring and negligible defense. You are correct to an extent, in that the Buffalo Bills have a very long history of prioritizing a strong defense and a solid running game over a dynamic/innovative passing offense, and the fan base is much more accepting of this style of play than other fan bases. Some say it's because of the weather in Buffalo. Others say it's because that's all Bills fan have ever known, minus the K-gun years, the first half of 2002, and maybe also the Fitzmagic years. Others (like me) argue that Bills fans are among the most knowledgeable in the NFL, and they know their history. They saw Saban's traditional-minded teams dismantle Gillman's innovative passing teams twice on the big stage. They saw smaller finesse Bills teams dominated by smashmouth NFC East dynasties for 4 straight Super Bowls. Bills fans seem to be aware that - regardless of the rule changes over the years in an effort to make the sport more like flag football and seemingly more palatable to a larger audience - the fundamental principles of football remain the same: control the line of scrimmage, control the clock, have a favorable turnover differential, and just generally have your 'roided out guys out-'roid out the opposing team's 'roided out guys. The combo of strong defense + strong running game will always have value in the sport of American football, so long as football remains football. One last comment: Josh Allen is less than 100 yards away from having the 11th highest season passing yards in franchise history. Brown and Beasley are likely going to both finish top-15 or so in franchise history for season receptions. Brown will likely finish top-10 in franchise history for season receiving yards. This is very noteworthy, considering that Allen is only in his second year in a bad offense and neither Brown nor Beasley are true #1 WR's. Conclusion: the Bills, under Daboll, are in fact entering the modern era of NFL passing. We're seeing the early signs of it.

Ralph Wilson wanted Wade Phillips to fire his special team coach, Ronnie Jones, because the 2000 Bills had one of the worst special teams units in NFL history. Wade refused, partly out of loyalty, and maybe partly out of getting tired of Ralph meddling as an owner (Ralph had also forced Wade to start Rob Johnson instead of Doug Flutie for the Music CIty Miracle playoff game in 1999). Ralph didn't like this, so he fired Wade. In retrospect, Wade Phillips was probably doomed anyway beyond 2000. The team had no franchise QB in sight, no OL, a gigantic salary cap crisis about to explode in 2001, and of course the impending rise of the Brady/Belichick nightmare in 2001. Wade Phillips himself has admitted that he never had the personality to be a quality NFL head coach (as opposed to a coordinator). I think 1999 was always meant to be the franchise's last serious attempt at a Super Bowl for a while, and they BLEW IT.

I just looked this up: there are only 7 players on offense that returned from 2018: 2 starters (Allen, Dawkins) and 5 role players/backups (Barkley, DiMarco, McKenzie, Foster, Boettger). That's remarkable. This was essentially an entirely new offense for Daboll. You have to expect growing pains from that alone. I vote for sticking with Daboll (and I'm highly certain this is what's going to happen anyway), but the team badly needs a tall X receiver and a power north-south RB before even entertaining notions of being a top-10 offense.

Many thanks to Wade Phillips, one of the best DC's ever and the biggest reason for the Bills staying as competitive as they were from 1995-2000. As an amateur Buffalo Bills historian, I look at 1994 as a watershed season for the franchise because it marked the end of a team whose identity was its dominating offense and the beginning of a team whose identity was its strong defense. If you were to magically insert Wade's 1999 defense in place of Walt Corey's defenses of the early 90's, the Bills win all 4 Super Bowls. Too bad Butler couldn't have done a better job constructing that OL in the salary cap era, because that 1999 team was special...

That's not what Sabres fans are saying. They have completely destroyed that franchise.

And unlike the Mario Williams contract, this one will be worth it. If Beane extends White this off-season, they can front-load the contract in the years before Allen's contract comes up.

People who know football had respect for what Greg Roman was building with Taylor, McCoy, and Williams/Gillislee. Taylor's passing limitations may have ultimately doomed them, but those teams could have done some damage in the AFC if Rex Ryan had put in the proper effort with all that defensive talent. Interestingly enough, the Buffalo Bills have almost always been focused primarily on a strong running game and a strong defense. When were the exceptions? The early 90's? 2002 Bledsoe? Fitzmagic years? Any other years I missed? I prefer the strong defense + strong running game first model for multiple reasons: 1. It's (subjectively) more exciting to watch. Every play has proportionally more importance when you get into field position battles. 2. It diminishes the value of any singular position (i.e., the QB). One bad injury to your QB shouldn't send all the effort and all the hopes you had for the season down the drain. 3. Works better on the road and in bad weather.

I, too, am on the Derrick Henry bandwagon! Henry, Singletary, and Allen in the backfield would be amazing. Possibly #1 in the league, ahead of Baltimore.

I can help! I can wire up multiple IED's in a daisy chain and installed underneath the cars of Cris Collinsworth, Dan Le Batard, and Nick Wright by Monday afternoon. If they so much as pass gas in New Era Field's general direction, then it's game over for them. I like to help! I like feeling useful ?

Why are y'all turning on Marc Miller?! He is a Buffalo Bills fan base hero and an all-purpose American hero. He is MY personal hero. He has taught me how to confront my fears in life and shout really loudly at them. And he has a perfectly valid legal case. City of Good Neighbors?! Yeah right. Who's next in your line of fire? Billy Buffalo? Bills Elvis guy? Pinto Ron?

Love it! You should also go REALLY old school next season and get an orange and black Ockie Anderson jersey, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Staley Swindle. If you do it, let us know about all the responses you get!

If everyone gets tired of the Shout song, they can try resurrecting this one. Just replace "silver" with "red" in this song. Maybe modernize it a bit with a mixed beat that is absolute FIRE.

Great post, KRC! My thoughts on this: Regardless of the excuses the NFL publicly provided, I don't think they ever intended to give Buffalo a pro franchise again. One reason why I feel this way is because of the documented longstanding grudge that the most influential owner in the league, George Halas, had toward Frank McNeil (owner of the Buffalo All-Americans), dating all the way back to the 1920's. But since the early 1930's, we also know that the NFL had been actively trying to move away from the Great Lakes small-town franchise model of its past. A lot had to do with money, of course, and wanting to bring the league into bigger markets throughout the country, but lots of players from southern colleges also didn't want to play in bad weather (falls and winters back then were even colder than they are now). The ONLY reason Buffalo has an NFL team in 2019 is because the AFL merger stipulations forced the league to accept the Bills. And the only reason Ralph Wilson took a chance on Buffalo after the rejection of his first choice in Miami was because of the incredible support the AAFC Bills had (which was way disproportionate to their actual on-field success). Factor in the collapsing Buffalo economy after the St. Lawrence seaway construction of 1959, the de-industrialization of the Midwest since the 1970's...there's absolutely no way Buffalo would have ever been allowed a pro team if the AFL hadn't succeeded. Post more often, KRC! Many of us here like reading about pro football history and Bills history. Of all the 32 NFL franchises and of all the 30 NFL cities, the Bills of Buffalo are probably the most unique and the most interesting. They are like the tragic version of the Green Bay Packers story. And yet the fans still come out to greet them at the airport following their 35th loss in 40 tries against the Pats this century....as my esteemed colleague on GMFB, Nate Burleson, says: the Buffalo Bills are America's "spirit animal."

That could certainly be the case, especially with me. However, I like the idea of drafting another early-round T/G hybrid prospect like Dawkins and Ford just to give the OL coach more options. Dawkins at LT and Morse at C are the only two spots I believe are locks for 2020. Spain, Feliciano, Long, and Nsekhe are all serviceabe starters but kind of mediocre to me with limited ceilings. With $90+ million in cap space and a franchise-caliber QB entering his critical third year, I'd prefer to see a top-10 OL built somehow. My 2020 needs ranking: 1. WR 2. DE 3. RT 4. CB 5. OLB to replace Alexander 6. RB to replace Gore 7. LG

Yes, it is 100% a reference to the fight song of the original AAFC Buffalo Bills franchise (1946-49). I can't find the lyrics, but here's one reference to it (with an amusing description of perhaps the first instance of Bills fans greeting the team at airports following games): https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/04/bills-playoff-win-causes-a-near-riot-in-baltimore-1948/ Also, the fight song is being played in this video, but once again...no lyrics:

As a vegan, I do not approve of this post. Stop basting lambs and try something like a spinach and chickpea rice pilaf instead.

Rex Ryan is on record as saying Josh Allen is going to be an NFL superstar. So it looks like the Bills will be looking for a new QB this offseason.?

True, but wouldn't Duke be more useful in the red zone where there's not much space anyway to exploit? Should I start a separate Duke Williams thread about this?

It does look harder than this year, but it's nothing too outrageous. The 2020 Bills are going to be a lot more dangerous to the rest of the league than the 2019 Bills. An extra draft + more experience for the offense + $90 million in cap space = championship. 2019 teams definitely better than Bills (3): Pats, at Pats, Ravens 2020 teams definitely better than Bills in 2019 (5): Pats, at Pats, Chiefs, 49ers, Seahawks 2019 games outside Eastern Time Zone (2): at Dallas, at Tenn 2020 games outside Eastern Time Zone (5): at SF, at LV, at Denver, at Arizona, probably at Tenn

I hope it happens. I feel bad for the city of Oakland, so it would be nice for them to make a cinderella run all the way to the AFC Conference Championship, only to lose abruptly to the Bills by the score of 51-3. Want to know something crazy? It's possible that only 10 NFL teams finish above .500 this season, though it would require the Titans, Steelers, Eagles, and Rams to all lose next week.

Ford is the weak link in my eyes. If everyone is healthy, I prefer the more veteran line for the playoffs: Dawkins - Spain - Morse - Feliciano - Nsekhe

This is true. Interesting note: Brown is already 14th all-time in single-season receptions (72 receptions) for the franchise, and Beasley is 21st (67 receptions) with 1 game to go! Not quite Moulds and Price of 2002, but impressive nonetheless. Of course, this also shows how much of a dinosaur this franchise has been in the modern passing game since Kelly.... but I digress. If you include Allen's scrambles on aborted pass plays in addition to designed passes to the RB's and TE's, there really aren't enough targets to go around for other WR's. Foster, McKenzie, Williams, and Roberts would only function as role players at this point when everyone is healthy. However, I would like to see Daboll utilize these role players more (I'll include Yeldon here too) and get creative for the playoffs. In the absence of superior talent, this offense badly needs some creativity. I'm still a believer in Foster! At the very least, he serves a useful role of opening up space in the middle for Beasley.

I don't think this is fair to say of the offense. They are severely limited in talent this season, Josh Allen is still developing as a pro QB, and they went up against an elite defense in their own house with the refs in their pocket. Buffalo's offense played okay, considering all these factors, and they didn't turn over the ball once this time! The defense was another story...the tackling was so bad that at many times I was left wondering if Kraft paid THEM to throw the game. It was an ugly display of effort on the national stage, especially considering that defense was supposed to be the heart and soul of the team and this was the performance they gave against such a hated rival. Hard to believe now, but at one point in time this was a competitive division rivalry (39-41-1 against the Pats before Brady's ascension in 2001). Now it's just very, very sad. 43-75-1. That 32-game loss deficit will likely never be made up as long as there is an NFL.