JGMcD2

Beane and McDermott made the decision to strip the roster of bloated contracts and particular players on both the offensive and defensive side of the football via trade. Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby, Marcel Dareus, Reggie Ragland, Kevon Seymour. They also let certain pieces walk during free agency to avoid handing out big contracts, both on the offensive and defensive side of the football. Over 35 players departed via free agency in 2017. Robert Woods, Stephon Gilmore, Marquise Goodwin, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Mike Gillislee were the biggest names. Going into Training Camp in 2018... they had just 15 players remaining from the end of the 2016 season. 7 on the offensive side and 6 on the defensive side to go along with 2 ST. I apologize, when I was looking I was looking at the record of the team when we beat them by mistake. That added 3 teams who did go on to be 8-8. As for the offense, yeah it’s been anemic those first three years. They started Tyrod and a project QB. It wasn’t going to be pretty. Josh has 4 great games this year and 1 mediocre game and a dud. They’ve played good competition outside of the Jets in all of those games... they’ll be ok. Every team they’ve played outside of the Jets is .500 or better right now.

Sean McDermott makes Dick Jauron look animated and uncorpse like? Wow. He’s not passionate? I’ll tell you a story, because I didn’t necessarily notice it but my father who served as an officer in the Marine Corps did. The scene in the locker room watching the Bengals/Ravens game in 2017, they cut to McDermott for a reaction when the Bengals scored... he goes to celebrate... and then stops himself and collects himself. He turns away from the group and puts his head down and prays... then he goes around and starts shaking hands and congratulating the players. My Dad was stunned... “Did you see that? That’s such an impressive thing for him to be able to do. He was fighting so hard to maintain his composure. He couldn’t let his men see him get too high or too low, because they feed off of him. That’s an unbelievable leader right there. He gathered himself and acted like a professional.” Does he need to show some more fire from time to time of the sidelines? Sure. But you can’t do it all the time or else it becomes meaningless. They didn’t show up against the Ravens, Patriots and Texans down the stretch? They lost all of those games by a score, had the ball late against BAL and NE with a chance to tie the game and had a chance to win against HOU should 1/3 guys put a hat on McKinney.

They were 24-24 in the 3 years prior to McDermott and then you admit that they stripped the team down when McDermott arrived? So you’re telling me to give you a break, while you support my argument. Not quite sure how it’s revisionist history when in both 2017 and 2018 the football world was in agreement that McDermott did a heck of a job considering the roster he was given. The expectations for those teams were not high... so by talking about that and talking about how he got them to over perform is revisionist history? That doesn’t add up. The answer to your O/U question is 8 teams.

I appreciate this break down. It’s very important, because I think this is a key thing we should all be looking it. The Bills need to show improvement here. Although I will say that the records in 2017 and 2018 shouldn’t carry as much stock as 2019 and 2020. The 17/18 Bills were not supposed to be competitive teams... those teams were tripped down to the screws. The 2019/2020 Bills are important to look at and as of now, it definitely is underwhelming. Although I could argue we’re 2-2 against same year playoff teams this season. It remains to be seen. He has a winning record in 2/3 seasons (also currently 4-2). The 6-10 season when the team was stripped down to the screws heavily impacts that. Context is important:)

Everyone keeps throwing McDermott’s record out there... and nobody wants to apply context to it. The reason people were excited about a guy who was 25-23 in his first 3 seasons is the context. The 2017 Buffalo Bills were projected to be an absolutely horrendous football team... #1 pick bad. They went 9-7. Some will say they “backed their way into the playoffs” which is just a stupid comment. Unbelievably stupid. If Cincinnati beats Baltimore 2 weeks earlier and our win against Miami gets us in... did we back in? Give me a freaking break. The 2018 Buffalo Bills were once again projected to be an absolutely horrendous football team... #1 pick bad. Many projections having them win less than 4 games. They went 6-10. Not to mention they played Josh Allen, someone who many argued shouldn’t even be in the NFL... wasn’t ready to play and would be out of the league quick. The 2019 Buffalo Bills were projected to be average... everyone mocked Josh Allen and the team that we had. We managed to go 10-6 and clinch a playoff spot before the final week of the season. They collapsed in the playoffs and again lost by 1 score. He’s managed to take teams with less talent and get them to perform above what anybody expects. This impatient fan base distorts EVERYTHING. The team was rebuilding... they tore absolutely everything down and they continued to have success. The Buffalo Bills are 4-2 right now and 2 games up in the AFC East. Our entire division has to play the AFC and NFC West. It won’t necessarily be a cakewalk for them either. Yeah, I’m embarrassed by the past two performances. Yeah, adjustments sure need to be made, you’d be crazy to say they don’t. Yeah, we’re not clicking on all cylinders early in the season against good teams all the time (yes, the Dolphins, Raiders and Rams are good teams too). The sky doesn’t have to fall 6 weeks in when we’re leading our division. Everyone screaming about how we backed into the playoffs so McDermott isn’t good, get a grip. Everyone screaming about how we went 10-6 last year because our schedule was weak, get a grip. We’re probably going to end up 10-6 again this year against a more difficult schedule and the same people are gonna whine and cry because “We showed no improvement with our record. We went 10-6 this year and 10-6 again. Unacceptable!” Are y’all this ridiculous and negative in your day to day life? Do y’all overreact to everything without actually going through all the facts and assessing things with an even hand? I mean seriously.. I know there are studies on how fans are irrational but people here take the cake. Whenever something goes right, y’all hedge and say it’s not gonna last. That way when there’s a blip on the screen, you can come out and say you’re right.

I should note I don’t support either side lol. I find both useless, it’s definitely valid to be excited and/or upset about a player... but be able to back it up. The posters here that do that make things so much more engaging, but sometimes to get to it you have to scroll through 40 “he’s a franchise QB” and “dude is trash. Cut him and fire Beane” to get there. Everyone spends a little extra time stating their opinions and producing thoughtful content from time to time and things get super fun around here.

Crafting a thoughtful response on why the player isn’t performing well or what you’re noticing is a valid form of criticism. Screaming from the rooftops that a player is “trash”, “sucks”, or whatever other one word lines fans like to throw out is a waste of time. Why are they trash? What are they doing that sucks? You can have a dissenting opinion on performance and even a dislike for certain players... but at least come up with something thoughtful as to why you feel that way. Crushing beers, watching the Bills for 2.5 hours a week and seeing a guy get burnt one time and immediately posting “he needs to be cut” or “trade for Jalen Ramsey to replace him” is useless.

I can get behind this. Fans will be fans, but the lack of feel is comical. Sometimes I feel like I come here more for a laugh from the hot takes of former JV HS football players with no concept of the day to day in professional sports.

Wrong. The final box score said it was close! Context doesn’t matter!

So you meant to say based on arbitrary rankings?

Ranking in conference as in wins in the AFC? Because currently we're 4-1 and 3-1 in the AFC...so that only puts us behind PIT and TEN. Tied with BAL and KC. Ahead of NE. As for conference wins, we can't possibly be behind New England when we're 3-1 in the AFC and they're 2-1.

They won't. Goodell is now on record, via the CBS broadcast crew that the Titans did nothing wrong during this whole debacle. Ironically, this contradicts their GM's statement today where he admitted they didn't properly wear masks and had issues enforcing it. Also, not to mention, the players tweeting out basically admitting guilt over practicing outside of the facility when they were told to cease all contact with each other. The league is a joke. Their punter is from Western, NY. Grand Island to be exact.

I am still really confused how Roger Goodell has yet to make a public statement on the Titans but told the CBS crew that Tennessee did nothing wrong. Their GM admitted they weren’t wearing masks properly. Their players admitted guilt in some way, shape or form when it came to practicing when the facility was shut down and they were told not to gather. It doesn’t change the fact we sucked tonight, but all of a sudden the NFL is making the Titans out to be an underdog who fought through all kinds of unintentional adversity. It was self inflicted and now it’s being swept under the rug.

Important question... the Titans only have 4 inactive players? Does that means guys are still on the COVID list?

Gosh. This is so depressing. Mostly because I can relate.

Good thing today is Tuesday Bills win!

What benefit is there to telling the public? They're gathering real time information to make the best decision possible. Things are fluid, even when you have a well laid out plan. You have to adjust based on new information otherwise you're just as poor of a leader as the guy who doesn't make a plan in the first place. EDIT: My point on this is that you see the chaos associated with constantly changing what's going on... sometimes it is better to wait to make a decision rather than whipping back and forth between outcomes. It avoids panic and confusion. I would say the plan was probably predicated on professional athletes and adults being able to follow a simple set of rules in order to avoid this situation. I think the league in conjunction with the NFLPA were well within in their right to believe that all 32 organizations and their players would understand the magnitude of a global pandemic and follow the rules that were agreed upon via collective bargaining in order to conduct the season.

I think this a pretty poor take. While I admit that my confidence in the NFL is not particularly high, it's ridiculous to think that there is not next-level planning. Everything is not on the fly, and while they're operating based on new information as new information comes in, that's how decisions should be made. Just because the general public isn't aware of the plans that the NFL has (and why would we be privy to every detail of a business, it's not like Target has their COVID contingency plan out for the public to see at all times) doesn't mean there is no plan. It's so funny how the psychology of being a fan v. a consumer works. Fans react so emotionally to everything, it's quite funny.

I remember where I was when we drafted Josh. Still in college at my college house in Massachusetts, surrounded by Patriots fans. A few of we’re about to leave to visit our roommate in the hospital be we stuck around to watch the pick. I wanted Josh Rosen, I wasn’t upset we took Josh Allen to the point I threw a tantrum, but I thought it was a mistake based on everything the analysts were telling me. Then I really dug in and did some research on him... and my perception started to change. Then he walked on the field during that horrible game against Baltimore his rookie year... and you could tell the atmosphere changed on the Bills sideline. Guys looked like they hated football with Peterman out there, and then Josh comes out and the energy is SO much different. That’s when I knew, seriously, I said “this is the guy.” Zo Alexander even talked about it. Shady talked about it. Kyle Williams talked about it. That’s special. It doesn’t just happen, you don’t just earn that. You’re born with that. He’s not Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker or Jamarcus Russell... he has all of the physical tools required to be a stud AND the leadership traits as well. We all identify with Buffalo, it’s home. It means something to us. People make fun of us for it, but we defend our home so passionately. He’s the same way. He loves where he is, he gets what it means to be a Bills fan. Being a Bills fan is kind of like being Josh Allen growing up. Nobody believes in you, you’re not quite good enough, you fail more often than not and he’s taken it upon himself to not only rewrite the narrative on Josh Allen, but the narrative on Western, NY and the Buffalo Bills. It’s been a privilege to watch him grow up and it’s going to be a privilege to watch him for the next 15 years. Try not to complain too much about him... because when he’s gone, you’re damn sure gonna miss him.

Well, I think it’s unfair to say they don’t prioritize the CB position. They’ve spent a draft pick each year under McBeane on a defensive back. McDermott’s first pick was a CB. Whom for a brief moment was the highest paid corner in the NFL, and the contract was given to him by the Buffalo Bills. When they traded Watkins to the Rams... they received a CB in return, along with a second round pick. Keeping 10 OL give them options this year for a slightly larger roster in game day which is an advantage. You can have an active roster of 48 if at least 8 active players are OL... so that’s another reason to keep more OL. I’d argue that on this team the CB position is less valuable than elsewhere because of the defensive scheme. We’ve been able to plug and play EJ Gaines, Kevin Johnson, Levi Wallace and (Now) Josh Norman while having some pretty significant success against opposing teams. Protecting your QB and having the depth on the OL where it’s not as easy to plug and play may be more valuable to this group of decision makers.

I wouldn’t rule it out. Folks are very litigious in today’s world. Although, it will get thrown out very quickly if it does come to fruition. They’d be grasping at straws.

They’re pretty much obligated to file a grievance. They know it’s not going anywhere and probably disagree with the Raiders, but have to act for the players. They filed grievances on behalf of Brady, Zeke, Antonio Brown, etc. Just the norm.

Every player wants the NFLPA to get involved. They’re all members of the NFLPA, otherwise they have no bargaining power. They legitimately pay dues each year to be members of the union. The NFLPA did their job. They exist to represent the players in matters concerning wages, hours and working conditions, as well as to protect their rights as professional football players.

Well, this is what held baseball up for months. It had nothing to do with safety or protocols... it was strictly because they had to shorten the season and players wanted their full wages and the owners only wanted to pay for roughly 60 games no matter how many games they played. The NFL was the only sport out of season when everything got shut down... so they were able to plan ahead. They were negotiating these things far in advance, but at one point there were significant issues over money. The players are never going to budge and the owners are never going to pay more for less games. Less games means less TV revenue, coupled with no ticket sales and you have some cash flow issues on the owners end. They typically just reinvest all money made from the NFL back into their team. Most people don’t recognize that sports owners aren’t necessarily cash liquid where they can just throw money at their team. If I’m not mistaken, Pegula had to sell significant investments in order to obtain the capital to purchase the Bills, because their net worth isn’t liquid. At least not the point where they can just casually write a check for a team or 53 players + coaches and staff. EDIT: The Buffalo Sabres owner closed on a $1.75 billion deal to sell the drilling rights on about 75,000 acres of land in Ohio and West Virginia to American Energy on Tuesday. The sale was announced by American Energy and in a release issued by PR Newswire. The agreement between Pegula's East Resources Inc. and Oklahoma-based American Energy was first reached in June. The sale comes at a time when Pegula and wife Kim are considered the front-runners to buy the Bills, who are for sale after Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson died in March. Yeah that’s on them 100%. NFLPA agreed to following protocols in order to get their full 16 game salary. That’s a group of 53 that were selfish, but they still wouldn’t have willingly dropped from 16 to 14. The other 31 rosters on guys wouldn’t have let them.

14 games means players forfeit two game checks each... was never going to happen.