Ethan in Cleveland

Johnson has one of the top plays in franchise history if not the greatest.

Good take but you left out the Raiders may have one of the weakest HCs in the league. McDaniels will have a better QB than he did in Denver but he was still a failure in his first stint as a HC. Add the fact the Belichick tree is littered with failures, I have them 1 game ahead of Denver in third place

Agree

Agree on Staley's past. He needs to do better. The same could be said for McDermott and as I said in another thread he has gotten better.

The Broncos stats for defense are right around 10th best in yards, YPA, sacks. I admittedly have not followed them as close because I did not think they were much of a contender without a QB. Honest inquiry here, what makes their defense awesome?

Agree on Baltimore. I think they win the AFC North. Good comments on injury history for Chargers. Also Matt Ryan could get real old real quick too like Rivers and Brees did. Will be interesting to see how he plays.

Great Division foe thread. There was good conversation on the topic of AFC competition during free agency and leading up to the draft. Now that most of the moves have been made let's revisit it. My take is the Chargers are the biggest obstacle to the Bills making the SB. They have a superstar QB, multiple weapons on offense and they have on paper made significant upgrades to their defense. I think they will win their division but will only be third in the conference standings because of how competitive their division is. I believe it will be Buffalo #1 followed by Indianapolis at #2. I think Tenn takes a step back and the Colts win that division by 2+ games. Bills get home-field in the playoffs and win at home in the Conference game. Why not KC? It's reasonable to pick KC again and despite moving Hill they did make some nice additions in free agency and the draft. Just seems like their star is fading while other teams are on the ascent.

In the NFC the Dolphins are a WC team. In the AFC they I'd say they are ranked somewhere between 9-10 with the likes of Tenn and Cleveland if Watson plays. I would put Buffalo, Indy, Baltimore, Cincy, Vegas, Denver, KC, and Chargers in the top 8 in no particular order.

You may be right about the DL. When I last did the head count I thought they would add a NT in the draft and therefore had 1 too many. That said I think they have at least 1 if not two less DL this year. The high number kept last year didn't really help and they got a little younger. Agreed. I wanted OL in the second or third round. A lot will be determined on Spencer Brown. If he gets better and can play solid RT then I think the line will be ok. they have enough options in the interior this year that they will find a reasonable starting 5

Based on Beane's comments about Moss and the fact they will be in 2 TE sets more, I think Gilliam is finally cut and Moss makes the team. They keep 4 RB - Singletary, Moss, Cook, and Jones. I hate spending money on Special Teams but McD values the spots. That said I think Jones stays, and Kumerow and Matakevich are cut. I think some of those day 3 picks will end up being the core special teams guys for the next few years. Haack is gone. Strong chance White is on IR to start the season. Last DL roster spot will be a battle between Epenesa and Phillips. I know they are different positions, but Basham and Settle probably can play inside or out. So I think it will come down to numbers. Do they want to carry an extra DE and hope Epensa gets better? Phillips might be the second best interior pass rusher. So I think they keep him and cut Epenesa. Ford is gone. He is truly awful.

Dolphins have the best roster of the other three but might have the worst QB. Jets are still a year away from winning 8 games. Bills 12-5 Dolphins 9-8 Pats 8-9 Jets 7-10

He doesn't even have to play. His salary is guaranteed. He can sit the whole year and rehab his arm

I've moved on. But I was a McD critic well before 13 seconds. I'm only interested in how he manages the team moving forward with even greater expectations than last year. The team was not prepared to play week 1 last year. Hope he has them ready to play this year. McD has shown an ability to get better. He was trusting the offense and taking reasonable chances late last season. Most worked but some did not. He and Frazier coped well enough without White until KC. Even with White, stopping KC on the road in the playoffs would have been difficult. The team is better on paper but still has question marks. That can be said of almost all teams. Let's just take it one week at a time and hope for the best.

Yup

I don’t see any difference in play except the weather. He has has bad home games like Pittsburgh last year and bad road games like Jacksonville. But in both those instances the entire team was unprepared to play. Josh is the least of my worries at home or on the road. He was virtually unstoppable in the second coldest game in franchise history. Temperature is not the issue. It was dry and not windy and by then the Bills had a reasonably reliable run game. Bad weather affects both QBs. Bills on paper should be better running the ball. Let's hope for better weather and better run blocking

His arm was shot. Unless he had an undisclosed jury that has healed there is no way he can play any longer.

I've been a vocal critic of McD for a few years now. He has coached some absolutely brutal losses, and made some very questionable personnel choices - Peterman, Murphy, and others. When the Bills win the SB this year I firmly believe it will be despite McD not because of him. It took complete negligence on the part of the coaching staff to keep Allen out of the SB this past year. That said, I would find it almost impossible to see a scenario where he is not the coach in 2023 regardless of the outcome this year. Probably only a rift between Allen and McD would be enough to cause McD to lose his job but I just can't see an Aaron Rodgers scenario playing out with Allen.

Bills were favored at home over the Steelers week 1 last season. Let's just play the games and stop all the hype. Oh and what happened to all the posters that say the Bills get no attention from the media???

Why do you think Baltimore takes a step back? I agree Tenn will.

Lol. Pretty sure we said the same thing with Brady for over a decade. Let them enjoy the offseason

Brutal schedule before the bye week. If they can come out no less than 3-3 they should be fine.

Sad day. I hope Epenesa and Basham develop. I have more hope for Basham. Not bringing back Hughes I think makes Epenesa a lock to make the final 53. He would be the 5th DE and a good chance to be a healthy scratch on game day.

White and Edmunds started from day 1 of their first training camps. And of course Bass started as well. Ford, Zay Jones, Oliver, and Rousseau all became starters their rookie year or were at least in rotations. I would be in favor of a veteran CB so they have the option of letting Elam learn a bit. That said I'd rather they rush Elam into a starting role than rush White back from injury.

I've posted this before. There was a restaurant that did not survive the pandemic, called Pok Pok. They made the most incredible Vietnamese fish sauce wings. The owner eventually started restaurants in NYC and Vegas. None survived the pandemic. Here is a write up on how to make them yourself https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/how-to-make-pok-poks-fish-sauce-wings-at-home.html

Dareus' first four years blow away anything Oliver has done. Yes Dareus went to crap but he was a great talent, and Oliver has not come close to the dominance that Dareus showed his first four years. Beane got us Allen but he has had quite a few failures as well. Ford is a bust. Epenesa look that way too. Teller traded away. And the jury is still out on Edmunds. Beane signed Williams to a significant extension only to cut him one year later. And let's not forget Beane signed a guy that quit at halftime. Have to be really careful assigning praise or blame with the retrospectoscope.