Giuseppe Tognarelli

Ed Oliver was supposed to be that d-lineman. Instead, he's a role player. This is extremely frustrating.

Josh Allen's extension will not hit the books this year. If it does, it's gross mismanagement. If it's similar to the Mahomes deal, really big money wouldn't start until 2023.

With a ~$180M cap, even if the Bills cut/trade Morse, Brown, Singletary, Smith, Hyde, Addison, Jefferson, and Gaines, they still only have around $38M in cap space which is not even enough to re-sign their own (Milano, Williams, Feliciano, and four or five others). It might be barely enough with creative structuring.

Of course it's a stretch (because it didn't happen!), of course it's make believe, of course it's a "What if" scenario. The thread title does begin with "What if..." But those three scenarios could've easily played out differently, obviously -- they were a lot closer to happening than Hill being struck by lightning or the Queen growing balls. Looking at the drive chart, it's easy to see a lot closer of a game.

This game could have played out differently. Looking back on it 48 hours later, a different decision before halftime could have changed the game. None of this "what if" scenario even factors in the Singletary drop or the idea of the defense just getting one stop on one of KC's scoring drives. 0:11 - 2nd. 4th & Goal at KC 2. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 5:49 - 3rd. 4th & 3 at KC 8. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 13:20 - 4th. 2nd & 10 at KC 20. John Brown catches the ball at KC 12. Bills go on to score and convert two-point conversion. 31-31. In real life, Chiefs and Bills then traded TDs. 38-38, ball to Chiefs at 4:08 - 4th. The Bills could have done this. Imagine: they then get an interception, throw a strike and go up 45-38. Defense holds on final possession. Bills go to Super Bowl. It's very easy to imagine it playing out this way. It could have played out this way, with the players we currently have and despite the game plan leaving much to be desired on both sides of the ball. The whole "KC would've responded differently if we had scored those TDs" rebuttal won't really work, because KC scored on all of their possessions surrounding these anyway and I haven't taken any points away from them here. If anything, our offense getting TDs might have sparked our defense to come up with a stop. I think if we play this game 10 times, we win 3 or so.

I love the Ryans.

I feel like players with long necks tend not to do great. I think they tend to be very lanky players. Hodgins is another one. We'll see what becomes of him.

Unsure what PCs you're watching, because this still happens in every conference with coaches or players and it's 100% cringe

I agree with @Process that it is BS. It didn't sit well at all with me when he said it. What's next -- they're in year 9, we're in year 5? They're in year 14, we're in year 10? I mean, come on. I think by the time you get to year 4, you don't get to say things like this anymore.

After taking in the postgame and season-ending press conferences from McD, it seems like the focus is going to be on improving the running game, pass rush, and speed. Can't wait to hear Beane tomorrow.

So glad I work from home.

Jaquan Johnson is a good player who may play out his contract without ever really seeing the field. Is CAP an acronym for something?

ALERT: Giuseppe Tognarelli, the realist who many accuse of being wildly negative, thinks you're way off base with this take. The Bills were clearly the #2 team in the AFC (and probably the league). They're just not as good as the Chiefs.

I think the way to answer this question is to look at the draft status of Edmunds, Oliver, and to a lesser extent Epenesa and think about what you would typically expect to get from those draft slots. Unfortunately, objectively, they appear to be busts (still early with Epenesa, but I don't see much to suggest otherwise). Imagine the defense if they were all stars like they should have been.

Yes.

Ahh, yes -- the good old, "You said something I thought was stupid once, so now I can discredit everything you say in the future" approach... Your comments are confusing because you actually acknowledge that he was jittery and will continue to improve, so we seem to actually agree. I don't think I made any "dramatic" comments. I certainly didn't say it was a disaster or that he can't improve. Maybe simply pointing out the problem is seen as dramatic by fans who don't want anything but lollipops and sprinkled vanilla cupcakes. Or maybe we're not allowed to bring up one thing that needs to improve without thoroughly listing *all* things that need to improve team-wide...? Josh Allen is great, but to be the best of the best, he's going to need to improve mentally/emotionally. This is objectively obvious. I can't fathom why this is so hotly contested by Bills fans. The homerism is strong in this thread.

He's certainly flashed. Beane wasn't in love with him in the draft and admitted that they took him because they needed a CB and he was next up. But they do seem to have a knack for acquiring secondary talent.

I'm definitely not trying to denigrate you. Your comment seemed aggressive. Maybe I read it wrong.

Well, I suppose we're screwed in the future then if Mahomes is just better than everyone else and we shouldn't compare Allen to him. People who know football were comparing Allen to Mahomes. A lot of league people were saying they'd take Allen over Mahomes for the next 10 years. Allen will likely get more MVP votes than Mahomes. But we shouldn't compare the amount of ice in their veins in championship games? Okay.

Thank you for acknowledging that nerves are an issue. That's all I want people to do... Take the blinders off and be realistic. It doesn't mean it can't improve.

Good lord. Calm down. Looking nervy is not the same thing as losing or throwing interceptions or having a bad game. Brady will certainly not look nervy in the Super Bowl. And, yeah, the fact that he's won 5 million Super Bowls does give him a bit more of a leash no matter what happens. That's just the way it is.

There is so much wrong with this argument.

This literally has nothing to do with the topic. Objective observers everywhere can see that the "mental" is an issue with Allen. Why is everyone so afraid of accepting that? I just said I have faith he can improve. But some people just seem to be scared to death to acknowledge the need for improvement.

Look, I know everyone's upset and wants to defend Josh, but he *absolutely* looked nervy. He's in year 3. What other elite QBs do you see look nervy? Please be objective. It's a big concern. Yes, we're only here because of him, but being here is not good enough. As another poster alluded, the best QBs have ice water in their veins in the biggest moments. Yesterday was a big test for Josh to show he could handle it emotionally/mentally, and he showed that there's a lot of improvement to make in this area. I hope he takes it as seriously over this off-season as he did with his accuracy in prior years. I have faith he can improve, but let's not pretend there's not an issue when there very clearly is.

Cole Beasley is my favorite Buffalo Bill.