Ray Stonada

The season is teetering… let Josh and Cook rip and GET AFTER IT, boys. LET’S GO BUF-FALO

(This thread) Beane: "You guys were bitching in 2018 about Josh Allen — you guys wanted Josh Rosen — and now you guys are bitching that we don’t have a receiver. I don’t get it." (Actual quote.)

Six pages on Justin Fields being benched is impressive.

In a way, this isn't a problem. An offense can only feature 3 or 4 pass-catchers. ("Feature" meaning averaging 5+ targets/game.) On our team, that's Kincaid, Shakir, Coleman, and now either Moore or Samuel have to step up. Throwing 3 balls to 9 different players each game doesn't really create offensive rhythm or endanger defenses at crunch time.

Okay, if Palmer goes on IR, I would try to get Elijah Moore involved--he showed good speed and instincts on his touches this year. Also, why not get a young speedster to stretch the defense, and actually throw him the ball, like the Chiefs have done with Tyquan Thornton?

Buffalo 37, Carolina 21

This was an very balanced, realistic summary of how we look after six weeks. We've had this lull around weeks 5-7 the last four seasons. One difference is our defense looks much more helpless. I am hopeful that the players will improve and gel into a solid unit. But I wish we'd play the younger guys with more physical abiliity more: Hancock, Ingram, Walker, etc., over the vets who are barely hanging on, like Tre. Even if they have growing pains, they often improve with game play. A guy like Elam, who has a lot of talent, didn't get the time to develop here. Now he's starting for Dallas and played damn well the last two games--it might be coming together for him finally.

You don’t get a tree until you win a Lombardi.

What McD brings is the tight ax culture that is good for getting a drought team out of the basement, and impressed Pegula enough to get handed the reins. And he brings a preference for “high-character” guys who don’t rock the boat. What he doesn’t bring is strategic savvy to compete at the top of the league.

Thanks for writing this. Gotta say, I agree the chance the season tanks is remote... and yet, somehow I've lost some hope that this version of the Bills can get the trophy. Too much rinse and repeat over the last 5 years. I used to feel like, just get us to the Dance and with Josh we've got a shot! But Josh played better than any QB in history in the playoffs in 2021 and we still couldn't get past KC. This year's team doesn't feel anywhere near as good. Maybe I am just at a low point and will come around, after we crush the Panthers. Hope so!

Yes, they probably would be, and good luck to the team that hires them. But our team has had too long under this regime with the same flaws... we need fresh energy and a different style. I watched KC, the Eagles, and the Lions this weekend and those offenses and defenses were on a different level to ours.

Good plan, totally sensible. I would add: For short-yardage, design a 22 formation that can run any play, with Josh under center, Cook HB, Gilliam FB, Kincaid TE, Hawes TE, and one WR (probably Shakir). If the defense loads up, you audible and the same formation shifts from heavy to spread, probably with Shakir in orbit motion. Run Cook or pass out of that and a goal-line defense will have no chance. 1989-91 Bills used to do this on gotta-have it short yardage plays (except without the orbit motion) and it worked great.

I guess I didn't write it well... I think our chances of bottoming out are not that high--maybe 15%--but they are real. (Which I didn't think from 2020-2024.) What I was trying to say was that if the Panthers take us to the woodshed with KC waiting the next week, the chance our season goes down the tubes is much higher. In that case, I'd rather bottom out and get a fresh start with a new staff, than go 10-7 and first round loss in the playoffs.

Agreed. What I don't get is why loyal Bills fans (in my case, since the 80s), are being told we aren't supporting the team when we describe how the team feels right now. Of COURSE we want them to fix things and go on a crazy run, like in 2020. But we don't know if the talent and hunger is there this week; time will tell. Meantime, people who feel the opposite should feel free to explain why. For me, I see a team that is struggling in a lot of areas, at this moment in time.

Hey Dan, I hope for the Bills to win the Super Bowl as much as anyone here. THIS YEAR. But I live in reality, and I am not alone seeing a trend with this year's team that, if it continues, means we will not have a chance to do that. I could be wrong; maybe we right the ship, and go on a run to our first chip. But if our season goes south, which feels possible, it would be better, IMO, for it to go so bad that McD and Beane are let go and we have a top 5 picks in the draft. Get it? Or you wanna question my loyalty to Buffalo (city of my birth) and the Bills?

Hopeful but cautious... we had so many guys come through and not make an impact--Tim Settle, Poona Ford, etc, etc,

No guarantee we will win this game, the way we have looked... It's weird to say, but one benefit of getting housed in this game: We are stuck in a doom loop of exactly the same season every year. Josh dragging us to 11-13 wins, us coming up short against KC. Maybe if this season spins totally out of control, we get good draft picks and a new coaching staff and we get excited again...

A team whose identity should be formed by the players, is formed by their coaches, who give them: 1) a tight attitute and lots of rules about how to play and difficult systems to master 2) no great designed plays to run when we really need a first down or a stop 3) no help in terms of adapting game plans or strategy at the end of close games It will be bittersweet if Josh Allen ends up on another team, gets unshackled and has receivers, and throws for 5000 yards and 50 TDs.

Right now the Chiefs, Patriots, and Colts would have better odds of winning it all than us, to any sane bettor. And that's just the AFC.

I too keep thinking about D.K. A real beast and the perfect wideout for us, and he was sitting there. Available for the equivalent of Cole Bishop. ARGHHH.

Agree, for some reason he did it better with John Brown in 2019 and 2020 than since. Doesn't seem to hit guys right in stride very much. BTW if you want to see a pretty deep ball, check this out: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPzwlB3Aa6Z/?img_index=1

Right, Jokeman, cause everyone knows you can't have a good running game and a number 1 receiver thriving at the same time... Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed can tell you!

That was before Brady, when Brady came in Diggs usage immediately tanked.

There seems to be a weird arrogance about the Everybody Eats thing… like, no matter what works we have to keep switching guys out and running different plays to prove how nobody is above the scheme. Instead of like, I don’t know, letting your best players play except when they need rest?

It's radical but I would replace Brady and take playcalling away from Babich. Second half D looked better under McD, just stick with that. Offense is poorly coached, and just plain stupid. No passes to Cook and Ty on the field for fourth down? End arounds on short yardage? Brady has been figured out. And he doesn't seem to be quick enough at adapting to match wits with the better defensive coaches in the NFL.