Ray Stonada

And his first SB they shut down the Rams' Greatest Show. (The times they lost, they felt superior going in, to the Giants and Foles.) Brady consistently gets his teams to focus and gel and some of what looked like BB's coaching seems to have been his leadership.

It's hard to overestimate the impact he had on them as a leader though. Getting them to realize they can win it it all and staying focused enough to do it, not getting complacent after each achievement including the huge upset in the NFC championship. This wasn't the Giants squeaking by the Pats twice. Defense AND excellently opportunistic offense won this game, in a blowout.

And Mahomes looked slightly tight going against Brady, the way Josh looked a little tight going against Mahomes.

Agree. Sometimes I forget about it and just see Gronk, and then I remember suddenly and get mad again about it. One of the toughest replays to watch, the way he loads up on a defenseless Tre with glee. Sick and cowardly.

Might not be a fair comparison: the Bills weren't missing both tackles, and TB's D-line is better than KC's.

Yep. We could dominate the NFL next year.

Brady, retire? The guy is already thinking who to be nice to in the locker room, to encourage them to come back next year and give them the best chance to repeat. In his mind, a repeat SB would put even more distance between him and Belichick, and everyone else in history.

I agreed with this, OP, but after the playoffs it bears revisiting. Our offense averaged about 20 points in the three playoff games, and Josh didn't look that much better in the AFCCG than he did against the Chiefs in the regular season. I still think the shoulder harness hurt him, but it seems fair to say he got a little tight against KC both times, too, missing checkdowns and playing with slightly less confidence than in other games.

About Kenny Stills, his best two seasons were 2016 and 2017, when he had 42 catches for 726 yards and 9 TDs, and 58 for 847 and 6TDs. The last three years he caught 37, 40, and 11 balls. John Brown has two 1000 yard seasons. In his last full season, 2019, he caught 72 for 1060 and 6 TDs. There's no reason to think Stills would be a better player. He's 4-5 years out from his best years which don't even match Brown's much more recent best year.

Another awesome read from the PT, after Shnowman of course. They know how to help a player find a great tone!

100% agree. And you can bet Old Spice is gonna sell a lot of "Dynasty"

Crazily enough, I've been a huge fan of Diggs but I still feel like I've underappreciated he brought to us this season. It's only now it starts to dawn how much he changed the Bills for the better.

There has never been a QB who looked close to what Mahomes has in their first 3 years starting: not just stats, but wins and clutch play. On the other hand, there has never been a QB with the career accomplishments of Brady, not just stats but wins and clutch play. DOUBLE the Super Bowls of the all-time legends of the game. Interesting that Brady seems to recognize Mahomes' special status and has even since that first season. Last night, he compared him not to other QBs right now, but to his own greatest rival Peyton Manning. After 9 days of being depressed about the AFCCG, I'm starting to look forward to seeing these guys go at it. Romo's right, it's unique. PS I hope Josh will be in the convo in a few years but I can't pretend he is now.

Exactly. We desperately need someone to reliably make the catches that automatically open up if a defense keys on Diggs, Beasley and Brown. And not to whiff completely on 20% of their run blocks. Basically, a JAG would be an improvement over Knox and his penchant for negative plays.

I need to visit La Traila. Wow that brisket looks good!

Cool. Along with Antoine Winfield Jr., makes me feel old though!

100%. We no NOT need to upgrade at WR, a stacked unit. We obvious problems at TE, OG, DT, and RB.

John Brown played pretty darn well in 2019, without Diggs to draw coverage. Buscaglia observes what some already suspected: Knox is a real problem. Not just that he doesn't make many positive plays, but that he makes a LOT of negative plays, blocking AND receiving (in the Texans playoff game he almost got Josh killed). He isn't improving either. Get rid of Knox or get a TE above him on the depth chart.

I guess I should know this, but is Bryan Cox Jr the son of Bryan Cox the LB from the Dolphins, who we used to tangle with in the 90s?

Yes, agree with that about the WRs (though Beasley had already broken his fibula). I also feel like we could have just used a minute to catch our breath after an intense regular season. But I take your point: the jury is out on playoff byes. Somehow I feel like this year's Bills team would have benefited. Maybe I'm looking for reasons to feel we aren't that far away from the Chiefs.

Something I haven't seen discussed much: Obviously, after the Cards game, the Bills crushed through the regular season. But, at 13-3, we had no playoff bye week to rest up. Instead, we had to go right into a tough game with a very well-coached, well-balanced Colts game, and then a very intense game against Baltimore. By the time we got to the AFC championship, we didn't have much gas. Meanwhile, the Chiefs had TWO weeks off: first they rested their starters in week 17, then they got the only bye. It's an underappreciated reason for how much fresher they looked than us. If we had rested the starters against the Dolphins and they had won, we'd have played them again the next week and probably won easily. That could have made a big difference against the Chiefs. If we're in a similar position next year, maybe McDermott will give our starters that week off, to rest and get ready for more intense postseason football.

"We need another Thurman" is pretty far-fetched. However, maybe it's not too much to ask for a running back who is 1) instinctively able to hit the actual hole, instead of running into his blockers or into the gap that is filled and 2) reliable in catching the ball on swings and screens. New England has had 1-2 of this type of back on their roster for the last 20 years. If we get one, it will be a huge upgrade.

This is cool. I am actually a Chiefs and Mahomes fan too, ever that 54-51 Rams game. I had never seen a young QB play like that, Mahomes is already like Brady got in 2007. Last year I was pulling for them against the 9ers. It's good to see it can go both ways. That said it's tougher for me to think well about the Chiefs right now because the game hurt pretty bad. But I think you'll romp in the SB.

I mean, I get it, it hurts to lose and even more, this is the first time in months another team has been clearly superior to us. But still, you gotta have faith...

Not sure if we need to find an MVP-caliber back like Thurman. I agree that is not likely. Just a good solid back who has sure hands out of the backfield. We need to make checkdowns more a part of our offense to make life easier for Josh.