MPL

Listen guys, I like McDermott — a lot. I'm about as big of a McDermott apologist as there is. That being said, history suggests that McDermott and Allen will not win a Super Bowl together. Hell, history suggests that McDermott and Allen will not even get to a Super Bowl together... Allen and McDermott are going into year 6 as Head Coach and starting QB. No starting QB and Head Coach pairing have ever won their first Super Bowl after being together for 5 seasons. It's crazy, but true. History strongly indicates that 5 seasons is the maximum number of years a starting QB and Head Coach should be given to win a Super Bowl together. I hate to say this, but I do think that if the Bills don't win the Super Bowl this year, replacing McDermott would be justified.

What are we doing here?

Yeah, the whole make the Bills play in the heat in September and the Dolphins play in the snow in December is way overblown. Both regular season games were decided by 5 points. I'd like to see Bills vs. Dolphins on Monday Night Football like the classic Kelly/Marino games.

That’s a given I thought the same thing — Miami in September is a given. But interestingly, playing at Miami in September is a new trend for NFL schedule makers. In the 30-year span between 1990 and 2019, the Bills only played at Miami in September a total of six times: 1990, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2014, and 2015. However, the Bills have now played at Miami in September for 3 straight seasons: 2020, 2021, and 2022. I'm hoping they buck the trend this year, but my guess is that given how the rivalry was ratcheted up last year, the Bills will once again be at Miami in September.

I am of the belief that the late 80s/early 90s were the peak of NFL uniforms. I feel very strongly that every team's best uniform existed in this era... The Bills' red helmets and royal blue jerseys Denver's blue helmet and orange jerseys The Seahawks' silver and royal blue The Eagles' kelly green and silver Tampa's creamsicles New England's white and red San Diego's navy blue on navy blue (yeah, I actually like these better than white helmet and powder blues) The Giants' navy blue helmet and royal blue jerseys The Rams' royal blue and yellow Houston's white and light blue The Jaguars and their uniform abominations not yet existing Then again, this is the era of football I grew up with, which is probably why I'm partial toward these uniforms.

Von Miller = Tom Brady of DE's?

Yeah but the Jets are the second oldest and haven’t you heard? they’re going to win the Super Bowl this year… AFC East — the hardest division in football or the geriatric ward?

This is getting out of hand.

This definitely feels like insurance in the event Harris misses time. Harris and Murray probably won't be active at the same time. or maybe, just maybe, they're bringing back the wishbone formation.

We’ll definitely be at Miami within the first 3 weeks. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Bills at Jets week 1… we haven’t opened the season against the jets since 2020, so it’s overdue

you’re right. Travis Frederick is who I was thinking of.

A guy I know once took Patrick Willis in the 5th round of a fantasy draft for a league that started 3 individual defensive players. We still laugh about it over a decade later.

I remember the Cowboys getting roasted for taking Travis Frederick where they did… he ended up anchoring their line for a long time

A torn Achilles will do that to ya.

Defense doesn't win championships, it just loses playoff games.

I think the passing yard totals would probably be more meaningful than "scoring offenses" for a comparison like this. Feels like the relative low numbers of TD's caught/red zone targets would be more all over the place than just raw targets/catches/yards. 2021 Falcons - 16th in passing yards 2019 Lions - 10th in passing yards 2019 Broncos - 28th in passing yards 2018 Ravens - 22nd in passing yards 2017 Browns - 22nd in passing yards 2017 Giants - 19th in passing yards 2017 Bucs - 4th in passing yards (Mike Evans, Cameron Brate, and Adam Humphries saw majority of targets. Howard scored 6 TDs in 14 games). 2014 Lions - 12th in passing yards (Calvin Johnson was a target monster) 2013 Bengals - 8th in passing yards. This doesn't change my feeling much. Mostly middling passing offenses that aren't comparable to the Bills offense. 2017 Bucs put up the most passing yards on the list and OJ Howard scored 6 TDs that year. I'd be happy with 6 TDs from Kinkaid this year, especially if it means less Josh Allen red zone interceptions.

Well you had Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford (twice), Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, Lamar Jackson in there. Multiple pro bowlers, a league MVP, multiple top 10 offenses and perhaps even a Hall of Famer or 3. Is that not good enough? TJ Hockenson - rookie in 2019. the Lions won 3 games. Stafford wasn't great, throwing just 19 TDs. The Lions were in the bottom half of the league for offenses. Noah Fant - Rookie in 2019. Denver won 7 games. QBs were Flacco and Drew Lock. They were 28th out of 32 in points scored. Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews - Rookies in 2018. Flacco started 9 games before Lamar took over. Flacco was washed. Lamar averaged under 150 yards passing per game in 2018. OJ Howard - Rookie in 2017. Tampa won 5 games. QBs were Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick. They were a bottom half offense. Evan Engram - Rookie in 2017. Eli Manning's last season. He was washed. The Giants won 3 games and finished 31st in scoring. Their offense was bad, and Engram was a lone bright spot. David Njoku - Rookie in 2017. The Browns won 0 games. Deshone Kizer was the QB. They finished 32nd in scoring. Eric Ebron - Rookie in 2014. Detroit won 11 games, but primarily because their of their Defense. The offense was 22nd in scoring. Stafford was okay that year — 4200 yards, 22 TDs. Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate got the lion's share of targets, understandably. Tyler Eifert - Rookie in 2013. Bengals won 11 games and finished 6th in scoring. Dalton was solid this year, throwing for 4200 yards and 33 TDs. AJ Green had 178 targets that year. Kyle Pitts - Rookie in 2021. Falcons won 7 games. Matt Ryan was decent but definitely on the decline. Falcons were 26th in scoring. Travis Kelce - Rookie in 2013. Missed the entire year with an injury. For the most part, these Tight Ends were drafted by bad teams with bad offenses and bad Quarterbacks — or good Quarterbacks who were well on the decline. I would make the argument that the situation that Kinkaid is coming into is nothing like what these Tight Ends were drafted into. Maybe the closest is Tyler Eifert going to the Bengals in 2013... but I feel pretty confident that Kinkaid has a much better skill set than Eifert, and that Josh Allen is a much better QB than Dalton ever was. I don't believe that past 1st round TE performance is indicative of what we can expect from Kinkaid. Will he go for 1000 yards and 8 TDs? Probably not. But this was a top 3 offense last season that improved the interior OLine. He should make more than enough plays to make an impact.

He’s our new Duke Williams.

when you consider how bad some of these offenses were and how bad some of the quarterbacks were, this list is actually kind of encouraging

Who were the quarterbacks throwing to these guys? How did these offenses perform overall throughout the course of the season? Did these teams have a top 10 passing attack?

Christian Wilkins and Quinnen Williams have given us trouble. This is big.

Beane should have traded our 3rd to save himself from making the typical dumb 3rd round pick.

I am willing to give Josh something of a pass on last year for the injury but you are right he was too inconsistent. And while I know any critcism of him can be met with blowback Josh would 100% agree with me. He knows he can play better and knows he has to. I slightly wonder if not going into the year as the QB of the Superbowl favourite and as the MVP betting favourite might actually help. Let him play more free. I agree. I have a "we don't speak poorly about Josh Allen" rule in my house, but he should share some of the burden when things aren't working. Josh certainly doesn't have a problem shouldering the blame, but as fans, we're quick to deflect it toward anyone else.

Easy — send an extra pass rusher at Spencer Brown.

I'll say the difficult thing — less excuses for Allen this year, too. He can still be better at pre-snap reads, getting the ball out quicker to his hots, and not locking onto one receiver for too long. He was up and down in these areas last year. If he can be more consistent in these areas, the ball will come out quicker and the oline will suddenly look a lot better. Then again, if Spencer Brown keeps whiffing on edge rushers all hope is lost.