[More defense on Saturday, please, to finish the job, and take the final step]

4 minutes ago, Mister Defense said:

 

That Saturday I thought I had responded to everyone who had asked me questions, but reading through this thread again, see I missed yours at the end.  Yours was posted near the end of a great draft for the Bills—celebrating by then.

 

So, answering the now bold 2 questions above:

 

1.  I think being a head coach in the NFL is itself a job where 'the pressure is on' consistently, and at a high level. 

 

There are only 32 of those jobs and they are responsible for ensuring the team, the centerpiece of a multi billion dollar business, is successful.  They have to coordinate dozens of coaches, make sure the game plans for all parts of the team are excellent and all working well together, do press conferences, and every move they and their players make is reported on, scrutinized…  It is a very high pressure kind of job. How well a head coach deals with that pressure determines how successful his team is.

 

I think McDermott has been excellent at handling that pressure, of making sure his team is run as well as possible. An extremely tight ship, where the pressure on it is to keep making it better and better.

 

But if they make it that far next season I think the pressure will be much less than when the Bills played in the 2025 Championship Game. Last year he and Beane (and almost all watching the Bills) knew the defense was undermanned, in a transition state. And then with Rapp out and Benford very iffy even before that big game, it was going to be an uphill climb playing against the winner of the last two Super Bowls and in their own house.

 

That was real pressure for McDermott and Josh Allen entering that game, knowing they were undermanned on defense on that day. I think that is why Josh looked so wild early in the game.  He knew he would need to have a huge game because of the defensive shortcomings.

 

So, smartly the Bills went hog wild on defense in the off season and in the draft. The fastest man in the combine is almost assuredly their new starting corner, with two late round could-be-steals CBs to add more youth and depth, and the many new high quality defensive lineman to infuse size, speed, youth and talent into that group, and a better safety room. 

 

So I think the pressure on Josh and McDermott will be diminished in that game now, as rather than a pair of 2s on defense like last year, they now may be playing with a full house. Imagine sitting in a big card game, so much on the line, and looking at your cards and seeing that new hand-- how much more confident would you be?

 

2.  No, I don’t think that if they lose to the Chiefs in the Championship Game again next year it will be a “massive failure”., no matter how the defense plays. 

 

I think the Bills would have beaten them the last two years in the playoffs if they were not missing key starters.

 

To me a massive failure would be missing the playoffs completely--not getting within a game of the Super Bowl.

 

That being said, I think the Bills do not lose that game this year, but win going away, no matter who they play. As now they will have not only one of the best offenses in the NFL, if not the best, but maybe a top ten defense to boot.

 

 

I get what you're saying, but eventually something has to give if the Bills don't get over the hump - however tough it might be to make that decision.

[Elijah Moore Visiting the Bills today (Update: Signed!)]

So here's the wide receiver. Would I still have liked a move to draft Thornton, Royals or Horton? Yes, sure, even with Moore seemingly now in the room. But this is a positive move in terms of talent, variety and depth.

[Brandon Beane on WGR]

5 minutes ago, balln said:

Yea beane keeps going to the well - we went 8 games straight of scoring 30! Scored more points than anyone….

 

But. - those two games vs playoff teams DIRECTLY before that streak. Ravens and Texans. The offense looked BAD. We had no WR / separation. Beane panicked and traded his highly coveted 3rd round to get Amari for half a season! And it wasn’t all roses and sunshine when he got here. McDermott was being super weird and coy like he was mad the trade was made. 
 

amari absolutely changed the offense dynamic. 
 

the problem w McDermott and Beane - is they get comfortable / settle.  We’re good enough here …. I’d argue - you never can get good enough unless you’re hoisting the Lombardi at the end of the year. Both the coach and gm every year after getting bounced by kc or crushed by Cincy - “we had a good year , keep trying” “don’t blow it up” then they cite their “accomplishments” div title , team ranks, ect ….

 

 

They only get comfortable with offense - it’s ok, Josh will do it all. Presumably he thinks Palmer is Cooper’s replacement, him or a fully fit Coleman. At least one of them better be, otherwise it might be a case of deja vu come October.

[Big Badazz Beane on Pat McAfee today]

2 minutes ago, Mango said:

I do like that he directly said "when you pay Josh what you are paying for it you have to take it away from somewhere else". 

I am a huge proponent of the fact that once you pay the QB that player has to do more with less. They have to make up for the pay gap in some of their talent. Josh did a very good job of that last year. I expect him to continue to do very good as we move forward. 

 

To Beane's point on WGR, defense has cost us games. We have an excellent RB stable and OL. 

The Bengals model is bad. 

 

I think that’s a weak argument. Drafting a WR doesn’t impact the budget any more than drafting another position. No one expected a WR in the first round. I believe most people are happy with the picks across the first two days. The questions are being asked about day three. No one is asking Beane to trade next three first round picks for Chase or anything like that. Just something different in the room. And perhaps it is still to come.

[Is there an NFL team with a weaker WR group than the Bills?]

1 minute ago, warrior9 said:

Uhhhh because we saw a decline in production on defense and an uptick in production on offense with a younger core? 

 

Do you not realize most of the guys we replaced were in their 30's and tail end of their careers? Is this a legitimate thought you had that was "perfect?" 

 

We scored the most points in our franchise history and the first team to score 30 points in 8 straight games in a regular season.... MAYBE just MAYBE thats why they bank on improvement? Because they're younger and are actually improving? Did you see Cooks numbers? Shakirs number and think "Hmmm they didn't improve?"

 

They're trusting a lot of Kincaid and Coleman's regression being simply down to injuries. If they're right, then we could well be celebrating a Super Bowl win in February. If they're wrong, then it will probably be the same result of more angst over the off season over what could have been and what should have been done differently.

 

And if the offense has issues this year through natural regression, such as the number of turnovers increasing towards the mean, Josh perhaps being world class instead of otherworldly and some of Cook's plays being worked out on defense, then something different may be required. And quite a few people will be sadly saying "I told you so".

 

There is time left to bring a WR in. And I think most people liked the draft picks over the past few days - even if some aren't fans of the players themselves, they're fine with the thought process. From there, could they have got Royals or another WR in round four? I guess that's what every thread is boiling down to. Him or Walker.

[Brandon Beane on WGR]

6 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I think Beane has had enough from those WGR clowns.  He popped off a bit but I didn't think he was out of line.  Media and fans ripped the Bills WR corp last summer and they led the league in points.  I mean that is something to be proud of.

 

At this point Beane and McD are trying their best to tweak this club into a Super Bowl berth.  It's tough.  Maybe they are willing to sacrifice 5% of offense production to get 10% more defensive production.  They see what we see. It doesn't always have to be the offense to make a play at the end of a KC game.  Maybe the defense can make a play.  

 

The media and fans were right to rip the WR corps off last summer - Beane almost admitted it in yesterday's interview by saying people had a point. The offense struggled until Cooper came in; the Ravens and Texans games were awful. Even though he didn't do much himself, he gave defenses something else to think about, a different challenge. For now, there is a lot of faith in Kincaid and Coleman returning to pre-injury form and very little in support if they don't.

[Brandon Beane on WGR]

5 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

Even this morning these guys still aren’t getting it. Complaining about Kinkaid and Samuel. Acting like we weren’t good enough still on offense. Just trying to discredit what Beane said. Offended by the fantasy football comment like they are above that.

 

We score more than anybody, we have the mvp of the league at QB, we win all the time because of the offense, move the ball at will, scored 30 tds rushing and 30passing which is inconceivable. 
 

every good QB has all day to throw on us, we never make big stops, if we aren’t turning people over we aren’t stopping them, the defense got us knocked out of the playoffs every year after Jacksonville. Almost every team in the nfl would trade their offense for ours….

 

WR train.. you just sound ridiculous 

 

The concern is everyone just expects the offense to pick up where it was last year with no further charges. That Josh is going to have another otherworldly season rather than regressing go 'merely' world class. That James Cook is going to be the same player as he was last year, despite other teams building and planning over the office season. The O Line will remain strong, but the Bills offense is too reliant on people rather than design. It needs something different and, despite the opportunity being there in the draft to do so, Beane decided against it.

 

I doubt many people were too unhappy with the first three picks. It's number four where the questions begin. Perhaps Beane, despite his defensiveness on the radio call, feels the same way and that's why they have hosted Moore etc. We saw last year what happened when the Bills became one dimensional - they had to reach for Cooper.

[Elijah Moore Visiting the Bills today (Update: Signed!)]

If the Bills signs Moore then, for me, the moves in the draft add up. I hope they manage to get him over the line.

[Is there an NFL team with a weaker WR group than the Bills?]

3 minutes ago, WideNine said:

It's not like this team has no speed and it looks like the Bills drafted a DB that should be good at negating a burner from opposing teams without having to leave safeties deep.

 

Samuel is not exactly slow, but the turf toe really limited what he could do.

 

Palmer is an instant upgrade on the boundary and honestly Allen and Kincaid left a lot of meat on the bone with the lack of chemistry.

 

In regards to Kincaid it was not the personal connection as teammates, just anticipation and ball placement has been a tick off between them to unlock the potential that is there.

 

This offense will likely be productive, and if the defense can maximize the investments OBD made this offseason we will be taking about less 3rd down conversions by opposing teams (our D sucked allowing 3rd down conversions and getting off the field last year) providing even more scoring opportunities for our offense.

 

 

 

 

It's not an 'if', it's a 'must'. Beane basically ignored offense at the draft, despite a mediocre at best WR room, and spent highly on offense. If it let's the Bills down again then the way the team drafts and judge players on the defensive side of the ball has to be questioned.

[Amari Cooper anyone?]

1 hour ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

DJ Chark and Elijah Moore are both under 30, sub 4.35 guys (Moore 4.32, Chark 4.34)....

 

If we sign Chark I'm going to have Baby Shark in my mind all season.

 

I think I prefer Moore.

[Is there an NFL team with a weaker WR group than the Bills?]

13 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

That’s who Samuel is as a player. He’s a weapon, not a pure WR. That’s who he has been back to Ohio State. He will be more impactful this year, I agree. If people think he’s going to magically become Prime Diggs, he’s not. He’s a guy that’s good with the ball in his hands. He catches screens, runs the ball some, etc.. He is good with the ball in space like Shakir.
 

I do think Kincaid improves as well. I don’t think he improves because he has a ton of untapped upside. He will be 26 years old this season. He’s developed. I think he improves because he wasn’t very good last year. He can be a quality role player. He might never be the top 5 TE I thought he’d become but he can be a top 12ish guy. 
 

I keep hammering on it in the other thread but why do they keep banking on improvement on offense but replacement on defense? Why were they so concerned with upgrading Cam Lewis, Dwayne Carter and J’Marcus Ingram but fine with development from Shavers, Coleman, and Samuel? You could have and should have tried to upgrade on both sides. The WR room needed one guy between rounds 2 & 5 (as it turns out) that could stretch the field. There were LOTS of options.

 

I've been trying to think of a way to phrase my concern and "why do they keep banking on improvement on offense but replacement on defense?" is just perfect.

[Defense wins championships]

10 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

For all their Pro Bowlers, how many times have the Ravens made the Super Bowl since they acquired Lamar Jackson?  The same number of times as the Bills.  They've made the AFCCC game only once -- and lost to the Chiefs.   Just a few months ago, the talented Ravens lost to what you consider the "talentless"  Bills in the Divisional round.  There's more to building a team that wins the Super Bowl than simply accumulating talent. 

 

Both the Bills and Ravens are trying to get to the Super Bowl, and that road invariably goes through KC.  If either team can beat KC, they will have a good shot at beating whomever they meet in the Super Bowl.

 

Put Josh or Mahomes in Lamar's place and the Ravens would have won at least one SB by now. Their problem is, more often that not, he chokes in high pressure situations. With the quality rosters they've built around him, they should have claimed at least one ring over the past few years.

[7th round pick Prather wr wv]

31 minutes ago, LyndonvilleBill said:

Not a fact. Our D got picked apart in both loses.😉

 

The point being Josh had the ball in his hand in both games with time to move down the field, and failed to do so. And that wasn't all on Josh.

 

The hope here is that the Bills have fixed the issue so they won't be behind going into the final moments of the 4th - that the defense would have held off the opposition's offense to the extent that it can be kneel down. And with so much invested in the D across the draft surely this year is the year where there can be no more excuses for McDermott (horrific injury run aside). This defense has to work. But there will be questions asked if it comes to the detriment of the offense and they fail to get over the hump because of that too. Albeit, there is still time to improve the WR room before September.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, Maine-iac said:

Zy Alexander have a medical flag?  Surprised he's still available.

 

Beane had McD tied up in the corner of the draft room so he couldn't make the call for Alexander at 240.

Just now, Tulsabillsfanz said:

I watched NFL Network for this year’s draft. They’re not perfect, but they’re much more enjoyable (& much less annoying) than ESPN.  

 

What bugs me is they abandon the draft very early for celebrity cameos, coach interviews, analysis which has already been done 100 times before, meeting puppies and games. It feels disrespectful towards the later picks, especially as they are ones that people will know less about in general.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, MasterStrategist said:

Our OL makes the whole thing work, outside of Josh of course.

 

You can have a VERY productive offense, when your OL is top 5ish and a MVP QB.  I mean see Chiefs for past 2 years.

 

Defense is what wins championships, has been that way for a long time.  Remind me of the last "shoot out" SB?

 

Plus outside Josh. Cook, OL.  Shakir is a very good slot WR.  Add in Palmer.  Then complementary players.

 

Unless we're giving up on Kincaid and Coleman already, we need to count on them to make a jump in production.  That's essentially a 1st and 2nd rounder--- that's our investment that we need to see pay off.  Time to invest more will come, if they don't elevate their game soon.  Complete confidence in both guys

 

It's true, the OL looked great last year.

 

I would like another starter in the WR room. Shakir, Palmer, Coleman and maybe Samuel are fine, as long as Coleman takes the step up, but someone to stretch the field would be key. I just wish they had drafted Royals.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

1 minute ago, MasterStrategist said:

It's what this team needed.

 

 

Unless you play madden for a living --- I mean our offense was just so horrible LY: record breaking season and all, Josh won MVP, etc----  yep, offense is the problem.

 

Everyone open eyes and look at how poorly our defense played:

 

DL: Quan was washed.  Forced to bring in Phillips and Jefferson for key reserve roles

 

CB: the CBs who saw the most snaps in our AFCCG loss --- Rasul and Elam?  Lol

 

I mean it was obvious these were areas we needed to upgrade-   then we watch the Eagles totally rattle Mahomes and that offense, like never seen before.  And it was clear as day what we needed to do.

 

Eagles didn't win the SB bc of offense, it was that defense that won it and a solid performance by Hurts.  

 

Copy cat league, we have the pieces on offense not defense

 

I understand what you're saying but do not agree with the final line. The Bills have Josh and Cook, with the latter being upset. Outside of that, the offense is made up of a bunch of average to good players at best, but no game changers in terms of receivers/TEs. This draft would not have made a massive difference in terms of talent level, I accept that. But it could have given the Bills something different. The fourth round pick is the one which bugs me. I hope I'm wrong, and the Bills bring in a big name free agent/trade at WR whilst Walker comes through.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, turbo044 said:

White III just taken 2 picks before ours.  Punter would be smart as it's a player who can make the team:

 

Jeremy Crawshaw

P

 

6'4"198 lbsFlorida

 

Pre-Draft Analysis

Crawshaw, of Australia, handled Florida's punting duties for the past four seasons. His 45.8 yards per punt average ranked seventh in the FBS, and he placed a career-high 25 punts inside the 20-yard line in 2024. He kicked off twice in 2023. -- Steve Muench

 

There's a couple of others too.  We can always sign one as an UDFA.  Probably picking the UB kid as we haven't picked a LB and it's a feel good thing + he can play

 

Drafted by the Broncos.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Tom Grossi! So pleased he gets a chance to announce a draft pick for the Packers.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, SoonerBillsFan said:

He can take a year off and re enter the draft next year if he wants.  Personally I would.

 

He's been drafted. Unless he tells Miami where to stick it, which would be funny.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

2 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

Hope you don’t look as miserable as the family did on his drafting…

 

Yikes, I know it wasn’t ideal or hoped to go that late in the draft for Quinn (and his family) but man… he’s one of the very few who get drafted into the league. 😕

 

As @gonzo1105 said, Ewers had realised he has made a mistake. He would have had more (positive) field time and money staying in college.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Sort of pleased for Ewers. He deserved to be drafted but.... the Dolphins??? Poor lad.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, Warriorspikes51 said:

shame on me for what?   I know nothing about the situation.  I want a good WR.  If the Bills aren’t comfortable, they won’t draft him.

 

Frankly, I am beyond tired of your attacks on whatever I post.  

 

He has some very serious sexual allegations against him which goes deeper than "he said, she said".

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

I expect this last pick to not be anyone they remotely expect to make the Roster. Again, unless it's a Punter. 9 Picks aren't making this roster.

 

I wonder if Beane tried to package some picks to move up, but couldn't get anyone to accept. Nine is too many really - especially when they're low in the draft.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

The Bills have appeared on the screen. Now to patiently wait for them to be on the clock.

[2025 NFL Draft Thread : Rounds 4-7]

Just now, SirAndrew said:

idk, I think the big game experience hurts him in a way. Ewers had a lot of talent around him in Texas, and he often looked terrible in big moments. 

 

I'm reading the Longhorns forum - they think something in the medical is holding him back, and he didn't look the same after picking up a shoulder injury against Alabama.

 

But still, it's not as if the QBs being picked are the next Josh/Mahomes. Ewers does have positives too.