FilthyBeast

Unless this team is truly dominant this year and wins 15 or 16 games, division is going to be brutal and I would expect both the Pats and Dolphins to be within striking distance of the division similar to how things played out the last few years. Remember the Pats were sitting in 1st place late in the season too and probably would have won the division if not for the defense falling off and Jones hitting the proverbial rookie wall. Our favorable December schedule helped too.

If this team goes on to win a SB this year nobody will care much about that, including some of the bigger McD critics like myself.

The veteran WR market is pretty dried up right now unless they want to make a play for a guy like Julio Jones or Beckham which I guess is still on the table and both are going to end up somewhere the closer we get to camp.

If this team wins 15 or 16 games in the regular season and is dominant throughout including the PO's and a SB win then you probably could argue COY for McD, but again many fans and media already have the belief this team might do just that anyway. Vrabel won COY last year despite expectations of the titans being in the PO/SB picture, but he did list after losing their best player to injury during the middle of the season (and dealing with other key injuries most of year) so this was a 'defying the odds' situation. So I guess McD could also be considered in a similar scenario if we were to get hit with the injury bug.

I think barring a long term injury to Rogers it's hard to go against GB in a somewhat weak division. Vikings have some serious talent but still don't trust Kirk Cousins in big moments. I think both the Bears and Lions could be better than expected this year but not playoff caliber quite yet.

And this is why I worry because the exact thing happened last year starting right out of the gate against the Steelers and this team never seemed to truly respond until they absolutely needed to in December sitting at 7-6 and trailing the Pats in the division at the time. This is why this team MUST show consistency all year and truly be the #1 seed in the AFC if they have legit SB aspirations and it starts with McD and JA17 having a more steady hand in the regular season. No more Colts/Jags/Steelers/etc type of outings.

I think before we talk about the 'next Ryan Bates', we need to make sure he's not a fluke and can hold up over a 17+ game season at the level he showed last year once inserted into the lineup. Because deep down I'm still a bit concerned about the oline situation and also worried about a guy like Spencer Brown having a dreaded sophmore slump after all the promise he showed last year as well.

For $100 I might too because you never know, just wouldn't drop any type of whale bet obviously.

I've had directv for years, mostly for access to Sunday ticket. I don't care about another service landing it going forward but I think the issue most people are going to have is that if you are moving to 100% streaming, what about DVR for folks that like to rewatch games, have to start the game a little later, want to pause for a quick break, etc. What about the 1000s of bars and restaurants that have relied on the service for years as well? Let's also not forget that most streaming there is always a lag no matter how good the quality so if you are also on your phone online you might find out about as score or something before it happens in real time. In the end I just think it's a bit silly to move exclusively to streaming vs. using it as a compliment to directv or another traditional provider.

COY are usually for guys whose teams that defy the odds, overperform, come out of nowhere, etc. So even if the Bills live up to the hype this year and make it to the SB or win it I'm not sure why McD would be in the the COY conversation because they'd be doing exactly what everyone expected them to do.

To be frank, he's fortunate he's even still the DC here after the chiefs debacle. And I still think not moving on from him may come back to haunt this team again this year because this scheme has proven over and over again it's not effective against above average to elite QB's in this league.

Exactly doesn't make any sense and I maintain that Watson is not a massive upgrade over Mayfield especially when looking how the current team is built (i.e. physical power running team). But when you factor in the legal issues this type of deal should have never been made even if he is/was a massive upgrade. So there has to be more to the story of moving on from Mayfield or the Browns truly are a dumpster fire organization especially wanting to move on from a former #1 overall draft pick before his rookie contract is up and fact he was able to get them back into the playoffs and even win a game there.

I like Poyer but I wouldn't go that far and this type of hype is not going to help matters in terms of a potential holdout if he doesn't get a pay raise/extension with this team before the start of the season.

I get it but he's not going to win over any fans if this season doesn't play out as expected, which in most fans minds apparently ends with a parade in downtown Buffalo hoisting the franchises first Lombardi.

Consensus preseason favorites in any sport rarely live up to the hype and win a championship, that in itself is almost a kiss of death for this team. There's no argument that if this team stays relatively healthy they should be among the favorites to playing meaningful football in late Jan/early Feb, but again you can say that about at least 3 or 4 other teams in just the AFC alone. What this team really needs to do is play consistent football from Sept to Jan and ensure they get homefield advantage throughout the playoffs which was key during the 90's SB years as well when they only had to win playoff games on the road in 1 of those SB appearances. So hopefully they learned their lesson last year by essentially taking 2 months off in Oct/Nov before getting their act together in Dec/Jan and having to go to KC again for the playoffs isn't a winning proposition if you truly have championship aspirations. And speaking of KC, there is a reason why they have dominated the AFC the last four years as well, because they have not had to play a road playoff game during that stretch with Mahomes as their starter.

This is the cold hard reality that most fans will never accept. For those of us that were raised in the area, it shouldn't even be offensive or disappointing to here these type of things because every knows the situation with the weather and other limitations with midsized northeastern type of city. But even with the Bills now perceived as a premier organization in the NFL, it's not going to change the perception of 20 year old men who have other interests in life than just their career. Same reason why most Bills players (including JA17) have other homes in more desirable locations and don't spend their entire offseason here. Regarding Millers comments though, I'm not sure why he is even saying these type of things publicly though because it's going to make fans turn on him quickly especially if he gets hurt or fails to live up to whatever lofty expectations have already been bestowed upon him. It's also not a good look and confirms that we did have to overpay and outbid everyone else to get him here.

If not for ending the drought a year earlier, this 2018 season would have painted a more dismal picture for the franchise with no guarantees things would have turned around again the following year. But it's still mind boggling that Peterman was ever named the starter here and it does give insight in why I still think McDermott has a lot of flaws as a HC because no matter how good you look in practice, what matters is results during live action and it seems we are still hesitant to play certain players because they are either not showing much in practice and/or being outplayed by marginal players like Peterman who show better in a practice setting.

The easy NFL answer is obviously Brady. But you could look at a guy like Barry Sanders and make an argument for him too despite never winning a championship or playing on many good teams during his career. The numbers he put up were simply ridiculous and he could have done a lot more if not for retiring early and/or joining a different team eventually.

As long as the lockerroom, front office, coaching staff, etc understands all this positive press means absolutely nothing it's really a non issue. But from what I see on social media from the fan standpoint, Bills mafia is setting themselves up for major disappointment if this year doesn't pan out as a lot of fans and media believe it will. And it's borderline absurd seeing fans make posts about booking SB arrangements in AZ next Feb and truly believing this team is destined for a championship no matter what. Just remember, when the dust finally settles only 1 team truly has a successful season and 31 other franchises have to wait until 'next year'. And while Bills fans certainly should feel more confident than about 20+ other NFL teams fan bases right now nothing is guaranteed including a SB, let alone even winning the division/making playoffs in a very loaded conference this year.

From the Cleveland standpoint, this had to be done and they get pretty much nothing back for a former #1 overall pick from just 4 years ago and are on the hook for part of his salary. They also have pretty much nothing now at the QB position behind Watson who is going likely going to miss a big chunk of upcoming season, if not all of it. From the Panthers standpoint, this could work out nicely for them and put them in the playoff picture. Mayfield is obviously not an elite franchise QB but he's shown he can be effective especially behind a team that can run the football.

I still wouldn't be surprised if this team looks to add another veteran WR at some point between now and the start of the regular season. And if that happens the wildcard for me is still McKenzie in terms of being a 'surprise cut' because I just feel his skill set is over redundant at this point with all the other young WR's we've invested in the last few years.

Wouldn't surprise me for a number of reasons including adding another weapon, taking pressure of mahomes and taking advantage of one of the better young olines in the NFL. Problem with Barkley of course in injuries and staying on the field.

I still disagree, he's a good player but nowhere close to elite and the highlight of his career is winning a PO game against us that you can argue was also lost because of poor coaching. But aside from the fact, you still don't make this type of move regardless of his ability unless you are 100% sure he's cleared or going to be cleared of any wrong doing. Again it's debatable whether or not he's truly elite and he's going to have a huge target on his back the rest of his career assuming he ever plays again to begin with.

This is what I said as well. You don't go to the trouble of making something public if it was getting appendix removed or something similar that you end up being hospitalized for but have very little chance of any type of fatal complications. But at the same time hopefully it's not something that could be very serious (i.e. heart attack/stroke/anerysum/etc)

I agree with this because if anything it seems to be McD's character. But again, that's my biggest problem here. IMO you must send a clear message to the lockerroom and entire organization that type of mistake is simply unacceptable especially if you believe you could have went all the way to a championship like a lot of fans and media believe. Either way it's over and done with now and agree that best we can hope for is McD learning and evolving going forward.