HaldimandBills

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2025/5/20/24434143/buffalo-bills-granted-international-marketing-rights-to-canada-by-nfl Not surprised by this. Surprised it took this long. The Bills are quite comfortably the 4th most popular sports team in Southern Ontario (excluding Ottawa) after the Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays. I'd also argue the NFL is the 2nd most followed league after the NHL.

https://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/3288796 USA walks away with Gold. Comfortably Canada walks away with Silver. Comfortably. Not sure what the point is? Is it to grow a sport? Or watch NFL players grind the other countries into dust as NBC laughs hysterically at the profits? The only reason to add NFL talent is so casual fans go, "ohhhhh I know those football players. Me watch." It certainly serves no purpose in actually growing the game to a wider audience. or maybe it does. Other countries basketball programs have exploded even though America destroys them on the court. Maybe China, Brazil, Japan, Nigeria, Mexico, and France will be OK losing by 100 points?

Homer Take and Long Take Offense - Josh Allen mental game is catching up to his physical traits. We have a few years of peak Josh Allen before physical traits slowly come down. So best QB we have had? - Top 5 OL - RB room is top 10 but can go south if Cook isn't invested. - TE room is top 10. - 2021 with peak Diggs was our best receiving group with Allen. This group is much deeper 2 through 5. Remember when Davis and Mckenzie were options 2 and 3? ugh. Defense. - DL on paper is easily the best group. People forget the years of aging Jerry Hughes, Trent Murphy, Mario Addison, burnt out Floyd, and injured Von Miller as our DE in the playoffs. Buffalo has always had horrible DT depth. At least this year you can see a clear path to a productive interior pass rushing group. Run stuffing DT remains a issue but I imagine this will be mostly left to Daquan Jones who will no longer be relied upon on 3rd downs. - LB avg Unit but no reason to believe that both Bernard and Williams don't continue to improve. Milano is no longer an all Pro but is still good. 3rd year Dorian Williams and Hoecht (Yes I know considered a DE but will be playing LB snaps particularly against the Ravens and other power offenses) are easily the best immediate LB depth we have had. - Corners a lot rides on Maxwell Hairston development but do people really think this years version is worse than Levi Wallace, Elam, Dane Jackson, and aging Douglas? Would be nice to see Benford actually play a full game in the playoffs against the Chiefs (T White and Benford in their primes seem to always be injured late in the playoffs. This needs to change) - Safety Easily our 2nd worst safety room the Bills have had in the Josh Allen era outside last season. A LOT rides on Cole Bishops development. Nickle players with Hancock and Forrest could absolutely upgrade that unit just by actually being much more physical and athletic. All depends how long McDermott gets this group up to speed. I can deal with Raap for another season if we have actual athletes around him. All that is to say. I've seen better Chiefs and Ravens teams than their 2025 versions. I have never seen the AFC this loaded with above avg. teams in the Texans, Chargers, Broncos, Bengals, and possibly Steelers if Rogers goes there. Patriots and Raiders will not make the playoffs but will make every game difficult for their opponents. Bills need to finish 1st in the AFC because the stage is set up for them to go to the Superbowl. All comes down to the Bills 3rd down defense. If it goes to top 10 from 29 than good luck rest of the NFL not named Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, Rams, or Eagles.

NFL is doing a bunch of early schedule release announcements Monday and Tuesday with special guests. Dion Dawkins is one of the special guests. My guess is it's related to the Bills playing at home on Christmas in the Ralph's Last regular season home game.

I doubt it. It doesn't really work like that. Dropping 15 pounds doesn't up your RAS score from a 4 to a 9. One is an elite athlete and one isn't. Watching their college tape it is no contest. Landon Jackson is much more fluid than Epenesa.

I push back on the narrative that the Bills actually had a legit top 10 defense. Sure the #s played that out and you can only play the teams in front of you but there were many seasons in a row the Bills faced a ridiculous amount of trash, rookie, and back up QBs. The Bills defense has always been the same. Makes rookie, and low tier QBs look horrible only to be smashed by good QBs. The answer is simple the back 7 can greatly disrupt bad and young qbs. They can't do that to good QBs. Only a good pass rush can. The Bills have never had one against good QBs. Chiefs might beat other teams in the playoffs but that hasn't changed the fact that the Bengals, Niners, Ravens, Eagles, and the freaking Texans have all had far superior defensive showings against the the Chiefs in the playoffs than any of Buffalo's four attempts. Not surprising either as all those teams have/had superior defensive line talent than what the Bills have been pumping out. Round 1 - 32 year old Jerry Hughes and Trent Murphy with Star Lotulelei as your best DT Round 2 - 33 year old Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison with rookie Ed Oliver and Vernon Butler as your DTs Round 3 - Bills were so badly injured on defense it didn't matter but our Dends were Rosseau and Floyd who fell off a Cliff Week 8. Round 4 - besides Rosseau and Oliver no one is even worth mentioning along the DL. If people actually went back and looked at the Bills DL depth it would come as no surprise why this team can't beat the Chiefs. Josh Allen is the only reason these games are competitive.

This is kind of a three horse race. Ravens would be but who knows when Henry falls off the RB cliff and Lamar is legit snake bitten in the playoffs. That defense is going to be scary good with their off season additions. Bengals might be more legend than reality at this point. Bills have completely overhauled their offensive structure and their defense seems to be leaning towards being better at stopping talented QBs. Too many variables have changed since their last meeting. Chiefs are the Chiefs. Would be nice to have one game against them in the playoffs where we were the healthier team. Their receivers will be much better this season. Their defense and OL will be worse. What does this mean? I don't know. Chargers, Raiders, and Broncos are all trending up and the days of them clinching their division in November might be over. If the Bills defense can return to a top 10 Unit and if they are relatively healthy I like Buffalos chances.

Just for context as I hate the AJ Epenesa comparisons. Jackson RAS score is 9.88. Epenesa RAS score is 4.07 What does this mean? No idea but Jackson is far more athletic.

I came in way too hot and obnoxious and I apologize. I just don't see a world where the Bills could do it all this off season and I firmly believe the correct choice was loading up the defense. Bills had two options. Bills trade away most of their premium draft capital to land the # 1 receiver you want at the expense of any defensive depth. or Bills do what they did and finally address defense early with multiple picks to fix that side of the ball which has been pathetically underwhelming. Bills couldn't do both this off season.

What off season have we seriously invested in defense outside applying a quick bandaid or two? From where I stand we are always rolling out 3rd wave budget DL and 6th and 7th round draft picks at db. Besides Von Miller what actual serious investment have we made in the defense? Our actual serious draft investments have been Oliver, Edmunds, Rosseau, Elam, Bernard, D. Williams, Epenesa, Harrison Philips, Bishop, Carter and Boogie Basham. Since Beane took over that is 11 defensive players taken in the first 3 rounds. 5 starters in the NFL currently. D. Williams on his way to starting. Bishop and Carter to early to tell. Elam and Basham are the only outright busts. That's a normal hit rate for NFL teams and even more impressive when you factor in the Bills usually pick 26 and higher. We can go one step further and break the DL investments down by off season which will prove just how unserious Beane has been in fixing the DL. This the area where we are being eaten alive consistently in the playoffs. FYI I'm furious with Beane that it's taken him this long to finally attempt to fix the DL instead of the pathetic attempts he had been making. 2018. Trent Murphy Star Lotulelei and Harrison Phillips 2019 Jordan Philips Ed Oliver 2020 Mario Addison Vernon Butler Quinton Jefferson? A.J. Epenesa 2021 Justin Zimmer Gregory Rousseau Boogie Basham 2022 Von Miller Daquan Jones Tim Settle 2023 Leonard Floyd Poona Ford 2024 Austin Johnson Dawuane Smoot Casey Toohill DeWayne Carter Look at that list. You call that trying to address the DL? Outside Ed Oliver, Rosseau, Von Miller I call that a lot of budget swings to fix the DL. Keep in mind the only defensive fixture on the Bills DL that Beane was adding to was Jerry Hughes. Bills have never in one off season come close to trying to address the DL or defense the way they are this off season. 2023 is the only one you could argue and adding two 30+ year old players isn't what I would call a serious off season defensive investment. Now 2025 Joey Bosa Michael Hoecht Larry Ogunjobi T.J. Sanders Landon Jackson Deone Walker that is an acutal serious investment. Not even going to bother addressing the dbs because T. White's injuries really sank that group and this organization latched onto Levi Wallace and Dane Jackson for too long. Bills have been a budget defense relying on Matt Milano, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, and an injured T White to be their best players. No wonder the Bills have sucked in the playoffs. When your four best players are two safeties, a off ball linebacker and a injured corner. No team builds their defense this way. Except the Buffalo Bills in the Josh Allen era. Hopefully Ed Oliver, Greg Rosseau, Benford, Bernard, and T Johnson can be the nucleus with the new additions to launching a much better defensive roster. Maxwell Hairston and T.J. Sanders in particular should have Bills fans excited. We actually might have two legit corners and two legit pass rushing DT on 3rd down for the first time in the Josh Allen era. Add Bosa in there as well for two pass rushing DEnds if the Bills can keep his snap count down and avoid injuries. Bills are actually attempting to overhaul the defense instead of throwing a few darts at the board. It plainly obvious the Bills have never come close to being this aggressive on defense in any off season.

How can anyone say this with a straight face? At what point is the offense good enough? When they score 40/50 points? The offense has done more than enough to win a Superbowl. Watching our offense in the playoffs has been a high stakes affair. Not because it is the playoffs but because every Bills fan including yourself knows the defense is not going to get a stop. Doesn't matter if it's the 1st or 4th quarter. Between the Ravens and Chiefs the Bills didn't have a single 4 and out. Good defenses don't rely on turnover luck. Would be nice to be able to breath on offense knowing if they don't convert the defense can actually manage a stop. Any rational Bills fan has to be happy that Beane is finally throwing real weight at the secondary and DL. No more 4th wave budget free agency signings on the DL and no more slower unathletic 6th and 7th round dbs starting because they get the system and trusted the process. How can anyone who watched the Rams and Lions game come away thinking the offense is the issue? The Bills literally couldn't do anything more offensively and still lost one of those games and gave up 35 in the other. The Bills play offense like a team who has no faith in their defense, and they shouldn't. You gave Allen a top 5 OL, top 10 RB room, above avg TE room and a good mix of skills at receiver. On defense you have budget signing Free Agents and late round draft picks across the board. Pretty clear which group needed the attention this offseason.

Yeah.... Don't really care. Anyone with a brain sees that our defense was horrendous last year and couldn't get a 4 and out to save their lives and constantly gave up field positioning. So glad the defense was the main focal point of this draft and that they threw the entire kitchen sink at it. Casual fans will be whining all season about the 4.3 receiver threat. Fans who understand the sport of football will be thankful when our defense isn't a pathetic sieve come January. Apparently having a top oline, great rb group, strong TE group, with a lot of room for internal improvement does not matter. Plenty of reasons to believe that Coleman and Kincaid make significant leaps this year. My lasting memory wasn't the offense. It was Lamar and Mahomes having their way with our pathetic dline and slow secondary that stands out.

I want the Bills to add 3 things SPEED in the secondary. Stop settling for high IQ, low athletic dbs and safeties. We need to go after high IQ high athletic dbs. A DT who can create havoc with his pass rush. A Run stuffing 1 Tech. After that a EDGE with some juice and a take the top off receiver. If the Bills hit on corner and DT I think they comfortably take another step.

So the Niners, Bengals, and Ravens can't score like the Bills? I understand what you're saying, but it still comes down to the Bills defense being horrendous against good competition. The Ravens, Chiefs, Eagles, Niners, Bengals, Rams all play one another much better defensively than the Bills do. Even the Ravens last week could've scored 14 more points easily if they didn't hand the game away through turnovers. Offense scored 29 points. The offense by any metric played better than avg. The defense gave up 32 points. By every metric that is terrible. Especially when your offense didn't turn the ball over and give the opposing team a short field. Bills defense is the reason the Bills haven't broken through. I've seen the Ravens, Niners, and Bengals all slow down Mahomes. The Bills can't do it. This is a issue and it needs to be addressed.

We scored more points on the Chiefs than any other team this year but the offense was terrible. OK. We gave up more points to the Chiefs this year than any other team this season but the defense was good. Just so we are on the same page. Giving up 32 points is a good day for the defense? Sure they stepped up in the 2nd half but the damage was done. 32 points is not a good defensive outing against a Chiefs team who hadn't scored 30 all season. So the defense being atrocious is a flawed argument. I've heard everything now. So why do the Chiefs consistently score the most of the Bills defense vs. every other playoff team? They don't score this much on the Niners, Ravens, or Bengals. Just the Bills.

This is the problem. Mahomes many times has needed an entire half to get into rhythm and his defense allowed him because they shut down the opposing offense. Every QB has experienced this. Part of why I think Lamar is overrated because his defense has given him so many opportunities. Bills defense never affords Allen a solid 1st half whenever they play a good team. Let me know when the Bills shut down the Chiefs or Bengals in the 1st half and hold them to 10 points? They don't. They haven't. Allen has to be clicking on all cylinders every time we play these teams. No other QB has to be on as much as Allen. It's ridiculous. All that said Allen still put up 29 points. Blaming this on Allen is futile.

Are we as Bills fans claiming this as a victory? That isn't even the bare minimum for most Superbowl teams. The Bills simply cannot stop good offenses in the playoffs. I don't care how the Bills do it but they need to get to a place where they hold great teams to less than 25 points. Chiefs went defense first 3 seasons ago and now they're on their way to Superbowl Victory # 3. The Bills are going backwards and only being saved defensively by their offense that eats up a lot of clock.

Josh didn't choke. Learn football. These takes are annoying. Using your logic Mahomes choked in last year's Ravens AFC Title game and both games against the Niners in the Superbowl. Brady choked against the Atlanta Falcons. 4tds 29 points 0 turnovers isn't choking. Your conditioned to feel this way because the defense can't stop anyone decent and you've come to expect this. So when Allen doesn't go off right away you blame him.

Since 2000, teams with 4+ TDs and 0 Turnovers in a playoff game are 59-3 The three losses Bills vs. Chiefs in the 2024 AFC Championship Bills vs. Chiefs in the 2021 Divisional Round Chiefs vs. Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship Josh Allen has 25 tds and 4 turnovers in 13 playoff games. Bills defense have now surrendered 38, 42, 27, and 32 points in all four of their losses to the Chiefs. What makes this STAT most alarming is each one of those scores was the most points the Chiefs scored that year in the playoffs. Bills have a defense issue and it is painfully obvious they will never win until this is addressed. Allen basically has to come out slinging immediately because his defense does not give him time to breathe. I've watched Mahomes, Brady, Burrow, Manning all struggle early in games only to win because their defense made multiple stops in the first half. Bills defense have serious problems against elite competition and this is year 5 of this mess.

My issue with our defense is summed up right here. Every playoffs we do the safe cover 2 nickle of letting opposing offenses slowly march down the field and inevitably score on us. Why? Same thing last night. We stay in our base nickle theyre going to score. We weren't stopping them in the redzone. Good offenses find a way into the endzone. Bad teams do not. The fight to the redzone doesn't work against good offenses and leaves Allen sitting on the sideline and allows the opposing offense to find their rhythm. Bengals, Chiefs(except against us oddly enough), and Ravens mastered the screw it just create chaos defense come playoff time. Sure they give up some big plays but they also have far more 3 and outs. If you truly believe in Josh Allen why not give him more drives and play a defense that is capable of more stops at the risk of a few big broken plays. Bengals before all their playoff games basically have the attitude that they will give up 21 points for sure but they also drive up the percentage of 3 and outs they'll get and they know being aggressive will also lead to more defensive turnovers.

Exactly. How anyone can say anything other than Dline is mind boggling? Its the greatest equalizer in football. Our Dline can't get to Mahomes and the Bengals oline with three backups bullied our dline all game long.

Yes it is. Our Dline has been pathetically bad in the playoffs. Unless of course you are on a McDermott is bad and its all his fault train.

DEnd. Terrible defensive line has literally sank this team every playoffs. If we had just one stud Dend it would pay immediate dividends for Oliver and Groot. It would elevate our entire defense to heights that it hasn't seen. Sure I'd love a true # 1 but Allen has shown hes gonna score regardless. Have Bills fan not watched the Ravens, Niners, and Bengals slow down Mahomes and wonder why the Bills cannot? Basically if given the option between an All Pro Dend and 15 million $ receiver vs. a All Pro receiver and 15 million $ Dend I am taking the All Pro Dend everyday of the week.

Listened to the entire podcast and I appreciate what they said. I firmly believe Dorsey was let go because his offenses were too boom or bust relying on big plays down the field. What will never know is if Josh Allen ignored the underneath routes in Dorsey offense or if he was coached not to go there. What I liked under Brady's offense was that we consistently won the time of possession. Our defense was constantly a MASH unit near the end of the season and I think the high flying act on offense of either scoring quick or going 4 and out contributed to that. McDermott was fed up with the defense running onto the field every 3 minutes. I enjoyed that Josh Allen was going to Cook and Kincaid more and utilizing the middle of the field. It puts so much more pressure on defenses. The Chiefs and Steelers playoff games showed us that teams are still going to play the Bills with 2 high safeties. If Allen perfects the soft touch passes we will be marching the ball down the field. Bills might finally have a slider to go with their fastball and curve ball. Bills always had Allen's running ability and deep pass but if we can add a consistent run game and intermediate pass game... LOOK OUT. I think the big receiver change the Bills have gone to is entirely about easier targets in the redzone and less about what happens between the 20s. Let Cook, Shakir, Kincaid, and Samuel move the ball between the 20s. my only gripe is we need to stop running Allen as much as we do. Brady needs to learn how to weaponize the fear of Allen running the ball into opposing defenses while actually not doing it as much. I can't wait to see this offense vs. the Jets. They have been the masters of shutting down the Boom or Bust Buffalo Bills.

Wife and I made a week of it in the Florida Keys and drove up for the game. Thought about staying in Miami but we were newly Weds and wanted something low key and the Florida Keys drive is a fantastic one. My input is the fans were mostly harmless and the ribbing was all in good fun. Of course there was obnoxious drunk idiots but other Miami fans put them in their place when they began to get too much. Id say the stadium was 40% Bills fans. I found it funny when the Miami fans kept mocking the Bills players for needing water during breaks. I asked them if any of them would he coming to Buffalo in December so we could mock them when they're freezing their butts off. We all had a good laugh. All in all. I think Miami fans are used to Bills Mafia taking over and make the best of it with friendly banter. Stay in your lane and don't be obnoxious and you'll have a great time.