HaldimandBills

Here good Sirs is what happens when your knowledge comes froming playing Madden and watch NBA analysts discussing football. Bengals made it to the Superbowl on the back of their defense. Not offense. Burrow threw for 1 td in each game vs. the Raiders, Titans, and Chiefs that run. It was their defense that beat the Chiefs not their offense. Patriots best offensive team ever lost in the Superbowl and they beat the Seahawks on a defensive play in the Superbowl. Beat the Rams due to their defense. Rams beat the Bengals due to their defense. Bucs destroyed the Chiefs with their defense. Steelers and Ravens won their Superbowls on the back of their defense. Colts only Superbowl is when the dline actually consistently came home on the pass rush. Saints defense tortured Manning in their Superbowl win. Broncos won because of their defense not Manning who could only throw the ball 10 yards. So basically the Chiefs are the only outlier and even they see a massive uptick in their defensive capability in the playoffs vs. their regular season performance.

Well I mean it's a chat board and I gave a surface level analysis. Sorry I couldn't add more to the McDermott sucks chat form. I dont think the premise is poor at all. The Bills defense for four seasons in a row have sat back and allowed the QB to pick them apart in the playoffs. They allowed DeShawn Watson to get in a groove and pick them apart. Philip Rivers moved the ball far too easy on the defense in 2021. Mahomes is Mahomes and the Bills seem better at stopping him in the regular season and are torn apart in the playoffs. Miami's 3rd string qb had a good game against the defense. (granted turns over by the Bills offense didn't help) Burrow lite the Bills up. So in four years the Bills only shut down Mac Jones and Lamar Jackson. I dont understand how anyone can honestly analyze this team and not wonder how our top 5 defensive Unit becomes a pumpkin in the playoffs? I'm not worried about the offense. I am worried about defense that can't get off the field and always seem to give up 3rd and longs.

You might be right but why did the Bills all of the sudden stop with the short stuff as soon as Josh became injured? From what I have read Josh could still muscle the ball deep but his finesse and touch was lost on the short passes due to the injury. We did blitz in the playoffs but it was too little and too late. The point was that the Bills never blitzed during the regular season and weren't prepared to change their play style once the playoffs came around. They're saying blitz and do stunts and more man in the regular season. That way when you have to adjust in the playoffs your defense isn't shell shocked from running the same scheme the entire season.

Both have more talent on the defensive line but I wouldn't say they have had more talent than the Bills the past few years. Yes the Bills drafting has been mediocre but this doesn't excuse the fact the Bills have been a more talented defensive roster the past few years and also this year. Moving forward after this year I agree with your thoughts. We are going to find out whether it was Fraiser or McDermott who played the boring safe zone defense. I hope it was Fraiser and McDermott adds different punches to this defense.

I agree to a certain extent. I agree that winning two is much more practical. Hard to see three wins when one of either the Chiefs or Bengals most likely have the bye week. If by some miracle if one of the Jaguars, Ravens, Chargers, or even the Dolphins/Jets grab the # 1 spot I can see a world where the Bills win three in a row. Beating both the Chiefs and Bengals in a row seems like a tall task. Remember the team who beat the Bills the past two seasons has gone on to lose the following week. None of the Chiefs, Bengals, or Bills have managed to win over the other two in a single playoff run.

I think having Isiah Mckenzie as your third best receiver, Josh Allen with half a throwing arm, and atrocious guard and right tackle play says it all for the 2022 offense. Only hope is with Kincaid, better guards, a healthy off season for Spencer Brown, bigger more talented RB's and raising the floor of your surrounding receiver talent you have done enough to improve offensively so that the Bengals game doesn't happen again. I appreciate the fact Isiah Mckenzie couldn't make the 2023 Bills roster. It means its improved.

I am not 100% sure. Everything I have read says McDermott is more of a pressure defensive coordinator. He builds his defenses on rushing the QB and blitz packages. Alot of his work is done from the Front 7. Fraiser on the other hand works from the front back. Hes big on limiting big plays and disguising coverages. Bills likely didn't see an issue with Fraisers style of defense until it became apparent that you need studs in the secondary to make it work all the time. White recovering from a ACL tear, Hyde being out, Poyer playing on one leg, and a rotating secondary corner exposed Fraiser defense for what it was. I believe Fraiser was given a gentleman release by the Bills so that he can still pursue his dream of being a head coach again.

So I was listening to the Ringer NFL Podcast as they were discussing whether the Bills or Bengals are a bigger threat to the Chiefs in the AFC? Both hosts thought Bengals but believe the Bills are right there with some adjustments. They brought up some basic points we all know such as Beane hasn't really had any homerun draft picks outside Allen in the first few rounds since he arrived. There isn't much recieving depth behind Diggs and our oline and RB's leave a lot to be desired. Both hosts believe the upgrades made this offseason will be significant, and that Josh Allen is too good to fail. They both believe in Ken Dorsey as he had the second highest scoring offense in the league and that Dorsey shouldn't be crucified for have a horrible oline and Josh Allen tearing his UCL. His playcalling options were significantly reduced in the 2nd half of the season. The oline couldn't block and Allen couldn't consistently make the short throws with any accuracy. It's a miracle they still did as well as they did. They agreed that the Bills defense is too blame for the Bills inability to take the next step. For a coaching Unit full of defensive minds they were unimpressed with how mundane the Bills defense has been. Their reasoning was the Bills have more defensive talent than either the Chiefs or Bengals and that this has worked against them. The claim is the Chiefs and Bengals are constantly mixing it up scheme wise during the regular season putting their defense in awkward situations. This would seem counter intuitive but it pays off come playoff time. Whats the big deal in giving up an extra td to the Raiders, Browns, and Texans of the world when you know you'll blow them out regardless with your offense? The Bills on the other hand run one defense and they run it well. Their talent allows them to play this way and get away with it during the regular season. This defense embarrasses poor/average/and above avg. QB's but not elite ones. The Mahomes and Burrows of the world's are not intimidated by the Bills two deep zone and designed coverage scheme. They simply tear it apart. This defense is the Bills only pitch and once the batter figures it out the Bills don't have a curve ball to go to. They live and die with this defense. They think Beane got arrogant and that he thought Miller was the only solution the Bills needed to their defense. Their argument is the Bills need to work on being uncomfortable on defense during the regular season so that come playoff time they throw Mahomes and Burrow off balance. It isnt about being a top 5 regular season defense but a productive playoff defense. By doing this the Bills will have multiple looks they can use in the playoffs and will be much more capable at adjusting to playoff offensive schemes. In short the defenses only goal for the season should be providing three to four stops against Mahomes and Burrow in the playoffs and nothing else. This is what the Bills require to take the next step. Thoughts.

I agree our defensive coaching in the playoffs is bs. We play all season disguising coverages against inferior qbs and it bites us huge in the playoffs. Mahomes and Burrow are not intimidated by our sit back approach. They love the fact we can't rush the QB and put pressure on them into stupid mistakes. Instead we play zone and are slowly picked apart. Until the Bills can rush four and make life difficult on the opposing QB we are doomed.

Maybe this is my Canadian ignorance showing but is it normal to take the opinion of NBA broadcast types as gospel when they voice an opinion on the NFL? Didn't Nick Wright, Colin Coward, Steven A Smith, and Skip Bayless all start as basketball guys? Just seems funny to care what they say. Then again I find sports talk to be idiotic unless I'm reading a Bill Barnwell who specifically writes about the NFL. Also carrying on about offense is the most casual fan cringe thing going. Bengals rode their defense to the Superbowl. Same with the Rams that season. Tampa had a great defense when Brady arrived. Patriots won multiple Superbowls with Brady playing smart football and the defense locking it down. Same with the Ravens and Steelers. Bills might hypothetically have this great defense during the regular season but one thing they've been awful/average at come playoff time is rushing the passer. Not sure how any move to improve this isn't applauded? Bengals only scored 20 points on KC after blasting us. Always found it interesting how we always have this top 5 defense in the regular season while KC has a bottom 10 but come playoff time KC seems to flip a switch and play 10 times better defensively while our defense implodes. What Cowherd should be questioning is why our defensive coaching which is the coaching backbone of this team keeps being manhandled in the playoffs while the Bengals and Chiefs seem to find another gear defensively? I still think we scheme too much from the secondary to prevent deep passes and not enough from schemes to gain pressure with the front 7.

What a ridiculously bad take. Must be nice to be a Mahomes and have competent linemen play and an all time offensive master as your head coach drawing up plays to mess with defenses. Or Burrow and Hill with their glut of offensive weapons. Nope Allen has a worse oline than all three of those teams and has had basically Diggs vs. those QBs having stacked offensive rosters. Meanwhile Allen and Diggs know there was no one competent so it was all on them. Mckenzie was our 3rd best receiver last season for f sakes. How is that possible for a Superbowl contender?

This has less to do with Josh and more to do with Beanes inability to provide Josh with decent targets, run game, and a O line. It wasn't a shock we could easily move the ball between the 20 yard lines and then stalled in the redzone. We had no power run game. Our interior oline was pathetic. Teams cheated like mad to take away Josh scrambling ability. Diggs was the only receiver who could beat a zone defense in the redzone unless Davis won a jump ball. Not all that shocking Allen has thrown so many INT. Maybe surrounded him with better talent so he isn't scrambling for his life having to make plays on the fly. Give us better short yardage RB so linebackers have to respect the run and not cheat and chase down Josh. Give him someone besides Digg who can actually get open in the Red Zone.

Great ambassadors for the Buffalo Bills.

My Wife and I are both first responders. In our interactions with the general public we have come to conclusion that the pandemic has tuned a lot of people into perpetual children. Your neighbour sounds like one of these children.

Canadian Bills fans deliberately refused to go to those games because of the pathetic farce it was. Another brilliant blunder by the idiot cable/internet companies who think they own everything up here.

Good luck in Indy. Its nice to see players who leave wishing they were still with the team. Means something is going well in Buffalo.

They most certainly do not. The ballpark they play in does. Josh Allen is well received up here. Only people who don't like him are prissy Pats and Dolphins fans. Pats fans can at least admit he's the real deal and he will be their tormentor for the next 10 years. Dolphins fans think Tua is winning them a Superbowl this season. Still have no idea how anyone who grows up in Canada becomes a Dolphins fan. Never met a Jets fan in Canada. Plenty of Giants fans though. Surprisingly Ravens and Eagles fans seem to dislike Allen up here. I think thats because or their love affair with Lamar and Hurts. Most people wish Allen was their QB. For those who are interested in terms of NFL Fandom in Toronto/Southern Ontario it goes. 1. Bills 2. Steelers 3. Cowboys 4. Packers 4. Giants, Niners 5. Dolphins, Eagles, Lions, Ravens and the Browns for some odd reason.

You're not wrong but ill say this. The Jets figured out the recipe to flat out dominate the Bills offense and the rest of the NFL followed that blue print for the remainder of the season. Bills were not the same after that Jets game. Maybe it had more to do with Allen partially tearing his UCL, but will never know. I had forgotten how many awful QBs the Jets played last season. That list is quite staggering. AFC East schedule will be brutal this season. After the seeing the schedule release I like the Bills a lot more. That early season schedule gives the Bills a lot of run way to take a early division lead if they can capitalize on it.

Stop acting like an NBA fan and being sucked in by fancy names. It's nauseating. Thats not how the NFL works. The issue is fans like you constantly bickering about a ridiculous ceiling that is hardly ever met while constantly ignoring the Bills at worst this off season raised their floor which is what good teams do to win. You can't clue in that by simply having Kincaid in the slot you take away coverage from Davis and you no longer have to put Davis inside to be the interior blocking receiver because no one else could do it last season. You aren't looking at all the trickle down affects. You're just thinking no Dehop the Bills are screwed. Football doesn't work like basketball. You can't see that our redzone offense will be significantly better? Adding power running backs, a mauling guard and a massive interior receiving target? You really can't see that? How many times did the Bills offense march up the field between the 20s only for our guards to be blown up in the short run game and Singletary being unable to move the pile? Who was Allen to pass to when every receiver was a smurf and Mckenzie had no clue how to beat a zone defense? No wonder Allen Redzone INT rate skyrocketed last year. We had a brutal interior oline. Allen partially tore his UCL, and we had no one inside to pass to who was over 5 foot 8. Not to mention Knox brother passed away right before the season and we have no idea what impact that had on him either. To sit there and honestly think the Bills didn't significantly upgrade the offense is tedious. Cowboys wanted to resign McGovern FYI.

These talks are always disingenuous and the idiots who agree. Bills off field chaos was the worst I had ever ever seen for an NFL team. Josh Allen partially tore his UCL. Again a talking point everyone including members our own fanbase consistently ignore. Our secondary was in shambles from Week 1 right through until the playoffs. Hyde and Von both had season ending injuries. That is 2 of our 4 most important defensive players. Another top 4 defensive player missed half the year recovering from a torn ACL and wasn't right all season. Let's not get into the fact our guards were trash and significantly upgraded upon and that Mckenzie was our 3rd best receiver and wouldn't even make the team this season if he was still here. Bills peaked is hilarious. Not even close. It's just main media nonsense.

I'm good with playing the Jets. Disgruntled we are not playing Sunday opening week two years in a row. Playing the Jets week one has some benefits for the Bills. For starters Rodgers has typically not been fast out of the gate. I think this helps our offense out as well. I do believe the Jets more than anyone exposed the simplicity of our passing game, Josh Allen's reckless scrambling, our pathetic guard play, and inability to do anything with the run or short pass game. The entire offseason has been about changing the entire offense to work against what the Jets do well defensively and what other teams would mimic to slow us down.

This and so much this. I have never heard Nick Wright, any of the so called experts at ESPN, etc ever mention this. Nick Wright and gang deliberately go out of their way to never mention this. It's why I pretty much stopped watching sports shows. It's all fluff and surface level bs. I feel like a lot of doomsday individuals on this message board only watch these type of shows. Its why they're clueless on how much more important it was to raise the floor around Allen rather than blowing your shot at one expensive weapon.

You can be depressed or you can be optimistic. I took my road. You appear to be taking yours.

Jets had a historically healthy defense and defenses 99% of the time see a regression to some level. Jets are scary but I doubt that defense is quite as dominant. In fact the Jets are who we should be thanking more than anyone. They are the team that showed all the major flaws in our offense. They built the blue print to dummy our guards, take away our perimeter passing game, show zero respect to our run game and intermediate to short passing game, and have a stud athlete spy Josh Allen. Our entire off season has been developing our offense so this doesn't happen again. Want to take away Diggs and Davis deep. Ok we can go short as Mckenzie won't be running the wrong route anymore. Want to play heavy zone and think you'll bully our guards? Guess again we have Kincaid and guards who aren't turnstiles. Think our run game is a joke in the redzone and you can just spy Allen and not worry about the Bills running up the middle? Guess again we have a massive guard now and RB who actually have size and have shown theyre short yardage specialits in the NFL. This isn't even factoring in Shakir taking a step forward. Harty who actually knows how to be a weapon at slot vs. Zone unlike Mckenzie and the fact Sherfield and Kincaid can actually block in the run game so we aren't overly relying of Gabe Davis and moving him inside to block and basically tipping off our plays to opposing defenses. Hey maybe Gabe will actually rebound as well only having to worry about being an outside receiver.

Bates is the wildcard. A lot of people penciling him in as the back up center and interior rotation piece. I however see a world were Brown doesn't meet expectations and Bates is our starting Right Tackle. Not ideal but you could do worse.