BillsFanForever19

"Why moving on from McDermott is tough due to it not being something that will be talked about by anyone but angry fans" Fixed it for you.

It's over because we didn't win it all in the year we were in a soft rebuild? Next year we'll be starting at 0 instead of 54m over the Cap. And when we extend Josh, move on from Von, and do other restructures and extensions - we will be able to build the roster better. We'll also have 10 Draft Picks, including 3 over the first 2 Rounds. This was the year we were supposed to have to eat a little crap. Having to fill the roster with whatever we could. Starting guys we shouldn't have been starting and having no depth. And with our best CB and Safety out against Playoff Pat - we still came within a dropped Kincaid pass of getting to the dance. It isn't over. This wasn't even our best shot at it, in my opinion. This was never a Super Bowl roster. Next year, we're in a position to build a much better team.

It's funny, when I've credited McDermott or Whaley for the 2017 Draft in the past I've gotten torn apart. That it was Beane's suggestions in an unofficial capacity and possibly his board with how quickly he came on. But then when I say that, it's not right either. So I guess no one gets credit for the 2017 Draft.

We signed Samuel to a 3 year deal. The "out" in his contract isn't until after next season. We'd be eating 11m in Dead Cap to cut him.

Coleman isn't a 1st Round Pick and he's a Rookie WR. Elam shouldn't have been on the field. You know who else he Drafted? Josh Allen. James Cook. Khalil Shakir. Christian Benford (who would have made a difference if he wasn't concussed). Spencer Brown. Dion Dawkins. Matt Milano (wasn't "officially" in the room - but he surely played a hand). O'Cyrus Torrence. Greg Rousseau. He brought in Mack Hollins when everyone thought he was worthless (without him, we wouldn't have stayed close). He built a team on peanuts this year that made it to the AFC Championship Game. I know we're all hurt and looking for people to blame. But there's misses from the best GM's league wide. The Draft is a crap shoot and his success rate isn't bad.

You want to throw daggers at the Defense being out of position? Or Kincaid dropping the pass? Go nuts. Josh Allen though? He along with James Cook and Mack Hollins are the only reasons this game stayed close. Gtfo with that nonsense.

Why? @Billl isn't disrespectful.

Yeah, definitely. It's McDermott's fault he's playing Kaiir Elam and Cole Bishop instead of Christian Benford and Taylor Rapp against Playoff Patrick Mahomes.

It's too much to overcome. Allen would have to score on every series. We've gotten away with not having to put too much on him for most of the year. But with what they're putting out there on Defense and how Mahomes and KC are playing - Josh has to put on the cape and play near perfect for us to have a chance.

Amen to that. Good to see you here. Ready for a good one.

Hamlin and Bishop are obviously the weak points of this Defense. Which means we kind of know what they're going to try and target and scheme to it.

They spent 10 minutes after 6:30 hyping up the Lamar v. Josh game last week. I'd expect the same this week.

I have felt a calmness since the Ravens win. I'm sure it will go out the window when the game starts. A poster made a thread suggesting what I'm feeling and got ripped to shreds for it. I want them to win and I'll be pulling for them as hard as I always do. But I really didn't think this was our year. So I'm amazed things came together as they have and we've made it this far. 54m over the cap to start the year. Moving on from 23 players - long time starters, leaders, important depth, and role players. And not being able to substantially fill most of those spots. A new Defensive play caller. 4/5 our WR core being targets who never played a down with Josh. Starting a guy at Center who hasn't played the position at the Pro level and a Guard who was a backup for us the year before. Starting AJ Epenesa, Dorian Williams, Taylor Rapp, and Damar Hamlin on Defense. All the moving parts, this was supposed to be a down year where we'd be able to properly build next season. It's really amazing we've gotten here. A loss here would undoubtedly hurt. And I'm not expecting or accepting defeat. But if it happened (so long as it didn't come from stupidity from coaches) - I don't feel like I'd be as destroyed and looking to rake the team over the coals as a year where I feel the roster is in amazing shape. Next year we're in a situation to be even better - regardless of whether we win it all or exit here. And I think that's what has me feeling calmer than usual.

Let Ed Oliver cook.

I think (or greatly hope) he will be playing. But I wouldn't say not elevating a CB definitively means they believe he will. Kaiir Elam is often a healthy scratch with us generally having Douglas, Benford, Johnson, Ingram, and Lewis (who's a CB and a Safety) active. If Benford is out, they'd have Elam active to go along with Douglas and Johnson, with Ingram and Lewis as reserves. We've never called up either Daequan Hardy or Te'Cory Couch all season when CB's were injured. And it wouldn't be any different here if Benford weren't playing.

It was obvious from Day 1 when McDermott said "not much" when asked what his role was here. It was obvious when they called up both Kareem Jackson and Lewis Cine multiple times when Rapp and Hamlin were banged up. It was obvious when they didn't call him up in the last week of the year to get him some reps. And if you were holding out hope beyond that (which was misguided), it was obvious when they didn't call him up against Denver and Baltimore - when either could have been our last chance to. This was always about him helping along Cole Bishop in Practice, getting him in the locker room and sidelines for leadership and morale, and possibly getting him a ring as a rostered player for all that he did to get us to this point since 2017.

Kareem Jackson elevated tomorrow with Rapp out.

That's not entirely accurate. Reportedly Jordan Phillips was talking to Hyde and then told Beane and McDermott he'd be interested in coming back and then they called him. For all we know, that discussion could have been Hyde telling Phillips "I don't know that I can play, but I'd definitely be interested in helping out in the Safety room and being in the Locker Room and on the Sidelines" and then Beane and McDermott said "Well, we wouldn't have approached him with something like that and offended him by offering him a spot on the Practice Squad - but if he's open to that, that works for us. Let's give him a call". Not saying that's what it was. But it very well could have been. Either way, your assumption that they called him up to be an "in case of emergency" Safety was just that - an assumption. And their words and actions since him coming here don't line up with that assumption.

All Hands on Deck? So you're saying both Kareem Jackson and Micah Hyde should be active then, right? Kareem Jackson (and Lewis Cine before Phili poached him from us) has been the go to Safety elevated even with Hyde on the roster. The idea that activating Hyde represents "all hands on deck" is a misrepresentation.

He's going to be 34 years old and coming off a bit of a down year where whether or not he'd come back this year was a talking point. This isn't a situation like Von Miller coming off Super Bowl MVP. He's not going to be league minimum or anything like that, but he's not going to be "big bucks" either. And with Von not expected to be here and Dawuane Smoot a Free Agent, we'll need a couple Defensive Ends. You could Draft a guy and bring him along and bring in someone like Mack to take pressure off of Epenesa.

You're not going to be able to get everyone in the board to call it one thing and this board is just a micro percentage of the fan base as a whole. And even if you got literally every fan to agree on a name (an impossibility) - it's the announcers who decide what it's called anyways. Long story short, this is like when someone posts a nickname poll on here. It's not for us to decide. And i'd echo @Einstein that an individual nickname for the play and these options are silly. It's a QB sneak. But ultimately, it's just going to be called a "tush push" bc that's what the media decided it would be called when Philly started doing it.

Can we at least wait until after the AFC Championship game to make hypothetical Super Bowl Victory Parade threads? Second one this week.

The purge was because we were 54 million over the cap before it. According to Spotrac, we're 1.5 million over the cap right now. And that includes factoring in a Salary Cap bump to 277 million.

Von won't be here. If we do what we all hope we do, I'm positive he'll retire on that. If we don't, he may still retire and if he doesn't - it's the end of the line for him here. His contract when we signed him was always viewed as a 3 year deal. And we need to free Cap Space. On top of Von, Dawuane Smoot will also be a Free Agent. We have Rousseau and Epenesa (our two current starters) under contract. If the price is right, I could see Mack being someone we'd pursue to fill as an upgrade to one of those roles.