BillsVet

That may be. Still doesn't remove the larger point that this season is a referendum on the HC, GM, and their philosophy on how to win.

I compare this more to Rex's schemes in New York effectivity around 2009-10. Those were more complicated to run, but needed the exact right players who had the smarts and physical ability. I think we're trending closer to that in Buffalo, except I don't see that McD's defensive scheme as so complex. Still needs a certain kind of player, which he found in 2017 for the secondary. Huge win or not on Sunday night, we're still debating the philosophy the HC and GM operate under. As in, whether a highly-resourced defense, particularly at DL combined with an offense featuring Josh, a very good OL, and an average-ish skilled talent group can win a SB. Buffalo's 2025 will answer that question.

Nah, you're listening to your mom yelling to you in the basement that the meatloaf is ready.

Some of you are insufferable and the season hasn't even started yet. Saturday Night Live addressed you back in the 80s before some of you were even born: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUL7q8eyig8

Those vets are largely washed up and if their presence is to push the younger players it's not a good thing. I'll agree the 2025 WRs to start the season are better than those to start 2024. But it's a low bar...especially after the 2024 group's inability to get open almost got Josh KO'd in the Baltimore game. We're talking world record limbo bar low. Too many if's, hopefully's, and maybe's heading into the season that, once again, people are banking on Josh to raise their production.

You may be the only one who defends their pukes like a man. Good for you. Every WR on that roster is a limited option. Cooper may be shot...but after seeing Buffalo bring back Phillips, Poyer, and Gabe Davis back in short succession it's not surprising they'd call back a guy who they liked last year. The WR group is a hodge-podge of underwhelming. No one is opening things up for anyone. Not Palmer and not Coleman at this point in his career despite the hype-machine in full force this off-season.

And Beane will be in touch by about Week 6 when he needs a WR...again.

Agree HD. Much of this thread can be summarized as a debate between 2 types of people. Those who reason through moral, ethical and legal considerations to these streams and those who are limited to: I like football because it makes me happy. What makes me happy is good. I deserve good things. Good things should not cost money. Greedy people charge money for football. Therefore I am entitled to free football because it is good, makes me happy, and bad people are bad.

A civil society without commonly held values trends toward legalism in outlining ethical standards. And legalism alone won't hold together long enough when debates like this surface. In this case, just saying that these NFL game streams is wrong because the law says so can get into the mud like it is here. And that's because the issue of taking a product for free isn't considered along any moral lines by a larger cross-section of people. We're so fragmented on that it's never going anywhere, so we go back to the legalist framework which inevitably leads to people trying to justify something or make a case that it's not legal.

6 off-seasons ago is an eternity in NFL years. And then to pay then-market rate for UFA WR's is not the coup you think it is. Beane's best WR acquisitions were in trade since then.

A mixed track record? That's some serious revisionist history if it takes going all the way back to Josh's second season in 2019. If we're gonna go that far back, let's throw in Kelvin Benjamin, Jordan Matthews, and Jeremy Kerley from 2017-18. It's funny because I haven't heard people refer to Beane as a "wizard" this off-season. It's really a noticeable decline these past couple years.

That's what the GM and HC think of the WR group Beane got flustered about having to defend a few months ago.

No one's talking about historical draft evidence, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. The issue is Beane's poor UFA WR signings which is his response to insisting at not taking them in the draft. Every draft pick is a gamble. I've been hearing for years on this board how the draft is a "crap-shoot" because there's no predictability to whether a pick will succeed. OK. You pay a GM and his front office to get it right...as they did with Josh. You don't pay them to avoid something for years because it's scary. People who want things guaranteed in life before making the decision are living in another universe. I suspect there are more every day who are scared. Time to put on big-boy pants.

Beane essentially admitted this off-season that college WR evals are difficult. And when you look at their 2021-2025 drafts they clearly avoid the position for that and likely other reasons. It's how you end up with UFA signings since the Diggs trade like Emanuel Sanders, Jamison Crowder, Deonte Harty, Trent Sherfield, Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins, MVS, Josh Palmer, and Elijah Moore. They've wasted so much cap room all because their amateur scouting people and the GM are scared at the risk of college WRs. I'd rather they have a Day 1 or 2 pick underwhelm at WR than not try at all because they're scared of a bust and don't know how to evaluate them. That's a guarantee you'll have nothing in development at WR...because they refuse to draft them unless it's absolutely necessary. Compare and contrast that mindset to about 31 other NFL teams.

I don't know why people are complaining. They drafted Josh Allen.

Goes to a point you made after the draft about the DL. With Beane, it's a become this annual exercise to revamp the DL or add multiple contributors to it. Yeah, there's having a rotation, but they've signed 4 UFAs and drafted 3 more while having a 3-4 from last season who'll be in the rotation for 2025.

Welcome to Buffalo Grant. Here's your injury settlement and have a nice flight home.

If he was capable of "having big games" Jacksonville would have not eaten that 20M in cap across 2026 and 2027. Just say no to drugs...like previous players who are a shell of what they used to be...which wasn't much.

Gabe Davis is a scrap heap WR. A familiar one, yes...but still unsigned for a reason. That they're hosting him for a visit tells the story that not all is well at WR.

One of these years Beane will stop butchering the WR position. Maybe next year. Maybe 2027. Hard to tell at this point.

Most people really don't see or know how a GM contributes because it's done largely behind closed doors. Those same people will see McD's in-game decisions and player performance and focus on those elements...but what is it that got them there during the regular season? It's Beane and McD's decisions to their philosophy, their schemes, and the players who they select. That's all the off-season/behind closed-doors stuff. 2025 is going to be an interesting season for this reason. Either their plan works or it doesn't. No more room to double down because hey did that this past off-season.

Looks awesome. I did Piegan Pass and a few others 5 years ago, but still want to do the Highline Trail.

Ralph didn't get 430M in revenue sharing each year though. Also wondering if McAfee asked Beane about his wizard skills.

On Super Bowl Sunday, ESPN would air all the SB highlight shows from previous years beginning in the early morning. I think they were 30 minutes long which meant in the early 90s you could get through them all by noon. I'd watch them, all of which were narrated by Facenda though 1983. Facenda's voice is a childhood memory for me...waking up at 1am to watch those highlight shows on ESPN. Cannot believe he's not in Canton.

2025 is a referendum on this GM/HC combination playing this style. Because no real NFL team with a top QB can go 6 seasons missing the SB since said QB showed he’s the real deal. McD and Beane are on track for the Hall of Very Good if they continue on that path. But Terry likely doesn’t fire either.