Paup 1995MVP

I put a lot of blame on the coaching as well. 13 seconds was a debacle from the kickoff to playing "prevent us from winning defense" on both of KC's plays from scrimmage. In the playoff win against Baltimore the offense got way too conservative in the second half. And in the loss at Baltimore, the trick play that Brady called almost knocked Josh out for the season in week 4, and took away all our 2nd half momentum. A lot of people like Brady. But overall his offense play calling is predictable and conservative. (was terrible in short yardage in the AFCCG) And with a QB as dynamic as #17 he needs to be better and open things up. We have good weapons this year. Need to push the ball down the field. You want a take what the defense gives us offense, why pay $300+ million for Josh Allen? Just go get the next Brad Johnson, Teddy Bridgewater or Mitch Trubisky. Maybe even Spencer Ratler. LOL

I would take Stafford and Goff over Hurts. The Eagles have put so much around Hurts it’s unbelievable. Howie Roseman is so much ahead of other GM’s it’s not funny. Not sure how they do it so much better, drafting, feee agents, salary cap, etc. But I tip my hat. Beane has been good. Top tier GM. But Roseman stands alone w the results. Someone do a list of GM’s and owners. That would be really interesting. Or a top 100 NFL players like the NFL Network does.

Keon Coleman's season was certainly underwhelming. He wasn't terrible. But he was not a big time guy for us for the most part. The numbers are what they are. He made some plays, but for the most part he was not a big difference maker for us. I think he will be better this year if he can stay reasonably healthy. The guy should break 50 receptions (thats averaging 3+ per game) and get 800+ yards and 5-7 TD's. That would be a nice but not tremendous season. And hopefully by next year he is breaking 1000 yards with 70+ receptions. But that will only happen if he can learn how to get some separation. I think some of the issues with Coleman and Kincaid (who has also not been nearly as dominant as many of us had hoped for out of his first 2 years) is that they are coming to a veteran team that has had a lot of success since 2019. On good veteran teams rookies/young players don't usually come in and dominate. They get some opportunities, but kind of have to know their place is to sit back listen and learn. The coaches are not desperate for them to be thrown into the fire and lead the team. And part of that also comes from good teams drafting later in each round. So we are not drafting top 10 talented players. Later picks usually will take longer to get to the level of being dominant.

Sorry if I was over aggressive in my response about Dion Dawkins. Its more of a cumulative thing with him, not you specifically. I have just never thought of him as a special player. A solid good player yes. But special no. And he just seems like a big self promoter too much for my taste. He is an O lineman. Act like one. Do your job well. Get paid well. And noone needs to know a whole lot more about you. You got a funky haircut with lamb chop side burns. That makes you stand out already. Anthony Munoz the best left tackle IMO of the modern era never blew his own horn. Enough said. As for Terrance McGhee, I was being more tongue in cheek mentioning him. He was one of my favorite Bills players of the modern era for his skills as a return man and as a corner. And he seemed like a real solid dude also. Its too bad that injuries cut the prime of his career short I believe. I never said Kelly was a better player. But Kelly was an awesome player and leader. He had the charisma toughness and was a winner. And to say he was never close to Allen's level of talent (agree as a runner) or play is just ignorant on your part. And I watched all his games as well Turk.

I understand what you are saying. But Jim Kelly is much better than Jalen Hurts could ever dream of being. Jim Kelly was a top echelon player in the NFL his entire career. That being said Josh Allen would have beaten the Giants and the Cowboys in the 4th Super Bowl. The Redskins and Cowboys 1st Super Bowl would have also been closer. Dan Marino threw a football better than any human being that has ever lived. But he didn’t win a Super Bowl. it’s a team game. Josh Allen is amazing. Hopefully w some studs on defense we will achieve our destiny this year. But please don’t compare Kelly to Hurts. I am not a Hurts fan. So that Hurts. Lol

Stop w the Dion Dawkins nonsense. He is a good not quite very good O lineman. John Fina level. Conner McGovern is more talented. Dion Dawkins is a legend in his own mind. He should not be in the same sentence as Kent Hull. where is Terrance McGhee on your list?

It is closer than you make it out to be KJ. Playing QB in the 80’s and 90’s was a whole different game. Have you forgotten how violent the NFL used to be?! Go watch the hit Jim Burt put on Joe Montana in the 1986 Divisional playoff game in the Meadowlands. It will refresh your memory. And how about the hit Bruce put on Boomer Esiason that knocked him out on the Rich Stadium frozen turf when he was with the Jets. Josh Allen is a better athlete. But Jim Kelly was an awesome gunslinger.

Joe B was being respectful of Tre White. I think it’s pretty clear what he means from watching mini camp.

It will be interesting to see how the secondary competition plays out in training camp this year. I do think we have a lot more depth this year. Whomever is our CB #2 and 3 on the boundary should be a lot better than what Rasul Douglas and Kair Elam gave us last year. Even if Ingram were to be #3 I think his experience from playing some last year and just another year in the system will improve his game. And lets not forget Dane Jackson. Not an amazing athlete. But he has always has had some grit to his game.

Of course you can not ignore the salary cap. I was just saying that the game-meaning players and teams is more interesting to me is all. And disagree big time about Cook. The Bills don't value a RB at $15 mill/year. Salary cap is only a small part of the story. Its the same as paying a middle reliever in baseball. You aren't paying them $15 mill/year with or without a salary cap. Because they aren't worth anywhere near that money.

Reading Joe B's report this morning in the Athletic at the end of mini camp made it sound like Tre White did not look good. Had no speed to turn and run with the receivers on the deep routes. I think this is his swan song. And he is done. At this point in their careers, Jackson and Ingram have to be better than Tre. And then there is Hairston and Strong. I know McDermott loves his veterans. But he wants to win more. Some guys keep most if not all of their speed into their 30's. Others don't. It can be a cruel game with injuries. If Mike Trout was playing pro football, he may have lasted half a season.

Way too much talk about the salary cap on this message board instead of talking football players and teams. That being said: Todd Gurley had so much promise coming out of Georgia, but Degenerative knee issues ruined his career. The message there is to be real careful who you invest big money in. There are a LOT of solid RB's in the NFL. And James Cook falls into that category. He is reasonably dynamic, but certainly not a unicorn in his abilities. He is worth an extension, at a reasonable price. If he will take $10 mill per for a 3 year extension, sounds about right. Otherwise, let him play out his contract, and test the market. Exactly like Tremaine Edmunds. And Gabe Davis. Beane knows what he is doing with contracts. I do not see an issue replacing Cook if and when the time comes. More important than overpaying an RB, is having a very good O line that most RB's will have success running behind. Beane needs to spend the bigger dollars on resigning Connor McGovern to anchor our O line for the next 5 years. I think that is the best use of resources then overpaying James Cook or any other RB.

I know what you mean. I have lived in the South my entire adult life. But come November I like when it gets dark early. Always have. But I do like the sun in the winter low in the sky with real pretty sunsets on a crisp winter day. How could you not? And there is lots of pro and college football, with the games meaning more and more each week!!

Those are some very interesting numbers Ed. Makes you stop and think that maybe the expectations of a lot of us fans are out of wack at times. Tell me why do a lot of people call Greg Rousseau Groot? What is that about? Rousseau and AJ have been solid to good a lot of the time. But neither has been special. And you know not many NFL guys are special players. Tre White was special before his knee and achilles injuries. Matt Milano was special in 2022 until injuries derailed his career in London 2023. Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer were a special safety combo together in their prime, although I don't think each on their own was quite on that special level. But both were very good players. Kyle Williams was a special player for most of his career. Lets hope that both Rousseau and AJ can raise their games some this season to a very good level most weeks. I think most Bills fans would take that with a big tooth grin.

I never followed Daniel Jones' career in college at Duke. But drafting any player that high (especially a QB) from Duke seems very risky. Unless they play basketball of course. Dart played in the SEC against obviously good competition. But how he will do in the pros remains to be seen. I know he did not look very good last year against Florida. And Ole Miss barely beat a pretty mediocre to poor Mississippi State team as well. Maybe Dart will be the answer at some point. But they had better get their O line repaired for whomever is playing QB this year. Because it has been real bad for a long time now.

I will give them that. And they unfortunately beat us in Super Bowl 25. (Bad memories-I was there!) I used to have a lot of respect for their franchise back in the day. They had a lot of good hard nose tough football players. I was always a big Harry Carson fan. And their coaching going back to Parcells was top notch. But the past decade has been a tire fire in the swamps. I went to the Cowboys-Giants game at Met Life Stadium in 2013 the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I took my two sons up to NYC for the weekend. They had never been there. It was absolutely freezing at the game. And it gets dark real early late in the season for those 4:25 games in the North East. Tony Romo drove the Cowboys down the field late and Dan Bailey kicked the winning FG at the end. The crowd was pissed off. Lot of anger in the stands that day.

Great summary of the Blue team sinking in the swamps of New Jersey. When your owner, GM and coach think you can replace Saquon Barkley with Devin Singletary, and have guys like Jermaine Eluminore blocking, thats a big problem. Yes their O line seems like they have been as bad as any in the league for the past decade easily. Do they even have an O line coach? LOL Just a joke of a franchise at this point. Wellington Mara must be cussing his son from the grave with all his might. I hope they give Jameis Winston a chance to play. Way more exciting and better than Russell Wilson. And then should be interesting to see what happens with Jaxson Dart. Maybe they can bring back Eli if none of these guys work out. LOL

I hope that all the additions on the D lIne light a fire under Epenesa. He has shown bursts of real good play over his 5 years with the team. But certainly not on a regular basis. (I just looked up his career stats and he has 21.5 sacks over 5 seasons. And only 2.5 in his first two years. That's a real weak start to his career) But the guy doesn't suck, and maybe playing with a big time DE like Bosa will help him hone his craft more, to the point that he becomes a big time contributor for us on a consistent basis week in and week out. I am sure the Bills would love that. As for Solomon, he should get his chance to show improvement in training camp and the preseason. And if he is making plays, he should have a decent chance to make the 53 man roster, and hopefully get some meaningful snaps. But with all the changes to the D Line this offseason, its anybody's guess where Solomon projects on this years team.

We want Tre on the team if he is playing well and deserves to be on the team. If he is slow and washed, bye bye. And good luck with your life after football. As Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) said in Moneyball. There comes a time when everybody has to retire. Time is undefeated. If Jamarcus Ingram is better than Tre, than I want Jamarcus Ingram on the 53. Same with Dorian Strong. Same with Dane Jackson. We all have our favorite players. But at the end of the day, we all just want the Bills to win. Doesn't matter who is wearing our uniforms. Just win baby.

No surprise about Spector not practicing. Maybe we get rid of him before training camp. Give Edufushio Shaq Thompson and Buffalo Joe the reps to fight it out for the 4th and 5th LB's on the final roster. How about taking Spector's body and freezing it like Ted Williams head, so he can heal and be ready for the season? LOL We can call him Baylon "Cryo" Spector.

Very true. The Bills hold all the cards here. (I like your point B) I am sure they would like to sign him to a reasonable extension. But if Cook wants huge RB money he will have to wait until his contract is up. Its not like he had an all time season. He had some nice numbers (including an inflated amount of TD's scored from inside the 5 yard line.) He is scheduled to make 5 + mill this year. Not chump change for a guy that plays only about half the teams offensive snaps. The offseason is so long, there is just not much to talk about. Especially for a team that has been real good for a long time now. So the Cook talk gets extra play. And the ironic thing is that Cook seems like a real quiet guy. Are there any other noteworthy stories right now in the NFL? I guess Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers. LOL

We need to do that some times. Can't just send Josh plowing into the line. The Chiefs figured that play out real quick in the AFCCG. Running Gilliam or Ty Johnson through a crease off the center or guard once in a while would be nice change of pace in short yardage. I agree. And that's kind of weird with the QB we have. And we haven't exactly put a lot of draft capital into improving our WR group. That being said, I am excited about Moore and Palmer. I think they can both be good WR's with Josh throwing them the ball. And you would think Coleman would improve a good bit from his rookie season. Add in the dynamic Shakir, and a hopefully healthy Samuel and Kincaid, and you have a pretty good group of pass catchers..

I agree about our short yardage deficiencies against KC. It was awful. We kept on running the same play over and over. With the same poor results. Brady should have been called out big time for the lack of any creativity in the short yardage play calling. To get to and win a Super Bowl you need excellent coaching in all 3 phases of the game. We came up short both literally and figuratively in that department against KC. Hopefully the play calling is better in the big moments this coming season. And also we improve on special teams with a new coach.

Great analysis. We have a top 2 QB in the league. An all timer. And we are going to to pay our RB top 5 money? That makes no sense. We should be all in w the passing game. Otherwise, why pay Josh $300+ million? if the offense is going to be run centric, then we certainly have the wrong coaching staff running things. And speaking of which, I think Joe Brady still has a lot to prove in his play calling, scheme etc. Our short yardage play calls against KC in the Championship were absolutely terrible. 👎👎

Should be a fun game to watch, if for nothing else then the 2 QB’s switching teams. I think Fields will have trouble w the Steelers defense. Throw for about 130 yards and be running for his life most of the game. I see a low scoring game w the Steelers coming out on top 17-13. Bet the under.