finn

I like how the writer paraphrases Beane as saying, "Nothing is earned." That made me laugh.

But what makes you think he still can run a 4.46 after blowing out his ACL and Achilles? (He's also turned 30 in January.) He might be running a 4.56 for all we know.

That's a thought. Rather than bulk up a safety like Matt Milano or Lewis Cine, why not switch a DE with speed to LB, especially if his chief purpose is to rush the passer and defend the run? Not saying there isn't a reason (I don't know), but if you're thin at LB and rich at DE, the question comes up. Would be nice to see some beef at LB when Henry is running downhill on us.

Otherwise a slam-dunk signing, though, eh?

I didn't take offense myself, but the title is pretty clearly meant to be insulting to the team, or at least to emphasize not that they accomplished no other team ever has in getting to four straight SB but rather that they lost four in a row. Kinda dumb, in that the chief audience is presumably Bills fans, who don't want to see a narrative of how their beloved team was a pack of tragic losers, as the title implies. Not sure I follow you on that one, brother.

They might have chosen a more cheery title. Why not just "Four-Time Losers"?

Well, as with life in general, the hair-pulling and regrets do have the benefit of helping avoid similar mistakes in the future, at least supposedly. Maybe evolution selected for such a high-degree of guilt, bitterness and regret in our species because it takes that much to penetrate our thick skull to not make the same mistake twice. I assume Beane has an outcomes-assessment review in place where his staff considers why they made the mistakes they did, going back years. I'm sure it's more efficient than hundreds of pages of posts declaring how idiotic certain picks were. But, given the thick-skulls theory, maybe reading through the thorough roasting here is what it would take to persuade him not to draft players like Boogie Basham and Cody Ford. In any even, go Keon! I really, really do not want to spend the next ten years despairing how we could have had Ladd or Xavier.

I noticed the tackles. The interior seemed competent to me, but not stellar.

Yeah, but what message is he sending that's worth missing all these early but still important practices? "I'm really serious, guys! I really am mad now!" It's just so juvenile. If anything, Beane is less likely to sign him if he holds out, and I see why. He loses nothing by coming to mini-camp and gains a lot, including Beane's good will. Some of these athletes have the minds of 14-year olds.

Makes me smile to think we have the polar opposite of this at QB now. The only way Josh Allen goes out of bounds short of the marker on fourth down with the game on the line is in the air as he throws it on target thirty yards down the field across his body.

I wish we could have found a way to keep him. But he wasn't going to start, and he's too good to be a backup. One of the few real weaknesses on the team right now is backup linebacker. Williams is great, but Baylon Spector is either bad or injured.

What makes you think McGovern is top 5? Not challenging you, just genuinely curious. I had him as a slightly above-average player.

I wasn't diehard until the Kelly era, but I remember OJ smashing a snow ball into the TV camera lens on Thanksgiving day when I was a teenager.

Before the rule change, the success rate of online kicks was like 15% AND teams didn't need to declare them. That gave the option real excitement. But at 6%, everyone knowing it's coming? No, that's pointless. They need to think out of the box, something equivalent to pulling the goalie in hockey. High risk high reward. Maybe an 75-yard field goal attempt.

Well, let's not get carried away.

I think I participated, too, unless there was another online Bills group circa 1995. I got in my first flame war with another poster and was really surprised how mean I got, knowing my identity was concealed. That was sobering.

I'm optimistic, too; no reason not to be. The only reason for concern in my mind is how he played when he was presumably recovered from the injury, especially in the playoffs. He looked gun-shy to me, afraid to take a hit. Understandable, but if it's the case, I hope he's gotten over it, since Beane drafted him for his physicality. Allen mentioned he (Coleman) had put on some muscle in the offseason. That might help both physically and psychologically.

Exactly. This point is not surfacing enough in response to the avalanche of "The Bills scored more points than anyone, so why improve the offense?" type comments*. They were +2 in 2023 and 0 in 2022. The very low number of turnovers on offense is surely an artifact of Brady's emphasis on running the ball and Allen's maturity. But even if the trend is real, the unusually low number could easily be an outlier. Meanwhile, a very poor defense held its own by getting the ball back. Again, this was likely a point of emphasis (I think Babich even said so). Long may it continue. But just a few more turnovers by the offense and a few less on defense will likely make a dent in the W-L totals. I'm not raining on the parade here. I realize you can't take turnover differential away and say "See? Mediocre team." They're a key reflection of the overall quality of the team. Still, they're not a factor you can usually rely on year to year. Given how explosively important they can be--turning the entire momentum of a game--a +24 differential can take you a long way. Cut that in half, say--still a healthy number--and, well, you hope that Beane's moves to improve on both sides of the ball bear fruit. I really, really do not want to see the AFCCG in KC yet again. *I realize there's reason to think the offense might be better.

The league giving KC eight prime-time games suggests it once again will ensure KC wins enough games to secure home-field advantage.

Hamlin's RAS score: 6.98. Lewis: 4.5. It's impressive the Bills went as far as they did last year with these two playing such big roles. Not saying they should have been cut, but you don't want this level of athleticism in your starters.

Evidently, that was just a rumor.

He's a unicorn, but his improved accuracy didn't just happen; he made it happen by committing himself to an offseason program with Palmer (forgot his first name). If Lance, Richardson, and other big-arm, athletic quarterbacks have shown similar single-minded devotion to improvement, I haven't heard of it.

I can see a future starting lineup of Benford, Hairston, Bishop, and Hancock, with Strong at nickel.

Last year's secondary play was mediocre at best, and McDermott likely has some responsibility for it. Hamlin playing back in the end zone, Bishop failing to contribute, Douglas fading, Elam not ready at all despite three years of development, Rapp no more than adequate... You can make excuses for McDermott all day long, some quite valid. But how long are we going to give him credit for being a genius with the secondary because of Poyer and Hyde? Could it be that Poyer and Hyde were just ready to come on when they did? Anyway, if he can't develop the players he has now, the benefit of the doubt stops and the doubt begins. EDIT: Sorry mods: Didn't mean to divert the subject of the thread. Best-case scenario for Casey Rogers is the practice squad, which is a great best case with the current depth at the position.

At least he's not as skinny as Kincaid.