finn

Allen's leadership might be an overlooked factor in the team's prospects this year. Talent isn't everything. Old timers remember the "resilient Bills" teams that often won on sheer grit. If this is truly Allen's team now, reflecting his personality, I'm curious to see how it manifests. I'm thinking fun, cheerful, loose, a bit goofy, but also extremely competitive. McDermott's temperament is arguably the opposite: grim, cautious, nervous, controlling, old school. Ideally, they would complement each other, or, better, McDermott will get out of the way of both his coordinators and confine his role to making sure the team is prepared. Let everyone play to their strengths, and they could get finally get over the hump.

I don't like the backhanded compliment, implying he's not a candidate for best overall quarterback, sorta like saying Thurman was the best "all-around" back. But of course he's the best dual threat of all time. It's not even close. You can quibble about different eras, but Allen is bigger and stronger than Young, a better passer than Elway and Lamar, and a much, much better passer than Newton, Fields, Vick et al. He might end up being the best passer of all time. It's still early, and he's on pace for a truly spectacular career. Just needs a few Super Bowls wins to revise the narrative.

The team is pretty lean already. DeQuan could be cut if he's hit the wall and DeWayne Carter looks good.

Seem to me the bottom line is that it's too early to cut Bass, but it would be foolish to trust him completely, especially after minicamp. Even if he rocks training camp, I would have other options on speed dial. The Bills can't afford to revert to losing close games, as they did in 2022, or have their kicker melt down in the playoffs. The trouble is that bringing in serious competition might cause Bass to lose confidence. But if he's that fragile, it's better to cut him now and let him haunt some other team. I want a kicker with swagger (which McD used to say Bass had), not a head case who has the world holding their breath on extra-point attempts.

Even with the appalling injuries in the playoff game against KC, the Bills would likely have won if Diggs and Bass, supposedly two of the most reliable players on the team, hadn't choked. Even if he's perfect in the regular season, I won't trust him in the playoffs, not after last season. You want your kicker to be an asset, but at the very least he can't be a liability. That's what he was last year. Time to bring in real competition.

And you KNOW that if the reverse comes to pass--that Allen's team and coaches end up superior to Mahomes'--that the football world now confidently claiming Mahomes is better hands-down will suddenly see the importance of system, supporting cast, and coaching.

Last year I would have said Gabe Davis. This year, I hope I'm wrong about Spencer Brown. He's had some good stretches here and there, but on balance he's been a liability (or injured) since he arrived. The pessimist in me says he'll play well, sign a big extension, get injured, and be the same uneven player when he gets back. I really want to be wrong. I miss House Ballard.

Free safety. Mike Edwards appears to be no more than a good-adequate backup, which is why he's on a one-year deal. Unless Damar sees the light, the free-safety position is a glaring need. Simmons will be expensive but worth it. If he stays healthy, there's only the question of whether Bishop can play at strong safety. If he can, the secondary stays a team strength.

Kelce is fading, and McDuffie is no better than Taron; he just plays on a team that won a championship. Jones is for real, and so is Humphrey.

Why do you think so? He seems like what you'd expect from a second-round pick: neither average nor superstar. Just an above-average guy, a nice player to have, but hardly a lurking superstar. In fact, it crossed my mind that if Davis is as good or better than Cook, the Bills could trade Cook for a second-rounder, such as to a team that has an injury. With Ty Johnson and Curtis Samuel in the mix, they could still be better at the position than last year, and they would have three second-round picks next year. I like Cook ok, but those drops just suck. You don't want that on your team.

I vaguely recall McDermott surprisingly not calling on Bass to kick a 50+ yarder late in a game that might have been at midseason. I thought at the time that decision was going to mess with Bass' confidence. Can anyone with a better memory confirm or refute? I'm eager to blame McDermott. 😁

Yes, the most important constant on defense has been McDermott, who's been given a lot of talent to work with in his tenure. If he turns the show over to the new coordinator, maybe we'll see different results in the playoffs. I'll give him last year because of the injuries. But he choked against the Bengals, and his choke in the 13-second game might define his entire career. My impression, which might not be fair, is of a control freak who panics when the pressure is on, a HC who is plays not to lose.

Didn't know that. I should have verified the stat before passing it on.

The past two playoff games against KC could have gone either way, but since they didn't, people rush in with their Narratives about KC dominating, etc. As long as the Bills don't devolve into head cases and freeze up when they play them next, the law of averages will assert itself and they'll beat KC as often as they beat them. In fact, I can easily see KC never going to the Super Bowl again. The role of happenstance in football is a lot bigger than people think. So is biased refereeing. Did everyone see that Mahomes has had 53 interceptions overturned by penalty? Allen has had 7 overturned.

If he is going to revert to this kind of bad form, let's hope it happens soon so the Bills can get rid of him, instead of it happening in midseason, like after a string of losses.

"Road scholar"? Must be thinking of Jack Kerouac.

"Golden boy" has a long history as a description of someone fortune has smiled on. For example, in Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller describes Achilles as a golden boy. The OP used in a more narrow sense, as someone growing up privileged in California. That usage might be in vogue, but I'm still not sure if stunned disbelief is warranted.

The last thing the Bills needs is another diva wide receiver who blows up regularly because he "hates losing."

What do you mean by golden boys?

So ironic he twice traded away the fourth pick to move up in the first. The fourth round for him is like everyone else's first round. He'd do better to trade his first for another team's fourth, confuse everyone and come out ahead. 😀

Yeah, but that may as much about the team's lack of depth as it does the players' abilities.

It seems highly unlikely that a team that has been very good for years will suddenly be mediocre. They'll win some and lose some, as always, and get to the playoffs. The big question is how they will perform there, The faults of every team are magnified if they don't go all the way, while those of the team that does win the championship are forgotten. The Chiefs were not championship caliber on offense last year. But they had near-perfect health and a terrific defense. That was just enough to beat the Bills, who almost won with a MASH unit of a defense and a washed-out prima donna WR. The Bills could easily--easily--have won the Super Bowl the past three years. If the Chiefs are injured instead of them, if Damar Hamlin doesn't get hurt, or if the coaches had not played a soft zone with 13 seconds left, the Bills would have three trophies. There's no mystery, no secret ingredient KC has that the Bills don't. It's just happenstance. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills won three of the next five SBs. In short, KC is way overrated and the Bills are way overrated. That's just how bias works. People assume winning is magic. It's not. Any of the top six teams can win it; all it takes is luck.

I would be curious to hear their process described, particularly the retrospective, "Where did we go wrong?" analysis several years out. How they missed on Boogie Basham and (evidently) Elam, for instance, or how, like everyone else, they overlooked Puca Nacua. Drafting players has to be fertile grounds for all sorts of cognitive biases. Even if you're totally objective, which is pretty much impossible, how do you account for one player, like Diggs or Nacua, being fantastic, when dozens of other players with pretty much exactly the same measurables, pedigree, work ethic, and temperament, are either busts or JAGs?

Same. Podcasts take forever to listen to, and if you skip around you end up missing important moments.

And shots at the end zone every third play.