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How do you tell an outsider the Bills are getting better?


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I am definitely more of a football fan then hockey, and I was talking to a friend of mine about the Sabres and because I root for them but don't know a ton about them, I asked him why was signing Eichel such a great move if they were the worst team in hockey last season.  He got somewhat defensive and started telling me all the moves the Sabres were making to be a great franchise in the future.  He made me more optimistic, especially with this defensemen they are supposed to draft whose name I won't try to spell.

 

So it got me thinking about the Bills, who outsiders will say lucked into the playoffs last year and most aren't high on this year.  What do you tell an outsider about the Bills to make them "Billieve" we are heading in the right direction? I'm sure we all get defensive about our Bills, how do you get others to "trust the process" as well???  

 

I look forward to reading what you guys say

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It’s a pretty simple conversation IMO. They potentially drafted their franchise QB, have a talented young defense, good coaching, 9 drafts picks and almost $100m in cap space in 2019. The direction of the team is crystal clear assuming that Allen can play.

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I tell people it's a work in progress and we might be a better team this year but have a worse record than last year.   LIke any team developing a young QB it's going to take a few years.  But the defense will be better, we added Star/Phillips/Murphy/Edmunds/Davis and we cut dead salary/weight.    

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It’s easy for me, I’m in Patriots territory and they see the respect that B.B. has for McD and what he is doing in Buffalo. OFC you still have casual fans/soccer moms breaking balls when they see the Bills gear but I’m getting more and more “oh yous guys finally doing something” 

 

Some of that probably comes from ending the drought but it has been a fun 6 months talking football. Each time McD traded away a big name it was the same conversation, oh you guys tanking? No, he is getting rid of all the guys that aren’t team first guys just like B.B. would. They understand that.

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I agree they are building for long term success and rid themselves of bloated contracts and poor attitudes.  If I had to watch one more year of Fat Dareus. Come in to camp out of shape and pull muscles, I was going. To scream.  He was a mistake in retrospect.  I know easy to say after the fact.

 

we just won’t know how good this off season went until we get deep into this season.

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tell them or convince them?  Two very different things.  If you were not a Bills fan would you be convinced they are going in the right direction? 

 

My feeling is that they for the first time in a very long time have a coach and GM with real vision and a real plan.    That plan depends a lot on how well Josh Allen (or possibly McCarron) performs in the NFL.  They could easily be mediocre for the foreseeable future if they don't get good QB play.

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44 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

It’s a pretty simple conversation IMO. They potentially drafted their franchise QB, have a talented young defense, good coaching, 9 drafts picks and almost $100m in cap space in 2019. The direction of the team is crystal clear assuming that Allen can play.

 

And they finally undertook the long overdue organizational housecleaning that was so desperately needed, and have a FO full of young talent that is now, after one year, in the conversation for GM positions when they arise. 

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1 hour ago, Chris from Rochester said:

I am definitely more of a football fan then hockey, and I was talking to a friend of mine about the Sabres and because I root for them but don't know a ton about them, I asked him why was signing Eichel such a great move if they were the worst team in hockey last season.  He got somewhat defensive and started telling me all the moves the Sabres were making to be a great franchise in the future.  He made me more optimistic, especially with this defensemen they are supposed to draft whose name I won't try to spell.

 

So it got me thinking about the Bills, who outsiders will say lucked into the playoffs last year and most aren't high on this year.  What do you tell an outsider about the Bills to make them "Billieve" we are heading in the right direction? I'm sure we all get defensive about our Bills, how do you get others to "trust the process" as well???  

 

I look forward to reading what you guys say

 

I don't tell them anything, actually.  I figure one of two things will happen:

1) the Bills will actually improve and their play will do the talking

2) the Bills won't actually improve, and I won't have a bunch of passionate arguments to live down

 

 

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41 minutes ago, ddaryl said:

you don't.

 

however your Eichel comment was down right strange.

 

I get that a lot from people with Eichel.  I guess I just don't see why all the love for him with how McDavid and Matthews have played.  We were awful last year, with all the hype behind him and the big contract, I would have thought he would have made everyone else around him so much better and we'd be a playoff team by now.  Again, not big on hockey hence the outside perspective.

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17 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't tell them anything, actually.  I figure one of two things will happen:

1) the Bills will actually improve and their play will do the talking

2) the Bills won't actually improve, and I won't have a bunch of passionate arguments to live down

 

 

This is correct.

 

It's a great question.  Just the other day, someone asked me about the Bills in a situation where it was appropriate to give an answer of only a couple sentences, and I realized there was no answer other than we have to wait and see. 

 

The truth, of course, is that none of us knows whether the Bills are improving or not.  We all come on here and talk about the changes, and most of us look at those changes with optimism.  But do any of us actually know that the Bills are now on a path toward regular playoff appearances and a Lombardi?   No.  Do some of us think the Bills still are mired in mediocrity or worse?  Yes.  

 

So I decided to say only that the Bills are making a lot of changes and look like they're on the right track.  After all, if I tell them the Bills are on their way to being great and they then go 5-11 this year, I'll look like an idiot.   Can I say with any confidence that they WON'T go 5-11?   Actually, no.   

 

Now, if someone wants 10 minutes from me about I am confident, I can give it to them.   But I'm sure to be clear that after all the changes and all the optimism, I don't really know if it will work.  

 

On the other hand, many people don't understand that the Bills haven't been the Browns.  Between the Super Bowl losses and the playoff drought and the Pats' dominance, people think the Bills have been really, really bad.   People ask me if the Bills ever will stop being horrible.  I take a little to explain that the Bills haven't been horrible for several years.   They've been a .500 team, more or less, for a while now.   However, they view even that explanation as an overstatement from a devoted fan.   

 

So, Hapless is correct, there's not much reason to tell them anything.   Bills fans get to watch the process, and if the Bills get good, we will understand how it happened.   THEN when others ask about where the new Bills came from, we can tell them.  Right now, no one's interested.  

13 minutes ago, teef said:

he should keep his mouth quiet and stay in the kitchen if he knows what's good for him.

you go, girl.

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Well, they definitely have a plan in place, and they're building a contender one piece at a time. The defense is ahead of the offense right now, but if Allen develops nicely, and we get him some playmakers to work with on offense (besides Shady), and build up the OL, we'll have a legit contender here once father time brings down the Pats.

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The real question is: How do you convince outsiders that Tyrod Taylor isn't that good of a QB?

 

Since the media has a love affair with him, most outsiders are confused why the Bills parted ways with him, especially after the Peterman fiasco.

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1 hour ago, Chris from Rochester said:

 

I get that a lot from people with Eichel.  I guess I just don't see why all the love for him with how McDavid and Matthews have played.  We were awful last year, with all the hype behind him and the big contract, I would have thought he would have made everyone else around him so much better and we'd be a playoff team by now.  Again, not big on hockey hence the outside perspective.

 

 

Eichel is not the problem.. he is a corner stone who is actually performing on a crappily rebuilt team. I'm also bullish on Reinhart who seemed to find his game 2nd half of last season

 

Think of it this way Murray tried to rush the rebuild and we had to fire him and restart the rebuild. We have players who wil be pruged on the Sabres from the Tim era...

 

Now lets go back how many decades with the bills and their bad GM's and coache hires over the decades.

 

We now have Botterill on the Sabres who appears to have a real plan, and we have Beane who also has a real plan.

 

If anything the Bills and the Sabres are pretty parallel with the Bills having the longer inept streak but are a little ahead of the Sabres in regards ot culture and team rebuild.

 

I will say this the Sabres losing and winnign the draft lottery this year was extremely positive in hindsight, Dahlin is a generational talent. The Bills took a chance on Allen and Edmunds both have the potential to be all-pros. So I would not argue against or in favor of either franchise.

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34 minutes ago, MJS said:

The real question is: How do you convince outsiders that Tyrod Taylor isn't that good of a QB?

 

Since the media has a love affair with him, most outsiders are confused why the Bills parted ways with him, especially after the Peterman fiasco.

 

You just have to quote Tyrod's stats from last year ...

263 completions … on par with McCown, Brissett, Cutler, Kizer

2799 yards … on par with  Cutler

14 TDs … on par with Brissett, Mariota, Siemian

Longest completed pass was 47 yards … on par with Siemian

 

We lost games in which we could only score 3, 16, 10, 3, and 3 points. In those games the opponent scored 9, 20, 47, 23, and 10 points … IMHO even a half posteriored QB could have pulled out two or maybe three games.

 

By all accounts TT was a good guy, no one will ever say TT wasn't a hard worker, TT was an exciting player to watch … but it was because of his running ability NOT his QBing ability. Once the oppositions defense game plan was to force Taylor to be a QB and not a RB he was pretty much ineffective

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3 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

It’s a pretty simple conversation IMO. They potentially drafted their franchise QB, have a talented young defense, good coaching, 9 drafts picks and almost $100m in cap space in 2019. The direction of the team is crystal clear assuming that Allen can play.

 

they will laugh and throw crumpled beer cans at you during the poker game if you say that as a reason...

 

 

they may kick you out forever as you are showing such a lack of manly judgment there.
 

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3 hours ago, mattynh said:

tell them or convince them?  Two very different things.  If you were not a Bills fan would you be convinced they are going in the right direction? 

 

My feeling is that they for the first time in a very long time have a coach and GM with real vision and a real plan.    That plan depends a lot on how well Josh Allen (or possibly McCarron) performs in the NFL.  They could easily be mediocre for the foreseeable future if they don't get good QB play.

 

This says it all.  Then point out improbably making the playoffs is a symptom of this.  For the first time since the 90's we are once again capable of making our own luck on the field.

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It just doesn't come down to one year and I think they are focusing on the right things. With the probably offensive line problems, it would be so easy to say they should acquire draft picks by moving McCoy, which would obviously cost them wins in the short term. You become a winning team by focusing on winning, which is why keeping McCoy is the obvious move.

 

I'm not for the Allen move, but they saw something they liked. I'm very much for the McCarron move. I'm also for not panicking and cutting ties with Peterman after one season. He is talented.

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