My biggest fear about the Bills this season is the number of new players.

[tomur67]

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

[BullBuchanan]

4 minutes ago, tomur67 said:

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

I think if you're looking for them to win this season, you might have the wrong mindset. I think absolute best case we have a 2016-esque season. If this team ends up being good I don't see them ready to really compete until 2021, or year 5 of the rebuild. As of today the only star we have in their prime is White. Hopefully a couple come into that role this year, including Allen, Edmunds and one of Zay or Foster. We also need some of the new faces to flash that potential. If we get several, we could accelerate the close of the rebuild by next year, but I think 2 more years is more realistic.

[Augie]

They need to identify who starts where on the OLine early and give them time to jell together. WR’s, TE’s, etc I’m slightly less worried about. We need a solid OLine to make everything else look better. 

 

 

. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Augie

[Rc2catch]

I don’t stress the turnover too much.. A lot of it has to do with team leaders. They tend to get the guys in line just as much as coaching. Holding each other accountable etc etc 

[ALLEN1QB]

Don't worry my friend after we destroy the Jets in week 1 all of your fears will diminish.  We will march through the season picking them off one by one. By week 7 we will be the only undefeated team and number 1 in the power rankings. We will destroy the Cowgirls on Thanksgiving Day making your turkey dinner the best you ever had. By week 12 we will have the division locked up and by week 14 we will have home-field advantage through out the playoffs locked up. A blizzard will hit Buffalo as we play the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. Propelling us to the Super Bowl favored by yes 2 touchdowns where we will destroy the Rams 48 to 3.

Edited June 5, 2019 by ALLEN1QB

[Forward Progress]

The defense is largely intact, so there should be no drop off on that side of the ball. 

 

The offense was atrocious last year, so the major changes were absolutely necessary. It will take time for the o-line to gel and the offense to come together as a whole.  

 

These upgrades to the oline line and receiving core will pay off this season, even if it doesn’t look that way week 1. 

[Doc Brown]

This is where the four preseason games the NFL is looking at changing is a good thing.  The Jets and Giants also had a lot of roster turnover on offense.  Not quite what we did, but they may take some time to gel also so I like playing them the first two weeks.

[KD in CA]

After a 6-10 season, more new players is far from my biggest fear.

[TigerJ]

I think offensive line is the main area where turnover is going to be a huge issue, and the offensive line can't be worse than last season.  Yes, there are new receivers, but they are likely to be two primary holdovers that will give Josh Allen something of a security blanket in Foster and Jones.  If Allen can't develop some quick chemistry with Brown and Beasley, and whoever else is playing receiver, then a lot of passes will be going to Foster and Jones.  Tight end also has turnover, but Croom could stick around as a holdover.  Josh Allen also seems to be developing some early chemistry with Dawson Knox.  That could turn into something special with Knox's athleticism.

 

On defense, the Bills have a pretty normal level of turnover - no more than 2 starters  Oliver at 3 tech and possibly Kevin Johnson at CB across from Tre White.  Both could end up being talent upgrades.

[RiotAct]

19 minutes ago, ALLEN1QB said:

Don't worry my friend after we destroy the Jets in week 1 all of your fears will diminish.  We will march through the season picking them off one by one. By week 7 we will be the only undefeated team and number 1 in the power rankings. We will destroy the Cowgirls on Thanksgiving Day making your turkey dinner the best you ever had. By week 12 we will have the division locked up and by week 14 we will have home-field advantage through out the playoffs locked up. A blizzard will hit Buffalo as we play the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. Propelling us to the Super Bowl favored by yes 2 touchdowns where we will destroy the St Louis Rams 48 to 3.

wow, there’s something very, very wrong with this post......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... it’s the L.A. Rams, not St Louis!

[Buffalo Boy]

28 minutes ago, Augie said:

They need to identify who starts where on the OLine early and give them time to gel together. WR’s, TE’s, etc I’m slightly less worried about. We need a solid OLine to make everything else look better. 

This!!!!

All Day!!!!

No running game and JA forced to play Sandlot football.

JA, even under those abysmal protection circumstances, still kept his eyes down field and actually hit some beautiful passes. Passes we haven’t believed most of our previous QBs would attempt , much less make.

Unfortunately , way to many were dropped. 

Given competent blocking the RBs should be a yard better on average. The receivers will actually have time to run their routes. JA will have a second or dare I say more than last year, per play, on average before he has to pull the trigger.

I can’t wait to see this O-Line!!!!!

[Ol Dirty B]

43 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

I think if you're looking for them to win this season, you might have the wrong mindset. I think absolute best case we have a 2016-esque season. If this team ends up being good I don't see them ready to really compete until 2021, or year 5 of the rebuild. As of today the only star we have in their prime is White. Hopefully a couple come into that role this year, including Allen, Edmunds and one of Zay or Foster. We also need some of the new faces to flash that potential. If we get several, we could accelerate the close of the rebuild by next year, but I think 2 more years is more realistic.

 

A 5 year rebuild is ridiculous.

[BuffaloBillies]

Professional sports team. It's their job, literally. They should be able to figure it out during camp and preseason. No excuses.

[Patrick Duffy]

If the Oline can work together well as quickly as possible I would think the rest could fall into place fairly quickly, hopefully anyway. Hope the Oline will be one of the first to "jell" as they go through camp.

[billsfan5121]

I’ll be honest, this might be the most care free I have been in a long time.  I have no clue if we will win 4 games or 14 games, but I’m willing to bet that it’s gonna be a fun ride regardless.  One thing I’m confident in with Allen is that if he’s going to go down, he’s going down swinging.  And that alone will be entertainment.  And football is really just entertainment if you think about it.  And after years of tyrod, Trent, etc, I’ll take the gunslinger who makes it fun over the play it safe qb.  

[Saint Doug]

The off-season has been very fun, but in reality, teams that are this active during FA rarely are very successful. Said another way, any success we have won’t be due to players we have added, but rather how well Allen has progressed. 

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, Saint Doug said:

The off-season has been very fun, but in reality, teams that are this active during FA rarely are very successful. Said another way,   any success we have won’t be due to players we have added, but rather how well Allen has progressed. 

 

We will need BOTH to have any pleasant level of success. 

[BullBuchanan]

29 minutes ago, Ol Dirty B said:

 

A 5 year rebuild is ridiculous.

That may be so, but it's the most likely  thing to occur. Who do they have right now that makes you think they can compete with the Patriots, Chiefs, Rams, Eagles, or some of the up and comers? We are extremely far behind the good teams in the league so far. It doesn't mean they aren't getting there though. If you want to put money on the Bills winning the SB this year or next year, I'll beat Vegas' line.

16 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

We will need BOTH to have any pleasant level of success. 

Yup.

Rivers is a great QB, and so is Luck. How have they fared thus far?

[quinnearlysghost88]

My biggest fear about the bills this season is ________________________________________.

 

young players

old players

too many players

not enough players

players that are too accomplished

too many rookies

players that haven't achieved anything

players that go boating in the summer

players that only work out in the summer

players that have been on the team too long

players that are too new

players from the Panthers

players from the Pats (why would they release them?!)

players drafted by Whaley

players that don't want to be here

players that want to be here too much

players that don't shake jim kelly's hand

players that don't say enough funny things when they're mic'd up

players that we traded away and have come back again

players with a lot of injuries 

players with a suspicious absence of injuries

not enough captains

too many captains

captains that we name each week to antagonize our opponents

guys with good 40 times

short receivers

short QBs

lineman that can't pass protect

lineman that can't run block

running backs that dance at the line

coaches that throw too much

coaches that run too much

running on 1st down

passing on 1st down

not taking enough shots down field

not committing to our run game

 

 

 

[cba fan]

1 hour ago, tomur67 said:

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

rookie camp, players working out together in off season, ota's, minicamp, training camp, 4 preseason games, then another over one week to prepare for opener.

 

That is much more than a few months. I think they will be fine.

[Thurman#1]

4 hours ago, cba fan said:

rookie camp, players working out together in off season, ota's, minicamp, training camp, 4 preseason games, then another over one week to prepare for opener.

 

That is much more than a few months. I think they will be fine.

 

 

It's a major deal for the OL.

 

But other than that, yeah, it's business as usual. Especially this early in the life cycle of the team.

[Chandler#81]

8 hours ago, tomur67 said:

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

 

There’s probably 40 threads dealing with this concern since March. As @KD in CA wrote, I’d be far more concerned if we didn’t add anybody after a 6-10 display. But, that’s we hang out here on the corner every day,

 

like a junkie looking for his next fix.

[HOUSE]

10 hours ago, tomur67 said:

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

 

3. 3 games

[Phil The Thrill]

9 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

I think if you're looking for them to win this season, you might have the wrong mindset. I think absolute best case we have a 2016-esque season. If this team ends up being good I don't see them ready to really compete until 2021, or year 5 of the rebuild. As of today the only star we have in their prime is White. Hopefully a couple come into that role this year, including Allen, Edmunds and one of Zay or Foster. We also need some of the new faces to flash that potential. If we get several, we could accelerate the close of the rebuild by next year, but I think 2 more years is more realistic.

 

I disagree.  In the NFL you don’t get 5 years to be simply becoming competitive.  It doesn’t work like that.  While I do think McDermott will get the entire duration of his contract, I do think that by next season at the latest he should feel some pressure to win. 

[nucci]

10 hours ago, tomur67 said:

How long will it take for the Bills' coaching staff to get this team to jell?  With so many new players from trades, free agency, and the draft  can we expect that all these moving parts will operate together at the level they need to compete?   We know they have talent,  but will it take more than a few months to get this talent to win? 

all teams have roster turnover...plus, it's just football...not that complicated. There is plenty of practice time .

[GunnerBill]

New offensive lines having to gel is not a new thing or even an unusual thing in the NFL. Teams return all 5 starting linemen very rarely. I think we have upgraded the talent on the line pretty significantly - the question is how quickly do they settle on a 5. Personally I'd want by week 2 of camp them to have at least 3 of the positions nailed down and by the 3rd pre-season game the whole line settled to give the starting 5 a full half of semi competitive football together.

[CaptnCoke11]

10 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

I think if you're looking for them to win this season, you might have the wrong mindset. I think absolute best case we have a 2016-esque season. If this team ends up being good I don't see them ready to really compete until 2021, or year 5 of the rebuild. As of today the only star we have in their prime is White. Hopefully a couple come into that role this year, including Allen, Edmunds and one of Zay or Foster. We also need some of the new faces to flash that potential. If we get several, we could accelerate the close of the rebuild by next year, but I think 2 more years is more realistic.

Every year it’s the same thing people say.. one more year.  Been hearing that for past 15 years 

[machine gun kelly]

Guys, don’t forget every NFL team turns over 1/3 of their roster every year.  That’s not me saying it, but experts on NFR and other sources.  I agree there is a lot of change and the overhaul in the O Line May take the first three weeks into the regular season, but the obvious I have concerns are always injury.  I believe in our coaches and the defense is somewhat stable.  Also the offensive and defensive scheme is similar to last year which allows Allen to play faster and the game slow down for him.

 

im in the glass half full camp.

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

That may be so, but it's the most likely  thing to occur. Who do they have right now that makes you think they can compete with the Patriots, Chiefs, Rams, Eagles, or some of the up and comers? We are extremely far behind the good teams in the league so far. It doesn't mean they aren't getting there though. If you want to put money on the Bills winning the SB this year or next year, I'll beat Vegas' line.

 

A five year rebuild may very well be ridiculous in today's NFL -- if the ownership is dedicated to having a winning team.  In the last twenty years, teams going from bottom feeders -- non playoff teams of various quality -- to playoff teams within two or three years has become a  benchmark for judging rebuilds.  Really good organizations not only field playoff teams within two or three years of bringing in a new coaching regime, they frequently make the Super Bowl within 3 or 4 years.   Teams that fail to make significant progress quickly in a rebuild don't ever seem to quite get there. The problem may be the ownership, FO, coaching staff or the lack of a franchise QB or poor personnel decisions in general or any combination, but "incremental rebuild" seems to be a euphemism for "perpetual rebuild mode" that teams like Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, and New York Jets have been in seemingly forever even if said teams occasionally make playoff appearances.

 

I agree that the Bills personnel, especially on offense, doesn't match up very well with the top teams in the league.  They've added talent, but they started out with almost none on offense and added pretty modest veteran talent except for perhaps Morse, so regularly competing with the big guns doesn't seem realistic at this point.   I don't think that can be an excuse, however, for them not making significant improvement in 2019.  I think a losing record with a healthy Josh Allen for all or almost all of the season raises all kinds of red flags that the current regime isn't all that different from previous regimes.

 

[Bob in STL]

Good discussion and great comments thus far.  

 

Most important :

 

1. Get OL figured out soon and give them time to jell. 

2.  Allen work with WRs and TEs - route timing and learn where his outlets will be. 

3.  Build a physical team that can run and stop the run  - especially needed for last few months of a season

 

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Bob in STL

[mjt328]

11 hours ago, TigerJ said:

I think offensive line is the main area where turnover is going to be a huge issue, and the offensive line can't be worse than last season.  Yes, there are new receivers, but they are likely to be two primary holdovers that will give Josh Allen something of a security blanket in Foster and Jones.  If Allen can't develop some quick chemistry with Brown and Beasley, and whoever else is playing receiver, then a lot of passes will be going to Foster and Jones.  Tight end also has turnover, but Croom could stick around as a holdover.  Josh Allen also seems to be developing some early chemistry with Dawson Knox.  That could turn into something special with Knox's athleticism.

 

On defense, the Bills have a pretty normal level of turnover - no more than 2 starters  Oliver at 3 tech and possibly Kevin Johnson at CB across from Tre White.  Both could end up being talent upgrades.

 

Agree with this.

The only parts of the team with heavy turnover (O-Line, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends) were positions that pretty much bottomed-out last year. 

 

If the offensive line takes some time to gel, it can't possibly be worse than last season.

If it takes a few games for Josh Allen to get on page with his receivers, it can't possibly be worse than last season.

 

[SoCal Deek]

I mentioned this in Gunners thread on roster projections. With the exception of QB, LT and maybe RB; the entire Offense is new! (And you can throw in QB too when you consider that Peterman actually started the opener.) I realize there’s a lot of roster turnover in the NFL but I’ve got to wonder if that’s ever happened before in a single offseason.

[Chuck Wagon]

My biggest fear is unrealistic fan expectations based upon signing Cole Beasley and John Brown.

[Rocket94]

On paper, this is essentially a new team. The young veterans have to step up and lead the way. 

[Boca BIlls]

I think the coaches know they need to make the playoffs this year. 

 

 

[Mr. WEO]

Expect to see a lot of this...

 

[Chandler#81]

35 minutes ago, Rocket94 said:

On paper, this is essentially a new team. The young veterans have to step up and lead the way. 

 

Definitely not new on Defense.  Oliver will be new and CB May be. Otherwise, same guys, same coaches, same scheme.

 

Offense REQUIRED a redo.

[Bangarang]

Win or gtfo. With the right staff in place, it doesn’t take 5 years to rebuild a team and be competitive.

 

If the offense sucks really bad again, it’s likely because Allen didn’t make the strides we were expecting. Seats should be hot if that’s the case.

 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, Bob in STL said:

Good discussion and great comments thus far.  

 

Most important :

 

1. Get OL figured out soon and give them time to jell. 

2.  Allen work with WRs and TEs - route timing and learn where his outlets will be. 

3.  Build a physical team that can run and stop the run  - especially needed for last few months of a season

 

 

 

Allen being the starter all offseason and through camp... is huge.  He split reps with 2 other QBs last year.  And it was a terrible terrible offense.

Edited June 5, 2019 by dneveu

[bmur66]

I'll take talented new players over marginal old players every time