The Bills lack star power

[Figster]

When Bill Polian built the team of the 90's that went to 4 straight Superbowls elite players were sprinkled into the Bills lineup for good reason. Names like Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly and Andre Reed. When the Buffalo Bills are brought up in discussion in todays day and age the team that lost 4 straight Superbowls is still the identity we carry. Do you ever wonder why that is. It because since that time Buffalo has lacked enough star players at one time to change the perception, or to accomplish great things. Aside from Josh Allen and until he accomplishes something elite does not fit the Bill. Who does Buffalo have to go with Allen by way of elite?. Answer, nobody. I mean we can say the Buffalo Bills have a team full of good character players that train and play hard, but no greats. The kind of great players needed to form an identity. The kind of elite players needed to accomplish great things IMO.

 

 Don't get me wrong I think McD is a good HC.  I also think Josh Allen has star potential. I think the star potential will come given some star players around him. Something Buffalo simply does not have at this point in my humble opinion.

 

Forgive my thread starting skills. Its been awhile and I'm a little rusty.

 

Anyone care to share their thoughts? 

[Phil The Thrill]

2 minutes ago, Figster said:

When Bill Polian built the team of the 90's that went to 4 straight Superbowls elite players were sprinkled into the Bills lineup for good reason. Names like Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly and Andre Reed. When the Buffalo Bills are brought up in discussion in todays day and age the team that lost 4 straight Superbowls is still the identity we carry. Do you ever wonder why that is. It because since that time Buffalo has lacked enough star players at one time to change the perception, or to accomplish great things. Aside from Josh Allen and until he accomplishes something elite does not fit the Bill. Who does Buffalo have to go with Allen by way of elite?. Answer, nobody. I mean we can say the Buffalo Bills have a team full of good character players that train and play hard, but no greats. The kind of great players needed to form an identity. The kind of elite players needed to accomplish great things IMO.

 

 Don't get me wrong I think McD is a good HC.  I also think Josh Allen has star potential. I think the star potential will come given some star players around him. Something Buffalo simply does not have at this point in my humble opinion.

 

Forgive my thread starting skills. Its been awhile and I'm a little rusty.

 

Anyone care to share their thoughts? 

this is especially true on offense.

[JoPar_v2]

While that may be true, “star” power =/= winning.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Sign Antonio Brown

[BobbyC81]

That’s why I didn’t like it when they got rid of a bunch of our better players for basically nothing in return: Sammy Watkins, Darby, Dareus. Plus they let Gilmore leave and now he’s an AllPro.   I understand they were in salary cap trouble but good talent shouldn’t be given away when you don’t have replacements for them.  The draft is a crapshoot and they overspent on some shaky-health players.

 

Star Lotulelei should not be the highest paid player  on the team.

[Figster]

17 minutes ago, ColeB said:

That’s why I didn’t like it when they got rid of a bunch of our better players for basically nothing in return: Sammy Watkins, Darby, Dareus. Plus they let Gilmore leave and now he’s an AllPro.   I understand they were in salary cap trouble but good talent shouldn’t be given away when you don’t have replacements for them.  The draft is a crapshoot and they overspent on some shaky-health players.

 

Star Lotulelei should not be the highest paid player  on the team.

I think Sammy Watkins would have gone a long way in making Josh Allen and the Bills O a better unit. 

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply ColeB

[Doc Brown]

I've been pleasantly surprised by John Brown.  He gets separation and actually catches almost everything thrown to him.  Boy would it be nice to have somebody of similar ability on the other side.  It should be our number one offseason priority.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

49 minutes ago, Figster said:

I think Sammy Watkins would have gone a long way in making Josh Allen and the Bills O a better unit. 

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply ColeB

 

or Robert Woods.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

I've been pleasantly surprised by John Brown.  He gets separation and actually catches almost everything thrown to him.  Boy would it be nice to have somebody of similar ability on the other side.  It should be our number one offseason priority.

 

Why do they give Singletary so few touches?  If it's because he can only contribute in spurts, we may need a better RB as well.  Last week he looked primed to become an all-purpose back who would really contribute.

 

188 yds from Henry was a key factor in the Titans win over KC.  19 passes for 181 yds from Tannehill to 23 rushes from Henry. 

Cousins passed 32 times for 220 yards in the win over Dallas, but 149 yards on 34 rushes and a TD from 2 backs was obviously also key.

 

Do we have a guy who can get that done day in, day out, or don't we?  Browns were not stacking the box on every pass play, and if you got guys who don't execute and a bit of misdirection, you can run on a stacked box.

[bmur66]

Maybe next year

[Mc1320]

You have a potential star in Singletary but they refuse to give him the ball.

 

With this defense and limitations on offense, they should be pounding the rock and attempting to limit possession to keep the defense off the field, but they simply won’t do it.  

 

The season is half over and they fail to realize Allen cannot shoulder the load at this point. He has faced some of the worst defenses in the league and still has not had a breakout game.
 

 

[Seven-N-Nine]

2 hours ago, Figster said:

I think Sammy Watkins would have gone a long way in making Josh Allen and the Bills O a better unit. 

 

I don't see how, the player is hardly ever available.

[Nextmanup]

Talent trumps culture, but we have a team built the other way around.

 

 

[Pbomb]

I think singletary and Knox have bright futures but we need a young star wr across from brown. With a talented wr group in the draft the first round would be a perfect spot to fill that hole 

[Teddy KGB]

Drafting wideouts instead of bums like Oliver and Ford could have helped the team this season.   

[Thurman#1]

4 hours ago, Figster said:

When Bill Polian built the team of the 90's that went to 4 straight Superbowls elite players were sprinkled into the Bills lineup for good reason. Names like Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly and Andre Reed. When the Buffalo Bills are brought up in discussion in todays day and age the team that lost 4 straight Superbowls is still the identity we carry. Do you ever wonder why that is. It because since that time Buffalo has lacked enough star players at one time to change the perception, or to accomplish great things. Aside from Josh Allen and until he accomplishes something elite does not fit the Bill. Who does Buffalo have to go with Allen by way of elite?. Answer, nobody. I mean we can say the Buffalo Bills have a team full of good character players that train and play hard, but no greats. The kind of great players needed to form an identity. The kind of elite players needed to accomplish great things IMO.

 

 Don't get me wrong I think McD is a good HC.  I also think Josh Allen has star potential. I think the star potential will come given some star players around him. Something Buffalo simply does not have at this point in my humble opinion.

 

Forgive my thread starting skills. Its been awhile and I'm a little rusty.

 

Anyone care to share their thoughts? 

 

 

Polian was luckier in that he had a much better situation in which to begin a complete rebuild. The 1985 Bills had gone 2-14, leaving Polian with the #1 overall pick and a shot at Bruce Smith. McDermott's first pick was #10. The next year they'd only had four wins and they again had good.

 

More, Polian's first year as GM he came to a team that had drafted Jim Kelly two years before but lost him to the USFL. Being gifted with Jim Kelly is a seriously nice situation for a GM.

 

At the end of Polian's 3rd year, they had only three Pro Bowlers, and two of them were the guys mentioned above, Bruce and Jim. The third was Tasker. We haven't seen how many Pro Bowlers we'll see at the end of this regime's third year, but Tre looks like a sure thing and one or two more, particularly from the defense is certainly very possible.

 

In other words, you're looking at Polian's regime with the benefit of hindsight. This early he looked like he'd lucked into Kelly and Smith and not yet had anyone else except Tasker on STs. Looking back on the McDermott and Beane regime, there's no way to know what we'll think. It's way too early. It's simply not a fair comparison.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Thurman#1

[Thurman#1]

3 hours ago, ColeB said:

That’s why I didn’t like it when they got rid of a bunch of our better players for basically nothing in return: Sammy Watkins, Darby, Dareus. Plus they let Gilmore leave and now he’s an AllPro.   I understand they were in salary cap trouble but good talent shouldn’t be given away when you don’t have replacements for them.  The draft is a crapshoot and they overspent on some shaky-health players.

 

Star Lotulelei should not be the highest paid player  on the team.

 

 

 

Yes, it should, in the case of a rebuild. Which this was. When you are rebuilding with no QB and a terrible cap situation, good talent should absolutely be let go if it gets you into position to get a possible franchise QB and cleans up the cap.

 

Rebuilds don't guarantee success, but when you're a mediocre team in cap trouble with no QB, they're generally the way that holds the best possibility of eventually being competitive for a title consistently. But it does mean two years of awfulness and a likelihood of another year of not being very good.

 

Morse's contract averages out to the highest on our team. Hughes' is #2.

 

And our defense is the least of our problems. We have a very good defense. If McDermott needs to pay a guy that much for that function, deal with it. The whole defense is taking up $75 mill on the cap. It's a real bargain. McDermott's the architect of that D and knows what he needs to make it work better than fans do.

[PromoTheRobot]

The problem isn't a lack of star power. Besides, you draft and develop your stars. You rarely get them in trades or free agency.

[billsfan_34]

The Bills lack offensive identity 

[thenorthremembers]

Its hard to tell how many stars they have because both the offense and defense are run to limit mistakes and play within what the other team gives you.

 

The Bills want to go with the flow rather than establishing the flow.   They are reactive rather than proactive.   Its becoming very hard to watch.   Good teams establish the pace, they have killer instinct.  This team is far from that and its getting worse.