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Sal's "State of the Bills" podcast from today is a good listen


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15 hours ago, SCBills said:

I'll give it a listen, but I do think people have a right to be very pessimistic about the defensive product we saw out there. 

 

For the investment, draft capital and money spent on this defense, it was incredibly underwhelming all year.  Culminating in a completely useless performance in the AFCCG in which they looked absolutely powerless to do anything.  This after already playing KC earlier this year.  

 

If we loaded up on offense, at the detriment of our defense, that's one thing, but the investment on that side of the ball... for the product we got on the field... needs to change.  

 

 

 

Strongly disagree here.

 

They were not good the first half of the year but the second half they were very good.

 

And yes, the Chiefs made them look bad but if having the Chiefs offense score a lot on you means you're bad, then nearly every D in the league is bad. I wonder how the Bucs D would have looked if the Chiefs hadn't lost their OTs and had Mahomes limping.

 

Second half of the year we put an excellent product on the field, excellent. Doesn't mean they don't still need to work on improvement same as every team but they were very good.

 

We do need another serious pass rusher, though, no question about it, and it'll be good if Lotulelei returns next year as well.

Edited by Thurman#1
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5 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

 

the issue here is that KC’s offense owned us twice while Tampa adjusted.  

 

 

I didn't see all that much adjustment, myself. They were better wire to wire.

 

And you're right that Tampa's D was better, the fact that Tampa's offense consistently scored and kept the pressure on, while the Bills offense ... didn't ... was huge.

Edited by Thurman#1
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My 5 cents (in no particular order):

1. Continue upgrading the OL.

2. Upgrade DT opposite Oliver.

3. Ramp up the pass rush (DE) so we don't have to blitz as much.

4. Upgrade the TE position.

5. Upgrade the CB2 position

 

That doesn't seem impossible. Even if we nail just 3 of those 5 thing and maybe do very slight upgrades on the other 2, we can be as good as any team in the NFL. This assumes that we stay healthy and Josh takes his next step. I don't think he could possibly improve as much as he did from year 2 to year 3. That's just not possible, but he can still get better through work and experience.

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25 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Strongly disagree here.

 

They were not good the first half of the year but the second half they were very good.

 

And yes, the Chiefs made them look bad but if having the Chiefs offense score a lot on you means you're bad, then nearly every D in the league is bad. I wonder how the Bucs D would have looked if the Chiefs hadn't lost their OTs and had Mahomes limping.

 

Second half of the year we put an excellent product on the field, excellent. Doesn't mean they don't still need to work on improvement same as every team but they were very good.

 

We do need another serious pass rusher, though, no question about it, and it'll be good if Lotulelei returns next year as well.


Thanks for a measured position.  I appreciate when people can acknowledge a weakness early, lots injuries to key players early, and improvement throughout the second half of the year.  We absolutely need a pass rusher, and will need to replenish what we may lose in FA, or what we jettison.

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8 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

The Bucs front 7 is loaded. They are an incredibly talented group.... that is the biggest difference as to why the Bucs dominated the Chiefs and the Bills were dominated by the Chiefs. The Bills front 7 isn’t even close to what the Bucs bring. 
 

It’s more a talent issue than anything else. 

 

I agree but also it's they know how to play us, we don't know how to play them yet.  

 

The lousy front 7 of the Falcons held this offense down before the playoffs.  

 

Match up issues play a huge part. 

8 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

 

 

the issue here is that KC’s offense owned us twice while Tampa adjusted.  

 

We haven't figured them out.  Their offense flows so well against our defense.  

 

Our offense needs to be able to run against them to take away their aggressiveness but we can't run.  

 

I feel our offense is closer to beating the Chiefs than our defense.  Address running game issues and we can legitimately beat them.

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schematically we have a coupe issues on D, but i have faith that our D minds can fix them.  mccoach knows his entire d relies on winning match ups up front, that's why we blew the wad on the DL.  he likes a deep rotation w fresh legs, but instead we have a deep rotation of no ones with old tired legs.  

 

On O we have simply zero balance.  OL is solid at T (assuming we keep williams) and below average in the gut.  we can't run at all (combo of blockers and backs and TEs) and we just have such a dearth of talent at RB and TE that all we can do is press the game going to our WRs, of which only diggs is special.

 

the good thing is, our special teams is pretty solid, and we won 15 games and lost in the conference chip game with such glaring and obvious holes.  the majority of that is due to one Joshua Ichabald Allen.  he's a force of nature and can do things no one else can.

 

the TE/RB situation is an easy fix, they just have to bring in via draft or FA some kind of RB talent (moss a better guy and yeldon or williams is miles better than having slow motor out there).  on OL, i think we need to keep williams and one of Morse and mongo, and draft high at least one guy who can play nasty w balance and athleticism.  

 

our D has always had a smoke and mirrors element to it.  we didn't fall off so hard without milano because he's some kind of all pro, but because the drop off to the next guy given what we ask that position to do behind a weak DL just makes our D easy to attack.  getting Star, and some kind of premier guy to rush the passer will make a world of difference.  Edmunds i still think may need to move outside, but he just makes too many mistakes for my liking at MLB.

 

anyhow, our FO needs to earn their bonafides this off season and get a nasty G (i think first round, 2nd latest), find some kind of OLB (or move edmunds and sign an MLB), and get a pass rusher.  #2 corner may be on the roster, but mcd seems to have a nose for dbs so im not worried about that.  TE and RB will have the biggest impact (along w G  i think) and i really think we are so thin there that a large number of guys can come in and make us better.

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4 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Strongly disagree here.

 

They were not good the first half of the year but the second half they were very good.

 

And yes, the Chiefs made them look bad but if having the Chiefs offense score a lot on you means you're bad, then nearly every D in the league is bad. I wonder how the Bucs D would have looked if the Chiefs hadn't lost their OTs and had Mahomes limping.

 

Second half of the year we put an excellent product on the field, excellent. Doesn't mean they don't still need to work on improvement same as every team but they were very good.

 

We do need another serious pass rusher, though, no question about it, and it'll be good if Lotulelei returns next year as well.

 

First half of the season, the defense was absolutely awful.  One of the worst in the NFL.

 

Second half of the season, yes, they were very good.. Top 10 level defense over that time period.

 

Colts Wild Card Game, they were pretty bad.  We won that game on the arm (and legs) of Josh Allen.

 

Baltimore, Divisional Round, they were fantastic.

 

KC AFCCG, just terrible... honestly nothing good I can even point to.  Absolutely terrible play, scheme and coaching.

 

That's a pretty weak return on investment for what we poured into the defense lately with cap space and draft pick investment:

 

-Highest paid DL in football with very recent 1st Round Picks in Oliver, Edmunds and White plus a recent 2nd in Epenesa.

 

The sum of the season was that this defense is NOT good enough to help us win a Championship.  And that's fine, we learned some things about ourselves this season and what we need to address, but the ROI valuation needs to change next year.... far, far too much investment on that side of the ball for what we saw this past year.  

 

I think you see a lot of us dwell on it because Beane did do a good job in putting outs in contracts, which allows us to revamp the defense this offseason if we so choose.

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