The Athletic NFL offseason summary - high praise for Bills FO

[ColoradoBills 5,515]

3 minutes ago, Rico said:

I’ll say another thing, if McD is intimidated at all about going up against his fat ***** of a mentor, he needs to get over that NOW.

 

Well said LOL.

 

You just got to think that Beane/McDermott/Position Coaches and the Players have watched those 2 Chiefs games numerous times.

They got answers I'm sure.  We just got to see if they are the right answers.

[ColoradoBills 5,515]

5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I don't think he is at all.

 

Oh you can't have talent without anything else. But there is always a point at which talent wins out. 

 

The other factor with the dream team was a lot of those were bigger names than they were talents.

 

True but it comes down to the age old question.  Do you build talent through FA, the draft or a blend of the two?

@BubbaT had a great point about current players coming into their own.

 

Nobody was certain 5th rounder Tyreek Hill would become who he is.

The road to a Super Bowl Champion has a lot of luck in it too.

[GunnerBill 18,990]

10 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

True but it comes down to the age old question.  Do you build talent through FA, the draft or a blend of the two?

@BubbaT had a great point about current players coming into their own.

 

Nobody was certain 5th rounder Tyreek Hill would become who he is.

The road to a Super Bowl Champion has a lot of luck in it too.

 

Depends what you are trying to do. If you are trying to win now it is almost 50/50. If you want to build a team that can win consistently then it is about 75/25 in favour of drafting well.

 

I agree completely with @BubbaT too. The Bills' best chance of having an additional difference maker or two in 2021 is for Oliver and/or Edmunds to demonstrate that consistency that will enable them to take the next step.

[Royale with Cheese 11,247]

38 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Depends what you are trying to do. If you are trying to win now it is almost 50/50. If you want to build a team that can win consistently then it is about 75/25 in favour of drafting well.

 

I agree completely with @BubbaT too. The Bills' best chance of having an additional difference maker or two in 2021 is for Oliver and/or Edmunds to demonstrate that consistency that will enable them to take the next step.

Was Oliver playing out of position a lot last year or is he just under performing as a top 10 pick?

[GunnerBill 18,990]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Was Oliver playing out of position a lot last year or is he just under performing as a top 10 pick?

 

He did play more 1 tech last year than would ever have been the intention I would imagine but also yes, he has underperformed. There are games, even moments in games where he takes over. There was a series in the AFC where he blew up consecutive plays to get KC to 4th down only for the Bills to allow a bad 4th down conversion outside. But he hasn't been consistent enough. It is flashes and patches and he needs to do more as a top 10 pick going into year 3. The talent is obvious, there are still plays where he jumps off the screen when you watch the all22. But there is just too much inconsistency.

[Stank_Nasty 4,395]

There’s a handful in the Milano thread that need to see this one. 

[CSBill 2,218]

12 hours ago, BubbaT said:

The best thing that could happen this year is if their high picks, Edwards and Oliver, become stars rather than just good players and Knox and Ford become good players rather than question marks.  Development of their young players and adding to the base of "their drafted guys" will allow the rookies they add to grow and develop and do away with the need to hit the mid level free agency market every year. If that happens, we'll have sustained success and this front office will be transcendent.

 

You, my friend, nailed it! In this one post you went from good to a star yourself. Indeed, the development of these four, of at least two of the four to star status, is the key to improvement. I totally agree!

[Don Otreply 3,553]

19 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

It really will which is strange.

It’s those fans that are really strange...

[Don Otreply 3,553]

19 hours ago, JGMcD2 said:

“They decided to take on that dead cap and it caused problems for them. They could have been competitive had they just tried to add to the roster.” 
 

Too many posters on here. 

It didn’t cause any negative issues that were not foreseen, and deemed acceptable by the FO,  to many fans here think they know what they are talking about when it comes to running a pro football organization. The one down season was as well deemed as being completely acceptable, and it was. 

[HardyBoy 270]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:40 PM, GunnerBill said:

 

I never said there was. I just don't think it as simple as going all rah rah and talking about punching them in the mouth. You have find ways to expose their weaknesses without fundamentally changing who you are as a team. Some of that just requires having more guys who can win their individual match ups against the guys Kansas City has.

 

I think the bills had receivers who could do that last year (again, I think), they all just got injured at the wrong time.

 

Really I think dressing Davis was the key mistake (hindsight for sure, and not ragging on the decision), but he just couldn't cut hard enough in that game. Really all they needed was one guy to be able to flash quickly for Allen a fee times and punish the chiefs for the bracket coverages and aggressive press, and I think it's a different game in a lot of ways.

Just now, HardyBoy said:

 

I think the bills had receivers who could do that last year (again, I think), they all just got injured at the wrong time.

 

Really I think dressing Davis was the key mistake (hindsight for sure, and not ragging on the decision), but he just couldn't cut hard enough in that game. Really all they needed was one guy to be able to flash quickly for Allen a few times and punish the chiefs for the bracket coverages and aggressive press, and I think it's a different game in a lot of ways.

 

[Arm of Harm 87]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:31 PM, GunnerBill said:

 

All the desire in the world doesn't change anything if you are outmatched by talent. The Bills need more difference makers.

 

I agree with both you and Rico. The Bills had two problems in the KC playoff game:

 

1) The Chiefs were the more talented team.

2) The Bills went into that game with the wrong mindset. Almost what I'd call a Jauron-like, play-not-to-lose mindset.  

 

The Bills need to fix both those problems before they next face the Chiefs.