Have we bridged the playoff gap?

[LyndonvilleBill]

28 minutes ago, NewEra said:

We were the #2 scoring defense in the league….. how is that different than being the #2 scoring offense?  
 

we had multiple huge injuries on D all season.  We had no injuries on offense.  
 

thoughts?

Not much different. I just think the OL improvements will have a bigger impact on our O than new te/wr will. Love the additions on O. Really like our fa signings and draft picks. 

 

May not have had injuries per say on O, but, the OLine sure played like they did.🤣

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, SCBills said:

1) Defensive philosophy in the post-season needed to change.  Frazier out / McDermott in. 
 

2) Team needs more “dawg” in them.  Watching them last year, it felt like the only dawgs we had were Josh, Diggs and Milano.   Torrence and Williams are two draft picks, one on each side of the ball, that play with bad intentions.

 

3) Bills OL was a disaster down the stretch.  Now.. Year 2 of Kromer, full off-season for Brown, upgrade in McGovern and a massive upgrade in Torrence.  
 

4) Bills needed an answer other than Diggs and “chuck it down the field”.  They drafted the most dominant middle of the field option in the draft .. and the only guy in recent memory to get the Kelce comp.  
 

Id say we could still use an upgrade at WR2.  That could be a trade or simply Davis improving.  We also need bigger/better bodies on the DL.  Von coming back is obviously a complete game changer.  It sounds like Beane is going to bring in a DT soon.  Hopefully it’s a big body 1T, because we need someone besides Jones to keep OL off our slimmer/faster linebackers.  

#1 is the prime mover here, not saying our offensive additions are not important, because they certainly are, but for the most part it has been the defense that has let the team down , and it wasn’t so much the players.  It appears that Sean came to the same conclusion, hence the changes going forward, fingers crossed that the O-line makes a significant jump in performance, it must happen for future success. I’m feeling confident that we are doing the right things to take care of those issues we all saw.

[Billz4ever]

36 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

I concur. The defense is probably good enough. The Super Bowl showed us it doesn’t matter much if you’re the #1 defense anyway ( dubious late penalty flag and all ) You’re not shutting down the best offenses in todays game and need to match score for score. Then it likely comes down to having the ball last - which is where the SB was heading before “ the call” . Even with the Bills favorite status going into last season, most everyone thought it was theirs to win IF they stayed healthy. As you pointed out , that didn’t happen. 

Yep, look at the SB. That beastly Philly pass rush who led the league in sacks by 15 over the next closest team looked helpless in the 2nd half against the Chiefs.

 

You're rarely going to dominate the Chiefs defensively.  You just have to hope for some bad passes and key stops here and there and aim to outscore them.  That's what we did when we beat them in their house this past season.  The focus needs to be getting points on the board and not on trying to build a defense that's going to stop them because you won't.

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

 

Not saying you’re wrong but I reallyyyy hope our season doesn’t rely on a 34 year olds knee recovering to perfection.

 

hey, maybe we find another consistent pass rush piece. It could be Rousseau steps up and Ed o has a monster contract year. 
 

I think VMs recovery is the number one indicator of our playoff success if you had to pull a single player not named Josh allen

[HappyDays]

I think we greatly improved some of our less important pieces - Kumerow, McKenzie, Saffold, Morris. But I still worry about the lack of true top end talent. Right now to start the year it is still just Allen and Diggs as elite players at their positions. A lot of it will depend on how Von Miller recovers. Hopefully by December he'll be the same player he was for us before injury, I mean he practically won the Chiefs game for us. If we get him back to his old self that gives us three elite players. Ideally though you want at least four. Maybe Tre White will find himself again, I'm just not counting on it.

 

Especially on the offensive side I worry that outside of Diggs we have no true game changers at our skill positions or on our OL. An elite QB can make up the difference but we need a few of those depth pieces we signed - notably Harty and Harris, and to a similar extent Kincaid - to maximize their potential in order for that gap between us and some of the other contenders' weapons to be bridged. This is why I am still hoping for Hopkins although that possibility appears to be dwindling with each passing day.

 

Most importantly the coaching needs to be much better in the playoffs. This is something no one can predict until we see it. McDermott can't trot out the same old predictable scheme that smart offensive coaches led by smart QBs like the Chiefs and Bengals have can easily take advantage of. And Dorsey was taken to school by Lou Anarumo, he has to take a big step this year to prove he is capable of calling a chamionship caliber offense. No one would confuse our overall roster for the best in the league, but if we stay relatively healthy the roster combined with Josh Allen is certainly good enough to win a Super Bowl. Another disappointing playoff exit would be more on the coaches than the talent IMO.

[Simon Says]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

The Bills have been regular-season-good for many seasons now. But we haven’t been able to break through in the playoffs.

 

We got blown out by the Bengals in the playoffs by 17 points. Some argue that we were simply out of mental steam due to the Hamlin situation. However, we also did not look good in the limited action we saw of the first Bengals matchup (pre-Hamlin injury). The Bengals walked down the field and scored a TD, and they were walking down the field again when the injury occurred. 

 

I think we can all admit that despite our record, the second half of last season wasn’t very comfortable. We lost to the Zach Wilson led Jets. We lost to the Vikings. We barely squeaked by the Dolphins at home. We needed a heroic last second throw and catch by Allen and Diggs to beat the Lions.

 

So here is my question - Is what we’ve done this off-season been enough to bridge the gap between the Bills and Bengals/Playoff Chiefs (playoff Chiefs are different than regular season Chiefs)?

 

Added:

 

Dalton Kincaid (love this)

O’Cyrus Torrence (love this)

Connor McGovern

Taylor Rapp

Deonte Harty

Trent Sherfield

Damien Harris

Micah Hyde comes back

 

Lost:

 

Tremaine Edmunds

Isaiaah McKenzie

Roger Saffold (addition by subtraction)

Jake Kumerow 

Cole Beasley

Jamison Crowder

Devin Singletary

 

I think we did get better. Kincaid brings something to this offense we have literally never had before. Ever. 

 

We re-tooled 40% of our o-line with McGovern and Torrence, and removing Saffold is addition by subtraction by itself. I don’t have much faith in Harty and Sherfield, but I refuse to believe they’ll give us any less than Crowder and McKenzie did last season.

What’s your thoughts? 

Also signed Edwards.  Considered a guard but was a good RT in college 

[gjv]

I'm expecting this to be the most competitive AFC East race in decades. Based strictly on rosters, I would have to say the Jets improved the most, followed by Miami. Buffalo and New England have made changes to their rosters, but nothing that really moves the needle for either team. It might come down to the winner of the AFC East being the team who stays the healthiest throughout the season.

[Billl]

2 hours ago, NewEra said:

@Billl

care to elaborate on the eye roll?  
 

as if missing elite players doesn’t have an impact on games. How many elite players did KC miss last year?  
 

I clearly remember KC getting trounced by tampa bay in the Super Bowl.  Why did they get embarrassed that game?  Think it might have had to do with injuries along the OL?

Or was it Mahomes not playing well enough to beat them?  

You don’t believe that there’s a gap between the Bills who just got dog walked in the Divisional round and the team who has been in 3 of the last 4 Superbowls with 2 championships.  I disagree.  The last 4 years, the Chiefs have either beaten the Bills in the playoffs or beaten the team that did the following week.

 

Kansas City was decimated by injuries in the Super Bowl against Tampa.  They responded by replacing all 5 starters in the offseason.  Buffalo has had issues with injuries to Tre White, Von Miller, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer.  They’re all back, and three of the four are well into their thirties.  Kansas City was a very healthy team last year.  They also had 12 major contributors who were 22 years old or under.  Buffalo had the oldest roster in the league.  There’s a pretty strong correlation between age and injury.  I don’t think Beane has done a very good job of replacing aging veterans with younger players who can pick up where they left off.

[RiotAct]

this is a solid post, @Einstein.  Our D might suffer a little bit with no more ‘Maine; but I think our offense definitely got better - and more sustainable - with the additions of Sherfield, Kincaid, and Torrence.

[harmonkillebrew]

I think we got better on Offense, not as much as I had hoped (no consistent RB or #2WR option, or even RT competition).

 

But we look worse on Defense. I'm hoping McD can address with more direct coaching, but talent-wise LB and DT (and how they fit together) are a concern.  I am cautiously optimistic Elam will take the next step, but if he doesn't our CB room also looks weak. Also, if Von does not return to form, our pass rush will suffer again.

 

A lot will be on Josh again to get us to the promise land

[Einstein]

29 minutes ago, Billl said:

You don’t believe that there’s a gap between the Bills who just got dog walked in the Divisional round and the team who has been in 3 of the last 4 Superbowls with 2 championships.  I disagree.  The last 4 years, the Chiefs have either beaten the Bills in the playoffs or beaten the team that did the following week.

 

There are many posters who write-off the Bengals game as a fluke.

 

They ignore the Dolphins game the week before. And the start of the Bengals game in Week 16. etc, etc.

[Aussie Joe]

14 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

There are many posters who write-off the Bengals game as a fluke.

 

They ignore the Dolphins game the week before. And the start of the Bengals game in Week 16. etc, etc.

I was one of the people saying at the time that their play was deteriorating over the second half of the year whilst most seemed to just point to their record.. “ well they are 13-3.. what are you complaining about?”..

 

Then the playoffs came and they were terrible against Skylar Thompson and then when they played one of the elite teams the next week they weren’t even in the contest…

 

However…. Next year is a new season.. they we’re definitely hampered by injury last year  so they will need some more luck here..the coaching was average at best and Allen never seemed the same after he injuried his wrist .

 

There is no reason to think their end of season form is more likely to continue instead of their early season form when they we’re dog walking teams and beat the Chiefs away..

 

They will contend again for the championship in 2023 IMO…

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Aussie Joe

[Boatdrinks]

18 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

There are many posters who write-off the Bengals game as a fluke.

 

They ignore the Dolphins game the week before. And the start of the Bengals game in Week 16. etc, etc.

Bengals may not be a fluke, but more of a matchup / strategy type thing. The Bills looked outcoached both times. Dig a bit deeper on the Dolphins playoff game though. That game was likely headed to blowout status before some self- inflicted wounds by the offense . The D actually did their job, surrendering few yards for just FG’s on very short fields. 

[SCBills]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

You don’t believe that there’s a gap between the Bills who just got dog walked in the Divisional round and the team who has been in 3 of the last 4 Superbowls with 2 championships.  I disagree.  The last 4 years, the Chiefs have either beaten the Bills in the playoffs or beaten the team that did the following week.

 

Kansas City was decimated by injuries in the Super Bowl against Tampa.  They responded by replacing all 5 starters in the offseason.  Buffalo has had issues with injuries to Tre White, Von Miller, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer.  They’re all back, and three of the four are well into their thirties.  Kansas City was a very healthy team last year.  They also had 12 major contributors who were 22 years old or under.  Buffalo had the oldest roster in the league.  There’s a pretty strong correlation between age and injury.  I don’t think Beane has done a very good job of replacing aging veterans with younger players who can pick up where they left off.

Bills were a shell of themselves both mentally and physically in the playoffs. 
 

KC also relies on a 33/34 year old in Travis Kelce.  Let’s not act like he isn’t the second most important player on your team. 
 

In the Bengals game, the Bills were essentially without the equivalent of Chris Jones & Frank Clark on their DL with Von and Jones out.   
 

I can’t give you any excuses for why the offense played so poorly in that game.  They were checked out and the OL was constantly confused by Cincy’s pressure packages. It was bizarre to watch.  
 

Do you think the Chiefs could stop Burrow without your two best DL pieces and starting Safety?

 

Pointing to us getting dog walked as correlation to this coming year is a bit much given the circumstances.  

 

Age is a concern.  I’d agree with you.  Bills defense is heavily reliant on aging players in Hyde, Poyer and Von. 

 

At the end of the day, gloat all you want … not much we can say about it … but KC stayed healthy while Buffalo and Cincinnati were held together by duct tape in the playoffs and y’all were handed the 1 seed.. a bye.. and Jacksonville.  
 

Edited April 30, 2023 by SCBills

[Eastport bills]

Hard to  expect improvement on defense especially because we don’t know Miller’s status and the front seven has no additions and no Edmunds. The secondary will be better with the new safeties and White being fully recovered.  I expect Sean to be better than Frazier.The offense should be improved with the new weapons at receiver and an improved O-line, but the OC is the wild card. Can Dorsey improve the play calling and not depend on Josh to be the entire offense. Can we develop a conventional running attack. Maybe an additional signing could tie everything together. I personally think we are thin at RB and ILB. With Josh anything is possible so at worst we will be right there competing for the SB again.

 

new 

 

[ProcessTruster]

4 hours ago, Einstein said:

The Bills have been regular-season-good for many seasons now. But we haven’t been able to break through in the playoffs.

 

We got blown out by the Bengals in the playoffs by 17 points. Some argue that we were simply out of mental steam due to the Hamlin situation. However, we also did not look good in the limited action we saw of the first Bengals matchup (pre-Hamlin injury). The Bengals walked down the field and scored a TD, and they were walking down the field again when the injury occurred. 

 

I think we can all admit that despite our record, the second half of last season wasn’t very comfortable. We lost to the Zach Wilson led Jets. We lost to the Vikings. We barely squeaked by the Dolphins at home. We needed a heroic last second throw and catch by Allen and Diggs to beat the Lions.

 

So here is my question - Is what we’ve done this off-season been enough to bridge the gap between the Bills and Bengals/Playoff Chiefs (playoff Chiefs are different than regular season Chiefs)?

 

Added:

 

Dalton Kincaid (love this)

O’Cyrus Torrence (love this)

Connor McGovern

Taylor Rapp

Deonte Harty

Trent Sherfield

Damien Harris

Micah Hyde comes back

 

Lost:

 

Tremaine Edmunds

Isaiaah McKenzie

Roger Saffold (addition by subtraction)

Jake Kumerow 

Cole Beasley

Jamison Crowder

Devin Singletary

 

I think we did get better. Kincaid brings something to this offense we have literally never had before. Ever. 

 

We re-tooled 40% of our o-line with McGovern and Torrence, and removing Saffold is addition by subtraction by itself. I don’t have much faith in Harty and Sherfield, but I refuse to believe they’ll give us any less than Crowder and McKenzie did last season.

What’s your thoughts? 

The roster is fine.   We'll be right back there this year in a single-elimination tournament and just need to play better on that particular day.   Simple as that.   Trying micro engineer success likelihood improvement based on an accumulation of relatively minor incremental off season moves is silly. 

 

I consider regular season record and winning the division to be somewhat a better indication of improvement as it is a body of work, not how you did in one individual game, where all kinds of one off factors can swing the outcome.  

[Einstein]

34 minutes ago, SCBills said:

 

Do you think the Chiefs could stop Burrow without your two best DL pieces and starting Safety?

 

This ignores the fact that the Bengals were down multiple O-linemen that day too.

[streetkings01]

4 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

I know that this is a common theory, but in my opinion it ignores a mountain of evidence.

 

For example, the Bengals walked down the field and scored a TD, and were carving up chunks of yards again on their second drive before Hamlin went down.

 

The Dolphins gave us all we could handle the week before, and that was with a 3rd string QB (yes, I know the Dolphins offense did very little, but the game was still very tight). We lost to Zach Wilson and the Jets too.

 

I think it was more than an aberration.

I gotta agree with this…..that first Bengals game was either headed for a shootout or a blowout in favor of Cinci.

[SCBills]

31 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Hard to  expect improvement on defense especially because we don’t know Miller’s status and the front seven has no additions and no Edmunds. The secondary will be better with the new safeties and White being fully recovered.  I expect Sean to be better than Frazier.The offense should be improved with the new weapons at receiver and an improved O-line, but the OC is the wild card. Can Dorsey improve the play calling and not depend on Josh to be the entire offense. Can we develop a conventional running attack. Maybe an additional signing could tie everything together. I personally think we are thin at RB and ILB. With Josh anything is possible so at worst we will be right there competing for the SB again.

 

new 

 

When healthy (Von back), I’m expecting the defense to be a top 10 unit that gives up more big plays than we’re used to, but also makes more big plays (sacks, tfl’s, turnovers).   Some of that due to personnel & philosophy and some of it due to playing a lot of good QB’s. 
 

Im expecting the offense to be a juggernaut.  We’ve consistently been a top offense and this will be the best OL Allen has ever had, along with the most talented group of weapons.  
 

We have a very talented team, but there are some legitimate question marks.  
 

-OC

-RT

-WR2

-DL (for now.. think we add a DT & DE)

[Maine-iac]

5 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

This ignores the fact that the Bengals were down multiple O-linemen that day too.

Take away Frank Clark and I doubt the Chiefs win.  Take away Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and most of their secondary and I guarantee the Chiefs don't win that game.

[SCBills]

6 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

This ignores the fact that the Bengals were down multiple O-linemen that day too.

I’m certainly not ignoring that. 
 

This goes to personnel and philosophy .. and imo that game was the last straw for Frazier. 
 

We couldn’t get home without Von & Daquan.  KC likely wouldn’t without Jones and Clark either. 
 

Frazier tried to have it both ways by sending pressure but playing off coverage.   He couldn’t bring himself to take full risks … which led to long, sustained drives from Cincy.  
 

The name of the game in the playoffs is big plays and occasional stops by your defense.   Bend, don’t break is impossible to execute unless you have an All-Star defense … and even then … See Philly second half Super Bowl.  
 

He didn’t trust White and Elam to hold up with Marlowe and 20% of Poyer.  Probably justifiably so … but you’ve got to go for it … you can’t just get demoralized by constant long drives that end in scores anyway. 
 

 

[Maine-iac]

2 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I’m certainly not ignoring that. 
 

This goes to personnel and philosophy .. and imo that game was the last straw for Frazier. 
 

We couldn’t get home without Von & Daquan.  KC likely wouldn’t without Jones and Clark either. 
 

Frazier tried to have it both ways by sending pressure but playing off coverage.   He couldn’t bring himself to take full risks … which led to long, sustained drives from Cincy.  
 

The name of the game in the playoffs is big plays and occasional stops by your defense.   Bend, don’t break is impossible to execute unless you have an All-Star defense … and even then … See Philly second half Super Bowl.  
 

He didn’t trust White and Elam to hold up with Marlowe and 20% of Poyer.  Probably justifiably so … but you’ve got to go for it … you can’t just get demoralized by constant long drives that end in scores anyway. 
 

 

At the same time they were gashing us with the run because Oliver is not a run stopper and Phillips was gutting it out with one arm.  Fazier annoys me as well but I'm not sure with the totality of our injuries McDermott would have done that much better.

[Eastport bills]

8 minutes ago, SCBills said:

When healthy (Von back), I’m expecting the defense to be a top 10 unit that gives up more big plays than we’re used to, but also makes more big plays (sacks, tfl’s, turnovers).   Some of that due to personnel & philosophy and some of it due to playing a lot of good QB’s. 
 

Im expecting the offense to be a juggernaut.  We’ve consistently been a top offense and this will be the best OL Allen has ever had, along with the most talented group of weapons.  
 

We have a very talented team, but there are some legitimate question marks.  
 

-OC

-RT

-WR2

-DL (for now.. think we add a DT & DE)

Nice assessment, I’m just anxious to see how this O-line coaching staff develops the run game with Harris, Cook and Hines. If they can run a little, can you imagine how great this passing attack can be?

[Maine-iac]

3 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Nice assessment, I’m just anxious to see how this O-line coaching staff develops the run game with Harris, Cook and Hines. If they can run a little, can you imagine how great this passing attack can be?

That was the maddening thing last year.  We didn't need to develop the run.  We could run ........... we just didn't.  Up 2 scores in some games and we are running called QB runs.

[Eastport bills]

19 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

That was the maddening thing last year.  We didn't need to develop the run.  We could run ........... we just didn't.  Up 2 scores in some games and we are running called QB runs.

I think the priorities  of Sean and Brandon have  changed. You could sense that Josh’s designed runs will be reduced when they’re are all saying it must be done in the interests of longevity. Now the OC and that overrated O-line coach must integrate the run to keep defenses honest. With any success in the run game, and a  two TE formation with great pass catching TEs, good luck doubling Diggs. I getting excited already.

[Maine-iac]

1 minute ago, Eastport bills said:

I think the priorities  of Sean and Brandon have  changed. You could sense that Josh’s designed runs will be reduced when they’re are all saying it must be done in the interests of longevity. Now the OC and that overrated O-line coach must integrate the run to keep defenses honest. With any success in the run game, and a  two TE formation with great pass catching TEs, good luck doubling Diggs. I getting excited already.

I'm borrowing the name but if Kincaid is in fact Swole Beasley than it benefits the quick pass, keeping coverage honest on our wide outs, and the running game.

[Eastport bills]

4 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

I'm borrowing the name but if Kincaid is in fact Swole Beasley than it benefits the quick pass, keeping coverage honest on our wide outs, and the running game.

If Dorsey has any expectations of getting an HC job, calling plays for this group should be his passport. Integrate the run, use the TEs to keep drives going and let Diggs, Davis and Hardy stretch the field. 

[Freddie's Dead]

Not there yet.  Team needs to be battle tested.  They need a running game for bad weather games in the playoffs.  We're still a work in progress.

[Nextmanup]

Not sure yet; too early to say.  I hope we do more before the season starts.

 

It doesn't feel like enough right now.

 

 

[NewEra]

4 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

Since Allen has been QB the offense has averaged 26.75 points/game in the playoffs. For reference that would be good for 6th best in the league last regular season in PPG, and borderline top5 in any given year

 

In that same timeframe the defense has averaged 25.5 points against.  That would rank 30th

You can frame stats however you’d like to frame them my man

 

Nfl scoring defense

2022- 2nd 

2021- 1st

2020- 16th

2019- 2nd 

Since allen has been to QB- the bills have had a top 2 scoring defense 3 out of 4 seasons.

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

what?

 

[VW82]

The offense got better. Josh getting to play in the postseason without a sprained UCL will automatically make us better. 

 

I don't think we've solved anything wrt stopping teams who can both pass and run. If we're beating the Bengals, it's because we're just outscoring them like we tried to with KC two years ago. 

[GoBills808]

10 minutes ago, NewEra said:

You can frame stats however you’d like to frame them my man

 

Nfl scoring defense

2022- 2nd 

2021- 1st

2020- 16th

2019- 2nd 

Since allen has been to QB- the bills have had a top 2 scoring defense 3 out of 4 seasons.

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

3 of the last 4 years, he’s had a top 2 defense

 

what?

 

I mean we were talking about playoffs specifically I thought

 

If not, yes both offense and defense have been excellent during the regular season. But only the offense had been able to sustain their level in the postseason.

[NewEra]

3 hours ago, Billl said:

You don’t believe that there’s a gap between the Bills who just got dog walked in the Divisional round and the team who has been in 3 of the last 4 Superbowls with 2 championships.  I disagree.  The last 4 years, the Chiefs have either beaten the Bills in the playoffs or beaten the team that did the following week.

 

Kansas City was decimated by injuries in the Super Bowl against Tampa.  They responded by replacing all 5 starters in the offseason.  Buffalo has had issues with injuries to Tre White, Von Miller, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer.  They’re all back, and three of the four are well into their thirties.  Kansas City was a very healthy team last year.  They also had 12 major contributors who were 22 years old or under.  Buffalo had the oldest roster in the league.  There’s a pretty strong correlation between age and injury.  I don’t think Beane has done a very good job of replacing aging veterans with younger players who can pick up where they left off.

No.  I don’t believe there a gap between the  bills and the team that we would’ve had beaten 3 times in a row in their own home stadium if if weren’t for us NOT kicking the ball short of the end zone with 13 seconds left in a playoff game where we had the lead.  One play….. and we beat your boys 3 times in a row….. in your home stadium.  
 

you got lucky that our coaching staff epically effed up one moment in time.  
 

injuries matter.  Wait til you have to play a playoff game without Chris Jones.  Actually, I don’t really have to wait.  I saw how your team performed in the Super Bowl after you lost Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.  The unit that you thought was good enough to win a Super Bowl…. Wasn’t good enough.  It wasn’t good enough to even make it a game.  The chiefs got OBLITERATED by the Bucs.  Mahomes threw O TDs and 2 ints.  The chiefs didn’t score a TD.  
 

or you can be an ignorant f*** and pretend like injuries don’t matter.  
 

you can pretend that the chiefs are in a different tier, above  the Bills.  Reality says that you’ve had luck on your side.  It won’t last forever.  We’ll get ours.  17

 

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, NewEra said:

No.  I don’t believe there a gap between the  bills and the team that we would’ve had beaten 3 times in a row in their own home stadium if if weren’t for us NOT kicking the ball short of the end zone with 13 seconds left in a playoff game where we had the lead.  One play….. and we beat your boys 3 times in a row….. in your home stadium.  
 

you got lucky that our coaching staff epically effed up one moment in time.  
 

injuries matter.  Wait til you have to play a playoff game without Chris Jones.  Actually, I don’t really have to wait.  I saw how your team performed in the Super Bowl after you lost Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.  The unit that you thought was good enough to win a Super Bowl…. Wasn’t good enough.  It wasn’t good enough to even make it a game.  The chiefs got OBLITERATED by the Bucs.  Mahomes threw O TDs and 2 ints.  The chiefs didn’t score a TD.  
 

or you can be an ignorant f*** and pretend like injuries don’t matter.  
 

you can pretend that the chiefs are in a different tier, above  the Bills.  Reality says that you’ve had luck on your side.  It won’t last forever.  We’ll get ours.  17

 

That guy is just a troll

 

This is all correct👍

[NewEra]

1 minute ago, GoBills808 said:

I mean we were talking about playoffs specifically I thought

 

If not, yes both offense and defense have been excellent during the regular season. But only the offense had been able to sustain their level in the postseason.

We’ve been SB contender 3 years in a row.  

The first season:  the offense and the defense both failed miserably.  The injuries didn’t have much of an impact.

 

The second season-  the offense was great and the defense failed miserably.  The injuries didn’t play much of an impact on O but we were missing our best defensive player in Tre’Davious

 

The third season -  the offense failed miserably. The defense failed miserably.  The defense was wrecked by injuries. The offense had no injuries.  
 

let’s not pretend that the offense didn’t let us down 2 of 3 years in the playoffs. The offense was terrible vs the chiefs in 2020 and terrible vs the chiefs in 2022.  You’d be making a fool of yourself if you’re trying to play the card that it’s all on the D.  The offense did its job 1 of 3 potential championship seasons.  

7 minutes ago, GoBills808 said:

That guy is just a troll

 

This is all correct👍

I know he’s a troll.  He should be banned from this site. 

[90sBills]

7 hours ago, Einstein said:

The Bills have been regular-season-good for many seasons now. But we haven’t been able to break through in the playoffs.

 

We got blown out by the Bengals in the playoffs by 17 points. Some argue that we were simply out of mental steam due to the Hamlin situation. However, we also did not look good in the limited action we saw of the first Bengals matchup (pre-Hamlin injury). The Bengals walked down the field and scored a TD, and they were walking down the field again when the injury occurred. 

 

I think we can all admit that despite our record, the second half of last season wasn’t very comfortable. We lost to the Zach Wilson led Jets. We lost to the Vikings. We barely squeaked by the Dolphins at home. We needed a heroic last second throw and catch by Allen and Diggs to beat the Lions.

 

So here is my question - Is what we’ve done this off-season been enough to bridge the gap between the Bills and Bengals/Playoff Chiefs (playoff Chiefs are different than regular season Chiefs)?

 

Added:

 

Dalton Kincaid (love this)

O’Cyrus Torrence (love this)

Connor McGovern

Taylor Rapp

Deonte Harty

Trent Sherfield

Damien Harris

Micah Hyde comes back

 

Lost:

 

Tremaine Edmunds

Isaiaah McKenzie

Roger Saffold (addition by subtraction)

Jake Kumerow 

Cole Beasley

Jamison Crowder

Devin Singletary

 

I think we did get better. Kincaid brings something to this offense we have literally never had before. Ever. 

 

We re-tooled 40% of our o-line with McGovern and Torrence, and removing Saffold is addition by subtraction by itself. I don’t have much faith in Harty and Sherfield, but I refuse to believe they’ll give us any less than Crowder and McKenzie did last season.

What’s your thoughts? 

Unpopular opinion here but I agree with you that there is a gap between Bills compared to Cincy and especially KC. Regardless of reasons those teams have made it to superbowls. Bills have not. Be it offense, defense, coaching, injuries whatever. Bills have came up short and that’s the gap.

 

I’m very optimistic about this draft and all the offseason moves so I do believe the gap has narrowed. 

6 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

Chiefs lost Frank Clark, Thornhill and Wylie this off-season. Chris Jones is also headed into the final season of his contract, so they’ll either have to re-sign him to a gigantic deal next year or franchise him.

 

Cinci may be the new team to beat going forward, but having Mahomes always gives the Chiefs a chance.

Disagree with you here. Chiefs are the top team. 

[Malazan]

7 hours ago, SCBills said:

4) Bills needed an answer other than Diggs and “chuck it down the field”.  They drafted the most dominant middle of the field option in the draft .. and the only guy in recent memory to get the Kelce comp.  

 

I suspect Saffold not being less effective than just not having anyone there will help the passing game out a lot. 

[90sBills]

6 hours ago, Boatdrinks said:

Defense was still very good in almost every category last year as well. They slipped a bit in yardage but most metrics stayed remarkably consistent. The pass rush disappeared after Millers injury, though. The offense was still good, but not nearly as reliable down the stretch. Josh’s injury, Dorsey’s rookie struggles and OL were all concerns too. Just seemed too reliant on Josh being Superman regularly to make things happen. Have to admit I get a bit jealous watching Mahomes toss the ball to wide open WRs most of the time ,with some of his patented plays thrown in here and there. That’s probably influenced my opinion on the Bills WR corps, though a lot of it is likely just superior play design by Andy Reid. 

Chiefs WRs actually don’t get a lot of separation. What you see on TV is partly Reid’s schemes and partly Mahomes running around extending plays causing defenders to leave their assignments. Especially when he scrambles toward the los. That long TD McKinnon had at Denver is a prime example of this. Something I hope to see more from Allen and the Bills. 

[Dopey]

7 hours ago, Einstein said:

The Bills have been regular-season-good for many seasons now. But we haven’t been able to break through in the playoffs.

 

We got blown out by the Bengals in the playoffs by 17 points. Some argue that we were simply out of mental steam due to the Hamlin situation. However, we also did not look good in the limited action we saw of the first Bengals matchup (pre-Hamlin injury). The Bengals walked down the field and scored a TD, and they were walking down the field again when the injury occurred. 

 

I think we can all admit that despite our record, the second half of last season wasn’t very comfortable. We lost to the Zach Wilson led Jets. We lost to the Vikings. We barely squeaked by the Dolphins at home. We needed a heroic last second throw and catch by Allen and Diggs to beat the Lions.

 

So here is my question - Is what we’ve done this off-season been enough to bridge the gap between the Bills and Bengals/Playoff Chiefs (playoff Chiefs are different than regular season Chiefs)?

 

Added:

 

Dalton Kincaid (love this)

O’Cyrus Torrence (love this)

Connor McGovern

Taylor Rapp

Deonte Harty

Trent Sherfield

Damien Harris

Micah Hyde comes back

 

Lost:

 

Tremaine Edmunds

Isaiaah McKenzie

Roger Saffold (addition by subtraction)

Jake Kumerow 

Cole Beasley

Jamison Crowder

Devin Singletary

 

I think we did get better. Kincaid brings something to this offense we have literally never had before. Ever. 

 

We re-tooled 40% of our o-line with McGovern and Torrence, and removing Saffold is addition by subtraction by itself. I don’t have much faith in Harty and Sherfield, but I refuse to believe they’ll give us any less than Crowder and McKenzie did last season.

What’s your thoughts? 

I don’t think there’s some huge gap between the teams you mentioned. In our last playoff game vs KC, we win the coin toss, we win that game. Before you question whether or not that would have been the case, remember that you are claiming Cincy was on their way to a blowout win in our first game. We also beat them in our regular season matchup. You can diminish regular season wins if you want. Not sure what someone gets out of doing that. Cincy beat us, but 1 game doesn’t really show much. Again, you can say they were on the way to a blowout win, but you don’t know that. I’ve read your reasoning on a Cincy blowout that game, so save it. Under McBeane, we’re 4-4 in the playoffs, with 2 games being blowout losses. 2 blowouts in 8 playoff games doesn’t show some huge gap. Easily 5-3 if we win the coin toss vs KC. In the last 3 games vs KC we’re a coin toss away from being 3-0, including playoffs. As for Cincy, they haven’t won a SB under this regime either. They barely beat a ravens team without Lamar in the playoffs, barely beat Tenn. in the playoffs. Heck they barely beat the Raiders in the playoffs the prior season. Cincy is where we are in this race, no huge gap. 
As for the paragraph regarding the 2nd half of the season being uncomfortable, what? We lost that Jets game cuz Josh was injured. We lost to Minnesota in OT, the very first game after Josh’s injury. We then go on an 8 game winning streak before the loss to Cincy. Sucks that some people can’t enjoy a win, much less a win streak that long. 
In summary,we have as good of a chance as any team to win it all. Just like last year. No huge gap to close. 

GO BILLS!!
 

 

[Chaos]

42 minutes ago, 90sBills said:

Unpopular opinion here but I agree with you that there is a gap between Bills compared to Cincy and especially KC. Regardless of reasons those teams have made it to superbowls. Bills have not. Be it offense, defense, coaching, injuries whatever. Bills have came up short and that’s the gap.

 

I’m very optimistic about this draft and all the offseason moves so I do believe the gap has narrowed. 

Disagree with you here. Chiefs are the top team. 

This is going to upset people, but here are the correct preseason AFC rankings

1. Chiefs

2. Bengals

3. Bills, Ravens